Category: projects

progress is being made. I’ve been buying supplies for the Talma wrap — just won some white cotton velveteen on ebay, plus I got some 4″ rayon chainette fringe from M&J Trimming in NYC (which I’m hoping to maybe do some knotting on) and some red velvet ribbon to trim it. Also got some white velvet ribbon with which to decorate my hat, and little necessities like white twill tape (for the overskirt bustle poofs) and silver hooks & eyes (for some reason, all I had was black which wouldn’t work well on this fabric).

As soon as Halloween is over, I’ll be back on track… I’m glad the tea is at the end of the month!

Went over to Heather’s last week for help marking the hem. I also put together a mockup of the overskirt, but don’t have any images as the camera was out of town with my husband.

First I spent about 3 hours on Saturday wrestling with the fabric, trying to straighten the grain. I yanked, I basted, I checked, I rechecked — no go. I did get a little progress by basting it together and ironing — managed to make it workable for the overskirt. Luckily I have a 2ish yard piece that’s a separate cut which is on grain that I can use for the bodice — the rest of the off-grain will be just for trim, thankfully.

The overskirt was relatively easy to make. I did have to add length (as I always do, being 5’11”, plus I’m going to wear heels with this outfit which I normally don’t), so I made a mockup. Although everything went together fine, I was glad to have the peace of mind that comes with making a mockup. The only issue I have with the pattern is that I think the pleats at the side of the skirt should match, and they don’t. However, I didn’t care about it enough to futz with it, but rather left it as is.

I did see that I’d need to add another point to pull up the back of the overskirt. The skirt has three tapes that extend from the waistband down towards the hem — you attach the skirt at various points to pull it up. I’ll need to futz with that a bit to figure out what works well. I lined the back of the skirt with one layer of net, which extends the length of the back piece but ends where the sides stop being joined.

I did a narrow machine hem on the overskirt as it’s going to be covered with trim anyway.

These are in-progress photos — the front of the overskirt hasn’t been gathered and sewn to the waistband yet, hence no front images.

I started to really calculate trim and realized that I don’t have enough plain white taffeta. I need 4 yards just to do the pleats around the hem of the underskirt, plus enough for sleeves for both day and evening bodices and ruches for the overskirt, bodice, and sleeves — not only do I simply not have enough, but I have 2 yards of white taffeta that’s so lightweight it’s see through that I bought online, plus 2 yards of heavy white taffeta that I got in the remnant bin at Thai Silks. So I hunted around to try to find the best deal and ended up ordering some more white taffeta today from Silk Connection — at $4.77/yard, it’s hard to beat! I’m hoping the weight will be relatively comparable to the Thai Silks taffeta (or at least close enough not to show) — I can use the nice Thai Silks taffeta for the sleeves on both bodices, and the Silk Connection for all the trim. I hope.
I’m also starting to daydream about accessories. I’ve always wanted one of those little tiny ineffectual hats to perch precariously (like in this Godey print). The Truly Victorian Clio hat (bottom left) looks perfect and it’s affordable, so I ordered one in red. Yay!

Since I’m going to be wearing this for the first few times at winter events (tea at the Ritz in November, and to Dicken’s Fair as well — hey, I’ll be a customer this year, I can wear whatever I want!) — and since I seem to be on target for getting the day outfit done in plenty of time (we’ll see, all that trimming may finish me off) — I’m starting to fantasize about outer wear. I ordered a copy of the Truly Victorian Talma wrap pattern, which I’m hoping to make in white velvet with red fringe for trim. Yummy! Of course, I will worry about finishing the dress first and then worry about outerwear — plus I need to find a source for white cotton velvet that won’t break my bank. Speaking of which, since I am a relative newcomer to the land of velvet, can someone tell me whether velveteen would work for something like this? I know it’s a shorter pile than velvet, but I’m not sure how different the two really appear. And what’s the deal with silk/rayon velvet? Why does everyone recommend avoiding it for costuming use (or is that just a Renaissance thing)?

I know, I know! Real Life(tm) has been getting in the way lately, with way too much to do and not enough energy. But I’m finally getting going on this, and I’m usually pretty good at getting a little sewing done most evenings (once I’ve gotten past the work of patterning and cutting), so hopefully there’ll be a little more excitement around this here place.

I did finish the petticoat about 2 weeks ago. Most of it I put together on one summer afternoon when I was supposed to be working on something else…

I wasn’t sure of how I was going to get the right silhouette for this period. 1875 is right in between the big bustles-that-are-really-hoops of the early 1870-73 period, and right before the natural form no-hoops-it’s-all-below-the-knees 1876-80 period. I decided for ease and sanity to go with my 1880s bustle and make as full a petticoat as I could stand to go over it. I used Truly Victorian’s TV 201 1870s underskirt, with a ruffle around the hem (which has cording in the turn-over) and ruffles up the back. The CB is really quite wide so that plus the ruffles really gave me some nice fullness.

The one mistake I made was deciding to level the skirt at the waistband, rather than put in the waistband and then mark the hem. Levelling skirts is really easy on skirts that are the same length all around, and a real bastard when they’re not! Not only was I trying to get the length right at all these different points around me, but I had to deal with the fact that the petticoat would be gathered at the waist. Ugh! Never again!

Although I’m still working out the final design (more on that in a minute), I was pretty certain on the skirts so I started there. Also, I want to get a really precise fit on the bodice and for that I need the bulk of the skirts to fit over.

I used the same pattern for the skirt as for the petticoat. The main irritation is that the fabric is off grain, so I spent twice as much time cutting and still don’t really have the fabric on grain. Any suggestions? I tried the fold in half, baste, and then yank method but it’s still not 100%.

Other than that, cutting out the skirt pieces and putting them together (oh, the joys of flooring it on those long straight seams!) was relatively straight forward. I put a side opening in the skirt and gathered it onto some gros grain ribbon (as the waistband won’t show). Still need to put the hem in, but for that I need to twist someone’s arm to mark it for me… I’m impressed at just how full the skirt looks over the petticoat (the fact that it’s made of taffeta helps!).

Of course, next up will be trim, and that leads me to — design! I’m still working out exactly what I want to do for the day dress. Here are two REALLY BAD design concepts (work with me here). What I’m not sure about: make the bodice out of the stripes and sleeves out of solid white taffeta, or vice versa (most fashion plates of this era seem to do one or the other). Everything will be trimmed with solid white pleats/ruffles, with layered ruches on top (white ruche on top of red/white ruche), although I am wondering whether the middle of the three pleats on the underskirt should be red/white stripes… opinions?

 

Here we goooooooo… This has been on my want-to-do list for so long that I really need to crank it out. I’ve always loved this fashion plate from Jean Hunnisett (you know me and stripes! I promise to do something non-striped next… well, maybe), plus I really want to work on some outfits that already have completed undies (so much less work when you’re not making the corset too).

At some point this will have an evening bodice, but right now I’m going to make the skirts and afternoon bodice. The afternoon bodice will be some conglomeration of this Godey fashion plate and this dress (found on some for sale site but can’t remember where!).

I’m going to use Truly Victorian patterns for the skirts. I’ve realized that drafting skirts is a lot of work for something that doesn’t require a lot of fitting, so it’s easiest just to use a commercial pattern.

I’ve actually cheated on this project in that sometime last year, when I was supposed to be working on something else, I put together most of the petticoat. I’m going to do a little faking on this project — I think I should really wear a larger bustle than I have under this (not quite the REALLY big early 1870s, but still bigger than my more 1880s sized bustle. The petticoat (pics to come, sorry, not that organized) is made from the underskirt pattern (early 1870s) and has lots of ruffles up the CB portion. I’m hoping that will bulk up the skirt enough to suit the mid-1870s look.

I’m hoping to get the afternoon outfit done by Nov. 20, which is the GBACG Tea with the Buccaneers (only one of my favorite bustle-era movies); evening bodice will be forthcoming at some unspecified date.

I’m also working to regain my excitement about putting all this out there after being flamed by an obviously unbalanced person; I know I should always expect it, but I’m still seething a bit. I promise to get more details up soon.