Pirate Costume-Captain Jack Inspired

My husband agreed to dress as a pirate for our upcoming Disney Cruise.  And he was quite the sport for doing this photo shoot in 103 degree weather!

I used the Simplicity 4923 for the three pieces. 

 

 

The white shirt is plain muslin.

 

The trousers are a bottom weight cotton.

 

He purchased the boots.  Hey, every man needs a little fun and after all-Shoes!!

 

 

The vest is from a stash of 35 meters of upholstery fabric we bought eleven years ago in Damascus, Syria.  We had planned to re upholster our furniture but no one would touch it here in the states because the fabric does not have the rubberized backing.  It is just fabric.  It actually washes and dries beautifully! I have used some for bed skirts and sewn some as a slipcover for a footstool. it pleats well.  However, it is extremely heavy in bulk.  I have thought of making a 1600s style costume, but it would be heavy.  (Any suggestions for its use would be appreciated.  Or I could be persuaded to sell it.)

 

The scarf is one he brought back from the Middle East and I added some fish net to complete the look.

 

Thank you for looking at my Captain (place name here) inspired costume.

Jeannine

Pirate Costume-Tia Dalma inspired

My husband and I are taking a Disney Cruise this August for our 30th Anniversary!   Our son went on one two years ago, as a reward to himself for doing a year in Afghanistan.  He thought we should go to celebrate and set this up for us.

 

One night of each cruise in the Bahamas is a Pirate themed night and guests are encouraged to dress up.  Of course, I never do anything simply or subtly.  So I got on track making costumes.

 

My Tia Dalma inspired costume is made on the cheap. 

 

 

The overdress is a lace table cloth dyed purple and the overskirt was a gold brocaded cloth shower curtain, also dyed purple.  Both pieces together were $5 at a garage sale.  The purple underskirt is a worn white sheet that also received the dye treatment.

 

The corset is one I started in the spring and finally finished for this project.  I then put a loosely stitched layer of fish netting over it.

 

The belt is drop cloth strips frayed and washed, then layered with faux suede.  I sacrificed several old necklaces for the beads and sewed them randomly over the belt, along with seed pearls and shells.

 

The chemise under it all is also from the old white bed sheets.

 

Sorry for the pool hair, but it was only 103 degrees while we were having our photo shoot.

 

I hope to have better photos from the cruise.

Thanks for checking it out.

Jeannine

 

Bustle Pad-Natural Form Era

How's this for under ten dollars? I made a bustle pad for the Mermaid costume.  The pattern is Simplicity 1819.  I used 100% organic cotton from an old bed sheet, the ribbons were off of a gift, and stuffing from a pillow.  So Free!

 

 

 

 

Historical Sew Fortnightly

Challenge: #13, Under $10

Fabric: 100% cotton,

Pattern: Simplicity 1819

Year: 1878

Notions: thread and questionable content ribbon, polyfil stuffing

How Historically accurate: machine sewn with proper fabric.  50/50 I would say

Hours to complete: One at most

First worn: July 4, 2014 for Mermaid photo

Total Cost: FREE

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jeannine

Challenge #6 Victorian Mermaid Fairytale Dress

I finally completed my Fairy tale reinvention of ah historic dress.  My daughter loves The Little Mermaid so I decided to attempt an 1878 dinner dress.  First: the completed costume on my dress form.

 

Here is the inspiration dress.  It is in the collection of the Met Museum. It is a Lord and Taylor dinner dress in silk. It has a lovely side profile, but I was not too crazy about the front view.  Makes the wearer look rather broad through the shoulders.

 

 

I traced the photo to lay out how I wanted the three colors of blue to look.  I also smoothed out the edges of the train to make more mermaid rounds rather than squatted edges.

 

 

Here is my daughter in the dress.  We are a good two hours drive from the ocean so we took photos in the back yard. I also changed the back of the jacket to remove the long tails. I used TV428 for the jacket.  I did not put cuffs on it and I cut out the collar.

 

 

For the skirt and train I sort of created my own pattern.  There is also a bustle pad that I made.

 

 

 

 

 

I used shells and pink "coral" for the embellishments.  I envisioned more but decided I didn't want it to be over the top.

 

 

No sea but she did pose by the pool!

 

 

 

By the way, She is a size 2 in ready to wear.

I am so happy this is done.  On to the next.

 

Historic Sew Fortnightly:

The Challenge: #6 April First (LOL) Fairytale

Fabric: 100% polyester bridal and costume fabric from Joann's

Pattern: TV428

My own construction for skirt

Year: 1878

Notions: Thread, shells.

How historically accurate?: Umm, 30% for the patterning and technique. All machine stitched except for attaching the ruching and shells.

Hours to complete:  Untold, Don't ask! Way too much time spent thinking of how to do the skirt!

First worn: July 4, 2014 for photos.

Total cost: Approx. $100

 

Thank you for stopping by to see what I FINALLY accomplished.

Jeannine

1941 Politics of Fashion Dress

Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #11

On a previous post I broke down the politics of the dress codes of the 1940s war time. The government regulated fashion down to how much fabric and trim a manufacturer could put in any ensemble.  I wanted to recreate a proper dress from 1941.

 

 I received My pattern that I purchased on ebay.  It was complete and exactly as I expected.  The cover is rather fragile, but the pattern pieces were in great shape.

 

 

I was rather surprised by a few things.  The zipper was called a "slide" and the sleeves were set in in pieces rather than stitched together and gathered like modern patterns. However, the pattern fits me perfectly without any alterations.  It is a 16.  I wear a 12 in current patterns and a size 4 off the rack.  So obviously, size numbers are just numbers.

 

The following pictures are of my daughter wearing the dress as I made it for her.  The belt is purchased and the shoes are mine from the 90s.

 

 

Daughter did her own victory curls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was fun making this dress.

The facts:

Challenge: #11 Politics of Fashion

Fabric: 97% Cotton 3% Lycra, so not completely accurate.  The stretch in the fabric did help in getting the sleeves in correctly.

Pattern: Simplicity 4239 from the 1940s

Year: ca. 1941

Notions: "slide" (current) Coats thread, 4 plastic buttons

How historically accurate is it:  85% because of notions and Lycra in the fabric

Hours to complete: 9

First worn: Friday the Thirteenth for Pictures.  Daughter will wear it for her office job.

Cost: Approximately $45

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Jeannine

 

D-Day

Remembering D-Day, June 6, 1944, and all who served to preserve our freedoms.

 

 

 

Thank you to all who served.

Blessings,

Jeannine