HSF/M 2015: Challenge #12: Re-Do Early Bustle Era Dress

The Challenge:  December – Re-Do:  It’s the last challenge of the year, so let’s keep things simple by re-doing any of the previous 11 challenges.

Fabric:  Silk taffeta, silk dupioni, cotton, netting

Pattern:   My own!

Year:   1869

Notions:  The turquoise trim, thread, hooks and eyes

How historically accurate is it?  Well, if it weren't for the crazy lining, it would be okay.  

Hours to complete:  Too many :-)

First worn:  Jan 2nd 2016  for the Christmas Tea

Total cost:  I have no idea.  I know the Valentine's day lining fabric was $2.50 a yard and I have a lot of it left over.  I think the silk taffeta was the $4.99 stuff I got from Golden silks this fall.  The dupioni was $3.84 a yard and I maybe used 4 yards of it?   The turquoise fringe trim was stash and I have no idea where I got it or how much it was.  Knowing me, it was probably ebay and therefore under$20 for the entire thing.  The Santa fabric was stash.  It was left over from my sister in law's quilt that I probably should finish posting....

My inspiration came mostly from a fashion plate at the Bartos Collection and a dress from the Met.   Loren of The costumer's closet gave me great advice on lining the skirts so they don't look de-puffed.  Thanks, Loren!

Somehow, my dress grew a tail while I was working on it.  I'm not sure how that happened.  You might be able to make out a black and white blurry shape in the upper left - that's Abigail.  She was excited that there was something hidden beneath the skirt!

The bodice lining.  I didn't have any cheap fabric or any scraps big enough on hand to line the dress with so....quilting cotton it was.  Santa was one hand but I only had enough for the bodice.  The sleeve and the underskirt are both lined in the Valentine's day print.  

Front of the dress.  The shoulders are a bit funky on me as well as the dress dummy but it's not super horrible.  Although, everyone was trying to look at my shoulders to figure out what the heck I had lined the bodice in .  I do need to add trim, buttons, and rework the bodice slightly.  

Close up of the apron skirt and the hemline of the underskirt.  I want to add puffs out of the blue/gold fabric.  The fabric is WAY prettier in person than in pictures.  It's a cross of aqua blue and an almost coppery goldish color.  The gold fabric is really a cross of gold and true royal purple (think a deep wine color).   

Back of the dress.  Obligatory butt bow is obligatory. 

Side view to show it really is a bustle dress.  :-)

So this qualifies for four of the 2015 challenges - blue, sewing secrets, stash busting, and out of your comfort zone.

• Blue - The crossway of the silk is blue and I added a gold trim with turquoise stones to the hem.
• Sewing Secrets- I doubt having a cat beneath your bustle counts but Santa and Valentine's day fabric probably does.   
• Stash busting - everything is stuff I've had for at least a few months.  The trim is something I've had for years.
• Out of your comfort zone - as some of you know, bustle scares me like nothing else in Historical costuming.  Give me 1890's sleeves, Elizabethan, or even something to completely hand sew that isn't a bustle and I'm fine.  Tell me I have to make a bustle and I immediately freak out.  I love the look.  It's a gorgeous period.  However, this is my fourth dress and this is the only one, in my opinion, that looks remotely like something they would have actually worn.   

I plan on adding a few bits to it before the next wearing.  I'm glad I finally made a bustle dress that looks halfway decent and not like a frumpy hot mess.   At least the skirt on this one came out okay without tears.   Although, there almost were tears when having to pleat the bottom hem - it took almost the entire movie of Castaway to get it right!

Historical Sew Fortnightly March Stashbusting Challenge

The Challenge:March – Stashbusting: Make something using only fabric, patterns, trims & notions that you already have in stash.


Fabric: A I'm-not-sure-what-it-is-but-it-has-silk lampas like drapery fabric probably circa 1976. I also used dark green silk dupioni and sand colored linen in the dress. Oh, and muslin...

Pattern: My own! :-)

Year: 1750's/1760's more or less

Notions: Silk thread, cotton thread, ribbon trim

How historically accurate is it? It looks much better than it actually is. The fabric is too heavy for the period but the design is pretty well in keeping with the later half of the 18th century styles (mix of floral and stripes). All the visible stitching is done by hand as are the stitches holding the skirt pleats to the back bodice.

Hours to complete: If it weren't for the sleeves, I'd guess only 16 hours or so. Because of the sleeves, it took 22, I think...

First worn: Hopefully, this Saturday!

Total cost: All stash! Every last thing. The linen I used for the hem was one of those Joann's remnants I hoard. It was a half yard and 50% off so, maybe $4.50 USD? The green dupioni was also a Joann's remnant. Probably another $3 or $4 USD there. The main dress fabric I bought back in November off of ebay for $17.99 USD with another $16 for shipping (did I mention it's heavy?). The silk thread I got on sale for $2 sometime last year (I just remember there was a sale on silk thread so I gobbled up a few different colors). The trim....I don't remember where I got it or how much it was. I *think* it was one my NYC trips but I really don't know. Knowing me, I doubt I paid more the $2 a yard.

I draped the patten using an old bedsheet.  I've mentioned before how much I hated these sheets.  They used to be in my room at my family's beach home.  When Mom said she got them from my room, I thought she meant the lovely blue and white ones....  

Anyway, I originally cut it to do a closed front anglaise but I didn't like that idea and went with the stomacher front instead.

The back pleats are all very pinned into place.  Only the right side is draped and drafted for the final pattern in this photo.  

This is what my animals were doing while I was draping fabric.

Eventually, Abby decided to investigate why I was taking pictures of things other than her.  This is the final pattern for the back, front, and sleeves of the dress.

I cut out and pleated the back as well as I could.  It's still a little wonky at the top but if it really bugs me later, I can always patch it over with more fabric.  

I had to cut the fabric long ways and make sure the floral pattern was running down the dress correctly. More on the fabric itself later.

To do the front robing, I just made the fashion fabric 2" longer width wise towards the front.  I then sewed it to the lining along the front edge.  Once I matched the side edges together, this created a small overlap in the fashion fabric towards the front.  I stitched along the channel (where the fashion fabric met the lining at the front) by hand and used this as a guide to fold the robings.  

This is where I folded it and hopefully the photos make more sense.  I then ironed it down before attaching it to the back bodice section.  

The full finished dress!!

Close up detail of the sleeve.  I added the ribbon trim to the cuff edges as well as the front of the stomacher.  Despite having five yards, just doing the cuffs and the stomacher used every last inch of trim I had.

The back of the dress.  It looks more wonky that it really is because the dress dummy doesn't have arms.

The lining of the cuffs.  I wanted something that would go well with the dress.  I was going to cannibalize a UFO that had spring green silk when I saw this dark green remnant in my stash that went a lot better.  (okay, I compared the spring green to the fabric and...no.  Just no.  So I ran back and got the dark green.  It looked way better) 

The stomacher front.  I took what was left of the trim and ran it down the center stripe.  I had just enough left.

And this is what is left of the fabric I used for the dress.  It's maybe a half yard.  It's enough to do the sleeves over if I wanted to.  

Evil sleeves.   Okay, so the first time I put them in, it was totally my fault.  I matched the seams wrong and had to rip them out.  Fine.  Then the right sleeve kept giving me trouble.  It would bunch up at odd points or it wouldn't line up correctly.  It took 3 1/2 tries (the last time it bunched up , I just ripped out that section and redid it) before the sleeve looked okay.   

The fabric:  Well, truth be told - you are looking at only 4 yards of fabric.  With most 18th C dresses, you do need 9 yards - and even that doesn't feel like enough- because you need the matching petticoat, the dress, the self trims....tons and tons of fabric.   This fabric is over 52" wide (I'm not sure by how much, I measured the skirt and its 104" around so...not sure how much got eaten up into the seams).  This helped a lot for the skirts.   The front skirt is just a rectangular panel - 41" long- that I pleated to a strip of the fabric (3" wide strip that folded over).   The back of the dress isn't much different (just the back panel of the bodice plus a 41" long skirt).  Because of this,  I cut out the front from the excess above the back panel skirt, next to the back bodice.   

The sleeves and cuffs were cut out from the remaining fabric and the stomacher was cut out even more scrap (from next to the front bodice piece).  I used a little less than 4 yards to make the dress.  

Inspiration:

Dress at the Met circa 1760

This was the main inspiration for my dress.  I was going to do the self trim along the opening but the fabric really is just too heavy to do that well.  That, and I didn't have any of the ribbon trim left. ;-)

Other inspiration pieces included this early 1770's dress at the Met, this pink and green dress recently sold at Christies (probably early 18th C based on the robings), and this one at the Met as well.  

Because of the yardage issue, I liked the idea of a closed front dress.  I liked the overall style as well because none of them are overly trimmed - it's more about letting the patterned fabric speak for itself.   

Day 7 and Regency Gown Progress

Warning: This post is brought to you by sleep depervation. I was awoken four times this morning, starting at 4:30 am, by a strange male staring at me. It's rather eerie to feel someone or something watching you at O'dark thirty, open your eyes, and see this:

A strange male glaring at you because you won't get up at four freakin' thirty in the morning to feed him. He would then meow and rub up against my hands to pet him until I pushed him off the bed and attempted to go back to sleep. He'd wait for about a half hour or so and do the same thing again. Gah! Anyway, your regularly scheduled post is brought to you today by that dumb cat who can't find his way outside of a shopping bag, Jasper.

I finished the bottom row of the embroider and made one rose.  Yay!

 I also spent an hour at the thrift store trying to find a basic, thin, cotton (or non dead dino) curtain or even thread bare sheet with no luck.  I wanted either a soft white or soft black petticoat to go with the Regency dress I'm working on.  They had nothing.  They did have a lovely scarf, several interesting dresses, a grey knit sheet that was begging to be made into a new work dress, and a guy that smelled like he hadn't bathed in years (he was on the other side of the store and it's a BIG store, thankfully) but no thin cotton sheets/curtains.  So I went to Hobby Lobby.  They had cotton batiste in the "clearance" section in 1 7/8 yard and 1 1/4 yard remnants - enough to make a basic petticoat- for a grand total of $5.  Yay!

I now have enough to make a petticoat. 

So, now to finish the embroidery, finish the Regency gown, and start some other completely random project simply because I can.  Probably a giornea in blue for the robe & robing challenge.   It's a big loose garment...and it's totally period as a robe because, see?

The Princess Bride is a completely historical account of life in late 15th/early 16th C Italy.  Seriously.



...Shut up, Indigo.

Thursday's Dinner

Oh my! It was so good!

First, I went shopping today. Basically buying an entirely new food supply is not cheap but it wasn't horrible either. I ended up with a nice large fillet of salmon, grated orange peel, grated lemon peel, marjoram, rice, crystallized ginger, a beef bone for the dog, almonds, more almonds, sliced almonds, not yet cracked almonds, almond milk, almond flour (seriously! They had it at my local grocery store for $9.99; it was the most expensive item after the salmon.), rice flour, another flour I can't recall right now that wasn't normal white flour, parsley, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and probably a few more things that I can't recall off the top of my head right now.

When I eventually got home, I looked up good recipes using what I had. I ended up landing on this page for a decent salad. My salad was a spring mix with spinach, carrots, mushrooms, and chopped almonds. The dressing was olive oil with red wine vinegar and black pepper. It was quite good.

The side dish was a fabulous mushroom dish I'd love to make again. I used fresh mushrooms rather than dried and used dried minced onions rather than fresh. I then added garlic powder once everything was almost done. I fried it up in olive oil. Towards the very end, I added chopped almonds. It smelled delicious and only needed a small amount of salt to make it absolutely perfect.

The main course was the salmon dish which I overcooked a slight bit. Still, it was quite good. I just used the beer my brother brought over once that had been sitting in the fridge - I doubt it's period but it worked.

I was going to make apple fritters as well but I really just don't have the time. I've never cooked fish before and had NO idea what to expect. (One of the reasons I liked the recipe above, they had the modern adaptation.) Now, I have some idea at least.

Overall, a delicious meal. Ginsie is in love with her beef bone. Since I gave it to her two hours ago, she has not stopped chewing at it other than to growl warnings at Jasper.

Dress University Plans

Hello!   Rather than post pictures of a finished product (by Friday night I *should* have a new dress to post!), I figured I'd post my semi-finalized Dress U 2012 plans.

For the Welcome Party, rather than go 18th C, I figured I'd do something a bit different.  Ever since I heard of the upcoming movie "Mirror Mirror" a couple of months ago, I fell in love with this outfit Snow White wears:





I know where to get the silk for the bodice and I have the pattern for the outfit since the bodice looks to be a pseudo Elizabethan, but the silk for the skirt is going to be $$$.  It looks to be a Kravet Lampas Silk pattern.  I'm probably just going to go with something similar rather than exact since the cheapest price I've found is still $75 a yard.  Eeck!

I'm not sure about the Gibson Girl Pool Party other than I do want to make a turn of the century (if not earlier) swimdress.  I need to do more research on it as of right now. I know my colors will be red wool and probably black trim.

For the Mad Hatter Tea Party, I've decided to go with a somewhat Lolita 18th C styled dress to match the hat I want to make.  The hat (it is a Mad Hatter tea party after all, I need a hat!) is going to be styled after a cake.  For right now, I really like this cat as my inspiration:


...but that may change. BTW, click on the photo. The lady who made this cake has a ton of jaw droppingly gorgeous cakes and cupcakes up on her flickr page.

I'm keeping what I'm doing for the Titanic Party at Dress U a secret because I really want to see the reaction when I get there. Yes, it will be that different. :-)

For the "Let them eat crepes", I'm doing an 18th Century Turkish outfit. I have a pair of green, pink, and gold shoes that are perfect for a Turkish outfit so I'm planning around those.



The above is one of the many paintings I'm using for inspiration.

And now for the Tiaras and Jampagne. I was debating for a while on whether to go as Empress Sissi or as Buttercup from the Princess Bride. I scratched both after watching Van Helsing a couple of nights ago. I need Anna's red ball gown instead. Now, to find a tiara with red stars all over it... hmm... and way too many yards of red silk taffeta....


I'll bring a few more dresses -probably my pink 18th Century gown with the green trim and maybe an Elizabethan if not the 18th C Sack Back that will be done by then. However, I need to get all this done, plus three more projects by June.

In Jan, I need to finish an 18th C Jacket and the Catherine Parr gown (I have the materials for both, they are just in the need to be cut phase). For the beginning of Feb, I need the sack back gown. March, I might just be silly and not wear one of my four or five green gowns I already have for the Saint Paddy's Day party but make yet another one. April...we aren't even going into everything I need to do for April. And then...May. Which will be slowish costuming wise but I'll be gearing up for June! So, a lot of outfits will be posted over the next few months.

Oh, and for those that are not on my LJ blog as well, this is Jasper.


He adopted me the Friday before Thanksgiving. Poor darling was stuck in the crawlspace beneath my townhouse! Since it was 24 F out, I let him in and he's stayed ever since. (I did contact the local animal shelter/animal control but no one reported a cat missing so....he's mine! Ha!) Miss Ginsie is delighted at having a cat in the home.


As you can see, they get along perfectly fine. :-) Poor Jazz, he doesn't know what he's gotten himself into!