Pink damask jacket - Part 1-- Just a little teaser

It will take a while before I can truly start on this jacket, I need to make a new pair of stays first, but I will show you a quick sketch of it:

The jacket is from PoF 1, but I have changed the front from a stomacher closing to a closed front with hooks and eyes, like a caraco. I think that with that alteration this jacket will be dated somewhere between 1770-1780, which means that I can wear it with both hoops and bumroll.

The trims will be made of a gathered strip of striped cotton voile with a gathered ribbon stitched on top on both sides. I have not decided yet what color the ribbon will be, maybe a dusty green? Or a matching pink?

The lining will be a pink cotton satin from my stash, it's actually ripped out curtain linings ;)

Now back to the things I was supposed to do :P
/L

The first finished item of the year...

*drumroll*
...is my pocket:

It's a bit wrinkly from being carried around in my purse while I worked on it. Most of the work was done while I was traveling by bus and trains. I live in the country side so it's a 40 min trip if I want to go to Uppsala or a 2,5 hour trip if I want to go to Stockholm.

I'm quite satisfied with it since it's my first serious try ever at embroidery :)
It's made of two layers of linen and are embroidered with silk button hole twist and bound with silksatin ribbon. The embriodery stitches used are bouillon knots for the leaves and stem stitch for the rest.

Now I better get back to the male corset and the uniform jacket I'm working on for some customers. I'll be back with a finished frou frou hat soon :)

/L

A completely diffrent era - Part five - The final result

Just a quick post to show you how it all looked. It's a rather poor picture (my phone cam) but I was photographed by a photographer too so there will be better pictures as soon as I get them.



/L

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

Pet en l'air - Part six - Premiere at th 12th night ball

Believe me, dear readers I really had the intention to share my sewing process on the pet en l'air with you but due to poor planning I just couldn't manage due to time constraints. For some strange reason I thought that 12th night was next week. I discovered that this was not the case 2 days before New years eve and then panic kind of struck...

So two days before New years eve I cut out all the parts for the outer shell and I dearly thanked the gods that the lining and the front was already finished. And that the petticoat only needed the back waist finished. Then I started a sewing maraton race that I never want to do again. But I did manage and I had something to wear at 12th night ball. It was a great evening and I had so much fun!

On with the pictures, shall we (they are all taken by Isiswardrobe, who also did my hair):


I have no idea why I always make so strange faces in photographs...this time I really manged to do a "you're so below me" face :P

When I realized my time was running out I omitted the ruched and pinked decorations that I planned to have running down the robings and on the stomacher piece. I also sewed the comperes front shut to create a plain stomacher instead. And I only put on the biggest of the three sleeve cuffs. I was a bit irritated at first that I had no decorations, but now when I look at it I think I will keep it like it is. (But make some minor alterations so the inside looks a bit better). And maybe add another row of lace to peek out in the sleeves?


I'm quite satisfied with the back, but the weight of the fabric really pulls it down at the neck. I have no idea how to solve it though :/

I think what I like the most with the whole ensemble is the petticoat. I love the stripes, the rustle, the shine. I originally planned for it to have a pinked ruffle of plain light blue fabric at the bottom. There was no time for it for 12th night but I can always add it later. But a part of me likes it the way it is too...
What do you all think, pinked ruffle or no ruffle?


I like this photo even though I manage to do a strange face here too ;)

Here you can see more of my make up.I went for super pale but not stark white. I first covered up my very red nose (it was almost -20 degrees Celsius that night) and other red areas with a green concealer. Then I covered my dark circles under the eye with a pink one and finally I applied a quite generous amount of white mineral foundation. On top of that I put a thin layer of a pearly white eyeshadow to give that fashionable and polished, shiny look. The rouge is a really pigmented pink mineral one and I brushed it quite generously on the apple of my cheeks and dabbed it sparingly above my eyes.I have a wine colored lipstick on but on this picture most of it is gone.

The good thing with not having any decorations on this outfit is that I now have 3 yards of light blue silk taffeta that needs a project. I think I will use some for a matching wide brimmed hat and the rest for a jacket....we'll see what I come up with.

/L

A completely different era - Part Four - End of the line

I'm sorry guys I didn't mean to leave you with a cliffhanger like this. I did finish the outfit in time and wore it with great pride, felt fabulous and had such a lovely night out that I completely forgot to get pictures taken of me in all my splendor.

I planned to dress up four you guys last week but an urinal tract infection made me feel in no mode for fancy dress up. I'm still battling this beast and as soon as I conquered it I will dress up, put on the same make up and fix my hair so you can see what I looked like that fantastic night. I might get dear M to dress up four you to but I cant promise that for sure ;)

The corset it self turned out to big, again. M managed to lace it completely shut all the way in the back. I spent most of last Sunday pondering how a 28" corset could close on me...then I compared the shape of my 28" vollers and the corset I made. And it hit me. The vollers has a very straight shape while the 1880's corset is curved. The later makes it possible for my bust and hips to expand while my waist gets compressed. Apparently there are no limit to how much I can lace my waist as long as my bust and hips are allowed to expand...

I also discovered that the stiff steel bones only work at CF and CB on this type of corset. I had put some at the side fronts and side backs and it was not comfortable at all. So I will change those bones to spring steel and then sell this corset for half my regular price since it has been worn twice.

And I will pray that the last changes I made has rendered my pattern to perfection this time :)

Anyway, here are the last two days of sewing madness for this project:

Friday the 4th of December
07:45 Starts to assembly the fascinator with the hot glue gun


(It's almost finished on this picture it's only the bias edge missing and the comb that keeps it to my head.)

08:11 Starts to finish the CB's of the corset

08:34 The CB's are finished and I start with the bottom edge


09:33 Bottom finished and the hard steels gets pushed in to their channels
When that's done I went inside the main house and got my self ready for goin to Stockholm. I spent most of the day and evening there, shopping, going to a shop called Pom Pom Parlour and introducing myself and my sewing business (and hoping that they will like my stuff and wants to sell it) and I spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening drinking tea and chatting with Isis :)

Saturday the 5th of december
09:55 Starts finishing the top edge

10:41 Starts setting grommets

11:12 The grommets are in and the corset is finished!


Cut out a lining for the fascination and a strip of fashion fabric to make a bow out of
Goes inside the main hose and sew a comb on the lining, glue the lining on and edge the hole shebang with hot glue and bias binding. The fascinator is finished!

Then me and M goes to Uppsala for some Christmas shopping. We arrive at home base at approximately 16:30. Then I start to sew the bows and bells to my skirt. When that's done my outfit is done 2 hours before planned departure to the party!

Now M realizes that he needs a cravat for his outfit (He wore this smoking jacket, a fez, black shirt, suspenders and black dress slacks). I dig through the fabric stash and find the left overs from his jacket that I originally planned to make the corset out of and some matching lining fabric. Whips up a pattern for the cravat, cut it out stitch it together and turn it. Do a quick try on M to see that it looks like it should. I does. Great. We hurry inside and I fix my make up, my hair and M laces me in to the corset. While we drive to Stockholm I finish the last on the cravat by hand in the car...

/L

A completely different era - Part Three- Making nice progress

Todays madness:

06:30 The bell rings. Time to get up and eat breakfast

07:30 Starts to cut and insert the spring steel boning. When that's finished I cut and file down the edges of the hard steel.

10:07 All I can do is done. Time to go inside and freshen up for the meeting with the great girl that takes care of my horrible economy papers. (I'm suffering from dyscalculia, it makes me very bad at handle big amounts of numbers.)

10:53 Miss the buss to Uppsala. Goes inside and try to get more of my papers ready.

11:53 Catches the bus to Uppsala.
Do the horrible papers, discover that I've probably misplaced some of them and then enter the fun part of the day - shopping. I found some black ostrich feathers at Panduro ( a craft store chain), some gorgeous red metallic net and black bias at a store called "Tyg Centrum" (= Fabric Central"). If you go to Uppsala, go there. It is a small store but there are fabric stacked from the floor up to the ceiling. And the girl who owns the place are really nice. The prices are a bit high on some fabrics though, but I go there anyway.

17:00 Arrive at home. Take some chicken out of the freezer and while it tawns I cover my fascinator base with the fashion fabric. I also make a gathered fan shape out of some of the net. My plan is to attach it to the base with my hot glue gun tomorrow, add the shortened feathers and crown the whole glory with a bow made of a pinked strip of the fashion fabric.

My fascinator, so far:


I haven't decided yet what side to have as front. My first plan was to have the point as front but now I think it might look cool to have the point as top?

When the covering was done I put the chicken in the pan and while it cooked I covered the tips of my hard steel bones with electrical tape. It's not my favorite solution but I couldn't find anything suitable to coat them with in Uppsala.

This is what I have left to do:
Finish the CB's on the corset with black bias
Insert the hard steel bones in the corset
Close the edges with black bias
Make and attach 4 bows to the skirt and glue one to a pin for the corset
Attach four bells to the skirt and one to the pin
Assembly the fascinator

I need to buy:
One pair of seamed fishnet stockings
A metallic comb for fastening my fascinator to my hair

I'll end this with the words of fantastic M, my fiance:
- Skall du ha ett löv på huvet? (= Are you going to wear a leaf on your head?)

He said it with a tone that made me feel like I was planning something very indecent ;)

/L