Ravencon is over!

I have spent the last week preparing for Ravencon 2009. Ravencon is a science fiction and fantasy convention that celebrates the genres of science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror. It is called Ravencon because it is themed after Edgar Allen Poe. Although Poe was born in Boston, he grew up in Richmond, VA, and his childhood home is now the Edgar Allan Poe museum.

I also worked on my dress, in the hopes of finishing it in time for the con. No such luck. I have several hems to finish, including the skirt hem. The skirt is too long. Way too long. It seems like every skirt or pants I want is usually 6 inches too long. If I can find it in petite, then it is 3 inches too long. I don't like hemming because I need a second person to help me set the hem to the right length.
I also have to make the flowers that attach to the front, and I can't find the buckle I thought I bought for the belt.
The dress is coming along nicely, and I should have photos up soon.

Busy week

Although it is turning out to be another busy week for me, I am finding time to fit in crafts.

I am lugging my crochet around for little bits of free time.
I am working on the dress when I am home. Here's the fabric I chose for the gown.

Yes, it's green again. I didn't go into Jo-Ann's looking for green fabric. I went in looking for the two types of fabric you see here (I forget what they are called right now), and looked for the color combination I liked best. Yes, I like green. It's one of the main colors in my wardrobe, even. But I was actually hoping for a pretty, dark blue that really spoke to me, and either a light blue or silver for the top of the dress. Instead, I found the only colors I liked were these: a spring green and a lighter matching green. Go figure. I try to expand my wardrobe, and I end up with MORE GREEN.

And I am working on this when I can't work on the dress:

A beaded butterfly! This is just the prototype. I didn't want to use painted wings until I was sure the beading would work.

Easter on Parade

The family went to Easter on Parade at Monument Avenue in Richmond today. We go almost every year. I love how other people dress up their dogs, and wear home-made Easter bonnets/hats for the contests. This was Kookie's second year. Kookie is my rescued Belgian Malinios. Last year she was so timid we didn't make it through the entire festival.

The Easter festival stretches out on Monument for several blocks, with merchant tents in the islands down the middle. This year she acted like she was at the dog park, only on a leash! She wanted to say hi to all the other dogs and let children touch her without even flinching. She even kept rolling onto her back, trying to get me to play with her! She had a great time, and we actually made it down the street and back to the car. There seemed to be fewer tents this year, but other than that we had a wonderful time! I am so proud of my girl!

She doesn't like riding in my parents' car, though - too loud for her.

Maybe it's Maybelline

At 13 1/2 years old, Maybelline has seen me through high school, college, and the current hesitant start of my career. She has gotten a little crotchety with age, and I think she's a little senile now, but she warms my heart and my bed every day. I brought Maybelline home from the SPCA as kitten and she's been a constant pain companion ever since.

Here's Maybelline in her new bed! I bought her an energy efficient heated bed for her achy bones. She has the bare precursors of arthritis, but with daily supplements she hasn't gotten worse. This bed only starts to heat when she's in it, and it warms up to the average kitty body temperature, although I forget what that is. She loved the bed immediately, and she only sleeps elsewhere when she wants my attention or if it is bedtime (she sleeps with me).

Best of all, I bought it with an Amazon gift card from Memolink! Woot!

Swannanoa, VA

Last Saturday, a friend and I drove two hours east on I64 from Richmond. One of the things I like to do on a sunny weekend is spend the day driving around and finding the forgotten beauty of Virginia. I have a "new" used bridge camera (a camera between regular digital cameras and digital SLR cameras), and wanted a chance to play with it. My friend has been in photography for a few years now and I've been bitten by the shutter bug recently.

We stopped at this beautiful little church on the way out. Sorry, I thought I got a picture of the sign so I wouldn't forget where we went, but it's not on my SD card. I will ask my friend for a copy of his picture.

Here is a close-up of the window:After that, we drove a few more miles into Waynesboro, VA. We noticed an old hotel up on the mountain that always caught my friend's eye. We found the way to the hotel and ended up driving around the mountain it sat on. There were several high-end homes up there, around a country club/golf course.

A strange unique building peaked out of the trees between the homes and the golf club, with no obvious way of reaching it. A man clearing the side of the road near his property told us it belonged to the Swannanoa estate, which just happened to be holding an open house to the public! For $6, we got to see a beautiful estate being restored to its former glory.

Swannanoa is the sister building to the Maymont mansion/building in Richmond, VA. It was the summer home Major and Mrs. James H. Dooley, a Civil War era lawyer who became a railroad tycoon who also did banking, steel, and land development. By 1911, Dooley was among the super-rich railroad barons, and bought 1000 acres to build the palace of Swannanoa. Finished in 1912, the Dooley's used the summer mansion until they both died. In 1925, the mansion was inherited by Major Dooley's sisters, who were nuns. It has since been a country club that President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge visited, a University of Science and Philosophy, a commune convent, and a family summer home.

Property has been sold off to build two hotels, including the one that drew us into the area, the golf club, several homes, and I64 was built on the edge of the property. Maymont mansion was donated to the city of Richmond, along with the furniture from Swannanoa.

The current owner, James F. Dulaney, Jr., began restoring the mansion in 2000. He eventually plans to turn it into a European-style "boutique hotel." Count me as a future guest! A new hotel will be built into the mountain near the mansion, with the mansion being used for weddings and other functions.

The details in this palace are amazing! Lots of marble.

Carved wood everywhere.

Painted ceilings, walls, and more. The large window in the back of the hall is of Mrs. Dooley.

Behind the mansion, there is an Italian tiered garden in the same Alabama white marble as the mansion.

There is a water tower and a two-story stone house for the head of the servants. And we found out what that building was that had originally caught our eye! Turns out that the stable is off about 200 yards behind the mansion, which was pretty amazing considering that it held the electric generator! Back in the 1910-20s, only some cities and the wealthy had electricity. The wealthy had their own generators. They must have been noisy to want to house it in the stables so far away! The stables have a basement, with the generator, and a second floor, which held the housing for the coachman and stablehand. There is also a little building on the other side of the stable (hidden in this picture). No idea what it was for.

I do hope this magnificent building is also saved. There was a small horse-drawn carriage visible in the windows, along with a lot of old furniture from the main building. The roof has serious damage, including a large hole near the tower (between the chimneys in the picture). It was clear by how young all the trees are around here that this area was completely clear and a large portion is relatively flat for running horses.

I have many more pictures that I won't bore people with. I want to go back again, when more trees are green. The estate is open to the public the first weekend each of May and June, so I may go back then.

I promise my next post will be craft-related. I just had to share my discoveries from last weekend.

1930 Evening Gown Part 2

What a busy couple of days I have had!

I went to Swannanoa, VA on Saturday, where we found this old mansion summer home a railroad baron built in the 1910's. It's the sister building of the Maymont building in Richmond, VA. I'll post some pictures later after I've gone through them.

I am still crocheting my mother's shawl. Two more skeins to go!


And then there's the dress.
Ah, how sewing brings out the best and the worst in you. I finished putting together the skirt of the mock-up Sunday.
I basted all the seams to that I could be sure it was big enough. Then I undid one of the seams to that I could attach it to the top half of the dress.

Or try to.

I had to make the top 8" wider than the original pattern (4" on the front, 4" on the back).

However, we weren't sure how we needed to add those 8 inches to the skirt, so I cut it out using the original pattern. Putting the top to the bottom revealed how the 8 inches were distributed across the top, and how that affected the 4 pieces of the skirt. My mom and I spent over an hour Sunday evening actively discussing how to fix this.

The Front Panel needed nothing added to it. It just sits in the very front, and the side panels need to be visible from the front, as shown here.

The 4" increase of the Front Top was added to the Side Panels and the 4" increase of the Front Back was added to the Back Panel of the skirt.

On Tuesday I cut out the extra paper for the pattern and the extra fabric for the mock-up. The increases worked!

I have a neat striping effect on the skirt of the mock-up. The summer dress I am going to make out of the mock-up will definitely look different from the final evening gown.

The mock-up has not been put together completely, just enough for me to see that the increases worked and when pinned together, fit me. So here's a not-so-awesome picture of the WIP. It looks better than the picture suggests.

I need a dress model. This would be easier to sew if I had a dress model. I have started to make one out of duct tape, but need to make the support structure for it. I considered buying one, but I like the idea that the duct tape one really will match me. Most of those manufactured models have small breasts and no butt! Plus, you can't pin anything to most of the more affordable models. There are cloth ones, but those are very expensive.

On Sunday, I bought my gown fabric at the new Jo-Ann's on Midlothian. It's so pretty! I'll take a picture after I iron it.

1930 evening gown WIP

I decided to take a picture of the WIP for the evening gown. The dress pattern was recreated from a 1930 dress with a 34" bust, so I had to resize it using cheap cotton material. The material will be used to cut the pieces of nice material instead of the original pattern (plus the original pattern lasts longer if I want to make more dresses). I have all of the pieces of cheap material cut out and am working on creating a working pattern with them. My mother helped me fit the bodice to me, and now I have to baste everything together to make sure it works.

Then I can buy the fabric for the actual gown. After the gown is done, I'll turn the pattern pieces into a green summer dress with straps instead of the sleeves or yoke.

People were shorter back then, so I did not have to adjust the height of the pattern at all for my petite frame! Most modern patterns are too tall for me, even the "petite" patterns.

I love the vintage pattern lending library

If you are into steam punk or vintage clothing, the vintage pattern lending library is a great source for patterns. They sell original patterns and recreated patterns from the 1860's to modern patterns.

I am currently working on the 1930 Evening Gown with Ruffled Sleeves. I don't know if I'll add the flowers.

Tweedle Dumb

I like Moda Dea fashion yarns in general. Bamboo Wool, Fashionista, Sassy Stripes. They are generally fun yarns.

Except Tweedle Dee. Tweedle Dee is a beautiful and wonderfully soft yarn, but it is a pain to work with. I think it is overwound or something, because it starts to coil after a few stitches unless I let the stuff unwind regularly. Unwinding takes longer than crocheting does. I am taking easily 3 times longer to make a shawl for my mother than I should be.

But it is so pretty! I am using the Blue Heather, and the colors fade into each other so well. The picture from the Moda Dea website doesn't do it justice.

I just won't buy it again. I am ready for a more agreeable yarn.