Living History at Dalnavert House Museum

[mala_14]

You may remember this outfit as the one I made to present at a conference last month. Well, I made a hat to go with it (which I ended up changing the design for AGAIN) and wore it for the Doors Open event this weekend, which is an event where many places are open for tours to the public. Our living history group was at Dalnavert House Museum, the place that I made this outfit to be contemporaneous with. And I got pictures of me in my 1895 outfit in the 1895 house!

On the veranda, where we were set up with some displays:


And in the house itself:


Close-up of the hat, plus now my hair is long enough to make a respectable bun:


I really love this ensemble. It's comfortable and allows me to be fairly mobile. I also feel like it looks more like clothes and less like costume than a lot of my other outfits. My only real qualms are that the waist tie on the shirtwaist is too high in the back so it shows above the skirt and that the skirt's placket doesn't stay closed. I'm going to remove the waist tie and (eventually) add the proper hooks to the placket (right now there are none). No problem!

I'm also in love with my new hat! It's my second hat ever. I deconstructed one of those craft straw hats and sewed this together by hand. It has a fairly shallow crown and a sort of medium-ish brim. The front tilts down a bit and the back tilts up to accomodate my bun. I shaped it by spraying the hat with water and propped it up the way I wanted and left it to dry overnight. (I also used a book wrapped in a plastic bag to get the top of the crown flat.) The "ribbon" is actually the same silk fabric as the bow tie. It's double-sided silk, one side gold taffeta, the other side orange-y satin. I turned the edges over and sewed them so that it looks like a striped ribbon, then made fun loops and bows. The tallest loop is a bit droopy at times, but overall they are pretty perky loops.

My shirtwaist and petticoats are all starched, but I found that after ironing they were less stiff and starchy. Anyone know if that is normal? I was hoping for a bit more starchiness, especially to keep my sleeves and collar supported. Maybe I just need to use starch more heavily.

It was a fun day. We had some Votes For Women signs that were popular (it's the 100th anniversary of Manitoba women getting the vote) and people like seeing us around. Lots of people wanted pictures taken with us. Good stuff!

Comments

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

You look so cute! It really does look like clothes. I love that feeling, too, especially at good sites.

Yep, I'd say I've had a similar experience with starch. I usually just do petticoats, and it's full strength liquid so I know it will just be what it will be. They stand up before being ironed, and don't really afterward. I'm not sure exactly what the reason is; maybe it's the water reacting with the starch and heat to "set" it into the fabric instead of being just on the surface? It can be tricky to find the right strength of starch for what you need, when it's not full strength. Wear and humidity also have a definite effect on starch. My petticoats definitely feel more limp in humid weather. The starch isn't gone, but the water in the air keeps it from being as crisp as it would be otherwise.

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thank you Ginger! A lot of our events don't happen in historic buildings (modern places or outside) or we're dressed for an era different from the building, so it's fun to have that experience of matching the building. :)

It has been rather humid lately. Maybe that contributed. I used the starch recipe from the Sewing Academy forum, using 1/2 cup cornstarch boiled with 2 quarts water (for heavy starch) but diluted it with another quart of water (medium is diluted with 2 more quarts of water). After it dried, I could hold up my lawn petticoat sideways and it stuck straight out! But when I spritzed and ironed, it got a nice sort of glaze but wasn't nearly as stiff. After wearing, I also lost some body. Starching (aside from ironing flounces) turned out to be rather less labour-intensive that I was expecting, so I will probably experiment more in the future. I want ridiculously puffy sleeves!

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

You look wonderful! And that hat looks great!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I loved wearing the hat. It was so light and stayed on so well that I barely noticed I was wearing it. I forgot to mention it in my post, but I didn't have a hatpin, so I straightened out a paper clip and used that poked through my hair and the hat. Worked a treat!

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

You look really nice, and the hat is cute. It's great to see the outfit on you rather than a dummy.

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, the dummy really isn't shaped like me either, so everything looks odd on it.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem.

[jenthompson.livejournal.com]

You look adorable! And how fun to get pics in a house from the same date!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thanks Jen! I was a bit bummed last year because I was wearing a dress about 15 years too early for the house. But I was determined that this year, I'd fix the chronology! We have a lot of gorgeous early 1900s buildings in the city. I should really make something Edwardian and go to some of the awesome places for photos!

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

You look fabulous!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[koshka-the-cat.livejournal.com]

You look wonderful! And those hat bows are perfect!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thanks Katherine! I think I finished trimming the hat at about 1:00am the night before. ;p

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

Your hat is so cute! I love the feeling of clothing vs costume. Some of my dresses are only my favorites for this reason.

Re: starch. How long did you soak the petticoats in it? How diluted did you make it?

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thanks Elizabeth! Yes, I am slowly starting to figure out the sort of details that make the change from costume to clothing. It's really interesting.

I didn't really soak them in the starch, but dipped them to saturate them then wrung them out. I made starch using 1/2 cup corn starch boiled with 2 quarts of water, diluted with another quart of water (recipe from the Sewing Academy forum). They stood on their own after drying, but after spritzing and ironing, they lost that papery stiffness. After ironing they reminded me more of a glazed cotton/chintz sort of feel.

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I've never made my own starch, just used the store bought liquid. But I would say you want to leave your garment in for a good hour to let the starch really penetrate. And maybe you just need your solution to be a little stronger?

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Ah ok. That makes sense. I'll try that next time.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

How fun! You look adorable!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thank you Maggie! It was a great time. :)

[wanda-victorian.livejournal.com]

You look fabulous! Great job!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) I'll be wearing this on the train.

[girliegirl32786.livejournal.com]

You look awesome! I love the new hat. The bows are wonderfully ridiculous!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Wonderfully ridiculous is EXACTLY what I was hoping for! I think that pretty much just describes all the of the 1890s. Thanks!