aka Chesty LaRue

Wench Posse: California Edition

There hasn't been much posting lately because I have literally been a crazy person running around trying to finish outfits for paying clients (as well as outfits for myself so I am not naked) before I go gallivanting off to Costume College.

Also?  We have a sick puppy.  Layla has been diagnosed with a congenital portosystemic shunt, which means her liver is not currently filtering out toxins, and which also means a very expensive surgery in September when she is 4 months old.  It is very hard to think that something this cute has a life threatening condition:

I recently finished up a lovely pink princess type gown for Shimmy.  This is her first real court gown, and in her own words as a bellydancer:  "It feels so odd to be all covered up."  We based it off of a portrait found in one of my costuming books, and once the French hood is finished it will look pretty close to the picture, minus the fur. 

The front shot:

The back shot:

She's kind of saucy.  We love this about her.

Princess also made me a lovely necklace out of a bracelet, some pearl drops, some gold beads and some other bracelet links to wear with my French outfit to CoCo:

The Chick and I worked on my camo outfit for Bristol:

I look like a deranged camp counselor.

And then Wed. rolled around, the night before I was to leave at some ungodly hour from the MSP International Airport.  The Chick (in her irreverent fashion) sent out a call via Facebook to Wench Posse members near and far to come and help me prepare for CoCo and represent us well.  And a load of people showed up.  It was very sweet and desperately needed.  I played General to the Battle of the Costume College Costumes and other than some horrible Barry Manilow Sings Songs of the 80's which was playing in the background, it all went well.  (Careless Whisper almost broke me, folks.)

The Chick used some little green army men and made a diorama on my hat:

Let's check out the close-up, shall we?

This coming weekend is also the ASOP or the El Jefe Series of Poker, Summer Spectacular.  Since I normally make an outrageously tacky garment piece to be worn as part of the ASOP regalia, something had to be made.  Since I had no time, I did the next best thing - I had the Gay Blade make one for me:

It is to be a Championship Belt Buckle, a la the WWF.  I told the GB to let loose, and not hold back.  The end result was a thing of glittery, pipe cleanery, sparkle glue glory.

The lovely Pirate C also came over and single-handedly created a French hat for me:

Princess made pintuck curls in my fake hair and also put together a girdle so glorious that it has to remain a secret until after the outfit is worn:

DangerKitty, fresh off of sewing multiple pairs of bloomers, was again pressed into service to sew my farthingale.  She was a trooper and we love her.  I need to do something nice for her.  Note to self.

Check out my pasty white legs in the background.

The lovely Marti Potter stuffed two bumrolls for me for my French gown.  The Chick offered to model them:

Then Pirate C tried one on and things went horribly awry:

Georgie was also a big help, making multiple runs to Joann's and just generally doing what needed to be done.  In the end, I decided a group picture was in order.

Then things just got silly.

And after all of that outpouring of love and affection and serging, I finally got on the plane (with 3 hours of sleep) and made it to Los Angeles.  And while United may break guitars, Northwest is really good with sewing machines. 

My current weekend home:

Now note how tidy my roommate's side of the room is in comparison:

Basement Sweatshop, Van Nuys Extension:

And a sample of things to come for this weekend:

And now to so much needed sleep.  Huzzah and all that.

Wench Posse: Weekend Edition

It is amazing what a little sleep can do for a gal.  After not getting a full night's uninterrupted sleep for 2 weeks I was a bit cranky.  At one point I left the house to go get ice cream and I wasn't sure I was coming back.  Such was the state of my psyche.  A little sleep later and BAM!  Such a better attitude.  I had completely forgotten what this was like from having infants.  Maybe it was the hormones last time...

However - we had remodeling this past week with 5 separate rooms in the house being painted, to include the kitchen and my bedroom.  G walked into the kitchen to find the fridge in the middle of the room and said, "Wow.  Are you going to leave this here?  Because I don't think Dad is going to like having to cook around this."

Layla the puppy got sick and required some IV fluids, vitamins, etc.  One enormous vet bill later and we are trying to make sure she eats and drinks more.  She has started to fill out now and is back to wanting to bite my nose, so I am thinking she is better.  I also found her randomly walking around the house last night at 4:30am, having escaped from her kennel.  She was very excited to see me, oddly enough.  I think we should have named her The Great Houdini.

In other news, Roxie was playing with my tape measure, desperately trying to make sure it was dead by pouncing on it and shaking it into submission, and occasionally bringing it over to me to show me what a good dog she was.

Say it with me now - "Aw!"

No Margo Anderson patterns were harmed in the taking of this photograph.

I also spent quite a bit of time on Shimmy's costume this week, which is coming along nicely and should be ready for pictures tomorrow. 

Another one I have been working on is for Countess Ang out at the faire.  I was making her a new teal outfit to fit with her brand new corset from Scoundrelle's Keep (these things are seriously engineered and seriously lovely folks - definitely worth it for those with large busts - also kitted out to look rather steampunk).  She brought over a peach/pink outfit that was too small and we decided to redo it to fit with the new corset so she would have more than one fitting outfit.  She brought me a huge roll of this braided trim with gold studs in it and we just decided to go to town on the thing and make it as over the top as possible.  Which was terribly fun.  I added guards to the underskirt, re-did all the trim on the overskirt and added guards to that, made a heavily decorated partlett and took the front off of the old bodice and appliqued it onto the front of a new bodice. 

I just have to say that I was really impressed with Margo's patterns here.  Countess has a very hourglass shape and I was really concerned about how we were going to be able to make her bodice and especially how to fit it properly over a Victorian corset.  The patterns worked so well and the bodice fit her like a glove. 

Here is the front with all the pink trim:

Here is the back with the added boning to give support over the top of the corset:

Isn't she cute?

We had a Six Wives get-together last night and I fitted muslin mock-ups to people for their costumes.  Everyone looked great and I would like to especially thank Marti Potter for running out and getting snacks for everyone.  I repeatedly asked her how much I owed her until she looked at me and said, "Bite my ass."  At which point I simply said thank you and ate the chocolate that was offered to me. 

Here is MP in her in-progress costume:

And here is a better picture representing the silliness of the evening (and showing MP's soon to be completed beaded oversleeves:

 

Note - MP made all of her own jewelry out of thrift store finds and items from Michael's/Joann's.  Check out her new Etsy store for her regular stuff.

I was tickled that she was so pleased with her costume.  All seamstresses/costume designers, etc. are really compliment whores when you get right down to it.  Our fragile egos need much boosting.

The lovely Gay Blade was there and wearing a fabulous ring he bought that was made at a company called "Fit for a Queen."  He and Georgie were kind enough to model their fab rings for the blogosphere:

Guess which one is the Drag Queen one?  No, really. 

Georgie also documented the new Wench Posse drink called the "Yo-ho-ho" which apparently includes some sort of Coconut Rum and some limeade.  There may be other things in it, but I was too busy drinking margaritas and one lovely Brandy Alexander as made by El Jefe to concern myself with rum.  My pancreas handled the whole thing quite nicely, and I didn't break out in hives this time.  Which really just means that El Jefe needs to make me margaritas all the time.  Lucky guy.

Lots of finished projects coming up this week as I prepare for Costume College (aka Clown College as so-named by my family) on July 30th.  Since I currently will be going naked (as so often happens to me) I need to actually MAKE the costumes and get them done in time.  Luckily I have the Chick and her cutting support.  She is truly the wind beneath my wings.  Heh.

More pictures later, along with more Puppy P*rn.  Because everyone loves puppies.

Wench Posse Lite: Tastes Great, Less Filling

It has been a productive week.  First I finished both the Disney Princess dress and the Purple dress for Princess, and forced her to model in them under scathingly hot and humid conditions with no water or food FOR HOURS. 

Or, maybe it was for just a few minutes.  And maybe she didn't mind.  Doesn't she look happy?

And here is the finished purple, although there are sleeves, a new underskirt and a matching purple doublet to come later.  I call it Garanimals for Renaissance - mix and match:

I did replace the burgundy guard in this picture with a black one and added ribbon trim at the suggestion of the Chick.  It looked lurvely.

I also did some work on the outfit of the lovely Marti Potter.  Here it is in progress:

I did sell the Venetian that had been on Realm of Venus to a lovely woman in Australia who will hopefully love it.  It was a lovely dress.  But it is time to move onward and upward!  Or onto something new.  As I am wont to do.

Over the 4th of July Swimmer came to visit and we worked on her Bristol gowns.  Here she is in her corset and the Chick's farthingale (hers is still to come):

Her Elizabethan has an aquatic/fish theme, and she has a lovely German coming along nicely for Bristol.

I got some work done on Shimmy's pink silk Elizabethan (she is going to look so cute):

She hand-beaded her skirt, which was nice for me!

Our two Wench Posse nights here have been poorly attended, which means more work than actual bitching was accomplished.  The lovely Danger Kitty cut 13 front panels for me, and is currently sewing together the last remaining bloomers.  Woot! 

The Chick was also down in the sweatshop here at Casa de Larue, working away furiously on corsets and whatnot on G's sewing machine:

What you can't see in the picture is the chain on her other ankle where I chained her to the chair.  Bwah ha ha.

Then she found El Jefe's old Cisco conference hat and was inspired to dance:

"Annie are you ok?  Are you ok Annie?  You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a stray serger thread..."

Georgie also got into the groove in her newly shortened farthingale:

Did you know that Reading is Sexy?  Apparently so, as per Georgie's shirt.

Tomorrow my home continues to be torn apart by remodeling, and more sewing is on the schedule.  I leave you with a farewell kiss from Georgie, modeling the lower half of her Mardi Gras outfit:

She loves you, and you love her, and you love each other, because none of you got enough love in your childhoods.  Or something like that.

All Work and No Play Makes Larue Very Cranky Indeed (and likely to talk in the 3rd person)

I have been covered in bits of thread and smelling of puppy for about a week now. 

This is not entirely a good thing.

Luckily the Monks of New Skete know what they are doing, and the puppies slept from 10:30-6:30 last night and everyone is happier this morning.  Especially me.  I tend to get a mite cranky from lack of sleep.  Ask El Jefe and the Chick.  And did you know puppies are much cuter when you are not sleep deprived? It's true.

As I looked over my Sewing Spreadsheet yesterday, it seemed to me that it wasn't changing at all.  I was getting things done and deleting them from the list, but more things kept being added.  People have said to me, "Well, wouldn't you be bored if you had nothing to do?"

Yes, I would.  But that is what the "future projects" spreadsheet is for.  I just want to cross something off and feel the satisfaction of having done so.  When I finished redoing the guard for the underskirt on Princess A's purple dress yesterday I instantly packaged the whole thing up and brought it upstairs to put by the door so it could leave as soon as possible.  Because as much as I love to see my work completed and displayed on the mannequin (and more so on the person it is made for), I like to see it leave my house.  Maybe this is why I keep so few costumes for myself.  I have raised/sewn my babies and now they need to leave the nest.  Again, and again.

I like organization.  I like orderliness.  I love to have the Chick come and cut for me (can you imagine? Someone who actually LIKES cutting out patterns?), it drives me crazy not knowing where the stuff I had put on the table went to.  She is very patient with me and my OCD tendencies and allows me to move things so I know where they are, and then gets her stuff ready and cuts away.  And her cutting is very precise.  Which is WONDERFUL.  There is nothing quite so great as sewing something that has to be done right away and having all the pieces be the same length, size, etc., and marked with their tabs, etc. 

Non-sewing people might not get that, but it is just so relaxing.  Especially when you have been in such a hurry you go to serge two strips of fabric together and discover you have created a mobius strip and don't have enough leftover fabric to fix it.  (Not a good moment at all.)

I have been in such a sewing haze this past week that I have not watched any TV at all except for date night with El Jefe (Burn Notice, yah baby!), read any books, read any blogs, done much in the way of exercise, really done anything other than take puppies outside, help clean puppy pee, mediate between tired teenagers, and teach them how to hold puppies like footballs, which makes it easier to take two squirmy puppies outside at the same time.  I have also had my nose pressed to a serger or a sewing machine, or been meeting with clients.  I would not be surprised to reach in my bra and find a bobbin there.  I am fairly certain there is thread on my butt. 

And now it is crunch time.  I have much to accomplish before Costume College and Bristol, which is just a month away.  And starting next week the kids are in camp half-days, which means my puppy time increases. 

I am taking this as a good thing.  It will be good for me to sit outside and read a book while the puppies explore the yard.  It will be good for me to get away from the sewing machine and eat something with nutritional value.  It will be good for me to perhaps get on the treadmill and watch an episode of Law & Order (ding-ding!). 

And hopefully my spreadsheet will narrow down a bit and I will have some breathing room.  Which would be nice. 

Keeping me up at night...

Or the reason I haven't posted in several days:

Layla and Roxanne Larue, 8 weeks old, 4 lbs. each, Welsh Terriers.  They will be about 15-20 lbs. as adults, and will look like this:

They are cute and cuddly and like to get up at all hours, and Holy Crap have they completely reinforced the fact that I don't want another infant EVER.  And God Bless the Monks of New Skete, because I think their puppy training methods are going to enable us to actually sleep at night.  Because right now we are all so slap-happy that I think the kids are currently drinking coffee.

And yes, they are named after the Eric Clapton and Police songs.  We are big fans here at Chez Larue. 

Otherwise I have mostly been working on clients' work (pictures coming eventually), finishing up beading for the Princess (which is not as exciting visually when it is In Progress) and working on Georgie's Mardi Gras and German costumes.  And making really bad Santa jokes. 

Did I mention the lack of sleep? 

I have a lot of work to do before Costume College on the 30th of July (and WOO!  Uninterrupted sleep!  YES!) and should hopefully have pictures of something by then.  Otherwise I will just put up more Puppy P*rn. 

Off to nap.

Wench Posse: Sisterhood of the Magic Partlett

Awhile ago when I met Princess A she had an old white partlett that she wanted me recreate for her.  I ripped it apart, made a pattern, and made her several lovely new partletts to wear with last year's ensembles.  It was a fairly simple pattern and turned out a nice product.

Along the way I discovered that this particular pattern fit pretty much everyone.  It was like those traveling pants from that book and that movie.  To REALLY test this notion of the Ultimate Partlett, I had our own Gay Blade try it on:  (note - he is 6'7 with a 52 inch chest)

 

Stunningly, he was not only able to get it over his shoulders, but able to put his arms in it and when pulled properly in front it is only 4 inches apart.  (For this exercise the partlett used was the black one worn with Princess' pirate ensemble, and most recently worn by myself at Twig). 

We decided to conduct an unofficial experiment last evening on Wench Posse night.  It would appear that there are spots or something on my camera lens, and that the flash was VERY bright.  I apologize to the WP members for the less than flattering light.

First up was the bodacious Georgie, rocking the gang sign. 

Next up was our WIT (Wench in Training) or Recruit, lending her own brand of sassy to the gang sign.

TraynerShayne got in on the action with a very happy gang sign.

Hench D (honorary WP member) even had her service dog The War Rat participate.  Being that she does not have opposable thumbs, we are going to assume that what we see here is INDEED the gang sign.

 

Princess and Shimmy joined forces to show us just how roomy the partlett can be.  They also showed off how terribly cute they are.

And then the Chick decided to do an homage to Thriller:

And then showed off her MJ moves:

Not to be outdone, I was the final person to pose in the magic partlett in my own homage to the late gloved one:

Just keep it in the closet. 

Also finished?  The Disney Princess dress!  WOO-HOO!

As God is my witness, I shall never hand-stitch again.

Or not.

More excitement coming this weekend on the anniversary of our nation, and previews of the fabulous gowns being worn to Bristol.  Also?  I have given in and have listed my Venetian on eBay. 

Sigh.  There really should be a 12-step program for this sort of thing. 

Also?  Possible new addition to the family this weekend.  And no, I'm not pregnant (HA HA HA).  If it all happens there will be disgustingly cute photos tomorrow.  Stay tuned.