Monday, April 30, 2012

Regency Wedding Dress


So, every senior is required to take a Christian Lifestyles class at my school that culminates in a project where we plan our own weddings.  It's strange, but fun.  Anyway, I found a pretty dress from David's Bridal and settled for that, but then I thought... nah.  I'll make mine!  The wedding itself isn't going to be Regency, but the Regency silhouette is classic enough that it can really be applied to any occasion (example: my prom dress had a very Regency-like empire waist).  The original dress that I found was so gorgeous that I simply had to share it with you.




The most gorgeous thing that you've ever seen in your entire life, right?  It is exquisite.  I don't even know where to begin.

Since the picture lacks a full-length view, I decided to extrapolate a little for that.  I looked through some fashion plates and decided to do this kind of skirt treatment:





I love the look of a shorter overlay fabric and an underlayer with a train.  It's adorable, no?  The fabrics I'm going to use are this amazing silk organdy:




And this gold silk taffeta:




Now I'm really tempted to make this dress!  I'll save it for my wedding, though.  That's all!

The List

Yes, here it is:  the sewing list for the next 6 months.  It encompasses all of my upcoming projects and when I hope to finish them.  It's pretty intense, yes, but I know that I will be able to get it all done.  The months on the schedule are simply when I want to have them done, so I may do certain projects scheduled for October in August, August in June, and so on.  And now, here it is...


April
Red dress
Wrapper
Sarah's dress
May
Sarah's dress
Sheer
June
Regency dress
Regency underthings
Chemise
Stays
Bodiced petti
Regency spencer?
July
Bathing costume
Mom's dirndl
August
Paletot
Ball gown
September
Winter hood
Georgian underthings
Corset (PINK!!!!)
Chemise
Paniers
Petti
October
Marie Antoinette gown
Other bodices for ball gown skirt

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Always Talked About but Never Before Seen

I talk about a lot of stuff, but apparently never show pictures!  I have been talking about my red dress for ages and none of you have seen it!  So, here are some pictures of my stash (and new additions) so y'all can put images to names.


Here is the raspberry wool I talk about so often. This is the wool I used for my dress (now in the final stages of construction) and shall use for my sacque.  Both the dress and the sacque will be trimmed with this velvet ribbon, the sacque with the thicker and the dress with the thinner.


Here is the wrapper and the mitochondria fabric, as I like to call it.  The little round things totally look like mitochondria!  The wrapper is still in want of sleeves, a drawstring and a hem.  After that, it will be complete!


My lovely friend Kelly sold me wrist warmers and garters that she personally knitted and I am in love with them!  The wrist warmers will be worn to the filming of The Light of Freedom (along with the garters, but those will not be visible).


I picked up 1 yard of white cotton twill at JoAnn's yesterday with my Regency stays in mind:


Here is the beautiful, beautiful robin's egg blue silk.  I just got another 4 yards on top of my 7.5 so I can make a second (and third?) bodice.


 I will be making this ballgown from it:


Along with this dress:

I want to make an exact reproduction of the second one, but then I have to find out a way to have detachable bows for the skirt.  Would it be worth it to baste them on every time I want to wear the second bodice?  I'll figure something out.

Here is Sarah's wash dress fabric, a very pretty blue, white and black plaid.  It looks primarily black in this picture but it's actually primarily blue.


And now, the most beautiful book ever,  "Fashion: The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute".  It spans the 18th century to the 20th century.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


 Georgian:


 Regency:


1860's:


That's all, folks!  Till next time!

Fabric Shipment Number Two and Thrift Store Finds!

More new fabric!  These are the last of my orders for a very long time.  I solemnly swear to not buy any more fabric until most of my projects are completed!


 First are the wool batting and wool flannel I am using for my paletot.  I practically stole the wool flannel--on clearance it was just $5 per yard for 60" wide fabric!  I almost died.  Perfect!  Also, I got the wool batting for the paletot for only $10 per yard for 92" wide!  I'll be able to use the extra wool batting in my winter hood, too.  I am going to be very warm at the Perryville reenactment this summer!


Sadly, now we say goodbye to the paletot fabric for a very, very long time.  No offense to you, lovely fabrics, but I have to work on my other things!  Farewell until the fall.


 I got these teacups at Goodwill for only 50 cents each!  They may not be perfect, but they are passable until I can go to an actual antique store and find some more accurate ones.  They also are lacking saucers, but again, they are passable without them (and also much more appropriate than my tin cup!)  One of these will probably go to Sarah.


I also got my Easter present in the mail today!  "Civil War Ladies: Fashions and Needle-Arts of the Early 1860's."  It is a beautiful book full of fashion plates, needlework projects, sewing patterns and much, much more!


 See?


 Wonderful!


 Beautiful! :)


 And the back of the book :)


I also picked up some movies from Goodwill.  No matter how inaccurate the Gone with the Wind costumes are, I still adore the movie!  I also got Gods and Generals and Little Women (both of which I've never seen before).


 Finally, a nice little basket I picked up at a different Goodwill a week ago.  We have plenty of baskets at my house, however most of them are too large and/or too shallow to be of any actual use.  This one is the perfect size and just deep enough to hold what I need.  However, it didn't even cross my mind that it wouldn't hold my plate!  Oh well.


Till next time!  Au revoir!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

New Fabric and Sacque Muslin!

Don't you love receiving packages in the mail!  It's like getting gifts (only you paid for it!)  A sad existence, I know, but opening a package does give me a decent amount of joy.  Especially when fabric comes in them!  Check out my haul:

First is the 4 yards of polished cotton I snagged off of Ebay.  Only $15!  This will be used to line my paletot.  That thing just keeps getting more and more expensive... sigh.


Next is the fabric for my Regency dress.  I'm using the Sense and Sensibility drawstring day dress pattern from the Elegant Lady's Closet super pattern.  Short puff sleeves!  I'm excited for that one.  It shall be beautiful.


Finally, the lavender semi-sheer plaid fabric I'm making an 1860's sheer dress out of.  I need to get working on this dress as soon as possible or else I'll miss the summer season and have to stow it in my closet for a very long time!  It's on my agenda for the month of May, along with Sarah's dress, so hopefully Senior Project and school won't get in the way of my progress.  As for the design, I'm thinking one word: ruffles!


I also sewed together the muslin for my sacque today.  I love sewing together muslins.  Seams really don't matter and yet they look good in the end!  How lovely! And, it's an awesome crash course in using the pattern.  Always, always, always sew a muslin.  It is very important.  Anyway, the bodice of the sacque is just about right, however the sleeve needed to be taken in quite it a bit for it to fit in the armscye.  After I took it in, then it fit very lovely.  Check out the pictures:



 I especially love the back.  It's going to look so lovely over my hoop!  It is quite gratuitous width-wise, but I figure that it's always good to have more rather than less (at least with a sacque).  I can be assured it will fit over the necessary 4 layers of clothing I wear at reenactments at any given time.  Black polished cotton for the lining is on its way.  And, with any luck, I will be able to wear this to the Cincinnati Museum Center's Civil War days in the beginning of May and use it as a part of my Senior Project presentation.  Let's hope!

Finally, a picture of my lovely assistant, Judy.  She likes to sit underneath the sewing machine... while I am sewing.


Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Muslin Madness!

I have been a muslin-making machine!  In the past 2 days I have made 2 muslins, one for Sarah's Civil War bodice and one for my sacque.  Well, Sarah's muslin fitting didn't go too smoothly... let's just say that it was a tad too small and must be let out.  That's not too big of a hassle, though.  I haven't sewn together the muslin for my sacque yet, but holding it up to me, it looks just right.  Also, it kind of helps that a sacque is not fitted!  The pattern I'm using is from the Wisconsin Historical Society (Patterns of History #1865).  It is currently out of print but can be found for the lovely discounted rate of $5.00 at www.sewingcentral.com .  The pattern actually comes with directions for the sacque (deemed a paletot by the pattern, but it's a little too short to be a paletot), a bodice, skirt, AND a cage crinoline!  The last one was a pleasant surprise to me!  However, the dress style is a little late in the Civil War time period, so it can't be used as widely as other dresses.  Oh well!  The sacque will be made with the extra raspberry wool I have left over from my dress, lined with black polished cotton and trimmed with velvet ribbon.  I can't wait to get started!

--Mel