Not Enough

After the 1830s day dress I made last year turned out so well, I decided to make another one for this year’s Jafa, but this time a ballgown.

I’ve been thinking more and more about silk recently. I want to get away from using artificial fibres so much because the lack of breathability gets uncomfortable after a day’s wearing. I used silk in the corsetry workshop I did last year and again on trimming my 1830s bonnet. It was so good to work with that now, having used it, I don’t want to go back.

On the other hand, silk is expensive. I was hoping to find some cheaper silk when I went to Cabramatta. I had decided on blue to match a (not-remotely historical) necklace I had bought myself as a reward for being brave at work but turned out not to go with any of my everyday necklines. Alas, there was no silk to be had when I visited.

So, plan B. There’s been an embroidered silver silk dupion at Cardif Collective that I’ve been admiring for years. No-one's ever bought it so I figured that if I found nothing in Sydney I'd go with the silver. The embroidery is perhaps not completely accurate but I did find a few very embroidered skirts which would make it passable.

They all had relatively simple skirts so that would save a few metres I would otherwise have needed for self trimming the skirt. The pattern recommended 8m but the silver silk is pretty wide, so I figured I could get away with 3m for the skirt, 1m for the bodice and 1m for each sleeve.

I went out to Cadif the Saturday afternoon after the Sydney trip and found that the roll of silk was thinner. Horror! Three year’s sitting unbought and the same day I go to get it someone else bought half of it.

There is none of the silver left. However, last I saw there was still a roll in hot pink. Don’t all buy it at once.

There were 4m remaining. I did some maths at the counter and figured I could possibly, maybe, perhaps squeeze it out of 4m. I also wanted 2m of purple silk, the same as I had used for the corset, for a belt and trimmings and 2m silk organza for lining the sleeves, making 8m of silk in total.

I bought the last of the purple too; not as much as I wanted but I have some left over from the corset workshop.

Back in August I won a sewing machine in the Gamma.Con cosplay contest, sponsored by Cardif. As I am quite sufficiently supplied with sewing machines, Cardif generously allowed me to exchange the prize for store credit. So this is my actual prize: enough silk for a ballgown.

Because I had 1m from which to get what I originally thought would take 3, I had to change my plans a bit. I had planned to do a bertha for this dress but given the limited fabric I chose to make it in organza rather than use the silver.

Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as a bride, 1837.

I am reusing the Powerhouse museum pattern and modifying the sleeve design. My new design has a row of knife pleating, one puff and lots of flounces.

Laying the bodice pieces carefully allowed me more than half a width for the sleeves. However there was absolutely no way I was going to get all of the sleeve pieces out of that (and definitely not cut on the bias).

I was also not entirely sold on the organza bertha – the contrast seemed a bit random; I couldn’t find a way of continuing it around the whole neckline (something to do with curved lines and straight lines not being the same thing). Then my sleeve problem and my bertha problem solved each other: I could use organza for the large puff on the sleeve! The bertha no longer looks out of place and I think I have (just) enough fabric for everything.

Is a girl not entitled to dresses that fit?

I’m continuing to add to my 1940s wardrobe with my standard, self-made pattern, this time with a long-sleeved dress. The fabric is from Spotlight; I think it’s a poly-cotton. In retrospect it’s probably a bit too stiff and the print a bit too big*, but oh well, it’s a dress now.

*Large florals don’t work so well on me. Massive florals, on the other hand, are grand.

After making Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite) I decided that tucks were painful and to be avoided. So, of course, as soon as I was looking for a feature for my 40s dress I thought “Tucks!” And not just tucks, piped tucks. So I added tucks to my pattern, changed the yoke and cut straight into my fashion fabric. I figured that if it went right I wouldn’t want to do all the tucks twice and if it went wrong they’re small pieces and I had enough fabric to cut them again.

Many years ago, when I was still exclusively sewing throw cushions, a friend gave me a pack of plain colour fat quarters. Since I am no longer inclined to use them for cushion backing I have found them quite useful for contrasting trims and piping. I returned to this set and found a perfectly coordinating green to pipe my dress.

I used flat piping for the tucks - basically just a folded over piece of fabric - and round piping for the waistband and yoke. The piping is slipped under the tuck which is then topstitched down.

The tucks went ok but the dress had other problems. The armscye was deeply uncomfortable, the shoulder points were too wide and the bodice was baggy. Overall I was displeased. I set the dress aside because I couldn't work out how to fix it. I wasn't sure if my patternmaking techniques would work here as the pattern wasn't made in a proper way to start with.

Fortunately the solutions presented themselves over the course of the next few months:

• I started another 40s dress, this time the collared version, and realised that my pattern required a small bust adjustment. I wasn't about to redo that now but I took the darts in some more which worked well enough.
• When I did the fitting for my 1950s pattern I invented a solution to my perennial uncomfortable armscye problem. I thought I could apply it to my forties pattern – and even better, I could use it on the pieces I had already sewn the tucks in.
• Then my mum pointed out that in combining the back and front yoke into one piece, I had completely lost the shape of the shoulder seam. Oops. That I did recut and repipe.

The end result was a vast improvement in both appearance and comfort

I'm so glad to live in the age of YouTube. For the photos I did my makeup following the instructions from this video. My hair is based on this tutorial.

Canberra Show Results

Another Canberra Show has been and gone. I only entered 3 things this year as there was no historical or costume category (much sadness). Hopefully they will be back next year.

I won first in Any other article of machine or hand sewing with my 1830s dress and corded petticoat. The ensemble also won overall champion of the Sewing section.

My 40s dress with piped tucks took first in Winter/Summer Garment.

This year I ventured out of the Sewing section (into Textiles) with my 1830s bonnet which I entered in the Any wearable hat/creative headpiece/fascinator class. It won second place.

The most beautiful frocks are to be found at Boutique Renata

I’ve been adding to my Bioshock-inspired 1940s wardrobe: this time a mauve dress with a Peter Pan collar. The fabric is nice and light, not overly crushable and stable enough to sew easily. I didn’t notice until I got to the shop counter that the swirly pattern actually had a defined stripe so I added a bit of length to allow for stripe-matching in construction.

Sewing with stripes isn’t something I do a lot so my first point of call was the internet to see how stripes were used in the 40s. The consensus was straight across the bodice and meeting to an angle pointing either up or down at the seams. I found examples with the centre front angle pointing up and down so I picked the one I liked best.

I went antique-pattern shopping before making this dress and decided to start incorporating some genuine features.

I used the neckline and collar from Home Journal 9323 but it was uncomfortably tight so I sort of ended up in between the vintage one and my original. I didn’t quite extend the collar pieces enough so there’s a bit of a gap at the back. I’m not sure I attached the collar properly either as it's come out a bit uneven.

I also used the vintage short puffed sleeves which have a quite different shape to the repurposed 80s ones I used previously. The contrast fabric is leftover from my regency mourning gown which matched my main fabric absolutely perfectly.

While I like my previous dress in this style a lot, it has a few issues with the bodice. The arm movement is not great and the shoulder points are not really wide enough for me. It is also a bit baggy from neck to armscye. To solve these problems I did a small bust adjustment; a broad shoulder adjustment and my magic armscye adjustment.

Now, in my new dress, this bodice is actually comfortable and I don’t have to keep focusing on how much I want to be wearing it to override the discomfort!

A quick stay

In the tail end of last year I made a new set of regency stays. I seem to have made a ludicrous number of regency stays but they never quite turned out right. After some adjustments, the last long stays I made became quite good to wear but they definitely had a later silhouette. They’re great for 1830s but the next gown on my list is from 1815 and it needs a rather more abrupt shape with a higher waistline and rounder bust.

1815 and 1824.

I started out with my 1820s-30s long stays pattern (adapted from figure 36 in Corsets and Crinolines). Based on the previous one I made I altered the shape a bit to increase the lacing gap and make more room for my hips. I added a second bust gusset and made the starting point of the bust gussets higher. This had the effect of raising my (empire) waistline by nearly an inch. I also made the gussets rounder rather than completely triangular. The end result is much more the silhouette I was aiming for.

I used the welt method to construct the stays as it halves the required number of seams to sew and keeps the inner and outer layers correctly aligned. I did a little bit of quilting under the bust but mostly left the stays plain. I wanted to finish these pretty quickly so I could get on to making my dress (which I had originally planned to be done in time for Jafa last year. Lol.) I may add some more quilting or cording later if it seems to need some more support.

The stays are made from coutil and drill, with a wooden ruler for a busk and cable ties for boning. I stitched the eyelets by hand. This is the first time I’ve used a proper tailor’s awl to do hand-sewn eyelets. I was able to get much larger eyelets this way so these stays will be a lot easier to lace than my others. The fit of these stays is not exactly right - the lacing gap is smaller at the top than I'd like and there’s still not quite enough room in the hips but I don’t think any of this will cause problems when wearing it.

Old and new.

I did a new mock-up of my ballgown bodice and it fit almost right first go. With my previous stays nothing I did could make the bodice have the right look. These new ones fit the earlier silhouette much better.

So, regency stays were the last thing I made in 2017 and a Regency chemisette in muslin was the first thing I made in 2018. I used view D from the Simplicity 4052 (by Sense and Sensibility). Again I was working at speed, with a view to getting a small project out of the way as soon as possible, so some of my technique was perhaps not the best. Still, it turned out quite well, even the cheat square shoulder adjustment I did while cutting the fabric.

Sydney trip part two: leatherworking

The fabric-centric post is here.

The reason I went to Sydney was to do a series of leatherworking classes at Birdsall Leather. I first heard about Birdsall at Gamma.Con in A.K. Wirru's Leathercrafting session. I had been looking for leatherworking classes for years so this was great news.

On Saturday I did the beginner class that covered stamping, stitching, dying and burnishing, as well as an overview of leather types. We each made a coaster to try the techniques. On Monday I had an all day private lesson to work on my Assassin’s Creed pieces. I kept working on these during the free work class on Tuesday.

First thing was to buy a hide. Everything except the glove and the pouches will be made out of 2.5mm vegetable tanned leather. I bought a 15ft hide which will be a bit more than I need but will mean I don’t have to go back to Sydney straight away if I mess something up. And of course there will always be new projects.

My large hide is represented by some pieces cut from it because it’s very unwieldy to move around.

I bought a 1.5mm hide for the pouches and a garment leather for the glove. Besides that, there are dyes, rivets and eyelets, cutting tools, and embossing tools. Turns out kitting out a completely new skillset is not cheap.

Not quite all the belts needed for two Assassins.

My private class involved cutting all the belts using a strap cutter – a fancy device that I didn't purchase. Then we went over embossing.

To prepare my designs prior to the classes; I "traced over" the promo image of Ezio using Gimp and a Wacom tablet.

Then my very kind mother converted them by hand to neat, usable swirls.

This is my first attempt at embossing. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I do need a bit more practice but having been a child who was incapable of colouring inside the lines it was better than I was expecting. I've tried a few different techniques in this sample – haven't yet decided which ones I will use on the final piece.

On the second day I started working on the belts and a bracer.

Leatherworking is a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to working on this project. The classes at Birdsall Leather were excellent. I'm now confident that I will be able to make everything I need.

In a suburb far, far away...

A couple of weekends ago I had a trip to Sydney. I went to a musical, an opera, three museums, did some leatherworking classes (more on that in future post) and went fabric shopping in Cabramatta. It was a very busy five days but lots of fun.

I had been hearing about Cabramatta ever since I started sewing lessons. It’s a Sydney suburb that has in its shopping precinct a loop with half a dozen or so fabric shops. The shops are packed with so much fabric it can be hard to move. The prices are good and the quality is too.

In the first couple of shops I didn’t find anything to buy. My shopping list was mostly costume/historical-geared so the very contemporary fabrics weren’t quite what I was looking for. However in the fourth shop, I found a beautiful gold chiffon. I’ve had a 1930s gold lamé evening gown design kicking around for years which this would be perfect for. And only $4 a metre; I bought 10.

The next shop turned up some glorious knits, perfect for the maxi-dresses I like for day wear. One light grey with a border print is beautiful and the other looks like it is covered in lightsaber blades; I couldn’t pass that up. Usually I have to look in the ~$20m section for these dresses and even that stuff often feels cheap. But here the quality was better and only $6 per metre. Except for the mottled black which they said was better quality, so $8m. I think it dyed my hands a bit when I was folding it up so I'm a bit scared of using it yet. Not sure if it will be a dress or skirt. Hopefully both.

Lastly I found a shop that had an eggshell blue brocade. I’ve been looking out for such a fabric for years to make Eowyn’s victory gown. I was a bit concerned to find it was $17m as I needed a fair bit – and then I found out that it was 3 metres wide. Hurray!

There isn't a good picture of this in existence, sorry.

Now, I am ostensibly trying to clear out projects rather than accumulate new ones so when the next weekend came I got straight into sewing the two maxi-dresses.

Because the grey fabric has straight border print and my pattern has a curved hem I needed to make some changes. I traced a new pattern and decided to keep it as the master because not full of adjustments and layers of paper and sticky tape. Then I cut my old pattern to have gores. Though still curved, these pieces were a lot easier to line up with the edge of the print.

The border print also meant cutting the dress down the width of the fabric rather than the length so most of the stretch is going down rather than around me. This means the sleeves are a bit tight to get on. I can’t figure out if there is anything you would make with the stretch going the right way and the border being vertical. Any ideas?

I have made 5 of these maxi-dresses exactly the same now so I decided to do something a bit different with the lightsaber fabric. This time, I used mesh (bought for something else) for contrast sleeves and a double layer neckline. For trim I used double rows of foldover elastic. Also while in Sydney I happened upon a gorgeous pair of shoes by Kitten D’Amour. They match the dress perfectly.

Usually on these dresses I sew the lining and outside together all at once but to get the double layer neckline I had to start each layer separately. I sewed the shoulder seams and the very top of the back seam and put the elastic around each neckline (the red one is cut 3cm lower).

I didn’t want the whole lining to be mesh so just attached a yoke.

I topstitched the shoulder seam at the neck side to hold the necklines in place and included both layers in the back seam until nearly the top.

For the cuffs, the edge band of elastic is folded around the end of the sleeve and the other row is folded on itself and was sewn on top of the sleeve before I sewed up the seam.

I am very pleased with how these dresses turned out. For two and a half days’ work it's a great start to the sewing year.