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.

pattern love

I added all of my 30's and early 40's patterns to my flickr set.  I hope I get around to making some of these soon, but in the meantime, it's fun to look at all of the charming fashion illustrations.  Some of them are so beautiful!

1904 ribbon corset

A fabulous local fabric store, Fabrique, hosted a remnant challenge this past month, and I decided to give it a try.  I came home with three different fabrics, and after a few weeks of waffling back and forth over what to make, I decided that would use some peacock silk brocade for a ribbon corset based on the 1904 corset diagram in Corset and Crinolines.  The super-cool blog Bridges on the Body helped me muddle through the construction, and the only problems that I had with this project came from the fact that I had to cut my silk  on the bias to get the feather placement like I wanted on the sides.  Of course, using bias construction on a corset is a HUGE no-no, but it is lined with some heavy-duty groisgrain silk that acts as the real strength of this garment.  My corset has a few minor wrinkles that probably wouldn't be there if I had cut it on the straight, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared that it might be.

I had a really hard time deciding how to trim this thing, but I just kept thinking of Tim Gunn and his  admonishments on Project Runway to "use your editing eye!"  I kept scaling back my desire to be flashy with beading or contrasting ruffles until I ultimately ended up making some self-fabric fringe by fraying strips of the silk.  I also used braid made of embroidery floss down the center of the fringe to give it a little more interest and to hide my lines of stitching.  I love how the fringe echoes the look of the feathers, and it adds even more "oomph" to the bust and hips, which emphases the hourglass look.

I'm sad to say that I forgot to take a picture of the back of this corset before turning it in for the contest, but I'll try to take a pic and post it next week.  I found some great 000 2-part eyelets at Walmart, of all places, and I ADORE how they turned out.  They had antique gold, copper, and black at the store I went to, but no silver.  How weird is that?  I'll have to look up the brand the next time I'm shopping there so I can check for them online.  The lacing is done with some cotton twill tape that I dyed to match the dark brown of the silk.  Oh, and I also wanted to mention that I bought my busk and boning from Vogue Fabrics, and I was incredibly pleased with the price and speed of shipping.

And now for the real question - what am I going to do with this corset?  Since I'm on such a vintage kick lately, I've been daydreaming about pairing it with a New Look blouse and pinstriped brown pencil skirt for a midcentury spin on a steampunk outfit.  What would that be - atomicpunk?  Or I might make it into a fairy costume, or maybe I'll use for the period it was intended for and wear it under Edwardian costumes... but it sure would be a shame to hide such a flashy set of undies!

starting a vintage pattern archive

I've been saying that I need to do this for years now, so I'm finally getting off my lazy butt and starting an archive of my vintage sewing patterns.  Eventually, I hope to separate them by decades, but right now, I'm just putting them all together in chronological order for ease of browsing.

16 patterns down, 100-something more to go!  Woohoo!

1958 dirndl skirt

I was having one of those "I have nothing cute to wear" days today, so I decided to make a new skirt to go with a sweater that I got for Christmas.  I dug out this 1958 Simplicity playsuit pattern and some vintage plaid that I bought at an estate sale, and a few hours later... ta-da!  I have cute skirtage!  Woohoo!

This was by far one of the easiest garments that I have ever made.  There isn't even a zipper or hooks - just one button and the opening is cleverly hidden in the pleats.  I usually don't wear skirts that are this full, but this thing was so fast and stress-free to make that I'm a complete dirndl convert now!

vintage finds

I stumbled across 3 great vintage dresses in my size while wandering through an antique shop yesterday.  At only $25 apiece, I thought they were quite an amazing find!  I need to get a few minor spots out, but other than that they are in great shape.  Wanna see what I got?

I need to make a proper slip for this one since it is so sheer! It's hard to see in the picture, but the fabric has dainty brown scribbles all over it - very suitable for an artist, I thought!  I probably won't wear this dress with my oxfords unless I'm doing a reenactment event, but I just wanted to see how it would look with "sensible" 40's shoes.  I think it would be cuter with ballet flats though.

I almost didn't get this one since crazy zebra stripes aren't really my thing, but now I'm so glad I did!  I think it looks much cuter on me that it did in the hanger.  I think this dress will get the most wear of any of them since the style is so timeless.

This one has the most amazing detailing with pintucks covering the top and sleeves and a few down the skirt.  It makes me wanna go swing dancing!!

1790's gown recap

I posted a new page on my website about my 1790's zone gown this week. Now I just need to get the rest of the photos uploaded to flickr...