Yikes, that is a long title… but I do like my titles to be descriptive sometimes…
As is suggested by the title of this post, though I did have new, wearable 1820s clothes (with closures, yay!) for Fezziwig’s Ball this past weekend, not all of the garments were entirely completed. I had set out with a rather rigorous plan for the month of December and I will admit that “my eyes were bigger than my stomach” and I wasn’t able to fully complete all of the projects I wanted to. That being said, however, I was very pleased with how things looked. (I will also admit that I spent the week before the ball furiously sewing every night… in fact, I was still sewing appliqués on the afternoon of the ball!)
Caroling before the ball! We stopped at the super huge town Christmas tree to take pictures. I was perfectly warm in my new clothes!After caroling we paused outside the hall to take some more pictures… As you can see, the muff and tippet did get done! Entirely! Yay!Back of the new walking dress. I only just noticed that someone is in the window… That’s sort of creepy looking!Friends outside the hall.Staging a “gossiping” photo before the ball officially began.Waiting for the dance, Sir Roger De Coverley, to begin.Dancing Sir Roger. It is similar to the Virginia Reel.
I had a wonderful time during the ball. It was crowded, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying myself. Perhaps because I knew more people than I have in any year past, the entire evening felt full of friendship and fun. Also, it’s super new and exciting to dance the same dances as other balls, but to the tune of Christmas music! And there were lots of beautiful dresses and fashionable gentlemen to keep one’s eyes occupied.
After the ball I imposed on my friends to take pictures (in better lighting) of my new clothes, so I could document them here on my blog. I, in turn, took pictures of them so they would have pictures as well! That’s only fair, really.
I am the photographer in this one.Here it is! Clear, full length picture of my new gown! I finished the hem appliqués! Whew! But it is missing it’s sleeve appliqués and the center front appliqués.I was having trouble making my hair look the way I wanted to, so I settled for a tiara (it’s actually the same one I wore to the 1890s Soiree during Newport Vintage Dance Week). In the end, I really liked how it looked!A closeup of the finished appliqué motif around the hem.For this event I took the opportunity to wear my blue American Duchess clocked stockings. I liked them! The only annoying thing is that one got brown puddle stains on it during caroling. I’ll have to see if I can scrub it out. I think I can.Here we are, a picture of the walking dress with better lighting! You can actually see the dark raspberry color of the wool. It’s pretty scrumptious. It’s soft on it’s own, but also lined with soft cotton, so really it’s quite cozy.This is how we all felt after the ball.Proof that the sleeve appliqués were partially complete! I didn’t have the time to finish the raw edges, make the centers, or sew them on…
Pictures of the petticoat will be in an upcoming post. It was almost finished for the ball. I’m looking forward to adding trim to the walking dress and the front and sleeves of the ball gown, as well as finishing the bonnet. All of these things were started (the pieces cut out and even sewn in some cases), but as you can see in the pictures, they didn’t make it in time for the ball. Oh well!
This past weekend, the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers participated in a Regency Christmas party for a public event at the Charlestown Navy Yard. It’s the same venue as the Guerriere Weekend we participated in a few months ago. I wore the same 1812 hand sewn gown I made for that event, which you can read more about in this post. We danced and played games while the public wandered through, watching and taking pictures, and eating the delicious cookies and punch we provided. We love that space, so of course we enjoyed being there again. I took the opportunity of the Christmas party to try out my red clocked stockings from American Duchess... they were perfectly fitting for the Christmas cheer!
Posing with the lovely tea set that was set out to add ambiance to the scene.Playing Blind Man’s Bluff.I was having trouble finding a person…But I had cute stockings!So someone had to be made a sacrifice!Yay! I caught someone!Another glimpse of my red stockings as I passed off the blind fold.After the party we stuck around to get some extra pictures. I had to get a real pose with my stockings!Then we staged a few fake scenes to take pictures for possible CVD advertising opportunities.It was one of those “look into each other’s eyes” scenes, which I somehow get put in rather often… Anyway, I like this picture because you can see my hair. I took a long time (and a lot of bobby pins) putting it up and really liked the result.Then I grouped some of the dancers to get some nice “as though you are dancing” shots. This is how we would begin and end a dance.Back to scenes. Aren’t these scenes by the fireplace super cute?Last one. Missing Mr. Darcy, perhaps?
As you can see, it was a fun Christmas gathering. We look forward to participating in more events at the Commandant’s House next year!
Well, I’ve got the green silk ball gown sewn together. That’s good, because the ball is fast approaching. There’s only a week to go! Eep!!! I’ve finished the padded hem, but I still need to have someone mark center back for me so I can put closures on. And I haven’t set the neckline yet, either, because I’m waiting to see how it looks with the back actually closed… So far every time I’ve tried it on the back has just been hanging open, because I can’t actually reach that part of my back by myself. Never fear, though, I’ll be seeing friends this weekend who can help with marking the back for me! Yay!
I’ve been furiously hand sewing, working on the skirt appliqués on the ball gown. These are my first priority. In part this is because they’re already started (and it would look silly to have only a fraction of them done) and in part this is because the hem decoration is pretty essential for 1820s dresses. This is how I’m making the appliqués.
After cutting out literally hundreds of pieces… I pin the blue canvas bases to the silk of the gown. The pinning allows me to make sure everything is symmetrical before sewing the bases down. Once I’m satisfied, I baste the bases to the silk, leaving 1/4″ around all the edges unsewn, so I can tuck seam allowance under later.Whew! Finished basting that repeat of the pattern. The blue canvas is tightly woven and hardly frays, even at the points and in the curves! And even after being manipulated and folded while I’m basting all the pieces down, which is important because it keeps the shape accurate for the layers that go over the base.The next step is to take the two top layers (a layer of the green silk and a layer of white silk organza) and sew them over the base. The base provides sturdy edges so that I keep all those nice curves when turning under my seam allowance. This piece is just about done, except for the last corner. I used the technique in this great quilting appliqué blog post to make my sharp corners as sharp as possible.And here’s what the motif looks like when all the bases are covered! The silk organza is pretty tricky for making sharp points, so I think these turned out pretty well! The motifs are still missing their center sections. I’m focusing on all the pointy bits first. Right now I’ve got 3 out of 7 motifs done.This is what the inside of the skirt looks like after the appliquéing is finished. It’s kind of neat, I think, to see the relief of the front shapes.Most recently, I’ve just finished basting on the bases where they meet at the back. You can see in this picture there was only one more motif to go!
Right now the motifs really remind me of pineapples, a common motif in appliqué quilts (as a quilter as well, I appreciate the overlap between related interests). I’m sure once the centers are added they will look more like flowers and much more like the fashion plate. Each motif is 11″ tall and the repeat is 12″.
As I continue to sew these, I’m thinking about the sleeve appliqués. Currently, I’m stumped. I was going to sew my motifs on in the same way as the skirt, but I also made my sleeves pretty gathered… so I’m not sure how to nicely hide my seam allowances while also keeping the gathers looking un-squashed. I want the sleeve appliqués to sort of float on the gathered sleeves… I’m still brainstorming on how to make that happen. Perhaps I’ll stitch the seam allowance to the back of the base and then hope that the gathers mean you won’t see the base past the 1/4″ seam allowance that gets turned? If you have ideas, I’d love to hear them!
This bodiced petticoat is the inspiration for the first piece of my 1822-1824 ensemble that I need for December events. You can read more about the overview of the ensemble by viewing my last post: here. Despite the slightly later date given for this garment (later than my target of 1822-1824), the shape and construction are consistent with garments from the earlier 1820s, so I have no qualms about using this for my purposes in this case.
White cotton with high waist. Low, wide, round neck edged with embroidery and lace frill; piped armholes; front in one bias-cut section, back in two shaped sections, centre back fastening with drawstring at top and bottom of neck edging and at high waistband and two buttons; skirt front in one slightly flared section, two sections each side flared towards back, slit at hip in right back seam, centre back in two straight sections, closely gathered at centre waist; sixteen lines of piping at hem; edging of finer cotton scalloped and with openwork embroidery.
I used this description in combination with the 1820s patterns in Janet Arnold to create the bodice and skirt patterns. My petticoat is constructed out of plain white cotton. It is entirely hand sewn and has 16 rows of cording in the skirt. There is a edging of white cotton openwork embroidery at the hem. The seams are all flat felled in the skirt. The bodice seams are turned twice and stitched on each side of the seam. The petticoat closes in the back with ties.
Bodice of the petticoat with unfinished neckline.Near the hem: 16 rows of cording and embroidery edging.Super close up of a flat felled skirt seam, narrow hem, and whip stitches attaching the embroidery. The embroidery is whip stitched to the hem at the very bottom, and the top edge is whipped again on the inside (that’s the top horizontal row of stitches).Back of the bodice.
The only remaining work to be done is to add another tie between the current two since the back wants to gap open just below my shoulder blades, to finish the neckline, and to adjust the gathers across the back (secret tip I’ve learned through building these garments: to get that great 1820s triangle shape, your gathers have to be super concentrated at the center back area, not spread out across the entire back, as these currently are). I plan to finish the neckline with narrow white lace, but I want to determine the neckline of my ball gown before finishing the neck of the petticoat. You understand that desire, I’m sure!
Differences from the original include: that I have a seam up center front of the bodice (no particular reason, it’s just that’s how it turned out), my cording is spaced closer together (which I’m not sure I like as much as the original, but I’m not taking it out now!), my armholes are narrow hemmed rather than piped, and my skirt closes right in the middle of the gathers rather than off center at the side back seam.
Pictures of the entire petticoat will have to wait. It looks pretty foolish on hanger, doesn’t fit a dress form (because the bust is so high), and it’s super awkward to get a full length picture of oneself… so we’ll just have to wait until I’m wearing it!
Well, as you recently read, I have a 9 month sewing plan to get me through May of 2013. It’s not set in stone (which means that mostly I keep adding to it, not taking things away…), but it gives me a great overview of what I need to accomplish and by what month. Deadlines really help in getting things completed!
The first major portion of the sewing plan is an ensemble of clothing from about the year 1823. I’ve been doing lots of looking at fashion plates and extant clothing from the early 1820s, in books and online. Here’s a link to my pinterest board: 1820-1824. I had so many pins in the 1820-1829 board that I had to separate the decade, so I also have a separate pin board of 1825-1829.
The 9 month plan includes the following pieces: petticoat, ball gown, walking dress, muff, bonnet, and chemisette. I’ve added one more thing since the plan was created: a tippet to match the muff! Before I explain why I want these items (ie, where I plan to wear them!), let’s look at my inspiration for the items themselves!
Petticoat. Manchester City Galleries. (I’m making a petticoat out of white cotton. It is entirely hand sewn.)Actually a Dinner Dress (but I’ll use it as a ball gown). Ackerman’s Repository. May 1824. (I guess I lied about the year… I’ve been looking at the images so much I haven’t even glanced at the date in ages! Anyway… I’m making this in apple green silk with hand sewn silk organza appliqués.)Promenade Dress. Ackerman’s Repository. December 1822. (I am making this out of deep, rich pinkish burgundy wool with hand sewn lavender silk trim.) This is also my inspiration for the tippet. (I’m making the tippet out of white faux fur.)Walking Dress. Ackerman’s Repository. March 1823. (I think this is where I got the year 1823 from… This is another influence on my walking dress design, especially at the collar.) This is also my inspiration for my muff. (The muff will be the same fur as the tippet, lined with pale blue silk shantung.)Bonnet. C. 1820. The Met. (I plan to make this in lavender to match the walking dress.)Chemisette. c. 1810-1825. Snowshill Collection. (Yes, this is one of the ones in Janet Arnold. I plan to make this out of lightweight cotton and use my fluting iron! However, I have to say that if one thing in my December-to-do doesn’t make the cut, this would be it. I really want to take my time on this and play with my fluting iron, and I’m not sure I’ll have the time on this one…)
What is all of this for, you ask? I plan to wear the whole ensemble in December when I attend Fezziwig’s Ball, a 19th century ball hosted by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers in Salem, MA. Since it’s a ball, I’m sure you understand why the petticoat and ball gown are required! But why the outerwear? Before the ball begins, ball-goers have the opportunity to go caroling around the streets! It’s really fun, and usually pretty cold. I need to stay warm, hence the wool walking dress, tippet, and muff. The chemisette is to fill in the collar of the walking dress, and the bonnet is really icing on the cake to help pull the whole ensemble together! As an added bonus, later this winter my friends and I hope to go ice skating in 19th century dress, so this will also be my ice skating outfit!
For my birthday a month or so ago I treated myself to a fun little accessory shopping spree at American Duchess and purchased two pairs of the new-ish clocked silk stockings Lauren has added to her offerings. Fun!
They arrived while the weather was still warm… so they just sat around waiting for my attention. Finally, I spent some time with them, trying them on, etc. I’m super excited to wear them! I think the red will be really fun and silly and good for picture taking at holiday events, and the blue is nice and light and appropriate for all year round without being white. I have nothing against white stockings, but I like the idea of colored and clocked ones! The elastic around the tops of the stockings is pretty tight, so they might get worn turned down under my knee. The only other thing about them is that the foot (from heel to toe) was bigger than my foot. Not for long, though! Inspired by a post from Lauren about adjusting the stockings to fit your foot, I went at it with the sewing machine. First, I changed my needle to a ball point to help sew through the knit.
First attempt at the red pair. I made the mistake of cutting the toe off before trying to sew it. It was frustrating to sew, so I suggest you don’t try it that way. You can also see the second line of zig zag stitching because I went back to shape the toe to my foot (my toes are not squared off like the first line of stitching).First attempt next to the second attempt. The second one was so much easier, since I hadn’t cut the toe off yet!Here’s the blue pair. They went so much faster than the red pair! You can see that I wasn’t exact with the line I sewed. I figured that as long as the general shape is right it will be fine on my toes.The blue pair after cutting off the unnecessary toe length.Success! And I actually think it’s more comfortable to have the toe seam on the tips of your toes rather than the tops.
Product links in this post contain an affiliate code, which provides a small benefit to my shoe fund. This does not affect my impressions and reviews of this product.
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!
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.
Lover’s Knot Tiara by Garrard c.1913.My eBay tiara.
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!
Here’s a closeup of the jewelry.
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!
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.Here it is!
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!
This is another case of the delays… The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers performed at an event in June (cough, cough… I am so slow!) that was called something like A Picnic for Teddy, Mommy, and Me. It was at the Salem Athenaeum, a private library, and was targeted toward young girls, their mothers, and their teddy bears! Cute!
We performed in 1890s whites. I had been dragging my feet about constructing my own whites, so I took this opportunity to go for it.
Dancing “Teddy Bear’s Picnic.” It’s really a ridiculous dance, but it fit the theme of the event perfectly!It was super hot that day! Sitting, in the shade, was wonderful. As was my fan…CVD on the steps of the Athanaeum.After the event we walked across Salem to get some lunch. Of course, Salem often sees people dressed in odd clothes, so we didn’t surprise people, but they were curious about what event we were going to.
I’m not totally sold on the white skirt I made. It’s a gored skirt and it works fine, it’s just not super eye catching (aka, it’s great for performances, but won’t get worn for other things… maybe it will be a petticoat if needed?). Oh, and I also threw the hat together, thinking that the white and blue would be nautical and good for Newport. But then I totally re-trimmed the hat at Newport because it didn’t have quite enough oomph with the white and blue. But the blouse… I love the blouse! It’s super comfy and lightweight, it closes in front (yay!), is washable, and I like the fabric. Win!
It is based off of a fashion plate in one of my many books. I draped a basic blouse pattern and adapted the pattern as needed to add the gathers in the front and back. The exterior is mounted on a lining made from the basic blouse pattern so that they gathers will stay where they are supposed to be. It is constructed of cotton with swiss dots for the exterior and a lightweight woven stripe cotton for the base (which I bought for $1 a yard a while ago! Love that price!). It closes up the front with concealed hooks and thread bars. The sleeves are quite large gigot sleeves, but because they are not lined they sort of just droop. Here are some pictures! I think I got pretty close to that inspiration image, don’t you? I love the feeling of success that comes with really nailing the look in reproducing a garment! Don’t we all?
The inspiration image.Front of the blouse, on Squishy, the mannequin.Back of the blouse on Squishy.In the garden.
Well, sometimes I am good about sharing what I’m up to, and sometimes I experience delays. This is a severe case of the delays. All the way back in June, I attended Dress U, a costume conference along the lines of Costume College (which I have never been to, though it does look like mounds of fun). I took a few hundred pictures… but clearly haven’t found time to share them with you. I originally thought to share more detailed information about what I wore and the events that were included in the weekend, but I think I’m going to take another course, and just share a gallery of fun clothes and pictures, with captions.
Boston ladies at the Welcome Tea.Lovely clothes. I especially love that Edwardian suit!More cute clothes and fun accessories!Fabulous 1920s dress.Super cute Edwardian outfit from Jenni.Loren’s open robe and gown are lovely and bright.All 1840s. I missed the memo on that one.Showing off the 1840s petticoats.Super cute zone front from Aubry.At the Titanic Dinner.More Titanic Dinner.Just one of the fabulous bustle dresses worn.Outdoor photoshoot!Tiaras and Jampagne.Look at all that bling!So lovely!Gloria’s fabulous open robe.Amanda’s mid-19th century gown.Shoe shot.
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 