Billions of findings, findings for me

Are these technically notions or findings? Whichever it is, I’m about a fourth of the way through making more than 200 of them.

They’re the pieces that are used for lacing up the sleeves and along the front of the bodice:

I started out using a Thing-a-ma-Jig, but I might as well be using The Force for all the good it did me. I had to hold the pegs in with one hand and wrap wire with the other, which means I’m one hand short to do this effectively. For a dozen, it would have been fine. For 216, not so much. I went to the hardware store and got a pack of nails for $1.30 and a scrap from the wood department. Hammer them in, saw off the nail heads, and voilà, a much more effective wire jig.

Eight yards of 16-gauge gold wire later, and I’ve got the clover section made for about half of them. On top of that, I’m wiring on a bead cap and a small gold bead on each one to make the complete piece. The photo at the top of this post has two finished pieces on the left with a pile of just the clover-shaped base in the middle.

When not wrapping wire, I’ve been on a fabric hunt along the east coast. Sewfisticated in the Boston area is an amazing store, and I found something that would work for the patterned sections, but I’d really like to find something I can cut in both directions to cut down on the cost a bit. Back to hunting.