TBT: 1888 Purple Racetrack Dress

Good Thursday to you all!!  Thank you so much to those of you who responded and commented on my last post about my feeling down.  Things are much better now and I am feeling quite like myself!  Huzzah!  I am a bit tired because I have been HULU binging on "Blindspot"...stupid I know, but there you have it!!  Again, I so appreciate all your lovely and very kind words of encouragement and compassion!

For today's dress, I am sharing a very old dress!  I made this when I was living in the mountains of Robie Creek, Idaho, about 10 years ago!  I had in my collection, a most gorgeous fashion plate with a fabulous purple dress.  I HAD to make it!  So, I did!  My 8 year old Cody took the pictures!  I think he did a great job for as young as he was.  The photo shoot took place in the back yard by the creek, Robie Creek, that ran through the property!  I must say that I do miss the fresh air and beauty that is the mountains, but I love the convenience of living in town!

Hello tabs, buttons and pleating!  These are a few of my favorite things!

Wonderful inspiration photo!  I decided to not go with the weird, swoopy lace thing that goes from the left hip to the right thigh...

I totally didn't put the buttons on the overskirt like the fashion plate.  When I remake this dress, I will add them!

I found some great, wide, new-made lace that I thought would work great for the dress from a seller on ebay!  I don't think the shop is around any more though...

I LOVE this parasol, but it has since acquired many holes and slits in the cover...so sad!!

 

Fabrics Used:

-Purple Polyester Crepe Back Satin (a pain to work with, but it was the only fabric I could find in the right color!)

-Off White Cotton Moire

-Off White lace from eBay

-Carved Shell buttons from JoAnn's

Patterns Used:

Bodice:  TV463 1884 French Vest Bodice

Underskirt:  TV261-R 1885 Four-Gore Underskirt

Overskirt Apron:  TV832 1886 Asymmetrical Drapery Add-On

Overskirt Bustling:  Bustling from the 1885 Four-Gore Underskirt

Oh how I miss this dress!! Sadly, I sold this dress as well.  It is on my list to re-create at a future date!  I also have since lost the antique mother-of-pearl hand brooch that I wore with it...Where oh where are you hand brooch!  I miss you!!!

I hope you all have a most splendid Thursday!  Talk with you next week!

Blessings!

g

TBT: Blue 1885 Suit

For today's Throw Back Thursday dress, I have decided to do my blue 1885 dress.  I am feeling rather sad, down and "blue" so think it rather the perfect dress for the day.  Most of the time when I am feeling off/down/sad/etc. it is because I have allowed outside factors to effect my emotions.  I allow these things to dictate me and how I think about myself.  Am I a fraud/dork/fool?  Why do I do this thing called costuming?  Why do I blog about it?  Am I a good parent?  Daughter?  Wife? I seriously start to doubt myself and that drags me down even deeper into my sadness. Being tired, stressed, sick, too busy can also effect me as well.  99.8% of the time, I am a seriously happy and joyful person, but there are times when I am not.  Thankfully, there is always a tomorrow and a chance to start anew!

Me on a happy day!  Mom and I got dressed up in our blue Christmas dresses, I can't even remember how long ago it was, and headed to the Boise Capital to do a photo shoot.

The inspiration for this dress came from this fashion plate I have had in my collection for a while.  I loved the monochromatic blue color of the dress.  Happily in my stash, I had a dupioni silk that was the perfect match and JoAnn's had the perfect shade of a darker velvet to go with the silk!

The rabbit fur muff had been in my collection for quite a while.

I love the silhouette of the late bustle era!  Such a fun shelf that the bustle makes!

The buttons were lovely carved shell ones found at JoAnn's...I think....  I have since sold this dress.  Although I sold it to a very lovely friend, I sometimes wish it was still in my closet!

Fabrics:

Blue Dupioni Silk

Blue Velvet

Patterns:

Bodice:  TV463 1884 French Vest Bodice

Underskirt:  TV261-R 1885 Four Gore Underskirt

Overskirt Apron:  TV382 1886 Asymmetrical Drapery Add-on

Bustling:  Me Made

Hat:  Altered Lynn McMaster's 1600-1800 Tall Hat

What things make you doubt yourself?  Do you also allow outside factors to dictate how you think about yourself?  I am 44 and I still allow these things to affect me.   Silly, I know. But, I am so much better that I was even from last year.  I have learned that good sleep, prayer, and remembering that those I love and am important to are truly the ones whose opinions matter, help my emotional well being.  Being well grounded and "plumb" or centered helps as well.  I can't wait until I am feeling happy and joyful self again!  It is a very good place to be!!

Be Blessed and full of joy my dear friends and readers!!

g

Port Townsend Victorian Festival: Saturday Day

Day 2:  Saturday (Daytime) 1885

I was so proud of my Mom!!  She decided that she wanted to make her own bustle sailor dress for this trip and she got it 94.89% complete!  IT LOOKED FABULOUS!!!!  She got her inspiration off of a fashion plate from Le Journal des Modistes (image below).  It was stunning on her and it is now one of her favorite dresses!

Thankfully, the wind had died down to a whimper, so our hats were safe from flight.  It did offer up some gusts at times, and it was still on the chilly side, but all in all, it was a wonderful day on the wharf! 

Mama and me!  Isn't her dress awesome!!!  I am so proud of her! 

The inspiration for Mom's dress.  We couldn't find any fabric that was white with blue anchors, but JoAnn's had some blue with white anchor linen fabric a few years ago.  The white fabric on Mom's dress is a white on white cotton jacquard.  She will get around to embroidering the HUGH anchor at the front of her dress when she gets a few spare hours.

We decided that gold buttons would look smashing on this outfit and we were right!!

Ah yes...the little girl comes out!!  My Mom is so fun!

My dress finally gets to see the sea!!!  I know it was happy...it told me so!

Amazingly enough, the color scheme of the clouds, water and far shore line worked so well with the colors of our dresses.

Out for a stroll on the wharf!

This was such a lovely day!

Oh yes...those gusts of wind I was telling you about?  Yaaaaa....this is an example of one!  It was quite brisk and one could say refreshing!

The tide was out, so we went in search of sea shells.

Mom kept laughing at how seriously HUGE the bustles made out bums look when we bent over!  Hiiiiilarious!!!  But you get a good shot of my shoes!  I have had these forever and LOVE them!

More gusty wind!

Mom spied a huge clam shell right at the edge of the water and was on a mission to fetch it.

She acquired a stick to help her in her endeavor!   I LOVE how well the gold buttons "pop" on the front of her bodice.

S-T-R-E-E-E-E-E-T-C-H!!!!!

DO NOT RUIN YOUR DRESS!!!!  Or fall in!  I am so not jumping in after you!

Success!!  Her smile says it all!

Coming back, prize in tow!!

This was a fun day!  We walked around the town with Val LaBore, purchased buttons and then went to lunch.  It was a very fun day indeed!!!

For those of you who don't know her...this is Val the button enabler...hahahaha!!!  She took us to a place that has OHMYGOSH fabulous antique glass buttons and we went a bit crazy....Thanks again Val!!!

Well, that's all for Saturday Day of our weekend saga....

Be blessed my friends!!

g

1885 Sailor Dress....Or My Most Favorite Dress in All the World

 Hello Lovely Readers!  This TBT brings to an end my outfits for the SPWF.  I have, in my opinion, saved the best for last as this is my most favorite dress in all the world...that I have made.  This is so much my favorite dress that I joke with my husband that I wish to be buried in this dress upon my death.  He doesn't think it's funny.  He doesn't know that I am sort of, kind of, rather serious.  It is a reproduction of an 1885 sea side bustle dress.  

The last event of the last day of the SPWF, we decided that we needed to be a Steampunk Olympic Team.  All of us ladies chose a sport to represent and went to work designing our dresses around that sport.  Judy Smith and I actually traded sports as I started out wanting to be archery but couldn't find out a way to get a recurve bow on the plane from Idaho to New Jersey.  So we switched...she became Archery and I became Sailing.

Photo:  Kat Stelzer

Inspiration:

1885 Fashion Plate of a Nautical Bustle Dress

I fell in love with the overall yuminess of it all.  Not only was the color scheme glorious, but it had tabs!!!!  I ordered the anchor patches off of ebay and they were a perfect color and fit!  I wasn't overly fond of the apron/drape on the left side of the dress, so I left it off of mine.  I had hoped to recover a parasol to use with the dress, but I ended up using my left over ivory silk on another project.

I found this fashion plate waaaaay before I even met any of the ladies that became the Steampunk Olympic Team (I would like to point out that Beth and Josie also had this in their "I will make someday" file too.  We have each made our sailor dresses based on this fashion plate and will one day get together for a photo shoot...) I put it in my "will make someday" file and would bring it out and drool over it from time to time, but always put it back because I couldn't find a stripe fabric that made me happy.  In the end I, I spent 16+ hours sewing 1" blue satin ribbon to the dupioni silk to form the stripes.  CRAZY!!!!!  But it worked!

I found some incredible antique ivory and navy wings on eBay for the hat.

Patterns Used:

Bodice:  TV463 1884 French Vest Bodice

Underskirt:  self drafted...I needed a dress that wasn't cut on an angle, as I needed to sew satin ribbon to get the stripe look and didn't want to sew them on the curve.

Overskirt:  self drafted

Fabrics Used: Ivory dupioni silk

Navy faux dupioni silk

1" Navy satin double sided ribbon

Natural muslin

Gazing through the looking glass that Beth lent me....she of course insisted upon getting it back.  Brat.

If you look closely, you can see the good job it did in matching the ribbon stripes up on the side seam.  I was a little impressed with myself!!   hahahahahahaha!!!  Sometimes, things that I do actually end up right!

My hat was a navy blue straw instead of the natural color of the fashion plate.

The prerequisite immature picture.

Pictures taken on Emma

Lovely filligree ship I found on eBay

The Team

Needless to say, I thought all the ladies on our SPWF Olympic team looked beyond fabulous!  It was so fun to meet in the large patio area at the hotel and see the glorious dresses that the ladies had created!  We had medals that hung around our necks and either Beth or Kat had made the contestant numbers for our backs!  I cannot express what a fun event this was!!

All of the ladies on the Olympic team with our handsome judges.

Beth:  Shooting

Loved the colors of her plaid and all her buttons!  She even found antique shooting medals to pin on her bodice!

Kelsey:  Tennis

She has embroidered tennis rackets along the hem of her skirt!  Of course a tennis champion would not be complete with out her trusty racket!

Josie:  Swimming

Notice the octapus at her hip and of course her life preserver!  Adorable!  The color of her outfit was so refreshing!

Jess:  Equestrian

The color of her gown was gorgeous!  Her veiled habit fit perfectly on her beautifully coiffed head!

Judy:  Archery

She looks like a Steampunk Artemis, goddess of the hunt!  Loved all the pleating at the hem of the short skirt!

Kat:  Croquet

Pleats and tabs!  I need say no more!  Loved the shade of the red with the black lace!  Oh and her croquet mallet holder was pretty epic too!

Jason and Steve our Judges

I think they were a little biased.....

Our contestant number signs had gears to represent the 7 Olympic rings!  Such genius!!!

The End

Well, here we are at the end of the SPWF...also the backs of our outfits!!  This was such a fun adventure and event!  I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and can't wait until I get the chance to be with these incredibly talented and fun ladies!

See you next week!

Be blessed my friends!

g