Category: projects

Posted on

Sewing at a Leisurely Pace

Although my mind is currently (as always) BUZZING with project ideas, and I’d much rather be sewing than doing anything else… I am forcing myself to stay on track with the idea of leisurely sewing.  I have no looming deadlines, other than things I WANT to make, so I am determined to sew for fun and not to get stressed out.  I’ll wear the new red & white polonaise to the Costume College gala, and I have options to wear for all the various events coming up.  So things will get done when they get done.

To that end, I’ve been noodling on the Brunswick.  Mostly, it’s been doing the real sewing where I previousy basted.  I did finally pleat the skirt, and last night I cut out and started sewing the lower sleeves.  But it’s all very noodly around here!  I need to decide on cuffs vs. elbow ruffles, and trimming patterns, but before I commit to that I can finish the lower sleeves, make the hood, do buttons & buttonholes, and make the petticoat.  I do need to bribe someone to set my second sleeve, and to help me mark the jacket hem, as I’m not convinced it’s even (and I think the back dips down too much – it’s these hips o’ doom!).

Posted on

Brunswick workshop report

Last weekend I attended the 18th century Brunswick workshop organized by Burnley & Trowbridge, taught by Janea Whitacre, mantua maker extraordinaire from Colonial Williamsburg.

And it was FABULOUS!

Janea is hugely knowledgeable about 18th century gownmaking, and getting a chance to work with such a master was wonderful.  I’ve taken another workshop from her — the sacque workshop, where I made my first (the peach francaise).  It was fun to revisit this style in a new variation, and to be able to confirm and update my often self-taught knowledge about 18th century gownmaking.  Plus, she’s just really nice, and lets you ask her 10,000 questions!

Angela & Jim (owners of B&T) were there too, and they were super helpful and nice, bringing a bunch of their wares and allowing us to shop periodically throughout the weekend.  I’m really happy with them, as they have amazing customer service — I bought a pair of shoes from them that were too small, so I sent them back and they had the next size up made for me.  Well, those didn’t fit either, so Angela traced my foot at the workshop and they’re going to try for a third time to fit me!  If that’s not customer service, I don’t know what is.  (Let’s not even go INTO how helpful she was when I was buying fabric for my stays).

We had lots of options on styling the jacket — high or low neck, long or short waistcoat skirtings, depending on the era and style you liked.  I went for 1760s, with a high neck and long waistcoat skirts.

I worked with Cynthia on our jackets, so all credit for the fabulous drape goes to her.  We both had some fitting crises, esp. on Cynthia’s gown, as we hadn’t realized we needed to drape on the bias so her waistcoat front went wonky.  Luckily, I found a solution — we let the fabric go where it wanted to go, and pieced in a bit of the lining.

It was tons of fun to hang out with lots of friends and sew for 3 days, plus there is something magical about handsewing.  You have lots of time to chat in a way you don’t when the machines are out, plus it makes me waaay less stressed about getting things done on time (because it’s just not going to happen!).

So here’s where I’m at so far — everything is basted, and I’ve been working on doing the real sewing over the past few nights.  I need to hem the center back a few inches up (hello, I have hips of doom!), and I’m trying to figure out a trimming pattern that will be different from everyone else’s.  And, of course, make a hood, lower sleeves, and a petticoat!  I plan to do self-trim from the caramel taffeta, and then cream bows at the neck and elbows.

The best part is I was worried this would be a little bit of a frumpy style, but I’m really liking where it’s going.

(Oh and yes, we sewed in tiaras, because that’s how we roll…)

Posted on

Silk taffeta ribbon?

I really want to post my recap of the Burnley & Trowbridge Brunswick workshop, which was amazing, but WordPress is being fussy and not posting galleries… and what’s the point of a costume post without pictures, I ask you?

So in the meantime, I will whine and ask y’all if you have any suggestions of where I can find silk taffeta ribbon (about 2″ wide-ish)?  I’ve been googling, and all over ebay and etsy, and all I’ve found has been the wrong color (I need ivory), or not silk, or not taffeta, or questionable whether it’s real heavyweight taffeta or just china-silk-esque, or something crazy like $50/yd.  I suppose I could get some yardage and do a teeny tiny hem, but… I just want silk taffeta ribbon!  Any ideas?

Posted on

England Trip Report #2: What I Wore (and Made)

There was a mad rush of sewing to get ready for the England trip, naturally.

As previously posted, Michael’s doublet was nearing completion but he felt it was too tight.  I thought about piecing in a gusset in the CB, then realized that would just get wonky, so I literally took out the whole back and remade it.  Ugh!  I know I could have made him suffer, but I wanted him to be happy.  I really wanted to make him a hat, and bought the pattern and everything, but the timing was just too tight.  Maybe if he ever wears it again!

Final photos – and by popular request, a ruff (okay, some ruffled eyelet lace) for Sir Winston:

For me, the big project was a c. 1780 robe à la polonaise, which I took pictures of while I was making but totally neglected to do a dress diary… the reason for which will need to be another post! It’s made of red and white printed cotton (a duvet cover from Ikea), trimmed with red taffeta (which was supposedly silk when I bought it in the $7/yd silk taffeta garment district madness, but when Sarah burn tested her fabric, she reported it was not silk – bastards!), and yards of white organza ruffles.  I handsewed most of it, except I hemmed and gathered all the organza ruffles on the machine (hey, I’m not crazy!) except for the bottom ruffle on the petticoat, where the ruffling would show… and I ran out of time, so a lot of the sleeve was done on the machine.  I’m really pleased with it, especially the fit — I’m tired of always being the boobed wonder when I wear 18th c., so I made the neckline pretty cover-y — it might even be TOO narrow, but I’m not changing it now!  I do still need to add some braid to the back seams, but I can easily get that done before Costume College.  I’m thinking I’ll wear this to the Gala unless I get a wild hair to make something new… but that’s another post, too!  I promise to do a full write-up on the dress at some point, but again, more on this subject in another post.

I also remade my 1780s capote to have a poufier top (ie remade it in a couple of layers of silk organza), and retrimmed it as the green scheme made the outfit Christmas-y (I figured blue was complimentary without being matchy).  I used a vintage feather trim that I got at Costume College a few years back.  Finally, I wore the lace knitted mitts that I’ve been working on for a while – a totally modern pattern, unfortunately, as the only period patterns I could find were very butter churn-y and winter-y.

Finally, I did widen the neckline on the medieval gown — it was a rush job the night before we left, so I just put the dress on inside out, marked a wider neckline, cut some bias silk and finished it quickly.  I was worried it would stretch out or do something funky, but it seems to have worked!  I have a LOT of bust in it, but otherwise it turned out to be prettier than I’d thought and I had fun swanning about in the bluebells in it.

Oh, and I wore my green Venetian, but that’s very this-old-thing to me these days!

Posted on

Doublet Nearing Completion…But I Need Advice!

Doublet!  I made one, and shockingly quickly too!  After procrastinating all Spring Break (ie working on something for myself), I forced myself to pick up this project.  Luckily I’d already done one mockup & fitting, so I was able to get most of this done in about two days.  I shock myself!  And I actually kind of enjoyed it, because I felt like I knew what I was doing.  The handwork took a bit longer — adding trim that I couldn’t machine sew on, putting in the lining.  But that’s stuff I can do on the couch on a weeknight.

But there’s an issue… I put this on Michael, and he said (very nicely), “It’s too tight!  It feels like a suit jacket that’s 1-2 sizes too small.”  Now, I have NO idea what it should feel like to wear a doublet, so I don’t know if I screwed something up or whether this is just an issue of a man who has never worn costume before (okay, he’s worn 1920s but that’s totally different).  Any guesses?  There are some wrinkles going from the front of his armscye to his underarm, so I was thinking I could open up the armhole more (UGH THE WORK!), but won’t that just make things tighter by having a bigger armscye?  I had him lift his arms up as high as he could go, so you can see his arm movement range… the back looks good – no real wrinkles – altho I’m guessing that’s where the “too small” comes in.  I could piece a strip in to make the doublet itself wider by piecing something next to the arm (UGH THE WORK), but is that even going to help?  And, is this a problem that needs fixing?