Curtain-Along Meetup!

When I first started the Curtain-Along project last year, it was a dream of mine to be able to get a group of people together who had made gowns from this fabric and take a big awesome photo of us all together in our semi-matching gowns.  I am so happy to say that this dream actually came true at Costume College this summer!  We ended up with 11 people in curtain dresses at the meetup, and I had SO much fun chatting with everybody and seeing how different each dress looked, even though they were all made from similar fabrics.  After the meetup, I ran into 3 more ladies in Curtain-Along dresses who couldn't make it to our meetup time, but it was wonderful seeing them in their gorgeous dresses too.  I was in Curtain-Along heaven!

A group of Curtain-Alongers in chronological order (as you do)

From left to right we have Trish from Trishstuff.com, Cait from Curse Words and Crinolines, Rebecca from Diary of a Costumer, Elizabeth (aka ashamanja-babu on LiveJournal), me, Christina Walley (who you can find on Facebook), Loren from Costumer's Closet, Alexx Iannetta (on FB and also Love3Angle on LJ), Lauren from Wearing History, Ginger from Scene in the Past, and Lauren from American Duchess.  

Roaming around the halls, I ran into Aimee from aimeemajor.com  Isn't her little jacket adorable?

Then I saw Aurora Celeste from dramaticthreads.com in a stunning gown made from the blue colorway of the Waverly Felicite fabric.  It looks so different from the others that I almost didn't recognize it as the same pattern.  I love how light and delicate it looks. 

I also totally swooned over Jackie's Victorian Curtain-Along tea gown made in an 18th c. revival style.  The Watteau pleats and little train in the back were so gorgeous!    

Christina found a different Waverly curtain pattern to use for her gown, and I was really excited to see a new option for for Curtain-Along projects.  She used the Waverly Imperial Dress Brick curtains for her gown, and like several other costumers at the meetup, she combined that with the Simply Shabby Chic embroidered curtains sold at Target for the petticoat.  Brilliant!

Loren and Alyxx were two of our ladies in black at the meetup.  I loved how Loren's gown looked combined with her black bonnet and mitts.  You see so many pale colors in 18th c. dress that it's really refreshing to see a darker palate at times.  Alyxx's little pierrot jacket was absolutely adorable, and I especially loved her ruffled peplum in back.  That type of jacket has such a great shape.  After seeing these ladies, I think I like the black colorway best of all, and it is taking a monumental effort for me to resist buying more curtains and making myself a gown in this fabric too.  

It was also great to see the Curtain-Along fabric paired with a variety of other prints and colors to see how the look changes with different fabric combinations. Cait's pale blue quilted petticoat and frothy white ruffles made it look very light and spring-ish to me, which I thought was really fabulous since I've heard several people say that this fabric is more of an autumn palette.   I think Cait's combo proves that it can be perfect for any time of the year.  

Rebecca, on the other hand, played up the warm colors in the print with her rich burgundy colored petticoat, stomacher, and fan.  So beautiful!  

We got such a kick out of taking photos of people in "matching" groups.  Here's Cait and Rebecca in their pair of caracos.

I was thrilled that another person in our group had an appreciation for the wacky mis-matched print look that I was inspired by when I made my working class Dutch outfit.  Trish made her fabulously mis-matched jacket out of crewel fabric to wear with a black Curtain-Along petticoat.  We make quite an eye-crossing pair, don't we?  LOL!  

I was also tickled pink to match my friend Elizabeth with our pair of Costume Close Up swallowtail jackets and petticoats.  We each made some alterations to the basic pattern to make our jackets more unique, and I think it's so fun to see the same garment reinterpreted in a variety of ways.  

Lauren made quite an entrance with her dress flowing behind her in the breeze!   I looooooove transitional style fashions, and her 1790's gown with its higher waistline and long train is such a perfect example of this style of dress.

Then we round out the 18th century with our Empire ladies in the two dresses that I think I liked best of all.  OMG.  Ginger and Lauren both looked incredibly gorgeous and elegant, and it was a joy to see Regency gowns with Color! and Pattern! instead of the more typical white and pastels.  If either of these dresses come up missing in the future, Ginger and Lauren should probably come search my closets to find them.  ;)  They were both absolute perfection.  

I want to thank everybody who participated in the Curtain-Along meetup at Costume College this year. It was an absolute blast and more successful than I ever dreamed it would be.  I'll leave you with a few more of my favorite snapshots, and you can see the rest of my meet-up pics my CoCo flickr set.

I have no idea what these ladies were talking about at the time, but my mental caption for this pic has them discussing the joys of BIG hats and hair!  LOL!  

How pretty to see all three colorways together in on shot.

The two Laurens made perfect bookends for early and late 1790's dress.  :)

Sometimes it was hard to remember that it is all the same basic fabric.  Everybody looks so different.

And one last parting shot to show off the fabric in all its glory.  Thanks for making this possible, Waverly!  

18th c. boy's shirt and Indienne waistcoat

I took a little break from Costume College sewing last week to whip up some new clothes for my boy to wear to a Bastille Day brunch.  First, I made him a little Indienne print waistcoat that would work for  both my Curtain-Along project and the Historical Sew Fortnightly "Eastern Influence" challenge.   I used a Mill Farm Pattern for his waistcoat, and I thought the pattern made up quite nicely and was definitely worth the very reasonable price that I paid for it.  My biggest complaint was that you have to pick one size for the patterns, and since I bought this one 2 years ago, I had to size it up on my own to fit him now.  Multi-sized patterns are definitely a plus when working with kids clothes!  

My inspiration for this garment came from this adorable boy's waistcoat from the Winterthur Museum.  The front is made from a scrap of my Waverly curtains, and the front lining and the back are made from tan cotton duck.  I also used a bit of striped light-weight linen for the lining in the back because I like the idea of using mix-and-match scraps for period linings.   I was incredibly lazy and machine sewed and bag-lined the waistcoat instead of using period construction techniques, but it still looks pretty much the same and it saved me a good bit of time.

I also needed to make him an 18th c. shirt, which I am going to count for the HSF "White" challenge.  I used the instructions in that same Mill Farm pattern to get me started, although I think I messed something up because the neckline and sleeves are less gathered than I expected them to be.  I also had some trouble figuring out how to do the gussets and finish the seams.  I am very much a visual learner, and unfortunately, the Mill Farm patterns are quite sparing with their illustrations.   I referenced several other sites online to help me wrap my head around it, and I think it all came together okay in the end.  I really liked this article by the Northwest Territory Alliance and found their instructions very helpful, even though I didn't follow them exactly.

I made the shirt out of a lightweight linen/cotton blend, and while I used my machine on some parts, I finished everything by hand.  I was also excited to be able to use some of my tiny 1920's mother-of-peal shirt buttons from the collar and cuffs.  As a finishing touch, I hemmed a triangle of gingham fabric and made a neckerchief to tie around his collar.  All of the materials for the waistcoat, neckerchief, and shirt came from my stash.

This outfit is still a work-in-progress, and I hope to make him some drop-front trousers and a jacket sometime this fall.  I also made his shirt and waistcoat bigger than necessary, so maybe they will last for a few wearings.

Curtain dress meetup time

"Women in matching dresses" from Retronat

Thank-you so much to those of you who voted in my Curtain-Along at Costume College poll!  There was only one person who had a conflict with 11 on Saturday, and I apologize to whoever that person was, but we are going to go with that time.  So I hope to see some of you at the outside lounge area at 11:00 on Saturday morning!

Honestly, the main purpose of the meetup time is just so we can get some pictures of a group of us in our Curtain-Along dresses.  I am totally addicted to crazy photos ops (see exhibit A and exhibit B for starters), and the thought of taking pics of a bunch of ladies in semi-matching curtain dresses in one place at one time makes me a little giddy with joy.  But it is also totally cool if:
A. You can't make it to the 11 meetup, but you still wear your dress on Saturday so we can geek out with other Curtain-Alongers as we run into each other between classes.
B. You come say hi at the Saturday photo-op meetup even if you are not wearing a Curtain-Along outfit.
C. Choose to wear your Curtain-Along dress at some other point in the weekend.

I think Lauren from American Duchess was wanting to wear her Curtain-Along dress to the Ice Cream Social, so if that works better for you, then that might be another time to get a little group together in curtain dresses.  So no worries, and feel free to do whatever works best for you.  :)

I can't wait to see all of your Curtain-Along masterpieces at Costume College!

Curtain-Along Meetup at Costume College

Now that the limited classes have been announced for Costume College, I thought I'd create a poll and figure out when the most people could come to a little Curtain-Along meetup.  This is going to be totally informal - I thought we could just meet by the sitting area close to the pool for some fun pictures and socializing sometime during the day on Saturday.  And of course if Saturday doesn't work for you, then no big deal.  We can still come *squee!* over you anytime during weekend whenever we spot those Felicite-print costumes in the crowd.

So if you are interested in joining us, please take a minute to take this survey and help us pick a time.   And just FYI - there is only one class on Saturday that I am not willing to miss, and that's the English Country Dance class at 3:00... but that could be a meet-up opportunity too.  I think it would be really fun to see a group of us dancing together in our matching curtain dresses!   :)

Spring Curtain-along check in

I've been lazy about blogging this spring, so I am well overdue for another Curtian-along post.  If you are scratching your head in confusion about what this whole "curtain-along" thing is about, you can read all of my posts about the topic here.  And now that we are all caught up, here are the latest developments in the online world of curtain costuming.

If you are going to Costume College this summer, I'd love to have your input on when we should have our Curtain-along meetup.  After looking over the class schedule, several of us curtain-costumers have decided that Saturday during the day might be the best time for us to wear our dresses and have a little gathering and photo op.  I'll wait until after the limited classes are assigned to set a time, but let me know if you are interested in participating and when would be the best time for you.

I've seen more and more AMAZING curtain projects popping up around the blogosphere lately.  I am trying to pin all of the curtain projects that I find on my Pinterest board, but I'm sure I've missed a ton.  If you see any others, or if you are working on your own project with the Felicite fabric, please let me know - I'd love to add it!  If you don't have a blog of your own, I'd also be thrilled to feature your work here.

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I wanted to give a quick shout-out to two amazing bloggers who have posted curtain-along projects this spring.  I have always had a special weakness for printed Françhaise gowns, so I was absolutely blown away when I saw Learning to Costume's Robe à la Française.  O.M.G.  Is that not the most drool-worthy thing ever?  

I was also ridiculously enamored with this "dress in a day" created by A Dedicated Follower of Fashion.  Yes, you read that correctly - three ladies made this gorgeous gown in ONE DAY!  I'm not sure which part impresses me the most - how quickly it was made or how beautiful it looks on Amanda.

There are also several other wonderful Curtain-along projects that I've seen on the Historical Sew Fortnightly Facebook page.  Unfortunately I can't link to those, but you might want to take a peek at the photo albums for the UFO challenge and the Flora and Fauna challenge to see a few more beautiful gowns, jackets, and cloaks.

And finally, here's a little fabric shopping tip thanks to Joni.  Have you seen the Hazelnut colorway of the Waverly Felicite fabric?  It has more neutral color palate than the curtain versions, and fabric.com has it on sale for $6.98 a yard.  You can't beat that!

Curtain-Along Pocket, Meetup, and Give-away

It's been a while since I've posted anything about the Curtain-Along, but I definitely haven't forgotten about it.  In fact, I've just been waiting to make sure of a few things before making this announcement:

We are going to have a Curtain-Along meetup at Costume College this summer!  

I am SO excited to be able to attend Costume College again this year, and I've been consulting with some of my friends about a good day to do a meetup for this project.  Most of the people that I've talked to have voted for Friday or Saturday during the day, and personally, I'm learning toward Friday so we can meet everybody and make some new friends early in the conference.   But I'm still open to changing that to Saturday if you all know of any big conflicts that I'm not aware of.  We still have until August to nail down an actual time and location for our gathering, and I'll keep you updated with more info later in the spring.  :)

And while I still haven't found the time to make my Curtain-Along jacket, I was able to sneak in a smaller curtain project for the Historical Sew Fortnightly undies challenge this week.  I made a patchwork pocket inspired by this one from the Winterthur Museum.

I used one of the curtain tie-backs to cut blocks of the printed fabric, and then I dug out some scraps from my ikat open robe for the blue pieces.  The striped binding and backing fabrics are also from my scrap bin.   I cheated a little and machine-sewed the piecework, but the binding is sewn by hand.

The most noteworthy thing about this project was discovering how HUGE 18th c. pockets were!  The original pocket that I based mine on is 16" long.  When I blew it up to full size to make a pattern, I thought it must be a mistake because it looked so crazy big.  I even made one of my students model it so you can see the scale.   But it is definitely not a mistake.  When I looked at other examples I discovered that this size is actually quite average.  I had no idea!   We decided that 18th c. women must have been carrying whole chickens around in these things.  For my own version of this pocket, I reduced the length to 14", which is still quite large, but at least my hands can reach the bottom of it now.

Just for a bit of fun when I wrap up the Curtain-Along in September, I thought I would do a giveaway with this pocket as the prize. We can make a final list of all the Curtain-Along projects that people have made this past year, and then I'll hold a random drawing and send this pocket to one lucky person as a little thank-you for participating.

And just as a reminder, check out my Pinterest board for all of the pin-able Curtain-Along projects that I know of so far.  If you have seen others or have made something yourself, please let me know so we can all check them out.  And remember, if you don't have a blog, I am happy to feature your work or let you do a guest post here too.  If you are new to this project or just looking for inspiration, I also have a board of Georgian Indienne print inspiration pics to get you started.

Happy curtaining!

Featured Curtain-Along Sacque, by Mary Burbage

This week, we have another amazing Curtian-Along dress made by Mary Burbage.  Mary made a 1750’s Indienne print sacque, petticoat, and stomacher, and she sent us this fabulous write-up to tell you more about her work:

For the Festive Attyre Curtain-Along project, I made a 1750’s sacque, petticoat, and stomacher.

Materials:

• three Waverly Felicité curtain panels (from Amazon)
• 4 5/8 yd 1” moss green china silk ribbon (from Silky Way)
• 1 1/8 yd bleached muslin (from JoAnn)
• 2 ½ yd 1” cotton twill tape (from JoAnn)

Patterns:

The bodice lining was a modified version of the Simplicity Pirates of the Caribbean gown (S4092). I adjusted the armscye shape a bit to make it more accurate. I also moved the side seam back further, again to make it more accurate. I omitted the lacing because I didn’t feel like fooling with it this time around. I knew it should fit reasonably well since it had been fine when I made my celadon sacque a few years ago.

The sacque itself was draped on the dummy following the tutorials on The Fashionable Past (http://koshka-the-cat.blogspot.com/2011/03/draping-sort-of-sacque-part-one.html) and patterns in Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Englishwomen’s Clothes 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold  – the 1745-1755 sack for wide hoops on pp. 32-34 and the 1745-1755 pet-en-l’air on pp. 28-30. The sleeves were taken from the 1770-1775 sacque on pp. 34-35, mostly because I already had that pattern piece printed out from last year’s rust taffeta en fourreau gown.

The petticoat was the same as my rust taffeta petticoat from last year, which used the 18th century petticoat tutorial on Katherine’s Dress Page. This tutorial is similar to the petticoat tutorial on A Fashionable Frolick except that it also covers waist shaping.
The stomacher is just cut to a pleasing shape.

Construction:

The sacque, petticoat, and stomacher are made of indienne print cotton sateen. The bodice, sleeves, and stomacher are lined with muslin. The sleeves are trimmed with two rows of ruched china silk ribbon, and the stomacher is trimmed with eight china silk bows in graduated sizes. All pieces were sewn by hand.

There’s really not much else to say about construction since the tutorials are so detailed.

I’m still not quite sure that trimming the sleeves with ruched ribbon rather than having cuffs was correct for the 1750’s, but I can use the fabric out of the curtain tiebacks if I decide to make cuffs in the future. I’d have to do a lot of piecing if I were going to try to do it with the scraps from the curtain panels.

Because of the method of making the bodice by cutting out the armscye and folding/pleating the rest of it, this really did take practically all of the three lengths of fabric. I was able to make the matching petticoat without piecing in a different fabric at the top, but I did have to do a little piecing to make it work. I did not cut this with a train so that I could dance in it. I saw several online that were trained, which was appealing but not so practical.



Undergarments:

I wear this gown and petticoat over a chemise (Simplicity 3635), fully boned stays (Simplicity 3635), pocket hoops (Simplicity 4092), and two petticoats based on the same tutorials as the print petticoat.

Thoughts after wearing:

I love this dress. It was great to wear and had great range of motion for the arms. I had absolutely no problems dancing in it, even doing “The Duke of Kent’s Waltz” where the lady keeps turning under the gentleman’s arm.

I am definitely looking forward to wearing it again at Holidays at Smithfield. I doubt anyone will mind the 1750’s gown at the 1770’s plantation!

two new curtain dresses

A few people have asked me how they can share pictures of their curtain-along dresses if they don't have a blog, and the answer to that one is easy - just send it to me and I'll post it for you!  It'll be fun to showcase the work of others here on my blog, and it brings back good memories of when I used to do that years ago on the Featured Attyre section of my old website.

So I'm incredibly excited to get the ball rolling with two new curtain-along projects made by some of my local friends in the DFWCG.  First up is Chloe Hinton who made a lovely jacket using the caraco pattern in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion.  To dress it up a little, she trimmed the edges with box pleated grosgrain ribbon.

And next is Erin C. who sent me this description of her gown:

The dress was made using Sense & Sensibility's Portrait Dress pattern. I'd never made one of their patterns before, and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to make any adjustments aside from sleeve width and cutting the neckline slightly lower. The mustard petticoat is a linen I bought at Joann's. Shoes by American Duchess (of course). The hat I decorated from a plain straw one from Jas. Townsend.

If you have any questions or feedback for either of these lovely ladies, just leave it in the comments and I'll make sure they get the message.  And if anybody else has completed curtain-along projects that you would like to share, email me at jen(at)festiveattyre.com