Wednesday, January 4, 2012

I LOVE COSTUMES!!!


Sorry, just had to get that off my chest…

Every year in tampa there is a huge pirate festival and then there is another in Saint Augustine.  I really want to make a pirate outfit to wear to them, and I want it to be flattering.  Any idea how hard it is to find flattering pirate costume that doesn’t make you look like a Halloween Twamp ( a twamp is all the tween girls in trampy outfits).  Pirates of the Carribean did a great job in fitting the costumes to be semi accurate and still made the girls hot.

My scanner is broke at the moment, but I found a pattern for a fitted vest that I think I can put some supporting bones into and extend the bottom to mid thigh, then I found a commercial Simplicity pattern that will “almost” work for the jacket with a few modifications.

So, last night I drafted my changes, and cut out the vest from a pretty brocade that has lots of browns and greens and the jacket is a heavy suede feeling deep moss green.

I will post pics later of them finished, hopefully I can get them done by the end of the weekend depending on how much stitching I get done on my new RR piece.

OK done rambling for the time being...

~Hugz

Monday, December 19, 2011

So

I failed a bit in my intention of documenting the making of the dress, but here is the finished product :)

Trying on the night before while the girls test the bustle

Stressed much? LOL

Side shot 

back bustle

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

100 Project Challenge

I have been reading on others blogs about a 100 project challenge. What a great idea to stay motivated and track your own progress over time. I am not sure if I actually have 100 patterns, but I am sure I am pretty close. Msot of the ones that I have seen on others boards seem to be ongoing for a while now and I would feel way to far behind to jump in, so I will just track on my own.


Here are the rules that I am setting for myself.

1. Patterns may not be bought unless they are for a gift for someone, or a RR

2. Stash may only be bought to go with a pattern already owned, if it is up in the next 5 listings to be started.

3. Every 5 projects that get completed I may buy myself 1 new pattern or book.

4. Everything counts. RR’s, freebies, smalls…everything. And I will count Corsets as completed projects due to the amount of time and enjoyment I get from them.

I may add or amend to these rules as I go, but this is it for now.

So…about that list…Here are the first 25, but not in the order that they will probably be stitched
1. Mermaid of the Pearls
2. ye olde Saint Nick
3. Tuscan Flavor
4. TW Fruit Bellpull
5. Stone Roses
6. TW Noah’s Ark
7. TW Spring Carousel Horse
8. TW Carousel
9. Mira Midsummer Nights Fairy
10. Mira Mermaid of Atlantis
11. Mira Bluebeards Princess
12. Mira Savannah’s Curtsy
13. Mira Scent of Old Roses
14. Celtic Christmas
15. Royal Holiday
16. Mira Autumn Queen
17. Celtic Autumn
18. Mira Summer Queen
19. Celtic Summer
20. Mira Spring Queen
21. Celtic Spring
22. Mira Winter Queen
23. Celtic Winter
24. Dimensions Friendship Sampler
25. Celtic Welcome Kit

Progress!!!

After many hours of cussing, I finally have progress.






Here is the test run of the corset with the bustle. There is still a little to be done on the bustle (mainly adding a waist band), but it will have to wait. I need to get the skirts done and then evaluate how much bulk three waist bands is going to add at the waist



The plan for this weekend is to get the underskirt done with the box pleated trim added and maybe, just maybe, get the overskirt sewed.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Summer Giveaway!

Pop on over to Measi's blog for a super cute summer themed Giveaway!  The Cape Cod Summer chart is adorable!!

In other News:
still do not have pics of the test corset, though in two weeks I will be at the deadline to get it compeltely done and the bustle too...cross those fingers for me girls...

Thursday, June 9, 2011

corset progress

Wasn't feeling well yesterday so I decided to stay home from work.  I did get some sewing done and watched the entire Pillars of the Earth series.  WOW, I really wasn't expecting to get sucked in, but it was great!

First I got my busk put in!


I quilted my Gores for the corset.  There are two bust ogres and three hip gores.

Hand stitched the slashed edges for the hip gores


basted around the gore placement




I did get them fully inserted and sewn in.  I tried it on, and the hips were too big.  So I took the two big ones out and trimmed, replced, tried again.  STILL too big.  It took three rounds of inserting and trimming before they were correct, but YAY!  it now looks like a corset.

I am hoping to get it boned this weekend and will post more pic on Monday!

Thanks!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mentioning Unmentionables

Mentioning Unmentionables

Your hair is perfect; your makeup tasteful; your gown is a marvel of compromise between artistic expression and historical wonder. You are corseted, bustled, primped and beautiful. As you do one final check in the mirror you notice a tragedy; there is a wrinkle straight across your bodice. You smooth it out and head to the ball. As you twirl and dance, stroll and flirt you feel your skirts shifting. You step into the ladies room for an adjustment and it is back….that bothersome wrinkle, nearly dissecting your perfect silhouette in half. Your skirts have gotten a bit sideways, your bustle is no longer center and the euphoria of stepping from Romantic Victorian London has been shattered. Now you are just in another Halloween costume.

After all the planning, sweating, sewing and preparing, how could this happen? The answer is really quite simple, even if hard to believe. It is your corset.

If we think about this for a moment, it really is understandable. In your modern wardrobe, how many bras (or brassieres) do you own? Do you just have one that will work under anything? Why shouldn’t we assume that it was the same back when? If your corset is not creating the proper foundation how can we expect our labors of love to fit properly?

Following is a brief selection of corsets from varying years, even within the same year, many corsets had different overall shapes to help produce varying effects depending on the activities of the function it would be worn to and show how quickly the designs would change with fashion (pictures are of patterns reproduced by Ageless Patterns and are from original Harpers Bazaar and Le Mode newspapers):



1876 Corset for Cuirass Basques







 

 
 
1876 Short Striped Jean Corset







1876 White Coutil Corset









1877 White Jean Corset









1877 Coutil Spoonbill Corset

 




1886 Spoonbill Corset



1886 Lady's Gray Twill Corset




 
 
 
 
 
 


1888 Riding Corset of Gray Twill




 


1890 Twill Corset for Stout Lady










1891 Young Ladies Corset


1891 Lady's Riding Corset








1891 Corset for Elderly Lady




 
 






1893 Short Riding Corset








1893 Lady's Low Corset








1897 Corset for Stout Figure







When creating a period in clothing, it is always easier to start in the order we would dress.

Shift first – will it fit with the time? Will it be visible under our planned garment? Will it be comfortable under all those layers?

Then we would put on our corset – Is the line correct? I.e. does it mirror the shape that we wish our bodice to have? Where is the waist? Does it smooth over the hips for late Victorian; does it bring the waist high and tight like civil war?

Crinoline, bustle petticoat etc. – Will bones show through? Does it hold the gowns shape at the bottom hem? And most importantly – Can we sit, dance, walk and move with natural ease?

Skirts – will they stay where put? In the late Victorian era, these were meant to sit on the hips instead of at the waist to allow the long torso to be displayed. To keep them in place, small hooks were attached to the corset that would hold the skirts in their position and prevent them riding high to the waist, which is where skirts sat just earlier for civil war.

Bodice – the last and most certainly not least. It should be smooth (unless rouched by design), it should be flattering, and it should hide all the layers of undergarments making one wonder if there really is a corset under all that.

With all the consideration we give our gowns through color, cut, decoration, and accessories, we must give that same amount to all the aspects that will not be seen. The foundation of our garments is just as important to style as a solid foundation is to a house. Don’t skimp, or it could all come down around you!


Happy Stitching!