New old dress
Went to an event today with living history folks. It was a fundraiser for the Manitoba Museum/trade show for local businesses. We were dressed c.1800-1860. I finished up my sleeves yesterday afternoon, so for once in a long time I wasn't up late sewing! I took some pictures when I got back. I wanted to take outdoor ones, but it started raining when I was out, so you get more hallway pics.
This outfit was pretty comfortable to wear. I can raise my arms all the way up and touch my head and stretch them across too. It's great! I can totally get actual wear out of this now. :) I love the way the back looks now. Look at those underarm wrinkles; exactly what I wanted. Although maybe I need a new shift that fits better in the shoulders. This one drops a bit too much and you can see the sleeve poking out there.
You can sort of see a comparison of the new sleeve and the old one. Took these pics while doing a try-on. I made a couple of small adjustments after this, taking a bit out from the front of the sleevecap at the shoulder and making the sleeve narrower. In the old sleeve, that is about as high as I can life my arm.
In this pic you can see how there are no wrinkles under the arm from the old sleeve. Interestingly the old sleeve needed pleats at the top but the new sleeve is set in smoothly.
A comparison pic of the two sleeve patterns. Yellow fabric was the old sleeve, newspaper is the new sleeve. I also completely rotated the sleeve so that the seam is at the side/back of the arm instead of at the front of the arm. I saw examples of both in my research.
This outfit needs a white petticoat with pocket slits. I wore my Edwardian petticoat underneath because it's narrow, plain, and white, but had to wear my pockets over it and they short of shadowed through. But I'm not working on that now. Up next is some work on baby quilts for friends' babies that were born last year. I figure if I can give them quilts before they are 1 year old, I am doing pretty well. Next costume is my new Victorian corset and various other 1867 things.
This outfit was pretty comfortable to wear. I can raise my arms all the way up and touch my head and stretch them across too. It's great! I can totally get actual wear out of this now. :) I love the way the back looks now. Look at those underarm wrinkles; exactly what I wanted. Although maybe I need a new shift that fits better in the shoulders. This one drops a bit too much and you can see the sleeve poking out there.
You can sort of see a comparison of the new sleeve and the old one. Took these pics while doing a try-on. I made a couple of small adjustments after this, taking a bit out from the front of the sleevecap at the shoulder and making the sleeve narrower. In the old sleeve, that is about as high as I can life my arm.
In this pic you can see how there are no wrinkles under the arm from the old sleeve. Interestingly the old sleeve needed pleats at the top but the new sleeve is set in smoothly.
A comparison pic of the two sleeve patterns. Yellow fabric was the old sleeve, newspaper is the new sleeve. I also completely rotated the sleeve so that the seam is at the side/back of the arm instead of at the front of the arm. I saw examples of both in my research.
This outfit needs a white petticoat with pocket slits. I wore my Edwardian petticoat underneath because it's narrow, plain, and white, but had to wear my pockets over it and they short of shadowed through. But I'm not working on that now. Up next is some work on baby quilts for friends' babies that were born last year. I figure if I can give them quilts before they are 1 year old, I am doing pretty well. Next costume is my new Victorian corset and various other 1867 things.