Costume plans for 2010

As you saw earlier I started my costuming year with a sewing marathon that was a bit to much work in too little time. I did not like it. My fantastic M did not like it. So now I'm giving myself and M a late new years resolution:

NO COSTUMING ON DEADLINE THIS YEAR!

With that taken care of, here are my "list" for 2010:

1. Started projects that needs to be finished or things that needs to be mended
Pet en l'air - Needs to have the gown properly fastened to the comperes front and hooks & eyes sewn in. It also needs to have some raw edges on the front sewn in.
My pocket - I have finished all the embroidery and the supporting lining is cut. It only needs to be assembled.
Under petticoat - I did a poor job around the pocket opening on one side so the side seam are rewinding itself.
A wide brimmed hat - I have made the base after this great instructions, it only needs covering and decoration.

2. New projects

A jacket made of pink cotton damask that I bought before christmas. I will use one out of PoF 1 for inspiration but I will make it without stomacher. I want ot make it so I can use it both with pocket hoops for an earlier style and with a false rump for a later style.

The damask are really hard to photograph, the color varies between different light sources. The picture above is in artificial light in my studio. The picture below is taken outside on a cloudy day. The real color is something in between them...


A false rump - I have the outer material and I'm planning to make it a bit like the wingeo style (but I will make the pattern myself). I have not decided what to fill it with yet...I might slaughter an old pillow for this since my budget is a bit tight.

A floaty petticoat inspired by The Duchess movie. I've found a perfect, satin striped cotton voile over at B.R Export for this project.

An under petticoat to go with the floaty one

A 1780,s pierrot from "Kvinnligt mode under två sekel" (a swedish book about 18th and 19th century fashion). When I saw this garment the first time I thought "OMG the red cotton velvet in my stash!" and I have been in love with it since then. I will line it with the infamous ANNELI fabric in black and white.

And I need a Gainsborough hat to go with my new later wardrobe. I have all materials for this one at home already. It will be covered with some black velvet I have in my stash and I will make a sash out of the floaty petticoat fabric. And black feathers. I have two great, fluffy ostrich plumes that have been living with me forever :P
(Yes I got inspired by The Duchess movie again)

3. Long term project

A new pair of stays. I want them to have front and back lacing and be suitable for late 18th century and be fully boned in the front. I have the foundation layer fabric already. I scored a really stiff, tightly weawed linen twill sheet on Tradera. The outer layer will probably be a candy pink silk taffeta and I will use ANNELI in black and withe for the lining. I have not decided on the binding trim yet but it will probably be bias tape cut from the outer fabric.

4. Projects on hold

Remember the pretty pink striped fabric I scored earlier?



I have decided on a project for it. It will become a real polonaise with inspiration from Galerie des Modes, mainly this one:

But I will change the petticoat a bit, I'm not very pleased with the strange fold that are above the white frill. This project are put on hold until my economy allows me to splurge on the mother load of silk organza that are needed for all the trims.

Well that's all folks. I hope to get back soon with some pictures of a finished pocket ;)

/L

A queen bee?

I really have enough 18th century projects to work on already but I need to write this one down so I don't forget it.

I'm a bit in love with this cute fabric (a close up):


And a approximately 22x22" piece of the fabric:


It is a silk/rayon brocade and the bee are in dfferent nuances of gold from thaisilks.com

I want to make this pierrot from 1790:


Or perhaps this caraco from 1780 (with trim made of matching taffeta):


I think both will look really cute in that fabric.

/L

Trims, accessories and bargains

My stays are finished but the batteries in the camera was out (they are in the charger now) so the pictures of it whith me in it will have to wait until tomorrow.
While waiting for the batteries I would like to share some ideas with you, we'll start with the trims:

On the top is a silver metallic braid that I intend to use on the edges of my cuffs. I bought it on ebay mostly because it is very similiar in the design with one braid that was on a 1750 stomacher in the FASHION book.
Now my pet en l'air will be of a later date so I'm thinking of making a narrow version of this kind of trim (the bottom one) out of the plain taffeta I got instead, but I haven't made up mind yet:

The picture is borrowed from Art, beauty and well ordered chaos and her tutorial for making different kind of ruching.

In the middle of the top picture is the lace I'm going to use in the neckline of my shift. It's 100 % Cotton and slightly cream colored. I got it on my last job, when I made the orders for the factory I was allowed to order some for myself too. So I got 25 meters of it ;)

And at the bottom we have another ebay find. It's 100% Cotton and cream colored and I love the flower and bow motif. I will use it for my engagentes, in double layers and heavyly gathered. (I have 10 yards of it so I can splurge ;) )

While swearing over my stays, I have had plenty of time to ponder about acessories. My biggest issue was what to wear around my neck. Simple strings of pearls are not my thing so I decided to go with the silk ribbon in a bow with a charm option. I've reserached a bit and the most common version of ths is to wear a cross. I'm a pagan and out of respect for those who are christians I will not wear their religiuos symbol as an fashion acessorie, now matter how period correct it happens to be. I found this pendant in a flea market about month ago and I've decided to use it:


I think it's made of silver because it was covered in those blackish smears that unpolished silver has. I paid 5 SEK (under 1$) for it! I like the peacock motif and think it's suiting since this we'll be one of the most decorated outfits I've ever made. I willl try to get a rather wide ribbon so I can tie a big bow like this one:



I've also decided to try to make myself some new earrings. I''ve found a place that sells real pearl drops so I will go for those with a silver bow accent.

Then we ave arrived to the most fun part. HATS!
I will make two,one tricorn and one wide brimmed. I love the tricorns but I also know that they are not so very historic accurate for all occasions, hence the need to make a wide brimmed one too.

The tricorn will be covered with light blue velvet or light blue silk taffeta. The trim will follow my pet en l'air so it will be silver or ruched taffeta. It will have a sash round the crown made of white thin silk adorn with the metallic buckle that I bought earlier.I'm planning to buy some very pink feathers and a white silk rose to top it of.

The wide brimmed one will probaly be covered with some black silk (note to self, need to buy it). It will have a white sash or maybe a wide pink silk ribbon and the same kind of buckle that my tricorn has. And a plume made of ostritch feathers. BTW for my swedish readers, I found this site while searching for feathers and it looks like a cheap and promising source...

I've also been thinking about a fan but I'm not done planning this one yet so I can't share so much about it.

To top this superlong post of, here are pictures of too great bargains I've made:

This is a trinket box that I found on Tradera (a swedish auction site). It needs a new lining, the old one is ripped, but I liked the design on the lid so much so I decided to buy it anyway.


This is 60 spools of silk sewing thread. Some of them are full and some of them are only half but for a beginner embroiderer as myself, it is a gold mine! I got all this silk, a pair of very cute embroidery scissors and a package of needles for 185 SEK with shipping. (It's about 26$). It's a steal considering that one roll of sewing silk thread costs me 15 SEK at my other supplier. And I get the cute containers that the spools are living in too :D
I bought this stuff here (sorry only in Swedish):
http://textilaterbruket.iqdesign.se/

Now I'm going to drink some tea and start sewing on my chemise.

/L

The master plan

So, all projects need a plan and here is mine.
To make a complete outfit I need these items:

Chemise - I have bought fabric, a sheer white linen. I just need to shrink wash it then I can start cutting and sewing. I will sew it all by hand, with linen thread and I think I will make flat felled seams so this garment will be durable and feel nice to the skin.

"Modesy skirt- My plan is to find some old linen sheets either on tradera (a swedish auction site) or in a thriftstore to use for this skirt. I've already found one sheet, but that one is already booked for lining of the jacket/gown and for my pocket.

A pair of stays - I have stays that I made as my exam work when I was in tailor school. Due to the time restriction for the exam project they are not completely hand sewn. I have to change the boning in them, the old ones made of reed are broken. (I still recommend reed as bonig though, they are extremely light, easy to work with and gives good support. But if you cant store your corset lying flat, the will brake as mine has due to moving house approximately 2-4 times a year for a five year period). More info about the work with the stays will come in a post later.

Pocket Hoops - I'm currently working on those, these are also partly machine sewn, I had to have one done quick so I could calculate yardage for petticoats. (I live in the countryside and don't go in to town so often so when I do, I want to hunt for fabric.

Pocket - I've will make one out of linen and embroider it with button hole silk. I have not deiced on a motif yet, but I'm would really like to find some kind of traditional regional motifs from Östergötland (= a region in Sweden). My grandmother who was a great crafts person was from there, and I would like to make my pocket in some kind of hommage to her.

Under petticoat(s) - I've already bought some light blue linen of the same quality as the one in my chemise. I will start with one petticoat and see if and need to make another one to hide the pocket hoops.

Petticoat (jupe) - I have not decied about what fabric to use for this one yet. I'm torn between a light blue silk taffeta that I've found on ebay or a striped upholstery fabric I saw at my local fabric shop. I would like to use the same fabric that is in the petticoat as frills and other decorations on the jacket/gown.

Jacket/Gown - I have a beautyful light blue cotton damask that I want to use, but I don't know If I have enogh of it to make a gown. I found in a thrift store a couple of years ago and it is cut in panels. So I have a 55 cm wide fabric that are 12,26 m long and are cut up in four panels. I see a lot of cutting and piecing coming my way in the future...

Stomacher - At the same time I found the damask I also found some light blue cotton velvet, this one was also a curtain but a very narrow one. I have a pice that are 38 cm wide and 4,98 m long.
My plan is to use this velvet as a base for the stomacher and decorate it with pieces of the damask and frame it in silver trim. I'm also planning to use the velvet for the cuffs of the/jacket gown.

I also need to find some decent shoes to redress, figure out how to make a pair of period stockings and garters and try to get some kind of hat. But they are later problems :)
Now we'll end this post and move on fore something more fun...Fabric pictures ;)

/L