A Peek at Costume College 2016

I didn’t take many photos during Costume College this year, mainly because I was talking to people all the time and kept getting distracted. I also kept forgetting to hand my camera/cell phone to someone to take MY photo too. So I only have a couple unless others pop up on the internet someday. The story of my life. I usually take tons of photos to add to my Caught on Camera display we have there each year. Next year I will be almost totally dependent on what people send me. 

My main excuse? When it was announced I would be the Assistant Dean for Costume College in 2017, which means Dean in 2018, I talked to a lot of people. I have a year to learn how to do this. The position is only for a year, and no, it’s not paid as a friend asked me. Costume College is a costume conference run by costumers. They learn from each other, and the classes are taught by other costumers. All positions are volunteer, and I just wrote an article on that which is on their website.

http://129.121.107.232/~costumer/college/why-does-costume-college-need-volunteers/

Besides my brain going into a vortex about this, it also went into overdrive of all the ideas I have for my theme for 2018. I had to first decide what Bonus Track Classes will be in next year’s curriculum and was given a short period of time (one day) to choose that. I told everyone since I was a historical costumer, of course my theme would revolve around that. Earlier I was reminded to make it all-inclusive of the different genres that attend CoCo. So my Bonus Track Classes that will be mixed into next year’s selections will be “Understructures of the Costume”. This will include underpinnings but also structures used to hold or support the costume, whether it be hoops, armor or wings. My main theme for 2018 is barely fluttering in my head but I have a year to work on that.

I started out with five dresses I planned on wearing to CoCo this year but just days before, I whittled it down to three. Once I knew what and when the classes were scheduled that I wanted to go to, and matched that up with the events, I decided I didn’t have time to be switching out of one costume to another. And I’m glad I did because the one day I wore one all day I was exhausted by that evening with all the running around.

My first costume was my 1905 Directoire green and brown striped dress with a pleated silk voile blouse. I used this photo as my inspiration, and it evolved as it went along. 

The next day since I was running from class to class, and also teaching my class on digital patterns, I chose to wear street clothes and then changed into my 1897 Fuschia dress for the Gala Red Carpet. I had no really good photos of it, mostly blurry but the one decent one shows me the sleeves REALLY need to have an under-support. It was a very lightweight cotton voile, and I wasn’t able to do the puffy sleeve portion of it since I didn’t have enough of the embroidered lace I’d used. I do have plenty of the fabric so I may completely re-do the sleeves, And so far I have no photo of the front of the bodice that had the gorgeous lace lapels on it. I did wear my first tiara though.

I always seem to have one favorite dress each year, and this time it was my 1870s tea gown I wore to the Sunday Breakfast and during the rest of the day. It wasn’t quite as warm as I expected. It’s a beautiful plum color but dang, we look like midgets wearing them. I guess because of no waistline. I’m 5-4 but look like 4ft in these photos.  I also wore my new petticoat I made the day before I left, but you could only see it when I walked. 

I will be writing a blog for each outfit when I have time. I’m still getting used to the 300 emails a day that come with being “involved” with Costume College, most of that being every single comment people make on the posts on the Facebook pages. But after 8 days it’s starting to slow down. That's why you're getting this today. 

I mentioned the classes I went to: on the first day I took “Fashions of the Great War Period (1914-1918)”, followed by “Accessorizing Your ‘Teens & Twenties”, then “Designing for the Era-1890s & Edwardian”. These are my favorite type of classes: lectures on the styles of the eras. I like the education and seeing photos from people who know what they’re talking about. I still need a lot of education. My final class would have been “Creating a PowerPoint Lecture and Connecting to a Projector”. I’ve already been using PowerPoint for my classes but just with some basic information, and wanted to learn more. But I got into a conversation with someone, had to get lunch, and then suddenly found out I’d missed it. Fortunately, the teacher said she will email me her handout.

I took a couple photos during classes but due to lighting, they’re not always great. This was in Heather & Laura McNaughton’s class, “Designing for the Era-1890s & Edwardian”.

The next morning, I got up late and missed my 9am class, “Millinery Mockups” (yeah, I know) and then had to work the Information Desk. I got a little busy there too and missed another class, “From Boteh to Paisley” (I heard that was great). I made it to “A Fortnight in 1916”, where Leimomi Oakes (The Dreamstress http://thedreamstress.com/ ) shared how she spent time living as she would have during 1916. She even brought us chocolate all the way from New Zealand. 

A short time later I taught my class on Conquering the Digital Patterns but I failed to again ask someone to take a photo of me. Oh well, it wasn’t as if I was dressed all fancy.

On Sunday I took all of Lauren Stowell’s (“American Duchess”  http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/ ) classes on the 18^th century. At the crack of dawn, 9am, was How to Hack the Simplicity Outlander patterns (which I have, and have become a fan of the Outlander series). She is still planning a blog video on this because it’s a lot of details to go into just in a lecture. But what stuck out for me was picking earth-tones for the lower & middle classes dresses, try for something other than tartan (I was corrected to call it tartan or tartan plaid, rather than plaid) and try for some of the middle to upper classes dresses using the pattern. Of course I said I wanted to make a tartan since I NEVER get to wear tartan. So that was ok. She shared her floofy day cap she wears under her hat -  http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2016/07/my-1740s-mutton-chop-cap.html and that the gowns definitely need the bum pad or hip pads. I had her show what shoes she was wearing and they were very much like my Burnley & Trowbridge ones but her’s were red.

For more pretties from the series, check out Frock Flicks posts on Season 1 and Season 2 of Outlander.

http://www.frockflicks.com/outlander-costumes-mid-season-1-recap-and-preview/

http://www.frockflicks.com/outlander-costume-recap-season-2-episode-2/

If you want it all, this was my search for any reference to Outlander there.

http://www.frockflicks.com/?s=outlander

I took this photo of one of the ladies in the classroom while admiring her bodice, and realized JUST NOW that this is Gloria from “In the Long Run”. http://longruncostumer.blogspot.com/  I *knew* Gloria while I was on LiveJournal (a precursor to Facebook) and have seen her skills grow over the years. I’m sorry I didn’t recognized her at the time and asked if she remembered me from my LJ blog, “ChloeandRudy”.

 I ran into Lauren a bit later before her next class, “Accessorizing Your 18^th C Wardrobe”, when we both had a chance to sit down and rest, and chat. Isn’t this beautiful, with all its accessories?

The final class I took that day was Lauren’s “Creating a Miss Fisher Wardrobe (1920s/30s)”. It was mostly for my friend who couldn’t attend but I enjoyed it too, as I love the series also but don’t want to wear the clothes as much. Due to the lighting I wasn’t able to take photos from her screen images but thought the color chart for Cool & Warm Colors was worth trying to photograph.

Lauren already has her notes from this class up on her blog. http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-make-1920s-miss-fisher-wardrobe.html

So that’s it! I missed out on so many classes I wanted to go to but you can’t do it all unless you don’t plan to eat, sleep, or even rest. And when you throw chat sessions into the mix, or shopping, you just miss out on some. I came away with more inspiration, as I always do, and plans on fixing up a couple things I made.

**I forgot to add what I bought in the CoCo Marketplace. A couple of the new Truly Victorian Edwardian patterns, some blue floral brocade coutil for a 1910 corset, silk ribbon flowers and green leaf tendril for a hat, a vintage lace collar, vintage brown feathers, & an antique black trim piece. 

Came home to my sweet Chloe, who was still recovering from her bout of respiratory infection and MRSA. She’s as skinny as a rail but we’re getting the fat back on her.

                                                                         ~~Val~~

COSTUME COLLEGE 2016- First installment – My Digital Pattern Class

I still have a lot of editing to do on my photos from Costume College, and write up a couple blog posts on my costumes, but I wanted to put this out ASAP about the class I taught there, Conquering the Digital Pattern.

I’m hoping some of my students make it to my blog AND COMMENT HERE (or do it on my Facebook page of the same name, Time Traveling in Costume  https://www.facebook.com/Time-Traveling-in-Costume-640703499399817/ ). I want to keep in contact with you all and see if my class helped, and to share in your progress. This is my original blog post where I showed how to use a digital pattern. http://timetravelingincostume.blogspot.com/2016/05/im-digital-pattern-guinea-pig.html 

I used a new pattern from Edwardian Rose, 1912 Lady’s Fancy Afternoon Gown, as my sample to demonstrate in class how to print and put these together. 

What a surprise when I ran across one of the ladies from my Historical Pattern Review group on Facebook in the hallways at Costume College who was wearing her version of this pattern. Molly W. said she was really excited to write a review on it now, and since I’m going to be making mine next, I’ll be looking forward to that.  Molly’s was made out of a lighter weight fabric than the original one that was made by the pattern designer, and she had some ideas of how to do the lace sleeve trim differently. But you’ll have to join the group to read about that. ***If you do want to join, please let me know here so we recognize your name when you request to join. The Friend’s Locked pages of many people who ask to join make it hard for us to determine if they really have an interest in what we do.*** https://www.facebook.com/groups/370047653021278/

The students I had in class were very excited about trying these types of patterns after I walked them through how to purchase, download, and print their patterns, then put them together. Some were surprised at how easy it actually was. I pointed out how they would be able to access patterns that not everyone can buy, and how this is going to become the new technology of pattern selling. I was really flattered when three of them stayed after class to come up and tell me how much they enjoyed it, and how much they liked my teaching style. That really helps me a lot to get feedback like that. *Thank you ladies!*

*Edited to add: this is the link to my previous blog where I explained how to use the digital patterns, with a couple of my own tips. http://timetravelingincostume.blogspot.com/2016/05/im-digital-pattern-guinea-pig.html 

*ANOTHER EDIT- I just read this in my Pattern Review Group where they were talking about enlarging patterns from books. I don't know if it works YET but this may open a lot of possibilities.    Quote-"Scan it, then using your photo editing program, enlarge it by 800%. Print, cut, and tape together." You're basically doing the tile thing but setting it to 800% instead of 100% like the ones I've been using." 

It would need to be on a grid to work it properly. 

I have two fabrics I’m going to try this pattern with, both are a medium weight polyester that have the right body for this without going into a more expensive fabric for my first try. One is a plum color which I’ll try first, the other a dusty rose but now both Molly and Patricia from Edwardian Rose have done theirs in that color. So maybe not. Was also thinking of this white with navy polka dots, and add solid navy for trims, but it’s lightweight and will require some flat-lining to give any body to it. I may go back to my original plan of using that for an earlier 1905 dress since it has that drapey feel to it.

Even though I’m still very tired from this past weekend’s whirlwind, and doing laundry and putting things away, my fingers are antsy to start cutting fabric and try new things.

Oh, and here’s some interesting news: next year at Costume College I will be the Assistant Dean. Which means I will be Dean in 2018. I have no idea what my life is going to be like these next two years.

This photo was taken of me at the Friday Social at Costume College just before it was announced who it would be. I'll have a blog post on this dress in a few days. 

                                                    ~~~Val~~~

MY WORTH TEA GOWN 1870s

After attending a lecture on the Frederick Worth dresses last year at Costume College, I wanted to try making my own for the next year. The ideas I came away from it was Worth made really eye-catching and detailed gowns, paid attention to detail, and quality of workmanship. Ok, two out of three will happen. Just gotta get ‘er done.

While I was out shopping for fabric in the L.A. Garment District the day after Costume College last year, my friend Kristen and I came across a newly opened fabric shop that was primarily curtain and upholstery fabric but the rainbow of them on the wall blew our eyeballs out. And they had Grand Opening prices, like $2.99 a yard. Not silk, mind you. We knew they were polyester but still colors and patterns you wouldn’t normally see. This one really caught my eye; it was a plum color in faux dupioni with lots of floral embroidery on it. The flowers even had little tuffs on them. It looked very Chinese. I knew right away this could be my Worth tea gown that I’d saved a photo from.

Having no idea how much of it I would need, I bought 10 yards. I also begged him to put the roll in the back of the room for the rest of the day in hopes none of the other Costume College shoppers would see it.  LOL!! Sorry about that, ladies. 

My base for the tea gown would be Truly Victorian #432, which ended up taking 7 yards.

This was a fairly easy pattern to sew but the Watteau pleats on the back confused me a few times. Once I figured out I was pleating it inside out, and turned it right side out to pleat it, the pleats went the right direction. With the looseness at the waist in the back, I sewed a stay-belt inside on the back seams to pull it tight in front.

I tried these directions from another pattern, making an insert down the front to look like my Worth photo.

I thought maybe a shirred chiffon down the front would be pretty but I wanted to make it an overlay, not really part of the front closure. I even tried using the instructions from Patterns of History. I did two rows of very tight pleating at the bodice but the rest was just hanging loose. It started to look more like 1960s lingerie, and working with the chiffon was horrid. It was not the right choice of fabric to use. So off it went!

 Next thing I know, my friend Gina was able to do exactly what I was trying to do, except she was replicating a maternity gown that would later revert to a tea gown. Now I’m waiting to see just how she did it. Apparently it was a struggle for her too. http://beauty4ashes7.blogspot.com/2016/06/natural-form-era-maternity-gown.html

I was leaving the buttons and buttonholes for last since they go alllll the way down the front but finally had to do them. Marking them two inches apart, I ended up making 19 buttonholes after thinking I only did 18. Oops. Finding the buttons in a short period of time was going to be harder. Both fabric stores by me had 8 of each kind at best. I found some on Etsy in wood, and considered that but then saw some metal filigree ones that I thought would look nice. I remembered a bag of metal buttons in my stash that I’d bought about 8 years ago at a Renaissance Fair, and the Button Gods didn’t fail me. I had 30, although in two different styles. I was able to use 14 of one, and the rest of the other at the bottom. They’re vaguely similar, and being that far down, I don’t think anyone would notice. Bam! Done!

So now the fun part of trimming it out, or “decorating the cake”. The fabric itself shows really beautiful but I wanted to soften it a bit too.  I saw this lace collar and cuffs on someone’s gown, so I dug through my lace stash. I found the one I was looking for but in it’s old life it was actually part of a blouse. I didn’t like the separation on the shoulders instead of being one solid collar. 

So I went back to digging in the stash. I found a good size roll of a white lace that I’d used years ago while making lace caps and pleated that around the inside of my collar and cuffs. And the beauty of this is, the lace cap I’ve decided to wear has that same lace on it. Serendipity. I only have one row of lace on the cuffs in this photo. I later tried a second row above it but didn't like it. At least its still froofy and softer looking.

 My other addition is a pocket, like these other 1870s tea gowns.

I cropped a pocket from one photo and blew it up for my pattern, then hand stitched it to my gown, just slightly to the back. 

I added some lace just inside it. Now it needed a silly contrasting bow on it. Out of my stash, I found some burnt orange taffeta for that, and added another of the metal buttons to it. Later I will tuck a fan and a handkerchief in the pocket to show what it’s used for.

I’ve gathered my accessories, one being the lace cap I had, and found some oxblood “suede-like” flats at Target that turned out to be the same color as the fabric of my gown. That was a surprise when I really wanted black but they were all sold out. I also plan on wearing an antique white petticoat so it will peek out at the bottom of my gown where I’m leaving it open.

Just a few days ago I finally finished it completely, and took a quickie photo of me in it, sans wig and accessories, just so I could be sure it fit. I’m satisfied with it, although I will be moving slowly so as not to break out in a sweat. It would be perfect for a cold Winter morning but in a hotel with thousands of costumed ladies, I’m going to melt. I will have that fan and hankie at the ready.

My Supervisor has been making sure I’m staying on track, and I’m now sewing the lace strips on to my 1908 blouse waist for my other outfit that I finished after two years. But I finally caved in to my Inner Squirrel and pulled a couple fabrics out of the stash for my next project(s). Just couldn’t resist. I’m thinking a couple sheer dresses. 

~~Val~~

A NEW VICTORIAN CORSET -- EPISODE 2

Over the weekend I hosted another sewing workshop in my home with Shelley Peters’ Historical Sewing Workshops. Since I was already ahead on some of my sewing for Costume College, I decided to take the opportunity to make a new corset since my previous one from three years ago had gotten paint splattered on it while I doing my face-painting for Dia de los Muertos, which wouldn’t wash out, and also had some holes in it where I had replaced a busk. And I must have very dirty hands when I put it on because it was pretty dirty along the front.

The last time I saw Shelley’s coutil brocades for the corsets, I’d seen a white with lavender flowers on it and decided I didn’t want pure white this time. And she had a lavender cotton twill to line it with.

The pattern we’d used in 2013 was Truly Victorian #110 for late 1880, which is primarily the decade I like to dress. I’m not one of those who makes a different corset for the different decades, unless it's really different, like Regency, or the longer Edwardians. So this gets me through 1830s up to about 1905. Where it becomes telling is when the skirt is really flat and tight fitting and the fluff comes out the bottom of my corset. There’s no fuller skirts to conceal that so you need to take that into account how you make that skirt fit.

My corsets prior to this were made from Laughing Moon but after making my first TV one, Shelley said it fit my body better, and gave me better “hip spring”. I’m assuming that means a better shaped hip line and nice curvy hips.

*I wanted to add this quote from Jennifer of Sewing Historical, who said, "The Laughing Moon 100 runs big as you get into the larger sizes. The TV pattern doesn't, and you cut each panel according to your measurements." *

We used the same pattern pieces from my first time using the TV pattern, but took in a few “darts” to better flatten the bottom of the front, which tended to dome on me, and also a bit in the bust area. I tended to slip down inside mine, and she suggested using the little “bust improvers” that you can set down inside the bust cups for the girls to rest on and keep them up. Put on your chemise and corset, and then tuck them down inside and under the girls.  Cha Ching!
These are the "bust improvers/cookies/cutlets" made of a white foam with a thicker section at the bottom. They can be purchased at fabric/hobby stores in the accessories sections. Shelley had her's attached by a bit of a ribbon across the middle.

The workshops normally run for two days, starting about 9 or 10am, and finish each day sometime around 6 or 7pm. Since I was using my previous pattern which we’d already fitted on me, I didn’t have to make a muslin. I didn’t have constant supervision while I was sewing, and of course sewed one panel upside down, and put half of my busk in backwards. This isn’t the busk I used but can you see the little knobs are closer to one side than the other? The wider portion, not the narrow one, should be put up against the outside seam. I did mine with the narrow portion and so it didn’t close very well. So out it came! Yes, my seam ripper as usual got a good workout.

Some corset patterns are made so you sew all the coutil pieces together, then all the outside fabric, and then you sandwich them together, adding boning channels to it. The TV pattern has you sew each pattern piece of coutil and fabric together, then the next two to that one, and then next, and so on. To keep myself from being confused which pattern piece went next I would write on the backside which pattern # it was (1-6). It also helps showing you which is the top and the bottom. Of course I still can’t figure out how I sewed one panel upside down. They look really similar so it’s not hard, so that’s my excuse.

When it’s finally all pieced, you sew your channels down it with your sewing machine. No boning tape is used. It cuts down on bulk and cost, but then that’s not much. Shelley reminded me to do very small stitches when I did a running stitch along the bottom of each half of the corset so it enforced the channel the bones would go in and not poke through. I noticed I had forgotten to do that on my previous one, and they WERE poking through. I also learned I was using bones that were about a half inch too long and were set solidly in my channels right up to the tops and bottoms of them, so there was no room for movement. Thus, they were being forced out of the coutil.

By the end of the second day of sewing, with a really stiff back I might add, I had completed all the sewing except the binding on the bottom after I put the bones in. I was able to finish that the next evening. And voila! A new corset in two days.

                          

~~Val~~

BEHOLD, THE MESS

Following on the steps of a definite CADD-mode (Costume Attention Deficit Disorder) instead of trying to finish just one dress for Costume College, I decided to work on all four that were in progress and work on each part whichever got my attention at the moment. True CADD at it’s best.

I’m finally getting around to finish my 1908 Directoire olive green & brown striped skirt and vest, and getting a blouse made for it. I first was cutting out a pleated silk voile a couple years ago for it, but after dealing with it slithering around my scissors, I tossed it in a bag in the closet. So with a deadline approaching and a mini-theme of a Stripey Parade at CoCo, I recut the blouse using a plain off-white cotton voile. But while digging around in my fabric stash, I came across that bag of pleated silk voile, and since it was already cut, I decided what the heck. It was a simple pattern, but when I started pulling out lace to bling it up, it started to make me smile. So we’re getting there.

My 1870s tea gown has taken up too much time and it too is finally getting some more work done on it. Still playing with lace accents and going back and forth with various ideas. The lace collar idea I had won't work with this. What I have is something that used to be on a blouse. And I just came up with another idea a few minutes ago. So back to the stash I go!  The multitude of buttons that this required (somewhere between 14-24 depending on how far down you want to go) had me roadblocked since our local stores don’t carry more than 9 or 12 matching buttons at a time. The idea of covering them was mindboggling. But the Stash came through for me again, with a bag of around 30 metal buttons I bought about 10 years ago at a RenFaire.  18 buttonholes and buttons later, that’s done. Except somehow I made 19 buttonholes. Oops. Now onto the hem and figure out that lace I want to try.

My grand finale is an 1897 evening dress that will be my “Wow” entry this year. At least in my head I’m hoping for that. I thought I had my waist belt all worked out but after pleating it all together, it’s just too bulky. Waaaay too bulky. So I’m unstitching it and will just make one flat layer of it. That one single item has been the death of me this year. This will be it’s 3^rd version.

The high-waisted skirt went together fairly easily but the blouse and I are still at a standstill. It’s something I have to build from scratch and my ambitions include a gorgeous lace table runner as part of the trim.

And on the “third try is the charm”-table I'm remaking my bodice on my 1908 Marigold dress where I found a better lace in my stash to use for the neck insert and the sleeve cuff trim. And the hem got redone too. Turns out it was about four inches too short. I think my dressform must have taken a header and lost some of its height when I marked the hem. Or I shrunk. I’ve heard that happens as you get older.

There was another project in my head for CoCo this year but didn’t realize I had so many others in the “almost-done” stage that I could use.

But as we all know, this time of year, we’re all a bit mad.

Mother Nature is helping me stay inside and sew, because any minute now our thermometer is going to hit 100d, and if you believe the weather forecasters, will surpass that by 10 degrees or more tomorrow. 

                                                       ~~Val~~