IDEAS FOR A COSTUME VENUE

 

We all know costuming events have been a desert out there for the past two years. And I’d guess that most of us are still in a costume sewing slump too. I’ve continued with my “baby steps” sewing my costumes, or a better description, “bits & pieces”. Right now, I have four different dresses in various stages of construction that get worked on when the mood or energy strikes me, which is mostly about a day.

A while back I had recognized that this was becoming a pattern with me; I’d go full-on enthusiasm to start a new dress, and after a short time it would fizzle away. And then another dress would be started, and same thing would happen. I’d put it aside as I had nowhere to wear it so what’s the rush? But eventually one of them would get done, or at least closer to being done. I decided that if this was how I worked, so be it. Don’t fight it. When an event comes up for it, you can be that mad crazy lady again.

Towards the end of the year, things began to loosen up from (need I say it?) Covid isolation, and a few events cautiously started up. There was a dim light in the tunnel, inviting us to come out again. There was hope. 

In September, I had helped my mom move into a retirement community and noticed they had a beautiful indoor dinner theatre with a stage, great lighting, and lots of seating.

It reminded me that a few years ago I’d seriously begun to plan on offering historical fashion shows to retirement communities, and had even participated in two that my friend, Cindy, put on. Today I had a Memory pop up on Facebook that showed I was already thinking about this 9 years ago, in 2012. A few years ago, there was a really nice location down the street from where I lived. But then we moved away. And now here was a brand-new location only ten minutes away from where we moved to, and I had a connection to approach them about doing it. I had already designed a flyer that had photos of previous fashion shows I’d put on or worked on that I could hand out. I sent an email to the Activities Director at the community, and got an enthusiastic response back.

She had the next two months, November and December, open for activities, and after polling the ladies in my pool of models, we decided on November 6. Over the years I’ve done a variety of themes for my shows, even having stage settings like a grand parlor, or an atelier’s dress shop. But for a first-time event I usually do a timeline. It’s the easiest to work with and gives the models of variety of periods to work with, depending on what they have available. The hardest part is making sure we have a good variety of time periods to fill in the timeline.

Most of the fashion shows I’ve been in have had other costumers in the audience, and many of them know the time periods or the differences. With a senior community, you can’t expect this. So, I lean towards making them educational, along with being pretty and entertaining. We’ve found that most audiences are really interested in what’s going on underneath our gowns, in other words, what makes the shapes. Occasionally, if you have time, you can have a model that’s willing to be dressed from the inside out. But in these, our time is shorter, and I like to have examples of the corset, hoops, and bustles to hold up and show them how they work. You also wouldn’t want to shock the audience if they’re not used to them. 

For this show I tried something different, rather than have the models come out one at a time. We were all seated onstage, and then called on to come forward. I thought this would make it easier for us, and also give the audience more time to see us after we’d done our “twirl” on stage. We even have a gentleman who participates, and gives us a hand up.  

Here Shelley is not showing off her undies, but showing how sheer her cotton voile dress is for summer wear. 

After the show we stepped off the stage and walked among the audience members so they could look at our dresses close up and ask questions, which they did! That also gives me ideas of things to include in the narratives of future shows. And there will be future ones. They were all asking when we would come back so they could invite their friends. The Activities Director gave us the green light for that. We also were asked about two other locations that we might do this in, so we have that to look forward to in the coming year. We were all just so happy to be able to dress up and show off our "works of art" again. 

I’m hoping after the holidays are over, the mood might come over me again to finish up all those other dresses. 

FINALLY FINISHED & WORN: 1873 PURPLE FLORAL DRESS

I knew I’d been working on this dress off and on for a couple years. But I was shocked today when I saw the last blog post I made on it was in October 2018. Almost 3 years ago! Actually, it was finished last January when I was going to put it on and take photos for the online fashion show for the Riverside Dickens Faire but that wearing never happened. But today I can say officially it was finished and worn.

Our Ladies of the Traveling Tea Society had our first tea outing after 1 ½ years yesterday at the Tea House on Los Rios, in San Juan Capistrano (CA). We’ve been having unseasonably HOT weather, getting to 100d at my house the day before, but predicted to be about 15d less the next. But still, getting in costume in hot weather is no fun. And we were going to be outside on a covered patio. At least my dress was a very lightweight cotton voile.

On the day of the tea, after I got all dressed, I was sweating already.  I was going to wear my wig for an 1870s style, with a thick braid on the back, much like this plate shows so I can wear my hat tilted forward as they did in this time period. Except wearing a full wig is so darn hot! Instead, I decided to just wear my halo braid with bun. I plop it on top of my head, which leaves the top open and cool, then topped by my hat. Except with wearing that, my hat wouldn’t tilt forward where I could use my hat pin to secure it to my braid. So, I had to wear my hat tilted back. Which is fine because that was also an 1870s style. I pulled a thin fringe of my bangs out but not long after I left home, all my bangs came out and I had a very heavy fringe across my forehead.   

And guess what? Surprise! With the tearoom being close to the coast, it was still partly cloudy at noon (its our June Gloom) and only got to 73d, so it was wonderful. Perfect for being outside in costume. I should have worn my wig. Now I’m starting to try and figure out how I can have another fake heavy braid hanging from the top of my head with a headband holding it on. With having very short hair, I don’t have enough to just pin one on.

I was really happy with how my dress came out. The addition of a dark purple wide ribbon as a belt & tied in a big bow in back, the purple silk rose brooch, and my purple grape earrings (from LadyDetalle https://www.etsy.com/shop/LadyDetalle?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1031925975) brought out the lavender flowers of my dress. And my custom-made hat by Atelier Mela was the perfect touch. I forgot to have a full-on photo of the back of my dress to show how I did the bustle and tails with the solid lavender fabric folded over to show it.

So please ignore the messy hair. I am just the mannequin. I think the side of my bustle was slightly askew, as there’s a part of it coming forward that shouldn’t be. 

GETTING BACK TO SEWING—1887 Autumn Plaid Bustle Dress

 After almost a year of not feeling like sewing any of my historical dresses, I FINALLY broke through the wall a little bit. My inspirations that have been wiggling their fingers at me have been mostly plaid fabrics and I did an excellent job of collecting plaids in both silk taffetas and cotton. Those dress ideas ranged from 1830s-1890. The hard part was deciding WHICH dress I would make, and for what?

For what, pretty much answered itself. At this point, nothing. Which meant I could make anything. Next was what would get the most wear? For me, its mid-1880s. In a spurt of enthusiasm last October, I had made a fitting muslin from the Truly Victorian #466, Alexandra 1887 bodice. So, I decided, ok, I made that, but does it still fit? You know, Covid weight. After a bout of being sick, I lost that extra weight, so I didn’t have to worry about it as much. That ended up also deciding on what to start first. 

I had this lovely orange, blue and red plaid medium weight cotton blend fabric, and I could pull out the colors in it for my accents, and after wavering back and forth on the vest color, I decided on a navy or royal blue to contrast with it.

Next up was my favorite part, looking for ideas. This blue plaid dress was my original favorite but I only had 5 yards of my plaid, so I could only make the skirt or overskirt in that. Later when I finally got around to cutting fabric, I forgot I was going to do the bodice in the solid blue and instead cut it out of the plaid. So, the dress decided to be a plaid bodice, plaid overskirt, and I had to go buy more solid royal blue for the skirt. Sometimes the dress or the fabric tells you what it wants to be. 

I started working on ideas for the trimming so it didn’t look like a cookie cutter pattern, and came across this from a fashion magazine, where I noticed the large buttons going down the lower portion of the jacket. I have some pretty antique Victorian black glass buttons that are 1” across but only have 4, with a 5^th mismatched one. Although I have used mismatched glass buttons in the past because no one looks that close. 

But then I needed 14 buttons for the vest closure. I would love to use these 1/2” antique blue glass buttons. I have 19 of them, and the gold edge picks up the gold in my fabric. Except they don’t look well next to the bigger black ones, so I’m at a standstill with buttons. I may go shopping for 2 more large black ones, and just used some small black glass buttons. That can wait until the end though.

Then a few days later I went back to searching online on etsy with a different idea of using metal buttons, specifically antique brass ones. This seller had multiple ones and I ordered 2 sets of 10. They’re described as having cabuchon settings where you can put a colored stone in the center, but I think I like them plain.

Back to my planning stage and what to make the lapels with? I tested doing my lapels in a blue silk taffeta but it didn’t go well with the color of the blue cotton vest. I asked for suggestions on the Truly Victorian Pattern Sewist group on Facebook, and one lady had made her dress with a similar plaid, plus the blue vest. I noticed her lapels were a dark orange to match the plaid. (btw, notice her watch chain at the waist and watch pocket going to the side of her bodice?).

My plaid has a brick-red thin stripe in it and that’s what I decided to do my lapels in.  These photos just have a piece of the blue fabric in the middle faking the vest.

I had a boo-boo moment sewing the lapels. I first sewed up the royal blue taffeta one, and had it pinned on the edges so I could press it. Then I decided to make one from a brick-red silk dupioni instead. I sewed that up and was about to pin it and then remembered I needed to under-stitch the seam allowance. I totally forgot about that on the blue one, and it makes a huge difference on how crisp the edge is. You open up the two pieces flat, topstitch the seam allowance to the facing side, close to the seam line. Cut your usual notches in the seam allowance as needed. The turn it right side out, pin and press. It holds the lining flatter and looks so beautiful. This can and should also be done on the collar and cuffs.

 

I finally got my bodice sewn together, after a little hiccup where I couldn’t remember how to sew the vest portion into the bodice around the neckline (where the white line is in the photo) or stop at the top of the side (where the red line is). I thought I could see how to do it but wasn’t quite sure. I got a confirmation on the Truly Victorian group that I was thinking correctly that I stop at the top of the red line. The rest will be part of sewing the collar on where the vest attaches to the bodice.  

I sewed up the collar and placed it around the neckline but it was about 3” shorter. If I wrap the collar around my neck, I have a 1” overlap, and I plan on using a bar pin as my jewelry there and that only needs to butt together. I have three antique bar pins to choose from. But until I get up the enthusiasm to put on my corset, and try on the bodice, I won’t know if it really will fit. So, I’m setting that aside for a while.

Since I’d played with the bodice for two weeks, I went on to sewing up my overskirt, using the Truly Victorian #364, 1886 Autumn overskirt. This takes 4 1/2 yds of fabric. And that back piece is as wide as a queen bed! I’ve been exhausted just handling it. And now I see I also have to cut out a lining for that. Ugh. I started with sewing the center front and two side pieces together that make the draping from side to side, and pleated the sides up.  

I pinned it on my dress-form to see what it looked like and it wasn’t impressing me. First off, the front panel is way too long for my height, and I had even shortened it by 8” when I cut it because I didn’t have quite enough fabric. It was bunching out on the sides like a 18^th century panier, or like pocket hoops under it. I may be doing a deep hem on it once I see how long it is on me.

Eventually I saw what I was doing wrong. I wasn’t pulling it up and to the center back like I should. So, before I taking any length off the front, I’m going to first see what happens when I do this correctly. *I just adjusted mine, and I think its still too long, especially for my height.

**I am again rethinking the vest on this. It looks off to me with so much blue, and I think I like it being shorter like the sample photo I did earlier where it stopped closer to my waist.

I’m now considering changing out the red lapels for matching plaid fabric like the fashion plate here in brown plaid, and making the lapels a bit narrower since I don’t have a wide chest. Good thing it’s still in construction mode.

At about the same time I was planning my trims, I was also looking for hat ideas. I found a couple I liked but didn’t want them out of straw since this is an Autumn dress. I could steam a straw one to make it the correct curve on the brim, but I think I may make one out of buckram. And I kind of like the idea of covering it in brown velvet. I’m pretty sure I still have some in my stash too.

Finding a hat pattern was a little harder. But I’ve narrowed it down to one by 1886, the Impressionist hat  pattern https://www.1886location.com/shop/Victorian-c46748871 , which has the curved front already but might need a higher crown, OR Truly Victorian #551 with the short crown, if I can curve that point. I have both patterns so I need to play with them a bit. 

Last week I went to a sewing workshop with four other ladies. My plan was to put the bodice on, have it checked for fit, and see if my collar was going to work. Then I was going to cut out the skirt, and sew that up. What happened was we spent a good part of the day chatting about sewing, doing some show & tell with some antique clothing, and then looking at ideas. By the end of the day, we had worked out how to do the pleating on the back peplum of my bodice, and I cut out the skirt and sewed up the side seams. It wasn’t a lot accomplished in sewing but it was a good day well spent talking with friends in person again.

I got home and suddenly I was sidetracked by petticoats and crinolines. I haven’t done anything with those other than talk and plan but I think the enthusiasm is coming back.

In the meantime, I have continued hand-sewing some 1830s pelerines, and sold my first one. These are more time-consuming sewing them than my simpler Regency kerchiefs, but it gives me something to do while I binge-watch all those programs on Netflix. 

~~~~Val~~~~