You shall, you shall go to the ball!

The Jane Austen festival was last weekend. My friend, Lady B–, and I decided to go only six weeks out so started having sewing bees straight away. I didn't have time to make all the things I planned (one never does) but I finished my new dress and necessary underpinnings on the Monday beforehand (the festival starts on Friday). I was pleased with this achievement and decided to relax for the event and not add the pressure of trying to finish something else (like I had done every other year).

Then I got a message from a friend of a friend from interstate. She had booked in to the Jane Austen Festival but her dress hire had fallen through. I had a spare day dress she could borrow, but the festival has balls and parties every night; I couldn't let her go without a ball gown.

It wouldn't be JAFA if I wasn't sewing up to the last moment...

Since 'simple' was the watch-word for this outfit I went for the regency classic: a plain white muslin gown. I didn't have time to make something well-fitted so I decided to go with a drawstring bodice. Of course, I haven't actually made one of those before, so this meant adapting a new pattern (Lady B– has quite despaired of me). On the Tuesday I made the skirt using my standard pattern (based on figure 37 in The Cut of Women's Clothes). I made the skirt and hemmed as is, because I know the pattern works, with the intention of correcting the length with a decorative tuck. Then I put together a mock-up of the bodice, ready for trying on.

On Wednesday Lady H– arrived. We did a fitting of the bodice which only needed some narrowing in the shoulders. I spent the rest of the evening hemming the spare day dresses to fit her.

Day wear: I am wearing my grey spencer (for the first time) and blue-flowered  gown. Lady H– (front) is wearing my cream gown.

Before and after work on Thursday the ball gown came together. The three of us had a final sewing bee Thursday night. Even Lady H–, who doesn't sew, proved a valuable member of the team, helping with pinning, pressing, and the inevitable unpicking. I finished the dress before work on Friday morning (getting up at 6am is fabulous – it's like having two days instead of one).

I wore my Joker-inspire regency outfit, Lady H– is in the centre in her new gown, Lady B–, looking very fine, is on the right.

Lady H wore the newly made ball gown on Friday evening. It is made from the leftover fabric from my chemise a la reine (which has gold threads running through it 'cos I don't do plain or simple). I piped the bodice seams in gold to match, because you have got to have piping. Arm movement might be a luxury, but piping is a necessity.

The dress closes with ribbon drawstrings at the neckline and waist. The waist drawstring is done in two parts: one along the font, with the channel ending at the side seams and tying inside the dress; the second set of drawstrings starting at the back seams and gathering the centre back of the dress.

Since I got the dress finished with so much time to spare (before 7am on the day it was being worn) I decided to start another garment: an evening spencer to go with the dress. Again, simplicity was key for this project, so the only decoration was piping. For fabric, Lady H– chose a pair of blue satins (leftovers from Elizabeth's scarf and Musketeer Barbie) and we used the wrong side to avoid an over-shiny finish.

Pretty much everything that could go wrong with the spencer did go wrong, and some of them twice. This was no doubt in part due to the tiredness that resulted from the festival, however I think the mistakes started first. In fact, I think despite the foolishness of starting something new as the festival began and giving myself a job for every spare moment, I actually had a better festival because I was making the spencer. As a task-oriented introvert, being able to come home from ALL THE PEOPLE to 'now I need to hide and make the thing' was actually kind of relaxing, even if it kept going wrong.

The spencer was ready for the final ball on Sunday night. And its recipient was delightful in her appreciation of it and the dress. The spencer made Lady H– a lot easier to spot amongst the sea of white muslin gowns on the dance floor.

Lady H– bought the outfit. I am pleased it went to such an enthusiastic owner.

I also made a petticoat to go under the sheer dress. Its construction was done in the spare moments between Monday and Thursday. No pictures – but I will be making another for myself before too long (read: the night before next year's JAFA).

15th time's a charm

I attended a corset making workshop over two weekends. We made the Laughing Moon Dore corset in twill and silk dupion.

Despite this being my 15th corset there were a lot of firsts for me. First time using silk, first time using spring and spiral steel bones, first time having someone in the room who knew what they were doing.

The corset was made using a method where the outer and lining layers are constructed separately, which allows for a final opportunity to tweak the fitting once you have the front (busk), back (lacing) and all the lining together. I didn't find that last fit particularly useful as there was still no boning so I will probably continue to use the welt method in future. The welt method ensures that your seams line up and that the panels on both layers are the same size. It is also a faster method.

I was surprised at how unscientific the fitting was. Measurements were only taken to choose a pattern and the rest was done by adjusting mockups. Mine had to be made smaller than the smallest pattern size (because of course it did) and also an inch longer above and below the waist. This solved a problem I've had in the past where the hips fit ok and the bust fits ok but the corset can't reach both at the same time.

A lot of the course reaffirmed that what I had taught myself was right but I did pick up a few valuable new techniques. One was seeing how the fitting was done. Another was inserting the waist tape. I also learnt that I don't want to use spiral steel boning again. I had so much trouble getting the ends on and then several came off in the boning channels anyway. Just cutting the bones to length was a challenge. I think I will stick with cable-ties for the time being.

I had been hoping to learn flossing which is something I've heard about and tried for myself but never had a clear understanding of. Sadly that wasn't covered by the course. Still, I have bought thread to do some flossing with and will attempt to educate myself further. I was lucky enough to find in the limited range of topstitching thread the perfect colour to match my lace. Eyelet lace and ribbon was included in the class kit; however since I was making a proper, purple, silk corset nothing but gold would do. So I bought a metre of hand-dyed guipure lace to use instead.

Attaching the lace was a precision exercise. The top of the lace is two rows with an indent between them. One of the rows had to be under the bias binding to secure it and I wanted the other outside the bias to be a neat edge. If I unfolded the bias I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing. So I lined up the fold of the bias on the edge of the lace and used a zipper foot with the needle a bit further over than usual.

Going fast with this setup was an accident waiting to happen so I disconnected the foot pedal and used the hand wheel. By the end my wrist was very tired.

It turned out perfectly.

The corset gives me a more defined waist than I was expecting, which I think pushes the silhouette a bit later into the century. That said, given my hip-to-waist ratio, I really shouldn't be surprised. Lacing it up gave me a two inch waist reduction without my barely noticing. I haven't made a corset fit well enough to get a reduction before so that took me by surprise too.

The fit I ended up with was pretty much right (insert celebration here). The hips are snug but in a good way, I've got a reasonable lacing gap and the top half fits right too.

Finding closure

I have now finished my re-creation of Elizabeth's first outfit from Bioshock Infinite.

When I last wrote about the shirt I said I was dreading the buttonholes. Turns out it was most fortuitous that I left them for a while as eventually I noticed something else in my reference images.

Elizabeth's shirt doesn't have buttonholes. The buttons are on the right front (the side that is on top) even when the shirt is open. Cue great rejoicing.

Fake buttons over other kinds of joins is also period accurate so after this discovery I lost no time in finishing the closure. Buttons on the outside, snaps on the inside, and hooks and loops at the very top, as, in the picture, her outfit has no visible fastenings when the neck is open.

The yoke is attached with flat-felled seams. The back has a central pleat and is gathered (unevenly) into the yoke.

To keep the bulk of the shirt at the back, the pleat is secured below the skirt level using a technique I found in Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques.

The scarf is a bias-cut rectangle sewn into a tube. I used the wrong side of a soft satin. The choker is made from eyelet lace with a ribbon running through the middle. The ribbon is used to fasten it at the back of the neck.

I entered this outfit in the Canberra Show and won first place in the Summer/Winter Garment category.

Bioshock Infinite belongs to Take-Two Interactive Software

Start simple be hanged II

The first post about my Tia Dalma costume covered the bodice and mantua.

Skirts
The two skirts are both constructed from two rectangles of fabric with an elastic waist (because I had not yet developed a distaste for elastic). The underskirt is made of lovely satin and the overskirt is made from two printed cottons which don’t have quite the right drape. Both skirts are intentionally unfinished to allow them to fray. The skirts are worn over a bumroll.

Jewellery

Some beads I painted to match the reference images but since the photos weren’t great I just put stuff together that had a similar look. I didn’t work out what the chicken’s foot was until after making the necklace, so I just have some shell beads tied together. I also bought the Master Replicas version of Tia Dalma’s crab-shaped music box necklace but I was disappointed by its quality. By my standard of ‘replica’ the locket should have opened (I would forgive it for not playing music) or at very least it should looked like the original from all angles but the one I bought is hollow in the back.

Hair
I curled my hair the night before the Disney party and, on the day, I styled it with a mixture of curls, plaits and teasing (and feathers). I have since made fake dreadlocks by fingerweaving featherwool.

Modifications

Of course, the most significant improvement is the addition of the sea.

There were several parts of this outfit I wasn’t happy with. After the party, I decided to take the bodice apart and remake it. And gradually, over the following years, I did. I made the bodice shorter and replaced the boning with cable ties and added some extra boning channels. The boning I had originally used came on a roll and never really lost the curve which meant it stuck into me in some places and didn’t follow my shape in others.

I also replaced the trim on the overskirt with two layers of fringe.

Belt 

I also made a new belt. The original belt I made was too short so I had added an extension in the centre back. This wasn’t a problem for wearing it, because it was under the Mantua, but I was unhappy with it and it meant I couldn’t use the belt with other outfits which I had a notion to do. I was also unimpressed with the fabric I had used – it was a knit fabric and kept stretching out of shape. In the meantime I had found some better reference pictures so I was able to do an improved decorative scheme. I had originally used red sequins along the edge (I don’t know why either) but now I was able to use more accurate rows of beads – although still not wooden beads because the amount I’d need was outside my budget. The cowry shells on my first belt were actually another belt sewn on, but for the new one I was able to use individual shells (salvaged from another belt, naturally).

It was a good idea to start costuming with such a big project – it made my subsequent projects appear quite reasonable to my family.

Canberra Show-off

Just a quick report from this year's Canberra show.

I entered my Assassin's Creed II costume in the Performance Costume category (sadly the only entry) and Elizabeth in the Summer/Winter Garment section.

I won firsts for both outfits. I got some nice comments from the judges about Elizabeth, complimenting my pintucks but also recommending that I user a neater finishing technique on the inside; this is something I will work on.

My assassin won overall champion of Non-professional with more than Two Years Experience entries.

Start simple be hanged

The year my school friends and I turned 16 provided many opportunities for dressing up. At the time I was making a hobby of sewing decorative throw cushions (we still have more than anyone knows what to do with). I had been exploring the costuming part of the internet and thought I would like to do that too and I made a couple of very simple costumes with help from my mum.

My best friend had a Disney themed birthday party. I chose to go as Tia Dalma from Pirates of the Caribbean. This choice brought lots of new experiences: making a corset, making patterns from scratch, researching and attempting screen accuracy, and accumulating supplies. It also later introduced the concepts of redoing things after wearing, and wearing an outfit only once.

While not necessarily obvious at a first glance Tia Dalma’s costume is based on 18th century styles, being comprised of a mantua over stays and skirts.

Stays
I used McCall's 4861 for the corset, changing the shape slightly to be more accurate to the movie. I made my corset with 5 layers. There are two inner layers, which are used for the boning channels, a lining, the fashion fabric and a net overlay. The linings and the outer layer were sewn together around three edges and slipped over the inner layers, a bit like putting a pillowcase on a pillow. The lower edge is bound with trim over the netting layer which started life as a reusable shopping bag. I didn’t shape the netting at all, just stretched it over the top of the corset. Having made other corsets now, I do not think much of this method of construction – all the separate layers never quite match up.

I chose not to include the damage that can be discerned on Tia Dalma’s corset in the movie – I couldn’t work out how to do it and it isn’t very noticeable.

To my great frustration I was never able to find an image of the back of the actual corset. I searched the internet and freeze-framed the movie but was unable to find a clear reference. Mine laces up the back, with a sort of loop tape because I was too lazy to do eyelets. When I first wore it I had to lace it up myself, which is possible but not fun.

Mantua
I worked with my mum to draw the pattern for the mantua (making sure it had all the right pieces and seam placement) over a shirt pattern. I found a lovely pink brocade at Spotlight for the mantua but there wasn’t a lot of it. I cut and sewed up the bodice and draped the remainder of the fabric as the skirt. And by draped, I mean I put it on and pinned the skirt to the bodice behind me, then took it off and handsewed where the pins were. The tail of the bodice is lined, up to the point where the skirt is joined in.

At first I made the bodice with shoulder seams and inset sleeves, expecting just to push them off-shoulder but this didn’t sit properly so we just cut the neckline round at off-the-shoulder level. The result is that I can’t raise my arms in this costume, but I have come to regard arm-movement as an unnecessary luxury in a costume, so I was (and am) not much bothered by this.

The sleeve frills are made with a circle of crinkled red and yellow tie-dyed fabric which I tea-stained to age; a circle of lace and a few extra strips of lace. I have never managed to find trim for the sleeve at all like that used in the film. I have replaced it since the party but I am still not happy with it.

The mantua attaches to the bodice with hooks and eyes. I had to add extra eyes to the bodice when I put it on since I kept losing them in the futz at the top of the stays.


To be continued...





Pirates of the Caribbean belongs to Disney