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.

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 Challenge #10: Art - the skirts for the 18th century court gown

The 18th century court gown project is coming right along.  After this, it's just the bodice and the wig that's left and it'll be done!  The skirts on this monstrosity took a bit of thinking, actually.  There were several different ways I could have done it.  The major decision here was how to do that open front.  I had originally thought that it would be the most fabric-conservative if I just simulated the appearance by applying the fur trim.  But then I worried about that looking TOO false.  Even if I shortened the hem on the center panel and layered the fur, the whole piece would still move as one when I walked.  On the other extreme, making a full under petticoat seemed wasteful, and there was NO WAY that I was using up any more of that silk than I absolutely had to.  

So to compromise, what I ended up doing was making a single panel and attaching it to the ivory petticoat.  The panel is single width (45") wide and flat-lined with some of the leftovers of that lurid pepto pink cotton sheeting that I used to make the panniers.  I've given myself permission to machine sew all of the internal seams on this project, so that sped things up quite a bit.  I also basted the two layers together under each of the fur swags with a zig zag stitch on the machine.  This helped avoid puckering of the silk since the two layers were feeding under the machine's foot at a different rate.  The whole panel was then inserted into the waistband on the ivory petticoat and is currently held out with safety pins, although I'll go back and tack stitch it in place once I've decided just how much it needs to be stretched.  The panel is heavy, and is sagging  bit here on the dress form, but when I wear it over stays, there's enough waist-to-hip contrast that it stays up nicely.

The next decision had to do with cutting panels.  The ivory petticoat was cut in four panels, then pleated to curve up over the humps of the panniers.  The silk is so light, I was afraid of putting any vertical seams into it.  I could have flat-lined it, but then I'd have lost that lovely flowy feel of it.  So instead of cutting 46" long panels and sewing them together (2" longer than the petticoat), I just cut one long length of 45" wide fabric and wrapped it around.  Luckily, the pattern of the jacquard is intricate and not terribly direction-specific, so no worries there.  The cut ends were faced with 3" wide strips of cotton sheeting and red silk - the silk to keep it pretty if the ends flap open and the cotton to give me something weighty to attach the fur to.  This left me just a touch short on length.  One of the patterns that I had been playing around with was of the 1751 coronation robes of Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden (as patterned out in History of Costume, From the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century by Blanche Payne).  In this dress, there was a keyhole-shaped piece of fabric that went over the top of the panniers that the panels were sewn into.  S and X being the front and back at the waist and V being the most lateral point of the hips.

I set up the panniers and petticoat on the dress form, then took the single length of skirt and made a narrow hand sewn hem along one selvedge.  I then pinned the piece to the petticoat adjusting so that I had an even hem all the way around.  I took a piece of scrap cotton and laid it over the gaping holes above each hip and outlined the shape of the piece that I needed to fill it in.  I cut a pair of these out of the silk and used a narrow strip of fabric to face a slit just a bit forward of the center of each piece so that I could access pockets.  The narrow ends are for wrapping tot he front and were faced with silk that had been flat-lined with the cotton.  These are the bits where the vertical strips of fur will hang down from and, as they'll just be pinned to the stomacher, they needed to be finished.  The larger, sweeping curve was left with 1/2" seam allowance as it'll be sewn into the back waist of the bodice.

Instead of making large box pleats, like I did on the petticoat, I gathered all of the excess fabric over the hips.  I turned under a narrow seam on the keyhole piece and basted it in place, then pinned it to the skirt panels so that it only just covered the narrow selvedge and the entire thing was whip stitched into place.

Showing off just how much narrower I got the panniers to go by tightening the internal ties a bit.

And the specifics for the Historical Sew Fortnightly:
What the item is: the skirts for my 18th century court gown project
The Challenge: #10 Art
Your inspiration: portrait of Queen Maria Carolina, painted by Francesco Liani, ca. 1770s
Fabric: red silk jacquard with leaf and scroll pattern, "grizzly" synthetic fur, some of the pepto pink cotton sheeting leftover from the panniers project for flat-lining and facings.
Pattern: none/draped
Year: 1770s
Notions: cotton thread
How historically accurate is it? Pretty damn close
Hours to complete: around about 14, me thinks
First worn: it's for the gala at Costume College
Total cost: $150-ish

Also, holy crap, these things are HUGE!  I was as wide as the kitchen.  I know I'm not the only one showing up to the Costume College gala in a court gown, so I just have to wonder.  Has anyone thought about how on earth we're all supposed to sit down for dinner?  Will everyone in a hoop skirt be sorted to the left to sit at the tables with chairs spaced farther apart?

I suppose that if we get kicked out of the hotel for partying too hard, we can always camp out under it.  ;)

Faking it: Earrings for the 18th century court gown project

I was able to scratch another small bit off the epic To Do list that makes up my 18th century court gown project:  the earrings. The lovely person or people over at the Grand Ladies website where I first laid eyes on this painting of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples and Sicily describe "the only jewellery she is wearing are large pearl earrings with diamond surrounds."

Since this was her only jewelry, I really wanted to make sure that the earrings were just right.  It's a big dress and a big wig, so I needed something a lot larger than what I would normally wear.  Plus, they needed to be pretty decadent, since this was a queen I'm recreating here, and your standard costume jewelry might not cut it.  Cue the Google-fu and this is what I found:

Over 1/2" across and they fit the description to a T.  They were gorgeous.  They were perfect.  They were no longer on sale and cost $275!  Which is... no.  Hard limit, I cannot spend more money on the earrings than I did on the dress.  So, on to Plan B.  I'd been keeping an eye on the buttons and such whenever I happened upon a crafting store or website, with the hopes of being able to make something up on my own.  In amongst the wedding supplies at my local JoAnn's I found these lovely buttons:

I think I might actually like the look of these even MORE than the fancy expensive earrings.  The ivory tone makes them look so much older and, as they were flat backed and not raised, they would sit flush against the lobe of my ear.  And even though anything that's intended for "wedding" use is going to be stupid expensive on principle, a pair of these and a pack of earring backs came out to a grand total of $20, which is a far sight better than the alternative.

Here's how I made it work:

The supplies: buttons, earring posts with 10mm pads upon which to attach the buttons,
Jewel-It glue, large and fine wier cutters and safety glasses.

I folded up a tissue pad to set the buttons on so that I didn't scratch the faux pearly finish.  Then Iplaced the heavy duty wire cutters and covered the lot of it with a second tissue to discourage projectiles.  I needed the large cutters to work through the heavy shank on the back of the buttons, but it wasn't a clean cut.

So I used the smaller wire cutters to do a bit of fine trimming, but there was still a bit of a rough edge.

One of the must haves in my craft room is several old containers of clear nail polish.  You know how gunky that last quarter of the bottle always gets?  Well, hold onto it.  It's dead useful.  The thick stuff dries clear, makes a hard surface, is skin friendly and ultimately removeable, should it come to it.  I use it on all sorts of rough parts of costumey bits.

To attach the posts, I used Jewel-It glue.  The Jewel-It is good for this sort of project because you can embed your bits into it and it dries to form a sort of setting that's more secure than glue alone.  For this project, I used a toothpick to spread additional glue around and up over the edges of the disk on the post to secure it, then let it dry overnight.

The finished product.  Looking at the buttons in the store, I was really worried that they'd be too big.
While much larger than anything I'd ever wear normally, they weren't very heavy and, once paired
with the stupidly-sized wig and dresss, I think they should work just fine.

HSF 7: Head and Toes - 18th century court gown project

I thought I was taking an easy out on this challenge, but oh my gods, no.  I've had these shoes for something like two months now, but had been so intimidated by the thought of punching holes in them that I've left off on attaching the buckles until there wasn't much choice left.  Despite viewing both the tutorial and video on the website, I was still having trouble visualizing how the buckles went together.  However, Lauren was great with a prompt response to a plea for help via her website and having a different photo of the buckles in action certainly helped.  I still ended up poking about twice as many sets of holes as necessary, but there's nothing to be done about that now.  Most of them are hidden by the upper latchet, but at least one prominent set of holes isn't, so I'll be looking for a way to embellish them that covers that.  Giant silk ribbon bow, perhaps.  Must put ivory ribbon on the shopping list.

I'm still kicking myself for my first few holes that I made with the awl, as that was quite a struggle.  However, with a bit of leather conditioner, I think that those holes will be the easiest to minimize the appearance of.  I later switched over to the punch on my grommet setter, which was super easy and made perfect little round holes which look great everywhere, except smack dab in the center of the upper latches on the shoe turned away from the camera.  Ah well.  The sting is eased a bit as I chose to go with a pair of the Imperfects.  What little damage I could find was nothing compared to the scuffs I made putting on the buckles, so I consider that a choice well made.

I haven't done any further embellishment on these because I'm wanting a pair of straight up ivory shoes to go with the 18th century court gown that could double to be worn with my more generic 18th c outfits.  Also, I can't stand to cover that leather up because it's soooooo soft.

Year: 1770s
Notions: reproduction buckles
How historically accurate is it? pretty spot on
Hours to complete: 2, but at least half of that was spend staring at them in terror with an awl in my hand.
First worn: Hopefully next weekend for Figments and Filaments
Total cost: round about $150 for shoes plus buckles

HSF #4: Under it All - Petticoat for an 18th Century Court Gown

Next milestone in the 18th century court gown project is the petticoat.  Now, at first glance, the dress looks like it might have an open skirt on top of a petticoat of the same red fabric, with a bit of additional fur trim.  However, if you look closely at the far right hand hem of the dress, there's a small bit of something off white -ishsticking out there at the end.

Hmm... might have to find me a stuffed spotted dog to go with the costume.

The lovely people over on the Grand Ladies website where I first spotted this dress have hypothesized that it's a pale bit of petticoat sticking out and that, consequently, the fur-trimmed panel in the front is simply intended to create the illusion of a second petticoat underneath.  Now, I'm all about keeping it simple, and it seems that having the skirt be all one piece will not only save fabric, but also be easier to maneuver in. There's no worrying that the heavy fur will flip parts of the skirt open and look unsightly.

So, a pale petticoat it is.  I decided to keep it simple with this one and use what I had on hand.  I had eight yards of un-dyed dupioni silk left over from a cosplay project that never materialized, so I opted to use that.  Bonus points in that if I ever stop wearing this costume, I'll have large pieces of silk that I can tear out and dye to fit whatever the new project needs.  It's what they would have done back then.

On to the math.  My panniers have a 160" circumference at the bottom hoop.  For simplicity's sake, I'm going to pretend that's in a perfect circle for the next bit.  Working under the assumption that each additional petticoat is going to add 2" out from the body has worked well for me thus far in life.  If you'll remember from your geometry classes, the circumference of a circle is equal to 2πr, where r is the radius of the circle and π is Pi, (approximately 3.14).  So my pretend-it's-a-circle panniers would be have a radius of 160/2π, which is roughly equal to 25.5 inches.  Assuming that the ivory petticoat is going to stand out two inches from that, the petticoat would have a radius of 25.5 + 2 = 27.5 inches.  The circumference of this would be 2(3.14)(27.5) = 172.7 inches.

The fabric I have is 45" wide.  Assuming 1/2" seams, that leaves me with 44" of usable width per panel.  If I had 4 panels, then that would give me a circumference of 176 inches.  That sounds close enough to me.  So, four panels it is.  Now, how long should I cut those four panels of fabric?  I came across a couple of great tutorials from La Couturière Parisienne (excellent break down of the length requirements over different sizes of foundations) and The Fashionable Past (superb step-by-step instructions for the pleating that deals with all that extra fabric).  While the final dress was going to be floor length, I wanted to make sure that the petticoat was a good 2" shorter than that.  Keeping in mind that I'd be in 1" heels, and that another inch was going to get eaten up in the hem,  I decided on 44" for the raw length.  I'm trying to be careful about keeping track of the math now, because this is acting as the trial run for the outer skirt.

I used machine stitching to assemble the panels and attach them to the waist band, then hand stitching to finish the hem, waist ties and the top of the side pleats.  The lengthwise seams were pressed open and the selvages left as is.  Openings were left on each side to access the pockets, and these seams were turned under twice and finished with a running back stitch.  The hem took about 3 hours of hand sewing to do, but it was a simple stitch and kind of meditative.  I figure that some people can spend 3 hours watching tv in a single night, so I don't consider that time wasted at all.

From the front.  You can still see a bit of hoop showing through, but the pleats stacking up on the ends should offer enough cushioning where I'll need it.  I'll wait and see how the fashion fabric drapes over it before I decide if I need to make another petticoat to go under this one.  It's hard to tell from this angle, but my friend crawled around on the floor and assured me that there's about a hand's width gap between the hem and the floor.

Side view.  While it't not quite as narrow a depth as historical references, neither am I.  So I'll call this good.

And THAT is how I plan to get through doors in this costume.  Will just have to make sure that the chemise is long enough to provide some modesty in the elevator.

Just the facts
What the items is: petticoat for an 18th century court gown
The Challenge: Under it All
Fabric: ~ 5 yards of un-dyed silk dupioni
Pattern: La Couturière Parisienne and The Fashionable Past
Year: 1770s
Notions: poly thread for the panel assembly, gold silk thread for the hem, un-dyed rayon ribbon for the waise binding and ties
How historically accurate is it? 9/10
Hours to complete: 6, about half of which was spent hand-sewing the hem
Total cost: $55 US

Epic Fail

Ha!  You can tell I'm relatively new to this world of blogging.  I've just now realized that when I delete comments on the comments tab, I'm actually deleting the comment.  Here this whole time, I thought I was just deleting the comment notification.  Epic fail.  So, apologies to anyone who's noticed a comment of theirs disappearing.  It was wholly unintentional.

Along the theme of epic fails, my dress form bit the dust today.  Apparently, the court panniers were just too much for her to handle.  She had a good run, though.  I figure that with all of the heavy Victorian bustle gowns that I've hung on her, it was bound to happen eventually.

So sad.  :(

On the bright side, though, a replacement has been ordered.  I went with the Dritz Twin-Fit Dress Form, Full Figure.  Ordering through Amazon, I was able to get it at a much better price than if I'd purchased it in the store.  Until it gets here, I'll just have to set aside the petticoat for the court dress and work on something else.  Perhaps I'll start drafting out a pattern for the bodice.

HSF'14 #3: Pink! 1770s Court Panniers

I've spent the last week or so working on the panniers for my 18th Century Court Gown project.  The current HSF challenge was pink, which I'll admit, I wasn't too thrilled about.  I'm not really a fan of the color.  However, I've been trying to make a point of making foundation garments and underpinnings in colors other than white.  Not for any aesthetic purpose, mind you, but for practical reasons.  I store most of my costumes hanging up in zippered wardrobes, which makes it difficult to tell one white cotton blob apart from any other.  Ergo, color.  So I thought, what the hell.  This is already a ridiculous project.  Let's make it just that little bit sillier and make the panniers pink.

I picked up a few yards of white cotton sheeting from Dharma Trading Co and dyed it up in the washing machine.  I thought I'd chosen a nice, subdued shade of pink.

I was wrong.  That cotton sucked up the dye like it was dying of thirst, and what I ended up with was a violently Pepto-Bismol shade of pink.  Well, whatever.  It's underwear.  Life goes on.

I used Simplicity 3635 as a base for making the panniers.  

I had picked up the pattern second hand, though.  And while all of the pattern pieces were present, the instructions were not.  However, with only three pieces and a general idea of what the thing was supposed to look like in the end, I was confident I could figure it out.  One of the first things that I needed to change, though, was the width.  I took an image of the dress I was recreating and superimposed my measurements onto it.  As I am both tall and big, the dress was going to have to be stupid wide.  Like, 78 inches wide at the hem.  *pause for a fit of giggles over just how ridiculous my hobby can be*  Ahem.  As you can see, I wasn't taking the maths too seriously.  The diagram was done up in MS Paint and all measurements were approximate.  

Measuring out the pattern pieces, they would give me about 54" width at the hem (of the panniers, which would still be 6-8" above the floor).  Assuming that the petticoat and then the skirt of the dress would each add about 2" to the width, I needed the panniers to give me a total of 70".  Below is the rough sketch I did up to show where I wanted to add the width.  I had originally planned to cut additional center front and back pieces to get the extra width, but it turned out that my fabric was wide enough for me to just add 8 inches to the CF/CB and cut the front and back pieces on the fold.  

This is what I came up with:

I seriously spent like five minutes just sitting there laughing at the monstrocity, texting pictures to my costumer friends.  While there were certainly a few gowns with this kind of shape (such as the one below) that had that gentle sloping sides, it wasn't what I was looking for.

Mantua 1755-60, the Victoria and Albert Museum

So, where did I go wrong?  I think the problem here was that, although I widened the front and back of the panniers, I was still gathering the topmost portions into a waistband.  This resulted in the bottom being wider than the top.  I went back and took a triangle-shaped piece out of the center front and back that was 8" wide at the base, tapering into a dart about three inches below the waist band.  This lessened the circumference of the bottom hoop by 16", while affecting the upper hoops less.

MUCH better.

The gathers at the top of the petticoat should also give a bit more of a boost over the top edges, so I think this rendition will do just fine.  I set the dress form up on the dining table so that I could adjust the ties without having to lay on the floor.  The other big change I made from the pattern was to shift all of the ties over 3" closer to the center.  In the photo of the first draft, you can see how the hoops keep sagging  By shifting the ties, the tension gets distributed a bit more evenly.  The ties are attached with safety pins for the time being, as I'm still playing with their placement.  I'm having trouble getting the spaces between the hoops to stop collapsing like an accordion.  If changing the tie placement doesn't fix it, I may go back and put a few pieces of boning in to force them to stay apart.

Ties connecting front and back of the pannier give it an oval shape.

But not quite oval enough.  Gotta tighten those ties a bit more!

The thing is entirely machine sewn.  I opted to use bone casing instead of making channels or loops from the cotton.  It saved a lot of time (but cost a lot more).  My hope was that the casing would help soften the lines of the hoops a bit, so that I can get away with just the one petticoat between them and the skirt of the dress.  I left the spaces at the side for accessing pockets extra wide and bound the raw edges white cotton bias tape.  

I'm also considering ordering some of the hoop connectors from Farthingales, so currently, the hoops just overlap each other inside the channels by about 10".  I wanted to make sure that the entire contraption was easy to pack for air travel, so any of the more permanent methods of connecting the cut ends just wasn't going to work.

Info for the Historical Sew Fortnightly:

Pepto-Pink Panniers!
The Challenge: #3 Pink
Fabric: White cotton sheeting, dyed "coral" pink.
Pattern: Simplicity
Year: 1770s
Notions:  3/4" bone casing, 1/2" cotton twill ties, 3/8" poly satin ribbon, white cotton bias tape and stupid amounts of hoop steel.
How historically accurate is it? Hmm... 7/10.
Hours to complete: about 14, including sketching out the pattern and dyeing the fabric.
Total cost: totally guessing, but probably around $80 US.  Hoop steel and bone casing is pricey stuff.