A merry christmas to all!

The best present I cold have gotten was an end to finals.  Huzzah!

But a lot of time to sew and watch terrible adaptations of sub-par Lincoln novels (I'm looking at you, Gore Vidal) is also very appreciated.

So when I was visiting St. L (my hometown, yo) we stopped by a quilt store and I got some lovely ochre CW repro fabric.  However, there were only 4 yards available, so I decided to make a regency dress instead because my usual 1812 one is awfully farby and in need of a revamp.  The fabric monster in me told me to buy it, and it sort of leapt into my hands!

Not going to lie, I have some pretty A+ selfies

 Just the basics:
Pattern: Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion (but fudged a lot)
Fabric:  Cotton print, linen
Time:  About 2 weeks, on and off, but it's all handsewn and I had some major fitting issues.
What I would change?: The sleeves came out wonky and the back gapes a bit, so I'll have to fix that before I wear it in public.

also note my creepy new/old vintage mannequin from my dear neighbor...

Also, we had a regency ball last week, so I thought that I'd post some pictures of my sad old regency ballgown...  Ohhh, the memories I have of this thing.  I need to seriously re-do the back before I wear it again, as it is literally ripping apart at the moment.  But it's such a lovely silk taffeta!

 

Sorry the quality is terrible... Here's a group shot of the youth brigade, though.

Also, if anybody wants a tutorial for paper-curling their hair, please don't hesitate to ask!  It's super fun and easy.
Merry Christmas!

Fauve in Furs

The rest of my family has finally returned from the sunny shores back to the frigid lands of suburban Chicago, so I was able to convince my papa to take a few pictures of me in my new paletot and vintage for capelet in the 7 inch deep snow and 10 degree weather (isn't he a doll!)

My muff was left out in the rain last year, and hasn't since re-acquired its floppy softness.  But doesn't it look pretty!

Showing off my very snowy Robert Lands and flannel drawers

Ignore the... uh... telegraph wires.

I wish that I had had the time to enter this into American Duchess' photo contest... oh well.

I look a wee bit homicidal. But isn't my pallor fashionable!

All in all, I don't think that I'll put fur on the cuffs, but I will DEFINITELY change the collar into a standing collar.  As it is, it simply isn't cooperating, and it won't take too long either.
Huzzah for decent selfies!

One thing I won't miss about Chicago

... will be the weather.  4 degrees at mid-day today, with a healthy 7 inches of week-old snow on the ground.  Gotta love lake affect snow!
I apologize for being so late to update - a combo of finals, last minute college essays (ultimately unnecessary) and a half-finished hand sewn bodice that refused to fit because my new corset changes my shape so drastically.  But after looking at Samantha McCarty's absolutely lovely paletot I decided that it might behoove me to make one of my own, seeing as I had all the makings of it in my stash.

Selfie game sooooo strong

 I apologize for all of these pictures being taken by myself of myself - my parents are enjoying a well deserved vacation whilst I am home alone, and thus I have no photographers.  Count on nice, pretty pictures being up by Monday, though! (If I have time while finals cramming.)

The lowdown:
- Pattern: Drafted from History of Fashion with few modifications - it was literally three big, rhomboid pieces with sleeves.

- Materials:  Silk taffeta, muslin, and batting lining, wool gaberdine that was at one point a skirt, cannibalized fur coat.  I had a long moral discussion with myself about using innocent critters to clothe myself, but as they had already been killed and made into a drab looking coat I decided that it wouldn't be any more dignified to let the fur gather dust.

- Time: Only about a week, actually, but the quilting took up most of it.  If I had stuck with a plain lining I could have done it in a day or so.

- Positives:  Really cozy!  The fur is amazingly soft (:c) and I'm happy to finally get rid of some of that low slub silk and all of that red wool (though I still have a bit left...)

- Negatives:  I somehow messed up the sleeves. As usual.  But it doesn't make it structurally unsound, so I'm keeping them.  Also, I'm going to need to redo the collar, because it's too bulky.  And I wish that I had cut the fur at an angle so I didn't constantly have to take up the excess at the top, but there's no helping that.  A big thanks to the ladies at the SA for instructing me in proper fur cutting techniques!

 The lining was all machine quilted into diamonds.  It's silk and muslin at the bottom and the batting begins at about stomach level (you can sort of see where it gets more opaque in the picture.)

 The whole thing was bag lined, and then the outer sleeve was put on, and then the inner sleeve was whipstitched to the body to hide an raw edges.

Inner sleeve

Gutta-perch like buttons

I'm debating whether or not to add fur to the cuffs... One one hand, cozy and warm, but on the other hand, I feel like they would flop all over the place and get in my way.

My inspiration picture has cuffs, but..

I also found these pictures of myself from TN.  I don't even want to talk about how low-cut my dress ended up being. >:c

My baby boo!

Now I must go study like mad for finals, attend many Christmas parties, and start scratching together a RevWar kit for next year.  Ciao!

I interrupt your usual programming...

I'll get back to pretty clothes soon enough (I have a regency dress and a paletot on my plate) but I wanted to share the good news: I got in to College of William and Mary!  I'm so excited; I'm going to be living right by Colonial Williamsburg, taking classes where Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson did before me. I'm mad revved!
Aaaand now I have to get a Revwar kit together. C'est la vie.

The Graduation Dress (of doom)

Well, this dress quite near did me in, I must say!  Though I might deserve it for not making a mock-up.  Lesson learned. 

I know, I know, why am I making such a sheer summer dress in the winter?  Well, for my high school graduation next June, I'm required to wear a white dress and I thought, well, why not make one that I'd want to use again?  So I started with the image in mind of the white dress in the Fashion, Impressionism and Modernity exhibit that my neighbor curated that went through Chicago a few weeks ago.  I tweaked it so that the shirring on both the bodice and sleeves were vertical.

Just the facts:
Cotton organdy, mother of pearl buttons, antique lace
Basic bodice pattern, slashed and spread

 (At some point I will add a hook and eye to the waist… Honestly, I can't be induced to now!)

Sleeve-cap-that-desparately-needs-ironing 

Yay!  Done with this dress forever!

I just took my usual pattern, slashed and spread it up and down , gathered it and stitched down the gathers into little tucks.  The shirred bodice at my work is constructed in a similar way.
Unfortunately, I neglected to slash and spread it horizontally to make up for the fabric taken up by the tucks... Waaaay too small!  I had to cut one shirr apart and add another shirred panel to make up for it, and it's still a bit tight around the shoulders.  It suffices to say that unless I let it out or lose some serious weight, this won't be work very frequently.

ebay.com

whitacreauctions.com

Story of a Seamstress (sorry, couldn't find the original source!)

Despite all of that, though, I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I think the style is underrepresented as a high fashion look in the hobby.  And of course, I'll be making an underbodice in good time... Right now that's just my chemise!

Sorry for the crap selfie, haha

And in other news, a winter appropriate article of clothing - a sontag that a fmaily friend knitted for me from a period pattern! 
It's very warm and cuddly and beautifully made to boot!

23 and me

Well, 23.5 if we're being exact.
If you all haven't noticed, I'm very vain about my waist size.

Pants-less and fierce.

I've been sewing away over our four day weekend, and here's the result (and yes, C, I honestly do believe that this is 'the one', thank you very much.)

It was about time that I got a new corset.  Although I'll still use the good old bosom wrangler for camp, this will be my formalwear stunner and my summer wear - it being only one layer, it's quite cool!

The stats:

Utensils: A bit of coutil, vintage cotton bias tape, surprisingly little boning.

Pattern:  Simplicity 2890, size 12 at the bust, >8 at the waist, 10 at the hips

Time: Less then a week

Result:  Happy!  I can get my waist down to 23" without any effort.  The bust is a bit floppy at the edges, probably due to lack of boning or (gasp!) being too large, but I can always stuff it if it annoys me too much.

All in all, I highly recommend the pattern and strongly suggest using coutil, as my experiences with twill prove that it is simply not substantial enough to stand up to any amount of tight lacing.  After making 4 before this, I can definitely tell a difference.  Can't wait to use this one!

Also, test out doing gussets if you've never done them before.  They're tricky.

Aaand I finally got around to cutting up and re-doing my stays so that I could actually fit into it without smooshing my noble prow, so that will probably get a post of its own eventually.

And I got the most amazing butternut yellow wool from Vogue when I went to get boning.  It's almost sheer and it feels like cotton.  If I get into W&M it'll become a Revwar dress and if not, it'll be my Civil War formal dress. 

Cheers!

Waste not, want not

I'm sorry for my lack of pretty new dresses recently; I've been busy with college applications, harp recordings and an injured hand.  In my journey to a more progressive wardrobe, though, I've been re-doing my two silk 1860s dresses that I made before I had my present grasp on period construction techniques.  My gold dress was up first, and my black one is in the works (but it needs more serious alterations, sigh.)
So here is a picture of what it looked like originally:

As you can see, the waist is far too long and poorly fitted.  The trim is inaccurate, there is no collar and the pleating is too far apart at the center for the early 1860s.  The closure is also inaccurate: I somehow decided that hemming it at the front and putting on hooks and eyes sufficed for closure.
I started by taking the skirt off of the bodice, putting the bodice on my mannequin (Beatrice, named after Dante's 'ideal woman'!) and found the natural waist and cut it so that it would present an even waistline.  I think I cut it a bit too short for it to be anything other than late CW, but in my opinion, too long is worse than too short!

Before I re-piped the waist, I took out the hemmed front and applied facing, setting the eyes into the seam.  This provides for a much more even closure and eliminates the feared gap-osis.

I then drafted a pattern for cuffs off of the sleeve and made it up with some decoration (if anybody wants a fuller explanation of what I did feel free to ask!)  Then I put the skirt on again, etc etc.

Of course, it's too short-waisted and the pleating is more similar to the late 60s 'empire style' bodice, but I'm really happy with it overall.  I think that it looks a lot more polished, and as soon as I find proper buttons I'm putting them up and down the front.  I accessorized it with a 50's veil that I put on a piece of millinery wire to make into a passable upper-class snood.

I'm also making another corset, being as it's long overdue.  And after making 3 corsets that have gussets I just NOW find out how to put them in properly!  And let me tell you, coutil is next to steel in terms of how much it stretches.  I'm confident that 1 layer is plenty enough for a good waist reduction without wrinkles!

I'm also putting together a programme for a historical harp recital with historical harp music I clean up on photoshop. I have the Douglas Polka, the Douglass Grand March, the Caledonian, the Favorite Scottish Waltz, Liebestraum, and maybe a few Nadermann sonatas.  I'm really looking forward to it!

With the lovely photographer!