mala_14 | Entries tagged with 1870 sheer gown

I'm too lazy to put pictures into this post, but click on the links to see all the entries tagged. I actually made a pretty decent amount of things this year and I also actually like all of them, more or less, so this year was definitely a win on the sewing front.

First up, it took me all the way until April to finally finish something, but I did: charcoal pants to wear to a conference that I was going to in Texas. The fit is not good, but it's not terrible either. Fitting bifurcated garments still eludes me because, to quote myself, "Crotches are weird, man."
In early May, I had finally finished my pink linen 1780 stays, which I had started in April. They're boned with reed and really comfortable to wear. I was happy with the fit and how they ended up looking, especially with the narrow binding. They're still not lined, and they probably never will be, whatever. ;p
Another UFO that I finished up was a quilted petticoat. This was a great multi-use undergarment, because I wore it under my 1840s dress and under my 1780s stuff. It's awesome. Adds a nice amount of loft in the skirts and keeps them off the legs. It was just some pre-fab quilting stuff from Joann that I bound at the hem and the pleated top.
I made a white striped 1845 dress in about 2 weeks start to finish. I was so impressed with myself. Of course, I neglected pretty much everything else in that time, but whatever, I made a dress and now have a good bodice base for that era. It turned out pretty well, but it totally needs a different corset with a higher bust point, and then I'll have to adjust the darts in the lining, but that shouldn't be a problem whenever that time comes. It needs accessories too. And for me to not drop blackberry juice on it when I'm wearing it.
I finished up another UFO: a fichu. A very useful accessory for the wardrobe, but not very exciting. Although I did tambour embroidery on it when I first started it many years ago.
I painted two silk fans in 18th century style but with dog portraits as gifts. It was a fun project and a nice change from the sewing.
I made a super cute and twee corset cover 1870.
My 1870 sheer dress might be my favourite out fit of the year, consisting of a bodice, overskirt, and peplum. It's ruffly and trimmed with lace and currently in need of repairs. I used my 1840s bodice as a starting point to make a new 1870 bodice block, which was used for this and my corset cover.
I made a feather/down stuffed bumpad out of an IKEA pillow. Feathers EVERYWHERE!
To go over it, I made a white linen-rayon 18th century petticoat.
And to go over all that for my trip to Virginia and DC, I made a pale yellow linen-rayon 1780 gown. I wore it to Colonial Williamsburg, where I had a wonderful stay! I got a good pattern base for this, although I want to make some important changes to it at the back so that the sleeves are set in deeper and the back is narrower, but it fits and the look is acceptable.
I also made a white voile (my 3rd white cotton dress of the year!) 1780s roundgown with en fourreau back to wear to The Lady Detalle's birthday tea. For some reason I didn't take any detail pics after I I finished it, but got some great pics at the tea taken by quincy134 . I really like the back pleats on this. I had made some very slight alterations to the fit of the pattern I used for the yellow gown and some worked (like getting a better fit in the back) and some didn't (like having the neckline dip too low and showing the very top of my stays).
I made a silk organza 1780s cap to top everything off. I didn't entirely finish it for my trip and had to temporarily sew part of the caul the band, but it is done now.
After all that summer sewing I needed a break. But I knit up a pair of legwarmers for elizabeth_mn and had fun dyeing them from off-white to pink. Made out of worsted-weight wool, they were a quick and soothing project during a stressful time.
I also cut out and started sewing a silk 1920s slip, but that will be my UFO going into 2019.

My goals for 2018 were:

keep on trying new things with sewing, new techniques, new materials, etc.
get a couple of solid bodice patterns figured out, ones that fit really nicely and that I can just use whenever I want to make something from that era
get some 18th century things made, especially finishing up these stays and other undergarments and making some gowns and millinery to go over them
make some modern clothes, preferably of a professional-looking nature for when I have to look like a grown up

I think I was pretty successful with most of these. I tried out new eras that involved different techniques and styles as well as new materials like reed. I also made bodice blocks for 1840s, 1870, and 1780s that aren't perfect, but that fit well and only need small adjustments to be right. I definitely made some 18th century undergarments, gowns, and millinery (cap and fichu!). The one I fell down on the most was the modern clothes. Just made a pair of mediocre pants. I'm hoping that getting to this blazer soon will help out.

Plans for 2019:

keep on upping my sewing game by trying new techniques (like tailoring!), improving fit, and making accessories for outfits
make some modern clothes
get some good pictures to document all my hard work
let go of plans and lists and make what I'm feeling at the time to help with productivity (but no creating UFOs! gotta finish things!)
use the stash (it's starting to get out of hand)

I got my sheer bustle dress totally done enough for my trip to Minnesota. It was completely wearable. The only thing that (I thought) needed doing was to add some metal rings inside the overskirt for bustling with the tape ties. This was a very froofy dress, which was totally the point. It is two parts, a bodice and overskirt with peplum, made out of cotton voile. It has a ton of ruffles, gathered 1.5, that I made in a not very historically accurate, but I thought clever, way, illustrated below.

First the lace and voile edges were serged together, right sides together.

Then the lace and voile were opened out and ironed, with the serging facing the voile. (This is the wrong side of the ruffle.)

Lastly, the voile was top-stitched right on the edge to hold the serging down. It gives a nice clean finish and is WAY less labour than actual hemming and attaching lace.

elizabeth_mn planned a bustle picnic at the Conservatory. It was a really beautiful setting.

We also had some cute kids with us. Clearly they enjoyed the parasols.

It was nice to re-meet Laura. I didn't realize that I had met her before at CoCo last year! But she was smart and knew exactly who I was. It's great to find another costumer who is not super far away. Here are Laura, Elizabeth, and I (right to left). (I wanted to name everyone left to right, but the grammatical construction of that sentence just wouldn't work properly. ;p)

There ended up being some snafus with this dress. It's really difficult to see, but part of the front of the overskirt got caught in the seam when I applied the ruffle. It's mostly hidden behind the ruffle, and I didn't even notice until I was ironing the thing in the hotel. That's something I need to fix. Also, I need to re-sew one of the ties. The boyfriend sat beside me and when I got up, turned out he was sitting on part of my overskirt, and the tie ripped out of the waistband and ripped one of the safety pins out. Luckily, that safety pin was in the seam allowance that was felled, so the few ripped threads aren't damaging the structure or any of the visible fabric. And the tie was just sewn in with a couple of stitches that ripped the tie, not the stitches, so I just need a new tie. Anyways, that happened before we took this picture:

The boyfriend got a dapper bow tie and a thrift store vest to blend in some. He doesn't costume, but doesn't mind dressing up. This worked.

I LOVE the back of my dress! It's SO ruffly with the peplum. This picture was taken near the end of our time at the Conservatory, and it looks like my bodice has pulled out a little, causing the wrinkling in the back. I'm pretty sure that's not usually there. Ugh, annoying, but you get the idea. Lots of fluffles! And the corset cover worked a treat, too.

Anyways, I was super pleased with how my dress turned out. It was light, summery, floofy, and looked how I wanted it to. It's always such a great feeling when something matches your vision. I need to get some really good pictures of this once it's all fixed up.

I got my act together and took some pictures of the stuff I've been making. So here is my fichu. I did the embroidery and the hem on the straight sides YEARS ago and only got around to hemming the curved side a couple weeks ago. It's hemmed with a narrow hem.

And my corset cover. I don't think I've ever made something so dainty and twee before. But it looks right and it will work, so that's good. It's made from my 1840s dress pattern with the neckline lowered, the bottom of the waist cut straight across, and two darts instead of one.

Also, I went to a button and trunk sale that the Costume Museum was holding with my two local costuming buddies and picked up these awesome things. Mother of pearl slide buckle and buttons and some linen washing buttons. The linen buttons are cool. You see them on late-1800s and early 1900s underwear, like corset covers. I think these need a wash, but they're meant for that, so they should be alright. The buckle will go with my 1930s Wearing History Tea at Two dress, when I get around to making it in the fall/winter, and the buttons will be perfect for a c.1916 Wearing History Elsie shirtwaist, which I'm also planning to make in the fall/winter. Maybe I should call it Wearing History Winter? The linen buttons would have actually been perfect for my corset cover instead of the plastic ones, but oh well, not gonna do anything about it now. Need to work on other stuff.

I got my voile washed and ironed. Hoping to cut out the bodice and maybe even get it partially assembled this evening. It's getting to be crunch time!

Now that my stays are almost done (tried them on yesterday to measure strap length and hoping to get straps made today, pictures from yesterday are forthcoming), I've been giving some serious thought to my next project: a sheer early bustle dress. It's going to be made in phases for convenience. All together I need:

corset cover
white bustle petticoat
bodice
skirt
overskit
peplum

However, since I have my lavender silk skirt from my ballgown, I can get away with not making an underskirt or petticoat and still have a wearable outfit, just in case I don't get things finished in time (planning on have a foofy bustle picnic with

elizabeth_mn in late July). This leaves me with the corset cover, bodice, overskirt, and peplum. The corset cover is because I want to do a looser, gathered bodice and can't quite wrap my head around how to do that plus have a fitted half-high lining. Plus, then I have a corset cover for when I do other sheer things in the future. I'm basing my design on this lovely from c.1869 at the Musee D'Orsay:

I like the split overskirt and the v-neck bodice and where the ruffles are. Mine will have a peplum thingie for some extra jeuje on the bustle area, because isn't that the point of bustle? I need a new bodice pattern, but I'm probably going to start with my 1880 bodice pattern and straighten the CF, alter some of the seam lines, drop the shoulder a bit, and cut it off at the natural waist, as well as make the minor fitting tweaks that I know it needs. Shouldn't be too difficult. <-- *famous last words*

I have many yards of white cotton voile and cotton lace left over from the ballgown, so that's what I'm using. At one time in my life I had grand dreams of stamping a design on this, but then I got real. I'll probably need more lace, but it was pretty cheap and they had another lace I was interested in, so I might get that too. Can never have too much lace, right?

Sabrina

Entries tagged with 1870 sheer gown

2018 Costuming Year in Review

Sheer Bustle Dress Complete (Sort of)

Corset cover and stuff. With pictures!

Sheer Bustle

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