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!

A few simple basics

.. Also, necessitating my making a new corset, erp.

 The first is the chemise (I put my corset on over it because it's a bit risque if I don't.)

Eep, no garters!

 The back fits a lot better then the front (where I sort of had to wing it.) It's wendover cotton, made from Kay Gnagey's Simplicity pattern.  It's all hand sewn except for the side seams.

 I apologize for the comparatively small me in the picture!
Alright, so this isn't 'new' - I started it last year.  I liked yoked petticoats a bit better because it's difficult for me to manage stroked gathers for a lot of fabric and I only had a few yards to make this petti with.
It ended up being way too long, so this week I focused on making a few horizontal tucks to bring it up a bit.  I might end up adding a few more later, but I'll wait until I try it on over the hoop.

Yay little tucks!

Also, doggie pictures and a janked up and rapidly deteriorating corset that will soon be replaced.

And my parents decided to give me my graduation gift a little early...

 An antique edition of Frank Leslie's Magazine from 1856!

 And I mean the whole year's anthology.  This book is an inch and a half thick, full of stories and instructions and illustrations and the ORIGINAL FULL SIZE PAPER PATTERNS!

 And of course, a fashion plate for every month.

I'll probably be adding more pictures over the next couple of updates!
Next up:  a new corset, an 1850s basque bodice, and re-vamping my old 1860s dresses!

 

Although I am absolutely drooling over this paletot... I have the fur for it, too!

Flannel and an awful lot of talking

I apologize in advance - this post has no frilly pretties (I think I am done with those for a few months, at least.)
I do, however, have some lovely warmies to show off!  Minooka was as fun as it was last year, but now that we had the tavern I felt as if I was much more a part of the unit because I was in charge of cleaning and cooking and actually working.  In the evening after the dance, everybody came back into the tavern fly and drank and sang and played the fiddle and banjo and it was a prize-winning night. And just as cold as last year, too (34 degrees during the night, erp!) and I was very happy to have a few more articles of warmth.
First, a pair of red cotton flannel drawers (I do know that wool flannel is the pc option, but I bought this before I knew that and decided to make them up anyways, erp.)  They ended up being entirely handsewn by no fault of my own, and they have three tiny tucks at the end.  And yes, they were very warm!

You can see how warm and fuzzy the inside is!

And my sewing machine started working just in time for me to put together a nice big fringed shawl made from leftovers of the silk/wool blend from my middle-class dress.  I followed the instructions on the Sewing Academy - I cut out a 60 x 60 inch square, sewed a line an inch from the edge on the non-selvidge side, and fringed the bejeezus out of it.

Selfie game so strong.

I also picked up a copy of The Way We Were, and got lots of inspiration for re-trimming some of my earlier dresses.

And speaking of earlier dresses...
I won't be in my big, spacious home forever (as in, I will hopefully be moving out next fall), and I need to scrape up some serious cash for my party (to be discussed later,) so I'm selling off some of my 'farbier' earlier outfits.  I'll probably have them up on ebay within the week, so keep your eyes peeled if you need a costumey piece for something!  There will be a polybrocade 1860 dress that would look lovely for period photos, a silk 1830s walking dress with wonderful gigot sleeves, a cotton 1830s dress for a Wives and Daughters themed event, and my black tucked sheer, entirely handmade, to name a few.  I would appreciate the extra liquid assets greatly, because..

 I might be hosting an 1860s ball!

For graduation, my parents are letting me rent out a gorgeous old mansion in our neighborhood and throwing a ball/harp recital there.  I don't know for sure whether it will precipitate, but as money is the only concern and I'll be selling things like mad I think the chances are decent.  I will keep you posted!
(Now, to sew new underthings like mad!)

1820 to 1920

So I finally remembered to bring a camera to work!  And I had plenty of time left to take pictures of the accessions upstairs as well as the exhibit that I set up.  So without anything more, please do enjoy (a lot of) pictures!

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/

I had the most lovely dream...

 Pay little mind to this update, your own dear F.F. is very tired and tired of her frothy ballgown and is going to roll about in the dirt some and beat some French soldiers with sticks this weekend, but wants to make a silly post about dresses first!