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It takes a practice to train a kid

2005-01-24 - 11:34 a.m.

I love snow days, probably because it gets so cozy and I can accomplish so much. Provided of course, the snow does not last for more than three days.

Three days cooped up is my limit. Then I need to do the Lazarus trick and flee the tomb.

Which was not the case this time. I got the chance to be a bum, accomplish things and cozy up to the fireplace. And on the third day, weather got better and here we are at work doing our usual stuff.

At any rate, Saturday I was a total bum. I slept late and then I plopped down in front of the tv, while the History Channel ran a series of documentaries that I found quite entertaining.

At that point I decided that this was a wonderful opportunity to work on my new Italian Ren gown -- that of unfortunate events reputation.

But I did not want to leave my warm place in front of the tv.

Hmmmm . . . what to do?

Well, I thought, I do have to flat-line the pieces so I might as well do it by hand. After that, I can leave my seat and work at the sewing machine.

However, after flatlining the bodice, I realized that I was still very comfy and that I was just too lazy to leave the couch.

Hmmmm . . . well, the Egyptian mummies are looking quite interesting, and I have some thread and needle here. How complicated can it be hand-stitching a bodice?

The results were great. Hand-stitching gives you so much more control over your garment and, although more time-consuming, the results are wonderful.

It truly fits like a glove and it looks just like the paintings.

Sunday we did a lot of cleanup and, except for a couple of boxes, the family room has been cleared out of all the clutter resulting from the move. And Marcellus even did laundry! (Gotta love a man who does laundry!)

I was going to be good and shovel the snow off the driveway, but my two men -- namely Marcellus and Carlos -- insisted in doing it without my help. Hey, I did not give them an argument. Instead, I propped myself again on the couch, in front of the tv, and continued working on the Italian dress.

It is almost done now. And all hand-stitched. The only modern thing that it has is a pair of rigeline (I think that's what it is) bones, which I handsewed to the lining and where you can see the modern encasing. (It is one of those fabric encased, plastic bones, that you can cut to measure).

I had to do that because when I laced the bodice, it would bunch up, and I did not feel like picking apart the bodice again in order to insert boning between the layers. The boning, however, made all the difference.

Of course, I will need more lacers. I had ordered some lovely pewter ones from Hedgehog Handworks, and I just realized that I did not oder enough. I have placed a new order and hopefully they will be here soon. They tend to ship really fast.

And hey, I would like to say that I hand-stitched this thing because I am so cool and so diligent, but the truth of the matter is that I did it for the simple reason that I could not bring myself to ungluing my butt from the couch.

And the shows were good.

So there.

But it was worth it.

Now I have the problem of the camicia, which I purchased from Historic Enterprises last Pennsic. It is a decent one, but the neckline is too high for this particular bodice. It bunches up almost to my neck instead of peeking coquettishly out of the bodice neckline as it should. The resulting effect is rather frumpy.

So now I have to make another one.

And if time permits it, I will even do it by hand.

American Idol season just started.


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