Pink bodys and purple dress - Part 4
Welcome back to the dress diaries. Previous posts in this dress diary:
Part I;
Part II;
Part III;
I love historical costuming, but please note that this dress is in no way intended to be historically accurate, although it is historically inspired.
I have an event this weekend, and my costume for this event wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The stays I wore with it had stretched and were very uncomfortable so I threw them away, and I realised last time that my bodys would not work with the mantua that made up most of the costume. So there I was: a working bodys pattern, a working pair of bodys (i.e. Mock-up #3, the red linen bodys) and the need for a dress. I thought I would sidetrack for a moment.
The plan was, initially, to use the bodys pattern to draft the bodice for a renaissance-like dress. The event in question is Puerto Diablo and plays in New Amsterdam, 1666. I could probably get away with a dress like you see in Vincenzo Campi's paintings, even if the dress would be nearly a hundred years out of fashion. Between all those larpers in similar dresses, people would not look at me twice.
Besides, my mantua is made from wool and the weather was rather warm for all those big pleats on my back.
I fished a lovely light blue linen from my stash (yay for using stash and digging up obscure pieces of linen!) and measured if it would be enough. I needed at least 5 meters for the dress, since I wanted wide skirts, and this piece measured more than that. At first it looked to be a light baby blue, but in fact the blue was a bit more saturated, a tad darker than what you usually see for babies.
I also found a natural cotton drill to use as bodice lining. The dress would have to be worn over my bodys and I didn't want the front lacing to shine through the light blue or wrinkle through the light linen.
I placed the bodice on my mannequin and found out that with the bodys, I actually resemble the mannequin slightly. I've grown in my waistline since I got a desk job and my proportions are going a bit pear-shaped. Of course Esmeralda's boobies can't squish as they're made from plastic, but the waistline approached what mine would be in the bodys, and the bodice worked well on the mannequin.
I used the bodys pattern, adding extra seam allowance to allow for shifting. I didn't want the bodys to show, so I made the neckline more modest as well. I did draft a new pattern, since I didn't want the gappage of the bodys to happen in the dress. I added eight centimeters to the center front to take this into account.
I had wanted to use white twill tape as second colour (many, many costumes, especially in the larp scene, are made using only two colours!), but before I ran out to the store I decided to have a look at my stash again. I have a notorious amount of linen, and perhaps there was a scrap I could use. In paintings you often see combinations of red with either blue or green, and as it happens I had a lovely dark pink (NoKey says it's red) that would work really, really well with the dress. Scratch the twill tape, hello cut strips of linen!
I used my ruler, which is exactly 5 centimeters wide, to cut linen strips on the straight of the grain, which is very economical. I cut a lot of strips, I don't know exactly how much, and sewed them into one long strip before ironing the raw edges together. This left me with one long strip of 2,5 centimeters wide.
Then I needed to figure out how I would use this lovely strip of very pink linen.
I didn't want this dress to resemble what would be Marianne's new dress too much, so the center option was out right away. The left option would look better with wider, embellished strips. And I thought the option on the right would work well. In the back, I placed the 'guards' (as these are usually called) closer together than on the front.
After the bodice guards were sewn on, I could attach the skirts. I cut four large gores from my linen, of 110 cm long. The top of the gores were 50 centimeters wide, and the bottom was 110 centimeters wide. Basic math tells us that would make my waistline 200 cm...while in the bodys it was actually closer to 100 cm.
A lot of pleating ensued.
Next up were the skirt guards.
I admit I was greatly inspired at this point by the dresses of Catarina and Jennifer. Both dresses are from the 1580s, which only illustrates how out of fashion the style is. Not that anyone at Puerto is going to be able to really put a date on the dress, but soit.
I was loving this dress more and more. The pink and blue just makes a smashing combination!
Yesterday afternoon Steelweaver dropped in and after I sewed the guards on, I had to change the bodice slightly. My bodys were getting more and more comfortable the more times I put it on; they were getting used to my body shape and I was getting used to them. This allowed for greater lacing, and I could take nearly 5 centimeters out of the bodice top!
Sewing on the decorative lacing eyelets was the next task and we had a great stitch & bitch with oodles of tea.
We were both really interested in the cleavage achieved, since Steelweaver had not yet seen me with the third mock-up on except on photos from these dress diaries, and we came up with the term Academic Cleavage. There was quite a sufficient amount of it too.
I'm still amazed at my height... this dress, thanks to the bodys, really emphasizes my good points and helps re-shape my bad points. Because everything is shifted and prodded, I actually have a waist and my boobs are nowhere near it. The vertical bodice guards help slim the torso even more, and in combination with the long, pleated skirts also help emphasize my height. Vertical pleats, vertical guards, slim torso... I don't think anyone would believe me if I told them my real weight while wearing this.
And it's all really comfortable!
The best, best, best part so far is that I realised that although this might have felt like a detour, it really just was a mock-up for Marianne's dress. I've decided not to adapt the bodys pattern any further, so the pink dupioni bodys will be the same size as the red linen ones. That means that if I adapt the bodice pattern a bit, I can use it for the purple wool dress for Marianne as well, which will save me a lot of work and fiddling.
Parts of the pattern that still need adapting: waistline side & back needs to go up two to three centimeters. Curve to center-front can be redrafted (exaggerated, or flattened out). Front closing needs to have five centimeters taken out at the top.
I'm very confident this will work out really well!
The dress is as good as finished, but now - don't you know it - the weather has turned. It's wet and cold, and I will probably need a pair of sleeves to go with it. I'm still not sure about a shoulder roll. And I would like pink ribbons like Jen's dress has, but I don't think I can find a colour that matches the guards. I did already make an apron, so I will be all neat and tidy for Puerto!
It feels like the end of something, while I actually still need to start on the real deals! I think next up I will work on the pink dupioni bodys, but first I will see how the bodys hold up during a weekend of roleplaying!
Edited to add: since this part of the dress diary was originally written in June, the event has come and passed and I've got a lovely picture of the dress at the event with matching accessoiries, courtesy and © Reinoud van Leeuwen:
(Click the image to go to a larger version)
Cross-posted to janestarz
Part I;
Part II;
Part III;
I love historical costuming, but please note that this dress is in no way intended to be historically accurate, although it is historically inspired.
I have an event this weekend, and my costume for this event wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The stays I wore with it had stretched and were very uncomfortable so I threw them away, and I realised last time that my bodys would not work with the mantua that made up most of the costume. So there I was: a working bodys pattern, a working pair of bodys (i.e. Mock-up #3, the red linen bodys) and the need for a dress. I thought I would sidetrack for a moment.
The plan was, initially, to use the bodys pattern to draft the bodice for a renaissance-like dress. The event in question is Puerto Diablo and plays in New Amsterdam, 1666. I could probably get away with a dress like you see in Vincenzo Campi's paintings, even if the dress would be nearly a hundred years out of fashion. Between all those larpers in similar dresses, people would not look at me twice.
Besides, my mantua is made from wool and the weather was rather warm for all those big pleats on my back.
I fished a lovely light blue linen from my stash (yay for using stash and digging up obscure pieces of linen!) and measured if it would be enough. I needed at least 5 meters for the dress, since I wanted wide skirts, and this piece measured more than that. At first it looked to be a light baby blue, but in fact the blue was a bit more saturated, a tad darker than what you usually see for babies.
I also found a natural cotton drill to use as bodice lining. The dress would have to be worn over my bodys and I didn't want the front lacing to shine through the light blue or wrinkle through the light linen.
I placed the bodice on my mannequin and found out that with the bodys, I actually resemble the mannequin slightly. I've grown in my waistline since I got a desk job and my proportions are going a bit pear-shaped. Of course Esmeralda's boobies can't squish as they're made from plastic, but the waistline approached what mine would be in the bodys, and the bodice worked well on the mannequin.
I used the bodys pattern, adding extra seam allowance to allow for shifting. I didn't want the bodys to show, so I made the neckline more modest as well. I did draft a new pattern, since I didn't want the gappage of the bodys to happen in the dress. I added eight centimeters to the center front to take this into account.
I had wanted to use white twill tape as second colour (many, many costumes, especially in the larp scene, are made using only two colours!), but before I ran out to the store I decided to have a look at my stash again. I have a notorious amount of linen, and perhaps there was a scrap I could use. In paintings you often see combinations of red with either blue or green, and as it happens I had a lovely dark pink (NoKey says it's red) that would work really, really well with the dress. Scratch the twill tape, hello cut strips of linen!
I used my ruler, which is exactly 5 centimeters wide, to cut linen strips on the straight of the grain, which is very economical. I cut a lot of strips, I don't know exactly how much, and sewed them into one long strip before ironing the raw edges together. This left me with one long strip of 2,5 centimeters wide.
Then I needed to figure out how I would use this lovely strip of very pink linen.
I didn't want this dress to resemble what would be Marianne's new dress too much, so the center option was out right away. The left option would look better with wider, embellished strips. And I thought the option on the right would work well. In the back, I placed the 'guards' (as these are usually called) closer together than on the front.
After the bodice guards were sewn on, I could attach the skirts. I cut four large gores from my linen, of 110 cm long. The top of the gores were 50 centimeters wide, and the bottom was 110 centimeters wide. Basic math tells us that would make my waistline 200 cm...while in the bodys it was actually closer to 100 cm.
A lot of pleating ensued.
Next up were the skirt guards.
I admit I was greatly inspired at this point by the dresses of Catarina and Jennifer. Both dresses are from the 1580s, which only illustrates how out of fashion the style is. Not that anyone at Puerto is going to be able to really put a date on the dress, but soit.
I was loving this dress more and more. The pink and blue just makes a smashing combination!
Yesterday afternoon Steelweaver dropped in and after I sewed the guards on, I had to change the bodice slightly. My bodys were getting more and more comfortable the more times I put it on; they were getting used to my body shape and I was getting used to them. This allowed for greater lacing, and I could take nearly 5 centimeters out of the bodice top!
Sewing on the decorative lacing eyelets was the next task and we had a great stitch & bitch with oodles of tea.
We were both really interested in the cleavage achieved, since Steelweaver had not yet seen me with the third mock-up on except on photos from these dress diaries, and we came up with the term Academic Cleavage. There was quite a sufficient amount of it too.
I'm still amazed at my height... this dress, thanks to the bodys, really emphasizes my good points and helps re-shape my bad points. Because everything is shifted and prodded, I actually have a waist and my boobs are nowhere near it. The vertical bodice guards help slim the torso even more, and in combination with the long, pleated skirts also help emphasize my height. Vertical pleats, vertical guards, slim torso... I don't think anyone would believe me if I told them my real weight while wearing this.
And it's all really comfortable!
The best, best, best part so far is that I realised that although this might have felt like a detour, it really just was a mock-up for Marianne's dress. I've decided not to adapt the bodys pattern any further, so the pink dupioni bodys will be the same size as the red linen ones. That means that if I adapt the bodice pattern a bit, I can use it for the purple wool dress for Marianne as well, which will save me a lot of work and fiddling.
Parts of the pattern that still need adapting: waistline side & back needs to go up two to three centimeters. Curve to center-front can be redrafted (exaggerated, or flattened out). Front closing needs to have five centimeters taken out at the top.
I'm very confident this will work out really well!
The dress is as good as finished, but now - don't you know it - the weather has turned. It's wet and cold, and I will probably need a pair of sleeves to go with it. I'm still not sure about a shoulder roll. And I would like pink ribbons like Jen's dress has, but I don't think I can find a colour that matches the guards. I did already make an apron, so I will be all neat and tidy for Puerto!
It feels like the end of something, while I actually still need to start on the real deals! I think next up I will work on the pink dupioni bodys, but first I will see how the bodys hold up during a weekend of roleplaying!
Edited to add: since this part of the dress diary was originally written in June, the event has come and passed and I've got a lovely picture of the dress at the event with matching accessoiries, courtesy and © Reinoud van Leeuwen:
(Click the image to go to a larger version)
Cross-posted to janestarz