1895 Ensemble
Apr. 24th, 2016 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I got pictures of my 1895 ensemble before I presented on it at a conference. This ensemble has parts for multiple HSM challenges, including: Tucks and Pleating, Protection, and Gender Bender. The skirt is Tucks and Pleating, with it's double pleats at the CB. The corset cover is for Protection. And the bow tie and shirtwaist are for Gender Bender. I'm too lazy to put in the whole spiel for all three of these. But here are pictures!




The dressform's torso is too long and the neck too big plus no arms, so everything isn't fitting perfectly. But it's remarkably close to me in size, which is cool, considering it was a random find in the university's archives. I was up past 1:30am the day before the conference sewing the darned bow tie. It gave me fits and and is actually really crappy. You can't see, but the entire middle section is topstitched instead of properly finished. I made it too narrow and couldn't turn the ends through it and the silk was fraying. It was a mess. But I thought the outfit really needed it.
For my presentation, I gave a short talk about modern historical costumers and how the goal of historical costuming isn't always 100% accurate reproduction, but that we can learn a lot about the era as well as our present mindsets from historical costuming. I talked about how reproducing the past isn't possible, but that there are a lot of interesting things going on between the past as it actually existed and how we think about it from our modern viewpoint. I used these articles as examples to frame my talk, showing the current interest worldwide in historic costume:
Sarah Chrisman "I love the Victorian era. So I decided to live in it."
Rebecca Onion "Vox's Victorians"
Leimomi Oakes AKA The Dreamstress "A Practice in Practicality: Doing Housework, 1910s style"
Ruth Goodman "Getting Clean, the Tudor Way"
Then I undressed the dressform so that people could see all the layers. One of the ladies wanted to try on the corset, so I let her. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this conference and am looking forward to next year's. But I am SO exhausted. I've spent the past 3 weeks finishing final papers, moving, sewing a bunch of this ensemble, writing my conference paper, and attending the conference. Whew!




The dressform's torso is too long and the neck too big plus no arms, so everything isn't fitting perfectly. But it's remarkably close to me in size, which is cool, considering it was a random find in the university's archives. I was up past 1:30am the day before the conference sewing the darned bow tie. It gave me fits and and is actually really crappy. You can't see, but the entire middle section is topstitched instead of properly finished. I made it too narrow and couldn't turn the ends through it and the silk was fraying. It was a mess. But I thought the outfit really needed it.
For my presentation, I gave a short talk about modern historical costumers and how the goal of historical costuming isn't always 100% accurate reproduction, but that we can learn a lot about the era as well as our present mindsets from historical costuming. I talked about how reproducing the past isn't possible, but that there are a lot of interesting things going on between the past as it actually existed and how we think about it from our modern viewpoint. I used these articles as examples to frame my talk, showing the current interest worldwide in historic costume:
Sarah Chrisman "I love the Victorian era. So I decided to live in it."
Rebecca Onion "Vox's Victorians"
Leimomi Oakes AKA The Dreamstress "A Practice in Practicality: Doing Housework, 1910s style"
Ruth Goodman "Getting Clean, the Tudor Way"
Then I undressed the dressform so that people could see all the layers. One of the ladies wanted to try on the corset, so I let her. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this conference and am looking forward to next year's. But I am SO exhausted. I've spent the past 3 weeks finishing final papers, moving, sewing a bunch of this ensemble, writing my conference paper, and attending the conference. Whew!
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Date: 2016-04-25 12:39 pm (UTC)Good for you on the presentation!
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Date: 2016-04-25 05:32 pm (UTC)That skirt pattern gives a really nice shape and wonderful pleats at the back. Did you find that it came out to much more than 27" when made up as shown?
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Date: 2016-04-25 05:43 pm (UTC)When I made up the skirt, I didn't make it exactly like the pattern. I cut the pieces out to the same shape and measurements as the original, but just pleated it to a waistband that would fit my corseted waist, which is about 25.5". The pleats are really deep, so I think that there is a fair amount of room for playing with them, if you need to give or take a couple inches.
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Date: 2016-04-25 07:21 pm (UTC)Did you finish your hem with crinoline or any kind of stiffening?
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Date: 2016-04-25 09:38 pm (UTC)I didn't put any stiffening in the hem. It's a fairly drape-y suiting flat-lined with a medium weight cotton. In retrospect and upon further research, I wouldn't have lined it this way because the back bias-y bits don't have the same amount of stretch and made for a bit of wonkiness that can't really be seen because of the pleats. I relied mostly on my poplin petticoat for skirt shape. However, nearly everything I read recommended putting in stiffening, from 9-12" at the hem, as well as using hem braid, which would give a really nice shape, I think. (I read one thing that said that in Paris, it's not being done anymore, but that most of the English houses still are.)
Looking forward to seeing yours!
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Date: 2016-04-25 11:05 pm (UTC)I didn't flat line mine, which is made of a mid-weight wool twill. It's got some weight to it, but it's not ridiculously heavy. I think I'm going to do the crinoline at the hem and a hem facing of plain cotton. It will be interesting to see a comparison of how the two skirts hang.
I hope you don't think I'm being a copy-cat, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
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Date: 2016-04-26 12:58 am (UTC)Sounds like a really good plan. I bet that you'll get some good results.
I don't think you're being a copycat at all! I love it when different people use the same patterns or do similar takes on things. It's so neat to see how they turn out. And we're all just building on the same information and research.
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Date: 2016-04-28 10:35 am (UTC)Love the whole outfit btw :-)
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Date: 2016-04-26 11:28 pm (UTC)It's simple, but absolutely wonderful! Fabulous job!
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