Interfacing - my new friend

Spent quite a bit of yesterday clearing the sewing machine and piles of assorted half finished costumes out of the dining room.

Not, you understand, because we eat in there, but to make room for the Chessex maps and the dice.  Our dining room is for games.  We managed a short gaming session on Sunday and it was clear that miles of fake velvet, two bags of hessian, several piles of possibly useful scraps and a disorganised sewing box did not mix well with the usual paraphenalia of dice, minis and maps.  Losing the vital packet of sustaining hobnobs under the debris was a bad moment.

Chocolate Hobnobs.  Vital gamer food.

I moved my kit.

Now that I have the dream machine and am no longer afraid to use it, I have been working my way through Sewing for Dummies.  Having dismissed the beginner project devoted to a "cute frilled apron", I moved straight on to the much more tiresome area of sleeves.  These require some actual skill, which I do not have.  Learning fast mind you.  Have to.

Panicked phone call from my co-conspirator on the Malfi costumes means that I recklessly volunteered to do the basic work on three doublets, a padded underskirt and an assortment of hats.  A visit to Caroline yesterday morning saw me returning in hunter-gatherer triumph with a car full of interfacing, patterns, more fabric scraps, 10 metres of black lining, two vast pieces of vaguely brocade and a slight feeling of panic.  Caroline was her usual soothing self.

"You'll be fine.  You're an intelligent woman." 

Agreed, I am, but is mere intelligence enough to get me through making this?  Three times?

Doublet pattern (assembled)

So, yesterday evening, I did the unthinkable.  I got out the ironing board and set it up in my new hidey hole.  I have stated before that I do not do ironing.  Ever.  Drip dry is my mantra.  This however, was ironing for my new friend and subject of this post.  Interfacing.

Fusible interfacing is wonderful.  It does not fray.  It can be cut at the same time as the fabric.  It is then attached to said fabric to reinforce it.  This helps the fabric to stay fairly firm and stops some fraying.  In order to accomplish this, it must be ironed on.

Interfacing.  Fusible.

And it was, dear reader, it was.  I now have the components of two doublets in interfaced bits awaiting assembly.  I've used an iron willingly for the first time in over a decade.  I'm about to go and stare more fabric into submission.

Whether the finished results are worth anything remains to be seen, but I've got interfacing to help me now. 

The costuming world is about to become my mollusc of choice. 

In my head, anyway.