How not to clean an iron

So, you know that lovely piece of 100% wool that isn't wool?  Yeah, that one.
Honestly, I thought Dad was making popcorn at 11:00 a.m.

I even had it set on Polyester.

So, before I go any farther & you think the following is how you should do this, just go get yourself some Barkeeper's Friend, Faultless hot iron cleaner, or some other product specifically designed to clean irons.  I hear fine steel wool is also helpful.

Don't try what you're about to see at home...

BUT if you want to giggle, read on...

THIS is what happened to my nice iron.
NOT happy.

Calling in the troops I had on hand.
Windex, Goo Gone, Dawn (incognito), Gojo and Paper towels.

After 3 applications of Goo Gone,
I switched to Gojo & things started chipping off.

Following the Gojo was Dawn. 
She worked for a bit, then quit.

Slightly better after fingernail scraping for an hour.

Now, after fingernail scraping for an hour, a person gets pretty frustrated.
Yes, that's a small screw driver.

More Gojo.

After about 8 Gojo/Dawn/screwdriver/Windex
sessions, we now have a clean iron.
A bit scraped up, but usable until I get to buy a new one.
2 hours later.

See this black crap? 
That's melted nylon on my cotton pressing cloth.

Just as an FYI, it's perfectly legal to have up to a 15% blend in wool & call it "100% wool"... in some cases it will be upwards of 30% depending on country of origin.
>>CougH, I woN't sAy where that comes from, cough<<

Anyway, it's legally wool, and at $18.00/yd it was a darn good lie.
Blends can be acrylic, nylon, polyester, rayon or any number of other fibers.  They serve various purposes, mostly to help the wool be a more consistent fiber... until someone like me actually believes the fabric label & sets their iron on one-degree-less-than-required to press a seam and melts it all over the place.

Labels may lie, but irons do not.

Making More Stuff

I wanted to do some lovely, witty blog post about all the stuff I've been making lately, but that's just not going to happen this morning.
So here are some pictures with short captions.  I may have posted some of these before, if so... sorry.

Roman Brachea (Breeches) for my friend Mr. Scott.

Super-simple Roman drawers.

Padded Gambeson for my husband (this is #2, which seems to be working as it should).

1-2-3 Fight!

Italian sleeves for Lisa (I didn't make the dress)

Sleevies!

18th c. stays from scrap fabric for Sam.

1715-60 Stays

1790-1820 outfits for the Delps

1790-1815 Waistcoat

1790-1810 Tailcoat

1805-1815 Dress

1805-1820 Pelisse

The dress & waistcoat were made this spring, the tailcoat & pelisse this fall.  Odd book-ends to my Medical Adventures, which are (hopefully) over.

There were a few other things that I can't seem to locate the jpg.s
I need to have a "finishing" day for a good number of garments that are >this< close to being done, but need accessories, buttons, hooks & eyes or hems. 

Bad Customer, No Cookie!

I just found out that my nightmare customer is a recurring theme in the lives of other historic seamstresses. Thankfully I can say "no" to this one quite easily. I really think we need a black-list for PITA's, history of non-payment & general harassment.

It's really important to those of us who re-create these garments that they be:
1. correct
2. durable
3. beautiful
4. well made

...We all try really, really hard to make what you (the customer) wants. Most of the time we manage it. Sometimes we don't. These things happen... not very often, but they do happen.

But occasionally there are individuals who can't be pleased. No matter how hard you work, how many times you re-make an already perfect garment, how many hours you put in, how long you research, how many times they approve (and then change) the design... they will never be happy.

There are customers who will actually yell at you. Yes, they will yell, scream, holler & sometimes swear, I even had one physically threaten me (over a coat, people! over a coat).
Before you can even send their money or fabric back to them they will call the BBB... they are on the phone bitching before the lady at the post office can stamp the package. They will call or write to whatever powers-that-be to tell them just how much you suck. They will send hate e-mail, hate mail, trash you to every other professional in the business.
There are customers that are soooo nice until they turn into rabid dogs.

These are the people who make us just want to quit. These are the people who (even if they are right - technically), make those of us who sew want to throw our hands up in the air & say "forget it, I'm just sewing for myself now."

Here's the thing: seamstresses are human. We love our jobs. But we are overworked, severely underpaid & these things take time. Once you add in the sheer volume of garments & customers that we work with in a year, there are bound to be a few things that don't work out. I'm sorry for that. Truly I am. I will fix it. But I may not be able to fix it this month... maybe not even next month. Heck, I'm booked into January right now!

I understand if someone isn't happy. Occasionally I'm not happy. If it's my fault I will do whatever I can to make it right. But for goodness sake, read my Terms & Conditions, understand that I'm not making these things in China or Mexico, I don't have a 6 figure bank account... (I'm lucky if I've got a 3 figure account).
Being yelled at by you on the phone or e-mail is not going to get your garment sewn any faster... no, I can't make the fabric supplier ship that stuff any sooner, nor can I make the button guy cast any faster (he's got a backlog too). Nor am I going to make customers who ordered well in advance wait longer because you want your stuff for the end of this week.



As to the non-payment thing... it's quite upsetting. Those of us who craft your beautiful clothes work very hard. A dress takes an average of 10 hours to sew... by machine. Never mind the hand work, design work, fabric prep, fabric cost (...5-10 yds!).

A man's suit takes 2 or 3 days. A pair of breeches is 5 hours start to finish. That's 5 hours of my life plus materials ($20 in buttons alone) that you just stole from me. And no, I don't have a spiffy insurance policy that will pay me for "that kind of thing." It's just me here, with a sewing machine, scissors, needle & thread.

That literally takes food out of my mouth, literally doesn't put gas in my tank & there's half a day of pay that you took from me. For what? a pair of pants that I'm only charging you $65 for? WTH man, this isn't Walmart! I don't keep a slave in the basement!

I do this because I love it. I sew for you because I enjoy your company, I love the sport & have a true passion for history. I'm not asking for an arm & a leg ( I just want them measured correctly). I'm asking for a fair price (a reduced one at that), so you can play toy soldier on your weekend off. I'm asking you to pay me for my material, my time & probably a little bit of my blood too.

I get blisters, muscle cramps, sometimes I can't move my hands on the weekends, sometimes my whole arm goes numb from working on the sewing machine, or doing repetitive motions wile hand sewing. I stay up for hours researching garments & fabrics & weaves & history of economics so that I know what I'm talking about. Do I always remember? Nope. Can I always get tow cloth (not in North America I can't... and btw, if you've made it this far in the rant & know where I can get tow cloth, please tell me!).

There are few things worse than having someone walk out of your store with something you worked so hard to create & later finding out that they gave you a stolen credit card number, or wrote a bad check. Even worse is "I'll pay you the rest later" and they never do... what a betrayal of friendship & camaraderie.
Nothing leaves my store now unless it's paid for. I'm sorry to the rest of you for that, but promissory notes & credit cards will reserve the item, but they will not buy it until I know that money is in my account.

And it's the same people over & over!

Which leads me back to the desire to have a black-list.

I hear the same things from my seamstress & tailor friends... same people again & again. C / S / M didn't pay me... M is a total PITA... P yelled at me & sent the garment back.

Normally I don't let this stuff get to me. It's just that this incredibly talented & wonderful seamstress (who's work & blog I haunt) may be quitting because of this horrid customer, who I've had bad experiences with. Everyone I know who sews has & she's actually made 2 seamstresses throw in the towel. She's not a bad person, she's just a terrible customer! Which somehow makes it worse. I don't want her to sink a 3rd ship.

Please check out Lauren's blog,
http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/
it rocks.

Oakhill Clothiers Website

Dear Oakhill Clothiers Customers,

We have a new website! It's at the same address, so no need to change bookmarks if you were so inclined. Go check it out & let me know what you like about it & anything that isn't working (there are a few pictures that aren't uploading & must be replaced).

As of right now, we are booking NEW orders in December. Please do not ask for an earlier date as we cannot accommodate you; it's not fair to our other customers.
We will not be booking orders over the Winter Holidays (Dec. 23-Jan 4). All machines will be shut off & all pins left in their cushions through this week.


Gail Kellogg Hope
Oakhill Clothiers.

Mass Production Hiccoughs

I've got 3 days before my biggest and (thankfully last) event of the year. I've been in high-gear production mode for the past 2 weeks and my poor little sewing machine doesn't know what hit it. No time for hand-sewing at all. Poor Mom has been trapped behind her sewing machine too, and stuck on white of all things. ( We sold our last 2 white shirts to a theater company in Princeton NJ... and now our customers will have nothing to wear!!!). She also made me some petticoats because we were out of those as well.

Now I'm wondering exactly how much we can get done in the next 3 days.

So sew ladies sew!

Then nature hit me and I feel like someone tripped over my power cord, siphoned all the caffene right out of my veins and force-fed me sleeping pills all at once. So rather than doing what I should be doing (which is parking myself behind the sewing machine or cutting table), I'm blogging to re-charge the batteries.

Here is what I've been working on...


1775 jackets. I love these.
Yes the center one is on my husband's dummy, but it was the best fit I had... I made 4 of these, the black is pictured below on Mom.
They are as follows: polished cotton lined with green cotton. Cotton/linen blend in stripes, unlined (it's really pretty). Printed cotton bound with pink linen bias tape, unlined in a very small size... thinking of making a stomacher to go with it so it may fit more people.

Nothing makes One feel more special than placing One's husband & best friends' dress dolls on One's own dress doll stand... and they look like they are wearing paniers & a bum roll. Thankfully I've lost some weight since then.

Rev War procession anyone?
Late 1700's English gown in brown cotton, with matching petticoat & pockets, boned bodice.
I really like this dress. I want to keep it... My husband really likes it too. I told him if he wanted me to have one he'd have to buy the fabric for me. It's lovely. I really, really, REALLY want it. But alas, must fill the store.
1775 outfit, jacket with petticoat. She should have a cap, modesty cloth & ruffled cuffs too... but Mom looks so silly in hats it's not even funny... OK, it's really funny. We tried 3 caps and by the time we were done our faces were red from giggling so much.

How to make a wedding dress in one week.

I have been painfully reminded why weddings take so long to plan and why the dresses cost so bloody much. It's because they are expensive (materials) and labor intensive.

The back-story...
I made a tailcoat for this gentleman, and he loved it. He'd told me it was for a wedding in early April, but he didn't say it was his wedding. Good man to lie and give me a date a few weeks ahead of time. Good job! (no, I mean this, ALWAYS lie to your clothing suppliers and tell them the date is sooner than it really is... So then he e-mails me back and says "help! my fiance's dress isn't done and the woman we ordered it from has stopped calling!" I told him to contact the woman and tell her to call you back and let you know if the dress will be there, or if you have to make other arrangements.
A whole week went by and I heard nothing back. Then the fiance e-mails me HELP!

So that's how I came to make a wedding dress in 7 days.
The process normally goes something like this:
Customer orders. I find an historic pattern and whip up a test garment in their size (or mine just to see if it works). I try it on someone of approximately the same size and then make any necessary adjustments. I get fabric, wash, iron, etc. Cut pattern, Sew. Take photos, send off and hope it fits. If it's really complex, (like a wedding dress) I make a sloper and send it to them to make sure I've got the right shape.

This is how THIS dress went:
Day 1 (I've got the flu)
I got a frantic e-mail... didn't hear back... started looking for patterns anyway.
Found 3 great patterns.
Got the e-mail without payment or measurement information (which means no actual order).

Day 2 Start 3:00 pm
Started tracing out the pattern anyway in the original size.
Got the e-mail with payment and measurement information, get phone call with specific info.
Re-sized the pattern and made design changes.
Cut & sewed a test garment, re-cut & sewed a test garment that would fit a human.
Checked measurements and made notes.
End11:20 pm

Day 3 Start 6:40 am
Made new test garment & figured out mechanics of bodice.
Went shopping for fabric ($ from credit hadn't come through yet... Mom paid for it)
Cut "actual" bodice & sewed together
IT DOESNT FIT!!!
End 3:20 am

Day 4 Start 7:20 am
Re-fit pattern, cut new bodice.
Cut skirt, sew.
NO GO, IT DOESN'T FIT!!!!!! AARGH!
Re-work pattern again.
Re-cut (praying I've got enough fabric)
Re-sew.
FITS!!!
End 9:00 pm

Day 5 Start 7:50 am
Sew skirt, it fits!
Cut overskirt (lace)
Sew that.
LUNCH & shopping for odds & ends.
Sew bodice
Sew sleeves
End 11:00 pm

Day 6 Start 7:30 am
Pin everything together
Re-vamp sleeves.
Sew together.
arrange skirts,
pin, sew, attach.
Hand stitch trim on neckline
finish hooks & eyes at back.
Take pictures, mail the sucker (not 100% finished... but wearable)
End 8:15 pm

Day 7 Start 1:00 pm
Make bow & lower detachable sleeves
Send
End 4:45 pm.

This whole thing cost her $500 + $100 shipping. Holy Cow! I really hope this fits her.