Stirring Adventures and Mad Mods! Saving the world one questionable decision at a time.
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, April 10th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the children fall and the Count is ingrateful.
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The children fell and fell. It was exciting at first, until it was not. Then Claire tried to make it interesting, shouting out a five second geolologic commentary as they fell through successive layers of rock. Other than the fabled treacle layer (“Ooh, Sir Pratchett was right!”) the others were not amused, and the budding geologist had enough difficulty controlling their fall without analyzing strata.
Then she realized, after the first hour of their descent, that they were burning through the little ship’s fuel supply far too quickly. If they ran out of fuel, they would crash against the tunnel wall or floor, if it had a floor. To preserve fuel, they had to let themselves free fall, engaging the engines in short bursts only to slow their descent and avoid the walls of the tunnel.
Then it became a dreadful trip. The ship dropped like a stone, then slowed with a jerk as Claire brought the engine pods to bear. Even Mirabelle, who enjoyed the sensation of falling (being greatly addicted to carnival rides), was miserable after the first hour. The others felt worse, and poor Annabelle felt quite sick. After four hours, Claire realized something else.
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By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, February 27th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which our distraught parents race for help, and Madame and Chef reach an understanding.
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Only the Schöneluft had the fuel stores and engine power for a run from the Himalyas across southeast Asia to the French capital of Vietnam. She could fly nearly 80 miles an hour under the right conditions, but those conditions had not been met in years. The more children they acquired, the more comforts the von Hedwigs had deemed desirable, and the slower the great airship had become.
With their children’s lives at stake, the von Hedwig parents took no chances. An hour’s work here, in the shadow of the mountain that had swallowed their offspring, could save them hours in flight. Ulrik was securing the Schmetterling inside the tunnel’s mouth to keep it safe from storm and avalanche in their absence. Herr von Hedwig plotted their course to Saigon, and Madame was in the Galley, negotiating with Chef.
They spoke in French, a language Madame spoke fluently, although despite rumors she had carefully started, it was not her native tongue.
“Monsieur, we leave within the hour, and the galley stays here. We need sufficient food supplies for two days brought into the ship in the next twenty minutes. And coffee. Lots of coffee.”
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By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, February 20th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which, although the circumstances are dark indeed, a beacon of hope shines from afar.
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Madame took off the moment her husband was on board. Although she was agitated, her flying was steady, and they soon arrived at the mouth of the tunnel that had swallowed their children. There was no place to land. They anchored, to a stalactite above them and a stalagmite below. Herr von Hedwig rappelled down to the site, bathed in the Schmetterling’s searchlight.
Madame paced between the hatch and the controls, wringing her hands. A dozen times an anxious question leapt to her lips; a dozen times she quelled it. Her husband examined the cave mouth, called for more line, and then went deeper, out of her view. She stayed at the line, alert for any signal from him. At length, one came – again, more line! He was descending. She focused the spotlight down into the blackness. Although her beloved was lost from her sight, she hoped the light would be of use to him. He carried the lantern as well.
At last, the signal to wind in the line. At last he returned.
“The ship was here; they went into the tunnel. There are scratch marks along the floor.”
“Why did they go in there?” Madame’s voice strained with the effort of control.
“The blackguard must have forced them. He must have a yeti or two with him. The children would have overpowered him otherwise.”
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By Madame vonHedwig on Friday, February 12th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which the Fearless Fabricator and his intrepid wife find disturbing evidence.
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Herr and Madame vonHedwig made their way from the mad scientist’s underground lair, trudging toward the surface. They were tired, and mired in thought, but alert for any sign of Montesanto or yeti.
A distant throbbing broke the silence of the cave. Exchanging concerned and puzzled looks, they hurried toward the sound. Suddenly, bright white light flashed against the tunnel wall ahead of them as the throb became a roar. They ran pell mell toward the fading sound, skittering to a halt at the mouth of the volcanic tube they had discovered on their way in. The engine sound that had shattered the underground silence was only a muttering far below them.
The Fearless Fabricator listened intently. There was something familiar about the engine sound, disturbingly familiar.
“What’s that?” Madame pointed down the wall of the volcanic tube. “Was that there before?”
Her husband cupped their lantern in both hands, focusing the light. There was a tiny smear of white clinging to the rock wall, its charred edges blending with the dark rock. When at last he spoke, he could only utter a harsh whisper.
“It’s a marshmallow.”
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This entry is part of a series, 12 Volt Power supply» aka
Swanking your jank
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Working hard in the lab, the corset post and exploring the world with the family have distracted me from posting the project I have completed. While I don’t apologize for my priorities, I do make an apology to those who have been checking in.
Not only did I finish the case for the ATX Power supply for myself, but I built a second for a good friend who is a fabulous tinker himself.
The wooden part of the cases themselves are simple wood working – plywood with the edges covered in oak veneers. I used luan was used for the grills, hand cut with a coping saw. While unfettered ventilation is important, but not wanting to sacrifice aesthetic, I brass painted some window screen and glued it behind the grill to help obscure internal components. The mark II has a black painted baffle halfway between the grill and the internal components to further aid this concealment. Wood stain and tongue oil help to give the wood parts a quality look.
Brass corners a dress up the edges of the vertical unit. Some sheet tin is sufficient to mount the power supply in the rear on the unit. I used some tin ceiling scraps for one and flashing scrap for the other. Screw holes for mounting are best made with a nail punch, instead of a drill, because the flanges re-enforce the holes a bit.
The name plate, terminal plates and switch plate were electro-etched using the power supplies themselves. If one looks closely at the horizontal unit, it can be observed that the terminal plates and switch plate and switch plate are in negative image. Mistakes do happen when one is in a hurry! This is my lab power supple, and being dyslexic, I thought I would leave them this way to help me remember to check the orientation of my etching resistor transfer in the future.
All tubes and coils were made for the project. Painted window screen, plastic from water bottles, construction paper, old phone wire, thin sheet copper, painted steel wool and metallic tape were key components in this process. Each is internally lit with an LED, in series with a resistor power by the un-used 5 volt capacity of the ATX unit. Simple and effective LED tools can be found at http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz to help with resistor value selection. My favorite tubes were not the ones I tried to made like vacuum tubes, but the ones where I got creative and just did my thing.
More pictures of this project can be found here.
This is a contenuation of the:
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Update: Here is the very handsome cap of Mr. Kevin C Cooper Esq, made based on my instructions below. What a dashing fellow!
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This past Yule I made vonHedwig a smoking cap to match one of his smoking jackets. Here’s how I did it.
fabric – I started with 1/2 yard and had loads left over
stiff fabric – I just used a sheet of stiff felt
needle, thread, pins, and scissors
tassel – try the upholstery area of the fabric store. I couldn’t find a tassel significant enough for my husband, so I made my own.
To make your own tassel: yarn, piece of cardboard 2″ wide and as long as you want the tassel to be
1. measure the circumference of the wearer’s head mid- to high-forehead, wherever looks right, and measure or estimate how high you want the cap to be. I made mine 4″ high. It shouldn’t be too high, as it is a smoking cap, not a fez. (besides, a fez is traditionally felted.)
2. cut your stiff felt to those measurements, with 1/2″ or so overlap for seam allowance
3. cut your fabric so that it will entirely encase the brocade (leaving yourself seam allowances
4. connect the ends of your stiff felt and pin. Holding it in the shape of the final hat, lay it on the wrong side of the fabric and mark the top of the hat. Add seam allowance and cut it out.
5. fold the felt into the fabric cut to encase it and sew the wrong sides together along one long end.
6. Pin your fabric-covered felt into a circle, then pin right side of the hat top to the inside of the hat seam you just made, and sew it. 
7. Turn the cap right side out. Fold under the cut edge on one side of the fabric join and hand sew it shut (inside and outside of the hat), using stiches that don’t show.
8. Sew tassel on the top center, and an interesting button on top of that.
To make your own tassel:
Cut a piece of cardboard (just grab something out of the recycling) and cut it a quarter inch longer than you want your tassel and 2″ wide with indented ends.
Wrap yarn from end to end until it’s as fat as you want it.
Slip another length of yarn under one end and tie a knot around the bundle.
Slip your open scissors into the other end and cut the tassel open.
Take it off the cardboard form and return it to the recycling. Tie a second knot an inch or so down from the tied end to make a ball at the top. (you can even put a small ball inside to round it out)
By Madame vonHedwig on Friday, January 22nd, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which violence ensues.
The Man and the Beast by iAes
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While Adolphus steered them towards the cave, Claire confronted Annabelle in hissing whispers, pointing, horrified, at Mirabelle, who had her hands deep in the fur of the yeti’s neck.
“It’s going to EAT her!”
“It’ll be sorry if it does.” Annabelle would not take her eyes off the Yeti, even to argue. Her mouth was set in a grim line.
“We’ve got to stop her!”
“Don’t make any sudden moves! You’ll get her eaten for sure.”
“What is she doing?”
“If you’ve made a weapon there, get ready to use it,” was Annabelle’s reply.
Adolphus spun the wheel, yanking the little ship into a sharp turn, heading for the yawning blackness ahead.
“Light!” shouted the Count. “Where is there light?”
“I don’t know, it’s not my ship.” Adolphus said. “Look for yourself, why don’t you!”
The kidnapper swatted at him, but he ducked out of reach. He scanned the controls, looking for a light switch. He didn’t like the look of the cave. The mouth of it was huge, more than big enough for the launch, but from their approach he could see no floor to it.
The sun was setting behind the western peaks, leaving the valley floor, where poor Ulrik and the boiler crew were marooned, already in darkness. High above them the fading sunlight shone pale on the wild, snowy cliffs without brightening the cave at all. It yawned black and menacing before them.
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By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, January 16th, 2010
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which Adolphus argues, Mirabelle takes a risk, and Bettina enters the fray.
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Bettina fretted. All her older siblings were actively engaged in fighting the mustache man, while she watched. Adolphus struggled to control the ship, Claire had built a trebuchet, and the twins and Gerhardt were trying to remove the mysterious moss from the neck of the yeti. The youngest vonHedwig cast about her for something, anything she could do to help. What could be of use that the other children had discarded?
Bettina was drawn, as she so often was, to the flammable. There was a small oilcan tossed into the corner behind Claire, and some pieces of the twins’ string. She grabbed them, and crawled around the floor, collecting dust bunnies and clumps of shed hair. When she had a big enough bundle, she started to bind it together, leaving the longest bit of string as a wick. Regretfully, she bound in the moss she had pulled from the yeti’s head. This was no time to be sentimental. Indeed, this was a crisis. Bettina felt in her pinafore pocket. Four firecrackers. She judged their need to be great, and sacrificed one of her meager horde to the cause.
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This entry is part of a series, Construction of Custom Corsets» Part -1
Constrution Corset, square neck brown canvas corsets
Part 2
This is part three of a living document on making custom corsets. It will be edited, revised, and have new information and links added as readers post comments. So please post your comments, questions and tips so that other can learn from your experience as well as mine.
This is one of those projects in which precision is your friend. The more precise your work is, the easier the project will be. Deviation in this kind of project seems to multiply, causing more and more problems as you work. I over build corsets a bit, so I am going to show a heave duty method, that with one modification can be used to make a corset in which the boning sleeves don’t show on the outer layer. This one’s edge will be finished with homemade bias tape, but later I’ll try to show other edge finishing methods.
It’s time to choose boning to stiffen your corset. Traditionally, wood and whale bone where common, with upwards of a hundred staves in a single garment. Today’s cheap corset, bustier and merry widow have light wieght narrow plastic boning in them, often leading to structural failure, even with the first wearing. Perhaps if used in the hundred plus numbers still they might hold up, but in truth they’re a waste of petrochemicals. You can buy corset bones in a variety of lengths and thicknesses from companies like Farthingales. While they have nice round rubber end, their lenth selection is limited, usually comes in only half inch and they are kind of pricey.
What I normal use is steel lumber-packing band, free on the floor of the lumber yard near you. It is strong, flexible, and commonly comes in 5/8 and 1 ¼ inch width. Trim to length with metal shears, round the end and cover with a bit of electrical tape (perhaps some spray paint if you’re that kind of person) and there’s your custom boning. These days, more lumber is coming in plastic packing band, so this corset is a mix of the two weights of plastic packing band I from laying around, with a double stack of the heavy weight inside of the grommet area. The heavier weight was also used as the boning between the breast. So far so good. Thus an occasional hand washable corset.
Set aside the cover layer for a while, once your have sewn it to match the tailored backing layer.
figure 02
figure 01
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Measure the width of your boning, and add and 1/8th inch for sewing variance. (5/8’ for the boning + 1/8’ variance = ¾’ inch) Now starting on a straight edge of a single layer your backing fabric, working with your grain start marking out your boning sleeves. For example, 5/8’ inch seam allowance, the ¾” for the boning, 5/8’ inch seam allowance, repeat for each piece of boning that will be in the corset. I mark every six inches up the fabric for consistency until they are about four inches long than I think I will need them to be. I also draw the cutting lines as I connect the mark in a different color, then the sewing lines around the boning. On this particular corset there is double boning in the front center, so I made a double sleeve by skipping the center seam allowance. (figure 2)
figure 03
The boning inside the grommet, under the lacing, the back edge in this corset doesn’t really need a sleeve, but the extra sleeve you cut gets sewn in to the backing layer to re-enforce the grommets. In figure 03 you should be able to see the seam allowance markings, a space for the boning and then the grommet re-enforcement strip. The rest of the sleeves are laid out on the backing layer where the boning is desired, then pinned into place. If in doubt, look at other corsets, the picture of the corset yours is modeled after, or a pattern for inspiration. Most of the time the sleeves stop at an edge, but sometime one must make an educated guess as to where to end a bit of boning. For example, when does the desire for support end and a shoulder strap begin? On this corset the boning is in a slight fan on the front. On a simple corset, most follow the seams. I often zig-zag down the edges, for strength.
Basting helps on this step. Quick and broad hand stitches not only let the seamstress precisely align the sleeves, but also do a better job of keeping the layers’ seams aligned and maintaining the position of various pieces while machine sewing. Sadly one of my sewing weaknesses is a failure to baste when it’s optional, so I have no examples to show.
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figure 05
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Instead I just preceded to sew down the sides and top of each sleeve, leaving the bottom open. Better to make the sleeve a bit too wide than too narrow. With the right sides of the backing layer and outer layer the together, sew the grommet edges, then turn right side out. Be careful to push out this seam (with a pin or a ruler from the inside), and press, to prevent making a pocket. (figure 04) Sew down the edge about an 1/8” in from the edge. Then sew a parallel seam in from the width of your boning plus 1/8”, and a third parallel seam in from that based on the width of your grommets plus 1/8”.
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figure 07
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At this point the easiest thing to do is to line up and pin the seams of the outer and backing layer across the top and arm holes . Don’t finish the bottom yet. Sew the two layers together 5/8” from edge. (figure 05) Trim to a scant ¼ inch.
A design choice for this corset was to have boning stiching show on the front of the corset. When sewing though all layers it is important that they line up. At three points along each seam a pin was pushed straight though to check the alignment before they were pinned together. It is best that the layers’ seams are with in a 16th of an inch of each other. (figure 07) Once again basting would help.
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figure 09
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Because this is a waist-altering corset, the addition of an internal canvas belt was put in for support. (Ideally this would be between the top layer and outside of the boning for maximum effectiveness.) (figures 08 and 09) It is important the belt run from grommets to grommets, and preferably has at least two grommets in each end. This was pinned at each boning sleeve. On this corset, because one of the boning stays ends where a shoulder strap starts, the stopping point of the sleeve was double checked and marked on the backside. Sewing carefully and accurately, the boning sleeves were re-sewn, through all the layers, still leaving the bottom of each sleeve open. (figure 10)
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Now I made matching bias strips into matching tape, and sewed them onto the top and arm holes, in order to finish those edges. Now I marked 5/8” on the inside, from the bottom of the corset for each stay sleeve. Each boning stay should be a ¼ or an inch shorter then from the top of the sleeve to this mark. Once all your boning is in place, then it is time to sew shut the bottom, being careful to not sew over the boning. Safety glasses are not out of place during this last few steps. (That’s right, time to USE those goggles!) Trim down to a scant ¼ inch and finish with bias tape. (figures 11 , 12 and 13)
Grommet Time – but first a soapbox rant. The common fabric store grommets I have found to be an abomination. Most are light duty, made out of thin metal. Typically the two parts of these cheap grommets both have a notched barrow that fit one in another. (Good grommets – one side has a solid barrow and the other side is a washer.) They don’t fit tight, once set, so the force of the lacing is not defused and fraying is not checked. Sometimes their edges are even sharp and will cut the fabric as you put them in. After all the hard work you have put in so far, don’t start cutting corners now. If you are in a hurry, maybe your local hardware store has heavy-duty grommets. Better yet plan ahead and order some and the setting tools from a corset notions supplier.
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The grommets for this corset were set 1” on center and just about a 1/8” in from the first stay. Mark them in chalk, double check their alignment, then punch the holes for them. A hammered punch into a piece of hard wood works better for fabric than a hand punch. Set your grommet. Lace it up with ribbon, shoe laces or parachute cord (it comes in almost as many colors as thread from online sources) and its finally done. (
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figure 14)
Some other notes, for the curious:
A modesty panel is a 2-4” wide double sided strip of fabric running down the length of the corset behind the grommets and lacing. It is sewn only down one side. You can add a ¾” modesty panel behind the button side of a busk as well.
An alternative to re-enforced boning sleeves is to sew the back and front together to form a sleeve between the out and the backer later. This is a method I would only use for a limited wear corset, and it has to have a heavy outer layer.
Another way to finish the top and bottom edges is to sew the outer and backing layer faces together at all but the grommet lacing edge and turn the piece right-side out for hand sewing and grommeting. Topstitching will crisp the top and bottom edges, but be care about breaking needles when you sew over instead of around boning.
If people are interested, I’ll posted some examples of the other finishing variations, making you own boning, or making your own bias tape. Homemade bias tape is the bees knees, and isn’t hard to make.
Farthingales is a reliable but pricey source of corset making supplies.
Folkwear Patterns has the best pattern paper I have found.
This entry is part of a series, Voyage to Antafrica» In which we find out what they have in their pockets.
Yeti Compassion by iAes
The twins studied the contents of their pockets. They had, together, 2 observation books, 3 pencil stubs, some bits of string in a tangle, a stub of chalk, 2 etched brass decoder rings, 2 compasses, 4 springs, a small hammer, 6 cut nails, 2 handkerchiefs, a cricket cage (without cricket), 7 small spanners in varying sizes, a napkin full of cookies, an apple, 2 whistles, a screwdriver, 6 ounces or so of copper scraps, a small flask of the boiler chief’s special distilled engine cleaner, tweezers, and a tin box full of cheeses. They pawed through the pile without enthusiasm.
Mirabelle nudged her brother. “Do you have a comb?” He looked at her as though she should be wearing a straight jacket, but pulled a comb out of his pocket and handed it to her. She slowly approached the beast, making a soft soothing shh shh shh noise, such as she believed lion tamers used in the circus.
She stood directly before it, but still the yeti did not move. She raised her hand, and touched the creature’s leg with the comb. Annabelle was some feet behind her, positioned where the yeti’s body would block the Count’s view of her. She picked up the boiler crew’s heaviest spanner, and stood alert, covering her twin.
Mirabelle combed the yeti.
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