Douglas Day 3: Douglas Harder

As you all know, I'm especially sentimentally attached to the late Senator Stephen Douglas.  Today, on the anniversary of his death, the SAD Association (of which I am now honorarily a part) held a wreath laying at his tomb in Bronzeville.  It's a beautiful park by the freeway, a few hundred meters from the lake, beautifully kept up and, of course, historically significant.

I thought that today would be as good as any to take my long-suffering friend to yet another (that's 3 so far!) Douglas-related event.

I present, Douglas day 3, which features a lot more official networking than the first two.

Awkward selfie? Awkward selfie.

 I wore the blue skirt from my ballgown over my white organdy graduation gown (which still miraculously fits!)  In addition, I made a pretty simple swiss waist; black silk taffeta with box pleated trim and a band of narrow velvet.  Unfortunately my bonnet ties are obscuring it but I was really pleased with how it turned out.
It was loosely based on this original from The Clothing Project on tumblr:

I altered my bodice pattern, shortening it and creating two deep points.  I wish I had taken the time to consolidate both bust darts into one princess seam like the original, and also wish that I could have added straps (I gave up halfway through pleating the trim for one.)

 I had my shawl and parasol and C had her chantilly lace shawl, so we made a very fine pair!  The SAD association president told us that we looked like we belonged in an impressionistic painting.

So here is to the memory of the late Senator Douglas.  I hope his past will help advance my future!

A quick new (old) bonnet

Sorry for the complete silence over here!  I've been working on a lot of small projects for both work and play and haven't had any time or energy to post them.

Here's my silly SADD project - I uncovered, recovered and decorated what once was a pink dupioni drawn bonnet and turned it into something a little more befitting its high fashion shape.  I used a bit of silk remnant, some pieces of antique lace I thought I'd never find a use for, and the silk ribbons I made to put on my not-entirely-1860-appropriate straw bonnet form.  The result is a delightfully silly piece of high-fashion headwear that I can't want to wear to Douglas Day v. 3!

Please excuse my nasty cold/allergy face

And of course I forgot to take out the basting stitches.... psssht

If you have any questions about the bonnet, please ask away!

In the interim, I'm working on constructing a big 1870s gown with all the trimmings and ruffles for a friend, and after that, who knows what I'll be doing?

Probably a lot of muslin caps, if we're being honest.

(I did get a summer job at Vogue, though.  30% employee discount.)

Hope all my readers are having a lovely (warm) summer!

Pretty in Blue

After the trial that was acquiring the right fabric in the perfect-ish shade, the harrowing experience of applying the lace, and then realizing that the bodice needs to be re-fitted, I'm pretty happy to be done with this dress.

 

And now, shameless self-aggrandizement via pictures.

 

Maman lent me her mother's pearls for the photos!

My bubby.

As you can see, the bodice suffers to be taken in a bit at the front.

Serious side-eye action.

Just the Facts:

Period:  Mid-1860s

Pattern: Janet Arnold's 1860s ballgown, and a lot of fudging it.  The skirt is box pleated and the sleeve us a normal puff sleeve, but I tacked it down in random places to make it look interesting.

Fabric:  Silk taffeta, white cotton lining, antique lace, cotton organdy, silk ribbon, velvet rayon ribbon.

Time:  Once I got the fabric, about a week and a half.  But lordy, what a challenge that was!

Verdict:  Meh.  It is exactly what I had expected it to look like.  I'm going to seriously refit the bodice before I wear this in public.  This is my first time making a dress with princess seams, and the finished garment behaved very differently than my poly taffeta mockup, unfortunately.  Luckily, I know what I need to do, I'm just too lazy to do it.

I'm also tepid about the concept of using antique lace for this dress.  I found this lace a few summers ago in a Michigan antique store for $5 with a few similar pieces, and I tried to be as careful as possible and used the strongest of the pieces.  That being said, I believe there's a special circle of hell for those who use and abuse antique clothing and I don't want to end up there, as the last thing that I want to do would be to ruin this gorgeous lace.  So I might take it off as a precaution...

Anyways, I have another modern dress in the making, so I'll probably post that soon.  Until then!

Reduce, reuse, re-sew

 So... While waiting for new fabric to come (neeheehee) I decided to take care of some long-needed refurbishments in my existing wardrobe.  First up, my black silk Douglas Day dress.  You all remember that? It was so small at the bust I had to turn it down into a v-neck, the waist was too large, the back to narrow and the sleeves were too tight and ill fitting.

And... Now!  (ignore the lack of undersleeves and my petti kicking out the skirt at the sides, merp.)

I took in the waist substantially, let out the back seams and overstitched them to compensate for how creased they were.

I then entirely re-did the front, taking off the hooks and eyes tacked there and replacing it with the hidden hook-and-eye application method, as well as adding buttons down the front to add visual interest.  I also had to take off the neck piping and cut the neckline down because it was too small at the back.

And then, lastly, I re-did the unsalvageable sleeves, as I was lucky enough to have enough fabric left to make new ones.  The only trim on them is a line of narrow black velvet.

The bodice is not basted to the skirt yet, which explains some of the strange fitting issues in these pictures as the bodice is quite high-waisted on me (it's from an extant pattern from before I knew how to make successful mockups.)

 And then I took official photos of my altered paletot - I switched the collar to a standing one, tried to neaten up the shoulders, re-applied the fur trim and added the big fur cuffs.

There is still some work that has to be done on this before it's in truly wearable condition (or, wearable with pride) but for now I'm happy that I was able to save an old project instead of starting a new one.

But speaking of new projects....

*maniacal laughing*

Guess what I just bought fabric for....

Frilly lace fichu

I have done something very, very selfish.

I have not worked on my Revwar kit.

I have not made something suitable for a lower-class impression.

I have, however, made a move towards de-stashing my truly awe inspiring lace bin!  And I've watched Firefly, Serenity, caught up with Supernatural, and started Battlestar Galactica!

And look at this cool fichu that I made!  (thank goodness for snow days.)

 This fichu was based on this original from approximately 1860 (from the latter half, I presume:)

 

My version has several more layers of insertion lace and, due to my lack of thin black lace, there is tasseled silk trim instead.

The underside - a back seam and two tucks

The back

WITTLE BOWSSSS

And the whole, badly centered package.

Just the facts:

Pattern: self drafted.

Materials:  Insertion lace, lace, silk trim, think silk ribbon, velvet ribbon.

Time: A very long time.  At least 2 days straight of work.

What I would do differently:  Uh... not do it, aheh?  It took a really, really long time.  But I did learn how to sew together insertion lace, as well as the value of patience.  And hopefully this is going to look really nice for ECD, or wherever I get to wear it...

And now I'm going to do a lot of sewing grunt work, at least until Military History fest next weekend.  Got to kit up for W&M!

We inerrupt your usual programming for a historical geek-out

So, we all know that Senator Stephen A. Douglas (currently residing on the right side of this blog, warding away untoward advances) called my fair Chicago his home during his later years.  It stands to reason, then, that many of his personal papers and affects remained here.  And I just now got around to finding out where: the University of Chicago, which he was an integral part of founding!

Red lipstick+shades=ready to research and smash the patriarchy

Of course, this necessitated a field trip to rummage through the collection boxes in the lovely U of C Special Collections Library.  I even got my own little glass cubicle so that people wouldn't be annoyed by my little freak-outs ('oOOH MY GODDDD THIS IS FROM JAMES MADISON CUTTS!!!1! oh this is a bill for CARRIAGE REPAIRS! OOOOH!)

 They had a piece of his cravat!  That he actually wore!  And touched!  Oh goodness!

 ... This was only about a third of the alcohol list at a party thrown in his honor.  And we still wonder why he was an alcoholic?

 A super rad lithograph of him from a hence lost daguerreotype

 Misc. cards and objects

Everybody talks about Mary Todd Lincoln's spending habits, but WOW, here's the bill for Adele Douglas' notions. And yes, these are all for sewing or wearing, and this is only about half the list!  (I do suppose that Douglas was a good deal better off than Lincoln, but STILL!)

*breathes heavily*


There are many more pictures, but I'm sure that most people don't share my deep, abiding love for my homeboy from my hometown.  But I just get so excited over research projects...

Kid's Champagne

I remember, as a kid, that it wasn't a really classy party until somebody's parents brought kids champagne with them.  It was just a little sweet, and wonderfully frothy, and it made me feel very adult.
And that's what this dress makes me feel like!

Mrrrrrrrrr!

This is the yellow silk that I was given as a gift a week or two ago.  Its a really nice light butter yellow, as you can see, and is low-slub dupioni - you can't even tell it's not taffeta unless you're looking.  Like dupioni, however, it is very thin and stiff and crinkly.
I went with a straight waist because it seems like a more youthly style, and it's a nod to the fact that I at first wanted to do a later 1860s dress until I got this fabric.

The idea for the bertha came from this dress - it's cotton organdy on a base of green cotton twill with leftover lace from my 1840s dress and an antique 20s moire millinery ribbon.  I was too lazy to make a back, so now it's just a removable front bertha.  Yay laziness!

The dress was supposed to have an overskirt like this to jazz it up a bit, but unfortunately my machine started acting up a few days ago and I wasn't able to get it done on time.  Well, I still have the fabric, so maybe for next dance...

Mid-dance snack break, credit of Tammy B!

Also, I was having the crappiest week of all crap weeks until I came home and found a dress form waiting for me!  It's lovely (and too large at the waist...) but it will no doubt help me with draping finnicky things.

Also, since people seem to be posting their supplementary sewing diaries, mine is www.tumblr.com/blog/sewing-and-other-things.  Feel free to drop a line, but be warned, I curse like an angry sailor on tumblr (it brings out the rebel in me.)

Now! To sew warmies for Minooka!  /flies away/