Summary Of 2015: Looking Forward To 2016

January 2, 2016March 9, 2016 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 10 Comments

It’s that time of year, when I look back at what I’ve accomplished in the past year and share what I’m thinking of for the next year. As usual, I rather forget all that I’ve accomplished until I stop to think about it. When I put together pictures for this post it’s always amazing to see how many awesome projects I completed and how many special events I was able to be a part of in absolutely stunning places.

To start, projects I completed in 2015:

January: One of my favorite ever outfits to wear, 1895 Skating Ensemble (HSF/M #1)

May: Modern Dotty Tap Pants (and a pair of jeans turned into capris that I wore all the time this summer but didn’t get pictures of)

June: 1880s Steam Molded Corset (HSF/M #6)

September: 1910 Dowager Countess Evening Gown (HSF/M #10)

IMG_1915 blog — November: A serious accomplishment, my 1814 Vernet Ensemble! (Don’t worry,I’ll be posting details about this ensemble in 2016!)

November: Green Regency shawl (HSF/M #12)

Also in 2015:

I was married! (Pictures, honeymoon parts 1 and 2)
The blog hit 200 followers!
I was nominated for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

I participated in the Historical Sew Monthly 2015 and completed 6 of the 12 challenges. As usual, many of things I was sewing did not line up with the challenges. I wasn’t sure if I was going to participate in 2016, as I tend to sew the things that I have an immediate opportunity to wear or that bring me joy without intentionally matching them up to a challenge, but I’ve decided to attempt it and see how I do.

In terms of events, I participated in 25 in 2015: 6 balls, 11 other events (teas, picnics, outings etc.), and 8 vintage dance performances.

Sewing-wise, I completed many of the things on my 2014 “to make” list (many pictured above), including the 1895 skating ensemble, the 1811 elusive blue turban fillet, my 1814 Vernet fashion plate recreation, the 1910 dowager countess evening gown, the 1880s steam molded corset, the 1885 frills and furbelows day dress, and the 1924 robe de style. Plus, I also squeezed in some small things that weren’t on the list in 2014!

There were also things that didn’t get made, but those were all on the maybe list, so I don’t feel at all bad about not getting to them, especially when looking at all the other fabulous things I did get to making!

Looking forward, I’ve been thinking of my 2016 sewing plan for months… and already have a full sewing schedule to keep me busy through May! Beyond that, it’s a little hard to know what items will take priority without knowing what events might pop up on my calendar. Also, it’s nice to keep things a little flexible so that I can adjust my sewing level as needed throughout the year. But I can say that these projects are certain:

An 1899 evening gown with two skirts: one for dancing and one with a train
An 1880s “Starry Night” or “Starlight” fancy dress evening gown (I haven’t decided on a name yet)
A 1780s robe a la francaise (with panniers and accessories)

These other things are on the maybe-sew list for 2016:

A modern dress made of black patterned rayon
An 1850s plaid ball gown and a new smaller set of hoops
A pair of modern black capris
Finishing a modern cotton dress I started in 2013
Finishing an 1814 pelisse and matching hat
A 1900s blouse
An 1890s daytime skirt
An 1830s evening gown

One thing in 2016 that will be incredibly special and exciting is that I’m going to make a garment from the fabric I set aside for the 18th Century Court Gown Sew Along in 2014. (It’s the pink silk in the middle… I love the colors in this picture!)

Last year, I was sad I hadn’t worked on the project very much and was hesitant to let it go… But in May, I will be attending an event at Versailles. Yup, that Versailles. In France. Yikes! And of course I need clothes! (And hair! And shoes! There will be blog posts about getting things together! It will be great to have a reason to decorate and wear the Kensingtons I’ve had since 2012, but which have never been worn!)

This event is perfect inspiration to complete my court gown… except that if I ever have need of another lovely 18th century gown for an event in the US, it would be much more practical to have a robe a la francaise in my closet instead of a court gown… Luckily for me, by the 1770s a robe a la francaise was allowed in the French court except at the most formal occasions (check out Leimomi’s post about court gown history to learn more). I’ll be making wide panniers instead of modest pocket hoops, because it is Versailles, after all, but I’m feeling better about my decision to spend all the time and materials making something that might actually be worn again. So, I’ll sort of be completing the Court Gown Sew Along. The gown will certainly count in my books, and that’s what counts, right?

0029-burgess — Blessings to you in 2016. I’m looking forward to more fun, more historical clothing, and more adventures!

HSF/M #12: Green Regency Shawl

December 24, 2015December 24, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 2 Comments

I was inspired this fall to make an extra long Regency shawl. Others around the blog world have done this before–it’s certainly not a new idea I came up with so I can’t take credit for the creativity of sewing two pashminas together to make one longer one.

I started by looking at my Pinterest boards to see what colors popped up often in fashion plates and extant shawls so I could pick a reasonably Regency color for my own creation (this board has a number of fashion plates and extant shawls). Common colors I saw were cream, dark red, grassy green, and dark blue. Occasional other colors included vibrant autumnal orange and rich yellow.

The second step was to consider the colors in my current Regency wardrobe so I could pick a color shawl that would harmonize with my outfits. Lastly, I looked at what was available on eBay for available color options and with sufficiently wide borders around all the edges to have the look of a Regency shawl. I found a few that matched my research but the color that best fit all of my criteria was grassy green. This shawl from the Met is a very similar in color to mine and was an inspiration in terms of border proportions.

The shawl fulfills the HSF/M Challenge #12: Re-Do, with a re-do of Challenge #7: Accessorize. Just the facts:

Fabric: Two pashminas.

Pattern: None.

Year: c. 1805

Notions: Thread.

How historically accurate is it?: It definitely passes Leimomi’s test of being recognizable in its own time in general and in terms of the color and border trim proportions, but most shawls would have been silk or wool, which mine is not. Also, since it is two shawls sewn together, it has an inaccurate seam down the back. So we’ll sway 75%.

Hours to complete: Less than 1.

First worn: December 5, 2015.

Total cost: About $10-$15.

I was dancing in a Regency period hall in December and it was the perfect opportunity to get some of the classic Regency shawl pose pictures. (The hall was decorated for the holidays, which matched my accessories perfectly!) It’s always amusing to me how the shawls are often depicted halfway off the wearer or draped artfully but with no apparent desire to keep warm.

I wore my 1812 square neck dress but removed the pink sash that I’ve had on it for the last two years or so. It was nice to go back to a plain white dress for a change. It’s not plain at all with the new shawl!

I took the time to create a fun hairstyle with small diameter face framing curls and an extra braid of fake hair. I was very pleased with the overall shape and silhouette. (I’ll be sharing more about how I made the curls at some point in 2016 when I post more information about my Vernet ensemble and the photo shoot of the completed outfit.)

I had a blast dancing all day in such a beautiful space. When I cooled off between dances the shawl was great to keep me warm. And I love how festive it looks with the red necklace! I hope your holidays are full of fun, joy, and blessings!

Honeymoon Pictures, Part II

December 13, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 3 Comments

Being in London, I was relatively so close to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Harry Potter experience that it was very important to me that I made it for a visit! With some finagling, I managed to do it, and it was silly and fun and really quite amazing! Mr. Q and I actually split up for this day’s activities, because going was rather expensive and while he’s seen the movies once he doesn’t remember much about HP (sad, I know!). He had his own fun, though, that I wouldn’t have been interested in, so it worked out well. I took hundreds of pictures and had to comb through them to find the ones that made it to the blog.

I did the HP tour bus thing to get there. Easy and pretty darn eye catching.

In the line to enter… it’s the cupboard under the stairs!

After a short movie introducing things, there’s a spectacular event where the last image is the door to the great hall, then the screen rises… and the actual door to the great hall is waiting for you! These are the awesome knights outside the great hall.

I believe that part of my reason for liking HP so much is that there is such an immense amount of detail in the creation of the world in both the books and the movies. I love being able to step into such a well-developed reality.

Inside the great hall. I couldn’t get a good shot of the whole thing (too big!), so you just get part of it.

This is so neat. You walk out of the great hall and into the general warehouse space and get to see the back sides of the set pieces. These are the supports of the great hall!

There was a special interest area devoted to the costumes and hair in the show, which of course was right in line with my interests. There was also an employee talking about the wigs and hair and answering questions, which was really interesting and informative. Even some of the every day hairstyles were wigs, so that the actors would always look the same for certain scenes, even if re-filming was necessary and they had cut their hair, etc.

This display had a Beauxbatons dress right next to the pattern for it on a dummy!

And a bit of distressing. Multiples of garments that are distressed is standard for film and it’s interesting to see multiple stages side by side.

There were also costumes on mannequins scattered throughout the tour, but I can’t show them all! Again, there is so much detail in the costumes. Such amazing fabrics, and construction, and details…

Wands obviously play a huge part in HP. This was a creative way to display lots of them. There is such attention to detail and character!

What do you see in the Mirror of Erised? I see me, at the HP studio!

Part of the Gryffindor common room. There is a painting of Minerva McGonagall in her younger days on the wall that I never noticed in the films. I rather like her outfit!

The Weasley house–there were interactive objects that would “magically” move when the controls were activated. In this case, I’m causing the knife on the table to chop the carrots.

The iron also “magically” ironed the dress on the ironing board.

See? There are about four of these in a line along a wall so the line doesn’t get too long for people who want to take pictures.

Yes, that’s me with the Hogwarts Express!

Just one of many cases full of the printed material from the films. I bet creating all the books and papers and letters and labels and everything was a fun job at times!

On the backlot–the triple decker Knight Bus. Turns out they stuck multiple buses together to create it. And they actually arranged to shut down very specific streets in London to film it. Why specific? Because it’s too tall to fit under bridges!

Next to the Knight Bus is Number 4, Privet Drive.

Or at least, the front of it! Right next to…

The life size chess pieces are also in the back lot. They are really neat!

Then there’s a look into the creature studio.

And there’s Diagon Alley! So much detail, so many HP scenes… Gringotts was always in shadow, so no good pictures of that.

Then there is a whole area devoted to the designing and drafting of all of the elements in the films. It’s amazing to think that every little thing had to be designed down to the smallest detail!

And there’s also concept art…

And models of different sets. These have such detail in them, but were relatively small–this one is maybe four feet across?

There are paper owls in the Owlery nooks!

It has it’s own room, with a ramp that circles around and slowly descends, so you can see the castle from every angle. This is what they used to shoot some of the outside scenes of the castle.

I firmly believe that those behind the scenes deserve credit, too, whether they make it into the credits or not.

Finally, you end up in the HP store. Mostly overpriced, in my opinion, and I really didn’t need stuff to take home with me. If I was going to be tempted by anything though, these were them.

And there were so many other really awesome things I didn’t include pictures of! If you like HP and you’re in London, I highly suggest visiting. Of course, if you don’t like HP, I wouldn’t spend the money, because while you can still enjoy the attention to detail, if you don’t know what all the things are it wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining and fantastic.

Anyway, here’s the last picture–from the green screen broomstick experience!

Vernet Project: Check Out The Finished Ensembles!

December 7, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

Photos of each recreation of one of Vernet’s Merveilleuses and Incroyables fashion plates start to be released tomorrow (December 8) on the group Facebook page! One fashion plate per day will be shared right next to a photo of the recreation, right up through the 31st of December (my plate will be on the 21st). Check it out! It will be a fun way to end 2015!

I’ve seen some of the finished ensembles ahead of time, and let me just reiterate how wonderful, weird, and wacky they are! Further posts with more images and specifics about construction, etc. will be released by participants in 2016, so don’t forget to check back to see updates on the ensembles that most capture your fancy.

(You can see all my posts from this past year relating to this project here, and I’ll be sharing more in 2016!)

Our Honeymoon Pictures, Part I

December 1, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

Back to wedding related things for a few quick posts, here are a a select number of pictures from our honeymoon! We went to Edinburgh, Conwy (Wales), and London and had a glorious time. There are so many things to see and do that we couldn’t take it all in. By the end we had been museum-ed out and were ready to go home, which was a nice feeling actually, because we weren’t lamenting the fact that we had to return to real life.

The hair flowers from the wedding day (photos here) traveled around with us and lasted a week into our honeymoon! Here they are on the plane on wedding day with super adorable salt and pepper shakers.

The weather in Scotland mostly looked like this.

Here’s some clouds over the castle, with the stands for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo off to the right.

One of the highlights of our entire trip was getting day-of tickets to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. This amazing annual performance of military bands, music, and dancing from around the world brings together thousands of people and is televised in more than 40 countries! It was suggested to us by our local host and was downright jaw dropping! The performances take place literally outside the gate to the historic castle and involve, amongst other amazing performances, hundreds of bagpipes and bagpipers wearing so much tartan!

I couldn’t even get close to getting all the performers in one picture!

We took most of a day to walk/hike up Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano, right in Edinburgh. The orange speck on the rocks is Mr. Q.

After Edinburgh, we headed to northern Wales for a long weekend for some in-between-cities time. This is Conwy, the town we stayed in, with a castle from the end of the13th century.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast that backed right up to the town walls.

Conwy was lovely and small. We could walk across the town in about ten minutes, had a variety of really neat historic house and castle museums to visit without being overwhelmed, and even got to hang out on the wharf for a local Saturday festival with live music. And Wales was nice and green, reminding me very much of the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up. I highly recommend it!

Modern roads don’t quite fit under 13th century castle walls…

Also, Wales (well, and the UK in general) is full of sheep! We took the train between each destination and got to spend lots of time looking out the windows and exclaiming at the sheep! Plus, I got my tartan wool picnic blanket and scarf. Sheep!

It only took about a day and a half to see everything inside the town walls of Conwy, so we took a day for a little trip not far outside town to Bodnant Garden. It’s an amazing garden that’s been tended for over 150 years with plants from around the globe. There are all sorts of different types of gardens and forest areas to explore and it was easy to spend hours roaming around.

Mr. Q, looking short next to other tall trees.

Our final stop was London, where we went to shows, got thoroughly drenched in rainstorms almost every day, went to many museums and sights (The British Museum, The Victoria and Albert, The National Gallery, Portobello Road, The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul’s, to name a few), visited famous stores (Liberty of London and Fortnum and Mason, for example), and generally stayed super busy. We also discovered a super yummy vegetarian restaurant called Tibits in a lovely, quiet little alcove off of Regent Street, which was perfect for hanging out as the sun set and people watching while eating really amazing food. So amazing, in fact, that Mr. Q bought me their cookbook for a birthday present (with a hint from me, of course)! I haven’t had a chance to make anything from it yet, but I look forward to having the time!

The view from the top observation area at St. Paul’s.

The sun did come out at the very end of our stay and it was such a change from grey!

And I took a day while we were in London to have a special day trip that I haven’t mentioned yet… A Harry Potter day! I’ve got enough pictures to do a whole post just for that, though, so watch out. I’m really looking forward to some hang-around vacations vs. the go-do-everything style of our honeymoon, though I don’t regret getting to visit so many amazing things and places! It was quite a memorable trip.

Vernet Project: Making Progress

November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 1 Comment

Our group’s early December deadline to finish sewing our Vernet Projects is fast approaching! Thank goodness we’ve had all year to work on these–mine has been quite a project with all the hand sewing and patterning and learning new skills. Of my five pieces, one is totally done, two have less than three tasks left to be finished, and 2 are still about halfway completed. It won’t quite be furious sewing, but I do have to keep at it to get it done in time. For now, here is proof that I’ve been making progress!

Starting December 7th, you should check in often with the group on Facebook to see each recreation released side by side with the original Vernet fashion plate. It’s going to be really, really amazing to see these crazy and beautiful fashion plates in 3D form!

Wedding Pictures!

November 11, 2015March 9, 2016 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 21 Comments

I did my best to narrow down our wedding pictures to the best of the ones that most share the spirit of the day and the special details I spent countless hours working on. As it is, this is still going to be a long, picture-heavy post! (All but one of these photos was taken by our professional photographer. Please do not share these photos without a link back to the source.)

Photography: Kristen G., at Kristen Taylor and Co. Photography

Venue and Catering: Meadow Brook Hall

Hair and Makeup: Andrew Marke Salon

Flowers: Bellisario Florist

Cake: Sweet Dreams Bakery

Let me start by saying that I wanted an elegant wedding with a cozy feeling. I’m a unique person and I wanted our wedding day to be a mix of the traditional details I care about (and not those I don’t care about) and special unique details that express our personalities. I was also surprisingly pragmatic about what details were worth spending money on and how to achieve what I wanted without breaking the bank.

(No, I didn’t make my dress. I bought it on a super sale for just $99, which is pretty spectacular considering I only wore it for about 5 hours. It was rather an adventure to find my size and involved calling all over the country–my dress wound up being shipped to be from Utah, but it fit perfectly, with only a small hem and a slight alteration to the halter closure being necessary. Yay! A good curly haired friend was able to mark the alterations for me and then I did them myself. It was definitely a blessing to find a dress I liked that came under my hopeful $100 dress budget. A bride could so easily spend so much more! After the wedding it was whisked away to get cleaned and go to some other new home by one of my aunts, who I’m sure will make sure that some other bride is able to reuse it. Yes, I was surprised at myself for not feeling particularly attached to my dress, but the dress isn’t the important part to hold on to.)

0097-burgess — Meadow Brook Hall, an elegant estate built by the Dodge family with an interesting history. The car connection reminds me of one of my grandfathers, who worked for Ford. (Yes, the car Dodges and the Ford car company. This is Michigan after all.)

0610-burgess — Details: small tissue paper pomanders in wedding colors, purchased on Etsy but fluffed by me and various members of my family (great hang out time!) and African fabric made by women to support themselves, bought from Fabric of Life in my hometown.

0071-burgess — Details: puzzles and games are a tradition in my family and after a visit to Hiroshima in fifth grade I spent a lot of time making origami paper cranes–I haven’t finished making 1,000, but my parents have still held onto the ones I did make as well as the paper, and the origami paper we provided for our “guest book” was part of that stash.

Our guests count was about 35 people from around the country and the world. We were blessed to have most of them join us the weekend before the wedding to hang out and get to know each other, which was a blast, but terribly exhausting! It made for a wonderful feel, though, for the guests to know each other ahead of the wedding day.

We were married on a Monday, at a morning ceremony followed immediately by a brunch reception. It was an early morning, with hair and makeup appointments starting at 6:30am after a long weekend without quite enough sleep each night, but after getting some breakfast I felt ready to take on the day.

Luckily, it was sunny and beautiful with no clouds as far as I can remember. In fact, it was hot! We were all sweating during the ceremony and trying not to fidget as the sweat rolled down… we got the occasional breeze, which was lovely, but it was nice to get inside and sit down for some brunch!

0503-burgess — Proud parents of the bride. Yay, we all made it! They’ve been married for forty years–talk about inspiring role models!

The brunch reception was followed by a surprise tour of the venue, so that guests (and I plus the wedding party!) could learn about and appreciate the history of the venue. I picked it not only for its beauty, but also because of my love of history and beautiful historic places, and it was important for me to share that with the guests.

After some cake and toasts, it was time for us to make a grand exit to the airport to catch our honeymoon flight (amusingly, we took a car service to the airport, had some time before our plane left, and as we were nearing boarding were greeted by guests we had just left behind at the venue who were also arriving at the airport to catch flights, including my maid of honor!).

0626-burgess — Simple, with flowers to match our bouquets.

If you’ve been reading the blog for awhile, you might remember that Mr. Q and I were competitive ballroom dance partners for about eight years, so instead of walking to the car we danced our way down the path! At the end of the path our guests waited with small bottles of bubbles to send us on our way.

0770-burgess — Dancing together for years means we almost always walk in step with each other without realizing it. If you look back at the black and white picture of us right after the ceremony concluded you’ll see the same thing!

And of course, there were pictures of our very small bridal party: Mr. Q’s father was his best man (which was lovely, because Mr. Q’s grandfather had been his father’s best man at his wedding to Mr. Q’s mother) and my best friend of 25 years was my maid of honor. It was incredibly special to have both of them join us–they each travelled the farthest, from the Philippines and from France!

There were also gorgeous pictures of Mr. Q and I together as well as each of us alone, as you would expect from wedding pictures. Meadow Brook has three lovely gardens to choose from for a wedding ceremony: we picked the Pegasus Garden, which has the statue of pegasus in it, but there is also a rose garden and a lovely rock garden, where we were able to get pictures as well.

We purchased limited amounts of flowers to keep costs down. Corsages and boutonnieres for parents and grandparents, a boutonniere for the groom, and only two bouquets, one for me and one for my maid of honor. We repurposed the bouquets to decorate our head table so we could enjoy them and then we gifted them to my grandparents, who were local and able to enjoy the flowers hopefully long after we had flown off on our honeymoon. (Gosh, that bouquet was heavy! I didn’t realize it would weigh so much. But its was lovely. The colors fit perfectly with my wedding colors and I loved the mix of textures that our florist achieved with regular stock flower varieties.)

There were a few very small not-quite-perfect things on the day, but most things went smoothly and I have nothing of importance to complain about. It was a beautiful venue on a beautiful day that we were able to share with all the people who are most special to us and who had gone out of their way to make it to the wedding. What more could we have asked for?

Visiting WWII For A Day

November 5, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 4 Comments

I was all ready last weekend to create lots of picture heavy posts for the blog, and then my computer seriously died and required hard drive replacement. Luckily, Mr. Q takes care of me and established external backups a long time ago, so I didn’t loose anything (whew!!!). The store was able to fix my computer fairly quickly, but I’d lost the weekend to go through pictures and create posts.

So today is a quicker post with pictures from a WWII event a few weeks ago. WWII is a period I hardly ever visit and don’t have clothes for in my closet, so I was grateful to be able to borrow things from friends and Mr. Q’s closet (he had a polo shirt that looked way better than anything in my closet for this outfit!). The only thing I had was shoes and stockings–thanks guys–I would have been sad indeed without help!

We were a mix of female War Correspondents and Women’s Army Corps. Good thing War Correspondents didn’t have uniforms, because my outfit was a bit thrown together…

The day was gorgeous, though a little cold early in the morning. We just went for the day and enjoyed wandering around the Allied and Axis camps and watching the staged battle. This particular reenactment is known for the large variety of WWII vehicles that are on display and in use, which was neat to see.

Here is the German telegraph set up. The Axis camp actually had a lot of things to look at and one especially interesting interactive set up with food from the period.

The Germans also had some really snazzy cars and other vehicles. They did a few drives around the battlefield before the battle actually started.

Prior to the battle some tanks had been hidden just inside the trees across the grass field. It was my favorite part when they came trundling out mid-battle (especially the well hidden ones that we didn’t spot before things started!). My second favorite part was when, after the battle, they backed the tanks back into the trees to reset for a second battle later in the day.

And finally, a Russian unit in the Allied camp. We met another female reenactor who was with the Russian unit (women aren’t that common at these WWII events, you know, so it’s especially neat to meet others, especially those you don’t previous know). The tea and fur coats were pretty tempting while the day was still cold and later in the day there was music! Fun!

A Beautiful Fall Day In New England

October 23, 2015 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

The weather in New England has finally turned chilly enough for it to feel like fall, both to me and to the trees. Autumn is my favorite season, especially here, where there is a nip in the air and stunning colors on the deciduous trees that are everywhere.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to have a day to spend outside rambling around and enjoying the beautiful day. The sun was out and it was a perfect temperature to be wearing layers and wool. I was participating in a Tweed Ramble, which my friends and I took quite literally, rambling and taking pictures in the glorious surroundings.

In theory it was a 1920s themed ramble, but I decided not to try very hard on the 1920s side of things. In general, the group had a more general vintage tweedy vibe than specifically 1920s.

I’d purchased a green tweed jacket on eBay specifically for the ramble since I didn’t own any tweed already (I was excited to find a color that wasn’t brown, because although brown tweed is lovely, I like to be different!). I was super excited when the jacket arrived to find that it fit me perfectly! And it still had the tack in the back vent, which tells me that it was never worn or that whoever wore it didn’t know to take the tack out… Win! As often happens with these things, the jacket prompted me to purchase a few other items to stay warm and help tie it in with my two favorite pieces–my Lindsay tartan Scottish wool blanket and Lindsay tartan Scottish cashmere scarf!

These are two of my honeymoon souvenirs! As an adult without the desire to have a life full of things I don’t regularly use, I intentionally purchased only a few souvenirs on the trip and specifically focused on ones that I would use. I’m SO pleased with these! The scarf is super soft and comfy on the skin and the blanket is thick and makes me very happy! (This blanket has officially replaced my waterproof picnic blanket attempt, which I did try again after the blog post–I was still not totally sold on it working very well.)

And I love how the colors of each of my garments and accessories works so perfectly with the tartan! It’s so cute I can hardly stand it! (And the scarf has a slightly more pinkish hue than the blanket, making it perfectly Quinn-colored for everyday wear!)

Here are some more pictures of my adorable outfit from the day. When I wasn’t sitting on my blanket I had it rolled up, tied with twine, and swung over my shoulders like a purse. It worked very well for walking around and was way cheaper than a pre-made blanket carrier.

I hope you have some beautiful fall days, too!

HSF/M #10: 1910 Dowager Countess Evening Gown

October 10, 2015March 25, 2018 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 9 Comments

This gown was already in my sewing plan before I decided it fit into the HSF/M Challenge #10: Sewing Secrets. It turns out that it fits into the Sewing Secrets challenge for multiple reasons:

#1: Because like many dresses from the first few decades of the 20th century, the method of closure is cleverly hidden, rather complicated, and definitely secretive–you really can’t tell how the dress goes on just looking at it once it’s all hooked up. (Right? Can you figure it out before I show you later in the post?)

#2: The beaded panel on the front might look familiar if you’ve been reading my blog for a few years. It is actually the sleeve (turned upside down) from a 1980s evening gown that I remade into a sleeveless 1925 evening gown.

#3: I made this dress with a train because I had enough fabric, it’s elegant, and I don’t get to have many dresses with trains because I’m usually dancing in them. However, I do plan to dance in this dress, so I included a secret hidden button under the decorative knot at the back and a loop on the center back skirt seam so that the skirt can hook up (bustling, essentially) to be a uniform length all around so I can dance unhindered!

I paired this new dress with my American Duchess Astoria shoes, because they are super comfy and made sense color-wise with my other accessories: plain white stockings, a super long strand of faux pearls, lovely clear/white dangle earrings I’ve had for at least ten years, and two matching metallic silver wrapped hair pins I think my mother gave me also a number of years ago. Underneath is my 1913 chemise and corset.

I’ve had all the fabrics in the stash for at least three to seven years. The underskirt was leftover from a former project never fully pictured here on the blog–an 1890s 2 part dress taken directly from an extant bodice with an extrapolated skirt (the skirt was worn by a friend in Newport in 2012–there are pictures toward the bottom of this past post, and I forgot that the ensemble I’m wearing in that post also uses this same fabric as trim). I had purchased way more fabric than I needed and had more than enough for the new project, so I guess I’ll be using it on another something someday. The matching chiffon and charmeuse I’d purchased with the intention of making a 1910s evening dress back in 2012, but ran out of time that year.

When I was first seriously thinking of making this dress, I thought I had enough fabric to do something like this dress, but I hit a snag when I realized I only had about ½ yd of the charmeuse and that the beaded sleeve I was hoping to incorporate into the dress was entirely unsuited for the shape of the beaded bit on the inspiration dress. I decided to make a dress like my original inspiration someday, but to go back to the beginning for the current dress and rethink what the dress might look like. I would up with something I am quite happy with that is drawn from a variety of inspirational dresses on my 1909-1914 evening gown Pinterest board with this as the most obvious inspiration.

Just the facts:

Fabric: One beaded silk sleeve from a 1980s evening dress that I deconstructed two years ago to make a 1925 evening dress, about ¼ yd of plain weave cotton for the base, less than ¼ yd of silk charmeuse, about 2 yds of silk chiffon, and 3-4 yds of lightweight silk faille for the underskirt.

Pattern: Created by me, loosely starting with the pattern for the bodice of my 1912 burgundy and gold evening gown and referencing skirt shapes in Janet Arnold for inspiration.

Year: 1910.

Notions: Thread, hooks and bars, and two pre-made tassels.

How historically accurate is it?: It definitely passes Leimomi’s test of being recognizable in its own time. It uses accurate materials and accurate techniques. 95%.

Hours to complete: More than I kept count of.

First worn: In September 2015.

Total cost: Technically this is a stash project because all of the things I used have been in my stash for years, except the tassels, which I bought within the last year knowing this project was high on the to do list. If I had to guess at the cost of the materials it was probably $50-$60 dollars.

The dress was sewn with a mixture of machine and hand sewing. Most of the assembly of the bodice and skirt pieces while they were separate was done by machine, as was the hemming of all the chiffon and faille (though the hem edge of the chiffon is actually the selvedge). The hand sewing came in when I went to mount all of the pieces together. I started with the under bodice and kept adding layers and figuring things out as I went. The closures are also hand sewn.

Incidentally, I’m not really sure what color to call this dress. I’ve been calling the colors orchid and mauve, but I’m not really sure those are the best color names. The chiffon and charmeuse are a shade of pinky/purple that’s hard to put a finger on and the contrast faille is more grey than anything when it’s by itself, though it really takes on a pinky/purple cast when paired with these other fabrics. Does any really perfect color name come to your mind? If it does I’d be happy to know what it is!

As I mentioned, the closure for this dress is quite complicated and as I knew I was going to include it in the sewing secrets challenge we took pictures specifically of the closures to document how it works. If I tried to explain only with words I’m sure there would be confusion, so I think the pictures will clarify things. We’ll start hooked up and unhook as we go.

The back knot snaps into place over the belt, which hooks together at the back. The button for the bustling skirt loop is hidden under the belt in this picture.

The belt unhooks all the way to center front.

The chiffon overskirt unhooks from center back to the side.

Then the front bodice chiffon layer unhooks at the top edge of the beading and at the waist so it peels back toward the side. After that the under bodice unhooks and the dress slides right off. Is that what you thought might be the closure system?

Overall, I’m super pleased with this dress. It’s very comfortable, has lots of fabric in the skirt so is easy to dance in, and is a nice transitional style between the full skirts and pigeon breasts of the years around 1908 and the much slimmer, longer lines of the years around 1912. Plus, it has a train!

Here’s a comparison of the dress with the train down and then with it looped up. Luckily, these pictures were taken before dancing. Turns out that while I was dancing a very fast waltz, either my or my partner’s foot caught the hem of the dress and caused the loop to break, so I’ll have to repair it more sturdily for the next wearing. Ah well, that’s why they make safety pins!

I was quite pleased with how my hair turned out, so I had to make sure to get a reasonable close-up. Some of the curls are natural and some are made nice and smooth with a curling iron. The key is to put the hair up in a lot of different sections–and I mean a lot!

I call this dress the “Dowager Countess” gown because the shape of it reminds me of what Maggie Smith’s character in Downton Abbey often wears to dinner parties. Look at the bodices on these dresses: this dress, this dress, and this dress are all examples of a similar style–one that the Dowager Countess wears often! And why wouldn’t I want to be reminded of Maggie Smith when I think of this dress? Her snarky comments are highlights of Downton Abbey! (Incidentally, one of my friends wore the just-emerging-in-the-1910s style of pants in the ballroom to this ball–gasp!–and we took some posed snarky pictures. Head over to her blog, Plaid Petticoats, to take a look at her scandalous outfit. When you get to the bottom you’ll find the snarky pictures. You might even find that you think I’m there twice, because I was wearing this new 1910 dress and I loaned my 1912 evening gown from 2012 to a friend who happens to be being snarky with me.)