Bits & Pieces, and Costume College 2022

Here it is two months after my last blog post, and what have I done? Only bits & pieces of a couple different outfits. Real life had a habit of breaking up my days and weeks so it was hard to focus on doing much.

First off, I’m sorry I didn’t even write anything about Costume College this year. I ended up spending most of my time this year running the costume exhibit there. Due to the reduced number of attendees this year, and half of them being new, we didn’t have very many volunteers to help us run the entire college. Since there weren’t too many classes I wanted to attend (and there were less of those this year too), I was ok with that. Due to my Covid fatigue, and problems with my knee, this turned out to be a good fit for me this year. With the help of my friends there, we were able to set up the exhibit how I visualized it.

Instead of just asking for submissions of whatever people wanted to send, I created a theme of "Inspirations: From Start to Finish". My idea was the exhibitors would share a photo of something that inspired them to make their costume, be it from a movie, book, fashion plate, or extant clothing, and in any genre, alongside their finished outfits. The sign included an explanation of their inspiration and how they achieved it. Then I placed them in the room according to their “theme”.

 

This 1850s dark purple dress was my own contribution. I hadn’t worn it to CoCo yet, so I may need to in the future.

By choice, I didn’t attend the Gala dinner & dance, or the tea, mostly because I can’t taste anything so it’s a waste of money for me. But I did join my friends for dinner at our favorite Maggiano’s Italian restaurant and wore my 1890s Mulberry dress for that.  And on Friday night I wore my Carmelite Nun outfit while sitting outside the Exhibit during the Passport to the End of the World scavenger hunt, where everyone learned where everything was. Neither of these photos were taken there, so I just have previous photos to show the outfits I wore. I made it easy on myself this year, not having to sew anything new.

The one outfit I did get a photo of onsite was my 1890s wrapper, which I finished recently, that I wore for the Sunday Breakfast, and then during the rest of the day. It was quite comfortable wearing it.

I did teach two classes this year; Accessories: 1800-1850, and Accessories: 1850-1900. I had mostly full rooms, and the majority of attendees were new to CoCo, and I loved hearing that. I’m always happy to see new interest in the historical stuff.

 

Here is the theme announcement for the 2023 Costume College, if you haven’t heard it yet, "Cosplay: Fairytales, Fiction and Fantasy". From the Dean: What is Cosplay to me? Cosplay is the act of dressing in any COStume and PLAYing a character from any period, book, movie, or graphic art. So, in essence, it is what we as costumers do. This includes all types of costumes, such as historical dress, fictional characters, book to screen characters, anime, fantasy characters, and even woodland creatures." No dates have been set for next year yet, but its always the last weekend in July, sometimes going into August.  

Of course, I came home all excited to start sewing again, as happens whenever I attend a costume event. But during the weeks prior to Costume College, my hubby had decided it was time to pull the carpets out of my sewing room and his office, which meant everything had to come out and packed up. Afterwards I was able to get my computer & TV set back up, and also my sewing table. I hung some of the costumes I’d been working on the last two years in my closet and could stare at them each day, waiting to see which one called to me first. The first thing I pulled out was my 1887 Autumn Plaid bustle dress that basically just needed its trimmings, buttons/buttonholes, and hemming. It was a small step but I sewed the red soutache trim around the lapels & cuffs, and around the plaid overskirt hem. The buttons on this are just pinned on at this point. Then I had to pack up my Mom’s senior living apartment and move her to an assisted living apartment, so that got any more progress stalled.

When another sewing workshop came up, I got enthusiastic about starting yet another dress, this time copying an 1880s polonaise (not an 1870s). I’d been saving this brilliant blue plaid rayon acetate fabric just for this. I had 14 yards of this soft fabric, and bought it really cheap on ebay due to some tiny holes in the fabric, which I’ve been able to cut around. Because of the type of fabric it is, I’m flatlining it with a black cotton. Its kind of thin so it needs the cotton support behind it. I was able to cut out the bodice and skirt at the workshop, and am cutting the flatlining now.  

During the last two weeks, I suddenly felt like I needed some hand-sewing to relax and de-stress over everything life was throwing at me, so I brought out the three 1860s dresses I had started on my “assembly line” way back in Aug 2020. They were pretty much constructed but still needed the waists cartridge pleated to the waistband. So, my assembly line came out for those, and while bingeing on “Breaking Bad” on Netflix, they now all have their waistbands attached. Still left to do on those are the buttons/buttonholes and hems.

 

At this point I don’t have any events that any of these outfits are needed for so that may be a determining factor what gets done first, or I move onto something else if the mood strikes me. Its better than doing nothing, even if its just bits and pieces.

Another wearing of my 1860s olive green gown

Last night was our costume guild's annual Xmas dinner where we go to a restaurant in Old Town San Diego during their Holiday in the Park event. The Old Town Park is a living history museum with the town preserved back to it's original buildings. It burned down in 1873, and is a rough Californio settlement. During the Holiday event, everything is decorated for the holidays as it was back then, with tours and singing. Some of the little shops are our favorites, like the Johnson House which has costume accessories. We've bought hat forms, jewelry, shawls, vests, and other things they've gotten in that work with our costumes. It's not all historically correct but still a fun place and so pretty. Then there's Capt'n Fitches who carry all the Dover fashion print softbound books. The stores give guild members a 10-20% discount on everything, so we do all our shopping on this night.
Then we had our dinner at the recently renovated Cosmopolitan Hotel in their inside courtyard.
I wore my olive green 1860s gown, and added my antique fur muff (which includes the fox's head, who is named Oscar).




We stood out in front of various buildings, and were swamped by the public taking photos of us. So we had a chance to enjoy everything and the public enjoyed us.

Here I'm sitting in front of the Johnson House.

This was our whole group at the restaurant.
The rest of my photos can be found in my Flickr album. http://www.flickr.com/photos/26036741@N00/sets/72157625583244074/

I guess I should include this, since it does show my gown on me, and moving. I was interviewed at the Riverside, CA Dickens Fair by a young wannabe video journalist. He actually got some good interviews with costumers there but apparently had some major loss of his recordings, so not too many survived. By chance, mine survived, and I'm the first one on the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxoOaIdfMjw#t=00m24

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Monday, February 8, 2010

Quick update on my two 1860s gowns

I finished them both, and along with my new bonnet, wore them to the Riverside (CA) Dickens Fair this past weekend. I was happy with how everything turned out too. So here are a couple pictures of me wearing them backstage at the fashion show there.






Later on I hung out with some of my friends at the Widow Peters Parlour.

I'll have a separate entry for my bonnet that I made and wore there but haven't finished that yet.
Next Saturday I'll be joining Shelley Peters (The Widow Peters) for my first Civil War event at Fort Knotts, at Knotts Berry Farm, to help her with her Kansas Mercantile sutler's booth. This way I can ease my way into fitting in with them.

Two Civil War 1860s gowns Part 2

I normally just put buttons and buttonholes on my bodices because it’s easier for me, and I can adjust it easier if I don’t get it quite right, or my size changes. I’ve used hooks & eyes in the past but it’s very time consuming, and getting the hooks to line up with the eyes is enough to make you pull your hair out. I've also tried the hook and eye tape but I had no idea how to insert it. I butchered it and it wasn’t very pretty. I decided to try it one more time. I got to look closely at some in a bodice, and take pictures of them, while I was in a sewing workshop, so I felt a little more confident in trying it this time. It still was a little confusing figuring out how far back from the edge it should go but not show from the outside. And what happens to that overlaying flap of the fashion fabric that wants to pull away and open? Ah, a heavy duty hook and bar (like they use for trousers) solved that problem at the neckline and the waist. Until I actually wear it, I won’t know just how good that works. This is a gathered front bodice so it’s not pulled tight like a fitted one would.
Another issue I had was the ends of the tape. There’s hardly any gap between one hook to the next so when you cut through the middle it doesn’t give you much to turn under. My ends look frazzled. It wasn’t until after I had one bodice done, and went to the next, that I tried removing the unused hook and it gave me more fabric to turn under. So why didn’t anyone mention this to me? These are the tales of my struggles.

So, the closures are complete, and I can start on my trims. I cut some bias strips of the purple silk taffeta and sewed it an 8th inch in on the front edge of the sleeve cap and the cuffs. Then I turned it over to the inside, folded the edge under, and slip-stitched it down. From the outside you only see a fourth inch of the trim and honestly it looks almost like piping. I love the way it came out.





Even though I wasn’t doing buttonholes, I still wanted faux buttons for color on the bodice. I wanted to make covered buttons but not use the modern metal ones. My idea was to use a regular button and cover it with the silk by making a yoyo, and gather it around the button. I tried it with a dome shaped button with a shank, which looked pretty but flopped all over the place when sewn to the bodice. It was suggested to me to use flat buttons and create my own shank with thread. So I picked up a bunch of cheap flat buttons, covered them, and found that the part of the fabric drawn to the center in the back provided a perfect shank.


Once I finished covering it, I left the needle on and sewed it directly to the bodice. It took quite awhile since there are ten buttons down the front, and one on each cuff. The purple buttons made a very striking contrast to the olive green.
I made my collar from the pattern provided, and tried sewing some crocheted lace between the two pieces and turning it right side out. Except it was catching in the seam, and when I ripped it out, some parts of the delicate lace would tear. So I asked for some help again from my costume friends, and was told about basting the lace to the outside underneath the collar. That also makes it easier to remove for washing or replacing if it’s torn. See? I learn by baby steps. I basted the collar to the inside of my neckline. This is so it can be removed for washing, since the collars are mainly to protect the gown.
Now to make a belt out of the same purple silk. A couple suggestions I got was to cover a stiff fabric or buckram. While at JoAnn’s in the home fabrics drapery department I saw a roll of crinoline that’s used for stiffening the bottoms of curtains. It was wide but when I folded it in half, it was exactly the width that I wanted. I tacked the fabric to the back of the belt with a glue stick, turned the other edge over it and under, then tacked again. I whip-stitched the edges together on the back. Since the belt was too wide and too stiff to go through the vintage belt buckle I had, I just sewed the buckle to the front of the belt, and made a little cover of the fabric over the middle shank.



So, on to the blue and white cotton lawn gown. I did the cartridge pleating on my skirt, and attached it to it’s waistband. I was a little concerned about the fit of the bodice. I’d cut it out the same time as the olive one but for some reason the blue one fit tighter, and wasn't fitting as well at the waist. So I made the decision to rip out part of the waistband and opened up some of the gathering to add 2 more inches to the opening. I also discovered there was a pattern piece I’d cut out, and forgot, that was an extension of the waistband. So I’m going to need to add that piece to the olive dress too so it has more than the half inch overlap on the waistband. Even though I didn't want to cause more work for myself, I'm glad I did.
I bought a navy blue silk ribbon when I was in San Francisco at the Ribbonaire store, and have decided to use part of it as bows on my lace day cap, and maybe a bow at the neckline. I was trying to decide if I wanted to use white covered buttons or do them in blue. After doing a test one, and asking for feedback from my friends, the blue buttons won. The navy blue silk ribbon was a lot more delicate than the silk taffeta and a couple times I’d get runs in it. So I had to sew it very gently. But I’m very happy with how they came out. This shows my lace cap with the bows on the side too.

I didn't do the little sleeve cap on this gown but I love the look of it on the olive one so if I have time I may cut out one and just sew it on top of the sleeve. It's so cute! I didn’t do a ribbon trim on the cuffs of this gown. I may use white undersleeves with it so the white cuff will sticks out.
For the time being, here are some test photos of how they’re fitting.


I still have two weeks until I need to wear them, so I have time to do some alterations, and then start covering my bonnet. I have a straw spoon bonnet that I’m going to line the inside with pleated ivory silk taffeta, and have a cluster of purple and white flowers in the top on the inside. On the outside I have a lighter purple silk ribbon bought from Ribbonaire that I’ll use to tie around it.
*Added note* It was suggested to me that instead of gathering the front and back sections of the bodice, to pleat it. This would make it lay flatter and not blouse out. I think that's a great suggestion. At some point I may again alter the gathering on these and pleat them.

Two Civil War 1860s gowns

This is my first time making something from this era with a hoop skirt. So understandably (for me), I will be confused for awhile in how to make them.
This is the pattern I chose to use (Simplicity 4551) because I really liked the yellow color on the cover.


No, really! But looking at it closer, I also liked the gathered bodice. Which means it doesn't fit tightly, and looks softer. I'm just hoping it doesn't look baggy.
I bought both these fabrics for different costumes but after seeing this pattern, I knew they had to be used for it.


I bought the olive green cotton fabric at a quilt store in a historical reproduction section. It has a William Morris print on it, with tiny purple flowers. I’m trying to think of some way to have some purple trims on it to bring them out. I have some olive green vegetal ivory buttons I’ve been saving, and these would look nice on it.
I bought the blue and white cotton print a few years ago in the Garment District in Los Angeles (at my favorite store, Fabrics & Fabrics). It's a very soft cotton lawn. I’m not sure what kind of buttons to use on it yet. I’m leaning towards something subtle that doesn’t stand out, maybe white.


I started this project totally backwards: during the Summer of 2009, I took a sewing workshop with Shelley Peters, "Skirting the Belle", to learn how to make a cartridge pleated skirt. I didn't own a hoopskirt yet, so we couldn't sew the hem on it first, as her instructions relate. My main purpose was to learn to do the cartridge pleating on it.
Shelley's instructions for making a skirt just use a method for figuring how much material to use, and sew lengths of it together, instead of using a pattern. So the panels were sewn, and I folded the waist down about 3-4 inches, then started marking the waist every quarter inch in two rows to run my two rows of stitching through. I made a template with a piece of cardboard so I just held it up and made marks with a pencil where my needle would go through. I thought this part would be very tedious, since that's what I've heard from other sewers, but I found I really enjoyed it. Granted, it took awhile to make all those marks, and you only mark about 6 inches at a time, but once I started stitching, I really enjoyed seeing all those cute little accordion pleats.



I knew I wouldn't be able to finish these right now since I had other costumes I needed done first, but I sewed the two bodices up so I'd be a little bit ahead when I came back to them. These are very short waisted, and have a narrow band on the bottom of each waist. I chose to do one set of sleeves with the little flared cap, and the other without. But now after looking at them again, I may add a cap to the blue and white by just sttitching it on top of the sleeve.


It's now January 2010, and I'm able to start working on these again. I went to a second sewing workshop with Shelley to get some help in finishing the bodices, and finding out what does and doesn't work in regards to trims, collars, and bonnets.
I decided to bring out the purple in the olive dress by covering buttons with a purple silk taffetta I had. I considered also making a small bow for the neck with it. And maybe adding some to the cuffs. I played around with some ideas, and decided to make a belt in the purple with a small antique "belt buckle" I had. Then got some suggestions of sewing a narrow purple trim to the top edge of the sleeve cap and along the cuffs.
This is just the "belt" fabric wrapped around the waist at this time.

A few months ago I purchased a hoopskirt from Blockage Runners, and Shelley was able to help me mark my hem on the olive skirt. While she was doing that, a comment she made about turning the waist down gave me an "uh oh moment", and I picked up the blue and white skirt, which I'd pleated last month. At the time I was wondering why I didn't remember the edge being so unfinished. In retrospect, I should have pulled out the olive one to look at it again. I forgot to turn the waist edges down before doing the cartridge pleating. So I get to take out all that stitching and start over. Oh well, practice makes perfect.
I got to see a couple examples of how to put the hooks & bars on the bodice waist and the skirt waist to hold them together, and I decided I liked that technique. I took pictures of that, plus some of the hook & eye tape on the bodice. I've not been shown how to attach the tape, and in the past I've just fudged it in, which at times isn't very pretty. Now with some photos I might be able to attempt this next time. For the time being I'll still be doing buttons and buttonholes unless I feel adventurous.
I was trying to decide if I should find an antique lace collar for the olive gown but it was suggested I just sew a narrow bit of lace along the edge of a white collar, so I picked up some lace the other day in the Garment District for it.
The blue and white gown is a softer looking outfit, and I'm still thinking of just using white for it's accessories; white buttons, white bonnet/day cap. But I'm going to wait until more of it is together, and let it speak to me.
I’m planning, and hoping, to wear both of these to the Riverside Dickens Fair fashion show on Feb 6 & 7, but the olive one will be done first if I can only get one done.