Mom's Spencer

It's not completely done, but it's close.  I still need to add the cuffs and the hooks and eyes.  That's it!   The spencer is out of  navy blue wool scraps that I pretty heavily pieced to get the straps and sleeves.   I'll take more detailed photos later showing the piecing.  I really only had enough of the blue wool for the spencer.

The pattern is the Sense and Sensibility one that I think everyone has.  :-)  I changed it up slightly - adding a casing of blue wool to the bottom of the spencer.  I also had to shorten the sleeves, take in the shoulder straps, and take in the back of the spencer to get it to fit nicely. 

The spencer is lined in very much not period flannel backed baby blue poly satin.  Maybe it's rayon satin.  Something not natural satin. It's all part of the "leftovers" pile.  Mom's cape that she loves is lined in the same satin. So I know it's safe. 

Mom's Corded Late Regency Petticoat

I decided I wanted to play with cording a petticoat. I honestly haven't tried before - I've bought all my hoopskirts- but I saw one of my buddies on my Livejournal friend's list do one a few months back using a zipper foot. It worked. Well, actually. I just did a couple of channels around the hem to give a bit of a puff. I used cotton/poly twine you get at Home Depot. I folded over the hem, held the cord inside the hem, and ran the zipper foot with the needle all the way over to the right. It's not super stiff, but it does add dimension to the dress.

Side view.  The mess is a couple of different projects.  One is my Edwardian UFO and the other is the pattern pieces to the spencer I'm working on next.

The dummy mummy and my Mom now have different dimensions- which is why the fit is a bit off on the dummy mummy.  However, you can see the skirt flares well for the 1810s/early 1820s look.

Side view with the petticoat.  It's not a big amount of puffiness - just enough to keep the dress "light" looking. 

A close up of the cording under the dress.  I added some wide eyelet edging to the hem of the petticoat - so, should it peek out, it's okay. You'll just see more muslin and embroidered lace.

If she likes this style, I might make her more petticoats in different colors - I have some green that would look fabulous beneath this dress.  Right now, she has a lovely blue bonnet with a white feather courtesy of the Bohemian Belle.  I'm trying to create a wardrobe for her that will match that.  Which means I should probably make a navy blue petticoat next rather than green.  ;-)

Mom's Regency Dress

Originally, the skirt was a tablecloth.  :-)  I bought the tablecloth years ago on etsy as part of a lot.  The other tablecloth already became my Regency era gown. This one will be Mom's. 

The tablecloth was only finished on three edges.  The far width edge was rolled over and sewn down.  I cut off the top scallop edge of the tablecloth (actually, I cut it and then ripped the cut right down to the other width edge so that it would be straight..) and used that for trim.  The edge is now on the sleeve edge as well as around the neckline.  I only have maybe 8" of it left! 

The pattern is one I developed for Mom.  She tried on her stays I made her and the mock up only needed a few minor changes.  The lines of the pattern are based on extant garments.  Except the sleeves...those are the basic trapezoid with a bell curve at the top.   The entire dress is machine sewn.  

Getting to wear the blue and white 1920's Dress

Thank you so much for all the comments everyone previously gave on this dress! I figured that, given the amount of comments, you might actually want to see what the dress looks like on. :-)

I really like the way it wears. It's comfy and fun. I can MOVE (no corset! Yay!) but I still feel like I'm wearing something *different*. The only thing I might change is the neckline. I think a less open neckline with maybe a more T-tunic keyhole style might work better. The dress kept wanting to slip off the shoulder a bit because the neckline was so open. Still, it's fine as is and I'll definitely wear this one again.

The beaded cap is actually an item I've had for a few years. A friend in the SCA got a bag of "stuff". The stuff turned out to be various garb pieces. Two ladies who were members of my household at that point, found this in the bag, ran it out to me, and declared that it mine. :-) It's perfect for Italian Renn as well as 1920's.

My hair is done up in the same style as I did last year with only a bit more "wave". Since I've gotten bangs since the last time I tried this, I just got a couple of bobby pins and pinched the bangs under the beaded cap. I'm trying to grow them out again anyway.

The shoes are ones I found a few years ago at Old Pueblo Traders. The clothing is all "old lady" but the shoes look nicely vintage and fit my feet! Even though I wear a perfectly normal 8 or 8 1/2, depending on the shoe company, most shoe companies have decided that my feet are too short. The back of many shoes come up too high (a few have been as much as a half inch past where a shoe should hit on my foot!) I end up with mules a lot for that reason. However, the shoes the old lady clothing store sells are fine. I guess I just have old lady feet? I figured that's the one part of the body that really wouldn't change drastically with time!

The car is from 1927. :-) No Branson to drive me around, unfortunately. We think he was drinking in a corner somewhere....

HSF #9: Black & White

The Challenge:Black & White
Fabric: I *think* it's a cotton embossed with velvet but it might be linen.
Pattern:  My own!
Year:  1590's ish
Notions: Thread, purple silk lining
How historically accurate is it? The cut is correct and the fabric looks correct - even close up- but it is all machine sewn.
Hours to complete: four or five
First worn: This weekend, hopefully. I'll post much better pictures when I get a chance
Total cost: I think I got the fabric for $15? The silk lining was some violet silk I got to line a work dress a couple of years ago. I *think* it was $25. So somewhere around the $30 range given the amount of fabric I used.

I promise to post more later. I just wanted to get this up. I managed to do this while recovering from the flu - which is not fun. I think I've gotten a total of 5 hours of sleep in the past 72 hours thanks to this stupid cough. I do have to iron the jacket and add the hooks and eyes, admittedly. However, it's in jacket form right now so that counts!

Elizabethan Jacket Progress

This is the mock up over my not so accurate but comfy 16th century stays and bumroll.  The orange dupatta is there just to give an idea of what I might want to use for a skirt.  

The lines are based on multiple Elizabethan/Jacobean jackets made between 1580 and 1615.   I honestly think that some museums just give a general 1610 date because that's what other museums have done.  We know, based on the inventory of QEI, waistcoats (jackets) were around and embroidered since the 1580's.  We have a few extant ones dated to the 16th century though most museums seem to like to put them in the early 1600's. 

I've collected a lot of extant jacket photos here: http://www.pinterest.com/isabelladangelo/16th-c-and-early-17th-century-embroidery/ as well as some other embroidery.  I've also created a list of portraits showing ladies wearing the jackets here: http://www.pinterest.com/isabelladangelo/16th-17th-c-jacket-portraits/

What I've found interesting about the jacket portraits is that time and time again, ladies wore just as elaborate - if not more elaborate- skirts with their waistcoats.  Some are of printed Indian cloth (popular during Queen Elizabeth's time) others are what look to be of saris - none are plain.  Yet, normally, we see ladies who recreate these jackets - often beautifully- wear very plain skirts or skirts with a few guards.  None tend to be as richly decorated as they were in period. 

This was part of the other reason I have the dupatta up - I wanted to see about using it as a skirt.  There isn't quite enough fabric so I think I'm going to use one of the saris instead.  Or find a large dupatta. 

The fabric I'm using for the jacket is very interesting. 

It looks like blackwork, but it's not.  It's embossed velvet.  You can't tell until you touch the fabric.  The pattern is similar to a jacket dated to the 1630's.  I know I've seen the embroidery pattern earlier - it was on a cloth on a table of a half length portrait from about 1600- but I saw it once and have never been able to find it again.  I just remember thinking that normally people chop off the bottom of the portrait when publishing it on line which is why I hadn't seen the cloth before.  If anyone finds it, let me know!

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My New 1920's Dress!

I should be working on my orange Teens Era dress but this little guy just wanted to actually be made!   I refound the fabric in my stash last week and realized it would be perfect for a sweet 1920's day dress.  The fabric is a blue cotton knit with white velvet emboss in an embroidered floral looking pattern.  The white lace band across the middle is real lace from the stash. 

The pattern is the same as I've used previously with only a very minor couple of changes.  The first is, rather than cut out a curved armsyce, I made the straps longer and cut it a bit more square to give "cap" sleeves.  This makes it a bit more like the yellow dress in this 1925 Fashion Plate:

The band was added to give more length to the dress as well as add a bit of contrast.  The belted style, like this, was popular through out the 1920's.  

I might add some purple or pink flowers to the dress just for a bit more contrast.   I'm pretty happy with it.  It only took an hour to make (including taking out the hem of one sleeve and putting it back in so that my arm could fit through it without it being snug!).   I think the blue knit was $10 or so - I don't remember because I bought it a few years ago thinking it was real embroidered cotton and not velvet embossed knit! 

Now, maybe, I can work on the Teens Era dress!