We now continue our regularly scheduled TBT....
On Sunday for the Steampunk World's Fair, the ladies and I decided that we needed a theme...so someone chose "What's Black and White and Red all over?". This theme conveniently fell in nicely with Sunday as the answer is a newspaper and the most widely read day of the week newspaper is the Sunday paper...Brilliant!
Most of our group did equal amounts of red, white and black, but me being contrary and having found a fabulous inspiration image, did very little black in my outfit...in fact the only black was the centers of the poppies on my hat. In any case, this day was super fun and this dress still makes me so happy!
The Coca Cola Dress
Inspiration #1
The painting by James Tissot
Completed in 1885, it depicts ladies and gentlemen enjoying a circus under the Big Top. One would think that my focus would zero in on the lovely lady in the foreground in pink. Nope. My focus for whatever reason, zeroed in on the lady in white and red...
There she is. It looks like her bodice is made of white with red polka dot fabric and what I believe to be red bows stretching across the stomacher. I LOVE this lady! She is of course smoking a cigarette. No, I did not include one of those in my list of accessories...
Inspiration #2
The skirt. I have no clue where I found this picture, but I LOVE the skirt on the lady on the right. It has ruching and pleating and fun things oh my! The painting shows the lady in white with red polka dots sitting so we have no idea as to what the skirt looks like so I chose something fabulous for my skirt.
Both of these dresses are over the top wonderful! The skirt on the right however, grabbed me up by my shirt collar and screamed "MAKE ME!!!!!" in my face! So I obeyed.
Fabric and accesssories for the dress. Red dupioni silk and cotton eyelet.
Patterns Used:
Bodice: TV463 French Vest Bodice
Underskirt: TV261 1885 4-Bore Underskirt (with bustling)
Bustling: self drafted
Fabrics: red dupioni silk
white cotton eyelet
white silk bengaline
I found the wicker basket at an antiques store in McCall, Idaho...I think it looked perfect with the velvet strawberries on top!
The rectangular cut steel buckle was found on one of my antique shopping trips...I believe it came from a store in Pocatello, Idaho.
Yes...all that ruching went all the way around the underskirt....
Close up of the miles and miles of ruching and pleats...sometimes I think I go into some sort of lack of sleep induced haze. This is most likely what fuels my obsession for the things I do...like ruching and pleating.
Flowerpot hat using Lynn McMasters' 1600-1800 Tall Hat pattern. That's right. I used an 18th century hat pattern for my 1880s flowerpot hats! It is the perfect pattern! I ruched the under brim to tie in the ruching of the skirt.
Lots of great antique feathers and flowers!
Kelsey, Josie, Me and Beth!
Josie, Kat, Me, Beth and Kelsey
It seems as though Josie and I have been scandalized by something in the paper...while Beth looks on in delight....
Well, 3 SPWF dresses down, 2 more to go....I hope you all have had a most wonderful Christmas holiday and Happy New Year to you all!!
Blessings!
g
