Pattern Review: Simplicity 3635 18th Century Shift

I'm starting a new series on the blog called Pattern Review! This will be specifically to review commerical patterns (mainly historical) that I have used for my own creations. There are SO many interesting costume patterns available now, when I was just getting into costuming the options were so very limited that now it's like being a kid in a candy store. So here is my first review: Simplicity 3635, now sadly out of print.

This is the first proper 18th century shift I have made for myself, my last one was hobbled together and never really fit right. Since I'm going to making a GRAND 18th century outfit this year, it was time to redo everything from the skin out.

First of all, I really like how the major pattern companies are allowing historical costumers to create pretty historically-accurate patterns for the home sewist. It makes life so much easier! This pattern is no exception.
It went together easily for me (I've made similar styles before) but I thought I'd share a few tips for anyone making a shift for the first time:

• Transfer every single pattern tissue mark onto your fabric as you are cutting out your fabric--mark every dot or circle and clip those notches. This will save you many headaches, especially as you are essentially putting together squares and rectangles and not anything that looks like a modern sleeve. You will need those dots and clips, trust me!
• If you plan on using an overlock on your raw edges, serge each piece separately before assembling the pieces together. Many seams can not be serged after being sewn together because of the way it's constructed (again, squares & rectanges!). This is a great way to practicet turning corners on your serger. :)
• Since there are gussets along the side seams, let the garment hang on a hanger overnight before hemming just in case there is any stretching at the hem. There will most likely be some hem adjustments to be made anyway--the gusset pieces usually end up being longer than the front and back pieces.

Now let's talk about this pattern. Again, I thought it went together very easily but there were a few holes in the directions. Nothing of absolute importance, but it would have been nice to be told that you needed to finish the pattern off with a hem, and how deep of a hem. No biggie here but I'd hate for a beginner sewist to get confused.

It's important to note that even though I used my normal top pattern size, the shift turned out large. After putting my stays on (photos in my next post) it didn't look too bad but if I make it again (and I'd like to) I will definitely go down a size, possibly two. Yes, you need to be able to move but there is a lot of excess fabric right now that could be removed from my torso. The sleeves also seem long to me, especially since so many 18th century gowns have sleeves that are right below the elbow. I hope I don't have to stuff the sleeve up into whatever garment I'm wearing!

Overall I'd recommend this pattern to anyone with some sewing experience, just check the sizing and remember that you *do* need to hem this pattern.:)

I made this out of a linen/ramie blend that I bought for $2/yd in the Los Angeles garment district a few years ago. Right now it's pretty stiff but I'm hoping that it will soften up a bit with washings. The directions recommend silk organza for the ruffle at the neckline (that would have been very pretty) but I just made mine out of the smock fabric. I LOVE starched white linen, and this is no exception. I can't wait to get my new outfit together so that I can wear it! Plans, plans, plans.

18th Century Dinner Magic

Last weekend a bunch of us Lumieres (an18th century social group) got together for a deeeeelightful dinner at a Russian restaurant called Babushka in Walnut Creek. I have never been more happily stuffed with potato and cheese dishes as I was that evening, so much so that my new stays got a little snug and the idea of dancing went out the window! But the costumes, good company, and very pretty atmosphere made for a very lovely evening.

AND I finally finished my Brunswick! Not all by hand as I originally intended (I do enough hand sewing with my hats) but it was finished enough to be wearable! Here's me at the table, I haven't seen any full length photos yet:

I still need to make proper cuffs for the sleeves instead of just doing a quick hem and adding a bit of lace but otherwise, it's pretty much done. I actually wasn't as crazy about the style as I thought I would be--thought it made me look slightly matronly until I remembered that the Brunswick was primarily a traveling costume and was probably the 18th century equivalent of wearing yoga pants on long car trips. It's not super fitted at the waist (something I prefer) and the neckline is a bit more modest than I'm used to for this period but it fits well, was comfortable to wear and overall I'm happy with how it turned out.

My original Brunswick posts are here and here.

I also made new stays for this event as the pair I made a few years ago are too big. I used Simplicity 3635 and the fit is perfect, I didn't make any adjustments at all. That NEVER happens! Next time I could add a tiny bit to the strap length (I'm a little on the tall side) and I still need to bind the bottom edge but other than that I'm a happy camper. I'll write about them on my next post when I get started documenting some pretty hefty projects for a big trip I'm planning next year. (!!!)

Here are a few photos of the event. I didn't take a lot of photos but below I have linked to a couple of posts by friends who also blogged about the event.

Pretty Dresses!

Bunny 

And of course we had champagne. Russian wine, too! 

Lots more lovely photos and dress diaries on Kendra's blog and on Sarah's blog.

Commedia Costume: Guerilla Costuming #2

So I've got the hat and the pants done, now it's time to make the short cape and the doublet. The cape is super easy, I just grabbed a Halloween costume pattern and chopped off about 6 inches along the hem to make it more practical and to fit Chris better. More zillions of fiddly bits of ribbon were sewn on but the construction was easy.

Here's our darling Brighella again, so we can refer back to him

Now the doublet I had to think about a bit more. This is one of the challenges of working with a drawing--who knows how it really fit? Did the artist know anything about clothing construction? Luckily for me, the look of Brighella is iconic (white costume, green trim, etc.) so all I really had to do was capture the look, this wasn't going to be Super Period Correct anyway since it's meant for the stage. And had to be washable. And comfortable....

I decided to work with a zip-up sweatshirt pattern to get the overall basic boxy shape. None of my other men's costume or garment patterns were as basic as this one:

I was at first a little concerned about using a pattern designed for a knit but I think it had enough ease and a boxy enough fit that it wasn't much of an issue. I pretty much used all of the pieces as they were but I removed the hood and reshaped the front to look more like the portrait by creating a soft v-neck and bringing the waist down to a point. And then came more fiddly bits of ribbon:

Now, this pattern didn't have facings so I created my own by tracing the front and neckline of the back about 3 inches in from the edge and adding seam allowance. The rest of the construction was super easy since there weren't too many pieces AND it fit well once Chris got home and could try it on. (yay!) And even with such a tight deadline, I managed to get everything put together and pressed long before we had to leave for Lake Tahoe, all I had to in the car was sew on the buttons and clip all of the threads I left dangling everywhere.

Here's Chris, in the morning of first weeked. By the second weekend we had a black belt and a pouch but I realized that belting the doublet shortened it up too much (it ended up looking a wee too short anyway, even though it was technically the right length) so at some point, before the next show, I'm going to reshape the hemline of the doublet and add a peplum to give it more length.

And yes, of course I had to wash the whole thing (except for the hat) after each weekend since the dust just JUMPED onto the white fabric at every opportunity. But I'm okay with that, we took that into consideration and the fabric naturally is slightly off-white so I think it will start slowly building a dusty patina over time that's totally acceptable for an actor's costume. I mean really, the costume is being worn under the same conditions it would have been 500 years ago, right?

Here's the whole gang the second weekend doing a song set:

I would like to say I'm done with Guerilla Costuming for a while, but I have a feeling there will be plenty more opportunites in the near future! Chris is a happy camper though, and that made the big rush all worth it.

Commedia Costume: Guerilla Costuming #1

The pants were super easy--just a basic pajama pant with zillions of bits of green trim along the outside legs. I put elastic in around the waist but now that Chris has worn them, I'll probably change the elastic out to something a bit more hefty than the pj elastic I used (I have a ton of it).

Now the hat I had to fuss with a bit more only because Chris and I were having a debate about how washable it could be. My personal preference would have been to use buckram along the brim, shaping it into a curve so that it looked more like the picture:

But Chris really didn't want to worry about it, he thought a Renaissance style flat cap would be just fine. And hopefully washable. However, I didn't like the way it looked with no shaping at all so I threw in a bit of millinery wire along the brim to make it a bit more structured. I also interlined the brim piece with a flat, synthetic batting to give it some body. I don't know that we will ever be able to wash it, but after the first weekend I was able to handwash some spots off of the crown. Compromise!

I used ye olde Renaissance Costuming book by Winter & Savoy to get some quick measurements going for this style of cap but the circle I cut for the crown turned out way too large, making the hat look cartoonish. Luckily, this was easily fixed by chopping off 2" all around the edge of the circle. Here's what I ended up with:

At this point, I decided to add the wire to the crown too just to help it keep it's shape.

 I kept going all evening until Chris got home, not even waiting to try it on him because we were getting too close to the deadline. And guess what? When Chris tried it on it was a bit too big! Argh! Next time I'll use a brim from another pattern to make sure I've got the perfect size. But what could I do in the meantime? Ah, there are ways to get around potential pitfalls when you are Guerilla Costuming...

First, I flipped the edges of the gathered crown under and hand sewed it to the outside right along the wire edge. Next, I cut a circle out of muslin for the lining that was smaller than the outside circle so that when he wore it his head would hit the top of the lining and the hat would stay where it needed to be instead of sinking down. For this piece, I handsewed the gathered edge along the bottom of the brim along the wire line, covering the wire and also adding a bit of bulk. We decided this looked finished enough, there was no need to add a petersham band to the inside. When Chris tried it on again it fit fine--a little bit loose but that would be okay because it was perched on his head in the right place and he'd be wearing a mask anyway. Success!

Next: Guerilla Costuming continues...

All the world's a stage...and my husband is finally getting a new costume

My poor husband has long asked me to create costumes for him. As a performer, he has sewn out of necessity for years and well, really doesn't like doing it (that's putting it gently) even when I've helped him along the way. "I'd rather be your Ken doll!" he says. And honestly, over the years I didn't really have to worry about outfitting him from head to toe, he has a pretty good costume collection already or was able to pull something together with borrowed pieces.

But now I do get the opportunity to dress him from head to toe because this summer Chris' performance troupe, The Stark Ravens, is putting on an Italian Commedia and he needs a Brighella costume that looks like this:

We need to make the hat, the short cape, the trousers, and the doublet (jacket). A fairly easy project, in my opinion--not too many pieces, and the only fiddly bits are the crazy amount of green trim that will need to be applied.

Here is the fabric and trim we are using:

 I just happened to have an entire 50 yard roll of green grosgrain ribbon in my stash that I didn't use on another project--score! The fabric is a mid-weight cotton twill but  we are using the back side of it to give it a slightly more homespun look. Since there is no way to keep WHITE cotton clean at a dusty renaissance faire I pre-washed the fabric in warm water so that it can be washed again after being worn. I need to pre-wash some of the ribbon trim next since it's a cotton/rayon blend and I don't want to risk any color bleed. I'll wash it in a tub of warm, soapy water so I can see if any of the color is leaching.

The hat has been started, and I'm in the process of cutting out the pants using a basic commerical pajama pant pattern. Construction updates to come!

And yes, Chris is very happy that he finally gets to be my Ken doll. :)

Costume Academy 2012

I'll be back this year teaching! The full skinny will be posted to the GBACG website soon, when registration opens. I'll also be there with my millinery supplies in the vendor hall. Costume Academy is a great, one-day event where you can take three 90 minute classes a day on different sewing and costume topics, do a little shopping, and talk shop and ideas with fellow costumers. I always leave inspired.

Here are my classes and some of the event information:

Millinery 101: Create a Buckram Base
Most fascinators begin with a wired buckram base. Learn how to create a round or teardrop shaped buckram base that can then be covered with yourfashion fabric and all of your fabulous trimmings. In the first part of class we'll talk about supplies and techniques. The second half of class will be hands-on: we will take a pre-blocked piece of buckram, cut it to shape, apply milliners wire and bias tape to get it ready for your fashion fabric. Lots of samples will be shown. This is also an exellent beginner
class for those who want to learn how to work with buckram.
Kit fee: $6

Kit includes handouts, pre-blocked buckram, millinery wire, wire joiner, bias tape.

Students should bring: Scissors for cutting buckram (not your best fabric scissors) a soft pencil or chalk marking tools, hand sewing needles, polyester or poly/cotton blend all-purpose thread in neutral colors, thimble, and wire cutters if they have them (there will be a couple of pairs available in class to use).

You can see what a teardrop base looks like in the photo above.

Creating Ribbon Flowers

Ribbon flowers can be used to decorate many, many costume pieces from hats to shoes to purses. Learn how to make basic three dimensional ribbon flowers and add a little floral punch to your costume collection. We will start with a demo and a discussion of materials. The rest of class will be spent creating 2 different types of ribbon flowers and one set of leaves.
Kit fee: $5

Kit includes handouts, ribbon for leaves and flowers, stamens, use of finishing supplies.

Students should bring a basic hand sewing kit with them to class and wire cutters if they have them (there will be a couple of pairs available in class to use).

Costume Academy will be held on March 4, 2012 at the ASUC MLK Student Union on the UC Berkeley campus. I'm not sure what the registration fees will be this year, so please keep your eye on the GBACG website. (and p.s., classes sell out quickly!)

The Very Cupcake Dickens Dress: Fitting

The dress is well underway! I've had to go about it in stages, doing things a bit backward like doing the sleeves and cutting out the skirt first, so that I could deal with whatever fitting was necessary when I had the time (and the corset on) to do it properly. I'm hoping that this way, it will all be a matter of fitting all of the pieces together and wham-o, I have a dress!

So onto the fitting...

This is my forth Martha McCain Simplicity Civil War-era gown so I'm very familiar with what fitting issues I needed to keep an eye out for. For me, it was mainly adding to the waist measurement (heck, I have to pretty much do that for EVERY pattern) and making sure everything fits well over my corset. I did have to drop the back neckline down a bit, it was very high and snug, not attractive. Here's what my mock-up ended up looking like:

I didn't want to cut away anything on the paper pattern so I snipped in to my new markings and folded the paper down to my new neckline before placing it on the fabric.

And check out these sleeves!

I wish I had enough of the plaid fabric to do a flounced skirt with cupcake ruffles around the hemline of the skirt but alas, I will just have a plain pleated skirt with green ribbon trim instead. Next: bodice construction...

GBACG Costumers Bazaar

The Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild Costumers Bazaar is coming up in August! I'll be there with my millinery wire, ribbon, Lulu Deux and Lulu's Room merchandise and assorted other costume and vintage bits. This is a great place to pick up new and gently used costume pieces from talented GBACG members.

Location: Albany Veterans' Memorial Building
1325 Portland Ave., Albany, CA 94706 - Map and Driving Directions
Parking is available on the street
Sunday, August 28th, 2011 -- 1:00pm – 5:00pm
For more information:
http://gbacg.org/current/costumers-bazaar-11.html

Resource for costumers, milliners, reenactors...heck, any student of history!



From: Art in costume design: practical suggestions for those interested in art, sewing, history and literature(1920)

Recently I stumbled across a site containing scans of lots and lots of old dressmaking and millinery books from the early part of the last century and older. Wow. They also have antique and vintage magazines and cookbooks scanned and saved to the site. Double Wow. Grab a cup of tea, wine, or (insert your beverage of choice here), and enjoy cruising through the site for a while, it's well worth it!

Check out all of these little gems here by The Human Ecology Collection at the University of Wisconsin. Thank you, University of Wisconsin, for bringing all of these wonderful historical resources to interwebs. :)

I love reading vintage books on how to dress, and there are a few on this site. The one I'm currently flipping through is called Clothes That Count and How To Make Them (1923). How could you not love advice like, "Clothes properly managed will transform a plain nonentity into a character to be reckoned with"? Those poor, plain nonentities were obviously in need of this book....

And speaking of wigs...

My friend Kendra is now offering her FABULOUS 18th century wig-making skills to the public. Not only does she create her own wigs to wear to events, she's taught workshops on building the pouf. Her blog page with all of the info can be found here

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Pirates' Ball and the Big Hair Tutorial

Last Saturday night was the Pirates' Ball in Benicia. Chris and I were vending there so we had to try and figure out what to wear that would be comfortable for 8 hours but still allow us to look "piratey." I did my hair at home, figuring that I could just add the tricorne when were done setting up. This is my new wig!

This was my first attempt at really working a wig into my hairline instead of using hair pieces or plopping my blond wig down way over my (very red) hairline. I bought the Lacey "Wavy Showgirl" wig and hacked away at a lot of the side curls so that I had more of that hedgehog look of the 1780s. I was going for a look similar to this portrait of Mrs. Siddons, painted by Gainsborough circa 1783-1785:

Here's another photo of me at the Ball. I wish I had a photo of the long back curls because they looked really, really cute!

Note that I'm just wearing my stays and a "poet" blouse. The polka dot thingie is my vendor apron. What you don't see are my jeans and a pair of lace up boots that I knew would be comfy enough to load our gear in, stand in, and tear down in.

So, how did I do my hair?

• First, I gave the wig a haircut (but saved all of the bits for future projects) and teased the top and sides out a bit so that it looked fluffy.
• On the day of the event, I used a big crimping iron on my bangs and the front and sides of my hair to give lots of wavy volume.
• My big challenge was that I needed to anchor that wig to my hair so that the hat could anchor to my wig and everything would be hunky dory and not slip around for 8+ hours. I took the top half of my uncurled hair, gave myself little pigtails, and wound the hair elastic around so that I had flat little knobs of hair that I could jam a bobby pin into and not have it slip out. Then I did the same with the rest of my hair down the back, pinned it high up on my head into a little pigtail knob. This would also help to give the top and upper back of the wig a little volume.
• Next, I put the wig on and bobby pinned it to my scalp along the front, in the middle where those knobs of hair were, and along the base of my neck. My curled front hair and bangs were left sticking out.
• Here's the part where you need lots of hairspray! I'm a child of the 80's so when you need to make your big hair stay in place, you break out the AquaNet Extra Super Hold. Take your hair, work it up along the wig line with a bit of the wig hair, and spray the snot out of it. Seriously. My hair only touches my shoulders now but I had to pin the longer side pieces into the sides of the wig in a way that you couldn't really see the ends. I suppose in the future I could try to curl my hair into ringlets if I don't want the length.
• The tricorne stayed on wonderfully over the well-anchored wig all night. It has an elastic band you bury into the hairline along with a comb in the back to anchor it to the hair.

I had dyed my hair a little too dark two days before the event but in the mood lighting you couldn't really tell. Since people kept asking me how I got my hair to do that I think everything must have worked pretty well for my first real attempt at playing with a wig!

Here's one of my favorite photos from the evening, taken under Chris' blacklights. It has nothing to do with costuming whatsoever but we were having fun using the "night" setting on the camera to see if we could make his glowees glow on the camera. Apparently it works for poet blouses and 18th century stays too. :)

For more great 18th century wig and hair tutorials, check out this post at American Duchess or Kendra's wig tutorial on demodecouture.com.

Yarrrr! It's Pirate Time!

I'll be vending at the Pirates' Ball on Saturday night (Pirate Festival is also this weekend!) and have been busy building up my stock. It feels GREAT to be spending so much time in the studio again. Here's the rundown on a few of the things I finished this week that will be available for sale this weekend:

New tricorne, back view

New tricorne, front view. The synthetic patent leather was a good challenge for me because, since you can't steam through it when you do the buckram shaping I had to rethink just how I was going to construct the hat and get the results I was looking for. I wound up doing the brim shaping first and in the process figured out a few new techniques that I can apply to future hats. Double bonus!

Organdy flower madness. Next I'm making one in RED

A bouquet of flowers, Lulu style

 I didn't get my personal sewing done in time (hello life stuff) but it's not a big deal, I've got a fun little outfit planned that I'm looking forward to wearing and (gasp!) it's not even period. Well, okay, the stays are but that'll be about it! Hopefully I'll have some photos to post next week.

Trying to decide...

Taken at "The Brunswick" workshop hosted by Burnley & Trowbridge

Next week I'm going to start my 18th century redingote. The clock is ticking! I need to get it done before the end of the month. I will probably need to drape the pattern and draping a pattern on yourself is a big PITA, so I've been trying to decide exactly what to do about it. I think I've come to a solution: throw my 18th century stays onto the crappy dressform, pad if necessary, attempt a first draping. Is this ideal? Naw, but until I can actually go for some kind of customized form this just might have to do. I figure there's enough hardware in the stays to at least give me a good start. Then I'm sure there will be lots of reshuffling, repinning, refitting after that....

Booty!

This morning Bun and I schlepped on over to the Berkeley Rep warehouse sale and scored! Big time! I'm not usually a fan of that kind of frenzy but we were there as it opened and managed to drag our happy selves out the door right as it started to get really busy, booty in hand.

Picked up a couple of pairs of shoes and a waistcoat for Chris, two vintage hats for me:

 I see some serious Carmen Miranda fun with this one. And geez, it was only a dollar. (!)

But the best, best, BEST find was this pair of panniers. I even got to meet the costumer who made them and found out that the actress who wore them came through a narrow doorway on stage and let them snap down in a big woosh for a big entrance. Considering that they are 4 feet wide that must have made quite an impression! (And they are really akward to try and photograph by yourself, let me tell you.)

Check out the hardware on these puppies! The frame is aluminum, they don't weigh much at all. 

Oh yes, there will be dresses...

We topped off our triumphant shopping excursion with lunch and gelato, definitely not a bad start to the weekend. I think all Fridays should begin this way. Mondays too.

The Berkeley Rep warehouse sale continues tomorrow. More details here 

Week 5: A new hat and updates

Hello World! Lots of behind the scenes stuff going on that's been keeping me busy like getting ready for some upcoming shows and working on some other projects and non-sewing stuff. Whew!

But lookie, I made a hat! There will be more to come for the biz but this is the one where I worked everything out pattern-wise and figured a few things out for myself before I "mass" produce it. Not to mention how many 18th century and piratey events I am going to this year that will require a new snazzy little hat like this one. :)

The front:

The back:

The innards are all buckram and millinery wire. It has been steamed into shape (I heart buckram) and decorated with as many pink frilly bits as I had in my stash. The feather spray I bought a couple of years ago in London when I was studying millinery. I guess it just had to wait for the right hat! Now I need to get the rest of the outfit done. I have bookmarks all over my Kyoto costume book for inspiration, including a petticoat that is currently a work in progress. That book is total eyecandy.

Oh, and I have a website now! Check out www.luludeuxmillinery.com It's still a work in progress (aren't they always?) but it is up and running and will be my main site for any business stuff going forward as I want to keep this blog mainly for my own projects. I have been sewing, actually, but have been a slacker about getting the photos done so although it looks like I'm way, way behind in my 2011 challenge I think I'm not as far behind as it looks. Perhaps I shouldn't have made it a WEEKLY goal but well, it's my personal contest so I guess I can blow off my own rules now and then, right?

Week 3: Bustle Hoops

Yes, it's been a while since my last post! Lots of life stuff has kept me busy but things are slowly returning to normal. I actually finished the hoops AND took the photos quite a while ago but it's taken this long to get everything posted! So here we go, Week 3: Bustle Hoops

I started this project a couple of years ago, and I really didn't have much to do to finish everything so it was the perfect project to tackle. The pattern used is Laughing Moon's #112: Hoops and Bustles which is a great pattern for Victorian hoops of all stripes. In fact, I made my Dickens hoops using the same pattern--perfect because they are a more natural, everyday hoop size rather than the grand ball hoops.

The fabric is a woven cotton stripe I had in the stash. The two odd seams in the side front panels were the result of me not paying attention while I was lengthening the pattern and having to backtrack and add a bit to those panels! Ooops. But it worked out just fine and the rest was a breeze, just straight sewing and careful marking for the bias tape channels.

One thing I've done that's slightly different than the pattern is instead of using a buckle at the waist tape I lengthened the ties so that it could be tied in a bow instead. I used a buckle on my other hoops but it seems to slip a bit so I think the ties work better. Wouldn't want to suddenly lose my hoops while out and about. :)

The last step was to insert the steel boning into the channels. I left about a 2.5" opening in the middle of each boning channel so that the boning can be easily slipped in. You could sew the channels closed but since the bones don't move and I personally would find it a pain in the you-know-what to seam rip channels to remove the boning before washing the hoops I'm leaving the openings where they are. (And here's a tip: when you do remove the boning, number each bone with blue painter's tape so that you can quickly get those bones back into the right channels without having to re-measure all of them.)

Originally I thought I'd round the boning edges with our sanding tool thingie and then dip the edges into tool dip but when I picked up the project and checked on the tool dip I found it had dried out, drat. I had two choices: buy more tool dip and get used to power tools or make a Lacis run for boning tips and round the edges using tin snips. I chose option number two because I wanted to get this puppy done and didn't want to wait for the tool dip to dry. (Note: ALWAYS wear safety goggles for this type of stuff. I had bits of metal flying everywhere but it was necessary to curve the edges so that they would fit into the tips.)

Here's a photo of the inside. I have tons of the pink cording so it's being put to quick use here. Notice how the inside panels pull the back of the bustle into that lovely round shape. What engineering! There is one tied panel up around your backside and a second one (pictured) around the bottom edge.

Now I can't wait to make the dress!

Week 1: The Dickens Dress, Modified

I'm off to a good start! Chris and I were planning on going to Dickens Fair on 11/26 but I needed to make a few modifications to my Dickens dress since it was a wee too snug along the center front. I didn't want any gaposis to show so first I made a quick cover-up belt that would hide any gaposis along the waistline:

This was made and modified from the very cute Simplicity 5442 pattern by Martha McCain, now sadly out of print. I didn't have quite enough stash fabric to make the bow according to the pattern, so I just kept fiddling with it until I liked the way it looked. The belt is one of those "don't you dare look inside!" numbers, complete with raw edges and Velcro!

I also made a modesty panel to go down the center front so that if there was going to be any gaposis between the hooks and eyes it would be the same fabric as the dress. The modesty panel is simply a rectangle sewn down one side, you can just scootch if over and cover any gaposis when you are closing the garment. (Great for folks with regular size fluctations or for costumes that will be worn by more than one person, btw.)  I made the rectangle the same length as the part of the center front I wanted to cover, folded it in half, sewed three sides, turned it right side out and quickly hand sewed it to one side. Voila!

A couple of frogs were falling apart so I replaced those too.

So here it is, the only photo of me at Dickens this year! Looking a bit squinty as usual. I'm really, really good at squinting in photos. :)

After all of that rush sewing with the belt, it turns out I was able to squeeze into the dress with an extra tug on the corset strings (ahem) so the wacky belt camoflauge wasn't necessary, yay! But the modesty panel and the new frogs definitely made the dress look better and made it wearable since there was No Way I was going to be able to make a new dress this year. Next year I hope to make a new one--it should be part of the 2011 challenge, right?

Vogue Hats, Lots of Hats!

Conde Nast looking back at the history of hats featured in Vogue. The photos and images are fantastic:

Brunswick Part 2

Started working on the petticoat this week. Easy peasy, I thought, I'll just cut two lengths out and sew them together leaving openings at..the sides?...and at the back? I couldn't decide on what direction to go so I consulted the very fabulous Costume in Detal by Nancy Bradfield to see how they did it "back in the old days." If you haven't seen this book, it's well worth every penny because it's packed with pages of drawings of actual garrments and some even have measurements! And inside construction detail! Basically I could do no wrong with any combination of openings so I'm going with side openings that hopefully later will also double as pocket openings when I actually make my 18th century pockets. They are on the list!

Here's a really mediocre photo, taken in a hotel room while traveling for work. No pressing has been done at this point, just lots of hand stitching:

Handsewing is pretty good way to make the time fly, let me tell you. I just zipped along with a backstitch about 1/2" in from the selvedge* beginning about 8 inches down from the top edge. My stitches on the first side look pretty good. The second side not so much--I was getting tired and the light was fading so they went a little wonky in places. Makes you realize how important daylight must have been to candle-era seamstresses, seriously. The openings (shown on the left) were just rolled twice and stitched down. Voila! Still have to do the pleating along the top edge, put the twill tape on, and get myself a nice hem but I'm feeling accomplished nontheless.

*Okay, technically, if you are going to wash a garment you should trim off the selvedge edge in case it does some bizarre shrinking action. This isn't going to get washed AND I didn't want to make a mess while traveling so the selvedge, fringey bits and all, got to stay.

Brunswick, part 1

Spent the whole weekend at a fabulous workshop where we learned how to create an 18th century dress called a Brunswick. The workshop was put on by Burnley & Trowbridge and taught by Janea Whitacre from Williamsburg--a rare opportunity for us West Coasters to geek out on the 18th century with someone who is a master of her craft! This is the first time I've EVER made anything this huge entirely by hand. It was also the first time I've ever draped an 18th century gown completely from scratch and I admit it took a bit of concentration on my part to wrap my head around the period draping techniques but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Am I finished? Nope, still have tons of sewing to do on the jacket and the petticoat hasn't even been started yet but my friends and I are planning lots of sewing dates to "get 'er done" in a timely fashion so that we can wear our new frocks asap. In my case, I hope to finish before Costume College!

Here's a quick photo of my pile of pieces right now. The fabric is this cheery blue mystery decorator fabric I've had in the stash for at least 7 years so it was time to put it to use. This is The Year of the Stash. after all. I'm doing a low neck and a shorter skirt so it looks a bit different from the above portrait. Yes, all sewn by hand. Did I mention this is all being sewn by HAND?