1911 mockup

I made the mockup of my suffragette dress this week.  I like the bodice, but I'm not sure about the skirt.  It's fairly full in the back (I usually prefer the very narrow skirts for this period), and I never could figure out how to make the back pleats fall like they are charted in the Patterns of Fashion diagram, although I'm sure I can fake something.  Also, I omitted the decorative gore in the bottom of the skirt because I thought this would save me time (wow that's a lot of buttons!), but now it seems way too plain without it.  

So I can either keep the original skirt and add the gore back in, or I could switch out this skirt for the double-layer one in the Butterick pattern... or... I dunno?  Maybe just a straight skirt with a contrasting band at the bottom?  I'm just afraid that would make me look shorter.   I think some virtual mockups might help me make a decision.

Anyhoo.  Here are some more pictures of my trial run.

I probably have more poochiness in the front than necessary.  

You can see the lovely raised back waistline here.

I have a LOT more booty than my dress form does, so that should give it more of that Edwardian S-bend shape.

Now that I have a workable mockup, I'm going to switch gears for a bit and make myself an Edwardian corset.  I'll definitely need one before I can fine tune the fit of this dress.  I look like a lumpy mess in these styles without one!  

suffragette dress diary

I haven't done a dress diary in AGES, but I thought that I might give it another try just so I have something to blog about.  I'm organizing a suffragette picnic with the DFW Costumers' Guild on Memorial Day weekend, and although I have a backup dress already, I'm hoping that I'll have time to make a new costume for this event.

My plan is to use this green linen/cotton striped fabric to make something similar to the 1911 dress in Patterns of Fashion.  I probably won't make an exact copy in regards to the trim and smaller details, but I think it'll give me a really good pattern to start with.  I also adore the dress on the right here, so I might do a belt and the contrasting hem like you see in that photo.  But I'll have to find some suitable fabric if I want to do that.  So far, I haven't had much luck because I can't figure out what color would go with this weirdo green.  I'm thinking that a gunmetal gray would be nice, but I haven't had much luck finding anything like that.

So first on the agenda: enlarging the pattern and making a mockup.   My goal is to have that done by next weekend.  Wish me luck!

new clothes for my man

We went to Scarborough Faire the weekend, and Mike was finally able to wear his new Alsatian costume!  It took me over 3 years to get it done (with about 2 3/4 of those years spend moldering in my to-do pile), but thank goodness it is finally finished!!!  Now I can sew for myself again without all the guilt and mopey "I guess I'll wear this same old costume" comments from my man.

And if anybody is joining me from my Festive Attyre website, welcome!  Hopefully I'll be better at blogging than I have been at webbing these past few years!

pattern luv

I finished adding all of my women's vintage patterns to my flickr archive.  There are a few VERY old ones from the Edwardian period, but most are from the late 50's - 70's.  I've had so much fun getting these organized and categorized and searchable.  Next month, I'll add my children's patterns.