1863 Underwear: A Quilted Petticoat!

UGH!!  I hate being sick.  It is such a colossal waste of time!  I mean really.  What is accomplished?  NOTHING!  Unless you count laying around all day on the couch, stomach in knots, thinking that you are so happy you paid attention in Lamaze class (because breathing through the pain is a very good thing right now), drinking gallons of water and eating saltines, and watching so much Netflix that you never want to lay eyes on the TV again!  In truth, I got nothing done from last Monday morning....like 1:15 in the morning, until this afternoon.

I had finally had it.  I am still a bit peaky, but I was tired of just lazing around....so, I crawled upstairs and decided to take the drawstring waist band of my quilted petticoat out and replace it with a button waist band.  It turned out waaaay better than the drawstring as the bulk was considerably less and it lays much more smoothly!  I believe it will do very well in keeping my legs warm when I wear any of my Victorian dresses in the cold weather!  Huzzah!!   

The fabulous cotton quilted drapery curtain I found at a thrift store for $7.00!!!  Whoot Whoot!!! 

Here it is all nice and button waist banded.  Using the curtain was so lovely.  It already had a wonderful hem so I didn't have to waste the time making one!! Score!!

Now on to the chemise and drawers....Now if I could only find drapes in the shape of those two!  I would have it made!!

1863 Dress for Mom

For Mom's 1863 Dress, I found a dress from the MET that will look fabulous on her!  I also found in our stash fabrics that we can use for it!!  Huzzah!!!

  

Here it is!  I love the purples and the fact that the bodice and skirt are different shades of purple.  We only have 7 yards of the material for the skirt, so yeah for different materials in one dress!!

Fabulous Purple MET dress

The back is really pretty!!

Mom's dress won't have the elliptical shape of this one as the cage crinoline is not elliptical.  

Mom's fabrics are very similar in color to the extant dress...but...the skirt in mom's will be the light purple and the bodice will be the darker wool.

Close up of the texture of the light purple...the colors are wrong, but this gives you an idea of the fabrics!

Can't wait to see this dress complete!!  Mom will look fabulous!

About-Face!! 180!! Reverse Direction!!

So...last week I was all excited to get started on my Edwardian "S" Bend corset from Truly Victorian.  I got the mock done, ordered the bones and then the silk.  I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my silk and bones (and still am...), and then I got a call from my dear friend Tammy.  She informed me that one of our events was going to be on March 4th.  Not May something as we had assumed.  Usually this would not be cause for alarm as all of the events we have attended in the past have been in eras where I have scads of outfits, underwear and accessories!  Ha!!!  NOT THIS TIME!!!  Oh no!  This event that is in less than two months is the sesquicentennial of Idaho becoming a territory of the United States.  And what year did Idaho become a territory?  The answer to that would be 1863!  And do I have ANY THING at all for the era 1863?  The answer to that would be a resounding NO!!!  Hence the title of this post!  We are going backward from 1903 to 1863.  Right then.  To planning and then to work!

I have been hitting Pinterest pretty hard and have found some really stunning dresses that I love.  I have found so many that I like but not one that I love all the way around.  Rather, I find aspects of many dresses that I will be combining into mine!  

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to only use fabrics from my stash to make my dresses this year and low and behold, I found fabric to make this outfit!!  (Oh yes, and I must mention my other dear friend Josie, who issued a challenge saying that we only make dresses from our stash....) Huzzah!  I have 10 yards of this fabulous window pane taffeta in acid green.  Black velvet and black velvet ribbon will be used for accents!  The picture doesn't show it, but the taffeta on the bottom is the exact color of the window pane fabric, I will be using that for my corded bonnet!  

I like the shape of this bodice and will probably make the bottom straight across and not pointed...the jury is still out on that.

I will be using the fabulous sleeves from this Simplicity pattern.  And like the pattern, the cuffs will be black velvet.

The skirt on this pattern is fabulous.  I love the pleats of the waist.

Because it is still very cold in Boise in March, I will be making a quilted petticoat.  I purchased this curtain panel a while ago with the idea of making a 1770s petticoat, but since I don't do much 1770s, I will be making a Victorian Petticoat.  While out shopping the other day, my friend Tammy Eliasen, purchased some quilted material and told me she was going to be making a petticoat to help a skirt stand out.  That is when I remembered that the Victorians wore quilted petticoats in winter for warmth.  Thanks Tammy!!

I found a picture of an 1880s Petticoat from the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR on the blog Anna Lena Land.  It is a perfect example for my quilted petticoat.  I like how the top of the petti is make of cotton so that there isn't a lot of bulk at the waist!  It is the green quilted bottom with stripe cotton top in the middle of the page...

Quilted Petticoat

Of course I will have to make a hoop skirt.....for this I will be using the Truly Victorian 142 1856 Walking Cage Crinoline.

TV142

I will be using this pattern for the over the cage crinoline petticoat.  I think it is so pretty!!!

For the bonnet, I will be using the Butterick 4210 pattern.  More research will be going on to decide how I want the end product to look like!  

So.....lots of new things happening at the beginning of this new year!!  Yeah!!!

Edwardian Corset Mock Up

Right then!  After tracing and cutting out the new size pattern....long hip...I got my mock sewn up!  I am so excited about this new corset!!  I ordered some Pistachio Silk from etsy...

Pistachio Silk

and can't wait to get it and my steel so I can make this!!  I am loving the shape even though all of the bones aren't in it!!!  So anyhoo...here are the pictures of the mock...

The lines on the left of the corset are where I estimated where I would place the bones.  I really like how the bottom curves up from the center up and out to the hips!!  How fun is this?????

Side view...obviously!  Liking this!!  Again, after the bones are in, there won't be this horrid puckering.

Oh yes!  I can't wait for this to be complete!!  

I ordered steel for an extra corset in black, that is how much I am liking this pattern!!!

Thrift Store Score!!!

Well,  yesterday, I worked on the Edwardian "S" bend corset mock and decided that it was too short and so I didn't take any pictures of it.  I'll work on it this weekend or next week.  

Today, I decided to get out and do some thrifting.  It has been snowing like crazy here and I have kept to my warm home avoiding the people who do not know how to drive in snow.  But, cabin fever took hold of me and I needed to get out today.  I tried JoAnn's as I had a nice 50% off coupon and their red tag fabrics are 50% off, but there was nothing there that was screaming to be purchased.  My thrift stores however, were a different story!!!

One of my favorite finds today were these two super cool balsa wood round cases!!  They say "HP Invent". They are about 16" long and the diameter is about 4".  I am thinking I will drill holes in either end and attach leather straps to it to make lovely flower specimen holders out of them!  My dream is to make a 

Victorian Naturalist outfit one of these days! 

Next came the handmade souvenir photo album on the left.  I have included the previous 2 photo albums that I also got at thrift stores.  the one I got today measures about 8 x 9.  These are going to be used as floral specimen albums.  The Victorians were notorious for pressing flowers and pasting them into books.  These sweet books are hand made out of natural products so will be perfect!

Here they are stacked up.  I like the sticks that are used for decoration on the binding...

A view of the inside of the smallest book.  Handmade paper and a protector sheet will be perfect to display my pressed flowers!

I am always on the look out for vintage looking shoes and today I found these!  They are larger than what I wear, but after adding my gel sole inserts and padding the toes with toilet paper (hahahaha!!!) they will be perfect!!

These black "granny" boots fit perfectly.  The heel is a perfect King Loius heel!!

And here is the best find of the day!!  A near perfect condition Persian Lamb coat.  I am really wanting to turn this into a hand muff, stole, hat combo for winter.  My Mama has a suite and I adore it.  Now I think I can have one as well!!!  The collar is perfectly shaped for the stole and there is so much of the fur that I can also make removable collars and cuffs for Greg's wool coat!!

I feel pretty good about today's finds!  I always feel that more than half the fun is the hunt and today's hunt was stellar!!

Edwardian "S" Bend Corset!!

Well, I just can't stand it!!!  This hiatus from sewing.  It is driving me absolutely crazy!!!  I have attempted to start a sourdough starter to no avail and blew up my kitchen trying to make homemade mayonnaise....I think I need to get back to sewing and stay out of the kitchen for a bit.  So, I am going to do something sewing-wise today, just a little bit of something....I am going to start my Edwardian "S" Bend corset.  I have wanted one for a while and my dear friend Josie said she would make me one, but she is busy making one for herself, my Mama and I think her daughter...I really don't want to bother her.  And I need it soon.  So, I am going to just bite the bullet and make my own!  I have made 7 corsets using Simplicity 9769 and I absolutely LOVE it!!  I can get away with using it for the First Bustle through the '90s eras....but....that is where the compatibility of this corset and eras ends.  

Simplicity 9769....a great corset for beginners and those who just need a good "go to" corset pattern.

In the Early 1900s also known as the Edwardian Era (as King Edward finally got his chance to sit on the throne of England) the silhouette of ladies dresses changed in a most peculiar way.  The bust blossomed into a "pouter pigeon" front and the derriere thrust backward, causing the shape of the lady to look like an "S".

The Delineator, February, 1901

The Delineator, September 1901

In the above two fashion plates you can see the exaggerated shape of this new silhouette!  Some say that is ridiculous, others such as myself think it looks very lovely and elegant!  I especially love the shape of the tulip skirt and the flare of the flounce.

There were also real ladies that dressed like this.  Camille Clifford is noted as being the first "Gibson Girl".  Wikipedia has this to say about the lovely Miss Clifford....

"In the early 1900s she won US$2000 in a magazine contest sponsored by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson to find a living version of his Gibson Girl drawings: his ideal woman."

Camille Clifford showing off the "S" Bend

Camille Clifford again with her lovely silhouette....

To attain this shape, the corset in the early Edwardian years had to change....no longer did it just have to cinch in the waist and hold up the bosom, it had to alter the whole dynamic of...well everything!  The derriere and shoulders were thrust backward, the head had to be held differently and the bosom had to stand out there all proud like, and I am sure the muscles surrounding the spine were a bit on the grouchy side until the body could get accustomed to this new way of....well....being.  Wow.

The "New Figure".  This is the affect that the new "S" bend corset had on the stance and silhouette in the early 1900s...

source: Wikipedia

A lovely lady wearing the corset that changes the way ladies stood.

Now I am sure that not all ladies took this severe stance when wearing this corset.  And I am sure that there were ladies that took this shape to the extreme.  It is like today.  The fashion designers put an idea out there and we have the choice to follow it to the letter, follow it sort of , or say "OHMYGOSH...what were they smoking when they thought up THAT idea?"  Since I am wanting to make outfits that resemble the spirit of the early Edwardian era, I am going to attempt to capture the quintessential Gibson Girl look.

Enter the Truly Victorian Edwardian Corset.

TVE01

It is so beautiful!  With all the lovely swoopy lines (I am used to working with fairly "straight" lines) and the just gorgeous over all look of the corset.  Today I will be tracing the pattern out in my size and making a mock so I can see how it fits and also the size of bones I need to order.  I already have a 13" busk, so that is a good thing.  Then I need to decide on what color I want it to be.  I really want a black Edwardian corset, but I am not sure.  Just not sure....I guess I have a few days to think about it.  At least until the steel gets here!!!

Ok, so off I go!  "To the sewing room Batman!!"  hahahaha!!!  See you soon!