Corsetry

Way back when before our May trip I signed papers to volunteer at the Log Cabin Village. Before I start, though, I have to make that new 1840's outfit. Well, I got hung up on making the stays/corset. The 1840's seem to be that odd era where things started changing from stays to corsets, from shift to chemise. It's all very confusing. I've made several pairs of 1770's stays, but that's the only type of corsetry I've ever made. This is when bodice shapes started transitioning from the almost looser late-Regency style to the mid-century hourglass.

Eyelets and binding left.

Since this corset is for myself, and since everyone else on site is already less accurate because they don't wear corsets, and because I am now in a hurry to finish, I feel that gives me license to just fudge it through. For a base I used Past Pattern's 1840's stays pattern, kindly loaned to me by a friend. This pattern has cups, while later corsets do not. This pattern is corded, while later corsets are boned. I decided to blend the eras a bit and add boning, not cording.

For fabric I used two layers of cotton sheeting and two layers of leftover linen/cotton. All very affordable, all fabric I had leftover from something else. I did buy a center-front busk(Etsy!). For boning I'm using my favorite, plastic zip ties. I know some people say they can bend from heat, but I haven't ever had trouble with my stays becoming mis-shapen. I think I didn't wear them often enough, and that's also probably more of an issue for larger women.

I've never used a center-front busk before, so apparently I put it in the wrong order and so had to hand-sew it in. I definitely rushed the last part of making this, and it's not my best work ever! But I learn something every time I sew so nothing is wasted. Some people's corsets are really works of art; I actually don't sew costumes much for myself, and when I do I rarely spend the bulk of my allotted time on underthings. Here's another blogger who made this same pattern all by hand. I'm not that dedicated when it comes to my own underclothes!

Moving On- Maybe?

My grey linen gown was the first REAL Colonial gown I made for myself. I had made a trial gown before, out of terribly incorrect fabric, and then an experimental jacket. I made the grey dress itself in 2011(I think. I'm pretty sure.) to wear to the Providential History Festival:

From my 2011 Picture Folder: The original trim!

And I changed the trim for next year's festival; actually I pretty much changed the trim every year:

2012 PHF, wearing my quilted petticoat! And even four years ago, Andrew was taller then me.

I wore it to Camden, South Carolina, in 2013:

Epic Picture.

I wore it to Williamsburg, Virginia, in 2014:

I think that petticoat and matching trim is my favorite.

And now here I am, in Texas. We appear to be a good four hours from any historical group or location where I could conceivably wear my Colonial gown. In the depths of reenacting woe, cursing the uncultured darkness of Texas, I've been thinking of selling some of the few costumes I have left. Which isn't many; I sold most of them before I moved. But I haven't quite been able to sell this dress yet. I'm still clinging to the sentimental thought of keeping it for a little while longer!

Sewing at Pigtails

Yes, I made that, and a fuzzy green turtleneck to match. Oscar the grouch- and parents let their children watch this show?

Every time I go to work at Pigtails the Woman of Energy throws something new at me. I just finished Oscar the grouch, 1970's belts and tunics, and a Bugs Bunny head(still working on that one). This past week it was Kristoff from "Frozen". The Woman of Energy prefers to have things altered rather than constructed from scratch, which sometimes just makes things harder.I spent hours hand-sewing the fake fur onto Kristoff's repurposed leather jacket; it almost would have been faster to make it from scratch. Once they get Kristoff's outfit in the window, I'll post a picture of it. I'll certainly be glad to have the fake decapitated mutilated head display out of the window. You're not getting a picture of that.

Custom order. A cape based on an anime character. Whaaatever- it was difficult to sew the long gold strips down the center and sides. I got the gold fabric from an old choir robe. The Woman of Energy has a whole rack of old choir robes.

The Woman of Energy buys all her things second-hand, which is certainly affordable but not always advisable when it comes to sewing notions. You always need a good, steady machine, and very sharp accessories. When I arrived on the scene, she had neither. The tools were junk and the sewing area was a mess. Now it's been a month and I've made some sense of the mess and sharpened some of the tools, but the machine remains.

The 1970's- so not my era. This was from a second-hand sheet. I don't think I could sleep on such a busy print.

I don't know if all Brother sewing machines are this bad, or if it's just from being abused by inexperienced sewers, but the shop has three old Brothers, and they're all so horrible to work with it just makes one want to jump off a cliff rather than use them.

 

An epic vintage cape I got to repair.

Working at Pigtails-a good experience for the resume!

Outlander

So recently I've been following a new Starz show called Outlander. It's based on a popular series of novels, and the storyline is one of those one girl-two guys romance junk with a whole lot of nudity thrown in for all those desperate housewives(interesting article about a godly perspective of nudity here). Don't don't don't watch this show- it's not a book or a drama I would recommend to any of my acquaintances.

With that said, the reason I'm following Outlander is the costumes. The majority of the story is set in 1740's Scotland; my favorite era and place. There's yards and yards of gorgeous plaid wool and lots of stays going on there; huge petticoats with cartridge pleating(which is a little odd since cartridge pleats fell out of fashion in the 18th century), lots of earthy muted colors; just lots and lots of wool. The costume designer for the show, who happens to be the producer's wife, has a blog with detailed photos here. There are the usual TV costume fails that aren't quite right for the period, but the overall look is a lot of fun.

He's not ugly, but still, it's the clothes I swoon over.

 This past week the main character of the show got married(to guy number two) and the dress was really an amazing work of art. Hand-made metallic leaves and embroidery on such beautiful fabric. Read about the materials here. While I so enjoy costumes like these, it kills me that producers take such a rich time and place in history that needs no embellishment, and inject so much sinful junk that I can't even watch it. What a waste of wool.

Pirates!

This week I realized I've forgotten how to count. As a nanny I generally had about three kids, certainly no more than ten, and I have fingers enough for that. I've been at the cash register at work lately, and starting and finishing I have to count out my cash to make sure it matches the numbers in the computer. It NEVER comes out right. Oh the drama, the emotional trauma, in counting thirty dollars in change three times over with the managers watching!

The Pirate Dress is finished. I did the eyelets by hand this week, and finished the hem by machine. Despite lacking a model, the dress is listed in my Etsy Shop.

 It really did turn out well.

Also for sale in my brand-spanking-new Etsy shop; this cloak. Doesn't it look cool?

Costuming Again

Right now I'm getting the costume closet ready for this year's Fezziwig Ball. The Ghost of Christmas Past outfit gives me trouble every year: it's crepe-back satin, so it's static-y and catches on everything, and every wrinkle shows. This year I had to take in the neckline, re-hem the sleeves and hemline. Then I found the thread I originally used was breaking, so I had to re-sew the seams.

A new item for the Ball: A cream colored cloak for the ghost of Christmas Past. It's upholstery fabric, so it's heavy, but still meant to drape. I hemmed it by hand, so it took a while.

A gentleman's natural linen trousers and white linen/cotton shirt- with cuff and neckline RUFFLES! I'm working on getting smaller hand-sewn hems, and Caleb is going to look amazing in his 1820's uniform this Christmas.

A boy's shirt and corduroy coat. Tiny Tim is going to be adorable this year!

I bought a straw poke-bonnet looking thing at Goodwill and started lining it with brown silk from a weird pair of ladies' pants(thanks, Grandma!). I haven't decided yet if it really looks Little Dorritish or just more Wicked Witch of the West. And am I the only person who has trouble getting bonnet lining to lie flat?

Dominos of Drama

Like a row of dominoes falling over, I recovered from poison ivy in time to participate at the Annual PHF, and then promptly got the 24-hour flu bug going around. All these painful happenings the week of the wedding! At least they're happening to me and not to Jen, though I think she's suffered more mental anguish over the thought of possibly being sick than I have actually being sick.

Costume racks at PHF: while the actors looked great in the costumes, it was a whole lot of work for a short amount of time!

I spent my Monday morning at the local DMV, otherwise known as the Dark Hall of Agony. I spent forty-five minutes waiting(in the Dark Hall) to spend ten minutes renewing my license, pay the state $26.50 for it, and received a truly horrible(really, really terrible) photo of myself on a card which I must carry around for the next five years. The DMV always drives me nuts!

I was so busy before and after the Play that I didn't get any good photos of the costumes being worn. Here's the brown dress fresh off the stage. It's for sale!

I'm working on the last two dresses for the theatrical. This dress is supposed to be more upper-class than the others, so I chose a paler fabric and more embellishment. The fabric company made a mistake on the order and I didn't have enough material anyway, so I ended up lining the entire dress, adding an underskirt and sleeves made from an old sheet. I wanted big sleeves, and undersleeves were the only way to accomplish that.

Front pleating, entirely for looks. I ended up using a few pattern parts of Butterick 5832, the new romantic pattern.

I even had a little time to work on my Pirate dress. The jute trim looks great!

 

The dress front opening- smaller trim, stitched on by hand.

Off topic but still cool, we had a storm go through last week that dropped some of the largest hail any of us had ever seen. The picture was even taken after they had melted for a while.The largest measured 2 1/2 inches across, 30 minutes after landing.

Romantic Dresses

 So I've been working on some dresses for an upcoming theatrical. I've decided I enjoy costuming for the theater, because while it is often historically-based, allowances can be made for the circumstances: being on stage, being wired with a mike, changing costumes, etc. And besides being historical, the costumes have to impart character in coloring and design perhaps rather more than normal reenacting garments.

 Matron dress: Yes, I know: plastic button fail. This dress is all simple grey broadcloth, made for the matron of an orphanage. There are three yards in the skirt. The bodice is fitted with darts, and I added a small pocket on the lower front. The sleeves are slightly curved with a little gathered fullness at the top.

 Pocket!

I started out with this dress in patterned cotton. My goal was to make it drape over the front, so I put slanted pleats at the shoulder and gathered the bodice front at the waistline, as close as possible to the center front. It turned out well, but the lady who will be wearing it is fairly small, and the gathered fabric puffed out ridiculously, so I had to take it in at the shoulder and tack down the pleats for some pouf control.

Shoulder pleats.

This dress I went with larger sleeves and small boned waist pleats. The buttons are supposedly coconut shell. I didn't spend time on matching the stripes, and that probably shows at the front closure.

I also added piping at the seams.

This dress is for a street girl selling flowers. It's going to be very striking.

Costumes and Costuming

Because of the Romantic gowns for the upcoming play I've really been neglecting my Pirate gown. So far, though, I've knocked out three girl's dresses and two women's, with about the same number remaining to complete.

I finally got my treadle into working condition. It ended up costing probably about half of what it would cost to buy a similar one on craigslist, but oh well. I had to buy a new leather belt, a needlebar clamp, and some needles. I tried the OK Sewing in Omaha first and bought the belt from them, but they didn't have a matching needle clamp and basically told me that since they didn't have it, no one did. That wasn't very helpful. Next I tried the Sewing/Vacuum shop in Council Bluffs, and they did have a needle clamp and needles.

About my neglected Pirate dress: I have cut out all the pieces and begun to put them together. I used the JP Ryan "Robe a la Anglaise" pattern. I like this pattern because it is basic and thus can be either formal or low-class, and then decorated a great variety of ways. But then, it's also the only purchased colonial pattern I've ever used! As other reviewers have mentioned, this pattern is long in the waist, high in the back, and the shoulder straps are very long.

I spent some amount of time looking for Pirate-dress trim. Faux leather is too chunky; lace is too overdone(and expensive), metallic is too gaudy. I want daring, but natural! Pirate, but ladylike! Then I found the jute section. It's a natural fiber, so it has a bit of a rustic look, but it's available in a few but neat-looking styles. Plus, it's cheaper. I ordered some for the sleeve hem and for down the gown front, and I'm really pleased with how it looks. Though I haven't had time to put it on yet....

Jute.

The Romantic Era

Fabric for five romantic-era gowns for a theatrical production: two ladies, one orphan, and two middle class working women. By the way, ever wonder why it's called the "Romantic" era? Here's what wiki says.

Petticoat Distractions

Tuesday I started the petticoat and cut out the skirt. That's the easy part. I also spent way too long looking for different trims online. Apparently the trim from Elizabeth's dress came from M&J trims. Then I got distracted, and made this(don't laugh!)

Little girls' drawers. These are an experimental pair. I've wanted to experiment with drawers for a while, but more to the point there's a Romantic-era play coming up in September, and any sewing I do for that had better happen soon, because after this gown bridesmaids dresses are priority. So anyway, I was thinking about the romantic era and I made drawers.

Back to the gown, apparently some really great costume copies of Elizabeth's dress have been done before: The Art of Clothes' blogpost from 2012 is a great overview. I haven't decided how I'm going to trim mine yet, but it needs to be something rustic yet pirately-daring.

 

3/4 inch pleats. This fabric is nice and shimmery, but very thin and lightweight for a petticoat. I got most of the petticoat done yesterday, and finished the hem today. As usual, I'm doing hidden seams by machine and visible stitches by hand.

The Costume in my Head

My (other) Grandma is trying to clean her house(wrenching things away from Grandma is like screeching fingernails on rock as a person slips screaming over a precipice) and clean out her craft area, so some months ago she gave me an enormous bolt of a rough cream-colored cotton fabric with a damask design. There's got to be at least ten yards of it, and I'm guessing it was meant for a drapery or upholstery project. I also bought three yards of some remnant home decor fabric. It's some sort of poly/cotton blend in a deep turquoise sateen, perfect for a dramatic costume.

What kind of costume, you ask?

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Elizabeth is mostly in her underwear throughout the movie, and I won't comment on any historical inaccuracies in the costumes, but those issues aside I've always enjoyed the outfits in this movie. "Curse of the Black Pearl" was released when I was fifteen, and it was such a craze that three years later my graduating class used the POTC theme song as our recessional.

Elizabeth's dress looks to be a satin brocade, open-front gown with stomacher and loose, cuffed sleeves with fine white shift ruffles showing around the neckline and sleevehem. There seems to be some sort of decorative knotted trim or buttons down the sides of the front opening. The under-petticoat is a paler patterned fabric, maybe even a satin quilted petticoat.

My goal is to make a open-front gown with the cream fabric, with a teal petticoat and matching stomacher(though three yards of teal may not be enough). Obviously any gown I make will look quite different from Elizabeth's in that I have different fabric, but I'd like to capture the same idea and style. It's a heavy cotton, and I imagine the material will hang something like this cool looking petticoat.

Sooo... I have the fabric, I have the idea, now for the work!

Edwardian Outing

I finished the Past Patterns Edwardian waist this week in preparation for our first costumed folk dance performance of the season. The pattern came in sizes 10+. I usually use a size 6 for myself and then alter it to fit, so cutting down from a 10 created a little more work. However the pattern is pretty basic and came together fine, until I ran out of matching thread. I also fiddled around with the shoulder pleats more than I would have liked, mostly because of the sizing change. The shoulder pleats are the same width all down the front of the blouse, but they taper to an end down the back. One of the pleats rippled as I sewed it down the back, so I had to rip it out and re-do.

Anyway.

Ladies from dance group: I'm the one on the far right, looking like I'm in a a straight jacket.What I'm really wearing is my wool trumpet skirt, pleated petticoat, and Gibson waist. The lady on the other end used the same pattern, only the alternate collar and cuff pieces and in a lighter-weight white linen.

The gentlemen also looked great, and with way less work, too.

Back to Costuming

This dress is totally amazing. It's nice to know that it is possible to advance as a self-taught historical seamstress, even though I'm not a perfectionist and likely my outfits will never be that amazing.

First-ish snow: a dusting of white stuff.

It turns out that the Big Bad Wolf is actually terrified of Red Riding Hood. Who knew?

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Right now I'm trying to find costume inspiration relating to the Edwardian era, since it looks like we'll be performing at the beautiful Arbor Lodge in NE City. It's difficult for me to pin down particular mainstay styles for the Edwardian era. It's sort of sandwiched between the fru-fru bustle era behind and the loose, low-waisted 1920's in front. When I'm working on costumes for Performance group I need to have one or two basic, popular everyday patterns from the era that I can use as a base, since I can't sew for all my group and they can't sew a whole outfits for themselves. The ladies are the issue; I have enough wool pants and vests for the men that I'm not going to worry about them. Looking at patterns online, I'm torn between the Sense and Sensibility Beatrix skirt pattern, and the Truly Victorian Trumpet skirt pattern. Or should I even consider buying, since it's essentially such a simple pattern, and instead just try to make my own?

Red Riding Hood

Before there was the caped wonder of Superman, there was Red Riding Hood. I'll decline to comment on the fairy tale or any of the accompanying adaptations(though I have enjoyed some episodes of "Once Upon a Time"), since I've always thought it all a bit odd and easily taken wrongly. But I had this gorgeous crimson wool, and as I researched 18th Century women's capes quite a few of the examples I saw were red. I'm also coming to see the value of re-creating movie costumes. There seem to be a great many people in the world who like the idea of dressing in movie costume reproductions. So, for my 18th C wardrobe and also just for fun, here's my own Red Hood.

Everything I'm wearing here I made, except, of course, for the socks and shoes. I'm wearing my silk-lined mitts, which are the same red wool. The hand-made quilted white petticoat is cotton, pleated at the waist with ties. The back-lacing stays are brown linen with red trim, and the shift is also linen. The basket is from Russia. Almost everything I bought for myself in Russia was with the purpose of use for reenacting.

The cape is just a simple circular cape, made with red wool from Hancock's. I bought the wool last spring when all the winter fabrics went on sale. The clasp is also from Hancock's. After looking online at 18th C capes. I decided to add a shoulder caplet and hood. It's very warm! I made the hood small, both because I wanted it to be practical and keep in warmth and also because I didn't have a hood pattern and that's just how it turned out. I'm hemming it by hand, but the seams I did with machine.

 Thanks to Jennifer for taking the pictures.