BEGINNING STAGES OF MY 1830s PROJECT FOR 2020

 What do you do when you don’t feel like sewing, or have any enthusiasm to even try?

You plan.  So, I’m just going to show you some pretty pictures and fabrics, and that will have to suffice for now. Who knows, it may inspire me to do something. No promises but maybe some baby steps.

While my 1860s Project has fizzled (in truth, I am doing some cartridge pleating on the 3 skirts but haphazardly), I went forward on planning my 1830s Project of cutting and sewing 3-4-5, maybe 6, at a time. I’m undecided at this point which of my plaid silk taffetas I want to attack first, so it may just be 4.

First thing I did was gather all my dress photos that I wanted to make and decided what style to do. I’ve done about 4 of the pleated front bodices, so I want to try a crossover style, and a V-neck style. I’m a little tired of the off-the-shoulder styles. AND I want to be able to close them IN FRONT!!

Oh heck, let’s just throw in a mourning dress, and maybe an archery dress, although I don’t do archery but I can carry an arrow around with me.

And trust me, I have enough fabric in my stash, including some solids, to make all these plus a few more.

 

  

It’s the necklines that are going to confound me. I’ve got a couple different patterns I haven’t used yet but none are quite what I want, so it’s going to take some altering.

This Period Impressions pattern 1837 Day dress has a front seam that could be changed to be opened, and it’s got those cute sleeve finishes.  Past Patterns #806 Lowell Mill Dress, also has cute sleeves and I bet I could change the front to a front closure but don’t like that straight neckline.

 

Surprisingly this Butterick 5832, which was copied off an 1841 extant dress, could be used for the V-neckline. I haven’t pulled out the pattern yet so I don’t know if it’s actually pleated in front or if that’s an overlay. And I might be able to extend it to make it a crossover, like this 1838 extant dress. It’s got cute sleeves too. Then someone pointed out View C on this Laughing Moon pattern #103 that has a crossover bodice that might help in my construction, even though its 1890s. As more ideas come in for doing this, the more excited I get. It takes a bit of the scary out of it. 

 

 

Speaking of scary; I keep saying I want to make those gathered/smocked sleeves but when it comes right down to it, they look scary. I haven’t found any directions yet how they do those. I’m assuming you cut out the humongous sleeve, then cartridge-pleat/smock wherever you want it, either from the shoulders down, or mid-upper arm, then sew the sleeve seams together. Inquiring minds want to know. I don’t know of anyone who’s tried them yet. I think possibly just gathering them down and putting a ruffle around the bottom might work too. This extant dress shows off the smocking very well. I would also LOVE to find fabric like that. I can’t believe how brilliantly colorful it still is. And again, this makes me want to go fabric shopping, for yet MORE fabric. 

And now, let's talk pelerines! I have a couple antique ones but have been thinking about making some myself. This one from the series Gentleman Jack, looks like one I would enjoy making, and that bonnet included.

These antique ones would be good shapes to try also. Its easier to add ruffles to these than to find an embroidered fabric you could use.

I ran across this one on Pinterest. It has a wide ruffle but finished with a delicate lace trim.

These two are interesting, both from 1837, and the longer one would be fun.

The trick to making these is to shape the pattern to have a curved neck. Otherwise it bunches up around your neck. This photo of the one I own shows that shape. I’ve since done a repair on the little tear with as tiny stitches as I could possibly do, so it wouldn’t tear further. I only wear it for short periods of time, or for fashion shows.

I may have some extra fine cotton voile in my stash somewhere to get started on one of these. And the easiest one to start would be using the pattern I made off of my antique one. Small hand projects seems to be the way to go these days as they don’t seem to be too overwhelming. I’ve still been hand sewing 18^th C kerchiefs and selling them almost as soon as I post one, so I’d like to give the 1830s ones a try too.   

 

 

 

 

 

My Wardrobe at Costume College PART ONE

   A week has passed since I got home from Costume College; most things are unpacked and put away. It took me two days to get all my photos weeded out, cropped, and uploaded to my online album. So now that I’ve gathered a few photos of me wearing my costumes, I can write my blogs about them. I wore five costumes, and my primary color this year was black. Unfortunately they don’t actually photograph well so the better ones are from home on my dress form.

 This is my photo album from the convention. Costume College 2014  

    I ended up trying not to kill myself and finish another gown, so I did a repeat of my Regency Red/White/Blue outfit and so did two of my friends. I wore two dresses on Friday; the Regency during the day, and my 1873 Dia de los Muertos mourning gown for our Murder of Crows theme that evening at the Ice Cream Social. On Saturday I wore my 1837 Midnight Mourning during the day and to teach my Watch class but so far only have one photo of me in it and none from my class. That evening I wore my 1837 Persimmon dress on the Red Carpet and for our UnGala Dinner at the hotel restaurant. On our final day I had a workshop in the morning where I had to fit myself for an Edwardian belt so I chose to wear my street clothes and later changed into my 1910 Black Ascot dress for the Sunday Tea, “Ladies Day at the Ascot Racecourse”. By that time it actually felt good just to put modern clothes on when we went to the Garment District the next day to shop for, you guessed it, MORE FABRIC.

   So to start with Friday, both of these dresses have been shown here before, so nothing new to write about them. But here are some photos. I added some more pleated blue ribbon along the top of my Regency bonnet but with my head up it’s hard to see. For my 1873 mourning, I wore an antique black Bebe bonnet (these are ones that are small and just fit on the back of your head) that only comes out on rare occasions and added my lace veil to it. It was nice for a change not to stress over getting something made.  And the good thing was, neither had been worn there before. 

 

   My black 1837 Midnight Mourning gown was finished in plenty of time but I left making the belt during the final week. It was made from two inch wide black velvet ribbon and I attached an antique belt buckle to it. I planned to tucked my watch into it but it kept sliding through. So a last minute addition was a small self-fabric pocket sewn to the dress that would be under the belt. 

   I couldn’t find any documentation of how the ladies kept their watches from sliding through so this seemed logical to me. Just in the last couple days while discussing watches on one Facebook group, one lady said she had an antique belt that had a watch pocket sewn to the back and is going to find it and share the photo of it. That’s what I did on my other belt for my Cranberry 1837 dress. So that’s awesome my brain is thinking the right way.

   This is my completed dress at home. I tried making a fichu out of a sheer polyester but it kept sliding against the cotton fabric and up around my neck. While at CoCo I asked a few knowledgeable people who suggested cotton mull. So we bought some in the Garment District for future use. 

 

   For my lace cap I called in my friend Cat ( aka Hatmaker Extraordinaire),

Minerva Manx on Etsy  for help in making that. We used the two paintings I had for inspiration, and she told me to wear it towards the back of my head.

 

   I used a stiff embroidered polyester I found at JoAnn’s that looked similar to the painting. It had enough body that it could almost stay up by itself. While she was testing the pattern she also made one in cotton for me that came in real handy wearing with my Regency bonnet.

 

   My wig was styled by Wig Creations by Conni, and it was her first time doing this time period. She mainly does wigs for cancer patients and for the La Jolla Playhouse. With me bringing in all kinds of requests for different time periods she’s having a great time doing them. I had her copy the hair style of the Lady in Black that I copied my dress from. She had tight curls up around her temples. I’ve been making an album up for her of many different time periods now for a reference guide. I think next up is an Edwardian Gibson Girl style because for some reason that’s one I’ve never had.

  So far this is the only photo I’ve found of me wearing my gown.  You can see my long watch chain hanging down from my neck and my watch tucked into it’s little pocket under my belt. And notice Cindy’s lace cap under her bonnet? That’s the white cotton one Cat also made for me.

   Just a note on my Watch class: as I mentioned I have no photos taken during my class because I was so busy I forgot to hand my camera to someone.  So this is what I have to share is my display case that I brought to show my watch chain collection.

 

   The night before I left for Costume College, I received my grandfather’s pocket watch that my Mom had just found three days earlier and shipped it down quickly for me to bring. This watch had been missing for a number of years and she accidently found it while going through some of my Dad’s things he had squirreled away. See? Squirrels run in the family. The watch was made in 1909, and it had my grandmother’s photo from 1911 in it. It was a lot of fun sharing it with the attendees in my class, and they spent a lot of time gathered around my table looking at everything I brought.  I had a lot of competition for classes that afternoon so it wasn’t as well attended as I’d hoped but afterwards students in the adjoining classes came in saying how sorry they couldn’t attend and would I repeat it next year. By all means I will send in my proposal and just may get that chance again. As I’ve said, it’s a little known bit of accessory women wore and quite a few of them did. I’m all about THE ACCESSORIES!  You need to decorate the cake!

     For my further adventures, I’m going to write another entry so this doesn’t get too long.

                                                                ~~Val~~

  

A Quickie Quilted Petticoat

For the last six months I've been working on three different 1837 gowns. If you’ve been following my blog you’ll remember them. The skirts on these are very full, and both corded petticoats along with multiple petticoats, were used to achieve that fullness.

As the date to Costume College is quickly approaching and I’m trying to finish those and another dress, I’m running out of time to make a few things I need for them; one being big fluffy petticoats to get the period correct look. What’s a girl to do? I remembered a theatre trick that someone had told me a couple years ago after another costumer I know made her own wonderful version of an 1830s dress and shared her “cheater” petticoat.

This is the look we’re going for, a full skirt kind of high on the hips. Of course this is a fashion print so take that into account.

I bought a corded petticoat that was pretty stiff but even that along with a silk taffeta ruffled petticoat still didn’t give me that much lift. In comes the theatre “trick”. I was told to buy some quilted fabric and just gather it into a waistband. Piece of cake! So I bought some in white. And it sat for two years until I forgot what it was for and during a spring cleaning binge, I gave it away.

So the other day I was reminded about doing this and needed some more quilted fabric. I tried looking through a couple thrift shops for a quilted mattress pad to use but had no luck and I didn’t have a lot of time. So I forked over another $10 for two yards with my coupon at JoAnn’s, and this time I bought pink.

The fabric was 36” wide and since that’s about the length I wanted, I used that as my length and would gather the 2 yards into the waist.

Originally I was told the fabric was gathered around the waistband but I didn’t think my thread would be strong enough to gather it, nor did I want the bulk. So I made two inch wide pleats instead. I first considered making a waistband but thought of a quicker way, since this was supposed to be a quickie petticoat. I used a length of one inch wide grosgrain I had left from some packaging, folded it in half and pinned it onto the top, then topstitched through both layers. *I would recommend using a heavy duty needle in your sewing machine. This is pretty bulky.*

I left the back open so it was like a big apron. I just turned the edges under on the ends, and turned up an inch along the bottom for my hem.  It took me about two hours to make this.

It’s got a nice stiffness to it, and yes, it’s already been washed. I actually like this better than my corded petticoat now.  It’s not something I’d like to show off as it’s a rough finish but will you just look at it! It’s awesome!

EDITED TO ADD:   When I put my skirt over the top of this, the petticoat is kind of wavy and was showing through. So I put my cotton tiered petticoat over it, and it smoothed it out very nice. 

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Update on my little girl, Chloe:  She’s getting a good appetite back and even though I have to fill her dish a couple times a day, I will do it. We need to get her weight back up. She lost 2 of her 8 lbs. Her eyes are clear, and starting to get into her old patterns again. Still sleeps a lot but then she always did.

                                                     ~~Val~~

FASHION SHOW AT RIVERSIDE DICKENS 2014

I’m just back from the weekend’s Dickens Festival that’s held each February to celebrate Charles Dickens’ birthday in Riverside, CA. For the past 4 years I’ve been in the fashion show, and most of the time I’ve worn two outfits. This year due to having come down with stomach flu the week before, I had to cut it back to just the one.

Due to another change in the venue location, this turned out to be even a better decision on my part as the fashion show was staged inside a large tent and our dressing room, a smaller tent, was quite small. But physically I don’t know if I could have handled changing in and out of dresses either, as my energy level was extremely low. All in all, it was a better choice for me this year.

I spent a couple days hand tacking the fabric ribbons to my bonnet and basted in the pleated white lining on the inside. Since the inside wasn’t going to show, for right now I left the very bottom open and will later stitch a round piece of the fabric inside to finish it. Then I tacked my vintage brown and aqua leaves about the crown. I first thought of having them stand up as you see on many period bonnets like this but just ended up having them tilt up in various places. Sometimes you have to let your bonnet speak to you while you’re working on it. I use straight pins to hold them in place, just sticking them straight down into the bonnet until I’m ready to sew. That way I can move them as I go if I don’t like where they are. You just have to be careful not to poke yourself as you sew, which I guarantee you will as I do.  

I finished up my bonnet on Thursday evening and was able to have a leisurely day making sure I had everything I needed before leaving Saturday morning. I just drive up in my costume and hubby was able to hook up my dress before I left. On arrival at my hotel instead of stopping at a mirror to put my bonnet on, I parked my car, got out and put it on- with no mirror. So it was tilted a bit too far forward but you got a good view of the top of it. The next day, with it in its proper position, you can see the underside of it.

I always have to share the “oops” parts of my outfits, and one was my belt. The gown has a slightly lower waistline, which is marked by the piping, and my belt  wanted to ride up to my waistline that my corset gives me. But when I get time I’ll be putting some belt loops on it, hopefully invisible since I don’t think they used them, and it will stay in place. 

I spent a good part of the day finding a bench to sit on and rest to conserve energy but did march in the Characters Parade through the event. We’re separated into different Dickens book catagories and carried signs of the character we are. At the end of it “Mr. Charles Dickens” introduces and describes each of our characters to the crowd. On Saturday I was part of “Hard Times” and the next day I was with “Great Expectations”. Here we are lining up ready to start our parade.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the tent to start the fashion show. Our models sat outside in the back waiting to go on. The theme for the show was Women of Dickens World so we portrayed either women in his life or his books. I was Miss Betsey Trotwood from David Copperfield.

On Sunday we repeated the show again with a few changes in the line-up. I believe there was a total of 17 outfits modeled with just a couple ladies having to change into another one.

I was very happy with my antique lace pelerine. I had it pinned at the neckline and during the fashion show I was able to lift it open to show the pleating across the front of my bodice. I had both a corded petticoat and a tiered ruffled petticoat on under my skirt but the ruffled one is kind of limp so I think it needs a stiffer fabric than the one I used. But I still had a nice fullness to my skirt. I wore my watch chain and pocket watch with it stuck under my belt. During this time period I haven’t found any evidence of the ladies having a pocket but mine kept sliding down past my belt. So I think I’m going to do one of my famous “fudgies” and put a little pocket on the backside of my belt to slip it into.

Being inside the tent, a smaller venue than the previous auditorium, there wasn’t any space for all of us to come out at the end of the show for people to take photos of us. So we went outside and lined up for them. When they came out, cameras began popping up, and many came running over to take closer looks at the details. I think everyone enjoyed that! The cars in the background weren’t so great but all the greenery was.

This is from Saturday.

And these are from Sunday’s show. 

This is one of my favorite souvenirs from the festival. A young lady apparently was sitting across the walkway while my friend April and I were seated on a bench for a while. She came over and showed us this quickly drawn ink sketch she’d done of us. I asked if I could buy it from her so here is my favorite “photo”. I hope she continues with this idea because I think it would be a wonderful addition to this event and to any costumer’s album. 

*Josephine Roberts/ website- http://4hireart.com/  and on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/4hireart 

                                                                                ~~Val~~