1863 Dress Project

I have my fabric for my 1863 dress all picked out, and happily, it came from my stash!  Huzzah!!!  I love it when that happens.  I love the color and the window paney-ness of it!  From the beginning of this project, I have really been struggling with how to trim put this dress.  Then the other day while perusing Pinterest, I found this fabulous fashion plate from Cendrillon...a French fashion plate.  I adore tabs and this one just screamed for me to us its elements on my dress.  At first I thought the white dress's canted tabs would be fun to make then realized that it would look way too busy with my fabric.  But the tabs along the hem of the purple one jumped out at me.  I also really like the tabs on the bodice of the peach and red dress.  So, I went upstairs, got out my "project I am currently working on" box and pulled out my fabric and trim and began to play.....

"October Fashions, 1864 France, Cendrillon"

Fashion plate from Old Rags Tumblr

Old Rags Tumble

What I eventually decided on.  The tabs will be made of black velvet ribbon surrounded by black soutache.  Thinking about the trim during my husband's 41st Birthday party, I thought that it would look extra neat if I included a 2" band of black velvet along the hem of the skirt.  I sooooooooo cannot wait to start on this!  Although I think my fingers are dreading it......sorry friends!

The massive roll of black velvet ribbon that my fabulous friend Josie gave me!!  Don't know how much will be left after I'm done trimming my dress!  

2012 Year in Review...Dresses..

And lastly, here we are at dresses.  Not many were made this year as things happened and my list of "want to make" didn't get checked off quite like I had planned.  That's ok.  The good thing about what I do, is I can still make what I didn't get to this year!  Yeah!!!

1920s day frock

1912 Tea Suit

1912 Day Dress

1903 Sailor Suit

1903 Sailor Suit

1903 Girls Sailor Dress

1903 Girls Sailor Dress

Teens Era Masquerade Gown....the goddess Demeter

1910 wool winter suit.

Well, this year is done, sewing wise.  I must say that I enjoyed when each project was over, the dress/hat/underwear was worn, the event was attended and the fun was had!  The ending of every project just means the beginning of a new one for me.  More planning, researching, finding the "just right" fabric and trim, sewing, fitting, and finally wearing.  That is what is so fun!  This is a way of doing things that doesn't need to end when the last seam has been sewn!

Bring on 2013!!!!

On My "To Do" List...

So, I was going through my fabric boxes today and was just a bit interested by all the "To Do" outfits I have. Here is a partial list of them.  These don't include a few others of mine, nor does it include the outfits I have planed for my mom!  Good heavens.  I would just love to be able to not have to sleep for 8 hours a night!  Can you imagine the outfits I could crank out?  

First off is this awesome archery dress from the movie " Daniel Deronda.  I adore this outfit.  The color combination is fabulous and quite striking!  My costuming group is going to start an archery club that I am so incredibly excited about!  The red fabric came from a store here in town called Home Fabrics.  It has a HUGE selection of really wonderful fabrics.  The ivory dupioni came from Hancock Fabrics.

Daniel Deronda photo from The Costumer's Guide Photo Bucket collection

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i31/costumersguide/Daniel%20Deronda/?action=view&current=daniel11.jpg

Next up is a wonderful late bustle dress that my dear friend Josie and I are doing.  We call these dresses "sister" dresses as similar fabrics are used.  Mine is the one above and Josie's is the plaid with black silk instead of the red.  I can't wait to start on mine!  Josie has already made hers.

I was at The Idaho Youth Ranch thirst store the other day and came across 6 yards of this marvelous cranberry wool!!  Laaaaaaaaaa!!!  (It is actually darker than the photograph..)  I have been searching for a perfect shade of wool to make a winter Edwardian suit and now I have it!  I am so thrilled.  I already had the patterned velvet that came from Hancocks that I will use for accents.  The pattern came from Rocking Horse Farm pattern company...

http://rockinghorse-farm.com/

Ok, so I have been in love with the Chemise a la Reine since I was a little girl.  I didn't know it was called that at the time though.  My Grandmother Jeanne, had pictures of Pinkie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkie_(Lawrence_painting) 

and Blueboy hanging on her wall and I would study Pinkie for hours.  I loved the filmy white dress she wore, the pink sash and her pink hat.  She was so lovely and her dress was so girlie.  Then I grew up and noticed lots of costuming ladies making these lovely dresses and I thought...I think I want one as well!  The white filmy fabric came from the St. Vinent de Paul thrift store here in town and the blue dupioni silk I have had forever.  The image above is of Anna Maria and Thomas Jenkins painted by Angelica Kauffmann...found on wikipedia.  I adore the hat that Anna Maria is wearing!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anna_Maria_Jenkins;_Thomas_Jenkins_by_Angelica_Kauffmann.jpg

Another thrift store find! Again from The Idaho Youth Ranch is this wonderful raw silk window pane charcoal and black plaid.  I loved it on sight and found that there was 5.5 yards!  Whoo hoo!!!  I think the fashion plate here will be a perfect inspiration to use with the fabric.  My sweet friend Madame Kat send me 3 yards of black silk crape and I think I will use that somewhere on the dress too.  I will most definitely be using it to create a flowerpot hat!!!  Thanks Kat!

Ha!  More thrift store fabrics!  I love my thrift stores!!!  The plum figured taffeta and the plum and green velvet came from Savers.  I had the acid green taffeta for quite a few years.  I brought the thrift store fabrics home and was digging around my stash and discovered that they were meant for each other!  I believe that the dress on the left of the fashion plate will be a wonderful dress made of these fabrics!  The fashion plate came from Cotroceni National Museum.

http://www.muzeulcotroceni.ro/engleza/expozitii_trecut/2010/jurnal_de_moda.html

Guess what?  More thrift store fabric!  Shocker!!!  These both came from St. Paul's.  The window pane fabric is a very light fabric...reminds me of linen.  The black velvet will be the accent and buttons.  I have a black dupioni that will be the solid.  Love this dress and can't wait to make that hat!!!

The solid silk are curtain panels found at the Idaho Youth Ranch.  I love finding silk curtains at thrift stores!!! These came to me for 4 dollars for each panel.  The panels are over 60" wide and 3 yards long.  I won't do the math as I suck at that particular event, but you can guess that that is a great bargain!  The plaid is a cotton as is the burnt out velvet.  I have had this fashion plate so long that I can't remember where I got it from!  Sorry!!!

Oh how I love stripes!  Again the fabric came from Savers.  There is 7 yards to play with.  I would really like this dress to have a steampunk-y feel to it as I just recently found out that there is a steampunk group here in town!  Laaaaaaa!!!  I adore this fashion plate that I found on the Old Rags Tumblr.

http://oldrags.tumblr.com/page/28

I don't know if I will use ivory, black, or a deep red for the accent color....still in the thinking stage.

This lovely red wool came from yet another thrift store.  Can't remember which one and it is actually a deep red and not so bright in real life!  The lace is antique and came from a good friend.  The inspiration dress is fabulous and can be found at the Detroit Historical Museum.

http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?q1=dress;rgn1=ic_all;op2=And;rgn2=ic_all;op3=And;rgn3=ic_all;op4=And;rgn4=ic_all;xc=1;g=costumegroupic;size=20;c=dhhcc;c=djg;c=hcc;c=hfhcc;back=back1320261383;subview=detail;resnum=8;view=entry;lastview=thumbnail;lasttype=boolean;cc=dhhcc;entryid=x-1950.224.001;viewid=ES01A50_224_1A

Oh how I love pink!  It is so girlie and wonderful!  The fabrics came from JoAnn's, the lace and flowers from an antique store!  I adore this dress.  I have found some lovely antique gold trim at JoAnn's that I think will look rather well with it!  I came across the dress on Pinterest and can't find where it came from originally!  I will keep searching!  Found it!  1910 Powerhouse museum.

Well, that is all for now.  I can't wait until all of these dresses come to "life".  That way I can plan others and find more fabrics!!  I think this stage of the costuming craziness is one of the most fun!

Beading...really?

Well, yes. So, I have this affliction. I cannot do anything the easy way. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of working with the wonderful costume lady for the play "Oklahoma" at Northwest Nazarene University. I was in charge of making a dress for Aunt Eller. There was just one problem. It had to be plain. No lace? No! No pleating? No! No ruching? No!!! My brain went into some sort of comatose state and it took me a few days to talk the creative part of my brain into taking a sabbatical! But, I got over my dismay and Aunt Eller had her green, very plain, most boring dress.

So, it is without any shock whatsoever to myself, that I have taken a very simple dress that should have taken me a day to make and have decided to bead it. Grrrrrrr....curse you creative side of brain! Whatever.

Anyway, I was kind of bored with the hem of the collar and decided that it needed a wide border, and that border needed a beaded design. Off to JoAnn's (LOVE that store!!!) I went with my chiffon sample in hand to match border material and beads. I decided on avocado green taffeta, green and teal faceted glass bugle beads and light teal glass seed beads. Purchase in hand, I headed home to fiddle around with designs. I finally decided on a squiggly vine with small flowers...I also found the outer hem of the collar to be rather boring with just the teal threaded zigzag, so I sewed glass bugle beads spaced slightly apart! It think it turned out rather well!

GGP...Getting Started!

As I am not so disciplined in blogging every day, but am getting better at photographing my progress...I am going to share my 1920s dress progression in a couple of posts in one day! hahahaha...you can just pretend that I have been being really good and have been blogging on the DAY that I took the photos! It will give you a chance to use your imagination!

So, "today" I made a mock out of bleached muslin for the bodice of the dress. Low and behold, it fit! When I cut the fashion fabric out however, I am going to add an inch in the back just to be on the safe side. I do plan on losing weight, but in the sad case that I don't, I want this dress to be comfy and wearable! I get a kick out of this pattern and what it says, because according to the printing above the instructions, this dress is a "DRESS WITH UNDERBODY, FOR MISSES AND SMALL WOMEN". Um....ok...since it fits me exactly, does this mean that small women back in the 20s were my size? hahahahahahaha!!!

Ok, now fast forward to "tomorrow"....

Right then, today I cut the bodice out of my fashion fabric and let me tell you what, I am not a fan of chiffon! I am sure that it could be compared to sewing cotton candy. It was so fine and shifty! but I persevered and it went together really well. I own two extant 1920s dresses, one in red and one in green, that have a very interesting hem...whoever made them, used a zigzag stitch on most of the hems! How fun! They employed a different thread color so that there was a very lovely contrast to the monochromatic fabric. Since I am using a floral print for the whole dress, I thought that I would do the same thing!

The Hilda Dress

I have a most lovely friend named Hilda Steiner, who once was a seamstress. She also loves to play in her flower garden. Two of my favorite things, sewing and flower garden playing! When we get together, which is not often enough, we like to chat about sewing or what color she is painting her bedroom, and she is always interested in what dress I am working on now. Well, one day she was sifting through her patterns and came across a couple that she thought I would appreciate and perhaps one day use. Well, sure enough, one caught my eye and I could feel them dilating...my mouth started salivating, and my heart rate rose quite a bit. I had to tell myself, "Whoa Bessy" as my creative juices started revving into overdrive. The pattern she gave me is an original 1916 bodice and shirt ensemble. I am so in love!!! I set about looking for fashion illustrations to get an idea on color combinations and fabric ideas. I believe I have the perfect solid color fabric and am now on the look out for the stripe. And yah, I have the perfect shoes!!! I so cannot wait for the time when I find the second fabric and can start on this totally awesome dress!!! hahahahahaha!!!

More Patterns for the Stash!!

1920s...hhhmmm....so not what I am used to. First of all there is the total decline in amount of fabric used. Secondly, the kind of fabric. Flimsy, slinky, chiffon-y, barely there. Thirdly...and here is where I am sure to feel a bit nekked...the over all almost absence of under things! Yes, the ladies in the 20s wore undies, but NOTHING like what their Mamas and Grandmamas wore! Goodness! Oh well, I think this will be a fun break from Victorian and Edwardian.

I have been looking for patterns that I can morph and use for some fun 1920s outfits. Shockingly, the 1980s came to my rescue! Yes, that era of super distasteful clothing (think gargantuan shoulder pads and HUGE hair) spewed forth some mind boggling choices for our fashion attire. But it did attempt to bring back to our remembrance bits and pieces of times before The Great War. I own several pairs of fantastic shoes in tapestry, velvet, and embroidered jacquard with fabulous spool heels thanks to the 80s. And now, I have a few patterns that will be made into frocks that maybe Zelda Fitgerald may have considered.

1920s Chiffony Dress...mmmmm

Ok, so for the GG Picnic, I have decided to make a dress out of fabric that I have had for well over a year....Yeah stash material! The fabric is a nice light chiffon in teal florals and the under dress will be a super light taffeta in pale pale teal. I just got from ebay an original 1920s drop waist dress pattern in, are you ready, size "20 years". Whatever that means....hahahahaha!!! I can't wait to make the dress.