What's time to a pig?

I've been working hard on my hand-sewn 1790's stays for the past few weeks, and I have enjoyed it more than I ever could have imagined. I have always been firmly in the anti-hand-sewing camp in the past. I never could wrap my brain around why people would spend so much effort slaving away on something that would never even be seen. It just seemed like such a colossal waste of time to me, and I thought the only reason that people hand sewed anything was for bragging rights, which doesn't interest me at all.

But I think I finally "get it" now. For me, hand sewing a garment isn't about doing it for the glory or for some ultimate step toward historical accuracy. The thing that I didn't expect to discover is that hand sewing is actually relaxing and fun! OMG - who knew?

When I was in grad school, I once complained to my favorite professor about how long it would take to finish an elaborate printmaking project.  He replied by telling me a joke:

There once was a traveling salesman driving through the countryside, when he observed what appeared to be a farmer holding a pig over his head under an apple tree. Curiosity got the best of him, so the salesman stopped and backed up. Sure enough, the farmer held a pig that was eating apples right off the tree. “Why are you holding that pig up to eat apples?” asked the salesman. “It’s because he likes the fresh apples right off the tree better than the bruised fruit on the ground,” came the farmer’s reply. “I see,” said the salesman. “But I’m amazed. Doesn’t feeding your pig like that waste a lot of time?” The farmer paused, reflected, and finally said, “I suppose you’re right. But then again, what’s time to a pig?”

The moral that I took away from that story boils down to this: what else would I be doing with all of those hours that I was so concerned about? Watching TV? Wasting time on the internet? Playing silly games on my phone? Sitting around thinking about how bored I am?  OR... I could be doing something with my spare time that brings me enjoyment and creates something amazing. Yeah, it takes forever and I could have accomplished the task in a much easier way, but so what? Isn't art worth the time?

It has been truly lovely to work on a project that doesn't have tight deadline.  I've been carrying a piece of my stays in my purse with me at all times, and I stitch a few rows whenever I am bored or have some time to kill.  I've enjoyed having something that keeps my fidgety fingers busy, and it is so cool to see how much my sewing has improved from those first wobbly lines of stitching.  I've even discovered that I can now feel the difference between a sharp needle and a dull one.  Like all good meditative practices, regular hand sewing makes you notice the details and become more attuned with your environment.  I think that is a very cool thing.

After 3 weeks of work, I am now starting on the final stages of this project.  I am currently assembling the pieces and sewing the eyelets, and then I just have to bind the edges and add the lining.  It has progressed much faster than I thought it would, and I am already trying to think of another small hand-work project to fill the void once this one is done.  I've learned that sometimes it is nice to slow down and smell the roses, eat the apples, or stitch the channels.  After all, what's time to a pig seamstress.  :)

Bustles at the museum

This weekend the DFWCG took a trip to the Kimball Art Museum to see an exhibit on Impressionism, and we all wore bustle-era fashions for the occasion.  We were quite the side show at the museum, but everybody was so gracious and nice to us, and we had a really lovely time seeing the art and chatting with people about our clothing.  We finished the day by heading over to La Madeline for desserts and more socializing.  It was such a fun afternoon!

While waiting for other guild members to show up at the museum, we posed for a LOT of pictures from all the curious bystanders.

Eventually we all arrived and we went into the exhibit, where unfortunately, photos were not allowed.


   
But they did allow photos in the permanent exhibit, so my friend Christy and I posed for a few quick pics with the art.

Here's the majority of our group at the end of the day. We had already lost several of our lovely ladies at this point, but it's the best group shot that we got. More photos from the day can be found on my flickr.

As for me, I ended up wearing a "this old thing" dress from my closet, but I had to make a new hat for it since my original bonnet got crushed on the return from from Costume College last year.  The straw on the brim was broken in several areas, but the crown was fine, so I chopped off the brim and recycled all the bits and pieces to make it into a small brimless bonnet similar to the one seen on the top right here from koshka-the-cat's collection of 1883 Godey's illustrations.  I really miss my wide-brimmed bonnet, but this was better than nothing.

I also tried wearing a curly fringe hairpiece since it is almost impossible to find a photo or illustration of women in the 1880's without bangs.  I know it it technically "correct" for this era, but seriously, y'all - I hate it.  I feel like I'm back in middle school in the 1980's with a bad perm.  LOL!  I think I'll try wearing straight bangs next time since I've found a few photos of women from the 1880's with non-curly fringe.   But oh well... at least I tried!  :)


   

1790s hair and turban tutorial

I got a good bit of practice wrapping my turban and fixing my hair to wear with my 1790's outfits this past year, so I wanted to show you all my technique for making this style.  There are lots of illustrations and paintings of women wearing turbans in this period, and the artist Louise Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun painted a ton of beautifully turbaned women like the one shown here from 1797.  It's a fun style to wear and I think it is very flattering as well.  And best of all, it took me less than 5 minutes to do my hair from start to finish.  I love fast and easy hair!
 

 And as a postscript, here's a little more information that I didn't cover in the video:

 - I bought the curly hairpieces from a local store called Sam Moon, but I've seen similar curly ponytails on ebay, at beauty supply stores, and even at drugstores.  It gets a bit pricey to buy two of them, so you might be better off buying a cheap wig and just cutting it down to cover the back of your head only, or you could buy one longer hairpiece and pin the curls up more to add volume and fill in top.

 - I forgot to mention that the clip-on ponytails also come with an elastic drawstring that goes around the edge to cinch it up around a bun if you want to wear it that way.  I removed both the claw clip and the elastic and stretched them so they would sit flat on my head.  The combs were already attached when I bought it.

- Here is a link to the setting lotion that I mentioned.  That stuff is wonderful!  I use a 50/50 mixture of Lottaboday and water and I keep it in a spray bottle so I can spritz my dry hair with the setting lotion before rolling.

- It is easy to make the extra decorations like a feather or a wheat spray go across your head, but it is harder to get them to stick straight up, which was a popular look in the 1790s.  I recommend Lynn McMasters' fabulous wrapped turban tutorial for help with that one - look on the articles page of her website.

hand-sewing madness

I have caught the hand-sewing madness lately, and one of my big goals for the summer is to hand-sew a new set of stays from 1790.  I can't guarantee that I'll actually pull this off, but I'm really excited about the thought of trying!

I have the pattern fitted now and I just got my fancy linen thread in the mail today.  I ordered it from William Booth Draper and I was so happy with the customer service there.  The shipping ended up being less that what was listed on the website, and they even let me go back and add some cotton tape to my order when I poked around their site some more and realized how cheap it was.  Some of you have probably been ordering from them for years now, but this was my first time and I couldn't be happier.  And it is such a treat to have nice sewing supplies to work with - it feels so decadent! 

You can also see the wool that I am using to make my stays in the background of this picture.  I dyed it myself to look like the pretty pink stays seen here.  I'm SO excited about starting this project.  Hopefully I'll be back in a few months to show you the finished results.  

sucker for a giveaway

OMG.  Have you seen the new American Duchess shoes?  DROOL!  She's having another giveaway, so here I am spreading the love so I can enter.  I'm definitely a late-18th century girl when it comes to dresses, but I think I'd have to change my ways if I won a pair of shoes like these.

1890's cycling costume

This past weekend was Frontier Forts Days at the Ft. Worth Stockyards, so a group from the DFWCG took a train ride on the vintage railroad and then attended the event at the Stockyards in our best Victorian duds.  It was a truly delightful outing, and you can read more about our day on our guild blog.

I finally finished my cycling outfit that I've been angsting over since January.  Jeesh!  It really doesn't look that hard, does it?  But the silly thing gave me fits to make - it was one of those projects where nothing goes right.  But with that being said, I LOVE the way it turned out, and I had more fun wearing this outfit than anything that I've made in a long time.  I felt so liberated and progressive in my short skirt and dapper hat and tie - I can totally see why women of the 1890's were so crazy about cycling.

So here are a few of the nitty-gritty details about my outfit if you are curious:

I based the design of my skirt on numerous photos on female cyclists in ankle-lenght skirts with button placket, like the one shown on the right (and check out my Pinterest board for many more).  I used the 1894 skirt pattern from page 99 of Authentic Victorian Fashion Patterns, and the only change I made to it was shortening the hem a little and pleating the back instead of gathering it.  The skirt is made of soft wool with a felted finish - somewhat like melton but much lighter.  I stiffened the hem with a wide facing of duck, and that did wonders for getting it to flare out in a 90's-style bell shape.  I used vintage shell buttons for the placket, and I had to hand sew all the buttonholes because my sewing machine rebelled and refused to sew though this much thick wool (and in the process, I decided that b*ttonh*les deserves to be a curseword!)
I based the design of my skirt on numerous photos on female cyclists in ankle-lenght skirts with button placket, like the one shown on the right (and check out my

My blouse was a hodge-podge of of patterns from Authentic Victorian Fashion Patterns and 59 Authentic Turn-of-the-Century Fashion Patterns, which are both by Kristina Harris.  The body of the blouse came from the fashion plate on page 99, but I used the wrinkled mutton leg sleeve pattern from another fashion plate and removed the gathering at the back of the neck.  It has a fitted lining in the body and sleeves, and all the gathered bits are tacked to the lining to keep it neat and tidy.  It was a real challenge to get this pattern to fit correctly, and I had to change the shape of the shoulder and neck seams quite a bit to get it to fit my freakishly square shoulders.  I also decided to remove some of the extra fabric from the body so it wouldn't be overly puffy.   The fabric is silk noil woven in a tiny navy and white houndstooth pattern, and it was probably a bit thicker than this pattern was intended for.  

The outfit was finished off with a vintage straw boater hat, and some 1990's lace-up granny boots.  I had meant to make spats, but I ran out of time and they didn't get done - but maybe I'll try again the next time I wear this outfit.  I actually wanted to wear a bow tie instead of a long tie, but there was some unfortunate gaping between my hooks in front, so thankfully, the long tie hid the ugly spots.  

I love taking silly pictures while dressed up in my costumes, and this outfit seemed to inspire even more silliness than usual.  Here are some of my favorites from the event.

 Making myself comfy on the train.  Tisk, tisk - so un-ladylike!

   

Posing with the back of the train at the stockyards station.

 

My friend Christy and I had way too much fun playing with the period guns.  

Time to move on to the BIG guns next!

Christy and I are quite the rabble-rousers!

I couldn't find a bicycle to ride, so this poor horse had to make do.

All this goofing around makes a gal hungry!

And last, but not least... I was DYING to take a picture with a bicycle, but I never could find one, so I decided to just photoshop myself into an old photo.  Eh... it's better than nothing.  :)

The rest of my photos can be found on my flickr album, and special thanks to Cynthia and Christopher for letting me use some of their photos as well.

steam-n-tea

So last month I told you all that I was working on an 1890's cycling costume for our DFWCG Steampunk Tea Party.  Well... life got in the way, and that outfit didn't get finished in time, so I've put it on hold until our train ride outing in May.  I ended up digging though my closet and settling for a hodgepodge, thrown-together, last minute costume.  It's a very typical steampunk look, but it was fun and easy, and really, isn't that what steampunk is all about?

The whole outfit was really designed around my 1904 ribbon corset that I made 2 years ago, but I never got to wear because it was too small for me until recently.  I'm thrilled to finally find a use for it.  Next I dug out some olive green wool from my stash, and I whipped up a long straight skirt from a vintage 1930's pattern.  Then I draped a natural-form style overskirt from the small pieces of fabric remaining.  This skirt is a total hack job, and I didn't even bother to finish the waistband or add permanent closures since I was running so sort on time.  The blouse, scarf, and boots are staples in my modern wardrobe, and the hat and  hairpiece are from other costumes.  Easy peasey!  I actually like the way it all came together, and I had a blast at the tea party.  Our hostess really outdid herself with the beautiful table setting and food, and then we all went outside and shot our modded nerf weapons and water guns.  It was silly and fun and truly lovely afternoon.

Here are a few pictures of my costume, and more pictures from the event can be found on flickr if you'd like to see the rest of our steamy tea.

the Joanie remodel

So like everybody else on We Sew Retro, I have been bitten by Mad Men fever this month. I didn't even realize that there was a sew-along going on for Mad Men dresses until this past week, but as soon as I caught on to what was going on, I decided that I had to join in on the fun too. So thank-you Julia Bobbin for the inspiration!

Instead of making a copy of a specific Mad Men dress, I was more inspired by specific fabrics.  One of the $15 estate sale dresses that I picked up a few weeks ago was this mid-century monstrosity.  Although the shape seems like something Betty might wear, the fabric reminded me of a dress that Joan wears in Season 4.  Both fabrics are a mottled mess of turquoise, olive, terracotta brown, and magenta.  It's so wrong, but oh so mid-century modern right!

In its original state, this dress was definitely wearing me more than I was wearing it.  And when I got it home and started looking at it in good light, I realized that all of the magenta and terracotta colored areas of the fabric had discolored to bright purple and blackish-brown on the bodice.  I'm not sure if that was from heat or perspiration or who knows what, but once I realized that, it drove me crazy and I couldn't look at anything else.  Then I discovered that the sewing thread was rotted and the whole dress was splitting at the seams as I was wearing it.  I started wondering why on earth I had bought this silly thing, so I decided that it was safe to put this dress out of its misery and reuse the undamaged skirt fabric for something new and improved. 

So the skirt of the original dress has now been reincarnated into a wrap blouse using this pattern from 1953.  Although the pattern dates from a decade earlier than the show, Joan wears a wrap blouse in Season 1 so I decided to go with it.  Plus it seemed like a very timeless blouse shape, so I might get away with wearing it in my modern wardrobe from time to time too.


The skirt is a very basic pencil skirt made with this Vogue pattern from 1959.  I used some vintage estate sale wool from my stash for the skirt, and I picked this fabric because this type of warm brown is a color that Joan wears often on the show, including in the scene with the wrap blouse.  Although it was a snap to put together, I had to re-sew it 3 times before I could get it tight enough, and I'm still not wearing it anywhere as tight as how Joan wears her clothes!  The skirt pattern also had gathers in the front which made the fabric pooch out in an unattractive way, so I sewed darts in the front where the gathers were.  I really love the way this skirt turned out, and I can't wait to make more blouses to wear with it.

So that's pretty much it!  It was a really fun little diversion, and once again I was amazed by how fast vintage dresses are to make after working on older historical costumes the majority of the time.  This stuff is quite addictive. 

vintage shopping

Two weeks ago, I ran down to a "going out of business" sale for a Dallas vintage clothing shop.  I could have spent days looking through all their clothes, but I only had an hour or so to spare, so I sped-shopped and came away with with 5 fabulous new vintage dresses... for $60 total!  Woohoo!

This weekend, there was a new Vintage Clothing and Jewelry Show that I was very interested in checking out, so I picked one of my new vintage dressed and headed out for more shopping.  There were a ton of amazing clothes there, but I didn't buy anything this time.  It seemed silly to buy even more dresses when I'm not even sure when I'll get a chance to wear the ones that I just bought.  But I still had a blast at the show and I saw a lot of other ladies wearing fabulous vintage attire, which was a lot of fun.  I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that it comes back again next year!

 And I really enjoyed wearing my new dress. I think it has a very classic shape that doesn't look too terribly "costumey", so I think that this dress this will get a good bit of regular use in my modern wardrobe.  I don't wear dressy outfits very often, but when I do, I LOVE wearing vintage!

shews

Okay... I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for a giveaway, and I think I would die of bliss if I won a pair of the new American Duchess shoes... so here I am blogging about it so I can enter the contest.  I plan on buying the ivory version of this shoe when it is released at a later date, but I sure wouldn't mind a pair of the red ones too just for fun.

*le sigh*