Plautus? Not Plautus!

I'm currently gathering data to write a play on a certain mythological topic.

I won't be the first to write on that, but I've decided to bring a new angle to it by focussing on the women in the story - instead of the men (as every [male] playwright before me).

It is quite interesting.

The very first author we have writing on this topic is Plautus (interesting approach, but I'm not a fan of his Latin).

As I was working on a twist in my plot, I finally realized that, since Plautus, the characters have been dealing with Roman gods and goddesses, but... the original story is in Greek.

I changed my characters' names to Greek ones and I'm keeping two Roman "guest stars".

I'm rather happy with what I'm plotting - and it helps me with some dry work as I'm also editing my PhD and a memoir/biography/art history manifesto that needs a lot of footnotes as the subject of this book knew each and every artist in all domains in the 19th century.

Censorship in the 21st Century

Long time no post, but the summer's properly demented, and some of us have Internet woes (and Usagi's still in Kyoto). Basically, reduced team is no fun...

We've made a choice about Racine's Phedre et Hyppolyte: we'll have the original spelling and typography, and a modern version (just the old one could be fun, but it'd be really tough without a more modern one on the right page).

We're still working on Wilde's Salomé, but we're taking our time to make sure that we'll give you a nice translation - and a bilingual introduction.

When I have some free time, I work on the fourth novel in my Sci-Fi universe (the current news are feeding the plot bunny in a rather dark way).

Then... bank news to be able to launch our website.

So... we've found a bank, but because of an annoying technicality, we can only open the account in September (sometime in September).

But what's utterly frustrating is that Cousin Chris had managed to open an account for us at her main bank. She'd had to go through artificial hoops to please the arrogant plonkers, but we had an account... until we asked for the reference that would allow us to buy an e-commerce plugin so that we could safely link our website to our account.

The female that called my cousin at my aunt's (even though my cousin never gives any phone number because she does business at 2 am by e-mail - because she gets some written proof) was a proper nightmare. 

First, she claimed that she didn't have access to our file (then, how did she get my aunt's phone number, um?), and she demanded to be given the names, addresses, and e-mails of the website provider and webmaster; to quote my cousin: 'No way in friggin' Hell!!!!!'.

My cousin's plan was to get the reference, give it to the plugin company, buy the plugin, install it, buy the website, migrate our site that's on Xampp, test everything, and launch the ship.

That wasn't possible, as the phoning biped demanded to be allowed to see our website first because she wanted... to censor it!

She literally said that she had to "check our website for references to religion, sex, and drug".

Well, 95% of our books are LGBTQ-friendly (though there's nothing graphic, but with "Miss Censorship-Sunshine", we'd have ended up with an empty catalogue). And Shakespeare's potentially controversial. And Wilde's play was already censored on religious grounds - from the late 19th century, up to the 1930s!

What we miss is stuff about drugs (thanks for the plot bunny, arrogant bank biped!).

So the account was closed, because none of us (not even our accountant, who growled with us, editors and authors) were ready to accept censorship in the 21st century.

Do you know what the other bank only asked us? That the website had an SSL certificate, which we will have. Internet security is their only concern.

Right now, we're plotting all together to report the censoring biped to someone much higher than her in the food chain.

I'll have some painting to show you soon, maybe a video, and we're planning to take pictures of our paper babies to add them to the website (we'll share some with you then).

See you soon (hopefully)!

Editing News

Now that we've sent our edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint to be officially registered, and that our work on editing Oscar Wilde's Salomé (the original French edition, and a new translation in English by yours truly - the introduction is being written by Cousin Editor-in-chief) is nearing completion, we've made a discovery: we love editing the books that we loved reading.

We're still working on our own stories or works, but it's properly exhilarating and possibly addictive to go back to the original texts, edit and dust them off (or even make discoveries), and then share them with you, dear Readers.

The day we had the idea to publish our favourite works, we came up with this list:

William Shakespeare: Sonnets - Much Ado About Nothing

Oscar Wilde: Salomé (we decided to translate it into proper English when we read how it's been treated by Douglas)

Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility

Jean Racine: Phèdre

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol

We have now added:

The Forme of Cury

Edmond Rostand: Cyrano de Bergerac (a request from my aunt)

Even if it was a lot of work, editing Shakespeare gave us access to fonts that can mimic the ligatures used in the early years of printing.

Last night, in order to do something soothing after dealing with the infuriating banker, we had a look at the first edition of Racine's Phèdre et Hippolyte, and we discovered that he wrote an introduction, and that the text of the royal privilege allowing him to print the play was printed there, as well.

We're not planning to make a facsimile of it, but we started thinking that it'd be different, unusual, original to publish a version of the text as it was first printed. Perhaps it's quite a niche, but we really think it could be a different kind of edition.

De is plotting more short stories (focussing on friendship this time).

Chris is still formatting her PhD.

I've got two Muff&Sherly stories ready to be edited (and the next novel is whispering in my ear). I've been thinking about my Sordid Fairy Tales, and my Victorian spy plot, too.

We're quite busy.

Now, if only we could find a banker with a brain and get this e-bookstore started... 

PS: if there are books that you'd like us to edit, you're more than welcome to make suggestions.

In Kafka-land

Dear Administrations,

would you please stop trying to give me an ulcer or a heart attack?

Sincerely,

Dru

My cousin, her mum, and I have spent last night attempting to read the additional bumph sent by our local "HM Revenue & Customs" (the IRS, if you're on the other side of the pond).

First... It's always written in North Korean (or in Romulan!).

And then, after picturing our publishing adventure closing before it even opened... we discovered that we're not concerned by the bumph they sent (our status is so rare - okay, and recent - that we're not on their map).

My cousin will have to go see them, explain (in veeeeeeeery simple words) what we do, give them the legal reference that concerns our status, and pray to Zeus that they acknowledge that we're right (otherwise they could ask us a pay a tax we cannot afford to pay).

We're trying to do everything by the book, and we're being probed, and investigated, and doubted (and generally not helped at all) even though we've done nothing to deserve that.

How do con-men go through these nets? Do they bulldoze and/or cajole their way though?

It's the third time we fear we might have to stop launching our own business. I hope it's the last time - and I hope we can go on...

Wish us luck?

That 'White Rabbit' Feeling (A Dru Update with Some Book News)

Everything's mad (in my life), my dears.

There's not enough hours in a day for everything.

One more title for Éditions Aikyō was just sent to be registered (one of my cousin's this time).

I'm still growling on a regular basis, but I'm really recycling most growls into my Sci-Fi plots. Novel #3 has just exploded, because of a controversial piece of clothing that's presented as "liberating" when the bottom line I see is that some have been brainwashed to believe it was necessary to look "modest" (I've created a kingdom where I'm going to use the news to feed the bunnies).

I'm currently writing two novels: Muff&Sherly 3, & An Honourable Spy (a [pseudo-]Victorian piece of nuttiness inspired by History, and too many spy novels), and reading three: Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore by Italo Calvino, La coartada de Antínoo by Manuel Franscico Reina, and this beauty:

Dru in April

Life's properly nutty here, but I'm taking a moment to wave and say "Hello!"...

We're approaching exam time for my students, and that's a proper time-thief.

As well, the launch of our publishing company needs us to be involved in time-consuming and bumph-creating things (but things are taking shape). Chi va piano, va sano, e va lontano... Ne?

Our family's rather addicted to Lucifer (the series on telly - start breathing again, for Merlin's sake), and we really hope it's going to be renewed.

By chance, our cousin Jacky lent us her copy of Kingsman - the Secret Service, and it's awesome (the pub fight scene made my month!!).

I have predictions about Kingsman II (well, at least, I know where I'd like it to go on a couple of points).

The casting people must still be giggling (if they're not, what's wrong with them?).

I also watched Lilting (and cried a river), and now I've got this stuck in my head:

Lovely song...

In completely unrelated news, apparently, my hair's turning quite light grey/white.
Just last week, a lovely lady (a pensioner!) gave me her seat on the bus. I may look a bit tired, but I think the hair colour's doing something to the way people interact with me.
Honestly, I hesitate between:
- doing nothing because I don't give a fig
- turning to blond henna (but that's a lot of work)
- trying to turn all my hair white and be done with it forever (recipes that wouldn't kill my hair more than welcome)

I'm going to post a specific post about the latest (as I write) episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, coz I need to growl... and I think that's about it.

If I'm silent again, it'll be that I'm launching a company, making books, or writing them...

Cheers!

Random Dru News

I've been rather silent recently.

It's not that things aren't making me growl (I mean, look at the state of this planet!), but there's been nothing that made me sooooo angry that I had to blog about it. Let's put this in the "Silver Lining" category, shall we?

Work's a bit strange, and so is my health (I've got odd defrosting symptoms, but I'm "just" mostly knackered), but the biggest thing these days is starting a triumvirate publishing business.

Gosh! The amount of bumph is made in hell - and some specialists were unable to give us the answers we need. Okay... we've chosen a niche status, but we're not the only ones - and we're not asking for highly Muggle stuff in the middle of Hogsmeade! We're still looking for the appropriate answers before we launch the ship (we're all ready to bet that any mistake - even one made because of some lousy piece of info - would bite us somewhere painful whilst the bad-info giver wouldn't be in trouble at all - and we don't want to have to bite people).

So... that work is moving slowly, but steadily.

Now that we've put my fantasy novel in its print format, I realize that this baby, born after seven years of research and hard work, is a healthy baby whale (it's not War and Peace, maybe, but it's a very respectable size - not that size really matters). This story is about characters who have to save the world in just a few months, and since I'm its mummy, I hadn't really realized what kind of huge creature I was concluding when I finally typed "Finis".

Its size is by no means linked to the quality of the plot (but it's been tested on an audience, and it works <- yes, I'm delighted with the reactions it got), but we can show that "brick" and proudly justify seven years of gestation.

I'm still letting my Victorian spy plot simmer, but it's taking shape in my head. I have most of the twists and turns in my brain.

What's funny is that my plots are films in my head, and when the plot runs smoothly, I can start typing (a few details may change, but not too many).

Another funny thing is that I make my own casting, which helps with the "film". I don't always cast the minor characters, but the main ones are cast.

Incidentally, after months of living with them in my head and going through various actors who inspired me, I've finally found my Muff and my Sherly (they're going to help the plot bunnies hop faster!).

Speaking of Muff&Sherly, the first novel's ready, the second's with our editor, and I'm working on the third story (this series is still planned in nine stories, plus a prequel and a sequel).

I'd originally planned the prequel to be a children's book, but we've now discovered the joys of registering books, and children's books are three circles lower in that registering hell, so I'll write a fairy tale... for adults!

I've got other plot bunnies hopping around in my head, their films rolling in my head, and their castings being made.

I'll tell you more as they come to life...

One last thing about my life these days: I seem to be addicted to Lucifer (there are worst things that could happen).

Wallpaper with Pattern Match Trick / Truc pour pose de papier peint avec raccord

I’ve just finished changing the wallpaper in my dining room, and I’m so happy with the trick I used that I decided to share it with the world.  Let’s imagine that you’ve found some wallpaper that you love, but… the awesome guy who created that beautiful design decided that the pattern would match every 50cm, and according to the calculator on the website where you’ve found the paper of your dreams, you’re going to need to buy approximately the whole store. First, do not trust the calculator. Grab some piece of paper, a pencil, and do a spot of maths. Honestly, if I’d worked the traditional way (pasting roll by roll), I’d have had to buy nine rolls instead of just five (and with the price tag on a roll, that does make a difference). I’m sharing this trick to help my fellow humans, but you’ll have to work on a couple of things yourself – and always pay attention to what you’re doing. First, maths. If your room’s already wallpapered, count how many lengths you’ve got on each wall (otherwise… more maths, my sweets!). I’ve got six lengths and a hair on my two widest walls; I’ve got a bow window, and the wall opposite the window has five lengths. Once I saw that, I bought five rolls; do the maths for your own room. Open all the rolls you’ve bought, find the matching patterns on them all in order to have the most efficient way to deal with them and number them with your pencil inside the roll; also add an arrow on the back of the paper to know which way you’re supposed to put the length on the wall (when you’ll be dead on your feet, that’ll be quite helpful!). Unroll all the rolls a bit and make sure that your patterns match on all of them. Cut the pieces that you can’t use (the longest piece I had to cut was 20cm long, and there was one roll where I didn’t have to cut anything). From that moment on, you can paste almost all your lengths. Extra trick 1: I live in an old building, and there are lengths of wood on all salient corners, which allowed me to paste the paper on the wall opposite the window without being bothered by the matching pattern on the wall next to it. That may be a good idea to get rid of a few matching pattern nightmares. Have a look at my “fantabulous” drawing to help you. When you’re done with the lengths you’ve pasted, you just have to work on the few lengths that remain (if you play poker with the rolls, you may not have too much to cut to reach the matching pattern again). Extra trick 2: unless your walls are dramatically worse than mine, just start pasting the first length against the vertical side. Extra trick 3: in all the videos I watched on the net, and on the advice sheet with each roll of paper, everybody says to cut a few extra centimetres up and down the length. One centimetre’s enough (unless your walls are wavy, but then you measure the highest point, and that’s where you cut). Extra trick 4: everybody talks about cutting the extra paper with a cutter, but scissors work nicely, too, even if you have to unpaste the length for a moment. Happy wallpapering!

Je viens tout juste de finir la tapisserie dans ma salle à manger et je suis tellement fière du truc que j’ai utilisé que j’ai décidé de le partager avec le reste du monde. Imaginons que vous avez trouvé le papier peint de vos rêves, mais… le brillant designer de cette petite merveille a collé un raccord de 50 cm et d’après le calculateur de rouleaux du site où vous avez trouvé la merveille, il va vous falloir acheter la boutique ou presque. Déjà, ne faites pas confiance au calculateur. Attrapez un bout de papier, un crayon et faites un peu de maths. Sérieusement, si j’avais fait les choses traditionnellement (un rouleau après l’autre), j’aurais dû acheter neuf rouleaux au lieu de cinq (et au prix du rouleau, ça fait une différence).  Je partage ce truc pour rendre service, mais il faut planifier deux, trois trucs et toujours faire attention. D’abord, les maths. Si votre pièce a déjà du papier peint, faites le compte des lés sur chaque mur (autrement, à vos machines à calculer, les enfants !). J’ai six lés et une poussière sur mes deux plus longs murs. J’ai une bow window, et le mur du fond a cinq lés. Après ce décompte, j’ai acheté cinq rouleaux. Faites les comptes pour votre pièce. Ouvrez-les tous, cherchez les raccords les plus proches pour avoir une séquence de pose et numérotez-les au crayon à l’intérieur du rouleau et mettez une flèche indiquant dans quel sens vous posez les motifs sur chaque rouleau (quand vous serez sur les rotules et ne saurez plus votre nom, ça vous sauvera la mise !). Déroulez un peu tous vos rouleaux et mettez les raccords au même niveau. Coupez les morceaux excédents (le plus long morceau que j’ai coupé mesurait vingt centimètres et sur un des rouleaux, je n’ai rien coupé du tout). À partir de ce moment-là, vous pouvez poser presque toutes vos longueurs de papier. Truc supplémentaire 1 : j’habite un vieil immeuble où il y a des baguettes sur tous les angles saillants, ce qui m’a permis de poser le papier sur le mur du fond sans m’occuper des motifs sur le mur qui le rejoint. Ça peut être une bonne idée pour vous faciliter la vie au niveau raccord. Jetez un œil à mon « super » dessin pour vous aider. Quand vous avez fini avec les lés que vous avez posés, vous n’avez plus qu’à travailler sur les quelques longueurs qui restent (en jouant à la belote avec vos rouleaux, vous ne devriez pas avoir trop de papier à couper pour être raccord avec le papier déjà posé). Truc supplémentaire 2 : sauf si vos murs sont cent fois pires que les miens, suivez simplement un bord vertical pour commencer à le poser. Truc supplémentaire 3 : toutes les vidéos de pose que j’ai regardées et les conseils sur les rouleaux vous disent de couper quelques centimètres de plus en haut et en bas. Un centimètre de plus suffit (sauf si vos murs ont le mal de mer, mais, là, vous coupez un centimètre de plus après avoir mesuré la plus grande longueur dont vous avez besoin). Truc supplémentaire 4 : tout le monde parle de couper l’excédent de papier au cutter ; les ciseaux ne sont pas mal non plus, même s’il faut décoller trente secondes. Bonne pose !

Plot Bunnies Hopping from My Classroom

I've been teaching for a few years now, and I noticed that most students manage to remember generic rules if I give them outrageous examples (a few think I'm nuts, but most do remember the strange example, and they associate it with the rule -> success!).

Last week, I wasn't teaching my students any generic rules, but I was talking about art conservation, and I mentioned a documentary about the British Museum, telling them to watch it if they ever spot it on telly or on the net.

And then... Crikey! I don't know where that came from, but I told them about pigments, about the one shade of yellow used by Van Gogh that's turning brown because of a chemical reaction. I went on, talking about the 19th century artists who used crushed mummies to paint, and... plot bunny! 

I told them that it'd be funny if the mummies came back from the dead through the paintings and chased the painters to curse them or kill them.

I quite like this idea.

I don't know where I'm going to use it (on its own, or in a 19th century plot on which I started working months ago), but it's in the plot bunny colony now.

I love it when my students help generate bunnies.

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 6: Modelling the Dress]

The photos are not really that good (sorry!), but they're the best I could get (and it took four tries in four days, and it was extremely weird since the camera did things I didn't even know were possible, but that's another story).

It's mainly just to give you an idea of the finished product...

Front view (with a completely unauthentic shawl - in my defence, it was rather nippy that day):

Another view of the front (sans shawl):

And finally, a view of the back:

I hope you'll like my version of a Regency day dress.
It took me much longer than I thought to be able to post all this, but many things conspired against me...
Well, it's there... Enjoy!

PS: I'd like a word with whoever invented the corset! That thing was devised in hell.

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 5: Cutting the Pieces & Assembling the Dress]

All right, now that you've got the pattern and that you've printed only the small "bits", here's the battle plan:

* you'll need one piece for:

- the front

- the back

- the belt

- the skirt

* you'll need two for:

- the sides

- the sleeves

The pattern doesn't take into account the seam allowance, so you'll have to keep in mind to not cut the material right against the pattern (about 1 cm/0.5" should be enough - check how your material reacts).

I'm 5'2", and the skirt could fit someone who's 5'6" (if you're taller, you'll need more material).

The dress is size 12 (UK variety). I guess that a size 10 would have to be cut right on the pattern, and add about 2.5 cm/1" for each extra size.

Here's how I proceeded with my 3mx1.5m (9'9"x5'1") remnant.
I folded the length in two, and I pinned the pattern for the sleeve on a corner (1cm/0.5" from the end of the material); then, I cut both sleeves at the same time:

Since my material is striped, it was quite easy to cut off the whole length of material where there was what I needed for the sleeves, and incidentally, I ended up with a nice square of material that can be used for something else (small scarf, reticule,... That's up to you).

Next, I folded the pattern of the front part in two (that's piece #1 in the drawing below). I folded the width of the remnant just enough to cover the folded pattern, and I pinned it. However, I cut the whole length: the huge rectangle that this forms is the skirt, and you can put it away for the moment (and by cutting off the rectangle for the sleeves and the one for the top and the belt, you don't have to actually measure the skirt).
You should be able to pin the sides' pattern (#2 below) on the same piece as the folded front. If your material isn't plain, mind the stripes or pattern when you pin that part.

The stripes don't align perfectly with the front part, but one has to inspect the dress closely to see it.

You're left with one big-ish, rectangle length of material.
Pin the back, and cut it:

In what's left of that length, cut the belt: 10cm/3.9"x1 m/39.4" (that'll work for the front belt and you'll have material for the four loops in the back.

I'll refer to the different pieces according to the numbers on this drawing:

Once you've sewn two parts together, always iron the seam open.

1- Sew the two sides (#2) to the back (#3):

2- Sew the front (#1) to the sides.

3- Sew the shoulders, joining the front and the back parts.

4- Place a pin in the top and bottom part of the front right in the middle (they'll be your guides until the very end; you could even use safety pins).

5- Hem the top part by hand, starting with the front; sew the extremity of the nylon cord thread where the shoulder parts meet and make sure that the thread will stay in place. As you go, make sure that you haven't caught the thread in the hem.
That hem can be pretty small (I had just a couple of millimetres of seam allowance).
When you reach the centre top pin, leave a small opening through which you can pull the thread (that you'll hide inside) to gather the top.

Then, hem the back to match the length of the hem in the front.

6- Sew the skirt (#5) into a tube, and place the seam in the middle of the back.
Just like for the top, use pins to help locate the two sides and the middle of the front.
Measure your ribcage right under your breasts and add 3 to 4 centimetres (1.2" to 1.6"); divide by 2 to know how much you've got to reduce the front and the back of the skirt where it connects with the top.
You'll have to pin the front in regular pleats:

You'll gather the back:

7- Pin the bottom of the front of the top part in pleats to match the top of the front of the skirt. The final diameter should match the diameter of the top of the skirt - of course.
There are no pleats in the back of the top. My ribcage is 78 cm (30.7"), and I pinned/hemmed everything at 82 cm (32.3") [because that's not much, and I need to be able to manoeuvre into the dress since there is no buttoned opening]; the pleats in the front part of the top just reached the side pieces (#2).

8- The sleeves (#6)... (that was the "entertaining" part of this dress).
First, a confession: the shoulder had a tad too much material, and the next time I make this dress, I'll cut the top right on the pattern.
Sew the length of the sleeve.
Try the top on and locate the middle of your shoulder; you know the drill: place a pin.
Fold a first sleeve along the seam, and pin the middle of the top of the sleeve to the shoulder. You should need to make 3 or 4 pleats between the top of the shoulder and the underarm on the front.
When everything is pinned (I'd recommend one careful try on the inside to make sure that everything will fit), you can sew the top and the first sleeve.
Repeat the operation on the second sleeve.

9- Iron the belt (#4). Measure the top of the skirt so that the belt will cover the front of the dress and reaches just a few centimetres beyond the middle of the side. Hem both sides of the belt. With the rest of the belt piece, make 2 or 4 loops for the back.
Pin the ribbon at the bottom of the belt so it doesn't move when you're going to sew the skirt to the top.
Pin the loops to the back (and be very careful to pin them straight!).

10- Pin the top to the skirt+belt and loops (this is when the "middle" pins will help you place everything where it should be; the pins in the front are particularly useful). Sew the pieces together.
You're going to have to take care of many threads.

11- Hem the bottom of the skirt.

12- Hem the sleeves.

13- Eventually add buttons to the sleeves, near the wrists.

14- Have fun in your pretty dress!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 4: Pattern]

So... It took me a long time, but I hope you'll like the result.

To make this dress, I used a remnant that was 3mx1.5m (9'9"x5'1").

Here's an image of the pieces you'll need (more details in the next post):

You'll also need about 2m (6'5") of ribbon matching your material, some nylon cord thread, and (eventually) six metal self-cover buttons.

And now, the big part of this post: a PDF file of my pattern. If there's any problem with it, leave me a message, and I'll find a way to send you the file.

Once you've got that file, you only need to print the top part (front, side, back, belt, sleeve); there's no point in printing the skirt.

Next post... Let's start the actual fun!

Lavender Spindle / Navette de lavande

For my karma, I've decided to try to balance my growls with nice and positive things.

After the discord cake saga, I give you pretty lavender.

Basically, you need to have access to a lavender bush (the traditional plant from Provence, not the recent aberration that's being marketed in most places) because you need to deal with extra fresh stalks.

Cut eighteen stalks of lavender and clean them of tiny stalks on the side and/or of tiny clusters of flowers below the head.

Choose a ribbon (for having tested several kinds, I recommend satin), but avoid white as fresh lavender may stain. You'll need 1.2 m (about 48 in) if your ribbon is 1 cm (0.4 in) wide.

Gather the heads together and tie one end on the ribbon as close to them as you can.

The long side of the ribbon determines if you start left or right (more like flowers up or down, in fact); you may not mind which way you start, but some people have a favourite way to operate: basically, if your first try is hell, it may be because you started up instead of down, or the contrary.

Next, hold the flowers together, and bend the stalks two by two.

You start threading your ribbon below two stalks, above the next two, below the next two and so on (mistakes happen, but you'll see it quickly if the ribbon is above or below twice in a row; then... undo the ribbon until you find the mistake, and start again).

You've got to hold the flowers tight, and it may be helpful to place the ribbon up against the prior rank and gently pull it into position (then again, there's not only one method to do this).

You can tie it anyway you like when you reach the "end" of the flowers, but just wrapping the stalks is rather pretty - and it's useful as you'll need to tighten the ribbon about a week later once the flowers start drying.

Cut the stalks at the same length (or not).

You can use different colours for your ribbons; you can even use two and make a bicolour spindle (that's a bit entertaining).

You can use more or fewer stalks.

With a 0.5 cm (0.2 in) ribbon, you can use the tiny stalks on the side of the bigger flowers.

Store in a vase or hide in your drawers with your clothes, socks, towels, skeletons, scarves, etc... They last for months and months (or years if the lavender's really good). Have fun!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3 3/4: Last Update before an Avalanche of Posts]

The toile worked, and the dress is awesome.

Just two things: I need to sew the hem (and since this lil' bunny is being slaved in a garden, that's going to take a few more days), and to work on the cuffs.

And... I forgot in town a few images to help with the assembling of the dress. Oops & drat! I swear I was convinced they were on my flash-drive... They aren't.

I'm going to prepare everything (I can always type what needs to be typed), and when I hop to town in a few days, I'll add the images, and I'll post three posts about the pattern, the cutting/assembling, and the final product (with - hopefully - photos taken in a lovely garden).

See you soon with a Regency pattern for a lovely dress*.

*: yes, I am quite proud of the result. ^_^

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3 3/4: Spot of News]

Nearly there!

I need to make a toile, and I can post (don't expect anything before next week, at best, though...)

See you soon!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3 1/2: Strategy Update]

I dreamt about the dress - and the blue material.

So, first, the green one shall be dealt with in second, and then I came to realize a couple of things: the pattern could be... let's say, not perfect, and instead of sharing something that may need too many adjustments, I'm going to work on a standard pattern that could be adapted to different sizes (hopefully).

In order to make sure that my pattern works, I'm going to try it.

Chapter 4 won't be posted until I've finished the dress, but that means that the pattern can be trusted, and I can post Chapter 5: Cutting the Pieces, Chapter 6: Assembling the Dress, and Chapter 7: Showing Off Modelling the Dress at the same time.

Unfortunately, the Easter break is happening very soon, which means that two weeks of my life are about to be eaten up by Muggles.

Well, I'll have time to convert all the measurements meticulously...

I should have realized the issue about creating the pattern and posting it straight away, but I think the pollen's melting my brain cells.

See you soon-ish with (hopefully) four new sewing posts...

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3: Material (Shopping) Madness]

So... I went shopping... for Regency plausible material.

I was really trying to find some crépon like the Elinor blue dress in Sense and Sensibility, but there was none, and the only affordable one was black (I love black, but I really thought it'd be a tad too much). 

I went to a store that specializes in selling remnants (10 ft for £4!!!), and I found really nice things:

- first this nice light maroon/dark beige crêpe with golden flowers (yes, I swear they're flowers; hopefully, it'll photograph better with the whole dress):

 [incidentally, I placed the remnant on my dark maroon satin coat lining]

- then, I found this light green light cotton fabric:

 - and last, I adopted this thick cotton fabric:

I'm going to start with the green one.

Everything's almost ready about the pattern, but, as I'd like to give you the measurements in inches and centimetres, I'll have to do some maths and that's going to be barmy and basically pure hell.

Oh... what's going to slow me down, as well, is the local, self-appointed assistant.

Here, you can see him working on what's going to become a petticoat for my V&A Couture Inspired Dress:

So, basically, Chapter 4: Dress Pattern may be slightly slow to appear...

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 2: Planning the Pattern&Testing Things]

So... I was planning to go buy material last Friday, but I had to change my plans, and I'll go only next Friday.

However, I've been collecting quite a few photos of dresses in museums, and I've made choices about the pattern that I'm about to start plotting (can one plot a pattern? Ach! Never mind...). 

I've noticed two ways to deal with gathers on the top front part of the dress (I can deal with that, or with pleats, on a skirt in my sleep, and plan what needs to be done before tea, and with just my non-dominant hand - I've got years of training on 19th century skirts). I could either make the top front part in one or two pieces (both would be historically possible). 

As it happens, I don't want to have two pieces, and so, I'm going to need to make a few tests in order to assess how much material is needed in order to get the proper gathers.

Basically, checking how much material is needed won't take me long, and then I can start combining patterns.

Incidentally, the sleeves may end up being the tricky part of this pattern: what shape to choose? Buttons on the forearm or not?

For my first dress, I'll probably stick to what I can see in the captures from Sense and Sensibility, which means a simple long sleeve with decorative buttons.

All right. See you all in a few days, and wish me luck!

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 1: Addiction&Pattern]

*curtseys*

How do you do?

I see you've met my... Oops! Wrong reference, sorry!

*coughs discreetly*

So... I happen to have addictions: mint sweets, cheeses, books, music... and making historical costumes (that started when I was dancing, and I had to make my own costumes - because that was waaaaaay cheaper that way).

As it happens, Sense and Sensibility (the 1995 version) is my favourite film, and for the past two days (and I can't even remember how it started!), I've been looking at photos and blogs and pages and documentaries and anything I could find really about Regency dresses.

It turns out that I could only find two free patterns on the Internet, and so, I've decided that if I manage to make the dress of my dreams, I'm going to share the pattern here.

My plan is to use what I've found on the Internet, what I know about the history of fashion and... what I can snatch from the Sense and Sensibility film.

Basically, I'll be trying to make something like this: 

Now... I just have to:

- work on the pattern

- go shop for some material and ribbons (that I can afford)

- find time to work on it

- deal with ignore my Muggle relatives as they'll disparage my wish to wear a Regency dress today (basically... So, what???!)

Wish me luck?

Musical Plot Bunny

In that other literary life that's behind me now, my first big, serious plot bunny was full of music. It's completely mad, because it was a Frasier OST that inspired me to write my first big fanfic (the plot bunny was hugging in his paws several songs that were, I still remember very clearly how it all started, the spark that encouraged me to start writing again).

I grew up with music, and I love music.

A few hours ago, something odd happened as I listened to a piece of music that I've always had in my life (and now, I've got the MP3 on my tiny player). Suddenly, I saw a dancing couple, back when the musical piece was created.

I don't know who they are - yet.

I don't know their story/stories/adventures/whatever, but I've got a baby bunny on my lap, and over the next weeks (months?), he's going to take shape and tell me his tale.

Here's the bunny soundtrack: