VMB 2020 outfit planning, the first post of many

[cupcake_goth]

 (Look, I told you I was going to be wittering about this.)

The two options I'm currently considering:

1. Pick a shade of fuchsia/black shot silk, bribe the Infamous BlueJay to make a polonaise, then adorn it with sequined appliques. The potential drawbacks:

• Jay having time and workspace to make it.
• Can I find a sequined lace in the same color family as whatever silk I choose to make the appliques from? Or will I need to go with black ones?

2. Take the beautiful b&w (with pink details!) polonaise that Kambriel made me in ... 2009?, and add black and white narrow sequined appliques to the appropriate color stripes along the front 4". The potential drawbacks:

• It's currently about 2.5" too small, and while I'd like to think I will shrink down that much in a year, I don't want to trigger the return of my Body Image Demons. I'd be able to work around this by adding a black velvet waistcoat inset to the front (like this) and add black sequined appliques to that, too. 

Either way, why yes, I'm looking at doing a whole bunch of hand sewing of appliques again. Because ... I'm crazy? 

(The Vespertine outfit is almost certainly going to be the blue silk and jet beaded reproduction Victorian jacket that J. Peterman made almost 20 years ago, because I've hung on to it for that long, by G-D I'm going to wear it again.)

Comments

[oldhalloween]

Fond of idea number 2. A basque bodice with vest inset is my jam.

So happy the event went well. Enjoying the play by play. Nice distraction from real life stressors. Oh, and how wonderful you still have the J. Peterman jacket. I wanted it back in the day.

[staxxy]

suggestions, both related to option 1 (as I agree with you about option 2 triggering the BID especially if things get stressful at work):

- do the applique to fabric match in reverse. find the appliques you want to use then find a silk to match them.

- make your own appliques. you are perfectly capable of creating appliques of your own volition, or at least dying lace to match the silk and then adding beading and sequins. I can help you color match dye if pete cant. It it one of my secret super powers.

more ideas as they come to me.

[cupcake_goth]

Making my own appliqués is a step or two too far in how much time and effort I can do. Adding the beading and sequins in addition to sewing the appliqués on? I wouldn’t have time or any other projects, even if I started in the next few months.

[staxxy]

fair enough. It is good to know your limits and work within them. :)

I still think you will have it easier matching fabric to appliques than appliques to fabric.

[carmenbeaudry]

I’m for number 2, since you have a way to make it fit. If the waistcoat idea doesn’t work I would be willing to see if it could be made to fit another way.

[kambriel]

You know that striped bustle jacket has *oodles* of adjustment room in the darts, right? I believe there were two darts on each side of the waist, and another quite wide pair of darts at the sides where the sleeves were inset. Depending on where the extra room is needed, it would be super easy to just unleash one of the sets of waist darts (one dart per side), or if more room is needed, it's a bit more work but you can temporarily take out the armscye seam, take out the side dart (iirc those could easily give you something like another 3" *per* side) and stitch within it to wherever is comfy for you.

Don't think of it in terms of B.I.D.s, think of it in terms of, "Yay, this is really adjustable so I can update it to be customized for the me of today." I love all the darts in there, because the sizing really doesn't have to be written in stone, and you can take it in/let it out with a minimum of fuss ~ especially if just the waist darts will do the trick. By only taking one set out, you'll still have the silhouette too. Otherwise, you can stitch inside where they're currently sewn and just make the darts less deep. There's several inches of ease to be had in there <3

BONUS: If you took out/adjusted the side waist darts, it sounds like you'd probably just be covering that area with appliqués anyway, so you wouldn't even have to be too fussy about any crinkles from where the original dart stitching lines were sewn/pressed :)

[cupcake_goth]

Oooohhh you darling! I hadn't looked closely at the construction, I was always distracted by the stripy goodness! Taking out darts would be SO MUCH EASIER than adding a waistcoat front. <3

[sistawendy]

Darn you and your VMB temptation.