French Hood

I'm still waiting on some fabric to arrive, but my buckram arrived this weekend so I decided to work on my French hood. I cut out the pattern pieces in buckram first:

And then I sewed millinery wire around all the edges of the pattern pieces. Here's the crescent pattern piece:And here's the brim:Next, I sewed baby flannel to smooth the surface of the pattern pieces. The Tudor Tailor book called for using something called 'domette,' but I couldn't find any. It's apparently a British fine flannel. I had some leftover baby flannel from my Gainsborough hat project, and it was just enough to cover both the hood and the crescent.Next up will be covering the pieces with black taffeta, sewing the crescent to the brim, and then sewing on the veil and decorations.

Tudor Project: Progress!

I am pleased to report actual sewing and progress on the Tudor project. This weekend, I cut out the mock-up for the kirtle and sewed it up. Once again, the mock-up has proved to be an invaluable tool...the first draft was two sizes too small. So...I retraced everything, cut it out again, and then sewed up the second mock-up. This one works nicely. I forgot to take a picture while I had it on my fitting dummy, but here's a rather unimpressive photo of it laid flat:I've ordered all the fabrics I need for the kirtle, and have to wait a few days for things to arrive in the mail. I'm using black taffeta for the kirtle. Since the taffeta isn't actually going to show, I'm doing something I don't normally do - I'm using polyester taffeta instead of silk. I've also ordered canvas for the interlining and some metal boning for the side seams (otherwise I'm using reed and have plenty of it).

Since I'm waiting on fabric to arrive, I thought I'd get a head start on the hood and start drafting the pattern. I used the Tudor Tailor, and transferred the pattern using one-inch grid paper. This is the first time I've ever transferred a pattern from a book instead of using a full size pattern. I think it went really well. Here's a copy of the pattern next to the book:I've gone ahead and ordered the buckram/silk taffeta/silk organza that I'll need for this project as well. I already have the felt and millinery wire.

In other very old and unrelated news, I went to the Gettysburg reenactment this year back in July. I'm not that interested in reenacting...I was really just there for the sutlers. To my delight, one of my favorite sutlers from Gettysburg was there: Abraham's Lady. They had a reenactor on hand to display this wonderful confection of a dress:I'm not sure how many yards of ribbon it took to trim this dress, but it's pleated by hand with a pearl hand stitched at each pleat. I believe they said it took something like 20 yards of silk to make the dress at a total cost of $2000. They described the silk as "oriental" and that it had red and blue threads woven together to give it a changing purplish hue. I thought it looked like changeable silk taffeta, but I was rather firmly informed that there was "no taffeta in the fabric." I always thought taffeta was a weave vs. fiber content. Anyone else care to speculate on the fabric?

I'm Sewing: Tudor Gown

Seriously...I AM. I actually traced some pattern pieces this weekend. Next stop - muslin! I've just completed another move, and after being without my sewing stuff for a year, I decided NO MORE. I brought all of my sewing stuff up to my in-laws, and they graciously let me set up a sewing space in their basement. I spent Saturday arranging things, and then Sunday I actually decided to dive right in and start on a project.

I'm working from the Tudor Tailor Pattern that my in-laws gave me for Christmas a year ago. This is without a doubt the most expensive pattern I've ever owned...almost $80 to purchase. It does have the patterns for three garments: petticoat, kirtle, and gown - but still, that's pretty expensive. The pattern is MASSIVE. Kendra at Demode had warned that the pattern pieces were very unwieldly, but it wasn't until I had the pattern spread out accross the entire living room floor that the sheer size of the pattern struck me.

First impressions on the pattern: well, the fact that there are no seam allowances included is very frustrating for me. I normally trace the pattern pieces rather than cut them out so I can reuse the pattern which makes adding seam allowances a bit easier, but these pieces are so big I can't use my tracing paper (some are wider than 60 inches). I'm at a bit of a loss on how to proceed: I'd really like to make more than one gown style from this pattern, but I have no way to transfer the markings. Any ideas?

Another first impression is that the instructions kinda suck. I had to read the kirtle instructions six times before I felt I had a vague notion of how to proceed. The instructions aren't illustrated at each step which makes it challenging for me - I'm a visual learner. I've decided to be on the safe side I'm going to completely make up a garment using scrap fabric. I normally just fit the bodice using muslin and then move on. This time I'm going to bone the muslin, work the eyelets, and finish all seams. I just really need to understand how this garment is made before cutting out the fashion fabric.

I'm doing a mid-Tudor style, like the portrait of Princess Elizabeth above. I really wanted to have the massive sleeves and bell shape that comes from wearing a farthingale. Someday I'll probably make an earlier Tudor gown with a train, but for now this is what I want. I already own a farthingale, so I'm moving strait to the kirtle. I'm ordering black taffeta to go with a golden upholstery fabric I snagged from a bargain table in Dutch country Pennsylvania. For the gown, I have a cotton velvet I'd like to use. The velvet is a peachy color that's all wrong for the Tudor period. I'm going to take my first jaunt into dying fabric for this project, and try to acheive a nice deep red.

I'd like to get to wear this outfit at the Maryland Renaissance festival this year, but that might be a bit ambitious. Each garment is very involved, and I don't have all the fabric I need yet. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!

Oscar Fashion Roundup

It's that time of year again! Time for Melissa's not-so-famous Oscar fashion round up. I'll tell you up front that this year I did not choose a single best dressed lady - no one really stood out. I do, however, have a great compilation of some of the better looks this year. First of all, let's start with this year's fashion trend. Gold was the name of the game. Let's see who fell in step with the trend:Sandra Bullock disappointed me this year. It was her big year, and she played it very safe by dressing a la Oscar statuette. I would have much preferred to see something dazzling, and this just didn't do it for me.Cameron Diaz looks very pretty in her gold beaded dress.More gold on Kate Winslet. The cut of this dress was very flattering, if a little boring.Miley Cyrus also joined the Gold club. I really didn't like the bodice of her dress. Anything that fits so poorly that it makes you hunch over to make sure you stay covered is a bad fashion choice.Amanda Seyfried is one of my best dressed this year. Her Armani Prive gown shimmered, and I liked the bodice of her gown.Jennifer Lopez, also in Armani Prive, looks very similar to Amanda Seyfried. Same iridescent looking fabric. However, I still like the gown, and the train draping off the side of her hip is very flattering. One of the best dressed.Jessica Parker took a risk with this gown, and I think it paid off. The drape of the Chanel gown is very flattering, and I love the neckline. Wasn't a fan of the gargantuan bun though.Carey Mulligan's dress is just adorable. The cut of the Prada gown is very flattering.Diane Kruger in Chanel. I'm normally not a fan of the nude shades, but this one has such nice detailing, and the black really makes the gown pop. Another of my favorite gowns.Penelope Cruz played it safe this year, and wore a flattering Donna Karen couture gown.I know some people are going to disagree with me on this one, but I liked Vera Famiga's Marchesa gown. It moved very gracefully with her and was a piece of art. I just don't feel it belongs on the worst dressed list. It was too pretty. Okay, let me start by saying I don't think the gown is terribly flattering on Mrs. Cameron. She's too skinny through the shoulders for this to look truly stunning on her. However, I thought I'd give them a shout out for cleverly wearing blue to support Avatar.

Now we come to the worst dressed category. Yes, I'm puttying Rachel McAdams on the worst dressed list. A tie dyed gown is just not pretty, no matter how flattering the shape and cut of the gown is.


Ah, Demi Moore. This could have been such a pretty dress in any other color. I just don't like dresses that are the same color as skin tone. It makes people look washed out.Maggie Gyllenhaal's dress just didn't do it for me. I've looked at the pattern on the dress up close, and I guess it sort of has a kimono pattern to it, but to me it just looks like splotches of color from far away.

Chalize Theron nearly made worst dressed this year. Putting roses right over her chest was a guarantee that no one would be looking at her face, or the rest of the gown. Very poor choice.Ah, Zoe Saldana. This year's worst dressed. I have to say I adore the actress, but this dress is just a mess. Way too much going on, and not flattering. It looks like a barbie dress gone terribly wrong.

Aaah!! I have such a sewing bug...

...and yet I'm not sewing. Why, you ask? Well, half of my sewing stuff is put away in storage, and the other half is very badly arranged in my parents' basement. I had everything I needed to start my new civil war gown...and then I went to take my measurements in my corset and the darned thing didn't fit. Pardon the pun...but I was a bit squeezed into the corset. I don't have what's necessary to make a new corset, so that era is out for now.

Now I'm sitting here thinking about the Renaissance festival and an upcoming Jane Austen tea. I have everything I need to make my fabulous Tudor gown, and everything I need to make a Jane Austen Spencer to really spice up my Regency outfit. But all of that stuff is in the back of a storage unit. I am one very frustrated costume diva.

Civil War Day Dress 2: Viewers Please Weigh In

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to start my next project, and find that I'm slightly stuck on choosing which pattern will go with what fabric. I'm going to make a day dress out of the following fabric:
The question is should I make a simple very period accurate dress from pattern 4551 (I like the lower right hand dress...the sleeves are pretty):
Or make a prettier day dress out of pattern 3727:The hang up is that I was considering using the 3727 pattern for my purple silk from India.
Of course, I could always make up pattern 2887 out of the silk, and that would be pretty too. What do you think? Which pattern is destined to be make up from my pretty homespun purple plaid? Feel free to weigh in on the silk too, but that's a future project.

Girl's Revolutionary Dress

This project is finished. Here's the final photo:
The front panel is a pink satin. I used net trim that I found in the .97 cent bin (wohoo!), roccoco trim on top of that, and net lace for the sleeves. With the exception of a little trouble with the zipper, no problems, and the dress went together like a dream.

I'm also announcing that I'm assembling a gallery of my completed projects so they'll be all together in one place.

Robe Francaise

A Little Girl's Dress Up Gown

I've begun a small sewing project while staying at my parents' house. I learned that my flower girl has cherished her flower girl dress over these last five years, and was so touched I decided that she needed another special dress that will fit her now. We went through the pattern catalogs together, and she picked out this 18th century girl's McCalls' pattern (M5414):
The dress is fairly straight forward to make. I'm using some of my fabric stash for this outfit:I've cut out all of the patterned cotton shown on top, but when it got time to cut out the faille I just couldn't do it. I bought these two as a pair, intending the faille to be an 18th century petticoat, and the cotton to be an 18th century jacket (obviously not very period). The faille, even though it's only poly, cost quite a bit is very nice quality. It's going back into the stash, and I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow. I think a pink poly satin will do the job nicely. I also need to pick up some interfacing and a zipper. This will be very cute when finished.

Calling all Colorado Springs Costumers...

For any of you in the Colorado Springs area who make costumes, or have always been interested in getting involved with costumed events, this announcement is for you. I would like to start a local Costumers' Circle - a much more casual version of a costuming guild. We would get together at each others' houses once and a while to sew and chat, and we could organize costumed outings and events, such as to the Renaissance Festival, teas, the Madrigal dinner at Glen Eyrie, etc. Contact me at thecostumediva@gmail.com for additional information. Look forward to hearing from you.

I'm Sewing!!!

Okay, I'm re-engaging with the sewing after a bit of illness. For a while there, I was convinced that I would have nothing to bring with me to Costume Con, and was considering dropping out of the one competition I'm enrolled it. But NOW....

...I started wanting to sew again last Wednesday. I fit the bodice toile Wednesday night, cut out the pattern on Thursday night, and I've almost got the basic gown assembled. Then, there will still be finishing details, trim, and three accessory garment pieces that need to go with it. Still, I'm feeling very pleased that I will have something to compete with.

Otherwise, I'm going to be selecting costumes to wear to Costume Con, I've signed up for the Victorian hairpieces workshop, and I'm going to be a model for one of Simplicity's news patterns! I"m definitely looking forward to Costume Con, and all the fun I'm going to have!

The Devil's in the Details

A few weeks ago I went to Williamsburg to take a another Burnley and Trowbridge workshop, and I'm just now getting around to posting the photos. There were lots and lots of froofy dresses to look and and drool over, and I learned a few new tricks:

How to make your own 18th century trim (seriously...this was so time consuming, I can't ever see wanting to do this myself...but I suppose you never know just how crazy 'period correct' I might want to go some day).How to make Death Head buttons. These are really cool! Here are the ones I made. I had a much easier time with the basic four point Death Head than the six point "Astral" pattern (the one where I used two colors). I was cursing that silly button the whole time.So, enough about what I learned. Here's what came out of the Williamsburg Costume shop vault: a froofy organza cap.FROOFY apron.A pretty stomacher with lots of froofy trim.A pretty purple and white stomacher with an amazing blue and white hat next to it.A pink Polonaise with Organza trim.An amazing Robe Francaise with self trim.A froofy organza and silk trimmed robe Francaise.And the piece de resistance that I really wanted to take home with me: A FROOFY yummy hat.

I apologize for the overuse of the word froofy in this post, but it's the appropriate adjective. I thought the striped polonaise brigade might get a kick out of this.

In other news, I'm in a bit of a costuming funk. The timing couldn't be worse, with Costume Con at the end of the month, but I just can't seem to make myself get my sewing out. The only contest I've pre-signed up for is the Single Pattern competition, but I may be pulling out of it. Oh well. It will still be fun to go. I'm also getting cool invites that I'm not sure I can accept. (there's a trip to Williamsburg that I'm dying to go on, and a tea), but I think everything is falling in the middle of the week, and with no leave saved up, I'm out of luck.

Dumbarton House

Well, you'll probably notice I am NOT wearing a Regency Spencer. I decided not to rush the
Spencer, and wore my cashmere shawl instead. I spent a good portion of the night before decorating my bonnet, so I didn't want to pull an all nighter when I had to get up early the next day.So, here's the costuming group, all together at Dumbarton House in Georgetown. The woman in the middle wearing black is Mary Doering, the co-curator of the lovely period clothing collection we were there to visit. We loved visiting the house which was built at the beginning of the Regency era, and the gowns were lovely (no photos inside the house, unfortunately).
Here's the mandatory group shoe picture! I'm wearing the pink silk slipper in the lower right corner. A few people asked me where I got it - I found it on Amazon, but it's available at many online shoe stores. The shoe is from BC footwear and the model is called "babycakes."I loved so many of my fellow costumers' outfits. Loren, as always, is wearing an AMAZING hat, and I love her matching overgown and muff.I love how Jenny Rose used red and yellow together to make such a gorgeous ensemble.I think my favorite gown was worn by Marilee. Here, she's wearing a fabulous Pelisse that matches her gown, pictured below.Marilee is a Pastry Chef at a very chic restaurant in DC. She and the restaurant treated us to tea and pastries after our tour. We all got a sample platter of three desserts. They were some of the best I've ever had - I loved the Tiramisu, and that's saying a lot since I have rarely, if ever, met a Tiramisu that I liked.I meant to get a picture of the desserts because they were so pretty, but the were SO good that by the time I remembered to take a photo, my plate was clean, as was most everyone else's. Overall, it was a lovely day! I can't wait for our next outing.