Parasol Photos and Jackson!

Well, I fell off the face of the earth for the past week and a half. Sorry for the long wait on the parasol photos... here they are, in abundance! It was a nice day, so I trotted outside with Oswald (my faithful camera) and had a shoot.

Ta-daaa! This parasol is like my child ;*)

The still-bunchy insides :/

Folded up and ready to hit the road!

I can't get over the original lace!

The end. (Pun intended!)

The lining still isn't the best [insert understatement of the century] so I'll probably end up fiddling with it some more, eventually. For now, it keeps the sun off and looks super stylish, so I'm satisfied with that! Many ladies were quite envious of my Chantilly shade :)

The Jackson reenactment was this past weekend, which accounts for my absence. In the past couple of weeks, I have:
- Recovered the parasol
- Finished The Epic Striped Wrapper
- Re-set the cartridge pleating on the skirt of the blue and white plaid
- Boned the burgundy Swiss body
- Other miscellaneous maintenance and adjustments
- Made an entire new corset

Surprise! Yes, I just cranked out my first Victorian corset. The one I was wearing didn't fit too great (as it wasn't fit to me) and was too large to the point where it laced up all the way in the back and was still not nearly as tight as it should be. My very knowledgeable friend came over for a few sewing sessions/lessons and showed me how it was done. Look for another post about the corset experience after the JACKSON post, which will be next :) So many posts in the queue right now... be excited!!

Recovering the Parasol, Part I: Restoring, not Destroying

It is a truth universally acknowledged that it is terrifying to take scissors to an antique, with the intention of dismantling it. Here is a diagram of this horrifying process: 

Nevertheless, I took my tiny Ginghers to the parasol, in an attempt to get the silk off. The whole time, I muttered to myself, "I am restoring, not destroying!" It was only moderately comforting, but after a few minutes, the shock of cutting into an original piece wore off somewhat.

Phase 1: Separate lace and silk.

They were sewn together near the end of the spikes. A dozen or so snips, and the lace was free! Now we get a better picture of the condition of the silk canopy

Destroyed side

Not so destroyed side... looks like a pattern piece to me!

Phase 2: Remove silk from parasol

This took a little longer. Both the top silk and the lining were securely stitched to little holes in the spokes (will be handy later!) and to a few points up the line. Nevertheless, this went pretty much without incident. Since the lace is quite securely fastened on, I decided to leave it be and just attach the silk under it, if possible.

No more silk! Except for the little guards on the spokes,
which are still intact.

Next step: use the extant silk to make a pattern. There are salvageable panels from both silk shapes, so it shouldn't be too bad... I hope! My trip to Haberman's yesterday furnished me with the material for the new canopy. I happened to find silk in exactly the same color as what had come off the original! (I should have enough of it to line it, too, should I decide to do so in the same color.) It also furnished me with the gumption to get this show on the road! My frog closures for my wrapper also finally arrived in the post yesterday. Now, I have to get these two projects cranked out so I can get going on the rest of my pre-Jackson sewing madness!