FIlling the need for somewhere to put my phone for dickens - AND - Making a VIctorian Purse

Dickens Faire!!!  Finally the time of year to dress up in your best walking costume and go stroll the fantastic streets of a time long ago.  Well it is super hard to look good while strolling if you're holding a camera and an iPhone.  So today as the costume was pulled out and accessories were gathered all together a gaping hole in my ensemble was discovered...i have no purse for the Checked Wool Costume!  It does have a couple of welt pockets on the front of the jacket, but not enough for all the goodies required for a day out.  The brain started thinking and decided that it would the perfect rainy day activity to whip up a Victorian Purse for all my strolling needs.

A dig through the fabric bin of things long since past produced more than enough of the Red Velveteen used on the Checked Wool Costume saving me the headache of having to try to match it.  Next a trip to Lacis to procoure a Metal Purse Frame and Chain.  I found a super cute Antique Nickle color frame with Rhinestones in the clasps that was adorable.

If you have ever sewn a reticule...this is even easier depending upon your Metal Frame type.  I went with a "Sew-on" type frame so i would not have to mess with trying to crimp down a frame.  There are also frames that will screw together to hold the fabric in place.  Another great method, but sewing was going to be the least intense for me and with trying to make this a couple hour project i was all about easy.  I found a fantastic website with simple instructions and pictures where appropriate for putting together the bag.  I opted against super cute trimmings and lace as the walking costume is on the clean side with very little trim.

i LOVE how it turned out and can't wait for Dickens tomorrow to show it off.  It was so quick i've already pulled out some bags to buy frames for and convert from drawstring and reticule type bags in the future.  I really enjoyed attaching the bag to the frame and prefer the clean and structured look of having the bag attached to a metal frame.

   

The Day Dress has Begun

After a few weeks of going back and forth i decided to work on what i will enjoy, so the 1880's Day Dress has been started!  Not sure if it will make Dickens this year, but so far so good.

This evening i cut out and sewed up a muslin of the bodice of the dress.  The skirt is a *very* simple shirred straight skirt so no need to mock it up.  I was super impressed!  The bodice fit very well for a first fitting.  The only corrections i needed to make were to the back scooping out some of the excess along the princess seams as i have a small back waist - AND - shifting the front armhole excess to the side panel, i'm deeper then wider and could use the width at the back armhole much more than the front.  The corrections only took a few minutes and now the pattern is ready to be cut out! 

The bodice fitting...

       

Unfortunately i am short on muslin for the bodice lining...and i don't want to cut anything until i know i have enough and everything fits!  Nothing worse then finding out you do not have enough fabric when you are already so committed and have cut most of what you do have.  It's not all bad as this means a trip to the fabric store tomorrow.  YEA!!!!

Finding out i don't have enough fabric :(

What to make next...

As Dickens approaches and I come to terms with the fact the I barely have time to make one dress much less two I am now faced with a choice. I have patterns and fabric for two dresses. Below are pictures of the sillouhette and fabric of each of the items I could work on next.

The first is a ditsy blue floral on a white background in a light weight cotton. The dress is a super cute and is a pleated dress that is the right years for Dickens.




The second is an adorable dress from the 1880's (more my time period and sillouhette) in a beautiful white and blue plaid that is a medium weight cotton.




Audience participation time! Which do you think I should work on? 1) time appropiate blue floral pleated dress - OR - 2) super re-wearable blue plaid???

Released from the Sewing Machine for one weekend of fun

Hi!  Yep, i'm actually *not* dead as many probably figured.  No no, what really happened was silly drama and a super evil costume deadline when i was totally not in the mood.  For the last two months i have been sewing non-stop day/night/twilight.  I managed to finish a large amount of the wish list prior to heading off with a costuming buddy to Steam-Con last weekend.  Luckily i finished enough and had other goodies in my closet that i was able to outfit for the weekend even with an evening costume change ; )  Unfortunately i spent all weekend posing for other peoples pictures of my fantastic outfits that i only ended up with a couple of pictures on my own camera (nothing really to be ashamed of).  Below are pictures of the daytime outfits and more "fill in the gaps" posts to follow now that the sewing machine has been tucked away for all of an hour.

    

Bustle Appropiate Petticoat and Traveling Bustle Complete

This week was all about getting the under garments for the Checked Wool Costume complete and ready for me to begin fitting the garments next week...and i did it!  I finished the petticoat that has the extra length for the bustle to be worn underneath as the over garments require a bustle.  I again used the Truly Victorian pattern for Victorian Petticoats #TV170 selecting view B (small bustle back, flat front).  For the outer fabric i found a plaid weave linen in unbleached cotton.  The entire petticoat is lined with a heavy unbleached muslin.  And again all clean finished seams.  It will be great to have a petticoat that works with a bustle!

      

Also i drafted a pattern for a "traveling bustle".  An under garment to help with the bustle effect on the back and be completely fold-able.  I did some rough math and then went for it.  I am very pleased with how the traveling bustle came out (Full instructions to follow in separate post).  The petticoat above is shown with the traveling bustle underneath.  It gave it a perfect 2 1/2" extra length in the back.  Some pretty pictures!

   

   

Petticoat #2 Update!

Progress has been made on the new petticoat (#2)!  Everything was cut out on Sunday, About 50% sewn yesterday with a bit of working from home to help, and this evening another 15% was completed.  If work would have released me at a reasonable time instead of nearly 12 hours after walking through the doors that morning i may have gotten through more...but who knows.  This one is moving much faster than the first one, but also i have been able dedicate large chunks of continuous time which super helps.  We are now down to:

1) Sewing the grograin ribbon along the front and side seams (This requires a Stone Mountain run to procure the correct color of thread tomorrow after work)
2) Shirring and attaching the ruffle along the sweep
3) Sewing the grograin ribbon along the Ruffle seam to clean finish
4) Pleating the Back Waist to Fit the Waistband
5) Sewing the Waistband to the garment
6) Crossing my fingers that i have enough left over ribbon to use for the tie at the waist
7) Starting the next project!!!

Next project is the "Traveling Bustle".  Here are some links to pictures.  There are patterns out there...but the sewn up versions look awful!  I am *so* capable of doing better...so i challenge me to do better.  The plan to complete this task is to draft a pattern and test it this weekend, hopefully it's close enough that i can cut and sew one up real quick afterwords and call it complete with the undergarments for the Checked Wool Costume this week.

Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil know Costumes!!!

Part of the road trip was a required stop in Las Vegas.  This was not required for booze, gambling, or hookers.  This was put on the "i want it now" list because of a Cirque du Soleil show starring Criss Angel.  I had no idea who this guy was or even his stichk...but after seeing pictures of "victorian broken dolls" online i knew i had to go.  Tickets were pricey...but it's freakin Cirque du Soleil and a guy with a TV show who can apparently levitate.  After having seen the show i can honestly say it was more than worth it.  Georgeous costumes and fantastic Cirque du Soleil style dream sequences left nothing to be desired.  I sat on the edge of my seat the entire show having to remind myself to close my mouth and not oggle the costumes too much here and there.

"Criss Angel Believe"  The show began as appearing to be a standard Magic show.  Very quickly a twist is taken and the dreaming begins.  There is a fantastic Alice in Wonderland feel with all sort of different rabbits throughout the show as they are the "Magician's Best Friend".  The rabbits also help pull you down the rabbit hole into a world were Victorian dolls are broken and twisted, rabbits feed on human flesh, and disembodied animal heads doing acrobatics aren't so weird and they are fantastically entertaining.

If you are going through Vegas in the next six months or before the show closes it's a must see.  I managed to restrain myself and walk away with only a program to keep the memories alive (the soundtrack isn't going to be released until November!!!)...but if anyone has some free time when i get home it's worth a mighty long oggling session as there are corsets, stripper shoes, 10 foot train skirts, and Victorian evil rabbits ga-lore!!!

For the Love of Fabric ... A Journey

So after finding the perfect fabric phone calls were made and i found the necessary 12 yards (actually 11 1/2 yards) at a store in Fremont. The fabric was just too perfect of a match to pass up the opportunity. So the 1 hour trek in the car was made down there (and now i remember how much i hate rush hour traffic). Arrived in the store and after a few minutes found what i was looking for. Yea!!! Then i found there were two bolts... not good. Yep, the phone calls and staff help had failed to mention that the fabric wasn't in a single piece. Oh well, it's still too good to pass up. So it was purchased and the remaining 1 1/2 yards from El Cerrito was also purchased (yes, someone totally bought some of my precious fabric while i wasn't looking) to ensure i had enough to work in the pieces. After getting home and looking at the pattern pieces lengths i should be fine. Here is the spread...

Natural check linen for petticoat, Wine/Tan/Brown Homespun for the body, Red Velveteen for the trimming

Still on the look out for lining. Thinking of a brown twill to match the homespun...

Doll Dress | Flat Lined and with Sleeves

The doll dress is coming along fantastically!  Everything has been cut out, the body and sleeves have been flat lined and sewn together.  Next will be to set the collar and the facings.  I was thinking of adding some pockets...but looking at it i don't know how they'd come out...will keep thinking.  By the weekend i should be able to start working on "patching" the dress, sewing small squares of the vintage stamp fabric onto the dress in random places and starting to make the dress look more lived in.  Currently the Black and White Petticoat is under the dress.  It works, but it would be nice to have a petticoat that was a bit fuller to help the dress to have a full sweep.  If time permits a petticoat will be sewn.  Also (and/or) thinking about drawers?  Lastly for the head/hat planning to make bows to tie into my hair that are very simple, but still period and clean.  I'm going for a "how a scientist would dress their new creation, late 19th century" so a weird cross between woman and young girl come to mind with a complete lack of fashion sense, where the creation has made a few modifications and kept up the garment themselves.

  

Doll Dress Beginnings

There are a great many occasions for outfits in the next coming months.  Everyone has heard me mention Steam-Con at the end of October.  This being a fair amount earlier than dickens and consisting of 3 full days and 2 nights worth of costuming opportunities i have shut myself away in my house until then to sew, sew, sew.  And so far 'tis good!  The first outfit I am working on is one of the "evening" outfits.  This will be a true costume, not just period dress.  I am working on a "Doll Dress" starting from the Truly Victorian #TV432 - 1882 Tea Gown.  Here is the second fitting.  Not tons of changes, but one major one was to remove a waist dart and add a bust dart.  The dress just didn't hang right over my bust until i did this.

  

After a couple of muslin fittings i was ready to cut the goods.  Last night i cut out all of the self (heavy natural muslin) and lining (hunter green cotton twill) out of the pattern.  My thumb hurt so bad!  I don't know why i didn't use the rotary cutter!!!  Tonight i got through the initial sewing pains flat lining the back panels and stitching them together.  The twill add an enormous amount of stiffness and weight to the dress really improving the shape.  So far?  Very *happy*!

The Great Blocking of the Lace

It was a dark and stormy night... well actually it was just a bit o' over cast and fantastic weather, but that is *totally* a better opening line for the magnitude of the project i am about to describe.

So i've been holding onto this lace i finished knitting for months now.  I have been dreading trying to "block" the lace.  I at one point even came up with the crazy idea that maybe i didn't need to block the lace.  Luckily i promptly came to my senses and shoved the lace back into a dark deep corner of the "things that need attention" drawer.

By luck i found myself in the near vicinity of a hardware store with a few minutes to kill on Sunday afternoon.  I decided it was time to face my fears and try my luck at this whole lace blocking thing.  I purchased a couple of skinny metal rods that didn't look like they would rust immediately and were relatively long, 4' a piece, as i had about 10 ' total to block.  Lace was soaked in luke warm water for 30 minutes and then lovingly slid onto the blocking rods.  Once everything was on the rods each was laid down on the rug in the living room and the pinning began.  i didn't know i even owned so many pins, wow!  It was relatively easy process, but took a lot longer then i thought it would (30 minutes just to slide everything onto the rods and 40 minutes to pin everything in place).

       

This morning it was like Christmas!  Everything was dry and beautiful!!!  I also lucked out and found some time this morning to sew the lace onto the polonaise.  Pretty!!!

   

Now i need to make some cuffs to balance out all of the other trimmings that are starting to pile up on the polonaise.  I'm thinking to stick with the Harebell Lace pattern and add the upper design as found in Victorian Lace Today.  Two layers of cuffs for each sleeve should not take too long...and now that i have conquered my fear of blocking they shouldn't even have to sit around forever once they're done ; )

Black and White Petticoat Nearly Done!!!

True test to see how fast i can sew, i cut out and began a Victorian Petticoat on Saturday and am very proud to say that i am nearly done!  Including the "extra" bits i decided it needed.  I used the Truly Victorian pattern #TV170, View B "1877-1882 Natural Form".  I'm not a huge fan of the bustle, and am quite happy to continue to minimize the need for a bustle when ever possible, thus most of my Victorian Clothes fit into the Natural Form (1877-1882) and Bell Epoch (1890-1897) periods where there was either just a bit o' bustle or none (my preference).

I had found a fantastic black on white printed fabric during my Longs excursion in Oakland that i paired with a plain black fabric for good contrast.  I have finished nearly all of the sewing!!!  I decided to add a 1/2" wide strip down the front/side seams on both sides to help break up the print and it looks much better.  Kat had recommended all White stitching and i'm glad i went for it...it super helps it pop and otherwise those pintucks would have been for not.  The seams are french seams mostly and the entire garment is lined.  I did a small amount of cheating as parts are more in the style of flat lined and others are pretty lining clean finished (darts are all inside with no way to escape).  Here are some progress pictures...

Front - AND - Back
(missing the bottom ruffle and waistband)

  

Extra Black Taping along seam - AND - Pintucks!!!

     

How clean/pretty the skirt is on the inside

Pirates, Cannons, and Beautiful HATS!!!

This weekend was the Pirate Faire in Vallejo, CA on the waterfront.  Fantastic location that makes for super pretty pictures.  I finished and debuted the Edwardian Underthings set i've been working on in the shadow strip cotton.  Perfect for the weather with a parasol.  Some pictures of me and me mateys. 

     

Some of my favorite things were the fantastic Black Cheery Cider, the interesting carnival games (Axe Throwing!!!), amazing costumes, but bestest of the best was ... all of the fantastic hats!  People definitely went all out on the hats and it showed!  My two *very* favorites were the Marie Antoinette Ship/Feathers/Butterfly ensemble (on left) and the Straw Birds Nest (on right).  There are also pictures of the gorgeous dresses that accompained each womans hat.  The Dress with the Birds Nest Hat had a super cute shirred up back bustle style in a super cute black and skinny white striped fabric.

  

Admists all of the hats goodness i was bewitched and decided i must have one of my own!  Yes, i've started making hats...but there was this amazing hat done in a molded felt (something i *haven't* gotten to yet) that called my name.  I purchased my new favorite hat from Sidney Rice "W the house of Wormwood".  The Hat came with a specially designed hat pin for said hat.  Now i just need to make an outfit to wear it withas i own *nothing* in these colors.  Keep your fingers crossed, she is looking for more of the ribbon othat is on the hat which i will totally need to deck out an outfit.  I've already got a black and camel Edwardian suit running around in my head screaming to be made (and worn to the Steamcon in Seattle)...