Snow Days = SEW DAYS!
Snowpocalypse has come and gone and there was one day where we couldn't get the car out of the neighborhood and therefor had to skip work that night. I felt bad about missing work, and so I made myself be productive at home and was able to wrap up a lot of things. Between that and the things I've finished up for the Historical Sew Fortnightly" the last couple of weeks, I've got a LOT of costume porn to be sharing.
1860s Mistress
- Challenge #2 was to finish a UFO (unfinished object) and I chose to work on the outfit I wore to the Longest Night Ball back at Yule. I added a box pleat ruffle to the hem of the underskirt, lace to the bottom edge of the bodice, and made up an overskirt with two sashes and lots of ruffles and lace, as well as a couple of rhinestone dangly tassels. I rounded out the outfit with a matching reticule which has a cell phone pocket sewn into it. It's hard to tell in pictures, but the lace has black rhinestones heat set into it which look awesome under bright lights.
1770s Pockets and Paniers
- Primary project for Challenge #3: Under it All. Pattern from the Dreamstress's panier-along. They ended up beiing way easier than I thought. Made of a mid-weight medium blue cotton with white cotton bias tape, white twill tape, boning channels and steel hoop boning. I cut down the inside panel of the paniers so that I could tuck my pockets into them for easy access.
Queen of Hearts
- I've been working on a Disney Queen of Hearts for a while now and was able to finish up several pieces recently. The underskirt is made of black and gold crepe back satin. To make the front diagonals I just cut out the front gore out of paper, drew in the lines for the separate pieces, cut them each out and then added back on a seam allowance to the top/bottom/center seams. I made sure to baste along the diagonal edges before sewing to avoid stretching.
- Royal Underpants! The drawers were from a Simplicity Civil War era pattern. the outer layer is kona cotton with hearts painted on using stensils and Lumiere metallic acrylic paint. They're fully lined with rayon (so soft!) and trimed with heart eyelet lace. The petticoat is loosely based on this free diagram from Truly Victorian. I left off the flounce under the ruffles and added in two rows of cords to give it a bit more interest and form. Also trimmed with the heart eyelet lace. I'm counting the bloomers on my Historical Sew Fortnightly list as they were started during challenge #3 (Underthings) and finished during challenge #4 (Embellishing).
Kilt
- Also wrapped up tonight was mijan's kilt - FINALLY. That's been sitting in the unfinished pile for months now. I used The Art of Kiltmaking by Tewksbury and Steuhmeyer. Made of khaki cotton twill, this was my "dry run" of learning kilt construction so that I can hopefully move on to making a tartan one. All of the fells are hand-stitched, but then all of the pleats were machine sewed with a 1/16th hem so that I will NEVER have to iron that beast again. I went with a bit more of a utilikilt style and added on belt loops instead of the traditional buckles, so now I need to figure out how I want to keep that under apron from sagging. Will probably put a couple pieces of velcro on the top two corners between the top and bottom apron, but sadly, velcro turned out to be one of those things that I just didn't have in the stash.
What's up next:
- pick one of the otherwise completed historical gowns and add more embellishments. Will likely pull the Regency gown from challenge #1 back out and add something to that front panel. I still have beads and lace left, so I can't possibly be done. Am trying to come up with something more to add to the bodice for the 1860s Mistress as it's currently pretty plain. Or I might start on the underskirt to go with the polonaise I'm wanting to make as a hall costume for Costume Con in May. I've been flipping through The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff for fun ideas on how I can add interest to an otherwise unremarkable 1870s linen underskirt. I'm currently thinking diagonal stripes of couching on the front panel and godets set in around the hem, but we'll see.
1860s Mistress
- Challenge #2 was to finish a UFO (unfinished object) and I chose to work on the outfit I wore to the Longest Night Ball back at Yule. I added a box pleat ruffle to the hem of the underskirt, lace to the bottom edge of the bodice, and made up an overskirt with two sashes and lots of ruffles and lace, as well as a couple of rhinestone dangly tassels. I rounded out the outfit with a matching reticule which has a cell phone pocket sewn into it. It's hard to tell in pictures, but the lace has black rhinestones heat set into it which look awesome under bright lights.
1770s Pockets and Paniers
- Primary project for Challenge #3: Under it All. Pattern from the Dreamstress's panier-along. They ended up beiing way easier than I thought. Made of a mid-weight medium blue cotton with white cotton bias tape, white twill tape, boning channels and steel hoop boning. I cut down the inside panel of the paniers so that I could tuck my pockets into them for easy access.
Queen of Hearts
- I've been working on a Disney Queen of Hearts for a while now and was able to finish up several pieces recently. The underskirt is made of black and gold crepe back satin. To make the front diagonals I just cut out the front gore out of paper, drew in the lines for the separate pieces, cut them each out and then added back on a seam allowance to the top/bottom/center seams. I made sure to baste along the diagonal edges before sewing to avoid stretching.
- Royal Underpants! The drawers were from a Simplicity Civil War era pattern. the outer layer is kona cotton with hearts painted on using stensils and Lumiere metallic acrylic paint. They're fully lined with rayon (so soft!) and trimed with heart eyelet lace. The petticoat is loosely based on this free diagram from Truly Victorian. I left off the flounce under the ruffles and added in two rows of cords to give it a bit more interest and form. Also trimmed with the heart eyelet lace. I'm counting the bloomers on my Historical Sew Fortnightly list as they were started during challenge #3 (Underthings) and finished during challenge #4 (Embellishing).
Kilt
- Also wrapped up tonight was mijan's kilt - FINALLY. That's been sitting in the unfinished pile for months now. I used The Art of Kiltmaking by Tewksbury and Steuhmeyer. Made of khaki cotton twill, this was my "dry run" of learning kilt construction so that I can hopefully move on to making a tartan one. All of the fells are hand-stitched, but then all of the pleats were machine sewed with a 1/16th hem so that I will NEVER have to iron that beast again. I went with a bit more of a utilikilt style and added on belt loops instead of the traditional buckles, so now I need to figure out how I want to keep that under apron from sagging. Will probably put a couple pieces of velcro on the top two corners between the top and bottom apron, but sadly, velcro turned out to be one of those things that I just didn't have in the stash.
What's up next:
- pick one of the otherwise completed historical gowns and add more embellishments. Will likely pull the Regency gown from challenge #1 back out and add something to that front panel. I still have beads and lace left, so I can't possibly be done. Am trying to come up with something more to add to the bodice for the 1860s Mistress as it's currently pretty plain. Or I might start on the underskirt to go with the polonaise I'm wanting to make as a hall costume for Costume Con in May. I've been flipping through The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff for fun ideas on how I can add interest to an otherwise unremarkable 1870s linen underskirt. I'm currently thinking diagonal stripes of couching on the front panel and godets set in around the hem, but we'll see.