Aaaaaahhhh....green. And wool. And velvet. And Soutache. And 1912. And Titanic. And Ruth DeWitt Bukater.
What do these things all have in common? Ruth's FABULOUS green boarding suit! My heart does a most wonderful hiccup when I watch this scene from Titanic. I understand that for most people, the heart hiccup comes when they see Rose step out of that aweomse car, all resplendent in her pinstripe suit and gynormous hat. But for me again, it is the outfit that Ruth is wearing. First of all, my favorite color is green. Secondly, hello totally off color green velvet and soutache! Then there is the pheasant feather toque and hand muff! Le Swoon and Le Sigh!!
I have determined to make this whole outfit for the Titanic Event at The HasBrouck House at the end of April (yes, even the toque and hand muff.). I would quite honestly love to recreate all of Ruth's fabulous wardrobe, and I may just have to do that when it is all said and done. For now though, I'll content myself with her green boarding suit.
I scoured the internet trying to find images of her fabulous outfit and found this site:
My word they have a ton of fabulous screencaps! I found several that highlighted the details on Ruth's suit perfectly. I believe I am going to have to order about 1,000 yards of soutache to get this baby complete! Thankfully I already have the almost exact shade of wool and velvet! Whoot whoot!!
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| Frances Fisher is so beautiful and I think was perfect in her role as Ruth. |
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| Lovely sweep of Ruth's coat and skirt. |
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| I believe I see some buttons on the back! |
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| The back of the coat has a very interesting cut. The sides are shorter than the back center. |
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| Oooooh! More buttons! |
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| This angle shows that she is wearing ivory boots and how wide the circumference of her skirt is! |
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| This picture creates the illusion of her being almost angelic! Hhhhmmmm.... |
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| Fun positioning of the soutache on the sleeve. See where it meets the soutache on the bodice of the coat? Awesome! |
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| A. Look at the size of that hand muff! B. I see more buttons on the front of the coat! Laaaaaaa!!! |
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| Nice close-up of the blouse beneath her coat. LOVE her hair! |
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| Image of the front of her coat. Unfortunately the source where I found this no longer exists... |
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| A fuzzy close-up of the soutache trim and the velvet piece on the sleeve. |
For my outfit, I have chosen to use two patterns for the coat:
The general lines of Simplicity 2581 are perfect for the coat. It is a bit long on me (I have been working on the mock-up) but that can be fixed easily. The sleeves are even perfect!
I did, however combine the front and side front pattern piece from Vogue 8346 and the Simplicity pattern because of the lines on the green coat. The seam ended at the armhole, not the shoulder seam.
I'm still undecided on what skirt pattern I will use. It will all depend on how much fabric I have after I get the coat cut out!
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| My fabric that doesn't photograph well... :-( |
My fabric! Unfortunately, it doesn't photograph nicely. It is pretty spot on in real life!
I am really excited about this project...not so much about the sewing on of all that soutache, but I think this will be a very satisfying project!
Blessings!
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What a great project. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much Tracey! So far, so good!
DeleteBlessings!
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Oh wow, this will look perfect on you! Can't wait to see some progress reports.
ReplyDeleteNaturally I can't think of any examples right now, but I often find it's the clothes of the 'lesser' characters in films which get me thinking, "I want to make that RIGHT NOW", rather than what are meant to be the show-stoppers on the leading lady.
Thank you so much BT! You know what...I agree with you very much about the "lesses" characters' wardrobe. I find that the first veiwing of a movie is all about the story and the main characters' wardrobe. Then the following viewings are totally about the scenery and the really in depth costume looking and that of the supporting and extras wardrobes! You can really find some gems in those! Like on the Titanic! There are some really beautiful dresses!
DeleteBlessings!
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Whoa! Can't wait to see your version! You did so well as Ruth before, so this time I'm pretty sure it'll be even better!
ReplyDeleteOh thank you so much Eleonora!! It also helps that I have red hair like she does in the movie! My son asked me tonight, "Is that you?" when he say the picture of Ruth boarding the Titanic! Totally made my heart happy!!
DeleteBlessings!
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