Details Of The Bronze And Pink 1893 Ball Gown

November 4, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 14 Comments

I’ve been meaning to post about my new 1893 ball gown since Newport Vintage Dance Week back in August… Well, I’m slow about getting it done, but but this is going to be a post with mounds of great detail, so I think the wait was worth it!

At the 1890s Soiree during Newport Vintage Dance Week in August.

This gown is constructed of bronze shot silk shantung with pale pink slightly slubby silk satin. It is flat lined throughout with ivory waxed cotton. It is stabilized with cotton canvas at the hem and in the waistband. The bodice is trimmed with ivory net and bits of metallic bronze/gold net that have sequin motifs on it (in fact, it’s the same metallic net as the top sleeve section of my 1912 burgundy silk evening gown, which I also wore at Newport). The sash is trimmed with the metallic bronze/gold net. The sleeves have layers of ivory tulle inside them to help maintain the full shape.

I wore this dress with a combination, a corset, a slight bum pad, two petticoats (one silk, one cotton), stockings, and shoes. Exterior accessories include cotton/poly elbow length white gloves (I have lovely leather ones that come up above the elbow, but they are getting soiled from being worn while dancing with men who are not wearing gloves (breech of decorum on their part!), so I chose not to wear those to this ball); my handy Battenburg lace fan; my faux pearl drop earrings; a long strand of faux pearls (originally bought to be worn with my 1928 green silk evening gown); a nice bling-y necklace borrowed from a friend for the evening; and my fabulous almost-Victorian tiara from eBay!

My tiara shares a general design with the Lover’s Knot Tiara, below. Both tiaras have round elements connected by jeweled arches above a second row of round elements, both rows of which are surmounted by tear shaped pearl elements which are set above a final row of further round shaped elements around the base. Additionally, in both tiaras there is a high point in the center which then diminishes toward each side. Obviously, the two are not exactly the same, but I think they’re similar. Of course, wearing mine for an 1893 look is slightly earlier than the given date of the Lover’s Knot Tiara, which is c. 1913. But isn’t that excusable, when the tiara looked so wonderful with my dress and accessories? There’s a closeup of my tiara below so you can compare.

300px-Lovers_Knot — Lover’s Knot Tiara by Garrard c.1913.

It took a bit of work to come up with a hair style I liked that also worked with the tiara, I can tell you. I wanted to have a puff of hair not directly behind the tiara, but close enough that it would provide a dark background for the tiara to stand out from. Unfortunately, I don’t have any great pictures of my hair. Oh well! It also took A LOT of bobby pins to secure the tiara. I think I used about 20 for the tiara alone. I put one between each of the base pearls, then another to cross the first one. I also secured the ends of the tiara with extra pins. It was really stable and didn’t move at all during the entire night, so that part was successful!

In the picture above you can see the jewelry better. You can also see the one major flaw in this dress. The wide neckline wasn’t shaped quite right, so the sleeves started slipping off my shoulders, making the sleeves look slightly less impressive. This is one of those things that was perfectly fine in all my fittings. It’s during those pesky balls, when you move and sweat, that you really discover the flaws in your clothes! I’ll have to do something about that before I wear the dress again.

A full length view. This was the end of the night, and the end of the week, so that’s why I look tired.

A full length back view. Again, you can see how the sleeves just didn’t want to stay on my shoulders.

Now on to the specifics of patterning. The bodice (and especially the sleeves) of this dress are from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 2, as is the skirt. The decorative sash and bodice trim were inspired by an image in Norah Waugh’s The Cut of Women’s Clothes. I looked at many images that had similar sashes with bows, so I’m sure I was influenced by those as well.

The next thing to discuss is the construction of the dress. It is in two pieces: a plain bronze silk skirt and a decorative bronze and pink silk bodice. The wonderful thing about this arrangement is that I can make other bodices to go with the skirt (I’ve got extra bronze and pink silk). For example, I plan to one day make a day bodice to go with the same skirt. Since the skirt takes the biggest bulk of fabric, this is an economical and practical plan in addition to adding to my wardrobe!

I’ve got some great closeup pictures of the bodice construction, but I didn’t take any close up pictures of the skirt, come to think of it. Honestly, though, it’s not as interesting. The skirt is gathered in back and set into a waistband which closes at the back with hooks. There is a placket opening that is hidden in the gathers. The entire skirt is flat lined with ivory cotton. In addition, the hem has a 12″ band of bias cut canvas tacked between the silk and cotton. The canvas helps the skirt form those wide folds at the hem as well as providing a certain weight and gravity to the lightweight silk. Finally, it also helps provide a clean sharp edge over which to turn the hem. For the hem, the bronze silk is folded to the inside over the canvas, turned again, and stitched to the cotton lining. The hem is about 1/4″.

The bodice, by itself. As you can see, the sash is a part of the bodice.

Here is the net applique on the sash ends. The net is great because it doesn’t fray, so I simply had to cut out the motif I wanted and then stitch it around all the edges to the sash. The sash is a tube of bias finished at an angle on the ends with a slip stitch.

A closup of the shoulder and top of the sleeve. You can see the ivory net trim around the neck of the bodice, which terminates in those cute bows on the shoulder. The bronze part of the sleeves are rectangles that are knife pleated radially at the shoulder, which you can see in this photo. And finally, you can see the gold net applique which is stitched over the ivory net around the neck opening.

Then comes the question, where are the closures on this bodice? Well, the sash is stitched to the bodice from the right side front around the left side to center back. Then the bodice opens up center back.

To keep the sash in place around the right side, there are three hooks that correspond to thread loops on the bodice. This keeps the sash in place. You can see the canvas backing of the sash in this picture.

One of the thread loops on the bodice that holds the sash in place.

The center back closure is hooks and thread loops. I like thread loops better than the metal eyes or loops because you can’t see them when the bodice is pulled tight, like you can with the metal. You can see that I added a placket that extends farther than the loops just in case something pops open.

The inside of the bodice. I LOVE to make the insides of garments pretty, and I think this is one of my finest examples! Aside from the fact that it is modern materials, it looks just like an extant garment from the 19th century. The bodice is boned up center front, the front darts (which create a V-shape on either side of center front), the side seams, and each of the four side back seams. The neck and hem are finished off with self fabric bias with is then nicely whip stitched to the cotton flat lining. The armholes are bound with self bias. Then there is also a waistband, to help alleviate the tension on the center back closure. This waistband is cross stitched to each boning channel and closes with hooks and eyes.

The right side of the bodice. You can see the bias bindings, the boning channels, cross stitched waistband, and hooks. Oh, and I just noticed that I also finished the exposed seam allowances by turning them back on themselves and whip stitching. (The seam allowances under the boning channels are trimmed and left raw.)

Center front. The boning channels were whip stitched to the cotton lining along the sides. It was a bit of a logistal problem to determine how to nicely bind off the edges of the bodice with bias, since there is a sash part of the way around. You can see that there is a separate piece of bias covering the join between the sash and the bodice from the right side where the sash opens.

The left side. On the waistband I did use the metal bars instead of thread loops, since I knew they wouldn’t be seen from the outside. You can also see how the sash was attached. It was flipped up and topstitched to the bodice (avoiding bones!), then flipped down to cover the raw edges and joined to the bottom of the bodice with bias.

The interior of the pink under sleeve. The silk is gathered into a cotton lining. Of course, you can’t see up into the sleeve when there is an arm in it!

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, to have such a beautifully finished bodice. And I felt like such a princess at the 1890s Soiree, to be wearing an all silk dress with silk petticoat and a fabulous tiara!

405299_4340296187706_1760252607_n — Whee!

Details Of The 1928 Green Silk Dress

November 1, 2012March 25, 2018 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

Back in August, at Newport, I wore a whole lot of new dresses. One of them was this 1928 green silk evening dress based off of an image in Norah Waugh’s The Cut of Women’s Clothes.

It was recently requested that I share more information about this dress, and maybe some extra pictures. This dress was lovingly placed in my closet upon my return from Newport, but as you’ll soon see, the silk charmeuse just LOVES to wrinkle! I didn’t steam the wrinkles out to take closer pictures, so you’ll have to bear with the wrinkly silk.

This dress may look complicated, but it’s actually just an L-shaped garment with neck and armholes.

The bottom of the L-shape is stitched together on a diagonal to keep the drape-y bits from showing too much leg.

Here are the drape-y bits hanging down, but folded open so you can see where the stitching stops. It’s about mid-thigh, but I didn’t have any problems with too much leg showing because it tends to hang closed all the way to the hem.

All of the bottom hems and drape-y edges are narrow hemmed by machine, like this. The hem is about 1/4″

This is a back view of the top of the dress. You can see that the front neck is a scoop and the back is a V-shape. The trim is from Heritage Trading on eBay. It’s is gold metallic threads/wires with sequins. Originally I had thought to trim the skirt as well, but decided against that because I didn’t want stitches to show on the inside when the skirt flipped around while dancing.

A closeup of the neckline. I stitched hug snug around the neck and armholes then turned the hug snug and stitched again to enclose the raw edges of the silk. I then zig zag stitched the metallic trim on. It caused some puckering of the silk, but that’s not very noticeable when I have the dress on.

The dress is a basic tunic with no waist, as you can see in one of the first pictures. I used my measurements to determine the basic shape, then held it up to myself (super scientific, I know) to determine arm and neck openings. I cut them, sewed the shoulder and side seams, then put the dress back on to make changes.

I didn’t want to put closures on the dress, but I did want those horizontal folds around the waist. Without a waist, the dress just droops and pulls on the side with the drape-y bits. So how did I fake a waist while still allowing easy access to the dress with no closures? Well, I took an elastic hair tie and scrunched the dress up while wearing it so that it sat the way I wanted! Then I pinned a (modern, ahem) sequined flower (left over from my beginning ballroom dancing days) to hide the scrunch. The sequins are bronze and gold, so while it didn’t match perfectly, I think it worked just fine.

It was a rather down-and-dirty sewing job. I wasn’t out to have the most beautiful interior of a dress (as I almost usually am). I was simply trying to get the dress done as quickly and easily as possible, so I could spend time making my other dresses really lovely, inside and out. As I have mentioned before, the 1920s aren’t super inspiring to me, so I didn’t have a whole lot invested in this dress, except that I wanted to look great at the Gatsby Ball at Newport with minimum effort. (My original thought was to hand bead a dress… but I didn’t have the time or interest for that, in the end.) However, I’ve got another 20s event coming up next year… and I plan to make a new 20s dress. And this time, it will be beaded. You’ll have to wait for a future post to hear about my plans for the new 20s dress!

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Cast Iron Crinkle Cutter Part I

September 24, 2012September 25, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 10 Comments

This is super exciting! A significant part of my nine month sewing plan is to increase my Regency wardrobe pieces so I have more options for varying weather conditions and activities, including accessories. I’ll list my plan in another post sometime soon-ish, but let me jump forward to say that it includes a chemisette.

Well, there aren’t many extant chemisettes that I know of and it doesn’t seem like many other people are able to reference a wide variety either. Janet Arnold has patterns for some of them in Patterns of Fashion I… and I didn’t originally want to go with one of those (because, you know, it seems like everyone does and I like to be different), but after researching and realizing that Janet Arnold has the monopoly on extant chemisettes I decided to just go with it. I also do really like the chemisettes she has… I particularly like the ones with the mushroom pleated collars. And that style will work well for my wardrobe planning, because I want to make high necked walking dresses, spencers, and pelisses, and I like the idea of the mushroom pleating filling in the high necklines. Plus, the Regency was full of 16th century style references and ruff-like things.

All of that to explain that I looked into ways to make mushroom pleats. I discovered that the best way is to use a fluting iron: a special type of iron that produces small pleats. I got super excited and bought one on ebay for about $20.

I also did research about different types and brands of fluting irons. This website was super informative about different types and their values. This one also has good pictures and information about fluting irons and their use. Essentially there are three types. I bought the rocking sort, which is an iron and a base; there is also the rolling sort, which has a rolling device (like a paint roller) and a base; and then there is the cranking sort, which has two rolls that wring the fabric through to create the pleats.

I chose to buy the rocking sort of fluting iron because of the price. There are enough of particular brand I bought (Geneva) in circulation today that they are relatively inexpensive. The type bought was patented in 1866, as you will see.

I also did research about how to use a fluting iron and how to get your pleats to stay in your fabric. It sounds like the best thing to do is use a homemade mixture of cornstarch and water to starch your fabric before pleating it. Once I try it I’ll report on how that works! One thing that did stump me for a day or two was how I plan to heat this thing and which part to heat. A lady in the 19th century could have heated either part on her cast iron stove, but I was thinking”I don’t have a cast iron stove… how am I going to heat this??? Do I heat the iron, or the base?” Well, one of those questions was easily solved by using my eyeballs…

Isn’t it fabulous that the manufacturer included some sort of direction? I was thinking of putting either the base or the iron in the oven… And then it occurred to me that I do have a stove, even if it is not a cast iron stove… So my current plan is to heat the base on the stove, and then somehow figure out a way to take it off the stove, so I can use it without fear of burning my fabric by having it touch a hot burner. I’ll have to report back on that part of the adventure, too!

You can see that the iron and base are a little grimy, so I also need to consider cleaning them before I try using them. I have not yet researched methods of cleaning cast iron. I imagine you can use similar methods as to what you might use to clean a cast iron pot? If you have ideas about the cleaning, please do share!

The two pieces are smaller than they appear, but because the iron and the base are cast iron, they are actually rather heavy. Until I use them (and probably after I do) they will be a door stop… they work really well for that purpose! And they add a bit of history to the room. Mr. Q has dubbed the fluting iron the “Cast Iron Crinkle Cutter” because he thinks it looks like something you might make crinkle cut fries out of… which makes me laugh. So here’s a picture of the Cast Iron Crinkle Cutter being a door stop, which also helps to show scale!

Cameos For My Stash

May 2, 2012May 2, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

For those of you who live near Boston, you will know that the fabric store selection in this area is pretty dismal. We do have a few small stores that have a fun selection of certain kinds of fabrics and/or great low prices on a random assortment of fabric, but we don’t have a great fabric store population. Have you heard that the new Fabric Place Basement opened at the end of last year where the old Fabric Place was, in Natick? (Spoiler: there is a coupon for 15% off of one cut of fabric on the website for the store!) When you descend the stairs it looks like a huge selection (of what I hoped to be all dress goods), but I found that about 1/3 of it is decorating fabrics (great for some things, but only rarely for historic costuming), 1/3 of it is quilting fabrics, and that leaves only 1/3 for dressmaking fabrics. They did have some great fur, and a lot of sequined things, and a huge selection of leather. They did also have silks, in a random assortment of colors and types, for between $10 and $20 a yard depending on the type. Oh, and they had some really nice wools, in a random assortment of weights and colors, but for pretty good prices, considering the quality of the fabric. The notions section was ok, but not outstanding, and the trim section just seemed a little random, with an abundance of sequined trims.

But… I did find some new pieces for my stash! The highlight is a bunch of cameo buttons. They are plastic, but I think they look pretty good (and for 25 cents a piece I really can’t complain!). It would also be possible to carefully paint the black background to change up the look… I have 2 different shapes in 5 different sizes. I envision a variety of uses for the cameos: as brooches, buttons, or to add interest to accessories.

Most of the cameos are the same frame and figure, but these two below were different. It is easiest to see the difference in the frame, and I think the little one has a man on it rather than a lady like the others.

Anyway, the other thing I found (and bought…) is an ivory cotton gauze with a windowpane pattern on it. It is 118″ wide and was actually a really good price! Yay! I bought enough to make a Regency dress (at some point in the future…) as well as something else… Maybe an 18th century apron? Or an Edwardian blouse? I don’t plan to use it right away, but I am thinking of ideas. I’ll have to take a picture of it!

1912 Ivory “Mushroom” Hat: Part II

April 15, 2012April 15, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 2 Comments

IMG_1663 - Version 2 — The hat is complete!

The specifics: wired buckram brim and sideband, ivory silk charmeuse flatlined with ivory cotton to cover the brim and crown, bias cut ivory silk shantung brim binding, trimmed with ivory tulle and black ostrich feathers, lined with the same ivory cotton as the flat lining. (Did you know that craft stores sell tulle in 6″ wide rolls 25′ long in all sorts of colors in the bridal section??? This is great for hats!)

All in all, I’d say the hat turned out beautifully! I didn’t take the time to smooth out every bubble in the silk charmeuse along the brim, so there are a few bubbles… but I think I’m the only person who will ever notice them. It’s rather a tall hat… But I like it! I think it achieved the mushroom-y look I mentioned in Part I of the Ivory Mushroom Hat adventure and it has space in the head size opening as I intended. It even resembles a mob-cap, as I mentioned in Part I. Yay! I think it lends some serious Edwardian grandeur to my look. Full length pictures of the tea gown are coming soon so you can decide what you think about the hat.

It turns out that hair makes a great bandeau! I added some fake hair to my coiffure for tea to help support the hat in the back and it worked wonderfully. Without the extra hair the hat slips down over my face to a point somewhere around my nose… luckily, my poofy hair plus some extra hair works wonders!

I decided to trim the hat with black feathers and an ivory tulle bow because all ivory was overwhelming… the tulle trim is lost, whereas when black feathers are added the tulle trim suddenly stands out as well. Judge for yourself, below! Here are some other trim ideas I sampled on the hat before making my decision.

Project Journal: 1815-1820 Regency Ensemble Part VIII: Re-Trimming the Bonnet

January 30, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

As with the 1819 ivory gown, the bonnet that is part of my late Regency look has also been remade from its original style. Why re-make it, you might ask?

Though the bonnet was based off of an 1819 illustration in Cunnington’s English Women’s Clothing the Nineteenth Century, it was built for use in the theatre, so the materials used to trim it are nowhere near accurate for off stage use. However, the shape and placement of the trim was accuratly reproduced from the inspiration image and that fact made the re-trimming possible, because the base of the bonnet could remain unchanged!

IMGP2939 — Before: The bonnet before re-trimming

The original trim was entirely polyester, which stands out when placed with other, more accurate garments and in natural light (rather than stage lighting). The color scheme was pink and peach fabric manipulated in various ways: the flowers were pinked and gathered lengths of polyester fabric, the ribbons were bias cut polyester fabric, the inside of the brim was lined with pink polyester shantung, and the brim was edged with white polyester lace. Aside from the polyester problem, the pink color scheme would not match my darling new spencer, which is brown and green. It’s not that the colors would clash, it’s just that they would look like they were not intended for each other… and I really wanted a coherent, matching look to my ensemble.

IMG_1312 - Version 3 — And After: The re-trimmed bonnet with matching spencer

I removed all of the fabric flowers, the bias ribbon trim, the lace edging and the lining. The lining was replaced with green silk shantung to match the new bonnet trimmings and the spencer while the lace edging was changed to light brown vintage cotton lace that matches the lace used on the spencer. The flowers were replaced with millinery flowers in green and light brown from my stash. I decided to use the spark of orangey-brown near the top so that the bonnet wasn’t too matchy-matchy. The ribbon was changed out for a matching green ribbon that has narrow bands of gold along the edges (I confess it is still polyester… but I like the look of it and I didn’t have enough of my matching green silk satin ribbon to use it, nor did I like the shine of the satin with the green of the flowers). And voila! A bonnet that now is the right shape and has the right trimmings to match my Regency ensemble!

You can see the green bonnet lining here

Project Journal: 1815-1820 Regency Ensemble: Part VII: Gown Progress

January 25, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been stitching away at the re-make of my 1819 Regency gown. The progress:

the bodice and skirt ruffles are all being hemmed by hand and there is only one skirt ruffle left to complete
the bodice has been put together, with the exception of sleeves and the finishing of the neck edge
the seams on the bodice are finished by hand (each seam is flat felled to hide the raw edges on the inside)

Skirt ruffles in progress: I've actually completed more than is pictured

Center front on the bodice has a double edged ruffle

The flat felled seams on the inside of the bodice

The flat felled seam used on each seam on the bodice and the hand sewn top stitching (which is only along these curved back seams)

Here is a refresher of the bodice inspiration image. My bodice looks like a reasonable interpretation to me. I am quite pleased with the progress and overall look so far. How do you think my interpretation compares?

Lastly, here is the image of the sleeve I plan to use. I described the sleeve in my last post, an overview of my planned gown updates. The sleeve is on a page with many other sleeve variations from the 1830s, but I think that it will suit my 1819 Regency (pushing 1820s) dress quite well. I am debating the possibility of outlining the triangular inset with piping. Do you think that would suit the dress and be a faithful representation of the double line delineating the inset in the image? Alternatively, there is a possibility that I might use green piping or ribbon (the same shade of green used in my 1819 spencer) to delineate that line. But then must I also use the green somewhere else to create visual harmony? Hmm…

From the first few pages of Janet Arnold's early 19th century pattern book

Project Journal: 1815-1820 Regency Ensemble Part VI: Updating the Gown

January 21, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

IMG_0540 - Version 3 — Original construction

I have decided to remake my ivory 1819 cotton gown for an upcoming Regency ball. Originally, my plan was to add trim to the dress as it currently exists, but I realized there were many things about the dress I wanted to change: with my new late Regency corset the neckline tended to sit away from my body in front, the back closure was too tight for comfort, the bust line in front was so high that it was very hard to get it to sit below my bust, the sleeve openings were uncomfortably tight, the sleeves weren’t puffed enough, I wanted to separate all the petticoat layers to be individual layers rather than petticoats built into the dress, and I wanted to add ruffles to the skirt to really bring it up to the years just before the 1820s. Indeed, the things I wanted to change were so numerous that I decided to just remake the dress!

In the end, the only thing that I decided to keep the same is the skirt base fabric… Using just one additional yard of the original fabric, I plan to complete the following changes: constructing an entirely new bodice with ruffled trimming, creating entirely new puffed sleeves with a cute v-shaped detail, making stand alone petticoats out of the original built in petticoats, and adding bias ruffles to the skirt.

19562579601158961_m9W9ZIKv_c — From Ackermann's Repository 1822

My dress is from the period just before the 1820s and I felt that I needed to go more in an 1820s direction with the new trimming and adornment. The main feature of trimming in the 1820s is wide sections of trimmings on the skirt, in combination with corresponding trim across the bodice and sleeves. Thus, there two horizontal lines of interest with a simple, unadorned mid-section (as in the fashion plate on the left, from 1822).

Before I had decided to make so many changes, my original intention was to simply add ruffles to the bottom hem, along the lines of the dress (below) from the Kyoto Costume Institute.

c. 1820 Silk Day Dress Kyoto — c. 1820 Silk Day Dress (Kyoto Costume Institute)

Ribbon trim on 1819 dress before the remake

However, as I thought about it I realized that the ruffle style (above) just would not have a corresponding look to the current zig zag ribbon trim on the dress bodice (right). Those two styles did not make sense on one dress.

The logical step was to change the trim on the bodice. But remember that I had other complaints about the bodice as well… So came the decision to remake the bodice. But how to trim it to correspond with the ruffles on the skirt? I was not at all interested in the bodice trimming on the Kyoto dress for my dress, because the fabric doesn’t lend itself to that look. Well, I started researching trimming from the late 18-teens to see if I would be inspired. The image below is one of my favorites that didn’t make the cut, and there are more on my 1819 dress trimming ideas Pinterest board (thank you to Lauren, at American Duchess, for linking to her Pinterest board in a post and sparking my interest in this fabulous organization tool).

Ser2 v7 1819 Ackermann's fashion plate 24 - Evening Dress — From Ackermann's Repository 1819

Many of my Pinterest images come from the same place: the blog “My Fanciful Muse” by EK Duncan. She has a series of posts that contain text and fashion plates from Ackermann’s Repository beginning in 1808 and going through 1828! Here is the link for the post on 1828: if you scroll to the bottom you will see a list of links to all of the previous years. It is absolutely fabulous! If you haven’t seen this yet you MUST visit! (Thank you for sharing, Evelyn!)

In the end, I decided on a combination of the two dresses in the image below: the ruffles on the skirt of the dress on the right (for some reason I really like the idea of ruffles on my skirt!) and the bodice of the dress on the left. The repeated use of ruffles on the skirt and bodice will produce the corresponding style I am aiming for. The sleeves will be a style from the first few pages of the first half of the 19th century Janet Arnold pattern book: a puffed sleeve with a triangular inset coming from the shoulder. I’ve wanted to use that sleeve style for months and now I finally have a way to use it that makes sense!

1820 illustration from Cunnington's English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century (the illustration is based off of contemporary fashion plates)

1912 Dress Beading Motifs

January 6, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

I am leaving the Regency period for now to focus on preparing dresses from 1912 to wear to Titantic-themed events in April. I’m hoping that by starting early I will be able to spread the workload out and include lots of beautiful details.

I am making the dress on the right side (the black one) and I plan to include beaded panels (this is why I am getting an early start!)… I can see a beaded pattern: the top and mid beaded sections appear to have an inner outlined area that mimics the exterior shape of the beaded panel and the remaining space appears to be filled in by zig zags. Similarly, the bottom panel appears to also be filled in with a zig zag pattern. (Or is it a pattern more curvy than a zig zag?)

I feel like I have a clear idea and can move forward with the beading, but at the same time I am doubting myself and thinking that perhaps I need to do more research on 1912 beading motifs. Do you think I can take creative license and go forward with the information I can glean from the Bon Ton image? I did find this example of an extant 1912 beaded dress that is similar on the one from Bon Ton.

Ruby Plaza 1912 Beaded Ball Gown — 1912 Beaded Ball Gown

Ruby Plaza 1912 Beaded Ball Gown Detail 2 — 1912 Beaded Ball Gown

I don’t own any books that are specific enough to assist me in this search and various online searches have been generally disappointing. And yet it seems that someone out there must have some good information! Do you know of any sources for information on Edwardian beading motifs? I hope to hear from you, if you do have any ideas!

Annabelle, adorned with flowers

December 11, 2011December 21, 2011 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

Over the summer I built Annabelle, a white flounced 1860 ball gown, in order to have an alternative to my dark blue 1860 ball gown. My intention was to adorn Annabelle with flowers, as in my inspiration fashion plate from Godey’s Lady’s Book (Annabelle is based off of the gown on the far right); however, I did not have time over the summer to add the flowers.

1860godey_sep_b — September 1860 "Dressed for a party" (Fitting title, don't you think?)

I decided to wear a be-flowered Annabelle to the Commonwealth Vintage Dancer’s German Cotillion last week. My original plan was to hand make the flowers from hand painted pink silk organza. I started on that endeavor, but the process was time consuming and so I have only made perhaps 100 flowers (first: cut 5 rounded point shapes, second: fray check the edge all around, third: gather the center of each flower). Each flower is about 1 1/2″ across. When I went to sew the flowers on the dress I realized two things that made me change my mind about using them: the flowers were too small for the scale of the dress and I would need so many more hundreds to make the look work. In the end I used purple millinery flowers, from the fantastic stash I mentioned in the post about my 1860 hair crescent, to adorn the dress. I actually really enjoy the purple flowers and the scale is far better for the overall look as well.

I used matching flowers plus a few others in the pink family to create a wreath for my hair to match the dress.

If you would like to see what Annabelle looked like without the flowers, you can visit the following posts and see pictures: Of Flounces and Dance Cards: Part I and Ochre Court 1860s Ball 2011. And, to finish off this post, here are a few pictures of Annabelle in action at the German!