Progress

I finished the chemise, except for the buttons. I'll have to look for some made of shell or metal. I also joined a Civil War re-enactment society, which I'm excited about. It'll give me some motivation for finishing things, and something to wear my gowns to.

I have the pieces cut out or my 18th century stays, but I'm nervous to start them. Not having a lot of confidence in myself lately. I think I'll work on the navy blue plaid dress some more. I've decided to forgo the hoopskirt that I have a pattern for, because a) it would cost about $60 to make it, and b) it would be impossible for everyday wear. While I would like to make all my own things, I think buying in this case would be the better move, especially as they're significantly cheaper to buy than to make.

1850's chemise

Yeah, I know it's been a while. I've put aside the day dress for a while to work on underwear. So I've spent the past week-ish working on a chemise. It's made of white muslin, and is coming together nicely, though it doesn't look like anything yet, which is why there are no pictures. I just have to sew the yoke on and then hem it. So maybe 5 or 6 more hours to go on it. I accidently cut it several inches shorter than the pattern said, so I thought about adding a panel with some pintucks, but then decided that would be more work than I really wanted right now, and shorter might be better so it will tuck into my drawers more easily. Hopefully it will be done by tomorrow, tuesday at the latest.

I've also cut the pieces for my 18th century stays, so that will be next when I'm done with the chemise. For my spring-summer wardrobe, I'm planning a chemise a la reine out of white cotton voile with either a blue or green sash, I haven't decided. I also want to make a sheer fan-front 1850s summer dress. I have the pattern all picked out, just need to find some fabric. And a job. To pay for fabric. Sheesh, I don't even wear clothes in the summer. :)

Day Dress Bodice

Finally, pictures of the sewn-together (I thought 'finished' was too strong a word) bodice. I tried it on with the corset, and thankfully it doesn't need any adjustment. So carry on I will.

Day Dress

I finished sewing the bodice together, but didn't want to try it on because that would involve lacing up, and I am all crampy and bloated and don't feel like it.

So now that I've reached something of a milestone, I'm wondering if I should put it away for a little bit. After all, I can't finish the dress until I make the hoopskirt, which will be an expensive project and will have to wait a while. Even after I do finish the dress, I won't really get to wear it to anything. Huge hoopskirts are as impractical today as they were in the 1850's. So there's no rush on this project.

My thoughts for the next project are staying with the 1850's and making a chemise and pantalettes, or starting my foray into 18th century costuming with a pair of stays. I feel like I will alternate between the two, when I get tired of the other. Especially since the stays are going to take a long time.

Tricorn.

So I found this brown floppy hat at Mervyn's a couple years ago for $5, but when I tried to wear it, the wind would blow the brim up and it just looked silly. So it has sat in my closet for a while.

Then, struck by inspiration, I pinned the sides up and created a tricorn! INFINITELY cooler!

Now, of course, I have to make a costume to go with it. My first thought was a late 18th century riding habit, since (from what I've read) women would only wear tricorns when riding. I like these two habits from Brotherhood of the Wolf.

I'm having trouble deciding between them, because I LOVE waistcoats (and found fabric to match the one in the picture), but at the same time, double breasted is one of my favorite looks, and I really like the wide cuffs. If I made the double breasted jacket, then it would probably be dark green (I think it's black in the pic, but hard to tell).

There's also this one from a painting that I like, with a closed jacket and pointed waistcoat; it seems a little more feminine to me than the other two.

But then I thought, instead of going to all the trouble of making another dress, why don't I make a suit instead? After all, it's on my to do list, and it would be a nice change of pace, and easier to wear than huge skirts. So I am in a four-way dilemma, it appears.

Day dress

I have never used plaid fabric before. Apparently matching it requires some thought and planning. While I knew that, and had read that, and was fully expecting it and keeping it in the front of my mind, I did not discover my errors until I had hand-basted the lining to every single bodice piece.

Of course, not matching plaids is perfectly period-correct, due to fabric-saving methods, but I didn't want to look like one half of my torso was lower than the other in the front, or a victim of scoliosis in the back. So, counting on that extra yard of fabric, I picked apart the pieces, and recut them.

Much better. Now I must rebaste them before I can continue, but I figure the more I do it, the faster I'll get (it must have ttaken me an hour and a half to do both pieces the first time).

Here's a picture of the lining basted to the fabric on the front bodice piece. It looks kind of distorted because I've pinned the darts.

Day Dress

Today I made the bodice muslin for my Civil War era day dress, or visiting dress. I had to take in 3.5 cm on each side seam, but otherwise it was perfect! Tomorrow I will begin cutting the wool, and I will use the muslin pieces for the lining.

It's inside out here. This is before I took it in. I just have it pinned closed in front. You can see the darts and a little of the peplum.

This is after taking it in. It's a lot smoother. The wrinkles in the back are from pinning it a little too tight. I think a couple pieces of boning will also help.

Corset

Here are pictures of the corset on. It's kind of lopsided, but it pulls in and pushes up like it's supposed to, so I'm alright with it. I acheived a three inch waist reduction on the first lacing.

Finished!

After a day of sewing, the corset is done. It is bound in lavender satin. It's not my best work, mostly because I was lazy and in a hurry, but I learned a lot for next time. I had a lot of issues with fitting that I would probably do differently.

I made a mockup, but it's hard to tell how it will fit without boning, and I didn't want to sew up channels and trim boning just for a mockup. The boning channels in my pattern are situated over the seams, so it is difficult to take it in, unless I unpick the boning casings, which of course I didn't want to do. The next time I have that issue, I am going to put a few bones in the middle of the pieces and leave the seams open, so I have enough support to get an idea of the shape, but the seams are free for adjusting.

I would have taken a picture with it on, but I was tired of lacing behind my back in a mirror.

First Fitting

28 hand-bound eyelets later, I could finally try on the corset. As suspected, I found that the back laced closed with hardly any effort. The bust was also too big. So the next step is creating tucks in between the boning to achieve a three or four inch gap in the back, in case I ever want to try tightlacing.

The eyelets I made in the standard way: Poke hole with awl, make a stitch, insert awl into hole, make a stitch, insert awl into hole, make a stitch, rinse and repeat. It's time consuming, but keeps the eyelet hole from collapsing in on itself between stitches.

Day Dress

This is the fabric that I found for my day dress, for only $2 a yard! Yes!! It's a navy blue and black plaid wool blend that is in reality much much darker than the picture shows. I am hoping there will be enough to make a separate ball gown bodice but I don't think that will work out. Perhaps a black bodice with plaid trim...

The pattern I am using is Simplicity 3727. I'll start making the bodice when the corset is finished, but the skirt will have to wait until I can make an enormoso hoopskirt. I'm thinking about using polyethylene tubing instead of hoopsteel, I've heard it works well, and is much cheaper than hoopsteel. I'm definitely not above using Jerry's for costume supplies, especially since I'll need about 100 feet of the stuff.

Quick Corsetry

So I've been whipping up a 1860's corset over the past couple days so I can start making the bodice for the day dress. I used a tightly woven white yard-sale find (so exact fiber content is unknown, but I would guess a linen-cotton blend) and boned it with plastic cable ties. These work WAY better than the flimsy spiral steel boning that I used for my first corset, which I recently ravaged for its lacing bones and hook-and-eye tape. Instead of buying a steel busk, I used hooks and eyes to close the front. It's unlined, with twill tape boning casings. It's sort of a quickie budget corset, but it will serve my purposes for now.

Here's a pic of it so far, I just need to handsew 30 eyelets (I need to get a grommet setter!) and bind the edges.

Upcoming Projects

I suppose the best way to start this would be with a list.

1860's corset (in production)
1860's chemise
1860's hoopskirt
1860's petticoat
1860's visiting dress (pattern and fabric purchased)
Late 18th century stays (fabric purchased)
18th century shift (in production)
18th century caraco jacket and petticoat
Pockets
Bumroll
1860's Ballgown
Bustle era gown
POTC Plum Gown
Costume in Portrait of an Actress in Oriental Dress by Jean Baptiste Greuze

This are sort of in order of priority, but things could change. First I need to find a source of income to fund this rather expensive obsession.