This n' That

I've got a little bit o' this n' that to show you today.  First up, the current work in progress:

 Part of why I hadn't completed the blue corset is because I didn't know how I wanted to finish it.   Since the current Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge is to finish a UFO, I forced myself to make a choice.  The blue silk above is leftover from a previous corset, and the lace is a vintage piece I picked up at Lacis.  I haven't attached them yet, but I've been trying them next to the corset to see how they look.

 

 I'll use the blue silk to bind the edges, then attach the vintage lace all along the top.  I think it's going to look pretty fabulous.  Later on I might do some flossing in a blue silk to match the binding, but for now I just care about getting this off my UFO pile.  I'll have this done within the next day or two, and then I can move on to the next project.

 I've been looking at a lot of antique wooden busks on various museum sites lately.  Check out this beauty at the Winterthur Museum.  Since I've got access to scrap wood, bandsaws, sanders and lasers, I decided to try my hand at making one.  It's not very historically accurate, but I'd rather play with lasers than do hand carving right now anyways.

 In other news, I've been bad again.  After buying a gazillion saris off of eBay last year while planning my Titanic Gown, you'd think I'd have enough.  Nope!

 This beauty is destined to be a Regency dress.  It's a printed cotton sari, and it's gorgeous!  The border runs the length of the sari (5 yards), so I'll get to have a dress with a pretty bordered hem.  I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to incorporate the decorative end into the top somehow or save it for something else.

I had a nice surprise in store for me when it showed up.  The fabric is a changeable cotton!  The warp threads are a wine color, and the weft threads are orange, giving it a different appearance depending on which way you look at it.   The colors of this sari aren't nearly as bright in person as they seem on my computer screen (no idea what they look like on yours) but the color shift is still pretty noticeable.

Wine warp and orange weft gives this cotton fabric its special appearance.

I want to get started on this right away, but I'm going to be good and make my underpinnings first.  That means I'd better get my butt in gear and start researching Regency stays.

I also got a few other pretties in this order, though I haven't a clue what I'm going to do with them.  They were just so beautiful I couldn't pass them up.  First up is this crazy awesome green sari with tons of goldwork and tambour embroidery.  Seriously, it's so pretty I'm afraid to do anything with it.

Damn, right?

The last piece is this amazing skirt that is also covered in goldwork.  It's not destined for any project, as I intended to wear it a time or two before deciding what to do with it.  I've since discovered that it's waaaaaaayyy too long for me (comes up to my boobs!) so I will have to make some sort of alterations to it.  It also very much needs a vodka bath.  For now, I'm content to just look at it.

Anyways, back to work.  I really must get sewing, since all I seem to be doing is acquiring more projects!