Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!

 

 

Celebrate safely and please remember all those men and women who fought, died or survived, to allow us to be free.

Jeannine

Out of My Comfort Zone-Victorian Hat

For the Historic Sew Monthly June Challenge of "Out of You Comfort Zone" I decided to try drafting a 1925 day dress from pictures.

 

It was an abject failure.  Not even worth showing or explaining. I have decided to maintain my original idea of using patterns.  Why reinvent the wheel?

 

My second project I attempted to get out of my comfort zone was to make a hat to go with my Natural Bustle era walking costume. I purchased the TV 550 hat pattern and the requisite materials.

 

 

I used two layers of buckram as mine was a light weight. I hand stitched the entire hat following the instructions in the pattern. I then covered it with a layer of white silk flat lined with white cotton muslin. The blue trim is upholstery trim.  I purchased a package of feathers to finish the trim.

 

 

There are a lot of areas I can improve such as learning how to join wires more neatly, hand stitch  the fashion fabric more neatly, etc.

 

 

 

These two hatpins I inherited from my mother.

 

Cost breakdown:

Buckram $5/yd. I used about half a yard

Wire: $3

Silk: $9 for half a yard

Trim: About $1

Feathers: $4

Total: About $19

Pattern: $11

 

Challenge: Out of Your Comfort Zone

Pattern: Truly Victorian 550

Year: ca. 1880

Notions: Wire, thread, trim, feathers

How historically accurate?: About 80% as the trim is polyester and of course all materials are machine made.  I sewed the entire thing by hand.

Hours to complete: about 10 hours as I was rather obsessed to get it done.  Next time I will slow down and try to improve my skills.

First worn: Not yet.

Total cost: $20

 

Thank you for stopping by and seeing my latest costume challenge.

Jeannine

Truly Victorian 1880 Walking Dress

A week ago I finished my project sewing an 1880s style walking costume.  I wanted to wait to show pictures until I could be photographed in it. However, we have been experiencing 100+ F degree weather here in The Big Valley of California.  I am not putting all those layers on in that kind of heat for a photo shoot.

 

 

 

Here is one of the pins I based my dress on. It can be found here.

Of course it is a based on a period photo.

 

 

I also based my dress on these drawings and examples:

 

Bustle dress

 

Drawing

 

So Let's get on with it! Here is my masterpiece.  I would love to have used lavender stripes as purple is my favorite color.  I shopped for several weeks on ebay for yardage and found a listing for this blue stripe and solid blue fabrics in one listing. There was probably 8 yards of the stripe. It is about 40 inches wide while the blue was about 36 inches wide.  Both are 100% cotton and they are from the 1970s, made for home dec.

 

 

I used TV225 1878 Fantail skirt,  TV326 1880 Hermione Overskirt, and TV428 1880 Jacket Bodice.

 

 

 

I modified the front of the jacket bodice by removing the points and rounding it slightly. I didn't like the points look nor the extreme length of the red stripe example.

The rest of the patterns I used as is.

 

The entire ensemble was sewn by machine using cotton thread.  I used modern metal buttons as they seemed similar to period buttons.

 

 

 

 

I have my Corset already to go and I still need to make a new more 1880s style chemise.  I have ordered TV550 to create a hat as no self respecting lady would go out walking without a hat!

 

I wish I could go to Costume College, but that is pricy for a substitute teacher. Maybe next year.

Let me know what you think.

Jeannine

1880s Walking Skirt

I have begun a large endeavor: sewing an 1880s Walking Dress. I am using various patterns from Truly Victorian patterns.  The skirt is TV 225, the fantail skirt.

 

 

I purchased yards of fabric from a seller on ebay.  The skirt is a basic midrange blue.  It is 100% cotton (I cannot afford silk which is traditional) and is only about 36" wide.  It is probably from the 1970s or 80s. The rest of the outfit will be done in a blue and white striped cotton from the same purchase.

 

 

 

Here is the skirt side view. I flat lined the entire skirt, except the pleats, with white cotton muslin.  it gave the skirt much more body.

 

A little more side view.

 

 

Front view.

 

This is pretty much straight on the back. The Skirt gathers at the back to give that lovely sweep so common in 1880s natural bustle dresses.

The pattern worked up easily. I Hope you enjoy this sneak peak.

Jeannine

Im-Perfect Pleater

I am working on a three piece 1880s walking dress ensemble.  More about that to come later!

However, I needed an easy way to pleat 300 inches of fabric for the pleated bottom edge of the skirt.  I am NOT spending money on a pleater. So I started looking up how to make a homemade pleater board. I found instructions here.

 

 

Following the instructions I started by measuring and scoring one inch increments. Then I had to fold back and forth to make the pleats.

 

 

Then I cut a file folder into one inch strips and tucked one inside each pleat, on the back side.

 

Then I covered the entire back with duct tape. That seals the folder strips inside and fortifies the strength of the entire pleater.

 

Here I am using it with 100% cotton fabric. Looks pretty good.  You can then press directly on the pleater.

 

I did not find the whole thing very effective.  Problems occurred when the fabric would not stay neatly in each pleat fold.  I found my pleats varying in size and not straight, top to bottom.  So I reverted to the old fashioned way of measuring, folding, pinning, and then pressing the pleats.  Oh well, I tried.

 

I have finished the skirt of my ensemble and will post pictures of that in the next few days.

 

Thanks for looking.

Jeannine

Ariel's Corset

I have started on the task of creating my own version of Disney's The Little Mermaid, town dress.  I began with the corset top.  I had purchased two yards of beige sueded upholstery "faux" leather. It was a remnant for $4 and was the spark for this project.

 

 

I used Simplicity 2172 as the basis for the corset. I modified the bustier top by cutting it down from the top line about 3 inches. I made a mockup out of denim first for fitting.  As I am making it for my daughter I was able to try it on her.  Too big.  I copied out the pattern again in the size 6 and cut down the upper line. 

 

Then I cut each individual left and right out of the faux leather and out of a crème colored denim for the lining.

 

I sewed the suede pieces together.  Then I sewed the denim ones.  I then pressed and carefully lined up the sections, wrong sides together. I sewed a quarter of an inch away from each seam to make channels for boning.  I cut the faux leather into bias strips and then bound the top.

 

I then used 14 inch long zip ties as the boning, two per each seam.

I then bound the bottom edge.  The eyelets are two part grommets in size 0.

 

 

Here it is on Daughter.  It is not laced up very tight as it still seemed too large for her.  The lacing is grosgrain ribbon.

 

It fits well enough.

 

Maybe a little large in the bust for her.

 

Overall I am happy with the way it came out.  Very easy to sew on my basic Brother sewing machine. I used a Jeans needle and basic Coats thread.

 

Let me know what you think about this corset.

Jeannine

Happy Easter 2015

Happy Easter!

 

 

 

Celebrate The Risen Lord with a fun filled family day.

Jeannine