I love it when a plan comes together!
The blouse is done. Took far longer than I expected, of course. But I have a wearable costume! The skirt is slightly too narrow over my rotund buttocks and the hat needs pimping and I didn't bother with things like hemming the lace top, but it's done and I can wear it. And I can even wear it without a corset, should I really need to. It's a comfort to know that if my corset starts to really bother me (which I don't expect, but you never know), I don't have to go home naked.
(click for larger)
The blouse has a shawl collar that breaks to the waistline. The lapel is really wide and because my cotton isn't quite as sheer as what Michelle Dockery wears, it drapes a bit differently.
I used the standard dress block with measurements taken over my corset, so the back waistline is up 6 cm from where it normally is and my bust is somewhere in a more 'normal' place. The pattern wasn't much of a challenge after my musings from last night, so that's good. (Let us not discuss the cuffs!)
One thing that really stands out to me is that with my 'new' measurements (both those taken in March and those taken last week over my corset) I don't have any proportional challenges anymore. My front waist length is right where it should be, as well as my back waist length. I used to have such a long front waist length I had to compensate for 1,5 centimeters. Now it's a scant 3 millimeters, which I laugh at.
My back length is right where you'd expect it to be for someone my size. OK, so my hips are a few sizes bigger, but I like voluminous skirts anyway. I'm proportionally almost "normal". I'm just really, really tall.
The corset only messes with bust height and back waist length, which you can adjust easily. The blouse only has a bust dart and a dart to the back neckline to keep the armscye tight. I've taken care to draft to my actual shoulder width (14 cm) and had to adjust the sleeve block so it would fit the armscye. The result, to my eye, looks like a really neat sleeve that looks very slim! I never knew my arms were this slim (they're not, not really).
After taking this happy picture I had some time to spare (*cough* not really) so I also made a tricot and lace top as a "corset cover". I haven't the foggiest how it will look when the corset is underneath, you can probably see the edge of the corset through it all, but I don't care. I don't have to resort to stretched out lingerie silks because there's nothing else to wear over my corset.
This was just my basic "t-shirt" pattern with a square neckline. I cut the front panel from stretchy off-white lace and natural-white tricot, cut a simple facing, and made a top in an hour or so. I took care to get a pretty high neckline (re: boob height) which looks alright for the period.
Then I let out the seams in the skirt a bit, as the back pleats were distorted by my rotund backside. Honestly, the curvature of the skirt panels did not match the curvature of my ass in a corset. Who knew?!
I can't fix all of the issues, but I think I did pretty well, sewing a full Edwardian costume in....three weeks?
List of known issues
- Fit of the corset. The gusset is too large and the curve of the gusset does not match my body. Would love to experiment but will probably make a new corset some day.
- Fit of the skirt. The back pleats open because my ass is too wide. Workaround: make skirt slightly narrower, so waistband sits even higher and fat part of bottom slides to a lower point in the skirt. Am unsure if I want to walk around with a 79 cm waist for the entire day, but might add extra bar so this is an option, at least for the photoshoot.
- Pick a period, any period. Am still not sure what year I'm walking into on Sunday, but somewhere between the Big Bomfat Mutton Leg Shirtwaists and Iceberg Ahoy sounds about right.
- The collar of the blouse drapes differently on the left lapel than it does on the right lapel. This is probably because it's a twill woven cotton and the grain tilts differently on one end than it does on the other. Nothing I can do to fix.
- Tricot and lace top? I know I don't have the budget nor the time to do a proper reproduction, but surely there are better options than to just sew a lacy t-shirt top!
And one, just once, I would like to properly research a project. Get the right fabrics, shop for the perfect earrings, maybe even get the right tiara just like Miss Whatsherface wears. And then have a year to complete the project. Whatever happened to things that could take aaaaaaages to do? I mean, knitting doesn't really count, does it?
Tomorrow I have 2 customers coming in for a fitting, and they're together so that takes longer. Afterwards I hope to get around to hand-sewing my blouse facing, and pimping my hat! I got my pearls, I bought clip-on earrings, I'm allll set.
(click for larger)
The blouse has a shawl collar that breaks to the waistline. The lapel is really wide and because my cotton isn't quite as sheer as what Michelle Dockery wears, it drapes a bit differently.
I used the standard dress block with measurements taken over my corset, so the back waistline is up 6 cm from where it normally is and my bust is somewhere in a more 'normal' place. The pattern wasn't much of a challenge after my musings from last night, so that's good. (Let us not discuss the cuffs!)
One thing that really stands out to me is that with my 'new' measurements (both those taken in March and those taken last week over my corset) I don't have any proportional challenges anymore. My front waist length is right where it should be, as well as my back waist length. I used to have such a long front waist length I had to compensate for 1,5 centimeters. Now it's a scant 3 millimeters, which I laugh at.
My back length is right where you'd expect it to be for someone my size. OK, so my hips are a few sizes bigger, but I like voluminous skirts anyway. I'm proportionally almost "normal". I'm just really, really tall.
The corset only messes with bust height and back waist length, which you can adjust easily. The blouse only has a bust dart and a dart to the back neckline to keep the armscye tight. I've taken care to draft to my actual shoulder width (14 cm) and had to adjust the sleeve block so it would fit the armscye. The result, to my eye, looks like a really neat sleeve that looks very slim! I never knew my arms were this slim (they're not, not really).
After taking this happy picture I had some time to spare (*cough* not really) so I also made a tricot and lace top as a "corset cover". I haven't the foggiest how it will look when the corset is underneath, you can probably see the edge of the corset through it all, but I don't care. I don't have to resort to stretched out lingerie silks because there's nothing else to wear over my corset.
This was just my basic "t-shirt" pattern with a square neckline. I cut the front panel from stretchy off-white lace and natural-white tricot, cut a simple facing, and made a top in an hour or so. I took care to get a pretty high neckline (re: boob height) which looks alright for the period.
Then I let out the seams in the skirt a bit, as the back pleats were distorted by my rotund backside. Honestly, the curvature of the skirt panels did not match the curvature of my ass in a corset. Who knew?!
I can't fix all of the issues, but I think I did pretty well, sewing a full Edwardian costume in....three weeks?
List of known issues
- Fit of the corset. The gusset is too large and the curve of the gusset does not match my body. Would love to experiment but will probably make a new corset some day.
- Fit of the skirt. The back pleats open because my ass is too wide. Workaround: make skirt slightly narrower, so waistband sits even higher and fat part of bottom slides to a lower point in the skirt. Am unsure if I want to walk around with a 79 cm waist for the entire day, but might add extra bar so this is an option, at least for the photoshoot.
- Pick a period, any period. Am still not sure what year I'm walking into on Sunday, but somewhere between the Big Bomfat Mutton Leg Shirtwaists and Iceberg Ahoy sounds about right.
- The collar of the blouse drapes differently on the left lapel than it does on the right lapel. This is probably because it's a twill woven cotton and the grain tilts differently on one end than it does on the other. Nothing I can do to fix.
- Tricot and lace top? I know I don't have the budget nor the time to do a proper reproduction, but surely there are better options than to just sew a lacy t-shirt top!
And one, just once, I would like to properly research a project. Get the right fabrics, shop for the perfect earrings, maybe even get the right tiara just like Miss Whatsherface wears. And then have a year to complete the project. Whatever happened to things that could take aaaaaaages to do? I mean, knitting doesn't really count, does it?
Tomorrow I have 2 customers coming in for a fitting, and they're together so that takes longer. Afterwards I hope to get around to hand-sewing my blouse facing, and pimping my hat! I got my pearls, I bought clip-on earrings, I'm allll set.