Tuesday, January 16, 2018

January Remake Plans 1/16

I need to start writing down my sewing plans for each week. Last year I started doing that for other things in real life and it helped so much that now I am a firm believer in the benefits of lists and schedules. So this is what I want to do this week. It's not a huge list but should fill up my spare time more than adequately. ;) And since the month is already half over I really need to get started on these things!

1. Redo my blue print dress

This shouldn't be hard. I was making it a lot harder on myself by weighing all these different options for remaking it. But most of those ideas required buying more of this fabric (that is assuming the fabric store has any of this left) or taking width out of the skirt to redo the bodice. 

I was making it way too hard. 

This bodice only requires a little extra width pieced in under the arms. I don't need much extra fabric for that. Certainly not enough to justify slicing into the skirt or buying extra fabric. I decided that I wasn't going to spend any money on this remake and wasn't going to take out any of the skirt. It was so hard to get the skirt pieces matched anyway. Anyway, once that was decided things fell into place and this remake shouldn't take more than evening or two. 


My current plans are to take from the sleeves to get the little I need to piece in under the arms. The sleeves are currently gathered to a cuff but by taking off the cuff and making the sleeves into slim cut coat sleeves I will have some scraps to play with. I also need to shorten the waistline a bit. Then I can reset the skirts, reset the sleeves and my dress should be good to go!

2. Redo my boots

Do you want to see what the Fugawee Victoria boots look like after a decade of use? Like this:


I wasn't even going to bother trying to fix these up anymore and was going to just use them for a very poor, working class impression but hey, I may as well try to get another season of use out of them. They look pretty bad but I think I can clean them up nicely. The soles still look pretty good, thanks to my greatly-missed Illinois shoe repairman. (Yes, it's worth a many-hour drive to take your shoes to a good shoe shop!!!) I need to brush off the dirt, dye any bare patches, condition the leather and polish them up, put on new buttons or reattach the old ones with heavy waxed thread and finally, clean out the area where the soles are separating and reglue those spots. 


With that, they should be perfectly good for this season. After so much wear in all sorts of weather and on all sorts of terrain, they have stretched out some and I can't really make them smaller but I can wear heavier stockings for a good fit. 


If I can get those 2 projects done this week I will be well on my way to getting my to-redo list crossed off before the end of January! Here's hoping!

Love,
Sarah

4 comments:

  1. Oh those'll clean up just fine. So long as the soles are in good condition and the lining is OK, that leather on the uppers will take a bit of lustre cream and shoe wax in black like a champ. You'll be amazed.

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    1. You're right! They came out really well - much better than I had hoped. I still want to get new shoes this year for this period but it will be nice to have these so I can save the new ones for good. I really love the Eliza shoe you previewed yesterday! I think I might need to go with those. . .

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  2. Sarah: Do you find the Fugawee Civil War Boots comfortable? I am considering buying a pair...eventually.

    Thank you,
    Lisa

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    1. Hi Lisa! I find them pretty comfortable, although if I remember right, they were a bit tight at first. Over the years they have become pretty loose and my only complaint right now is that little pebbles and sand get inside my shoe really easily. I think this is because the top of the shoe, that goes around my ankle, is pretty loose and so it is easy for anything I kick up to fall down inside the shoe. They have held up for so long. I think the quality is really good for them to have lasted so long with so much wear. They are easy to get on and off, too. When they were new and when I get new soles they are really slick and it's easy to have your feet slip out from under you so I wear them on pavement for awhile to roughen the surface up. I will never forget the time I was holding my few-months-old son at an event and my feet went out from under me on the slick grass. I fell backwards and hit my head but the baby was fine! sooo embarrassing!

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Thank you for your lovely thoughts!