CoBloWriMo Current Project: the Bastille Day Project

Last weekend saw B and I traipsing around Kansas City, hitting up craft stores and thift stores and a long overdue visit to Fabric Recycles in Overland Park.  The place is like a curated thrift store for sewers of all flavors.  We walked out way poorer, but with a lot of nifty finds.  One of which was the motivation for my latest impulse project.   I've been meaning to do something for Bastille Day for several years.  So many pictures of lovely late 18th century costumes showing up from dinners and picnics around the world, and I wanted to play, too. Nothing happened this year, but I figured it might work out better if I got on top of getting a costume ready.  At Fabric Recycles, I managed to find the perfect ribbon for making cockades.  Now, that wasn't my whirlwind project for the week, but it did motivate me to start working on a hat for the costume.

Thrift store find: generic straw hat with plastic flowers hot glued to the brim.

I picked up a straw hat for something like a buck.  While it's not a great quality of material, it worked just fine as a base for a late 18th century hat.  For inspiration, I just browsed the fashion plates I'd saved to Pinterest and a couple of modern tutorials on re-coverings straw hats.  The puffy crown idea came from Venifice, and the pleated brim from Koshka.  I ended up deciding that the tri-color ribbon was just a little too in-your-face for what I wanted.  I'll save that for making cockades and instead just focus on making myself a costume in the red, white, and blue palette.

Ta Da!

sans flash, the colors really come through.

The red silk is a nice low-slub dupioni that I salvaged from a blouse picked up at a thift store a few years back.  This project was an exercise in compounding trims.  I'm really pleased with how much texture and dimension I was able to get out the different combinations.  The sashes were made by attaching a strip of braid to one piece of blue ribbon, then sandwiching a single piece of the pleated white ribbon between two pieces of the blue, making them pretty from both top and bottom.

Blue ribbon and gold braid picked up in the LA Fashion District last CoCo.  White pleated ribbon re-homed from (I think) my mother's stash at some point.  It looks like it could be her handwriting on the label, at least.

He may be a bit too bourgeois for a Bastille Day outfit, but I gave this fella a tail and some gold detailing and he just pins on.  Now if I could just figure out his name.

Costume-Con 33 Roundup, Sunday

Still playing catch up from Costume-Con 33.  On Sunday, they had the "Miss Ellen's Portieres” competition, where entrants made costumes out of curtains.  I entered wearing my shower curtain short gown, paired with a teal cotton petticoat and my perpetual work in progress, the whitework apron.

Showing off my grandmother's sewers union pin from when she worked at a men's pants factory in the 70s. 

Sunday night was the Historical Masquerade, to which I wore Maria Carolina's court gown.  Kristen was kind enough to help me with my presentation, wearing her own jacket and petticoat combo to serve as a chamber maid.

Our presentation was a comical nonsense number that was basically me getting my maid to help me find my dog.

A portrait of Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily, by Giuseppe Bonito, c. 1770s.

I still have a few yards of this red silk left, as well as some fur.  I'm thinking that one of these days I'm going to make myself a court train to hook onto the dress, even through one wasn't present in the source painting.

I'm particularly proud of my wig, which I carted onto the plane in a gift bag as my carry on.  Well, it made it!

Ridiculous staged costume portraits.  It's was friends are for.

Kristen and I with our roadies, Bethany and Lauren.
(the gals pulling the strings to make our dog move on stage).

No awards for this one, which just goes to show how hit or miss this kind of thing can be.  Ah well.  We had a hell of a lot of fun back stage and I'm proud of how the costume turned out.  Now I just need to figure out where on earth I'll ever wear the thing again.

Faking it: stockings for the 18th century costume

There was some conversation over on the Historical Sew Fortnightly group about symmetricals (padded stockings: if you're interested in them, Leimomi has a terminology post all about them).  I had joked that these were one of the only historical garments that I would have no use for, seeing as how my legs come with quite enough padding on their own.  Enough for me have a fun cheat to share with you.  I've just in the last year started making 18th century costumes.  Prior to that, the Victorian was fairly forgiving about what sort of stockings that I wore as my legs and ankles were always covered by high boots and long skirts.  But that Victorian sense of modesty didn't exist in the 1700s.  Skirts were higher and shoes were made for showing off.  Enter the need for stockings.

Now, sources for authentic stockings certainly exist, but they're not cheap and thus far seem to all be too small for my thunder thighs to fit in to.  To get around this, I bought a pair of opague white nylon tights for $2.50 a pair.

 Ok, so I bought 8 at a post-CoCo Target run, but only after I figured out it worked.

Lay the tights out and you'll see (or maybe you won't, it's kinda hard to photograph) that there's a narrow band of heavier knit at the top of the thigh going into the briefs portion that acts as a bit of a control top. 

I found that if I cut the leg of the stockings off inside this band, they tended not to unravel.

I put them on and stretched them all the way up to the thigh, then let
them unroll naturally until they fell just below the knee.

There And the best part was... they STAYED UP!  All by themselves.  I may eventually make myself a shiny pair of garters to wear with them, but thus far it was totally not needed.  All through a night of dancing at the Costume College gala and they didn't once slip down.  It probably helps that the tights were a size (or two) smaller than what I would have gotten were I planning to wear the full things.

 Geri caught me shaking my paniers to Sir Mix-a-lot, thus proving that I really did make those stockings work.

Next up, I'll have to figure out a way to fake some clocking on a few pairs.  I've seen both painting and embroidery used for such a purpose, but I have no idea where I'll find me a set of feet willing to sit still while the paint dries.

Sewing Update: late 18th Century "Hedgehog" Wig

Styling a wig to wear with my recently completed chemise de la reine was one of the many "short projects" that I had on my to do list to get ready for Costume College.  I needed something that would look a bit like this:  

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Marie-Thérèse-Victoire de France, dite Madame Victoire (1787)

Anne Rodbard, Mrs Blackburne, ca. 1787.

Go big or go home, right?  Frizzy fluff-tacular with trailing barrel curls in the back.  Not possessing a significant amount of hair myself, I had to go to a full wig.  I started with the "French Curl" wig from Amphigory, mostly because I already had one on hand that had out-lived it's original purpose.  It was my default generic Victorian-ish thing for a few years and the trailing curls in the back were starting to get a bit mangled from being pinned up into elaborate up-dos.  So, yay for re-using.  

I'm liking this cut/style for a starting point not only because of the curls, but because of the LENGTH of the curls.  On the crown of the head, the hair comprising the curls was only about six inches long.  In the middle, it was ten.  And I didn't measure the trainling ones in the back, but as you can see, they were fairly long.

Here's what I started with.  A little worse for the wear, but still serviceable.

I took a hand full of the nicest-looking of the trailing curls and wrapped them in a plastic bag for safe keeping.
This way, I wouldn't damage them in the back-combing adventures to come.  You can see where the teasing process has started on the left.

Midway through teasing the wig beyond all recognition.  I was seriously giggling my way
through this process, because it felt so awful to abuse the wig in such a fashion.
All I have to say, is thank goodness I never had to do such an atrocity to my own hair.

Opps!  Missed one.  I went over the entire head a couple of times, and any pieces where I could identify an individual curl got teased again.

Once I'd achieved a satisfactory amount of fluff, I needed to manage some width.  So I took the longest pieces of fluffed hair and pinned them back up into wig's foundation with wig pins.

Pinning up sections of teased curls with a wig pin.

Now it's time to see how it looks on my head.

Urh my god, it's so fluffy!  I felt ridiculous.  Seriously, I did this in the middle of the night and it took every ounce
of self-restraint I had not to wake everyone up and show them my ridiculous hair.

Trying it with the hat and that is MUCH better.  I'm going to the leave the trailing curls bagged up
until I get to con.  The less opportunity to mess them up, the better.

All of the tips and instructions I could find on the internet recommended using ridiculous amounts of hairspray at every stage in the styling process.  As I still need to pack this sucker for flying across the country, I'm not going to be able to store it on the wig form and protect it's shape.  (All of the space/wig heads available for such endeavors are already earmarked for the wigs of ridiculousness that goes with the court ensembles for the gala).  Instead, I'm just packing plenty of cheap hair spray and the styling combs and will touch it up when I get to the hotel.  As there's nothing much to be done with the curls hanging down the back, I've left them bagged up as well.

And that's one more thing checked off the to do list.

WIP: Man's 18th Century Court Suit

We're into the home stretch of getting ready for Costume College.  People at work have started noticing that I've got a vacation coming up, so they're asking about where I'm going and those inquiries usually lead to questions of "Are all of your costumes done?"  I usually just laugh and try not to cry.  Costumers are NEVER done.  We just run out of time and sequins.  There's no time for a proper write up, of anything, and it feels like most everything is in a state of almost done, so how about a photo-heavy sneak preview of what I've been working instead.

Honey is getting an 18th century court suit to be my escort to the Gala.  I had to start the costume from scratch and did so at T minus 28 days before con.

Linen shirt, linen stock and fall-front silk tafeta breeches.

The breeches were lined in cotton flour sack material from my grandmother's stash.  While the opacity was necessary, it adds a touch of bulky that, when combined with the extra roomy seat of the style and the "plastic-ish" shwerpiness make them kinda diaper-like.  Oh, my honey must love me, to wear something so unflattering.

Final fitting of the waistcoat before buttons and top-stitching.  I ended up trimming off about two inches of the upper neck area where it's folding back in the photo.  Adding a safety pin to close the cuffs really helps the look of the sleeves.

Adding the waistcoat does help tone down the ridiculousness of the bum fluff.  Not that the whole thign won't get covered up by a coat, anyway.  I saw it written in somebody's blog that the terribly unflattering seat of the pants just helps encourage the modern gentleman not to do anything so terribly inappropriate as take off their coat.  :)

And a shot of the knee band and buckle, of which I am terribly proud.  I found that lovely bit in the jewelry section intended as a photo fram for a necklace.  The plastic backing was held in place by a horizontal metal band, so rip out the plastic and trim off the loop for the necklace and Viola!  We have a buckle.

Since the fitting photos, I've finished up the buttons and button holes on all three pieces, as well as the top stitching on the waistcoat.  Now I just need to find some white tights that'll pass as stockings and finish up the coat, and that outfit will be done.  And by "finish the coat", what I really mean is "stop procrastinating because you think it's going to be hard and just get on with it already.  I have the mock up cut out, so at least it's started.  I don't fly out for another eight days yet.  I've got plenty of time.

I think.

HSF #13 Under $10 - Man's 18th century Stock

At first I was despairing when I thought that NOTHING of the gentleman's court suit I was working on would count towards any of the current challenges. (not paisley or plaid and CERTAINLY not cheap). But then I realized that one of the accessories that I was considering certainly would and all was saved. 

My honey's court suit needed neckwear, so a stock it would be.  I mostly followed the garment detailed in Costume Close-Up (only with WAY less pleats).  I happen to be one of those people who abhore ironing, so I chose to sew down all of the pleats.  I went with the terribly mathematically accurate method of using the in- and outside of the presser foot to measure my pleats.  There is a strip of linen scrap left over from the shirt that forms the interlining of the stock and the base to which the pleats are sewn down to.

Measuring up from the bottom one half the width of the presser foot anchors the inside of the pleat.

Flipping the outer layer back down away from the interlining and sewing one quarter the width of the presser foot makes for a (relatively) sharp crease when the layer is folded back up.

I ended up straying from the instructions in the book when it came to the back closure.  Not wanting to put out the money for an authentic reproduction stock buckle, I took myself off to my local crafting supply store and found a set of metal buckles intended for scrapbooking. 

$3.49 for a set of 8?  Don't mind if I do.

I also had to deviate when it came to the tabs for buckling.  I had a lot of trouble getting a linen tab to taper off sharply enough to be able to fit through the buckle.  After my first couple of failed attempts, I got frustrated and just cut the damn thing off, fitting a piece of silk ribbon into it's place.  The ribbon was easier to thread through the buckle and could be cinched blindly while worn for easy adjustment.  Not the prettiest bit of sewing I've ever done, but it'll do.

The largest was a touch small for the stock, but it was light weight.  As my honey was already concerned about stuff wrapped snugly around the neck, I decided not to use something small.  Although, in retrospect, this size might have gone better on the knee band of the breeches and the fancy buckle I used there would go better on the stock.  Ah well.

Only downside to sewing down the pleats is that it makes the finished product a bit stiff.  Or else I've made it too wide for my Honey's neck.  Probably a bit of both.  Either way, I'm going to run the whole thing through the wash a couple of times, to see if I can't get it to give up a bit of the fight.

With the coat collar covering some, and a wig covering most of what's left, the back closure really isn't going to be seen all that much.  I'll probably just have him tuck the ribbon tail into the neck of the waist coat and call it good.

For the HSF: 
What the item is: Man's Stock (formal neckware)
The Challenge: Under $10
Fabric: handkerchief weight linen outer, mid-weight linen interlining.
Pattern: Costume Close--Up #24
Year: later half of the 1700s
Notions: poly thread (internal stitchings), linen thread (top stitching), a scrap of silk ribbon to replace a too-thick tab and a buckle from a set intended for scrapbooking.
How historically accurate is it? the part you'll be able to see is pretty spot on. I used the machine to sew down all of the pleats so that I wouldn't have to re-iron every single one of them whenever it was washed. But I didn't want to put out for a proper recreating stock buckle and so used what I could find. Plus I didn't size down the tab sufficiently for easy buckling, so I had to replace the tab with ribbon. I'll give it a six out of ten.
Hours to complete: about three
First worn: another piece ready to pack for Costume College.
Total cost: uses mere scraps of a $15/yd piece of linen. Even counting the full cost of all of the buckles in the set that i didn't use, we're still at under $5.

HSF 12: Shape and Support - Bodice to the 18th Century Court Gown

I'm playing a bit of catch up as far as the blogging goes.  I leave for Costume College in two weeks and my summer thus far has been absolutely packed with sewing and other costumer prep for it.  I've thus far been able to find a current project that applies to each of the recent Historical Sew Fortnightly challenges, so at least I'm caught up there.  Challenge 12 was Shape and Support and, while I hadn't finished the court gown for the Bodice challenge, I was able to buckle down and get it done for this one.  I was originally intending to wear this over stays, despite most references to court gowns stating that this wasn't the case.  To be honest, I just wasn't sure that I could get the support that my plus size figure needed without them.  However, once I started putting the layers of the bodice together, the whole thing started feeling way too bulky. (My stays are fully boned, and with cane.  So they are a tad thick.)  I already had already made an interlining layer which had a handful of bones set into it, so I went back and added about ten more and then left the front three inches of the lining and fashion layer separate so that I could tightly lace the inside closed, then pin the outer layer into place.  Adding in four inch wide facings to the linen lining and silk outer was necessary to hide the raw edges, as well as the unsightly (and somewhat doodled on) cotton canvas interlining as well as the last of the pepto pink cotton sheeting that I'd been using to flat line the silk.  Come to think of it, that's four layers of fabric.  No wonder it felt so bulky over stays.

I chose to attach the overskirt to the bodice along the back half of the waist line instead of finishing the waist band of the skirt and wearing it over tabs.  I liked the added security of knowing that the top and bottom wouldn't separate while sitting or dancing.  The front half of the waistline of the overskirt was faced and finished and still needs a hook to anchor it at the side.  The open front will then pin closed under the front edges of the bodice.  This also gives the added bonus that I can adjust where the fur trim on the open front comes out from under the bodice so that I can keep the look of a solid strip of trim down the entire body.  The bodice still needs a bit of fur trimmings to make it look like the inspiration painting, and then I'm going to attach my engageants to the dress sleeves instead of the chemise, but it is otherwise done. I'm pretty stoked about it, as the bodice was the part of the project that I was dreading the most.  (Not knowing how to do something usually results in a frankly astounding amount of procrastination on my part.)

One of my goals for this project was that any stitching which could be seen on the finished garment had to be done by hand.  This made the bodice a cumbersome project, but I really am pleased with how it turned out.  I managed the edges by turning under the linen lining and whip stitching it to the interlining.  The edges of the red silk were then turned under and stitched into place.  With hand sewing, I find that I have a lot more control over how the edges of my fabric meet.  It's much easier to make minor adjustments between stitches, as opposed to just pinning everything in place and hoping for the best under the speed and indiscrimination of the machine.  Also, hand stitching makes all those pretty little stitch marks that I love so much.  

Info for the HSF:
What the item is: bodice to an 18th century court gown
The Challenge: Shape and Support
Fabric: red silk jacquard flat-lined to cotton sheeting (the pink stuff left over from the pet  panniers!), lined with coffee-stained linen and sandwiched in the middle is a boned layer of cotton canvas interlining.
Pattern: I used JP Ryan's Robe Anglaise as a starting point, adjusting the lower edge to end at the waist in the back.
Year: 1770s
Notions: reed boning, boning channels, silk buttonhole thread for the lacing eyelets and cotton thread for the top stitching.
How historically accurate is it? I had to do a lot of guessing when it came to construction techniques of a court gown, but the overall 18th century-ness of it is pretty good. All hand sewn, excepting the construction seams and boning channels, which are now sealed up insde the layers.
Hours to complete: hmm... maybe 20 or so.
First worn: for the Gala at Costume College in T minus 16 days...
Total cost: probably around $50 for this part.

HSF 11: The Politics of Fashion - Chemise de la Reine and Bergère Hat

I ended up doing a bit of a whirlwind entry for the latest challenge at the Historical Sew Fortnightly. The theme was The Politics of Fashion, where we were challenged to create something that demonstrates the interactions between dress and political history.  As I'd been focusing on the 18th century lately, I decided to try to find something from around about that time.  Following shortly after the time that my court gown is from would be the time leading up to the French Revolution.  Those decades were rife with political and social change, a great example of which was the fad amongst wealthy women to dress in a style reminiscent of the working class women of agricultural areas.  The chemise a la reine was often paired with straw bergère or shepherdess hat.  The look was supposed to bring to mind the simple, carefree life enjoyed by no actual shepherdess, ever.  It was also an example of a simplification in the style of dress of the upper classes in response to significant social pressures from the masses.  Sarah Lorraine of Mode Historique is doing her master's degree research on the chemise a la reine and has some great information up that I found super helpful.

What I loved about the dress was how simple it was (relatively speaking), as well as how comfortable.  The bodice and sleeves are gathered, not fitted.  And if I wanted to skip my stays, the pair of quilted jumps I'm working on would do just as well.  Bonus points that I had plenty of that window pane cotton lawn that I did the smocked bib Regency apron out of and this made a nice little side track from the court gown project.  I found a scan from The Cut of Women's Clothes 1600-1930 by Norah Waugh that sketched out the basic shape of the gown and I used that as my starting point.  (as well as ordering a copy of the book for myself, as it was looking pretty useful).  I decided to go with an open front gown so that I had the option to wear it over a colored petticoat, should the inclination arise.  Yay for options.  I skipped adding any sort of front closure beyond the drawstring at the neckline.  Once the sash is in place, everything holds itself together quite nicely.  To hide the bow from the drawstring, I plan to wear this brooch with an image of Gainsborough's Blue Boy on it.

The sleeves were gathered once above the elbow, but I put no gathering in at the waist as I found it fairly easy to arrange the fullness to my liking and then hold it in place with the sash.  Thanks to Katherine for pointing out that, unlike how it was illustrated in Waugh's book, the channel for gathering the waist would not actually be along the straight of grain but curved to fit around the hips.  Without that heads up, I'd have likely gone ahead and put it in following the weave of the fabric and then had to invent new swear words when having to pick the white stitches out of the white lawn.  I may revisit the notion of the drawstring waist  later, after I've had a chance to wear it around a bit.

All told, the dress probably took about 20 hours to make, but a lot of that time was spent hand sewing a rolled hem for the ruffles on the cuffs and neckline.  The sash and contrasting bands on the sleeves were made from silk taffeta.  The sleeve bands were just strips of fabric with the long ends folded under that were tack stitched directly on top of the gathered channels.  The sash was three 10 inch wide widths of 54" fabric that were sewn into one long strip and then into a tube that was turned inside out.  The ends were tucked under to form a point and I've ordered some spring green silk cord to make a pair of tassels out of that I'll hang off the ends.  

I hope I don't regret putting a train on a white dress.

The hat was a garden hat I picked up at the Goodwill and modified.  There are a million tutorials out there for making a make-do 18th century straw hat if you need one, but it's terribly simple in concept.  You just cut a section of the crown height out to drop it down to the desired height, then sew/glue/fuse with mastiff spit the crown back onto the bring and cover your likely terribly ugly hack job with a hand band and decorations.  I tried meticulously hand sewing the crown back onto the brim, but the woven straw wasn't keen on the notion of holding together, so I went back and slathered on a frankly obscene amount of tacky glue to finish the job.  I fashioned a bow out of the last of the light green taffeta and paired it with a bit of this blue-green silk shambala that I impulse bought from Silk Baron because it looked interesting.  The fabric is a blend of three different silks and it takes up dye in an interesting varigated pattern.  As is, I feel like the hat is missing something, but I can't tell what.  Maybe some fake wildflowers?  Some lace?  I don't want to do ties as I'll be using a hat pin to affix the hat to an as yet unmade tragic abuse of a curly wig.

It's not often that I pick a project simple enough for me to do up an entire outfit in just over a week.  I'm aiming to wear this number to the Fantasy Tea at Costume College.  

Some other useful blog posts:

http://diariosanacronicos.com/blog/tutorial-chemise-a-la-reine-chemise-gown/

http://www.thefashionhistorian.com/2012/03/chemise-la-reine.html

http://persephonemagazine.com/2013/05/the-chemise-a-la-reine-an-eighteenth-century-fashion-trend/

http://www.koshka-the-cat.com/chemise_dress.html