Ahhhhhhh, jobs are done, diary and book closed for the weekend and will open up on the other side of the world as we continue our adventures.
Looking forward to more workspace and my sample board for friendly reminders of colour choices and work ahead.
Looking forward to more challenges, fabric hunting, satisfying clients and enjoying the variety that is.
Kat xo
Or Diary of Desire Part 4 – Learning never ends and I am finally getting to use the McDowell Drafting Machine that I won at the Victorian Tea two Conventions ago!
Squeals of delight or sheer terror, can't work out which is winning but think the squeals are taking over!
Looks about right. So far so good – measure, set, check measure, check set. Yep so far so good. Yes, the front bodice section is short, up to you to work out the 'skirt' part of it. Crikeys, thought it looked like something was missing. For machines numbered over 7,000 (and mine is 13,742) the skirt rule is 5″ below the waist line.
Check this out too. The patent markings, show various versions I assume, from 1879 – 1886.
Note the book says and I quote “…….It also simplifies the work that a fifteen-year-old child can easily learn to fit garments scientifically.” Haa Haa Haa better get back to it then.
Keep measuring and smiling 🙂
Kat xo
I don't think too many of us performed at any sort of fantastic shooting ability (except for Winchester who took out first place, cogratulations) today but did well at getting up to more cheek than necessary.
With only 3 women shooting today, we got up to more no good than usual and certainly enjoyed ourselves doing so. 😉
Mostly Pearl Starr and myself giggling on the sidelines or in the background!
A few cheeky comments thrown in for good measure with Prairie Joy.
Well maybe this group was up to no good too or telling lies!
Jack also managed to have a short play just with pistols to check his form. He wasn't particularly happy about speed but hello! He hit all the targets AND it's still early days buddy. All in good time, all in good time.
Great stages again by Mad Dog Tannen, no procedural for me today, so that was a plus but still a few too many misses for my liking and 8 stuck in the rifle……ouch!!
Everyone had fun and by 4.00pm we had finished 6 stages.
Dinner, drinks and more banter ensued. Gotta love any day out on the range!
Kat xo
Clearly that's what I need to do more of after today's effort, or at least pay attention to instructions!
Misses – 2, Procedurals – 1, Pistol Reloads – 2 very messy and uncoordinated, Shotgun inadvertently opening – 1 and probably a bit ragged on rifle on 2 stages.
Despite this, raw times were good but that makes not one iota of difference if you have all the other stuff going on, now does it?
Loads of fun as usual, plenty of laughs and good company, what more could you want really.
Congratulations to Mad Dog Tannen for taking out top honours at this weekends Gamblers club match and to Ex Sighted and Prairie Joy for clean matches!
Next club match in two weeks!
Cheers
Kat xo
Well it might not be as tasty but the latest colour explosion would definitely rival any handful of Skittles!
It's been a few weeks of colourful and interesting patterns for Adelita skirts, corsets and tops.
Fulfilling others needs with bright and fun prints and plains, cotton and silks.
Gorgeous matching, small peacock feather detail for a couple. Noooo, not a new set for Jack and I, although I do have that fabric for me!
Enjoyed the “quicker” sewing, now on to “challenging” again.
Cheers
Kat xo
Yes, it was a down range kinda day yesterday with 15 Cowboys and Cowgirls turning out for The Gamblers club match.
With Jack sitting on the sidelines for now, he happily video'd (people say that but is it actually a word?… I digress) and kept score.
It felt good but had a few unnecessary misses, called 'must keep your eye on the front sight'. Never mind I'm on to that.
All times were decent however and had the Dog on the run! Nice shooting with all and thanks for the challenge 'Mad Dog Tannen'!
Click on this link to see Stage 1 Video (This link is mainly for Dad and Mums sake 🙂 )
Have a good week!
Kat xo
Miss 19 asked me one day, “Mum what is B-Western?” Well I could explain to her what it meant for Single Action shooters by way of category, dress, firearms etc but what did it really mean?
Now I also knew it related to the silver screen era, John Wayne, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and the like. So a little research got me looking further at the term.
In short, (because we don't need the full explanation on here) film production in the late 1920's and into the 1930's and 40's saw the double billing or short inexpensive films added to fill a program. Mostly due to rental of space to show a film and therefore to make it worthwhile not only for theatre goers but for the management and staff.
Western movies were said to be the most predominant in the 30's and accounted for 25-30% of production. Therefore the term, B-Western!
However, costume wise, it is all about the smiley pockets, piping, fringing, different coloured cuffs and yokes, bright coloured fabrics, embroidery and a little bit of bling thrown in for good measure.
There are many fine examples of such with the most revered being those created by Nudie Cohn. In particular to the country music artists over many years.
I found these little gems on some Grand Old Opry dvd's borrowed from 'Emerald'. Priceless! I'm sure I recognised one outfit on a DVD that we saw at the Ryman Auditorium when we were there in 2014.
This one of Ernest Ashworth wearing his 'Talkback Trembling Lips' outfit that matched his song! What a classic! Blinged up bars of music, the writing and of course the lips across it.
I think it was this one of Porter Wagoner's we may have seen at the Ryman or at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In the realm of costuming I have completed a few B-Western outfits now and think there will be more to come.
Here is 'Lil McGill' from Texas, in her Annie Oakley inspired outfit (as worn by Gail Davis in the tv series of Annie Oakley in the 1950's). We saw the original on display at the Oklahoma National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame and it just had to become an outfit for Lil! She won best dressed B-Western Lady at the 2015 US Nationals – Winter Range, 2015 World Championships – End Of Trail and then the trifecta, 2015 South West Regionals – Red Dirt Rampage.
(2nd Place, Sonora Blaze, 3rd Place, Paniola Annie)
Our Aussies can be partial to a bit of B-Western flair as well and when 'Katie Younger' and 'Robb and Co' hit the USA in 2015 they wanted an Australian themed get up. So National emblem and flower with kangaroo's, Southern Cross and the Australian flag were the order. They won 2nd Place Best Dressed Couple at the 2015 World Championships – End of Trail. Katie has the first B-Western outfit I ever made in a red and black combo.
'Sonora Blaze' from Colorado also required a show stopper and we got to doing this Dale Evans inspired number but in the turquoise instead of the original coral colour. Sonora won 2nd Place Best Dressed at the 2016 US Nationals – Winter Range.
'Flat Top Okie' from Oklahoma, required a shirt to match the boots he'd bought and after searching for the right colour fabric came up with the perfect match! Add in some custom styled design and a little bit of bling and there you have it.
And so we come to the latest creation in this genre. Another beautiful outfit for 'Lil McGill' with bits of a Patsy Cline outfit and inspiration from Annie Get Your Gun costumes for Betty Hutton, Lil will be the ultimate ray of sunshine getting around the range in this number! There are a couple of things left to do, like pearl snaps, embroidered triangles for pockets and careful trimming of embroidery threads but I can't wait to see this one decked out with Lil's final touches!
Bling it if you can!
Kat xo
P.S. Weirdly, I am looking forward to more smiley pocket experimentation, I think I nailed it on Lil's skirt. Have to do pockets on shirt now!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie
http://www.nudiesrodeotailor.com
We found out that a cowboy club match was happening up at Belmont near Brisbane today. So with a chance to get in a practice and the last shoot for Jack for a while we decided to go up to the Metro.
Just a straight forward range, set up with a couple of stages, there were 9 of us turned up to shoot 5 stages with Carter Moss.
Here are the results from today, a good win for Jack! (aka Ricochet in Aus)
Good luck to all the Aussie's heading over to New Zealand for the Trans Tasman, Duel Down Under. Kick some butt and bring the trophy back home!
Kat xo
The beginning of Feb saw a group of Cowboys and Cowgirls get together for the Gold Coast Gamblers Club Championships for 2015.
It was a hot and humid day for the 23 that showed up for some fun and action.
Five stages were shot and then it was time for pack up, dinner, bragging, drinks and awards.
It came down to inlaws and outlaws – seeing as there were some that weren't club members.
Jack and I were both awarded our trophies for our category wins in the Pat Garrett Champs. For the Club Champs, Jack finished 2nd in Seniors and 8th overall. I finished 1st in Lady Wrangler and 2nd overall.
As usual it was lots of fun, laughter and having digs at each other.
Congratulations to the overall Club Champions (the inlaws) for 2015 being Mad Dog Tannen for the Men's and Trixie for the Ladies!
They deal in lead friend,
Kat xo
Procrastination – noun – the action of delaying or postponing something (and I liked this bit of the definition) your first tip is to avoid procrastination.
Now we all know that is sometimes easier said than done! I can find many ways to my delaying doing something that I should be doing. Sometimes it’s just not ‘to get out of’ doing it, it’s because I just need to wrap my head around the project a little longer.
So, I decided I would attempt the Historical Sew Monthly 2016 challenges, thinking it could help me stay focused on getting projects done while not in my ‘natural’ environment so to speak. Wink, wink. 😉
I did find this one a little hard as I really don’t have any here with me. There is fabric still in Oklahoma that I could pass off as procrastinating on.
So for this portion I managed to complete 4 corsets that really needed to be done as some needed to be sent to the US.
I also had in the list a version of Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman dress for a Texas friend, Skedaddle. Now although I could say it is period, I would prefer to say silver screen inspired.
Needless to say it’s done and waiting on button pieces to arrive from the US so I can make the 45 covered buttons that will complete this dress. If you are looking for an awesome alternative to paying for a covered button service and still want metal shanks, I can highly recommend Button Biz
……..many days later, yes been busy with Jack trying to sort him out, cutting out, sewing and helping a friend get back on track with sewing. Procrastination at its finest.
Cheers
Kat xo
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The Adventures of Jack n Kat 