Bad mood

Today is not a good day. I'm so angry at myself because I lost an ebay auction for the prettiest fan frame ever and I lost it with 4$. It feels so damn...evil. Why and why didn't I put in more money in the bid before I got to bed?

I really liked the frame because it was made of ebony with really pretty carvings and gilding, nice curvy shapes and everything. And it was big enough to pass for an 18th fan. And the frame was totally intact, no broken sticks. The only thing broken on the fan was the fabric.

I really hope another good frame will show up, because I really, really would like to make myself my own fan. I found a good 1770 fan that I can borrow some design elements from and settled on a color scheme and on the motifs. It's only the frame that's missing.

I've found another frame today on ebay but I don't know If there are any way to fix the two broken sticks on it:
Fan frame on ebay (it's the biggest one in the lot).

I feel so silly, I'm so upset over this that I feel like crying and that's ridiculous. To cry over a god damn fan :(

Finished chemise & renovated stays

I've finally finished my chemise. It's completely hand sewn with linen thread and all seams are flat felled. It felt like this one took for ever with all those long seams and all the lace. It turned out a bit on the short side, I blame it on the fact that I cut the pieces one evening when I was very tired. But I'm over all pleased with my result anyway. I think it's awfully cute and I love wearing it, the linen is so soft to the skin. I really hope that the fabric store will have this wonderful linen in stock again next summer because I totally need one more of this comfy garment!
Here it is:

I was originally planning to buy a white silk ribbon for the neck but noow i think I will go for a pink one instead because it looks so cute :)

And here are the "after" pictures of my stays. We start off with the front:

The very shiny synthetic organza ribbons will leave and some white silk ribbons will take their place when they arrive. I think my cleavege looks much better now, but my next pair of stays needs some adjustment of the shape of the neckline. I think it's a bit to wide beacuse the shoulder straps land a bit to far out on the shoulder. I think a bit more narrow neckline will help me a bit with bust lift too.

And here are the side wiew:

Not much to say here, the side seam hit my sides perfectly. And the armhole feels good, no chafeing since I moved the end position of the horisontal bones.

And finally the back, and the horror:

I admit it, I'm vain when it comes to lacings, I want them to lay exactly parallell and be bone straight. But since I've gained som much...body wisdom...my stays can't to that on me any more. Here you can also see that my shoulder straps base need to move in a couple of centimeters, so the armhole will fit me better. I also think that the waist line is a bit low right now. If it moves up I think the stays will fit more comfortably in the waist area.

But these pair has an acceptable fit so they'll have to do until I feel like making me a new pair.

My next project on the loong to do list is to make myself a pair of engagentes and fix my shoes. I need two quick fix projects before I start to wrestle with fitting my pet en l'air.

/L

It's MINE!

It was a hard bidding fight, but I finally won the fabulous fabric for 450 SEK!
So now I got 9. 75 m (= 10.6 yards) of pink striped silk goodness!
The only caveat is the with of it, it's only 90 cm but I can make an "polonaised" anglaise with shorter over skirt. I've seen it done in both extant garments and in fashion plates from the time :P
Weee I really need to finish my blue outfit so I can start this one!

/L

My shopping finger is itching....

Fantastic fabric
I'm so tempted...it has "striped anglaise with pulled up skirt" written all over it.
But it looks like it might be a dupion fabric which is not so good.
What to do, what to do ?

Update:
I'm going to ask the seller about the width and weight and see what he/she says. But almost 10 m of fabric for 250 SEK...its a great price.
I'm having crazy ideas of matching it with a black/white striped fabric and make that cutaway dress from the Marie Antoinette documentary I've been blabbing about before.
Like so:


And here is a (quick) sketch of the gown in question:
The idea is to use the black/white in the petticoat and main part of the bodice and the pink/purple in the top layer. At the back it will have two buttons for looping up the skirt. I have not decided if I should go with 3/4 sleeves or long sleeves yet.

Another Update:
Spoke with the seller and the fabric is only 90 cm wide and it's striped horizontally and not vertical. That means that if I want to have the stripe vertical I must cut it on the width grain and not the length grain. That's OK with me, it's the lining of the garment that takes the strain but 90 cm is not long enough to get a over skirt that reaches too the floor and with a train as I had planned for my anglaise :/
But I have deciced to buy the fabric anyway :D

I will either make a real polonaise jacket like the one in Cut of womens clothing ormaybe make the 1770's "polonaise" in Kvinnligt mode or maybe a striped short jacket (also from Kvinnligt mode) with a peplum and matching petticoat with ruffle.
/L

Distractions

My stays are done and the day before yesterday I started flat felling the long gore seams on my chemise. But yesterday nothing got done because of this lovely fellow:

His name is Akilles and he's a 1,5 year old Rottweiler. He is going to live with us for a little over a week as a try out period and if everything goes well, he'll be a new family member.
Right now it feels like we've been invaded by a 50 kg tornado with a huge heart that loves everyone. He even cries when the cats don't want to play with him...

Tonight I have to work with my chemise. It must be in a wearable state on Sunday because I'm going to participate in a 18th century salon arranged by Gustaf Skål. The very awesome Isis Wardrobe has promised to lend me an outfit. I will bring my stays, pocket hoops and the chemise.

This weekend there is also a 18th century lecture weekend that I'm going to participate in. I will take classes is 18th century beatuy, a madames wardrobe and 18th century cooking.

Now my tea break is over, I better get back to work.

/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

18th century coat/waistcoat pocket tutorial

There are many great tutorials out there that I've had great use of so now its my time to give something back to the costume community. Bear with my though, this is my first sewing tutorial ever written in English.

I learned this method of putting in pockets during my "practical vocational training" at the costume department at Borås City theater. They had learned the technique on a costume class for Lena Dhalström, a costumer that works for Drottningholms Slottsteater. (I've had "practical vocational training" there too and Lena really knows her stuff, I learned so much during the months I spent there).

Any way on to the tutorial:

1. Mark the position of the pocket flap and the pocket hole:
   
   
   
   
   
2. Cut out one pocket bag, it should be the length of your hand measured from the bottom of the hole x 2 + 2-3 cm. Cut one piece of your outer fabric thats about 2-3 cm wider that your pocket hole:
   
   
   
   
   
3. Stitch the fabric piece on to the pocket bag in such position that it will fit over the pocket hole. You must have the pocket bag sticking out a couple of centimeters over your marking for the pocket flap.
   
   
   
4. Put your pocket bag and your coat/waistcoat right sides together, mark the shape of your pocket hole on the back side of the pocket pag and stitch through all the layers around the outline. Cut ut your hole and leave 2,5 mm edge.
   
   
   
5. Turn your bag into the hole and press it flat. The 2,5 mm edge you left will help you form a neat frame around your hole. "Dot stitch" (for swedish readers prickstygn) around the edge to keep everything in place :
   
6. Take your bag and fold it so that at least 2 cm are sticking out over the flap marking (on the backside). Press and pin so it stays there. Place your pocket flap right side down and the point upwards, with the seamline on top of the marking and stitch it on though both layers. Fold you flap down and stitch down your lining with small stitches to hide the seam allowance . Press and voila you have installed a pocket!
   
   Here are some pictures of a finished one:
   
   
   Front flap closed
   
   
   
   Front flap open (You can see the 2,5 mm frame I was talking about earlier if you look at the upper edge of the hole)
   
   
   
   Back, the top line is the stitch that's holding both the bag and the flap.