Merry Corset-Mock-Up!

I am waiting for this to get difficult...

I have been dreading and fearing the corset-making process more than any other aspect of this project.  I even bought a pattern (Laughing Moon #100 'The Dore' version).  I was originally going to try out a spoon busk design from Corsets and Crinolines, but balked at how fast all the materials were adding up and mostly the idea of drafting out the pattern.  I  decided to go with something a bit easier for my first attempt.

Here is the mock-up I made to test out how well the pattern will fit:  the striped affect is just because I'm using scraps and didn't have enough of any one color.  I kind of like how it looks, actually.  Unintentionally Carroll College-ish in the colors.

I obviously didn't complete it, but I think it is good enough that I can start on the real thing.  I only had to adjust one set of seams so far--we'll see if there will be future adjustments.  Without the boning, it's hard to tell what it will look like in the end--the dress form is just ever-so-slightly different than me (and she doesn't suck it in very well).  I do have it coming up a little too high at the moment.  I am weighing historical accuracy vs. controlling a large bust.  My current thought is to leave it higher at the front, then trim so it is low enough under the arms to be comfortable.  I have to see if this messes with the waist.  I suspect it will be fine since I have a pretty short torso anyway.  It all seems to work on my toile, so we'll see from here.

Big deep breath--now to start the final draft!

Combination Underwear's Maiden Voyage!

Under my new Spencer (to cover up the worst dress bodice ever made), I tried out my Combination today.  Sure, this outfit is several decades too early, but I don't have any correct Regency underpinnings anyway, so this was a fun excuse to use what I have.  

It worked well--except that I had only lined the Spencer bodice (which was over the top of the really bad dress bodice anyway) and not the long sleeves.  They're red.  Now the armpits of my Combination are a bit reddish too.  Oh well, I did make this to be used and abused--now we'll see how well it washes out!

After wearing it, I have realized that my worry about not having enough buttons was completely unnecessary.  I really could have done without the five extra I added, and then it would have all matched.  Oh well, next time I make one, I'll have to trust the pattern!

Combination Underwear is Fantastic!

Whew!  I finally completed a concrete accomplishment!  After all the planning and 'research' (flipping though books and websites looking at pretty dresses), I actually have something checked off my list!

Dressing Step 1:  Combination Underwear!
Cinderella's not ready for the ball yet, but at least she isn't naked!

I've seen a couple different years given on this Harper's Bazaar image, but safe to say it's from the right time period.  The idea is to combine a few different layers of undergarments into one uber-garment.  That way, the amount of bulk is reduced, while all the functionality remains.  My dress will be form-fitting, so I don't want a lot of layers shifting around underneath to worry about.

I was able to borrow a copy of Truly Victorian's TV105 pattern--sans directions.  Somewhere along the route, the directions got separated from the pattern pieces.  I had hoped they might turn up in another envelope, but so far, no luck.  Oh well, I have all the right shapes so this should be easy!  Not too complicated, I bet I can whip this out in a day!

Not quite.  Turns out a pattern with no directions or detail pictures is quite an interesting challenge when it is a garment I've never seen in person, nor have found many pictures of that show construction details.  So I decided not to worry about what would have been the historically accurate sewing method and just to be happy with a functional garment.

I also had to debate what exactly I wanted out of this underwear.  Would it be all lace and ribbons?  A pretty, special occasion garment to coordinate with the corset and dress?  Oh, but wait, I don't even know what fabric I'm going to use for the corset, let alone the colors.  I haven't located fabric for the dress either, so I don't even know what I'll be matching.  And the kicker:  I started this the day before Thanksgiving.  The only fabric I had on hand that would come even close to working was the last of a bolt of plain white cotton.  Any additional fabric and notions would have to be purchased--on Thanksgiving?  Nothing's open.  The day after Thanksgiving then--ARGH!!  That's Black Friday.  I avoid Black Friday like it's the Black Plague.  Oh, right, and I forgot that I'm broke and going to be buying Christmas presents.

New game plan:  I will make a 'cellular combination', meaning that it is constructed of natural plant-based fiber fabric:  the cotton I have on hand.  That part is historically accurate.  Sure, this dress would have probably warranted some fine muslin at least, if not some lovely silk, etc., but I have justified the rather plain design with this argument:  when I go dancing, I will wear the ugliest undergarments in the interest of comfort and overall look of the dress.  I don't wear anything that might make my dancing experience less fun, nor do I want weird looking rumples on my dress from unnecessary bows and lace poking around.  So if the me in 2013 will wear functional but boring underwear, then I will choose the same for my late 1880s/early 1890s alter ego.

This means I need to choose a historic figure who would follow the same thought process of 'function over form'.  That may help me narrow down the field a bit as I am still completely undecided.

My other argument is that this will be used for quite a few different costumes, including a number of my dresses that would have been before the combination underwear was in use, but hey, I am excited about how functional this garment turned out to be!  Especially the upside-down sleeve design to protect my dress from any perspiration.  I plan to wash my combination often, which led me to the next design choice.

I machine sewed pretty much everything.  I am following the rule 'hand sew if it will show'.  Sadly, I haven't the time, patience, nor expertise to make everything by hand, and the sewing machine was at least in use by this time in history.  None of my underwear should be showing, so there's no pretty hand-sewing.  I did French seams for most of it, with every single seam finished--no raw edges anywhere in this baby!  I want to machine wash, so that's my best chance to keep it from falling apart.  Although the machine-sewn button holes are not going to hold up as well as if I had hand-sewn them, fifteen button holes was just more than I had the time and patience for.  The coup de grace is the plastic buttons.  The plastic buttons that almost match.  Ten of the fifteen are the same, with a group of five rounding out the crew (the pattern picture showed only ten, but my buttons were a bit on the small side and I didn't want to end up with them spaced too far apart).  I'm not going to be parading about in these underwear, so I'm going to hope that the goddesses of historic costuming forgive me on this one.

All complete, and it even survived a maiden voyage through machine washing and drying!

For everyone who asks how you go to the bathroom:  yep, it's really quite easy!  The legs are completely separated.
The sleeves wanted to fall off my shoulders, so I ended up adding a box pleat along the back.  I decided to just let the fullness spread from there so I wouldn't lose mobility.  We'll see if I need to control that with more of a dart or something later once I have the corset finished.  If I ever make another combination, I think I will draft it from my body block so the bodice fits better--apparently I have some weird shoulder/armscye business going on.

Sleeves are hard enough for me to figure out--I always have to double, triple, and quadruple check before I sew them on, and still sometimes make mistakes.  Sewing this one, where the design is essentially an upside-down cap sleeve, set in with a French seam, just about exploded my brain.  

In the end, I decided that I rather liked the streamline look to these underwear.  Although I began with more of a frothy lacy be-ribboned image in my head, I am enjoying the simplicity of what I ended up making.  The straightforward cellular combination is my new favorite thing.

Plans are starting to come together!

A huge thank you goes out to Sarah Parr Nucci who has given me a wealth of resources to borrow!

It looks like I'll be using the patterns from Truly Victorian (TV 105) to make the combination underwear, and TV101 to make a petticoat with wire bustle (and optional ruffled overlay).  I am looking at a lovely curved spoon busk corset from Corsets and Crinolines (pg. 81).

Once I manage to construct all the undergarments and foundation pieces, then I can get a new set of measurements to begin drafting a pattern for the dress!  This will be the first time I ever go through the effort of making a toile first.  I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, but am anxious to get started!  I'm glad I went through the effort of making a body block so I can figure out how to make the patterns fit better.

Decisions!

And thus it is decided:  I have narrowed down to one inspiration dress for construction and another for colors.  I have decided to adjust my original plans to make an 1890s gown in favor of this late 1880s gown.  It's just so exquisite!  Here are the originals (photos from the Metropolitan Museum of Art):

House of Worth  (French, 1858–1956)

Designer:

Jean-Philippe Worth (French, 1856–1926)

Date:

1887–89

Culture:

French

Medium:

silk

Dimensions:

Length at CB (a): 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm) Length at CB (b): 60 in. (152.4 cm)

Credit Line:

Gift of Orme Wilson and R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of their mother, Mrs. Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Wilson, 1949

Accession Number:

49.3.24a–e

The pink color is nice, but I would prefer blue to go with the gold lace:  

Getting side-tracked easily...

I keep wanting to work on other things at the moment.  I feel like the demands of my timeline outfits are taking priority over sewing on 'the big project'.  It's just so much easier to fiddle with smaller projects.  Here is last night's work-avoidance behavior:

Capote made from recycled materials--a trashed children's straw hat and some scraps from other dress projects.

Corrected Body Block--sort of

I sewed up a test for the body block I had drafted, and did need to adjust the bust darts fairly significantly (which I had expected).  I was pretty excited that all of the measurements we took worked well--only the derived generic measurements were a problem (i.e. the bust darts).

However, instead of just fixing the body block and trying a final version, I decided to make everything a whole lot more complicated for myself.  Surely, if the body block is correct, I can make something worth keeping.  If I make something I actually want to keep, I might as well go all out and make a full dress, right?  I didn't want to spend any money (per the norm), so I used all recycled materials I happened to have lying around, starting with our old duvet cover that had some stains and holes from the washing machine/dryer.  It was striped, so I thought I would add even more layers of difficulty by making the design more interesting with alternating sections in different directions.  Then I decided that the robe a la polonaise just wouldn't look right without some 18th century stays.  Which I also didn't have.

So after a side-track into making some jerry-rigged stays out of two old army coats and coat hangers (gasp, I know! Remember, I wanted to do all this for free, right?), I also had to change the measurements to the new stay-based dimensions.  Yeah, you're right, this is the worst possible way to check a body block.  But now I have a lovely, not really historically accurate dress I can pass off as Martha Custis Washington.  So it all worked out fine!

Hanging loosely on the dress form--I can't close the dress on the form since she's too stiff to put the stays on to get the right measurements.

I went back and forth between really proud of myself for how much more I know now and how well I was able to draft and create a workable pattern, and disappointed that I couldn't get everything quite perfect.  I still can't seem to figure out how to set a Colonial style sleeve.  I just defaulted to the set-in sleeve that I already know how to do--I didn't seem to have given myself enough fabric to work with and didn't want to start all over again on the sleeves.

In the paper today!

Click the link to read:  Helena Independent Record Article!

(Photos below by Eliza Wiley!)

Getting a lot of mileage out of my Dr. Montessori costume!

Some of the timeline cards that coincide with the costumes.

Gowns Galore!

I have been trolling the catalogue of Metropolitan Museum of Art looking for lovely evening gowns of the 1890s.  I put together my favorites, and you can go see them!  My plan is to ruminate on these designs, then  narrow down to a few that are both gorgeous and also possible.

My Met Collection of Evening Gowns

Ok, sure, this one is from 1902, I'm giving myself a little lee-way on the dates here...

Body Block!

If I measured everything correctly, and if I translated those measurements correctly with all the geometry accurate, and if I added in the seam allowance correctly, and if I adjusted Dress-form Dorcas correctly, then I should have a body block!  That's a lot of ifs.  

Yeah, I don't know why the picture is upside-down either.  It is correct elsewhere, just Blogger can't figure it out.  This is the front block all measured and drawn.

Back block done too!

A pretty, clean copy of the block.

Seam allowances added, all cut out and ready to test out!

I am really excited to get an accurate body block made--looking forward to making my own patterns and knowing how to adjust commercially made ones to fit better.  We'll see how the draping process goes.  I'm a little nervous about it since Dorcas isn't quite perfect.  I hope we'll match well enough to work.  If all goes according to plans, I'll make a sundress to practice all these new skills out on!

Measure twice, cut once!

I took a boatload of measurements today (thank you to my Personal Assistant, you are a great husband!) and adjusted my dress form.  She has already been a great tool, and now I'm figuring out how to use her more effectively.  I have decided to call her 'Dress-Form Dorcas', Dorcas for short.  Why yes, that is the name of the character played by Julie Newmar in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  It's too bad she got stuck in the back of all the dance scenes since she's so tall.  While my Dorcas certainly doesn't have the same iconic figure, it will help me make fabulous costumes--just as Julie Newmar used to do some of her own sewing.  I can remember seeing her on a talk-show when I was a kid and she explained how she would take in the sides of her Cat-Woman costume to make it more flattering.  When the hostess (can't remember who) made a comment about sewing not being something women did much of anymore, Julie responded something to the effect that every woman should know how to sew at least enough to make sure her clothes fit well.  So thank you Ms. Newmar!  I will take your advice.  I also remember her telling the mostly female audience that women needed to be supportive of each other and never catty.  And now I really want to go watch To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.  One of the longest movie titles I know, and spectacular performances by Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo as drag queens on a cross-country adventure. 

Starting the hula-skirt approach to adding padding.  I was having a hard time getting everything to stay where I wanted so I could measure and adjust, so I decided to start with a width of fabric the length of my waist measurement and go from there.  This actually worked pretty well, although I ended up not needing all the stuffing on the back.  Sure, this isn't the usual method, but I didn't really have the right materials, so this will work fine enough for my purposes.

I started with the front and added in my mom-belly.  That extra bit of padding reminds me of the two wonderful little girls I am blessed with!

The bottom is all Franken-stiched together!

The dress form all padded out and ready to use.

Although our major measurements are the same, the shape is not.  My ribcage is more elliptical, while she is more circular.  That means I look narrower from the side and she is narrower from the front.  She has no shoulder blades and the padding is not affected by gravity (which affects some shapes!).  I am also resisting the urge to 'suck it in' for the side photo!

The only matching shirts I have are very old and stained undershirts.  Not my favorite outfits!

Historic fashion and dance combined!

I love this so, so much!  Apparently, I need to wrangle my dance partner into coming to school in coordinating fashion and demonstrating the period-appropriate steps as well!  Now, if only I can convince him, and find a whole lot of male costumes to boot...

So much reading!

I finished reading the Costume Technician's Handbook (3rd Edition) and really wish I would have gotten my hands on this book at the start of my costuming adventures!  So many really great hints and tips!  Now I'm on to actually trying out some of what I read.  Just as soon as I clean the Project Room.  That is my first big project in an of itself.  Ugh.  I was going to tackle that today, but it was hot upstairs and I lost my inertia after very little work was accomplished.  At least my Personal Assistant (husband) put the computer back, which then became my excuse to sit down and see what distractions the Internet could offer me today.  Learned about pyramids around the world.  Fascinating.

Little Ninjas

I was going to get some work done yesterday, but a sweet little ninja asked me to make her a mask, then little sister wanted one too--only out of pink fairy fabric.  How could I resist?  My project room is still a mess, but I cleared enough space for this little side adventure

.

Pyromaniac's Delight!

The most wonderful thing I read about today in The Costume Technician's Handbook is how to identify a mystery fabric by burning a sample.  Nylon, for example, apparently smells like celery once burnt.  My first reaction was to share this with my students--science fun!--but then I had this feeling, something about safety hazards...

Denver Fabrics

I blew at least a half hour scrolling through the fabric offerings at Denverfabrics.com.  Putting the cart waaaaaay ahead of the horse, but it's like a candy store. Creative candy that lasts a lot longer.

Historical Fashion Video is embedded!

My first small victory is in successfully embedding my short film explaining a bit about why I am creating costumes in the first place.

The Beginning

I have created this here blog to record my Field Project:  I will challenge myself to research, design, and make a period-accurate 1890s evening gown with the related functional undergarments and accessories.  I will also be putting together information about a historical figure I will represent while wearing the dress in my 4th and 5th grade classroom.

This should be an interesting year!