Monday, February 07, 2005

For those who despair that I will ever finish this... look! 2.5 leaves in 1.5 years! At this rate, this dress will be finished in what, 10 years?

posted by démodé 1:12 PM

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

I can tell that I'm starting to develop a terminal case of inability-to-finish-itis, as evidenced by my growing list of current projects. However, it's not that I'm a TOTAL lagger... it's partially because I haven't gotten around to photographing some things!

This bead embroidery has turned into the perfect thing to pick up between projects. I can usually work on it for a few days before my eyes start to glaze over, but I am making progress -- in fact, I'm about halfway!

posted by démodé 9:34 AM

Sunday, June 30, 2002

Progress!

posted by démodé 10:08 PM

Saturday, April 20, 2002

Okay, so I've been distracted. This project is on hold as I:

- make Vogue's 1937 dress
- make Vogue's 1943 dress
- learn how to draft my own patterns using the fabulous book, The Costume Technician's handbook
- make an 1836-7 ballgown (hey, there was a sale on special occasion fabric at JoAnn's!)

I'll get back to this at some point...

posted by démodé 11:08 PM

Thursday, February 21, 2002

One leaf down, fifty thousand to go:

posted by démodé 8:05 AM

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

So here's where I am so far: I've put together the skirt, for which I'm using Past Pattern's #208 Circular Skirt, which is a beautiful skirt pattern c. 1897.



I've put the skirt together, using french seams to avoid fray, and finishing the skirt top/waistband (except for the closure). I'll put in the skirt hem, along with a wide (about 20" or so) facing lined with organza, once I've finished the bead embroidery. I'm planning on sewing the facing to the skirt hem, and then hand sewing the facing top to the skirt.



In order to create the embroidery design, I first scanned the original Harper's Bazar fashion plate, zoomed in on the skirt embroidery, and traced the basic lines of the embroidery. I then asked my artist husband to draw a scaled up version of the basic embroidery pattern onto interfacing. Next, I sewed the interfacing to the skirt using a matching (lavendar) thread (basting stitch) so that I'd be able to see the embroidery design from the front of the skirt (and yes, I sewed the skirt to the ironing board more than once). Then I trimmed the interfacing to the basic outline of the pattern.



The next step has been the actual application of the black bugle beads for the outline. I found that I needed to back stitch through each bead, because otherwise the beads drooped off the embroidery pattern.



My perseverance has paid off: I'm almost done with the black bead embroidery, which traces the outline of the pattern.



The next step will be filling in all of the leaves and flower with lavendar seed beads, which I'm hoping to match to the fabric color.

posted by démodé 9:45 PM

Sunday, February 10, 2002

This is the costume that I'm currently working on:



I LOVE this fashion plate from Harper's Bazar -- it's a Worth design and both the style of the dress and the bead embroidery caught my eye. I'm making a modified version out of lavendar faille, which will have the same bodice cut without the overlay, same large puffed sleeves but again without the overlay, and same skirt. The main trim element that I'm keeping is the bead embroidery, so I'm spending my evenings with my embroidery hoop and large bags of beads. I'm working the skirt embroidery (just one side, the larger design) outlined in black seed beads. I'll then fill the design in with lavendar (hoping to match my fabric) seed beads. The sleeves will have black and lavendar seed beeds scattered across them.

posted by démodé 10:45 PM