Slippery Fabric Cheat

I actually hand-basted this panel and it came out nicely except for one thing: I lost 1/4 to both top and bottom as the feed dog pulled the fabric through.

 Tomorrow I'm reworking it with some Stitch Witchery or Heat n' Bond, which ever works best, tucking it into the seams and pressing it before I stitch.  In a garment, 1/4 inch is too much to waste.  Things won't sit right or play nice together unless they match up and I'd spent a lot of time aiming for an accurate cut.

Have on Hand - Black Piano Shawl

This thing is amazing.  I found it at a very strange theatrical supply shop (here today, gone tomorrow) and I don't think they knew what they had, much less how to price it.  I grabbed this for a song, and quickly, least someone come in and also recognize it and snatch if from my warm fingers.  I've pressed it and it remains fairly wrinkled, but still beautiful.  It's all silk, with black on black embroidery along the edges and in each corner.  A couple small holes and some sun fading to dark brown: lovely!  It drapes unlike anything  else.

Couture Sewing Techniques

The Dressmaker’s Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques

Lynda Maynard  (Interweave: 2010)

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever…”

That saying goes for the clothes we are all striving to make, and also for this book.

I love the cover and the colors used on the cover.  I love the wire spiral binding so I can flip back the pages in the workroom to use each technique.  I love the large amount of actual runway pictures used as examples and photos of fabrics and how-tos.  

At first glance, I thought the content was a little heavy on hem/banding techniques, but on second run-through, I found that it’s divided between creating supporting structure, finishing techniques and decorative techniques.  Especially helpful was seeing how backing a luxury fabric with a differently weighted fabric can change the hand of the fashion fabric and make it behave in a different way, but there is much more here. 

In the near-future I will be using several new techniques and referring to this book especially for the discussion of lining fashion fabrics.

Happy Valentine's Day

'Erato'                                   from The Year of the Century, c. 1897

Have on Hand - Pin from Grandma

My grandmother had this tucked in her stash when she passed.  While I'd like to think that she'd received it from her great aunt or her mother, I can't be certain, as one of her tales of woe involved her entire train case containing the bulk of her jewelry being robbed from the train, at some point.  This putto with butterfly wings is making a sour face and has one thumb up (love me) and the other thumb pointing down (love me not?).  He is actually a bit grotesque, but the over-all style is nouveau in sentiment and execution.  It is marked faintly on the back "sterling" and it looks quite old.  I drag it out and polish it each Valentine's Day and think of my Grandma.  Polishing silver is one of the chores she taught me to do and I actually enjoy it because of her.

Beaded Victorian Cuff

This was made from period lace and tidbits from around my studio. I built it up, layer by layer doing most of the work by hand, using the machine when I could.  I really like how it came out, even though I know where all of the imperfections are.  It’s base is muslin with ivory silk charmeuse from an old shirt as the mounting.

 I covered the silk with a tiny tulle netting in black, dotted it with glass beads, added vintage lace and velvet gathered from garage sales throughout the years and topped it off with a huge jet bead medallion.  Add a black glass button and voila!  Finished!

HOH - The Black Ribbon Cincher

It's not exactly a corset per se, but it is a neat little cincher that I grabbed for a song a billion years ago at Hot Topic.  It's made by Versatile Fashions out of elastic and holds everything together fairly well.

While not my ultimate favorite, I still reach for it again and again.

Press On!

Before I can complete my second muslin fitting, I need to make my grommet panels for this and future fittings.  Ideally, there will be several panels, so if one set is in use, there will be back-ups available.  I finally got to use the new hand press.  My verdict is that the press sets the grommets much more evenly than the results I was getting with the hammer method. The edge of the grommet is less likely to split, mush and get beat up.  This method is faster and creates a smooth, rolled grommet edge.  Less headache all 'round.

Here is the first panel, in the works:

Osborne Hand Press

First Toile

From the front, it’s easy to see that I will need to make a full bust adjustment to the armscye keeping the space for the girls, but not increasing the armscye at all.  Not really sure what's going to flatten out all that.

From the back, it won’t even close, so back to the drawing board on that.  I’ll need at least 5 extra inches through the back of the shoulders for it to begin to look like something.

It’s sitting too high in front, as well.  Pulling it down makes it feel as though it will fall off, as there is not enough fabric in back.  I absolutely have to wear a full-support bra, even with a corset.  The only corset I’d attempt to not wear a bra with would be a well-fitted 1860’s.  When I tried this on without the bra, it was a disaster that I don’t wish to share in a photo.

Well, That Was As Much Fun As...

...trying on bathing suits under fluorescent lights, or perhaps sticking a finger in my eye.  The graceful lines of this 1776 pair of stays are, shall we say, elongated and widened considerably.  I have nothing more to say here except I'm annoyed and had to go do something else for a while.

The bottom line: my waist is short (8") and I had to hook my lower center back length full around to the side over my ample hips in a really stupid sweeping arc, which I rather don't like very much at all.

Then, I had to get the bust to equal at least 22" inches (up from what a negative 0?) and then pull the front where the strap is supposed to attach up from where it was (sitting in the middle of my bust line - uh, no) to sitting up at least 4' - 5" higher at my shoulder and re-draw the armscye and hope for the best.

  Essentially, I had to grade this ancient pattern up from about a size 6 or 8 to a size 18 and now I'd really like a glass of champagne as I toss the whole mess from the balcony, but I won't because now I'm headed off to make the toile...
Post Script: Could she have trued that line a little better?  No, she couldn't as she's lost her drafting ruler and the Fiestaware didn't prove quite large enough.  :-(

The Obvious Culprits

I hate starting a project with no way to finish it.  So, I tore through the studio last to hunt for this relic from the 1980's, a deep purple, reptile-print leather mini skirt.   (Doesn't everyone have one?)

This skirt was actually a Salvation Army find a few years ago, in brand new condition and has been in my stash ever since, since not every project calls for deep purple reptile-embossed leather.  It's ready to have a new life as a binding.  The question remains: will it suddenly become tasteful in small quantities, or will it completely overwhelm the soft, ivory, brocade draperies?

Most extant examples of period stays from the last quarter of the 18th c. had tabs that were covered in white kid leather of some sort.  I've never been a white leather sort of girl, but I do have this fencing glove ready to re-purpose.

Since there isn't quite enough leather here to cover all of the tabs, I'm also using the random leather strip.  I had a boyfriend once who told me to never waste any good, usable piece of leather, and I haven't!

The lining will be a remnant of linen.

It looks as though there is just enough for two layers, one to support my old drapes, one to act as the inner layer. I've read several times about there being a removable inner linen lining in period stays, but I've not yet seen one and have no idea how that would attach except for catch stitches all the way around.  Since there is already quite enough work to do, here, I think I'll leave a whole other linen lining for another time.

My Draperies - A Scarlet O'Hara Moment

This will mark the fourth started (and, as yet, unfinished) project within this month.  This particular project is off-era, being a pair of 18th century stays (we'll just have to pretend that I'm on my way to participate in Sheridan for the season).

This is the first project for February. (Yes, there is one more unfinished project for January left to start in order to keep up.  Whew!  This is rather exhausting!)

Here are my beloved (over-lov-ed) draperies:

From afar, not too bad.  But I've had them for too many years (I'm embarrassed to say how many) as you can see.

I can't even really blame this on the cats.  It's time.  (Also time for a paint job in here!)  Will the fabric hold up to stays? Is it sun-rotted? Who knows? I'll just have to find out.  Giving it a tug didn't destroy anything.

Perhaps here you can see why I love them so:

So down they come, and into the wash they go.

In The Nouveau Style - Malcolm Haslam

Found this out of print book a few weeks ago at a used book store and was so happy!  It's a heavy coffee table book full of this era, blending Arts & Crafts into the more flowing Art Nouveau.  It's an examination of the style with examples through to modern times.  Very pretty and informative.

Sagrada Familia, Spain                                    Wiki Commons Photo

I learned all sorts of tidbits, such as there is a cathedral in Spain designed by Antoni Gaudi at the height of the Nouveau style that hasn't been completed yet.  Gaudi's been dead for well over 80 years, so while I studied him briefly in school, I  always thought his oeuvre was complete.

I thought Frank Lloyd Wright was a little obssessive for creating and then making sure the furniture at Falling Water remains there, but that design micro-management seems to have been a trend.  For example, 40 years or so earlier, Henri van de Velde not only designed his home Bloemenwerf, but then designed the furniture, wallpaper and even the clothing that the women wore in its interior.

Black Velvet Jacket - HOH

I purchased this black velvet Lane Bryant jacket at least 5 years ago.  It's held up fairly well.  Initially, I switched out the original buttons for some vintage black glass buttons.

Wow!  What a difference a button makes!  Now, I love wearing this jacket more than ever.  Need I say it?  It goes with everything.

The Carine Roitfeld Skirt

 

Lately, I've been obsessed with this Frenchwoman's style, and so has everyone else, apparently.  I scrutinized at least 40 or so pictures that I could find of her.  What I found is that she is always dressed to the nines, she likes to push limits with edgy things but always pulls whatever-it-is just (barely) back from some over-the-top danger zone by being conservative & tasteful someplace else.  Also, her individual pieces always have some element of the fabulous.  The most often-sighted (by me) piece that she relies on again and again is some form of black pencil skirt.  So, here is the start of the Carine Roitfeld skirt.

What makes it Edwardian?  I'm going to add some black velvet trim to the bottom with a sprinkle of vintage jet beading at the knees.  What makes it Edwardian is also what makes it fabulous is also what makes it Carine.

In a mad dash to get something completed, I'm selecting a See & Sew from my pattern stash: B5169.

Off With Her...(Droopy) Yoke!

First, I'd like to say, there was an actual sunny day this week, with shiny black crows in the trees and everything:

So, to work:  I did shear off a good portion of the yoke of M5659 because the Newport News dress didn't have such a droopy yoke and I liked it better.  I also extended the dress front up into the armscye because it looked awkward just stopping so randomly in the middle of the yoke at the dots.  Not sure what that will do to the dots, I'm guessing it will just eliminate them and I'll slide the dress front up into the remodeled yoke with less fussing.  By the time I was finished slicing and dicing to a better shape, I'd lopped off any intended seam allowance, so I slapped the yoke to a cardboard box and added the allowance back in.  Now it looks exactly the same as when I started. 

After staring at it, chopping it to bits, re-adhering it's allowance and finally photographing it, I do realize that this pattern has an oval yoke, while the dress I'm in love with as a neat, higher, circular yoke.  An oval is just a droopy circle, so you see the dilemma.
The Newport News trapeze dress also had three front pleats as opposed to the one large center pleat in the commercial pattern.  To create more space for the additional two pleats, I cut the front of the dress larger on the center line by 4" (adding 2" to each side, which in my world makes more space for bust line) and intend to pleat it twice more hanging from the center bust on each side, ie, the princess lines.  I also played with the idea of cutting the pattern on those princess lines and adding the fabric in there.  Perhaps that would be more technically correct?  I really don't know, but not sure that it will make much difference.  (And yes, I've run into trouble with that thought before!)
Regardless, I think she's had enough for one night, don't you?

Lost New Year's Dress

Around October or November (last) I received my much-anticipated Newport News Holiday catalog.  I love just about everything that they make and if I was very wealthy I'd simply call them and order one of everything in black and wait for the delivery truck.  Since that's not an option, I decided to make this neat dress, which I loved so hard (ripped out of the catalog and wrinkled to death) that I couldn't even scan it, so here is the dress from the site:

I thought about this dress a whole lot.  It's hard to see the jewels and crystals on the yoke, but they are delightful!  Then I decided, (about a week before Christmas) hey!  why not make this dress for Christmas Eve dinner and service!  And that didn't happen for about nine-hundred very good reasons.
And then New Year's Eve also came and went, and by gum, I'm going to have me this dress regardless of holiday or no holiday.   I found the near-exact crystals at Michael's and I found this McCall's pattern:

Similar, but not identical, so out came the scissors, tape and paper.  (Yeah, I want this dress that bad.  I also love a good challenge.)

'So, what's so Edwardian about this dress?' you might ask: Hand applied beading and working with silk.  While I cut the bulk of this from a gorgeous black rayon from my stash, I did end up buying 1 yard of black silk dupioni on sale.

'Wait!,'  you say.  You bought something?!  What household bill did you pay?!  I paid on my dental bill and negotiated a more do-able payment arrangement.  Black silk is worth all that.  Yes.

Meanwhile, A Dress!

While all this corset-creation is going on, I'm going to fall behind on my something-new-to-wear per week schedule if I don't forge ahead.  (Proving how amazing The Sew Weekly was!)  I've selected McCalls M6199, a Handkerchief Hem Dress and some black drapey polyester with little black fuzzy dots.
Now, I know this looks nothing like the 1890's or even the early 1900's, but I'm working on it. Just wait!  It's got potential.
So, far, I've separated the pattern pieces and laid out the contrast yoke.

First Mock-up for 1918

Yes, the extra panel was a good idea.  The main part of this corset girdle covers my largest asset quite completely, but what I hadn’t bargained on was the “mini skirt” effect of the garment.  Yuck. Not flattering!  I’ll pin the bottom in closer to my body where it flares out to conform it to my upper thighs better.

And yes, that's a boned, flat-felled seam on the right hand side of the picture and an unfortunate mistake on the left hand side of the picture.  That's what I get for talking while cutting.  See ya' seam allowances!

In terms of fit and flattery, I found Edwardian Promenade that addresses period diet and even a whole show in the UK devoted to Victorian/Edwardian reducing.  Wow!  Chew thoroughly and slowly!  Drink your water!  Take a daily constitutional!  Put your corset on!  Exercise!  Sweat!  (Funny, nothing new, here.)  However, I'm really glad I don't have to spit half my food out into a cup.  I wonder if cool showers would help for weight reduction?  They seem to be helping on The Diets that Time Forgot.

Yes, an Extra Panel, alas

I was initially tempted to just add an extra panel, but decided that was too lazy, and that I’d extend each piece by an inch or three.  But when I held each piece up to my body, the need for an extra panel become even more apparent.  I have large hips. Seriously large.  Denying it will only make this pattern look stupid on me, so I’m going to own up to it and add an extra side panel.  That will make a total of 2 front panels and 2 back panels for each side.  My only concern is that the number will change this beautiful pattern from its present strong-yet-dainty look into something ugly.  I hope not.  The front side bone will stay in place, the back side bone will also stay where it is, the only difference will be an additional bone or two running down the added side seam.  I can live with that.  When I make this pattern again, I’ll try adding the inches to each panel.

The Mock-Up Commences (or does it?)

Here is the start of the mock-up with a pair of my DH’s old pants:

They are cotton twill, a great, inexpensive (free!) stand-in for coutil.  However, what a waste of 100% cotton! I can do a sloppy, fast job and toss them OR I can treat this toile as important from the start, and in the end, have a well-worn, soft twill steampunk edition of this corset. I don’t foresee needing to cut them apart, which is what the toile is for – fitting, marking, dismantling, then creating an entirely new, trued pattern. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how it comes out.
Here’s today’s conundrum: See the ending place in the Waugh diagram for the elastic placement on the front? [The top piece in the picture.]  Where the heck does that end?  In this drawing, it just stops.  That makes no sense, because I’d have to fold my elastic under to finish it creating a huge lump near the center front of the garment’s waist, or it slips in-between two layers of corset material - the fashion fabric and the strength layer.  Now, that sounds like a reasonable option until I consider there won’t be anything for it to slide into.  I plan on flat-lining coutil to fashion fabric, treating the two fabrics as one piece, one layer.  There will be no seam to speak of to tuck it into.  I have two options.  One is to lay an additional bone casing in up against the busk, thus covering the elastic; the other option is to ignore the drawing and carry the elastic over to the busk and bury it in there someplace.  I like the first option much better.  It strengthens the over-all garment, and leaves no lump.

Elastic & Boning Issue

This corset has elastic around the top. This is troublesome to me, at first, because the (very 1980’s) elastic I have is finished on the edges (I think, I’ll have to locate it.)  So, if it’s finished and the bone casings allow the bones to go up into the elastic areas, then what?  How do I finish them off?
Locating this picture from ebay:

showed me that there is indeed binding around both the fabric and the elastic, not just the fabric. The boning channels are set up into the elastic, so what happens is the fabric is cut off just below the waist, then the elastic goes in at the waist to create one slab of fabric.  Also, the transition of the elastic into the boning channels is really smooth, very pretty.
This 1918 era corset, then, represents the direct opposite of a Victorian corset, where the control was at the waist and the hips were padded and petticoated to extreme extension.  Here, the hips are under control while the waist floats free for the first time since the First Empire.  (I’m missing the 1860’s already…)
I also located the lone piece of elastic I purchased a million years ago for something.  The edges are smooth, ready to slip into seam allowances and/or boning channels.  It’s going to work out fine.

My Edwardian Corset Girdle (circa 1918)

Technically, this corset, dated in C & C as c. 1918, is 8 years after King Edward VII had passed on.  In my head, I guess the fun Edwardian era ends with the advent of World War I, in July of 1914.  I doubt there was all that much “fun” to be had during that time period for much of anyone, and corsets are just beginning to cease production during this time.  I do like to include the corset girdles in this time-frame because they are still interesting.  They still have a center busk and older women are clinging to them in some respects, which is sort of symbolic, for me.  (Think Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard, and all that - Ah! the past!) 
What I mean to say is that I’ll define my own very loose, emotional terms for “Edwardian”:   I’d like to include the Fin de Siecle (I couldn’t cut myself off from all of that!) that is, 1890 thru until Armistice Day, November, 1918.  And then, my friends, it’s really, clearly over.  For real.
This is going to be so much fun!

First Fashion Coup of the Year: Planned Pattern Purchase

I knew that Joann’s was having a sale at the end of the week.  I went to Vogue Patterns and scoured the listings for things that have clear waist definition or are pretty in some way to embellish in a period manner.  I ended up with 10 McCall's patterns (the legal limit!) for $1 a piece, and 3 Vogue patterns at $3.99 each, used a coupon for 10% off my entire order and now own 13 new patterns, for under $20.
This includes a pattern I've wanted for forever, Vintage Vogue 1137 with the reversible coat to die for! 
Life couldn’t be any more grand!

Day the Second

The first thing I need is the proper Edwardian period silhouette.  This will require a new corset, as all the others seem to be either  from the 1860’s or otherwise inappropriate.  Norah Waugh has a 1901 example and I'm busy with it currently, but she also provided us a later model, a long-line from 1911.  I plan to make both anyway and will post further as things come along.

Day the First

First, some particulars.

I simply love that suddenly over the knee, puss-in-boots boots have made a strong comeback.  (Stronger than the first time around, I’ve actually seen them on the street and not just in movies.)  I have huge calves.  All boots were running at 16.5 inches circumferences, and my calves measure nothing smaller than 18.5.  So, dear readers, know that you are dealing with a substantial woman. 

Like most sewing folk, I prefer natural fibers, but will cheat if I find something visually fun on sale.  I love leather, but use it sparingly, re-using whenever possible.

I work part-time on an as-needed basis. That has left little money for food, shelter or clothing, so this will be Edwardian Austerity, or genteel poverty, or however you choose to term it.  To be fair, I do have a number of nice things in my current stash and wardrobe to select from.

So, there you go: extra weight, natural fibers, austere budget. 

Should be challenging!

Introduction

So I pretty much can’t stand any of my clothes.  Which is a shame, as I have some wonderful things that no longer fit.  I can’t even say that they ever will again.  I am loathe to get rid of them, sentimentality and all that running a vicious familial streak through my life.
But a woman’s got to have something to wear! (besides sweat pants and old t-shirts, that is.)
It’s a new decade already!  Gone are the nineties, the eighties.  Forward! Into the past, as they say in the SCA...