Gather ye rosebuds while ye may...

Readers, it seems not a week goes by but we are reminded yet again of the fragility of life.  Our human existence is nothing if not impermanent and unpredictable, as today's frightening headlines from Japan make clear.

At times like this, I recall the immortal words of Doris Martin as played by Doris Day in Season 2 of the The Doris Day Show as she seeks to comfort young April, played by Meredith Baxter, who -- if I recall correctly -- has just broken up with her boyfriend.  (This was a TV pilot never picked up, a spin-off of The Doris Day Show entitled Young Love.)  To paraphrase Doris:  Everything changes, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but everything changes; change is a part of life.

Apropos of which, let us remember the words of Seventeenth Century British poet Robert Herrick who wrote:

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
    Old time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to-day
    To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
    The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
    And nearer he's to setting.

Dear loyal MPB readers, yesterday, amid the ever-darkening news from abroad, I gathered, gathered, oh, how I gathered!
 




And really, when life looks darkest, isn't that what we should do: celebrate life and enjoy the time we have, amid a cloud of tulle and rose-print cotton sateen?



Friends, I will admit that there's more than a little Mister Rogers' Neighborhood to Male Pattern Boldness, except Mr. Rogers and Lady Elaine are the same person.   I do strive to create a safe and sunny place for all of you here, a harbor from life's intermittent gloom and despair.  And we have hand puppets.

Of course my ambitions lean more toward The Dinah Shore Show or Lawrence Welk but it's so hard to get suitable musical guests these days, plus Bobby Burgess is in retirement.

But let's get back to sewing, or rather gathering.  I finally got my rotary cutter into my rose-print fabric yesterday and started making Cathy's Comeback Dress.  I have it on the authority of none other than the State of Massachusetts Department of Correctional Services that my little lawbreaker is to be released this coming Friday and handed a one-way bus ticket out of state.

Here's the tentative plan and I can hardly contain my excitement:

Remember the wacky-but-true story about my getting two free tickets to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which will soon be opening on Broadway?  Well my idea is to go to the show with Cathy IN the rose print dress!  (Cathy in the dress, I mean, obviously.)  Doesn't that sound fantastic, in the literal sense of the word?  Now before you get your hopes up too high, please remember that this all depends on my actually finishing the dress by Saturday, along with the double-layered, four-tiered crinoline.   Cross your fingers!

But enough. We're running out of time and I have to get out of this bagel cafe and back to my sewing machines.  As you can see from the photo up top, it finally dawned on me that if the music blaring on the radio here was bothering me  I could supply my own -- and so I am!  Instead of Sugar, Sugar and Love is Blue I'm listening to the song stylings of Hal Kemp and his Orchestra.  So soothing!

In closing, one quick question: the bodice -- should I make it in the black sateen I have in my stash or the same rose-print fabric as the skirt?  Michael says too much rose print starts looking like upholstery.

Thoughts?

Crinoline confessions for a Wednesday morning

OK, Debbie, climb out of that tree and let's get down to business.

Yesterday, I hightailed it to a few local fabric dives to hunt for crinoline supplies. 

I also swung by my local Goodwill and checked under a few wedding gowns -- were you expecting Vera Wang?  One dress, a 3/4 length, had a full slip with two rows of net sewn onto the slip itself.  It looked something like this, with a layer of gathered net stitched midway down, and then another layer along the hem gathered more densely:
 

It seemed to provide a lot of volume.  I am wondering, wouldn't this be sturdier -- and easier -- than layers of tulle or net stitched to each other?

The alternative, of course, is a traditional crinoline, which I'll probably end up making.  Here's one made primarily of tulle, and you can see that while it's flouncy, it lacks the height I'm looking for.

Net provides the height, but it's coarse and need to be covered up with something.  Both require an underskirt between the tulle/net and one's legs.



Anyway, here's what I've picked up so far.  Not sure if this is exactly what I want, but I think I'm on the right track.  All of it was in the $1-2 a yd. price range.



Stiff net, about 4 yds of a 60" bolt.



Ivory tulle, 4 yds, about 120" wide.



Ivory acetate (or something resembling good quality slip or lining material), 2 yds.



I'm wondering if it would be preferable to use cotton, or a stretch material of some sort for the underskirt.  Thoughts?

What I am envisioning is the yoke/slip top made of the ivory acetate with two layers of net divided into three tiers.  Then I'd cover the whole thing with a layer or two of fluffy tulle.  Ideally I'd like to be able to parachute off my balcony in it and not break anything.

Today I'll be experimenting with my sewing machine feet on these fabrics.  I have a few rufflers but I'm just not sure how well they'll hand tulle or net.  Most of the tutorials I've seen online show the gathers being made by hand using basting thread.  I don't have a gathering foot.

I can also gather with my serger by adjusting the differential feed but I'm not sure if the gathers will be dense enough.

I guess I'll need some trim -- lace, satin ribbon -- certainly something to enclose the rough raw edges of the net where the tiers attach, like so:



I already have elastic as well a few hook-and-eye variations.  It's an adventure, right?

In closing, thanks for all your helpful comments and crinoline resources yesterday.

The variety of these veil-like fabrics available is incredible and there's so much to learn. I know a number of you recommended just buying a ready-made crinoline, but I need to take this on.

When Cathy is ready to walk down the aisle, I want to be ready!

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

UPDATE:  Happy Day -- it works with the net, and on a treadle, no less!



Tulle ruffles too -- top row serger with differential feed adjustment, bottom row ruffler:



I think we're in business.  Veils for everyone!

Taffeta, tulle, and the big, BIG dress

Friends, I'm scared.  As you know, my plan for the Cathy Comeback dress is this late Fifties Vogue pattern I purchased on Etsy last week:

I plan to make View C, the black dress in the middle, albeit in a rose print that more closely resembles View B.  Obviously I'm going to have to make some sort of underskirt to give this dress volume.  But once you're poofing up your dress, it's a slippery slope to Harajuku horror, I fear.





If Cathy came out Gothic Lolita she'd never forgive me.  Would you?

Why ever did dresses get so big do you think -- can we blame it all on Christian Dior?  Was it all about re-feminizing the middle class postwar woman, who'd gotten used to working during WWII? Recall that in the late 40s, early 50s, most dresses looked more or less like this.



There might have been a slip under there, maybe even a ruffled petticoat, but certainly nothing you couldn't get through the door in.  Then suddenly skirts got bigger.



And bigger...



And bigger!



The problem with this whole look is that to really pull it off, in addition to a big, BIG petticoat, you need one of these.



Which wouldn't be a bad investment since it is actually becoming a popular men's look.



But even with the corset, you can easily end up looking, I'm sorry, like Sunday morning sausage.



Readers who know about such things or just want to express an opinion, how much of a headache is it going to be to make a crinoline for Cathy's Comeback dress?  I already have the pattern.



But I don't know my tulle from my taffeta; it's going to be a steep learning curve.  My understanding is that one can easily spend an afternoon or two gathering those layers, not to mention trimming them with seam binding and lace.

The alternative, of course, is to purchase a ready made one.  But that's sort of cheating, don't you think?  And a lot of those look cheap to me.  Hence my dilemma.



Readers, in closing, am I going to regret this?  Can I save time with a serger -- can you even serge tulle or net?  (What exactly is the difference between tulle and net?)  We're talking poly and nylon, right?  Nothing in the silk department I hope.

Have you ever made a crinoline?  If you did, can I borrow it?

Someday soon I see Cathy on the dance floor with her own Bobby Burgess.  And it will all be worth it.  (What's Barbara got going on under that dress, in your opinion?)  Cha cha cha!