The Tree Gown For Real (HSF #9)

May 2, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 17 Comments

Textiles and the natural world are inextricably linked. Until very recently, all textiles were made from flora (linen, raime, hemp) or fauna (wool, silk, fur), and dyed with flora and fauna. Flora and fauna also influenced the decoration of textiles, from Elizabethan floral embroidery, to Regency beetle-wing dresses, to Edwardian bird-trimmed hats. Celebrate the natural world (hopefully without killing any birds) with a flora and/or fauna inspired garment.

This is the description of the HSF Challenge #9: Flora and Fauna. I’m super excited about my garment: the all new 1815 Tree Gown I recently showed a sneak peak of as well as photos of in action during archery and outdoor lounging! The archery and outdoor lounging, in particular, include great pictures of the dress, so if you haven’t seen them yet, you really should go check them out!

1815 Tree Gown and Bonnet with a Stripe-y Reticule.

I love love love this dress! It’s super comfy and super cute. You might remember that I don’t own many printed or patterned clothes (modern or historic), but I branched out (haha, unintentional bad pun) with this one and I love the results! There’s something so refreshing about the classic white Regency dress that has been shaken up a bit with a bold print. Also, from the HSF perspective, it is made from cotton and printed with a flora inspired motifs! Double duty challenge fulfillment right there.

Back view. The drawstring at the back neck is so subtle and clean looking, and I love the results of my careful cutting which keeps the print symmetrical on each side.

There are pictures of the interior construction of this dress in this previous post. To summarize, the dress is machine sewn on the inside seams and hand finished. Most of the interior seams are french seams. The dress closes at the back with hooks at the waist and a drawstring at the back neck. The front neck has a drawstring as well.

More facts:

Fabric: almost 5 yds of hand block printed sheer cotton (made in India and sold on eBay via Heritage Trading).

Pattern: loosely based on my other Regency gown patterns for my basic measurements, but adapted to resemble my main inspiration dress at the Met.

Year: 1815.

Notions: two hooks, about 1 yd of 1/4″ cotton twill tape, thread.

How historically accurate?: I give it 95% rating. Really, the only thing keeping it from “as accurate as can be with modern materials” is that it is machine stitched on the inside seams. It is hand printed fabric, sewn in historic ways, and hand finished.

Hours to complete: 16? Total? That’s not bad for me!

First worn: Regency Dance Weekend, mid-April 2013.

Total cost: $25 for the fabric (it’s almost doubled in price since I bought mine!), maybe another $1 for the notions?

Now for inspiration. The dress is most closely based off of this dress at the Met. I changed some things, but I think the resemblance is quite clear.

These two dresses were other more minor inspiration for the Tree Gown: 1812 yellow silk wedding dress and early 19th century slip, mostly for their square necks and back tie closures.

Eee! All I can say in conclusion is how much I love my Tree Gown!!!

A Stripe-y Reticule And Sneak Peek At A Tree Gown (MpRSW #3 & #4)

April 1, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

I intended to complete this reticule for the HSF Challenge #6: Stripes this past week, but as the deadline approached and I reread the fine print, I realized that the challenge was supposed to be fulfilled by a garment. Whoops! I don’t think I can convince myself that a reticule is garment, let alone other people. So I put the project on hold while working on other things (like Evie, my 1864 ball gown, and the completion of my purple ballroom competition dress), but finally got back to it and finished it off towards the end of last week.

Lucky for me, this reticule does fulfill the MpRSW Goal #4: Accessories (due April 8th: I’m early!). (If you’re paying attention, I did fail to post about the MpRSW Goal #2: Evening Gown… I might have fallen off the wagon on that one and not managed to fix the rip in my gown on time. But luckily, the MpRSW is motivating me to complete that repair this week, even if I am delayed!)

Trust me, this is not a historically accurate reticule. The fiber content is questionable… (probably a blend including polyester), the ribbon is polyester, and the tassels are cotton embroidery floss. But it’s cute and functional and has the general look of the period, so I’m happy. This will get packed for the Regency weekend coming up in April!

Inside the reticule: french seams and a cotton canvas purple (woohoo, extra fun on the inside!) layer whip stitched to the inside of the bottom to provide stability and help keep the triangular shape. The seams are hard to spot because the stripes blend into each other so much, but they’re there!

What you saw in the first picture (behind the reticule) was a first glimpse of my latest Regency gown! This new block printed cotton gown, from 1815, is “The Tree Gown” in my head because the motif reminds me of trees (or shrubs perhaps, but I like the sound of The Tree Gown better than The Shrub Gown). This gown fulfills the MpRSW Goal #3: Day Wear! It’s due today, so I’m right on time. The gown is machine sewn on all of the non visible seams, and hand finished on the visible sections.

Center front. This gown has a mostly squared neckline with a drawstring across the bust, like my 1812 white striped gown.

Unlike previous Regency gowns in my possession, this gown has long sleeves! (This is a back view.)

There are two 1 1/2″ tucks around the hem of this gown, for decoration.

The gown closes at center back with two hooks on the waistband (see the thread loops?) and a tie at the top of the back.

The tie at the top of center back is a drawstring that continues to the shoulder seam, allowing the back to gather slightly. The bow in the middle is the drawstring for center front.

The fullness at center back is gathered. This gown has french seams and the waistband seam allowance is just whip stitched together to keep it tidy.

The inside of the neck opening. The area over the shoulder is reinforced with an extra bit of fabric cut on the straight of grain to keep it from stretching.

This gown below is my main inspiration for this dress: the tucks at the hem, the sleeves, the pattern for the skirt, the gathers on the bodice, the mostly squared neck in front, the tie at the back of the neck… I omitted the extra sleeve puff (partly because I didn’t have enough fabric, partly because I wanted this dress to be more streamlined) and the tie at the back waistband. I love the super zoom on the Met’s website because you can see so many great details!

For example, I could see where the center front skirt panel ended and the angle of that seam (as well as the angle of the back panel). Using that information, I determined that my front panel should be a rectangle (it’s 21″ across in my dress given my proportions) and that the back panels should be cut straight at center back, but with an angle on the side seams that goes up toward center back making an elongated trapezoid. There is a seam at center back, so the hem of each back piece is 45″, but each top narrows to 31″. I’m curious to see how that style of skirt fits me. I certainly like the look of the skirt on the dress in the museum!

1bf6645634e092b2fa8f0b62ffcc9ecc — 1810-1815 dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This gown also fills the HSF #9 Challenge: Flora and Fauna, so you’ll be seeing another post about it with some more details (and pictures of it on a body!) coming up in a few weeks (after the Regency Weekend in April, you know!).

Project Journal: 1864 Ball Gown Part IV: Three Series Of Photos

March 26, 2013March 27, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

Remember in my last post I promised pictures of the finished ball gown now known as Evie? The time has come! I had a hard time narrowing down the options (because of course I wanted to share ALL of the good pictures), but I’ve tried to limit myself to only the best of the best. This post will focus on the completion of my dress, Evie, but there are two more posts coming soon that will share some of the other photo series as well as pictures of the ball itself!

These photos are the idea of my friend with the camera. She wanted to take series of pictures of us in our modern clothes, 1860s undies, and then dressed in our 1860s ball gowns: all in the same location and the same pose. It’s a neat idea and the results are great, not only because it provided lots of pictures (yay!) some of which are of things I don’t have pictures of (like my 1860s undies), but also because you can see the time passing through the evening by looking at the light in the photos. They start in the afternoon, proceed to early evening, then finish at night. Not all the series are a complete set, but all around, it’s pretty cool. Which series do you like best?

Series 1: To The Right

Series 2: What A Change

Series 3: On The Stairs

I’ve never been able to get pictures of my 1860s undies before, so this is exciting! I’ve got a chemise, corset, drawers, cage crinoline, and petticoat (in addition to stockings, shoes, jewelry, hair wreath, gloves, fan, and gown). The crinoline is entirely hand sewn, except for the waistband. The measurements of the hoops are taken from an extant crinoline, and I believe the circumference of the bottom hoop is about 120″. The crinoline closes with a hook on the waistband. The other pieces are machine sewn and trimmed with lace, pin tucks, and ribbon. The chemise slips over the head and the drawers close at the back with a button and loop arrangement. (And that poor petticoat does need a press… but I threw it in the washer and dryer a while ago and since it doesn’t usually get seen I haven’t taken the time to press it.) The petticoat ties around the waist. As you can see, the crinoline stops mid-calf, so the intense petticoat ruffle really helps keep the shape for the skirt below that point, in addition to keeping my hoops from showing as horizontal lines through the skirt of the gown.

Want to be further amused? Look at the apparently changeable feathers on my hair wreath. Sometimes they’re brownish/gold and sometimes vivid green! They really do seem to change color depending on the light!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but the basic pattern for this gown is essentially taken from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 2. The trim however, is based on two things. Thing 1: the skirt trim is from the fashion plate I shared with you in the first post of this project journal. Thing 2 : the bodice trim is based on this gown, below. I went through a lot of phases trying to decide how to trim the bodice, since I didn’t really like the fashion plate bodice trim. In the end, I decided on this look: a graduated ruffle (just one, in my case, to match the one ruffle on the skirt) that gets longer toward center back, a triple pleated bertha that has a swoop towards center front rather than being straight, and a big trim thing right at the center (in my case, a rosette to match the skirt, rather than a bow). It’s pretty hard to see the front of my dress in these pictures I’ve shared so far, but there are some coming up in the next two posts which will show off the front of the gown better, so stay tuned for that!

5178aec3e06e5f940a6b607a4b697fcc — A costume from the movie Il Gattopardo (1962, costume design by Piero Tosi). It’s lovely, despite the fact that it is not an extant gown from the 1860s.

While getting dressed we might have been making silly faces for the camera while the owner walked away…

Haha! Moose making companion! In case you don’t know, this is my favorite silly face to make. Don’t believe me? Look here and here!

Project Journal: 1864 Ball Gown Part III: Innards

March 22, 2013March 22, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

It’s been a little while since I posted about my new 1864 ball gown. Over a month, I think, because in February I posted about the plan/inspiration and then about the progress I made on the trim. I was steadily working on it during the month of March and had it ready to go for the Returning Heroes Ball a week ago. That’s not to say there wasn’t a little bit of last minute sewing the afternoon of the ball. My last minute sewing was gloves and hair piece, though, not dress, so that’s an accomplishment! And I wasn’t alone in my afternoon sewing… friends were sewing with me! There are lots of upcoming pictures but for now I’m going to post about the insides of the skirt and bodice. It’s a sneak peak, since you have to wait for the others pictures to see the full ensemble!

Completed skirt trim! I was SO ready to be done with it by the time I was sewing down the green zig zag (the last step of the skirt trim).

My other 1860s dresses have names: Belle is my dark blue gown and Annabelle is my white gown. I haven’t really been thinking of this dress by name until recently. Upon consideration, I’ve decided that she’s named Evelyn, or perhaps Evie for short. Why that name? I just like it, it’s old fashioned, and it has Y, and I have a fondness for the less commonly used letters of the alphabet. So here she is: Evie.

Skirt waistband of self fabric, to which the box pleated skirt is sewn. There is a cleverly hidden opening on the fold of one of the pleats.

Magic! The pleats are deep enough that you can’t see the opening when the skirt is hooked closed, even with my hoops underneath.

The raw top edges of the skirt are just turned to the inside and left alone. The silk skirt is flat lined with muslin, which helps give it some body, preventing creasing, and some stability at the hem for all that trim. There are six double box pleats evenly spaced around the skirt, as you can see. I haven’t tried this evenly distributed method on an 1860s skirt before (my previous dresses have knife pleated fronts and cartridge pleated backs, which makes them much heavier in the back than the front… I suppose I could divide the skirt in half and do that method, but given how those skirts are weighted, I’m sure there’s more fabric in back than in front). All that to say that I love how evenly weighted this skirt is! It means I don’t need a giant bum pad to keep my hoops level with the floor. (Come to think of it, I suppose I could remount the skirts of my other dresses onto new waistbands and redistribute the fabric… hm… I’ll have to think about that!)

Inside of the bodice at center front. The bodice is flat lined in ivory polished cotton. The edges are finished with cording (even the top edge, which you can’t see on the outside because it is hidden by the bertha, grrr, but oh well!).

Inside of the left front and outside of the right back.

The sleeve is lined in muslin. I originally intended that it wouldn’t be seen, but then changed the sleeve design so now the muslin is visible on the inside of the bodice. It doesn’t matter, though, but I do like it when everything matches. The seam allowances of the bodice are just left unfinished (I might whip stitch over the edges some day, but that’s unlikely, since I’ll probably be sewing something else!). The armhole seam allowances are whip stitched together to keep them from fraying and to keep all those layers together. The armholes also have cording in them. The bodice closes at center back with lacing. The eyelets, like everything else, are hand sewn. The bertha also closes at center back (unusual, since a lot of them close on the shoulder, but I didn’t want my bertha pleating to be able to move or show the top of the ruffle). You can see the stitching holding the bertha in place in the first bodice picture, because those stitches go right through to the inside of the bodice.

I stopped keeping track of how many yards of hand sewing went into this dress… but now I’m curious again. So when I finished stitching the gathering stitches I was at 86 1/2 yds just for the trim. I’d estimate about another 22 yds of stitching to attach the trim and about 12 yds of stitching to construct the skirt before attaching it to the waistband. Waistband attachment was probably about 7 yds (it’s quite sturdy and all those pleats are well sewn!). That puts the skirt at a total of about 127 1/2 yds of hand sewing. Then there’s the bodice, which is maybe 12 yds of hand sewing total? That’s a harder one to estimate. That brings Evie to a total of approximately 140 yds of stitching.

I’m proud to say that every single stitch is hand sewn. Next time, though, I’m planning on machine stitching the inside seams. It’s super satisfying to have an entirely hand sewn dress, but it took about two months, and that could have been much sped up with the use of a sewing machine, which means I could have made more things! Who knows, I might change my mind, but right now even I am tired of hand sewing that dress.

Inside The 1813 Red Gown

March 14, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been super slow at posting about the inside of my 1813 red gown, but the time has finally come! Here are the insides of the gown, and as usual with me, the inside is meticulously finished.

Not a single raw edge showing. All of the seams are flat felled. The armhole seam allowance has been turned twice and stitched.

Armhole closeup. A little blurry, sorry about that!

Here’s the other side/armhole. You can see the top edge of the gold lace peeking over into the inside of the gown, and all the nicely finished seams.

HSF #5 & MpRSW #1: Blue Under Dress

March 9, 2013March 17, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 9 Comments

The HSF #5 Challenge: Peasants and Pioneers. The MpRSW #1 Goal: Under Wear. This recently completed garment fits both!

Now remember, and don’t judge me, that this project is one of those “I just want this to be done quickly and no one will be able to see the details” projects.

First, the facts:

Fabric: Cotton-poly blend.

Pattern: The exact same as my 1812 white striped gown from last summer, which is adjusted from a gown in Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 1.

Year: 1812.

Notions: About 2 yds of 1/4″ cotton twill tape.

How historically accurate?: Accurate pattern, almost totally inaccurate fabric (that cotton counts for something, right?), and entirely machine sewn (not a single hand stitch, which for me is a rather unusual accomplishment). I give this one a 60% on historically accuracy. I think the pattern goes a long way towards being a saving grace. Ok, maybe a 65% if I count the cotton…

Hours to complete: Let’s say 16. All that gathering does add some time.

First worn: Not yet, but will be worn in April.

Total cost: Between $9-$12 (I can’t remember exactly how many yards I bought…)

How does this fit the HSF challenge? The simplicity of the fabric and style of the dress and lack of extra trimmings, puts this in the category of basic Regency clothing that could be worn by a pioneer-type. It’s probably still a little fancy for a peasant. It’s hard to make plain and simple clothing!

A few more pictures, then a little more explanation.

Machine stitching showing on the front. I have no problem with interior seams being sewn by machine on some garments, but I do prefer hand finishing on garments that are going to be seen.

Back. It looks rather medical scrub looking, especially with those white ties… Regency hospital gown?

Here’s what it looks like on the inside. No raw edges: that makes me happy. There’s a drawstring along the top of the center panel so I can adjust it.

Explanation time. I actually don’t like this color much on its own. In fact, I think it does absolutely nothing for my complexion. Actually, it just looks bad on me. So why did I pick it, you ask? Well, this is intended to be an under dress, not something I ever plan to wear by itself. I was at the fabric store looking for colors that worked under my 1812 striped square neck gown, and this is the one! The other colors looked too much like skin, or just awful pastel shades of ew. Also, I was probably influenced by this next picture. I couldn’t stop looking at the blues.

b5209c264d14c1b64b98866afa88cbf0 — At the Hermitage.

Anyway, given how much I don’t like the color/am amused by the scrub-like quality of it and don’t plan for this to be really seen, I just wanted it to be done, quickly and without fuss. That’s why it’s totally machine sewn. Granted, I did do a nice machine sew job, so I suppose it might one day be worn without the over dress, but I don’t see that as a likely option, at least on my body. Funny contrast is that the white dress is entirely hand sewn, with not a machine stitch to be found.

Here’s what the blue under dress looks like with the white striped dress over the top. (Oops, the blue hem was too long. Fixed that in a jiffy!)

The blue fades to a soft grey-ish blue under the white.

And it helps show off the stripes and the more opaque white areas of the white dress.

IMG_3562 - Version 2 — For comparison, here’s what the white dress looks like with the original white under dress underneath.

Voila! One over dress, two different looks! One of the comments awhile ago mentioned the idea of the Regency LWD: Little White Dress. That’s been on my brain while I’ve been making this blue under dress. With different under options this LWD becomes more versatile and can change looks for different events. Nice!

Also, and this is really cool, my blue under dress is incredibly similar to this “slip” at the Met! The cool part is that I came across the slip in January, months after I had made the plan for my under dress. But look at the gathers on the sleeve at the sleeve band and at the crown, and at the shoulder strap construction of the bodice, and at the gathered top and bottom center front panel. It’s kind of uncanny, because this is not the dress that Janet Arnold based her pattern off of. Just goes to show that this construction style was used on more than one dress in the Regency period. Cool!

C.I.41.27.1_F — Early 19th Century slip at the Met.

As I dressed Squishy I realized that when I go to wear this blue under dress it would probably save me some fussing if I baste the shoulder straps of the two dresses together so the blue doesn’t poke out where I don’t want it it. That’s an easy thing to then take out again later. I’ll have to get on that before April!

Project Journal: 1864 Ball Gown Part II: Trim Progress (HSF #4)

February 24, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 7 Comments

Well, I hope this isn’t too much of a stretch (or maybe interpretation is a better word), but I’ve finished preparing all of my skirt trim and I’m going to call it my project for the HSF #4 Challenge: Embellish. I say it’s a stretch because my completion of this project is the preparation of the trim, rather than the attachment to the garment. To be fair, just the prep has been a lot of sewing, so I think it counts. Here it is, below: gold trim on the rather wrinkly skirt of green and gold shot silk taffeta. Because the gold is shot with silver, and the green is shot with gold, they are both photographing more washed out looking than they appear to me when not looking through a camera. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to get a picture where they look a little less silvery.

All the skirt trim, gathered and ready to be attached!

The top pile of trim (that rather resembles a ruffly brain, don’t you think?) is for the zig zag. The two piles on either side are the 18 rosettes. The section on the bottom center is the ruffle that goes at the bottom. You can see the inspirational fashion plate here, in this previous post, to see what these different trim sections look like in their actual context.

My favorites are the rosettes. Aren’t they cute?

Here’s all of them laid out like an accordion, or a slinky. They look so adorable!

Anyway… here are the facts:

Fabric: almost 1.5 yds of gold shot with silver silk shantung.

Pattern: none, just a lot of math.

Year: 1864.

Notions: none, just thread.

How historically accurate?: Well, shantung is not accurate, but silk is (and this shantung is pretty smooth and not slubby, so I don’t think anyone will know it’s shantung unless I tell them). The trim layout is from a fashion plate, so super accurate. The stitching is accurate. Overall, I give it a 90%.

Hours to complete: Um… a lot. It’s all hand sewn. I started in January, so… 50 hours to get to this point? I really have no idea. I think in terms of months or weeks usually, not hours or even days.

First worn: Not yet, but will be worn in March.

Total cost: $9, because the silk was a remnant.

And while I’m keeping count, let me also note the yards of stitching currently sewn into the trim. When it was all hemmed I was at 45 yards. Now I have the addition of gathering stitches (31 1/2 yds) and ruffle binding (9 yds). That ups the total yards stitched for trim to 86 1/2 yds, and that’s before attaching it! Nice.

Project Journal: 1864 Ball Gown Part I: The Plan And The Trim

February 14, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 7 Comments

It’s time. I’ve been wearing Annabelle, my flounced not-so-new-anymore white 1860 ball gown, to all Civil War events for about a year straight, with no relief on the horizon. Not that I dislike Annabelle, I just want options, and a change. I have Belle, a dark blue 1860 ball gown, as well, but I haven’t worn her since 2011, and since most of the women in our dance troupe have blue dresses it’s not likely that I’ll get to wear her soon, and anyway, she’s too heavy for summer, and summer is coming up. So it’s time. Time for a new 1860s gown! Yay!

This gown was included back in autumn of 2012, when I made my 9 month sewing plan. It’s my goal to have it finished by mid-March, for the annual Commonwealth Vintage Dancers Returning Heroes Ball. My inspiration is this fashion plate from 1864 (pictured below).

315_1864_FashionPlateAA — From The Bartos Collection. 1864.

Specifically, I’m going to be making the dress on the left. Or one inspired by/sort of like it. As I’ve been working on it I’ve made changes to my plan, as you’ll soon see. My dress will be green silk shot with gold and with gold silk trim. I bought the silk remnants for the project months ago, so I have had to make my plan work with the yardage I have. The green isn’t an issue, but the gold had to be carefully considered to make sure I have enough for all the trimmings. After lots of math, I realized I didn’t have enough to do all the trim, so I thought about what was visually most important and decided to eliminate the vertical lines of trim, as well as the waist trim. Here is the same fashion plate, with my changes:

Of course, me being me, I’ve decided to hand sew the entire gown! Yes, sometimes I like my big projects. But I’ve got time (I think). I’ve sewn the skirt and the polished cotton lining and hemmed them, though the skirt isn’t attached to a waistband yet. I’ve sewn the bodice seams, so now it needs boning, and cording, and trim, and closures in the back. And, most importantly, I’ve cut and hemmed the MANY yards of gold trim for the skirt.

Skirt trim: on top is the zig zag, in the middle is the rosettes, and on the bottom is the ruffle. Not gathered yet, but all hemmed!

Did I mention I’m hand sewing all of this? All of these trim bits on the skirt will be gathered to a ratio of just over 1 1/2 to 1 (that was all that my yardage would accommodate). The zig zag is hemmed on both sides and will be sewn onto the skirt with a band of green silk running down the middle. The rosettes will be gathered in the middle and the raw edges hidden, which is why that bit is hemmed on only one side. The ruffle at the bottom will be bound at the top, which is why only one edge is hemmed.

Hem-age: 13 1/2 yds of zig zag, hemmed on both sides equals 27 yds of hem; 10 1/2 yds of rosette hem (there will be 18 finished rosettes on the skirt, if all goes according to plan); and 7 1/2 yds of ruffle hem. Total hem-age: 45 yds, and that’s just the skirt trim!

I love hand sewing, which makes me excited about that total, rather than bored. And I really enjoy the sense of satisfaction I have when I’ve completed the different pieces of this project, so I can only imagine how great it will be when the entire gown is complete!

HSF #3: Silk Pockets

February 10, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 8 Comments

I’ve been sewing up a storm this weekend! (And yes, pun intended, since I was stuck inside all weekend because of the blizzard ‘Nemo’… and as a side note, do you think they saw the irony in naming this storm Nemo? All I think of is a cute cartoon fish, which seems at odds with the 2 1/2 feet of snow that is still being cleaned up outside as I create this post.)

Anyway… events were cancelled, including the Regency Ball I created my 1813 dress (HSF #1) for, which is rather sad. Not being able to go anywhere means I’ve had lots of time to work on other things, though. Mostly, I’ve spent the time working on my replacement of the berry ballroom dancing dress. I was hoping to move along on my new 1864 ball gown as well, but that didn’t happen because I was so inspired to keep working on the ballroom dress (and I made lots of progress, so that’s good!). I did take some time out of my furious sewing to finish up my new silk pockets, just in time for the deadline of the Historical Sew Fortnightly’s Challenge #3: Under It All.

For the facts:

Fabric: Silk brocade scraps left over from my 1780s stays and linen scraps left over from my 1812 regency chemise.

Pattern: From Costume Close-Up.

Year: The year in Costume Close-Up is 1740-1770, but I think these can be used for years spanning almost the entirety of the 18th century.

Notions: About 2 yds of 1/4″ persimmon colored silk ribbon and about 1 yd of 1/4″ white cotton twill tape for ties.

How historically accurate?: I give them a 95% rating. Accurate fabrics, accurate piecing, accurate pattern, no machine sewing… Thread choice is not accurate, and I’m not convinced that the stitches I used to attach my edging ribbon are accurate either. (And I probably should have tea dyed my waist tie so it wouldn’t be so bright white… but I am the only person who is likely to see it, and frankly, I just wanted to attach it and be done.)

Hours to complete: Entirely hand sewn, so about 13 hours.

First worn: They haven’t been worn yet, and probably won’t be worn for awhile… but at least now they’re done, and ready to go for next time I need them!

Total cost: $7? If I count the cost of all the bits and pieces. Since they use scraps from other projects it’s hard to tell.

Back view. You can see the linen backing. The silk on the front has a second layer of linen under it.

Close-up of the tiny stitches holding the ribbon down along the edges.

HSF #2: UFO

January 22, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

Is there enough alphabet soup for you in the title of this post? In case you’re not familiar with those acronyms, it means that this is a post about the Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #2: Un-Finished Object. In this case, the UFO is my 1820s petticoat from the very end of 2012.

You’ll remember that I wore it to Fezziwig’s Ball in December, but that I hadn’t finished the neckline? I’m pleased to say that it is now entirely complete!

Inside view. This petticoat has three ties at center back to keep it closed.

You know I like my insides to be pretty. This is a closeup of the arm hole and the neckline, which is bound with bias before having the lace sewn on.

The double hem on the left is center front. Diagonally across the photo is the right side of the back.

This cording was done last month, so it’s not really part of the UFO-ness, but it is still an accomplishment. 16 rows of hand sewn cording all around the hem.

A close-up of the lace at the hem and my tiny stitches.

You can see some more detail shots in this past post.

And the facts?

Fabric: 3 1/2ish yds of white cotton

Pattern: Adapted from my 1822 green ball gown pattern. It’s pretty much exactly the same except that it doesn’t have sleeves. The ball gown pattern is based off of a pattern in Janet Arnold and styled as in the fashion plate you can see in this previous post.

Year: 1820s. The inspiration image is dated 1828-1835. You can see the inspiration image and my reasoning for it being more 1820s than 1830s here, in this past post.

Notions: About 1 1/2 yds of broderie anglaise trim, cut in half the long way to create double length; about 1 yd of white edging lace; and about 1 yd of 1/4″ cotton twill tape.

How historically accurate?: Very, having used modern materials. The pattern is from Janet Arnold, so you know it is good on accuracy. The entire petticoat is hand sewn and made of accurate fabric. The lace is machine made and the content is almost certainly not entirely accurate, but it is in the style of the early 19th century and the lace in the inspiration image. I’m not 100% sure that all of my seam finishes are perfectly accurate for this garment, but they are accurate for the period as a whole.

Hours to complete: I’m always bad at estimating this. Let’s say 120 hours.

First worn: To Fezziwig’s Ball in December 2012.

Total cost: Approzimately $13.