I feel your pain about not having the Christmas Spirit this year. I flew home Dec 13, and within 3 days my very cautious mom and sister had both tested positive. My poor mom was so sad feeling like she ruined Christmas! We had to sacrifice a lot of our regular Christmas traditions so they could isolate, but luckily my mom's isolation ended on Christmas Day and it was so nice to finally hug her for Christmas :)
My family gets together on the 24th to eat usually prime rib and a small turkey just in case for dinner. When we eat we have a running joke that we are going to all go to midnight mass, but no one in my family has set foot in a church in at least 20 years so it's kind of fun. Then we make hot coco and go look at christmas lights with the kids, who are 20 and 15 now. it's great!
I can relate to this. The last time we actually went was in 1984, but it is mentioned every year, even this one. It got us to laugh, which was very welcome this year.
You can do eeet!! You’re cruising right along, and the Witch-a-la-Reine will be fabulous. It’s already looking pretty frickin awesome at the halfway mark. Christmas has always been a religious holiday for my family, and has been really special. Picture a Norman Rockwell Christmas painting. We spent the holiday with my parents, my brother, his wife, and their son. It’s very likely the last whole family gathering as Dad is quite ill, and Mom has advanced Alzheimer’s, so it was bittersweet. I’m still slowly knitting away on my son’s blanket (3/4 done) with occasional breaks to knit Christmas ornaments. I’m reading everything I can get my hands on about spinning. My New Year’s “resolution” is to teach myself to spin yarn, though I guess that’s really a goal. Otherwise, my resolution is the same as always: To make every interaction with others (especially online) as kind and positive as possible because the world needs more kindness. Happy New Year, Noelle!! Wishing you and yours love, light, and blessings for the coming year.
@@Costuming_Drama I almost forgot!!! An incredibly funny game…Poetry for Neanderthals. It’s made by the people who did Exploding Kittens. It comes with an inflatable club that says, “NO!” on it for whacking players who aren’t up to snuff. It’s absolutely hilarious with the right people… or at least the people with irreverent senses of humor.
I do Christmas more as a family event than anything else, also work is open right through. I have also noticed it did not feel like Christmas this year. I'm so glad you're doing front lacing stays! I desperately want to make a pair and as I'm also a plus size gal am really looking forward to seeing your process. Bernadette is a terrible influence 😆 I'm busy hand sewing my 2nd pirate shirt and your videos are delightful company!
The former punk/goth kid in my soul loves this make. Super excited to see it! Love finding out that we have the same birthday, definitely sensing some chaotic Capricorn energy in this video!
When I was little, we always had a tree and decorations, with gifts under the tree. But it dwindled away as I became a teenager. Though one thing that stayed was my Dad's small (self-made) ceramic Christmas tree. It was nice seeing some form of decoration in the house. I then moved away and my room mates decorated the apartment and it was lovely (plus I always went to family Christmas celebrations (lots of aunts and uncles in the area) so that was good). I them moved back home and tried to be Christmassy but my Dad didn't want to bother. For the past few years I've been trying to get back into a tree and decorations but it's been a bit difficult (I'm not explaining - it'd be depressing). I'll try again next year and I hope to succeed but I'm not worried if I don't (no prerssure on myself).
I live in Oaxaca, Mexico, Navidad is a huge thing in these parts. I am not religious, but I sing in the city choir, so normally we are singing or rehearsing every day from Nov, 1 to Jan 6. This year has been very weird, because I am not singing in the choir because of Covid. I did some videos for a virtual choir, but basically I spent Christmas Day frying a big batch of chicken and talking to family on video chat. I do so enjoy watching you create beautiful dresses while chatting about your life. I am just barely started sewing, so it’s inspiring warching you!
I understand what you are saying about sewing. I dabble with sewing projects. All of the sewing RUclips people are inspiring. I've learned a lot of things that I can apply to my creativity.
I'm an atheist from an atheist family living in a culturally Christian, but pretty atheist coutry, but we all go nuts for Christmas! When we were kids we went all out all December. Danish TV have a tradition of showing what we call Christmas Calenders, which is essentially a children's TV series with 24 episodes running from December 1st to Christmas Eve. I don't watch them anymore, but that was great for getting in the Christmas mood when I was little. My parents made their own Christmas Calender for us. It was a small toy house inhabited by four nisser (a type of house spirit, nowadays connected with Christmas), who would change position during the night and leave letters for us with stories of their adventures during the rest of the year. So even though I don't do quite as much Christmasing as I used to, it is still my favourite time of year.
Never too late to discover Wonderful Life...missing our Mum and first Christmas without her was an experience. Trying hard to get near the smock I have said I will make for hubby's Morris side here in Abingdon. Taking ages deciding on stitch types and learning how to use them. Lovely to see your projects and plans as ever...Happy New Year and hope Christmas season is going well. Today is Six Geese A-laying.....hmmmm maybe I can work that into the smocking.
So, I'm totally here for you doing the same project again and again. Because it shows 1)reality, I'm sure many people do the same projects over and over. 2) improvement 3) if you made the same project say. Twice and then did a sew along the 3rd time ot would be like a warm up for people who are sewing along.
The dark purple linen will look stunning for stays!! I'm super excited for following along with that project! I'm actually hand stitching lavender linen stays with black linen thread and black leather binding.
As a child I usually had some kind of advent calendar, but not anymore as an adult, especially since I’ve cut lactose completely from my diet and most chocolate calendars in Norway have milk in them. The main advent tradition nowadays (besides making or shopping for gifts) is making Christmas cookies and biscuits (though most are cookie-texture) and other Christmas food. Christmas itself starts for me on the 23rd, which we call “little Christmas Eve” here in Norway. We have lutefisk for dinner, and then we decorate the tree. Christmas Eve dinner in my family is halibut, which, as far as I know, is a uniquely northern tradition.
I watch the Grinch (Dr Seuss) every year and I need to dig out my Muppets Christmas Carol DVD. I saw Polar Express for hte first time last year and found it quite cute. Xmas for me is generally a lot of prep stuff starting in November because I don't have much disposable income so I make a lot of gifts and I do a significant amount of baking. I think this year at 8 different recipes is the leanest Xmas ever. I hand-sewed some ice packs full of pebbles and ice pack covers for my sis-in-law's knees and I gave away a lot of preserves from my garden. I was also finishing up the winter coat Kefta from Sewstine (all hand sewn) and am now making a wool housecoat from the same pattern. Contemplating a circle skirt cause I have like 8 more metres of this plaid wool that I just love (it's camel brown and Barney purple plaid, yeah, sounds hideous but it works). Oooh, Wingspan, we gave that to my parents-in-law last year, fabulous (and beautiful) game. I'm currently addicted to a game called Spirit Island, where you're a spirit defending your island and its native inhabitatns from the European invaders. We adore it because the base game has different levels of difficulty, and once you learn the base game, the expansions make it so that you can really adjust the difficulty up or down as you choose. My husband made me a custom board for it for Xmas this year. LOL volume of items measured in cats :)
My family celebrated Christmas, not religious, but as a family, as an adult I celebrated it with my kids, but mainly when they were young, than on the winter solstice, because I worked nights as a nurse. We used to watch Christmas specials, not so much the last few years, just not into it, my husband and I live in the Netherlands and during these "corona times", not much has been open, and visiting the family in the US isn't very easy these days. I'm knitting socks, and hoping to spin enough wool this year to knit a shawl, also thinking about sewing a few "winter" skirts. I'm retired so I have time now!
Loving the black & purple ! 💜 Loving & will steal the "stretch goal" idea. I am one of those people that write a diety could not accomplish, then get overwhelmed, and nothing gets done. Yours is much more sensible ! Back to the video.
One of the big differences between knit and braid elastics is that one will lose width when stretched and the other won't. (I cannot for the life of me ever remember which is which)
Loved watching this whole thing as we travel homeward in the ol’ RV. Watching you pin pleats: so satisfying. Sewing garments by hand : “Thanks, Bernadette!” - lol! Thanks for the shout out to atheists and agnostics who sort of but not really celebrate Christmas. I think I’m just going to call it Yule from now on. Very special Yuletide this year- I got together with my daughter whom I haven’t seen in two years thanks to Covid and long distance. Kudos to you and all the testing you do!
Christmas traditions in my family - Perth Australia, waiting for all my cousins to come over and heading for the beach! Then home for lunch which was always cold meats (chicken, ham, lobster) and salad - then hot Christmas pudding with vanilla ice cream. Still can't eat Christmas pudding without vanilla ice cream.
Yay, you! The bodice is cute, for sure. Hand make stays?! I did the Burnley & Trowbridge stays workshop online and, boy, can my hands hurt! And I hand sew everyday. Do those channels by machine! I understand claustrophobic, for sure. The thread cabinet is lovely but takes up a lot of real estate, both on your table and in the camera lens. My threads live in a scrapbooking caddy on wheels. Not ideal but goes under my sewing cabinet and keeps the light and dust out. Storing thread takes up space. Thank you for sharing your journey.
This year, my mom and I went to the Heritage center in my hometown, Salem Oregon. They have this huge light tour display that one can walk around with a few living history elements. It was enchanting and we plan on taking a proper tour this spring
Love the idea of minimum required effort for any given time frame and then optional incrementals. What a brilliant way to get stuff done but not get overwhelmed with "shoulds"! Looking forward to seeing the result. Im watching this in the quiet space bw Solstice and New Year. I love the relaxed feel ro catch up or just relax; I must admit mine has been lots of relaxing! Hope you grab some chill time too!
I made one in Witchy Goth black voile. It was my mock up before a white one (now a 2022 project) . If you aren't surrounded by thread counters and historical fashion Nazis and you don't want to make stays, a long-ish line sports bra works just fine as I am averagely endowed. I also made a "slip" that hits between below the bust to hemline, in a slightly stiff black organdy Wear it In JOY!!
I'm really looking forward to this series! I've been working on making my own witchy clothes lately, and I love this idea. I may end up trying to make something like this myself in the future! As to your Christmas question, nearly everybody I've talked to agrees that they're just not feeling very festive this year. I think we're probably all just burned out from living with pandemic stress in the background for so long at this point.
I make the same thing over and over again, and I love it. I have a hard time understanding why anyone would make different versions of something from the same era--for example, Lady Rebecca Fashions and all her different 1950s dresses--when they could just find their favorite pattern, and make that every time. It would make it a whole lot easier to adjust patterns too, with no need for mockups after a while.
I'm not a particularly fast sewist, so I'm continually impressed with fast sewing. The fastest I've ever made a garment was in a week. I had to make a dress to wear to a funeral (ended up making the Wildwood Wrap Dress from Sewhouse Seven) and I'm still stunned that I managed it. I do work in an indy fabric shop though, so I was lucky enough to be able to get fabric right away for the dress.
I tend to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas so the lead up to Christmas Day is partial celebration (to participate with family and friends) and partial avoidance so that I’m not totally burnt out before January 6th. It is usually a very difficult juggling act - especially as my mother marathons Hallmark Christmas videos all December - but COVID canceled almost all of the holiday celebrations and midnight mass. So instead of burnout it is more non-starter like you mentioned. Still did manage to keep quite a few traditions active despite COVID - made half my gifts, time with family, watched the Box of Delights and marathoned Nutcracker ballet, lots of cooking, and some lovely hikes! If it wasn’t for the projected rain and dropping temperatures I would even consider the New Year’s Day first day hike to the top of Blood Mountain but . . . I’m not too keen on that hike under those conditions. Will opt for board games instead - the MAD board game seems pretty appropriate ;-)
For podcasts, I dig Revolutions and the history of Rome. Both are by the same person, and both are great. I'm not super big on the military stuff, but he talks about the cultural background and then I zone out for the tactics. Also "Ghostland: an American history in haunted places" is an amazing book, and the chapters and sections and stories are pretty self-contained. Highly recommend!
I vote for using a hybrid method for the stays, using machine sewing and hand sewing depending on what’s easier and more appropriate for each individual task. I totally understand wanting front-lacing stays to wear with your chemise gowns, because while needing assistance to dress is tolerable for formal wear (such as anything that would be appropriate for “white tie” events), it’s much less so for informal wear.
So glad you are enjoying and being productive during this weird holiday season. I think it’s been weird for all of us, in a detached sort of way. We celebrate on Christmas Eve normally, but my sister died this year just before Thanksgiving, so the run up to that day was filled with funeral things and the aftermath. We only got together on that day for the sake of my parents, who are very old and devastated, as she was the first born of the six of us. On top of that, my parents just tested positive for COVID somehow,, so our New Years Eve celebration is cancelled, much to theirs, and our, dismay. We will persevere with phone calls (Zoom and FaceTime are beyond them), and we will make it up to them as soon as we are all in the clear.
I also had a weird lead up to the holidays this year. It didn't really feel like Christmas season until I was watching my boyfriend open his gift on Christmas Eve. I'm currently working on a bit of a speed run myself. I'm trying to get a teal medieval dress to the point of wearable in about a week. Fortunately, it's wool, so it's not fraying much or shifting around much while cutting or sewing.
Christmas was quite here though the grandson bounced and counted down. The two kids that live north didn’t make it home. I haven’t even got to baking not much point when there’s no one but me to eat them. My grandson does really like cookies and I don’t need any. The thread box is beautiful but yes it looks like it takes up a lot of room. I have so much stuff shoehorned into my room I’m getting good at work arounds it’s a pain. Sometimes I have to move things to do something it’s a pain. Small room and too many different crafts but I don’t want to give up on any of them so complicated. I’m listening to the Phule’s Company series by Robert Asprin. It’s a fun series that I read years ago and am really enjoying again. Happy new year and happy early birthday!
Finishing projects (or at least, working on them consistently) is my goal for 2022! lol, this was super funny to watch on Jan 1st. Hope the speed run is going well!
The most recent holiday film watched was the happiest season when it came out, mostly because of Kristen Stewart. Her outfits were 😙🤌. My family celebrate 'cultural' Christmas on the 24th, this year mom made stuffed squid in tomato sauce, to take to grandmas (she's90) and aunt's house, aunt attempted to make cod croquetes (were too salty and mushy lol) and fried shrimp 'pockets', along with a bunch of deserts. At home I usually try to help mom make our holiday pastries, (spiced sweet potato filled fried flaky pastry), around 150 this year. We were kinda busy and kinda zombied this year, and didn't get any in the way of presents for ourselves, did manage to get dad some pijamas, and some clothes for my siblings' kids. My most common 'holiday' memory is the smell of fried oil and a slippery kitchen, due to all the pastries, as mom used to sell them. I much prefer new years, even if its mostly due to how quiet everything is. We got a minor storm two weeks ago so that's enough to make me happy, cosy stormy days are the best.
I will need to start on some stays as soon as I have finished my shift, so watching you make stays x2 would be great :D xD I need all the help I can get...
Happy holidays and happy early birthday! This project is super exciting, thank you so much for sharing it! The only Christmas traditions that we (my brother and I) really did when we were kids was to write our letters to Santa (If you are Canadian you can send a letter to Santa and he writes you back. Way back in the 80's it was a handwritten letter, these days Santa sends out a form letter), we listened to the Norad Santa tracker on the CBC news (my parents tried to convince us to go to sleep using this trick), and we listened to Alan Maitland read "The Shepherd".
Hey Noelle, I have started on some new music projects and I did my first live stream!!! I had a lot of fun with it. The replay is up on my channel. My music is also on Pandora Radio now, too! So many interesting things are going on. This year I wasn't feeling Christmas either, the weather has been funky on my side of the U.S. so it just didn't seem like Christmas this year.
Singing. Christmas programs. Performing in retirement centers and nursing homes. It's the music and the singing. Best Christmas was riding around Santa Clara on a flatbed truck stopping at homes to carol and yummy food at the last stop. The practicing was to me then what learning something new sewing is to you now. I have to watch White Christmas every year. Love Actually is my second movie must.
Currently trying to speed run crocheting a baby blanket whilst watching a speed run! Highly recommend Discovery of Witches if you want another show, seasons 1 and 2 are out, season three came out in the UK today. Witcher season two was awesome, and Wheel of Time was a good one too, if you need more to watch. Love these videos to work to, it's like having company whilst I craft!
I feel exactly as you do concerning the holiday season. I decorate like crazy, but no angels or other Christian-y decor. All centered on the snow, family, togetherness and most of all, reflection. I have collected mice for half a century and my very fave color is red so everywhere you look is a little bit of winter whimsy. Hope the New Year is a good one for you!
Isn't it interesting the mistakes we make when we think we know what we're doing! It's looking lovely. One possible solution for your threads - I have a spool of white, black, 2 navies and red (the colours I use most often) in a small open box next to my sewing table but the rest of my threads are in a spool box elsewhere. Having a clear worktop will make it feel so much bigger. Like your story about Bernadette - I met my closest sewing friend in the same way over a 1940s skirt from a sewing pattern I'd thought of making up! We were at a vintage tea party at a sewing show in London where everyone was wearing something made from a selection of 20 patterns so it's not as weird as it sounds!
Our family starts the run up to Christmas on Thanksgiving. With Addams Family Values. The turkey song is very Thanksgiving. 😆 Then Meet Me in St. Louis. The whole month of December is filled with the old TV Christmas shows (Mizer Brothers rock!) Charlie Brown, Grinch etc. Bell, Book and Candle is another offbeat pick. It's a different Jimmy Stewart movie if you're sick of Wonderful Life. 😉 I love all the black and white movies.
As someone who sews with a very small work space my tip idea is take the threads out you use the most ie black/white/neutral and keep them in a drawer with your sewing needles presser feet etc. then move the big ol thread cabinet where you are thinking of putting it and when you need a specialty color you get it but other wise you are set with the basics :). I have a small stash of tread but usually get away with using black so I’ve got 3 spools of that. One in my stash one on my machine and one in my hand sewing bag/pack/kit what ever you wanna call it. I don’t have a lot of Christmas traditions that have carried over from my childhood mostly because my husband had a totally different picture for childhood Christmas…. And he haters the muppets so I don’t really watch the muppets Christmas carol anymore. We do how ever ALWAYS watch White Christmas and I recommend it if you like Danny Kay or Bing Crosby or dancing cause I’m always amazed at the dancing every time. I haven’t been reading or listening to much lately either but I did start playing Star-wars the Old Republic with my husband recently. Giving ol Blizzard entertainment a bot of a break with everything that’s been going on in the news with that. I am in process of reading HP I’m on book 5 but it’s more like pick it up read a chapter before bed and then pick it up later on in the week and read another chapter so like low pressure reading 🤷♀️
We do the A Christmas Story marathon. It is one of three marathons we do. There's that, the Twilight Zone on New Years, and Groundhog Day on -- um, oh, that's right, Groundhog Day. Normally, before Christmas, we listen to Christmas music in the house, but yeah, right there with you, Christmas just wasn't this year. Other people felt it, too. In years past, we've done a whole Christmas Carol movie comparison, we've watched It's a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Polar Express, the whole stop motion Santa series, but this year, none of that. And yeah, I'm religious, but there really wasn't any of that this year, either. We did a Christmas Cantata at the church, but it was not like years prior. So, yeah, not just you. I really like the black top and white bottom. That would be another FABULOUS dress! No New Year's resolutions. I just want to whittle down my UFOs so I can work on Os without guilt. I managed to finish a lot of things this year, annoyingly, none of the stuff on my list. I got the North side of my sewing room fixed up like I want it, but the South side looks like the same mess it was a year ago. I'm wondering if that might be because my chair faces the north so the mess is always behind me. Maybe I need to move my sewing machine to the other side of the table. Ah, let's just face it, Noelle, we all just need four feet by twenty feet more room in our sewing rooms . . . and if we're getting four feet, why not make it an even six by twenty. (If you Give a Mouse a Cookie -- if you Give a Sew(er/ist?) More Room.)
we love Christmas at our house. My husband had a more religious christmas background (well, went to Midnight mass), which we do not do now, but we love the season, love the fact that the family tradition is to spend time with each other and have fun and eat nice food. My own family were athiests, and after my mother died over Christmas when we were young, my dad wasn't a fan. I still insisted, because, I liked it, but it wasn't until I met my husband that we really began to enjoy it.
Christmas was spent going to see "Spiderman: No Way Home" with my hubby and son, then we came home and ordered pizza. I usually have had enough of Christmas by the end of November. We were short-staffed at the store and between homeschooling my son and working pretty much everyday, I just wanted to sleep by the time the 25th rolled around. That hat is wonderful. Catching up on your vlogs while hand sewing the new trim onto my son's karate outfit (he leveled up from green to red).
2 года назад+2
Another amazing video. Again, so glad you tested negative. YAY!!! 👍🏽😃
Enjoying the 'speed sewing'! I'm in church choir so have been rehearsing Christmas music since Oct. If I don't start singing in Oct, feel like my Christmas season has been cut short haha!
I'm not religious and don't like the big fill-the house-with-relatives-you-can't-stand type Christmas of my childhood (my sisters and Dad loved it, my Mum and I hated it), so I've avoided that ever since I moved away for my degree and never moved back. I UK-cultuarlly observe Christmas as an event but... not the way most of my friends do. I've been spoiled by having years and years where my Christmas Treat was to have the house to myself while my husband went to his parents' house for the day (and the big Christmas meal that I wouldn't eat). I'd set my sewing machine up in front of the TV in the livingroom and destroy any semblence of tidyness with all my fabrics, and patterns, and sewing stuff while watching whatever Christmas Crap I wanted on TV. The last few years (since my father-in-law's Alzheimers means he's barely aware it's Christmas) that hasn't been an option and we just have a quiet Christmas Day at home (with the usual middle-of-the-day visit to my father-in-law like very other day) with gifts exchanged in the morning, and I sometimes splurge on a big Lego set to build while we're watching TV in the evening. I've given up making New Year Resolutions because I never stick to them. I do have some *intentions* that I may or may not be able to stick to.
I am impressed with how much you got done in a week! Watching your videos always makes me motivated to work on things, so today I finally started to mend a pair of socks that have been staring at me for more than a week. I think I have Pavlo's-dogged myself into associating "get stuff done" with "watching Noelle" X) Having more free time around the holidays has been good for sewing for me. The wool skrit (1890s historybounding) I am working on is nearly done. Just the hard parts left with waistband and closures. Somehow it always get bulky and wierd or stretch out on places it shouldn't stretch.
It's funny that you are lot more involved with christmas stuff than my christian family, lol. I think the only thing my family and friends did to acknowledge that it was christmas at all was that we watched Spiderman on the Eve, baked cookies, then on christmas day went to church for two hours and had lasagna for dinner. Normally we would have had a christmas tree as well but this year just absolutely no one could be bothered to do it 😂 Still, I guess what matters is that we spend it with people we like, whether you deck out like you're starring in a Hallmark christmas movie or you're getting chinese takeout as christmas dinner!
Super excited for the black edition! Black is more or less the only colour I'm wearing when not reenacting :D Liked your Christmas ramble! I'm Christian so I celebrate Christmas in a religious way, but the cultural and family aspects are also really important. Christmas run up is usually going to a christmassy concert before the holidays and watching Love actually and The little Lord with my mum. This year I also watched Klaus, which is a really sweet Christmas origin story movie. Hope you have a great start in the new year!
I like seeing this chemise made again. It's better than a mockup since we can see the current garment compared to the completed one. I would love to see more stays. I'm getting into corsetry and have watched several videos from Bernadette, Abby.. I don't know who all, but a lot total, but I don't think there's such a thing as too many videos about stays or corsets. I love the music in this video! 100% recommend Witcher. I binged it on Christmas ( 😁 ) and at the end of the last episode all I could say was WTF?? I celebrated Christmas 2017 or so and then my friends and I decided to just do a simple gift exchange (under $20 gifts) and then play board/card games. I miss that the most. We're all vaxxed and we all work at the same place, but with different on-site schedules. Will Constance comment about the black thread?? 🤔
I come from a big Mexican family. On Xmas Eve we feasted on tameles and other delicious Mexican foods along with American foods too. Good to see the family after having no gathering in 2020
TAMALES!!!!! There used to be a wonderful woman who came around to ask each house if they wanted to buy tamales for Christmas every year and I would give her every dollar I could find in my house and then also have a present ready for her when she came back to deliver them. I hope she’s ok. 💖💖
Tamales ,they are not difficult to assemble. However time consuming to make. Other foods I know how to make corn & flour tortillas, enchiladas, beans, fideo, and know spices we use ect. The only thing I need to learn to do is my mother's rice. Mom is in her 80''s. So I better try to make it with her supervision. The other side of the family cusine is American Mid- Western in nature. Ham, Mac& cheese, mashed potatoes , baked beans ect . That is good too. So there had been a lot of feasting this Christmas time. Being that the covid stalled us all in 2020. 2021 went by too fast. Happy New Year 2022 the year of the Tiger🐯
White Christmas, the original Grinch and the original Rudolph are my yearly Christmas traditions. My sister and I used to watch White Christmas every year. Now that we are old and live so far apart, we call each other and watch it together together over the phone…
I too have apparently decided to handsew everything... I am currently handsewing a little dress for my niece's 1st Birthday in a few weeks. It is a Winnie the Pooh print with a little bit of ruffled lace and red ribbon. My New Years Goal is to finally start my own youtube channel! I have wanted to for a couple years now, but just haven't done the thing yet. Happy New Year!! ❤🎉
You got this, Noelle! You already know what you're doing, and the previous one was recent enough that you clearly remember the pitfalls. Bernadette used her sewing machine to make her corset, so you can save a lot of time by using your (ahem) spacecraft. 😁 As for Christmas, Mom and I give each other a medium-sized gift on Xmas day, and little ones for the Twelve Days after, then another medium-sized gift on Epiphany. (More fun! Much cheaper!) We watch a lot of Hallmark movies during this time: they're sweet and have happy endings. And frankly, right now, I need that cheer even more than last year.
If someone is close enough to see the wonky, they better be buying dinner ;) Anyways, I like this liminal part of the year, too. This year has been super long....Perseverance and Ingenuity's flight and Ever Given both happened this year. For me, Christmas isn't a big deal...my cat doesn't know anything about it. My birthday is also a non-thing (2 weeks after Christmas...everyone's holiday'd out by then). Good luck on the pondering places (I, personally, look forward to the clean-out video (those are oddly satisfying)). I'm about to start 'Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language'. I'm working on a data entry contract, which limits sewing time, but I did make a sling backpack and have plans on making myself a dress (fabric is coming, an empire waisted flutter sleeve maxi dress with a ruffle at the bottom made in a trio of beautiful dragonfly fabrics)...Also need to finish a cozy mystery that I started last month....
The movie that means the most for us is "One Magic Christmas". Now that is a Santa to remember. Harry Dean Stanton plays a Christmas angel. One holiday tradition is me making scalloped oysters. Each year we are each asked to bring a dish. This year I brought a box of Christmas crackers along with the oysters and it was fun. We wore tissue paper hats while eating our cookies and telling corny Dad jokes!I got asked to please repeat it next year. On the Sunday before Christmas I was asked to speak in church about the importance of why the Child was sent to us. It meant a lot to me to be able to share that. You strike me as being a person who cares about others so you are cool with me. Keep keepin' on!
Finished watching The Witcher and now have to wait for the next season. Hated The Polar Express but I’m generally not a Christmas movie fan. Enjoy your time with friends. Edit: as an Aussie our Christmas consisted of steak and sausages on the barbie, 2kg of prawns, three types of salad (green salad, Asian noodle salad, pumpkin, rocket and feta with pine nuts) coleslaw and potato bake. This was followed by a pavlova and a huge fruit platter which included all of the stone fruits, lychees and mangoes of course. It was a pretty cool Christmas this year … top temperature of 29 degrees but mostly mid 20’s throughout the day. I don’t know what that is in Fahrenheit!?
"I of the We Family" - If this isn't the most accurate talk-to-myselfer-but-with-you-all thing to say. Our board game nights have been so interrupted. We started Gloomhaven before it started and we've barely made a dent. My BFF and I have 350 games between us and the pandaroni is preventing playing them.
We just rewatched the first season of witcher and got the 1st episode of the 2nd. Today I'm ironing all the fabric that got washed so I can make some dresses tomorrow.
Ohhhh I know! I was like “CAIT! I am gonna hold her down and demand her secrets because this picture is impossible! This cannot be done! What is this witchcraft???” 😂🤣😂🤣
tbh my christmas this year was the best i've had in a decade or so. I finally got to stay home without being sick, opened up my one present (which included a some metal and beaded elf ears, and a joann gift card, so i shopped the sale that night to pick up on boxing day), then my dad offered to get me the animal crossing DLC and I've made so many cozy little houses for animals. I almost cried when my uncle texted me a selfie in the present i gave to him (a hat, which apparently is the only hat he owns that doesn't ride up). And then I watched Encanto for the first time yesterday and cried eight times. I counted, because I knew I was gonna cry. I've cried at every animated movie I've seen in probably the last five years. And then I ate some really delicious ice cream to make myself feel better.
My birthday is January 4th! I am a day and a few, okay - several, years ahead of you. I once read a novel about a Victorian adventuress who reconfigured her wardrobe - including corsets- to front closures and ways to be able to dress herself and still appear conventional. Since then I have wondered why everyone with solo needs did not do that. and.... Most of my pre-Christmas activity is making things for people. I have gotten into the habit of giving handmade, so now if I don't, I have to explain to people that I do love them, I just haven't made....it doesn't go well. :)
Agreed, Christmas was kinda weird this year. I did attend Candlelight/Communion with my parents on Christmas Eve. We visited with cousin’s family. We drove around to see lights. We ate tamales. We opened gifts the next morning, but they were minimal. T.V. Dinner style turkey & mashed potatoes, dressing & cranberry sauce. FaceTime with the kids & sister. I usually go overboard on decorations, but not this year. Life is just very different.
Our holidays were spent eating roasts & staying up way too late. I also mashed in an 18th c outfit and then we video gamed in said outfits.... cause, why not? Also, that hat 😍😍
Wingspan is the funnest!!!!! Definitely in rotation in my “nerd game” group ((lol-that’s what my husband calls it 😅)) excited to see how this turns out.
Growing up in western Canada, we always celebrated on Christmas eve. My mom said it was a New Zealand tradition. 🤷♀ This year didn't really feel like Christmas, but we had a small dinner with a few people that was nice! As for the thread box... Can you steal any room from the rooms beside your sewing room? do a little bump out in a closet maybe? Or put in high shelves to have more vertical storage?
We had a death in the family in October, and no one really got together for Thanksgiving, so my family and some close family friends got together for Christmas. To cover all the bases, I put up my Aunt's nativity and made a Yule/Pagan decoration with a huge 12-sided quartz crystal, some sweet grass, and other things. Eclectic Christmas! (I don't care what you 'are', just be a decent person who does some good in the world.) For the nativity, the garden-style window I wanted to put it in is rotting a bit. To cover that up, I made a pad. This is the first sewing thing I've made that actually came out almost perfect. (I found out I can't do a ..... hidden(?) stitch to close a seam. Gotta learn that. But otherwise I'm happy with it and it looked great under the nativity and lights. Now if only I could figure out those flannel pajama bottoms I started in Sept. of 2019!! Enjoyed you video, again, Noelle, as always! Happy New Year!
Thanks for the lovely catchup. Happy Christmas! We watch Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn every year. Christmas this year involved cooking lots of beef; roast, pot roast and moussaka. Leftovers and beef overload for days. Happy early birthday. Looking forward to watching you progress with this project. Which stays pattern will you use?
A black Chemise a la Reine? Sign me up! I love black 18th century dresses since its both slimming and very unusual
I feel your pain about not having the Christmas Spirit this year. I flew home Dec 13, and within 3 days my very cautious mom and sister had both tested positive. My poor mom was so sad feeling like she ruined Christmas! We had to sacrifice a lot of our regular Christmas traditions so they could isolate, but luckily my mom's isolation ended on Christmas Day and it was so nice to finally hug her for Christmas :)
My family gets together on the 24th to eat usually prime rib and a small turkey just in case for dinner. When we eat we have a running joke that we are going to all go to midnight mass, but no one in my family has set foot in a church in at least 20 years so it's kind of fun. Then we make hot coco and go look at christmas lights with the kids, who are 20 and 15 now. it's great!
I can relate to this. The last time we actually went was in 1984, but it is mentioned every year, even this one. It got us to laugh, which was very welcome this year.
Purple stays! Purple stays! Purple stays!
That’s my vote in case you care or wondered 🙃
You can do eeet!! You’re cruising right along, and the Witch-a-la-Reine will be fabulous. It’s already looking pretty frickin awesome at the halfway mark.
Christmas has always been a religious holiday for my family, and has been really special. Picture a Norman Rockwell Christmas painting. We spent the holiday with my parents, my brother, his wife, and their son. It’s very likely the last whole family gathering as Dad is quite ill, and Mom has advanced Alzheimer’s, so it was bittersweet.
I’m still slowly knitting away on my son’s blanket (3/4 done) with occasional breaks to knit Christmas ornaments. I’m reading everything I can get my hands on about spinning. My New Year’s “resolution” is to teach myself to spin yarn, though I guess that’s really a goal. Otherwise, my resolution is the same as always: To make every interaction with others (especially online) as kind and positive as possible because the world needs more kindness.
Happy New Year, Noelle!! Wishing you and yours love, light, and blessings for the coming year.
Your resolutions are awesome! 💖💖💖 and happy new year to you as well!
@@Costuming_Drama I almost forgot!!! An incredibly funny game…Poetry for Neanderthals. It’s made by the people who did Exploding Kittens. It comes with an inflatable club that says, “NO!” on it for whacking players who aren’t up to snuff. It’s absolutely hilarious with the right people… or at least the people with irreverent senses of humor.
My first thought was, OMG, Noelle has lost her mind! A second later...she's got this.
xoxo's Sandie
hahahaha I went on that same journey.
I do Christmas more as a family event than anything else, also work is open right through. I have also noticed it did not feel like Christmas this year. I'm so glad you're doing front lacing stays! I desperately want to make a pair and as I'm also a plus size gal am really looking forward to seeing your process. Bernadette is a terrible influence 😆 I'm busy hand sewing my 2nd pirate shirt and your videos are delightful company!
The former punk/goth kid in my soul loves this make. Super excited to see it! Love finding out that we have the same birthday, definitely sensing some chaotic Capricorn energy in this video!
Happy birthday in a week!!
Thank you Noelle! Same to you! Hopefully you’ve something fun planned :)
When I was little, we always had a tree and decorations, with gifts under the tree. But it dwindled away as I became a teenager. Though one thing that stayed was my Dad's small (self-made) ceramic Christmas tree. It was nice seeing some form of decoration in the house. I then moved away and my room mates decorated the apartment and it was lovely (plus I always went to family Christmas celebrations (lots of aunts and uncles in the area) so that was good). I them moved back home and tried to be Christmassy but my Dad didn't want to bother. For the past few years I've been trying to get back into a tree and decorations but it's been a bit difficult (I'm not explaining - it'd be depressing). I'll try again next year and I hope to succeed but I'm not worried if I don't (no prerssure on myself).
I live in Oaxaca, Mexico, Navidad is a huge thing in these parts. I am not religious, but I sing in the city choir, so normally we are singing or rehearsing every day from Nov, 1 to Jan 6. This year has been very weird, because I am not singing in the choir because of Covid. I did some videos for a virtual choir, but basically I spent Christmas Day frying a big batch of chicken and talking to family on video chat.
I do so enjoy watching you create beautiful dresses while chatting about your life. I am just barely started sewing, so it’s inspiring warching you!
I understand what you are saying about sewing. I dabble with sewing projects. All of the sewing RUclips people are inspiring. I've learned a lot of things that I can apply to my creativity.
Awww thank you!!
I'm an atheist from an atheist family living in a culturally Christian, but pretty atheist coutry, but we all go nuts for Christmas! When we were kids we went all out all December.
Danish TV have a tradition of showing what we call Christmas Calenders, which is essentially a children's TV series with 24 episodes running from December 1st to Christmas Eve. I don't watch them anymore, but that was great for getting in the Christmas mood when I was little.
My parents made their own Christmas Calender for us. It was a small toy house inhabited by four nisser (a type of house spirit, nowadays connected with Christmas), who would change position during the night and leave letters for us with stories of their adventures during the rest of the year.
So even though I don't do quite as much Christmasing as I used to, it is still my favourite time of year.
Never too late to discover Wonderful Life...missing our Mum and first Christmas without her was an experience. Trying hard to get near the smock I have said I will make for hubby's Morris side here in Abingdon. Taking ages deciding on stitch types and learning how to use them. Lovely to see your projects and plans as ever...Happy New Year and hope Christmas season is going well. Today is Six Geese A-laying.....hmmmm maybe I can work that into the smocking.
So, I'm totally here for you doing the same project again and again. Because it shows 1)reality, I'm sure many people do the same projects over and over.
2) improvement
3) if you made the same project say. Twice and then did a sew along the 3rd time ot would be like a warm up for people who are sewing along.
At least four cats, that's a quite large basket. Great way to describe the size.
My favorite show of late is _Wheel of Time,_ which dropped it's final episode for the first season last week. Now it's bingeable!
I love that you’re doing the “same” dress again. Each project is still unique.
I love that your unit of measurement is a catto! Glad you're happy with hour progress on this goth dress situation. 🙂
ooooohhh I can't wait to see how it turns out!!! a black/goth chemise a la Reine sounds so divine!!!
I love that cats are a unit of measurements! "I can fit 4 cats in there" My Life in a nutshell. ❤
Everything in my house is measured in cats 🤣😂
I have never clicked a video faster
Same!
Team Cheer for witchy fun! ✨
The dark purple linen will look stunning for stays!! I'm super excited for following along with that project! I'm actually hand stitching lavender linen stays with black linen thread and black leather binding.
As a child I usually had some kind of advent calendar, but not anymore as an adult, especially since I’ve cut lactose completely from my diet and most chocolate calendars in Norway have milk in them. The main advent tradition nowadays (besides making or shopping for gifts) is making Christmas cookies and biscuits (though most are cookie-texture) and other Christmas food. Christmas itself starts for me on the 23rd, which we call “little Christmas Eve” here in Norway. We have lutefisk for dinner, and then we decorate the tree. Christmas Eve dinner in my family is halibut, which, as far as I know, is a uniquely northern tradition.
I watch the Grinch (Dr Seuss) every year and I need to dig out my Muppets Christmas Carol DVD. I saw Polar Express for hte first time last year and found it quite cute.
Xmas for me is generally a lot of prep stuff starting in November because I don't have much disposable income so I make a lot of gifts and I do a significant amount of baking. I think this year at 8 different recipes is the leanest Xmas ever.
I hand-sewed some ice packs full of pebbles and ice pack covers for my sis-in-law's knees and I gave away a lot of preserves from my garden. I was also finishing up the winter coat Kefta from Sewstine (all hand sewn) and am now making a wool housecoat from the same pattern. Contemplating a circle skirt cause I have like 8 more metres of this plaid wool that I just love (it's camel brown and Barney purple plaid, yeah, sounds hideous but it works).
Oooh, Wingspan, we gave that to my parents-in-law last year, fabulous (and beautiful) game. I'm currently addicted to a game called Spirit Island, where you're a spirit defending your island and its native inhabitatns from the European invaders. We adore it because the base game has different levels of difficulty, and once you learn the base game, the expansions make it so that you can really adjust the difficulty up or down as you choose. My husband made me a custom board for it for Xmas this year.
LOL volume of items measured in cats :)
My family celebrated Christmas, not religious, but as a family, as an adult I celebrated it with my kids, but mainly when they were young, than on the winter solstice, because I worked nights as a nurse. We used to watch Christmas specials, not so much the last few years, just not into it, my husband and I live in the Netherlands and during these "corona times", not much has been open, and visiting the family in the US isn't very easy these days.
I'm knitting socks, and hoping to spin enough wool this year to knit a shawl, also thinking about sewing a few "winter" skirts. I'm retired so I have time now!
Loving the black & purple ! 💜
Loving & will steal the "stretch goal" idea. I am one of those people that write a diety could not accomplish, then get overwhelmed, and nothing gets done. Yours is much more sensible !
Back to the video.
One of the big differences between knit and braid elastics is that one will lose width when stretched and the other won't. (I cannot for the life of me ever remember which is which)
Loved watching this whole thing as we travel homeward in the ol’ RV. Watching you pin pleats: so satisfying. Sewing garments by hand : “Thanks, Bernadette!” - lol! Thanks for the shout out to atheists and agnostics who sort of but not really celebrate Christmas. I think I’m just going to call it Yule from now on. Very special Yuletide this year- I got together with my daughter whom I haven’t seen in two years thanks to Covid and long distance. Kudos to you and all the testing you do!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Christmas traditions in my family - Perth Australia, waiting for all my cousins to come over and heading for the beach! Then home for lunch which was always cold meats (chicken, ham, lobster) and salad - then hot Christmas pudding with vanilla ice cream. Still can't eat Christmas pudding without vanilla ice cream.
Yay, you! The bodice is cute, for sure.
Hand make stays?! I did the Burnley & Trowbridge stays workshop online and, boy, can my hands hurt! And I hand sew everyday. Do those channels by machine!
I understand claustrophobic, for sure. The thread cabinet is lovely but takes up a lot of real estate, both on your table and in the camera lens. My threads live in a scrapbooking caddy on wheels. Not ideal but goes under my sewing cabinet and keeps the light and dust out. Storing thread takes up space.
Thank you for sharing your journey.
This year, my mom and I went to the Heritage center in my hometown, Salem Oregon. They have this huge light tour display that one can walk around with a few living history elements. It was enchanting and we plan on taking a proper tour this spring
Love the idea of minimum required effort for any given time frame and then optional incrementals. What a brilliant way to get stuff done but not get overwhelmed with "shoulds"! Looking forward to seeing the result.
Im watching this in the quiet space bw Solstice and New Year. I love the relaxed feel ro catch up or just relax; I must admit mine has been lots of relaxing! Hope you grab some chill time too!
I made one in Witchy Goth black voile.
It was my mock up before a white one (now a 2022 project) . If you aren't surrounded by thread counters and historical fashion Nazis and you don't want to make stays, a long-ish line sports bra works just fine as I am averagely endowed. I also made a "slip" that hits between below the bust to hemline, in a slightly stiff black organdy Wear it In JOY!!
I'm really looking forward to this series! I've been working on making my own witchy clothes lately, and I love this idea. I may end up trying to make something like this myself in the future!
As to your Christmas question, nearly everybody I've talked to agrees that they're just not feeling very festive this year. I think we're probably all just burned out from living with pandemic stress in the background for so long at this point.
I make the same thing over and over again, and I love it. I have a hard time understanding why anyone would make different versions of something from the same era--for example, Lady Rebecca Fashions and all her different 1950s dresses--when they could just find their favorite pattern, and make that every time. It would make it a whole lot easier to adjust patterns too, with no need for mockups after a while.
I'm not a particularly fast sewist, so I'm continually impressed with fast sewing.
The fastest I've ever made a garment was in a week. I had to make a dress to wear to a funeral (ended up making the Wildwood Wrap Dress from Sewhouse Seven) and I'm still stunned that I managed it. I do work in an indy fabric shop though, so I was lucky enough to be able to get fabric right away for the dress.
I tend to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas so the lead up to Christmas Day is partial celebration (to participate with family and friends) and partial avoidance so that I’m not totally burnt out before January 6th. It is usually a very difficult juggling act - especially as my mother marathons Hallmark Christmas videos all December - but COVID canceled almost all of the holiday celebrations and midnight mass. So instead of burnout it is more non-starter like you mentioned. Still did manage to keep quite a few traditions active despite COVID - made half my gifts, time with family, watched the Box of Delights and marathoned Nutcracker ballet, lots of cooking, and some lovely hikes! If it wasn’t for the projected rain and dropping temperatures I would even consider the New Year’s Day first day hike to the top of Blood Mountain but . . . I’m not too keen on that hike under those conditions. Will opt for board games instead - the MAD board game seems pretty appropriate ;-)
Purple and black are the best colour scheme! Love The Be Bop Tee👍💜🖤
For podcasts, I dig Revolutions and the history of Rome. Both are by the same person, and both are great. I'm not super big on the military stuff, but he talks about the cultural background and then I zone out for the tactics. Also "Ghostland: an American history in haunted places" is an amazing book, and the chapters and sections and stories are pretty self-contained. Highly recommend!
Ooo thank you!
I vote for using a hybrid method for the stays, using machine sewing and hand sewing depending on what’s easier and more appropriate for each individual task.
I totally understand wanting front-lacing stays to wear with your chemise gowns, because while needing assistance to dress is tolerable for formal wear (such as anything that would be appropriate for “white tie” events), it’s much less so for informal wear.
So glad you are enjoying and being productive during this weird holiday season. I think it’s been weird for all of us, in a detached sort of way. We celebrate on Christmas Eve normally, but my sister died this year just before Thanksgiving, so the run up to that day was filled with funeral things and the aftermath. We only got together on that day for the sake of my parents, who are very old and devastated, as she was the first born of the six of us. On top of that, my parents just tested positive for COVID somehow,, so our New Years Eve celebration is cancelled, much to theirs, and our, dismay. We will persevere with phone calls (Zoom and FaceTime are beyond them), and we will make it up to them as soon as we are all in the clear.
Oh, I am so sorry for your loss and I hope that your parents are ok!!
I also had a weird lead up to the holidays this year. It didn't really feel like Christmas season until I was watching my boyfriend open his gift on Christmas Eve.
I'm currently working on a bit of a speed run myself. I'm trying to get a teal medieval dress to the point of wearable in about a week. Fortunately, it's wool, so it's not fraying much or shifting around much while cutting or sewing.
Christmas was quite here though the grandson bounced and counted down. The two kids that live north didn’t make it home. I haven’t even got to baking not much point when there’s no one but me to eat them. My grandson does really like cookies and I don’t need any.
The thread box is beautiful but yes it looks like it takes up a lot of room. I have so much stuff shoehorned into my room I’m getting good at work arounds it’s a pain. Sometimes I have to move things to do something it’s a pain. Small room and too many different crafts but I don’t want to give up on any of them so complicated.
I’m listening to the Phule’s Company series by Robert Asprin. It’s a fun series that I read years ago and am really enjoying again.
Happy new year and happy early birthday!
Love Asprin!
Thank you and happy new year to you too!
That hat at the end is amazing! I was making hat pins while watching this video so I’m very much in a hat mood.
Die Hard is favorite Christmas movie for many.
Made my 3rd Horse Rag Quilt in the last 2 weeks - starting back on another quilt I started last year - A Safe and Happy New Year to you
Finishing projects (or at least, working on them consistently) is my goal for 2022! lol, this was super funny to watch on Jan 1st. Hope the speed run is going well!
The most recent holiday film watched was the happiest season when it came out, mostly because of Kristen Stewart. Her outfits were 😙🤌.
My family celebrate 'cultural' Christmas on the 24th, this year mom made stuffed squid in tomato sauce, to take to grandmas (she's90) and aunt's house, aunt attempted to make cod croquetes (were too salty and mushy lol) and fried shrimp 'pockets', along with a bunch of deserts.
At home I usually try to help mom make our holiday pastries, (spiced sweet potato filled fried flaky pastry), around 150 this year.
We were kinda busy and kinda zombied this year, and didn't get any in the way of presents for ourselves, did manage to get dad some pijamas, and some clothes for my siblings' kids.
My most common 'holiday' memory is the smell of fried oil and a slippery kitchen, due to all the pastries, as mom used to sell them.
I much prefer new years, even if its mostly due to how quiet everything is.
We got a minor storm two weeks ago so that's enough to make me happy, cosy stormy days are the best.
I will need to start on some stays as soon as I have finished my shift, so watching you make stays x2 would be great :D xD I need all the help I can get...
Happy holidays and happy early birthday! This project is super exciting, thank you so much for sharing it! The only Christmas traditions that we (my brother and I) really did when we were kids was to write our letters to Santa (If you are Canadian you can send a letter to Santa and he writes you back. Way back in the 80's it was a handwritten letter, these days Santa sends out a form letter), we listened to the Norad Santa tracker on the CBC news (my parents tried to convince us to go to sleep using this trick), and we listened to Alan Maitland read "The Shepherd".
Hey Noelle,
I have started on some new music projects and I did my first live stream!!! I had a lot of fun with it. The replay is up on my channel. My music is also on Pandora Radio now, too! So many interesting things are going on. This year I wasn't feeling Christmas either, the weather has been funky on my side of the U.S. so it just didn't seem like Christmas this year.
Singing. Christmas programs. Performing in retirement centers and nursing homes. It's the music and the singing. Best Christmas was riding around Santa Clara on a flatbed truck stopping at homes to carol and yummy food at the last stop. The practicing was to me then what learning something new sewing is to you now. I have to watch White Christmas every year. Love Actually is my second movie must.
Currently trying to speed run crocheting a baby blanket whilst watching a speed run!
Highly recommend Discovery of Witches if you want another show, seasons 1 and 2 are out, season three came out in the UK today. Witcher season two was awesome, and Wheel of Time was a good one too, if you need more to watch.
Love these videos to work to, it's like having company whilst I craft!
I feel exactly as you do concerning the holiday season. I decorate like crazy, but no angels or other Christian-y decor. All centered on the snow, family, togetherness and most of all, reflection. I have collected mice for half a century and my very fave color is red so everywhere you look is a little bit of winter whimsy. Hope the New Year is a good one for you!
I hope the new year is good for you as well!
We liked resurrections too, loads of fun.
Isn't it interesting the mistakes we make when we think we know what we're doing! It's looking lovely. One possible solution for your threads - I have a spool of white, black, 2 navies and red (the colours I use most often) in a small open box next to my sewing table but the rest of my threads are in a spool box elsewhere. Having a clear worktop will make it feel so much bigger. Like your story about Bernadette - I met my closest sewing friend in the same way over a 1940s skirt from a sewing pattern I'd thought of making up! We were at a vintage tea party at a sewing show in London where everyone was wearing something made from a selection of 20 patterns so it's not as weird as it sounds!
Yay! Weekly Vlogs!
Our family starts the run up to Christmas on Thanksgiving. With Addams Family Values. The turkey song is very Thanksgiving. 😆 Then Meet Me in St. Louis. The whole month of December is filled with the old TV Christmas shows (Mizer Brothers rock!) Charlie Brown, Grinch etc. Bell, Book and Candle is another offbeat pick. It's a different Jimmy Stewart movie if you're sick of Wonderful Life. 😉 I love all the black and white movies.
Ahh yes!!!! Bring on the witchy vibes! The bodice looks so cute. Happy new year!!! 🎃 🎃 🐈⬛ 🌙
Happy new year, friend!
As someone who sews with a very small work space my tip idea is take the threads out you use the most ie black/white/neutral and keep them in a drawer with your sewing needles presser feet etc. then move the big ol thread cabinet where you are thinking of putting it and when you need a specialty color you get it but other wise you are set with the basics :). I have a small stash of tread but usually get away with using black so I’ve got 3 spools of that. One in my stash one on my machine and one in my hand sewing bag/pack/kit what ever you wanna call it.
I don’t have a lot of Christmas traditions that have carried over from my childhood mostly because my husband had a totally different picture for childhood Christmas…. And he haters the muppets so I don’t really watch the muppets Christmas carol anymore. We do how ever ALWAYS watch White Christmas and I recommend it if you like Danny Kay or Bing Crosby or dancing cause I’m always amazed at the dancing every time.
I haven’t been reading or listening to much lately either but I did start playing Star-wars the Old Republic with my husband recently. Giving ol Blizzard entertainment a bot of a break with everything that’s been going on in the news with that.
I am in process of reading HP I’m on book 5 but it’s more like pick it up read a chapter before bed and then pick it up later on in the week and read another chapter so like low pressure reading 🤷♀️
We do the A Christmas Story marathon. It is one of three marathons we do. There's that, the Twilight Zone on New Years, and Groundhog Day on -- um, oh, that's right, Groundhog Day. Normally, before Christmas, we listen to Christmas music in the house, but yeah, right there with you, Christmas just wasn't this year. Other people felt it, too. In years past, we've done a whole Christmas Carol movie comparison, we've watched It's a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Polar Express, the whole stop motion Santa series, but this year, none of that. And yeah, I'm religious, but there really wasn't any of that this year, either. We did a Christmas Cantata at the church, but it was not like years prior. So, yeah, not just you.
I really like the black top and white bottom. That would be another FABULOUS dress!
No New Year's resolutions. I just want to whittle down my UFOs so I can work on Os without guilt. I managed to finish a lot of things this year, annoyingly, none of the stuff on my list. I got the North side of my sewing room fixed up like I want it, but the South side looks like the same mess it was a year ago. I'm wondering if that might be because my chair faces the north so the mess is always behind me. Maybe I need to move my sewing machine to the other side of the table. Ah, let's just face it, Noelle, we all just need four feet by twenty feet more room in our sewing rooms . . . and if we're getting four feet, why not make it an even six by twenty. (If you Give a Mouse a Cookie -- if you Give a Sew(er/ist?) More Room.)
I agree!! Just more space would be great!!
we love Christmas at our house. My husband had a more religious christmas background (well, went to Midnight mass), which we do not do now, but we love the season, love the fact that the family tradition is to spend time with each other and have fun and eat nice food. My own family were athiests, and after my mother died over Christmas when we were young, my dad wasn't a fan. I still insisted, because, I liked it, but it wasn't until I met my husband that we really began to enjoy it.
Christmas was spent going to see "Spiderman: No Way Home" with my hubby and son, then we came home and ordered pizza. I usually have had enough of Christmas by the end of November. We were short-staffed at the store and between homeschooling my son and working pretty much everyday, I just wanted to sleep by the time the 25th rolled around. That hat is wonderful. Catching up on your vlogs while hand sewing the new trim onto my son's karate outfit (he leveled up from green to red).
Another amazing video. Again, so glad you tested negative. YAY!!! 👍🏽😃
💖💖
That fabric is beautiful! Excited to see how this dress s looks in all its gothy gloriousness! My birthday is also in January :)
Enjoying the 'speed sewing'! I'm in church choir so have been rehearsing Christmas music since Oct. If I don't start singing in Oct, feel like my Christmas season has been cut short haha!
Did you put the steps on the white-board? So I can watch you cross them off. Joyous Solstice.
No, but I will for the next video because I am lost now! 😂
I'm not religious and don't like the big fill-the house-with-relatives-you-can't-stand type Christmas of my childhood (my sisters and Dad loved it, my Mum and I hated it), so I've avoided that ever since I moved away for my degree and never moved back. I UK-cultuarlly observe Christmas as an event but... not the way most of my friends do.
I've been spoiled by having years and years where my Christmas Treat was to have the house to myself while my husband went to his parents' house for the day (and the big Christmas meal that I wouldn't eat). I'd set my sewing machine up in front of the TV in the livingroom and destroy any semblence of tidyness with all my fabrics, and patterns, and sewing stuff while watching whatever Christmas Crap I wanted on TV.
The last few years (since my father-in-law's Alzheimers means he's barely aware it's Christmas) that hasn't been an option and we just have a quiet Christmas Day at home (with the usual middle-of-the-day visit to my father-in-law like very other day) with gifts exchanged in the morning, and I sometimes splurge on a big Lego set to build while we're watching TV in the evening.
I've given up making New Year Resolutions because I never stick to them. I do have some *intentions* that I may or may not be able to stick to.
I am impressed with how much you got done in a week!
Watching your videos always makes me motivated to work on things, so today I finally started to mend a pair of socks that have been staring at me for more than a week. I think I have Pavlo's-dogged myself into associating "get stuff done" with "watching Noelle" X)
Having more free time around the holidays has been good for sewing for me. The wool skrit (1890s historybounding) I am working on is nearly done. Just the hard parts left with waistband and closures. Somehow it always get bulky and wierd or stretch out on places it shouldn't stretch.
That's always the way with my waistbands and closures too!
I'm watching this on the 1st. The Golden Girls fabric 😭😭 rip. Betty
RIGHT??
It's funny that you are lot more involved with christmas stuff than my christian family, lol. I think the only thing my family and friends did to acknowledge that it was christmas at all was that we watched Spiderman on the Eve, baked cookies, then on christmas day went to church for two hours and had lasagna for dinner. Normally we would have had a christmas tree as well but this year just absolutely no one could be bothered to do it 😂 Still, I guess what matters is that we spend it with people we like, whether you deck out like you're starring in a Hallmark christmas movie or you're getting chinese takeout as christmas dinner!
Indeed!
Super excited for the black edition! Black is more or less the only colour I'm wearing when not reenacting :D
Liked your Christmas ramble! I'm Christian so I celebrate Christmas in a religious way, but the cultural and family aspects are also really important. Christmas run up is usually going to a christmassy concert before the holidays and watching Love actually and The little Lord with my mum. This year I also watched Klaus, which is a really sweet Christmas origin story movie. Hope you have a great start in the new year!
I like seeing this chemise made again. It's better than a mockup since we can see the current garment compared to the completed one.
I would love to see more stays. I'm getting into corsetry and have watched several videos from Bernadette, Abby.. I don't know who all, but a lot total, but I don't think there's such a thing as too many videos about stays or corsets.
I love the music in this video!
100% recommend Witcher. I binged it on Christmas ( 😁 ) and at the end of the last episode all I could say was WTF??
I celebrated Christmas 2017 or so and then my friends and I decided to just do a simple gift exchange (under $20 gifts) and then play board/card games. I miss that the most. We're all vaxxed and we all work at the same place, but with different on-site schedules.
Will Constance comment about the black thread?? 🤔
I come from a big Mexican family. On Xmas Eve we feasted on tameles and other delicious Mexican foods along with American foods too. Good to see the family after having no gathering in 2020
TAMALES!!!!! There used to be a wonderful woman who came around to ask each house if they wanted to buy tamales for Christmas every year and I would give her every dollar I could find in my house and then also have a present ready for her when she came back to deliver them. I hope she’s ok. 💖💖
Tamales ,they are not difficult to assemble. However time consuming to make. Other foods
I know how to make corn & flour tortillas, enchiladas, beans, fideo, and know spices we use ect. The only thing I need to learn to do is my mother's rice. Mom is in her 80''s. So I better try to make it with her supervision.
The other side of the family cusine is American Mid- Western in nature. Ham, Mac& cheese, mashed potatoes , baked beans ect . That is good too. So there had been a lot of feasting this Christmas time. Being that the covid stalled us all in 2020. 2021 went by too fast.
Happy New Year 2022 the year of the Tiger🐯
White Christmas, the original Grinch and the original Rudolph are my yearly Christmas traditions. My sister and I used to watch White Christmas every year. Now that we are old and live so far apart, we call each other and watch it together together over the phone…
Awww that's really sweet!
I too have apparently decided to handsew everything... I am currently handsewing a little dress for my niece's 1st Birthday in a few weeks. It is a Winnie the Pooh print with a little bit of ruffled lace and red ribbon.
My New Years Goal is to finally start my own youtube channel! I have wanted to for a couple years now, but just haven't done the thing yet.
Happy New Year!! ❤🎉
When I was little there was no television! I was 15 when I first saw a TV. We listened to. The Queens’ Speech at 3pm and that was it.
You got this, Noelle! You already know what you're doing, and the previous one was recent enough that you clearly remember the pitfalls.
Bernadette used her sewing machine to make her corset, so you can save a lot of time by using your (ahem) spacecraft. 😁
As for Christmas, Mom and I give each other a medium-sized gift on Xmas day, and little ones for the Twelve Days after, then another medium-sized gift on Epiphany. (More fun! Much cheaper!)
We watch a lot of Hallmark movies during this time: they're sweet and have happy endings. And frankly, right now, I need that cheer even more than last year.
I’m here for hallmark reliability for sure!
I am living for this Tiny iron Wizardry!!!!!!!
If someone is close enough to see the wonky, they better be buying dinner ;) Anyways, I like this liminal part of the year, too. This year has been super long....Perseverance and Ingenuity's flight and Ever Given both happened this year. For me, Christmas isn't a big deal...my cat doesn't know anything about it. My birthday is also a non-thing (2 weeks after Christmas...everyone's holiday'd out by then). Good luck on the pondering places (I, personally, look forward to the clean-out video (those are oddly satisfying)). I'm about to start 'Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language'. I'm working on a data entry contract, which limits sewing time, but I did make a sling backpack and have plans on making myself a dress (fabric is coming, an empire waisted flutter sleeve maxi dress with a ruffle at the bottom made in a trio of beautiful dragonfly fabrics)...Also need to finish a cozy mystery that I started last month....
Oh, Bernadette said that book was good!
@@Costuming_Drama I'm very much enjoying it. It's obvious the writer loves her research, which makes it better.
Can you get a rolling stand for your cabinet that you can hind under your table?
Also, please make a witch hat! That would be so awesome.
The movie that means the most for us is "One Magic Christmas". Now that is a Santa to remember. Harry Dean Stanton plays a Christmas angel.
One holiday tradition is me making scalloped oysters. Each year we are each asked to bring a dish. This year I brought a box of Christmas crackers along with the oysters and it was fun. We wore tissue paper hats while eating our cookies and telling corny Dad jokes!I got asked to please repeat it next year.
On the Sunday before Christmas I was asked to speak in church about the importance of why the Child was sent to us. It meant a lot to me to be able to share that.
You strike me as being a person who cares about others so you are cool with me. Keep keepin' on!
💖💖💖 I’ll check that movie out!
looking forward to seeing more!
Finished watching The Witcher and now have to wait for the next season. Hated The Polar Express but I’m generally not a Christmas movie fan. Enjoy your time with friends.
Edit: as an Aussie our Christmas consisted of steak and sausages on the barbie, 2kg of prawns, three types of salad (green salad, Asian noodle salad, pumpkin, rocket and feta with pine nuts) coleslaw and potato bake. This was followed by a pavlova and a huge fruit platter which included all of the stone fruits, lychees and mangoes of course. It was a pretty cool Christmas this year … top temperature of 29 degrees but mostly mid 20’s throughout the day. I don’t know what that is in Fahrenheit!?
"I of the We Family" - If this isn't the most accurate talk-to-myselfer-but-with-you-all thing to say. Our board game nights have been so interrupted. We started Gloomhaven before it started and we've barely made a dent. My BFF and I have 350 games between us and the pandaroni is preventing playing them.
Oh! Gloomhaven of all games. That's rough
Loving the black dress! We watched Resurrections yesterday and I totally thought of you and how excited you probably were for a new Keanu movie!☺️
I was indeed very excited!
Wingspan is my favorite game!!! I don’t generally like board games, but my partner bought it last year and our whole household loves it.
Our favorite Xmas movie is Carey Grant in The Bishop's Wife. Happy New Year!
We just rewatched the first season of witcher and got the 1st episode of the 2nd.
Today I'm ironing all the fabric that got washed so I can make some dresses tomorrow.
The coppery dress you posted is actually Robin's (aka Sewloud)! What a funny coincidence given that she's going to be with us! Lol!
Ohhhh I know! I was like “CAIT! I am gonna hold her down and demand her secrets because this picture is impossible! This cannot be done! What is this witchcraft???” 😂🤣😂🤣
tbh my christmas this year was the best i've had in a decade or so. I finally got to stay home without being sick, opened up my one present (which included a some metal and beaded elf ears, and a joann gift card, so i shopped the sale that night to pick up on boxing day), then my dad offered to get me the animal crossing DLC and I've made so many cozy little houses for animals. I almost cried when my uncle texted me a selfie in the present i gave to him (a hat, which apparently is the only hat he owns that doesn't ride up). And then I watched Encanto for the first time yesterday and cried eight times. I counted, because I knew I was gonna cry. I've cried at every animated movie I've seen in probably the last five years. And then I ate some really delicious ice cream to make myself feel better.
Oh that does sound lovely!
My birthday is January 4th! I am a day and a few, okay - several, years ahead of you. I once read a novel about a Victorian adventuress who reconfigured her wardrobe - including corsets- to front closures and ways to be able to dress herself and still appear conventional. Since then I have wondered why everyone with solo needs did not do that. and.... Most of my pre-Christmas activity is making things for people. I have gotten into the habit of giving handmade, so now if I don't, I have to explain to people that I do love them, I just haven't made....it doesn't go well. :)
I truly enjoy low pony humor.
hhahahahahaha
Agreed, Christmas was kinda weird this year. I did attend Candlelight/Communion with my parents on Christmas Eve. We visited with cousin’s family. We drove around to see lights. We ate tamales. We opened gifts the next morning, but they were minimal. T.V. Dinner style turkey & mashed potatoes, dressing & cranberry sauce. FaceTime with the kids & sister. I usually go overboard on decorations, but not this year. Life is just very different.
Tamales!!! 💖
Our holidays were spent eating roasts & staying up way too late. I also mashed in an 18th c outfit and then we video gamed in said outfits.... cause, why not?
Also, that hat 😍😍
Wingspan is the funnest!!!!! Definitely in rotation in my “nerd game” group ((lol-that’s what my husband calls it 😅)) excited to see how this turns out.
Growing up in western Canada, we always celebrated on Christmas eve. My mom said it was a New Zealand tradition. 🤷♀ This year didn't really feel like Christmas, but we had a small dinner with a few people that was nice!
As for the thread box... Can you steal any room from the rooms beside your sewing room? do a little bump out in a closet maybe? Or put in high shelves to have more vertical storage?
Yeah I’m not gonna do construction for something that small, and that room is small enough.
I'm not super into Christmas, but I love getting people gifts.
We had a death in the family in October, and no one really got together for Thanksgiving, so my family and some close family friends got together for Christmas. To cover all the bases, I put up my Aunt's nativity and made a Yule/Pagan decoration with a huge 12-sided quartz crystal, some sweet grass, and other things. Eclectic Christmas! (I don't care what you 'are', just be a decent person who does some good in the world.) For the nativity, the garden-style window I wanted to put it in is rotting a bit. To cover that up, I made a pad. This is the first sewing thing I've made that actually came out almost perfect. (I found out I can't do a ..... hidden(?) stitch to close a seam. Gotta learn that. But otherwise I'm happy with it and it looked great under the nativity and lights. Now if only I could figure out those flannel pajama bottoms I started in Sept. of 2019!!
Enjoyed you video, again, Noelle, as always! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year and I am so sorry for your loss!
Thanks for the lovely catchup. Happy Christmas! We watch Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn every year. Christmas this year involved cooking lots of beef; roast, pot roast and moussaka. Leftovers and beef overload for days. Happy early birthday. Looking forward to watching you progress with this project. Which stays pattern will you use?
Possibly the red threaded one!