Nips and Tucks

Just doing a bit more house-keeping while I have down time. Today, I shortened my fully boned 18th century corset so that it will be more comfortable. It provides a bit more of a firm conical shape then the blue satin corset that I've been using to fit my Robe Francaise. It was always too long after I finished it, so I opened up the top bias tape, measured down 1.5 inches, and then just cut the excess off and rebound it. I can't actually lace myself into this corset, but it looks like it's going to fit much better. You can see the original fit here.

Trimmed Stomacher

I finished trimming my 18th century stomacher tonight. I sewed on some fine lace, and the attached ruching in a 3 tiered figure eight. 4 pinwheels then decorate a few remaining spots on the dress. I need a second opinion: should I add on any more pinwheels? I see two spots that could be covered up, but I don't want to overdo the trim. So far I like the overall effect, though I think I would be happier if the last tier of the figure eight weren't so circle like...

What do you all think?

The stomacher trim was inspired by this original garment.

Finished Corset

Here it is! I finished another Victorian corset. Why you ask? Well, I tell myself because I wanted a prettier corset that had gussets to make a nicer fit for a curvy person such as myself, but the truth is: cause I wanted to!!! I finished up all the little details, right down to nit-picky embroidered 'x's on the outside. I think it really does make a nice profile with less of a shelf look that my other corset. However, my other corset is ten times easier to get into!

18 century accessories

Hi all. While I wait to find a better solution to my raveling pinking for the 18th century gown, I continue to look for accessories to make the outfit complete. I saw this silk and ivory fan on ebay for a steal (really Dave, I promise), and just couldn't resist. It has some less-than-period feathers on the tip of the fan, but it looks gorgeous. Plus it's the from 19th century, so it's a little peice of history. It's nice and big too, which was the style in the 18th century. This fan is 11 inches long when closed. Not a tiny little hand fan.

Satin Victorian Corset

While I wait to find out how to trim my Robe Francaise without the pinking raveling, I decided to start another project I had purchased supplies for. I always loved my victorian corset. You can see a great picture of it in my archives. But when I heard that Simplicity had come out with a more advanced corset pattern, I knew right away I had to give it a try. Unlike my practical white cotton coutil corset, this one will be made out of peach satin coutil.

One reason I really like this pattern is that it includes bust and hip gussets, and creates a more 'hour-glass' shape when it's finished. Here you can see I've hand sewn in the gussets. Since the gusset sizes are determined by your bra cup size, I think the finished corset will also fit better.

I started the corset yesterday and really got into a sewing mood. Today, I was able to finish sewing in the lining...

...and set in the eyelets and busk. The eyelets took a long time, about four hours (the only reason I know is I sat through two movies to finish them). My hands are pretty blistered after working with the grommet setter. None of the boning channels have been sewn in yet, but the garmet itself is pretty much assembled.

Basic gown complete

The basic dress is all assembled! Yippee!!! The picture is completely underwhelming, but here it is. Check out the gorgeous sleeves!!!

So, here's what's left on the To-Do list:

• hem the dress (I need a helper for this)
• Tack the fold of the dress down so it won't fold back
• Sew in hook and eyes for stomacher*
• Trim the dress
• Have someone else take some pictures. I'm getting tired of the silly/ugly mirror pictures, unworthy of the glory of this gown.

*I tried pinning the stomacher to the dress, and after stabbing myself repeatedly with the pins, and then still having the stomacher move and pull around, this is required. Kendra, of Demode, did this on her dress and it looks great.

Gown Coming together

The robe francaise is coming together very nicely! The lining is attached to the completed dress. I'm in the process of sewing on the sleeve flounces, and then I'll need to sew up the stomacher. A quick hem, and the gown will be ready to wear. I'll still have lots of trim to add the dress, some of which I still need to buy, but I'm very happy with the way the dress is coming together.

My biggest gripe so far about the pattern was when I sewed in the side extension and pleats. This part isn't visible on this picture, but the instructions were very confusing, and I walked through the process about 6 times before I finally figured out what I was supposed to be doing. There was a neck binding piece that was also very frustrating because I had to take it out and redo it several times due to unclear instructions. Despite these issues, the gown is fitting nicely, and I can't wait for the final product! See the pretty back pleats below.

Does everyone agree with me that I MUST have a fan to go with this outfit? I've also got to figure out what to do with my hair since my haircut is all wrong for the time period. I could probably make a little lace cap, pin my hair back, and then cover it all with the cap.

Completed Lining

Here's the finished lining. Inbetween my last post, I became paranoid about the changes I'd made to the neckline of the muslin, so I went ahead and made up a muslin Robe and sewed it to the muslin of the lining to make sure it fit. Surprising, everything went together just fine, so I went ahead and started making the final product.

The first thing I did was take apart the muslin of the lining, and then re-stiched everything together. When I'd been working on the muslin, I'd been using green thread, and hadn't been backstitching. I also attached the boning and ties to the back of the lining that will permit me to adjust the size of the dress (this is a really neat feature that allowed women to easily let their dresses out when they got pregnant). Other then needing a second person to help me adjust the ties in the back, everything is fitting nicely, so I added the eyelets to the front, and I'm now moving on to the Robe.

Pools of Taffeta!!

Hurray for the arrival of the taffeta!! May I say that 14 yards of silk taffeta is a beautiful, beautiful thing! I went ahead and cut out the entire pattern, including the pieces I need for the skirt. Altering the pattern from the pet-en-l'air to the robe francaise was very easy, and JP Ryan's instructions were very straight forward. I have some thread and might start sewing the skirt up, but I'm not going to delve too far into this project until the box of supplies my mom sent me arrives. She's sending interfacing, some thread, pinking shears, and very fine needles for the silk. I have TONS of fabric left over, so I now need to start deciding how I'm going to trim this fabulous gown. Anna has already promised me lace from Belgium for the sleeve flounces! :)

An Act of Desperation...

Thanks to the meeting of the European Council of Ministers, I haven't received mail in over a week. Having my 18th century gown fitted and ready to go, but not having my fabric, is driving me nuts!!!

So....since I had the fabric for my civil war day gown lying around collecting dust, I decided to start on it today. Everything was going alone very well. You can see by the picture above that the muslin was fitting fairly well after just a nip and tuck here or there. But then, these little nasty surprises started cropping up, courtesy of the pattern!

1. The pattern pieces overlap each other on the paper, meaning you can't just cut them out and use them!!! You actually have to go through and trace new peices for the darn thing!

2. The sleeves are just awful! The pattern says 'ease' the sleeves into the armhole, but they should really say "drastically gather the sleeves." My first attempt at this created a horrible poof, and since 1850-1860 dresses arm holes are actually well off the shoulders, it was making me look line a line backer.

3. There are supposed to be CUFFS??? This is mentioned in passing, but I have no pattern peices, and no directions for sewing them. Are the cuffs supposed to be lined, unlined, make of two identical peices sewn together?? How are they sewn in? How should I know.

4. The instructions are pure evil. They arrived, complete with pretty colored illustrations, lulling me into a false sense of confidence. But when you read through them, you realize that they are general directions for ALL of her dresses, frequently offering multiple options for how to proceed on every step. Over 15 pages of very generalized directions that were written in random order with nothing specific about the dress/pattern I'm making (except for confusing illustrations of the finished product...showing cuffs when I have no pattern peice!!!).

...Needless to say this is not turning out to the be the therapeutical solution I thought it might be while I wait for my silk to arrive.

Muslin: take two!

Here is my new Muslin! Notice how nicely it lays flat along the whole neckline now - I pinned out all of the eccess fabric that was causing gapping, but was careful to leave the arm holes alone. All the pattern pieces still fit together perfectly. I think this is the first time I've actually successfully altered a pattern (without causing fitting problems in other areas) so I'm very proud! We'll have to see if I can easily transfer the change from the linning to the real fabric (which by the way...has still not arrived). Below is a picture of the pinned muslin piece that is now my new pattern peice for the side front of the linning,

18 Century Satin Corset

Here are pictures of my new and improved satin corset. The corset doesn't really constrict my waist - it just pushes my bust upwards and makes the front profile of the 18th century. It sits a bit high on the waist, but I can forsee wearing this corset a bit more then my JP Ryan corset. I think the JP Ryan corset needs to be shortened a bit...and the thought right now of taking off the hand-sew bias strip and removing all the bones from the corset is just a bit too daunting.

Another feature I like about this corset is the wooden busk in the front, and the fact that I can get in and out of it by myself. My JP Ryan corset is definitely a two person job!

Robe Francaise: Muslin

Here's the completed Muslin for the Robe francaise. I'm wearing it inside out, because I was pinning a few seams that needed adjusting. The only fitting issue I'm going to have is through the neck/shoulders area where there is too much fabric - this causes gaping from the shoulder to the bust area. I think I can solve the problem by sewing larger seams at the shoulder seam, which maked the pattern fit smoothly like it should. The sleeves fit well, and the understomacher (that front part of the dress) seems to fit right where it should.

The lining pieces do not match up with the pattern pieces exactly, so I'm a little nervous about how I'll transfer the changes I make on the muslin to the pattern itself.

This week I also did a little bit of work on a corset I bought off of ebay almost a year ago. I'd always been very dissapointed with it: it's a pretty blue satin 18th century corset, but very poorly made. After waiting for 4 months to receive it instead of the promised 4 weeks, the edges of the corset were left raw and unbound, the legnth of the corset was a ridiculous 5 inches too long (so I couldn't sit in it), and there were these silly unboned tabs that just sort of hung off the corset and didn't do anything.

Since my fully boned corset (pictured underneath the muslin above) is so uncomfortable, I thought I'd alter the blue satin corset, and see if I could make it work. I did a lot of cutting and handsewing one evening in front of the TV, and I think I have a much nicer finished product now. I shortned the corset, cut off the useless tabs, and bound the edges. It's a little short in the waist, which unfortunately seems to be a design flaw, but it's MUCH more comfortable, plus it actually has a wooden busk that makes it very period. Pictures to come!

A girl can change her mind...

Well, I was all set with fabric and pattern to start my civil war day dress, but I think I'm a bit burned out on civil war projects for now after the Ball gown. And, this weekend, the exact kind of silk taffeta I've been waiting for finally popped up on Ebay. How could I resist? So, I've changed projects, and my Robe Francaise is now underway.

I was so excited about the project, that I didn't even wait for my fabric to arrive, but instead went ahead and cut/sewed the muslin for the project. I finished it kind of late, and didn't feel like bothering myself or my husband to get laced into my 18th century corset and fit the muslin, so you'll have to wait for pictures.

Also, in case anyone is curious to see an example of the final product, the webmistress of Demode made her own Robe Francaise with this pattern, and you all should definitely check it out!

My Very Own “Coin ­à Coudre”

…Also known as my brand new sewing room. As everyone knows, my husband and I moved to Poland this winter, and now that our household shipment has arrived, we’ve finally been settling into our apartment.

To my husband’s chagrin, and to the detriment of our storage space, I have claimed a walk-in closet as my own! Here are pictures of my little sewing space.

I have actually already been sewing on my Simplicity summer suit in the room (more to come on that…fitting issues have been frustrating), and it’s pretty comfortable. I have plenty of room to store my hoops, past projects, and sewing notions. I probably won’t be cutting out patterns in the room, and I don’t think there would quite be room for me to get a fitting form, but it’s nice to have an entire room dedicated to my costuming!!

My Pattern Has Arrived!!

...Just in time to get packed up with the move! Too bad, huh? Well, the good news is that I got to pack up the pattern in my air freight which will hopefull get to Poland in less than three weeks. The bad news is that my undergarments, required to fit the outfit, are going slow freight, so the best you can expect to see here will be a cotton muslin in the next few months.

However, never one to be dissuaded by a move, and propelled forward by some odd sewing obsession, I WAS able to pack up a modern suit pattern wtih fabric into my air freight. Despite the fact that it isn't a costume, I think I'll put my progress on this site. Here's the pattern that will be made up in a gorgeous raw silk suiting in a dusty cream/rose weave. I got the fabric last weekend during the President's Day sale at G-street fabrics. I got everything for the outfit (lining, ribbon, fabric, zippers, etc) for $115!! I'm making view B of the pattern (the purple one) without the fringe.

Grr!!! Pattern Aggravation!!!

Allright...no, I have not completely dropped off the face of the earth! I would LOVE to be sewing, but the stupid pattern has STILL not arrived from Harriets. I sent an email to them, which bounced right back with fatal errors, so now I've left them a phone message. It's not as if Harriet's is a completely unknown website...I would have expected much better than this. It doesn't take a month to ship a pattern, especially after paying with Pay Pal.

I have a feeling that my move is going to begin before I'm actually able to get started on this project. I would have liked to at least had it cut out...but oh well. If you want to check on how my move is going, check out my brand new blog: www.daveandmelissa.blogspot.com. My husband and I will be putting up pictures so everyone can feel a bit more in touch with us once we're in Poland.

Be patient over the next couple of months: I promise I'll be sewing again as soon as fabric, patterns, and sewing machine show up in Poland!

New Project: Civil War day dress

Here we go again!! It's been a while since I've started a project...and to be honest, I'm getting ready to move, so we probably won't see too much progress on this one for a while.

I bought a great cotton print on sale during those great after Thanksgiving sales. The picture above isn't exactly like my fabric, but it's a good representation of the colors and type of print. Sort of a reddish/brown. I'm scraping the Simplicity pattern (even though it was the inspiration that led to my learning to sew). The yardages on it are just ridiculous. No one wants to wear 18

I really wanted a dress with pagoda sleeves, but the pattern I wanted didn't come in my size, and as much as I love a good challenge, I don't think I'm ready to alter a pattern so drastically. So, I've compromised, and got this pattern from Harriet's patterns. I've heard mixed reviews about her patterns: many people say that the dresses have lousy directions. I'll hope that won't be the case, because I've searched high and low, and this was about the only one I was semi-happy with. Wish me luck!

Completed Jedi Robe

Thanks to my husband for posing!

The Jedi Cloak is all finished, and ready to ship out. I finished the last of the seams today, and hemmed it up. I finally decided to go ahead and add a pleat to the shoulder area. I think the end result really looks nice, and the large spacious hood is exactly what I would expect to find in the Star Wars costume room. At a futur date, my friend might look into the matching tunics to make a complete Jedi costume (out of silk noil!), but for now, this wraps up my jaunt into Star Wars sewing.

I'm going to wait until after Christmas (to see if I have any new patterns or fabric funds) before deciding what my next project should be.

Jedi Robe: Change the Sleeves, or not???

Sleeve with a nice tuck/pleat

The unaltered sleeves

The final decision that I need to make on the cloak is whether or not I would like to alter the sleeves. The top picture shows the nice drape that results from a small pleat make right at the shoulder of the garment. The bottom picture is the sleeves as they look right now. I need advise. Which do you guys think looks better??? Again, if you need to see the real cloak, click here.

After this, I just need to finish a few more seams that are still raw, and hem the bottom to the correct legnth. That should be interesting since this is a gift, and that certain someone doesn't live in the area. A lot of careful measuring will be called for.

Jedi Robe: New Hood

The next step was altering the hood. I really disliked the way the hood on the pattern came to a point in the back. It looked a bit moroccan, but it wasn't what I was going for. I first tried to round out the pattern peice that came with the Simplicity pattern, but the hood wasn't big enough, and it still seemed to come to a point. I also didn't care for the seam placement or the pleats it used.

Instead of messing with the old pattern, I decided to make an entirely new hood. The Padawan's Guide had great directions that I was able to follow. The result was the second picture: it's larger, rounder, and falls the way it should in the back. The hood began as a large rectangle, and was gathered onto the neckline to the make the hood. On the front, the hood will even fold over a bit over the shoulders which is exactly what they did in the movies.

Jedi Robe: Altering the pattern

The gorgeous camel wool fabric for the Jedi Robes arrived this week, and the project is well under way. As a Simplicity costume pattern, it was very easy and quick to assemble. However, there were several alterations I wanted to make to the pattern to make the finished product nicer. Today, I started with the back of the robe. I noticed that the cloak was lying very flat, and wasn't draping as nicely as it could with such a nice wool. So, I added to pleats at the neckline in the back, which now helps the drape in the back.

Anna's Fabulous Silk Bustle Dress!!!

In a last ditch effort to finish the dress before Anna left town, we got together last night and finished sewing the bustle and bodice of a dress I've been helping her with. You can see several steps of the dress at her evil laboratory.

After we took this picture, we even added pleating to the edge of the underskirt. There's a little bit more trim that Anna can take home to finish on her own, but she has a completely wearable bustle gown. We were both very proud of the fit!! The bodice especially goes on like a glove, and doesn't pull anywhere! The triumph of the muslin strikes again!

Completed Civil War ballgown!!!

Completed!!!

Okay...the dress needs a little bit of ironing (and I may go back and do a bit more trim), but it's done.

I have to admit that it's pretty much as uncomfortable to wear as it looks (good lord, how did women dress in these things???). So let's see...underneath the dress, I'm wearing a chemise underneath my corset so the corset doesn't rub my skin, my hoops, a petticoat, and then the heavy lined and boned dress. There's even a little bit of padding in the bodice so you can't see my corset line. I had on so many layers that I was sweating after five minutes, and couldn't quite manage to lift my arms up. I think a comfortable day dress (cotton!!! And not 18 yards of fabric!!) is moving up on my wish list.

It is pretty, though, isn't it? And it does fulfill that girlhood dream of a HUGE dress.

Completed bodice!!!

Hey all (or the few regulars who read my page!!) :)

Did LOTS of sewing this weekend. Most of it was helping out Anna with her to-die-for silk bustle dress. Visit her evil laboratory to see pictures of the finished skirt and apron. We have a picture with her also pined into her bodice. All that remains is the bustle.

I also got a chance to do lots of handsewing on the bertha. I finished applying the bias tape, sewed on the trim, and then handstiched the next of the bertha to the neck of the bodice. And voila!!! A finished bodice. I'm going to add a privacy panel in the back, sew hooks to the top of the skirt (to keep it from seperating from the bodice) and hem the skirt. Then, I'll be able to mark this gown as complete!

Projects Moving Forward!

Hey All,

Just wanted to drop a line and let you know that I am still working on my c0stumes. I'm currently hand sewing on bias tape to the bertha for the Civil War ball gown, making fabric choices with Lauren for her Jedi Robe, and helping Anna with her fabulous bustle gown! If you haven't, you should all go see how her dress is progressing at her evil laboratory. We made all kinds of progress this weekend by fitting her in a muslin of the bodice and cutting out the entire dress (and of course, we went to the fabric store!!! muhuhuwaaaah!!). I had some pictures from cutting out the silk, but I didn't want to steal her thunder, so go look at her website for pictures!

One minor nuisance: I decided to take advantage of G Street Fabrics' 50% off pattern sale to buy the jedi robe pattern...and grr...they were sold out. What's the deal? A week after halloween and suddenly the costume patterns are gone??

Next Project: Jedi Knight Robes!

Yay!!! Upcoming project!!! My friend Lauren and her boyfriend Jeff have asked if I can make them reproduction Jedi Knight oufits from the new Star Wars movies. Since there's nothing I love more then sewing on someone else's budget, I of course said yes. :)

We'll start off by making the robe (or cloak) since it's the most expensive part of the costume. The Jedi Padawan website has a lot of great information on how to make Jedi costumes. I've already done a lot of research, and have decided to go with the Simplicity pattern pictured above. I'm be making view A (it's the one that's shown in the bright blue) but I'll alter the sleeves to make them more full, and change the hood from a point to a rounder shape with no seam down the middle.

Lauren and I have already begun to scour the online fabric stores and are considering different types of wool that might do well for this project. So far, this fabric is the leading contender. I'm failry sure the rest of the outfit will wind up being out of a nice linen of some sort unless I can find some really cheap homespun.