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

TBT: The "ie" Picnic Dresses!

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there were wonderful plans for the beginning of this 2016 year.  An elliptical 1860s hoop to be covered with a raspberry silk dress.  Lots of new and fun vintage era dresses...  But those plans were put on the back burner with the call from a friend in December asking me to do the costuming for the Spring Musical at NNU.  (I am so very excited about this by the way!!!)  All personal sewing will have to be taken back up in the middle of March, so until then, I will be re-instating Throw Back Thursday posts highlighting sewing projects that were made and completed before I started Beauty from Ashes!!

Around 5 years ago I believe... I was at JoAnn's and came across a bolt of this most delicious pale, pale pink silk.  It was on sale for $8.00 a yard and I took the bolt up to the cutting counter to get 3 yards cut.  I was shocked to the very tip of my toes and my eyebrows rose to my hair line when the lady attending me informed me that the silk (oh, did I mention that it was also 58" wide?) was a mere $2.00 a yard.  TWO DOLLARS A YARD!!!!!!!  After recovering from my utter shock, I informed the lady cutting my fabric that I would take ALL the silk.  14 yards later, I walked out of JoAnn's with a most ridiculous grin on my face.  I think I was walking on clouds!!

I took my frothy bunch of girly, pale pink silk home, and as I sat petting it and talking lovingly to it an idea came to me.  I had enough silk sitting on my bed to make dresses for my three nieces and myself!  What fun!!  

My nieces' names are Gracie, Lizzie, Hallie and I am Auntie to them.  When we are all together, we are the "ie" girls!  As I sat petting the silk, the idea of making dresses for a Victorian Picnic kept playing through my mind, hence the names of these dresses "The ie Picnic Dresses".  Wouldn't it be so fun to take the girls to the Idaho Botanical Gardens, with hampers full of food, fine china plates and crystal goblets, sitting on antique quilts spread on the grass among the spring flowers!?  Well...the picnic didn't happen, but the dresses did get made.  We ended up going to Miss Tammy's Tea House and had a delicious brunch (I had a Monte Cristo!!)  It was a fabulous oh-so girly day!!

Photo Shoot at Nana's House

We all met at Mom's house to get dressed for our Victorian day and for our photo shoot.

Aren't my girls beautiful???

This was 5 years ago, and it is so fun to see how little they were!

God didn't give me girls of my own, but He did give me these sweet little ladies!  I added butterflies to their hats to echo the one in mine.

At Miss Tammy's Tea House.  It was fun to watch their reactions as people gushed over them.  It truly delighted them!

The Underwear

Not only did I make their dresses, I made them the underwear to wear under the dresses!  The little girls got drawers and a ruffled chemise.  Gracie got drawers, a chemise, petticoat, corset, corset cover and a bustle pad!  (This was the biggest project I have ever undertaken!)

Cute little ladies in their Victorian underwear!

I patterned Gracie's corset after extant ones I had seen online.  This was in the days before Pinterest.  I can't remember where I found the inspiration, but I have started a Pinterest board of Young ladies' underthings.  I used an old busk instead of buttons for the front, and as little girls' bodies are more or less the shape of sausages, I made the straps so that it would stay on her body!  It is made of pink and brown silk, because I wanted it to be pretty!

Little Girls' Dresses

For the little girls' dresses, I found this image from 1883.  I knew it would be perfect for my girls!    They were so adorable in their little Victorian dresses!

Big Girls' Dresses

I had found an image of a fabulous NFE dress some time before the finding of the silk and had been saving it for a very special fabric.  This fabric just screamed to be made into the inspiration image, so that is what happened.  Plus....tabs!!!  And buttons!!  But tabs with buttons?  I felt as though I had died and gone to costuming heaven!  I decided to make Gracie's dress as a smaller version of mine as that is what often times happened in the Victorian Era.

I can't find the inspiration image for the skirt of my dress, but it also had the tabs and buttons theme of the bodice.  Also, all the crazy tiers of the pleats!!  Pleats, tabs, buttons....my ultimate weaknesses! 

The Hat

On a trip from one of the Carolinas to Tennessee with my fabulous friend Josie, we stopped into one of the mega antique malls that dots the south.  In it I discovered this incredible butterfly made from feathers.  It had been in my stash for several years just waiting for the perfect hat to adorn.  Well, as you can guess, this became the perfect hat!  Since the dress was to be worn in a garden, I decided to cover it with flowers for the butterfly to perch on!  I have since sold the hat to a lovely friend of mine...but I do miss that hat!

It was fun watching my nieces in their dresses.  Their very nature and way of being changed while wearing them.  One of my nieces is rather a Tomboy, but when she was wearing her dress, she turned into quite the little lady!  They carefully put their gloves on and were careful to place their seat belts so as to not crush the silk.  At the restaurant they placed their napkins on their laps and didn't want to soil their dresses.  (I quickly assured them that if they did get something on the dresses it was totally ok and that we could just wash them!) For an afternoon, they were transported back in time and it was a fun transformation to watch!

Be Blessed my friends!

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