1880s Chemise

Just doubled fabric and cut out basic shape from muslin I had on hand. We will see how it turns out.

18th and 19th Century Corsets.

Though I am working on my 18th century stuff, an event came up for some 19th century bustle dress goodness, so now I need to get going on that as well. I don't have much time, and no money, to put out on the Victorian ensemble, so am having to go with whatever is in my ever dwindling stash.

I ironed down the edges on all the pieces of my 18th century corset and stitched them down. I saw this technique used on a couple blogs and thought I would try it, as I am hoping it will neaten up the finished product. Mt next step is to whip stitch the pieces together.

For the Victorian corset I did not want to waste time drafting, so I found a corset pattern with pieces close to the shape I wanted, then did some serious tweaking. I lengthened it, the reshaped the pieces over the hips and some at the tops. I used some beautiful fuschia Moire taffeta for the corset and cotton duck for the interface. Was just getting ready to start on it when I discovered I have no more corset busks! NOoooooo! Will have to hurry and order one tomorrow. Guess I will start on the chemise or something.

Kali's costume for The Gathering of Rebels.

I wanted to take pics of this as I worked on it, but I was so rushed with everything I really didn't have time. I used a Simplicity pattern which I redrafted to make the pieces a bit more historically accurate, though I didn't go overboard with this. It is not something I intend on keeping, or figure I will even get much money back on so I didn't complicate things too much.

I used a white/gray print cotton I have had in my stash for YEARS and then a gray eyelet I found and Goodwill for $3.00 for 5 yards (not period correct I know, but looks nice and was cheap). I used the cotton for the jacket, and then the eyelet for the skirt and trim.

Except for the outer sleeve ruffle shown here, I used the eyelet. I decided for sake of time and my sanity--and because I have always wanted to try it--to pink all the edges instead of hemming it. It looks okay. I know the fraying is natural, even with the pinking, and you see real examples of 18th Century gowns with the same thing happening, but I am not sure I am crazy about it. Sort of makes it feel 'unfinished' to me so I don't think it is something I will do again unless I want that as a specific design element.

I did not want to have to mess with a corset for her so I boned the front of the bodice with the ever handy weed-trimmer line. Worked great! I added a small modesty panel at the front and the hand-cast eyelets (not my best work on these I can tell you) are hidden by the ruffles. Only thing I can say is I wish it would have been a bit tighter so she had that 'lift'. When I first fit it I was afraid it would end up being too tight, but I think she lost some weight before she actually was able to wear it. I was going to take it in but decided it was just too much work for something she was only going to wear the one time.

I forgot to charge my camera, which is actually an old cellphone that I use, so I did not get pictures on the day. A few people at the event took them so I am waiting for them to get posted up to Facebook. There should be quite a few full length pics from that. What I have right now is the one of them sitting down, and then the one Kali's dad took right before they were going to change. After 6 hours they were a bit of a mess as you can tell (I have NO IDEA what the heck is going on with the front of the kilt there lol). I hope to get more photos up soon.

The TARTAN has arrived...

Well after some mix ups, I got the fabric I ordered from Amazon. There was only 2 tartan prints that were in the old fashion so those were what I chose. They are a lot brighter than what I wanted, especially the blue and yellow, which was supposed to be blue and olive. I am going to over-dye it to darken it, but I don't have time to do it before the 26th. Aside form that though, I really like the fabric. It is a nice weight and does look and even feel like wool.

18th Century Corsets

I ended up taking the 18th Century Butterick Corset Pattern and redrafted it. I cut the back lower, added 6"s to the waist reshaped the side piece a bit and changed the boning pattern. I cut it out of a beautiful piece of Goldenrod colored silk (though it doesn't show right in the photos) and did the channels in blue thread to mimic the inspiration images. For interfacing I used some cotton canvas. I will line it in white muslin.

 

 

 

For my daughters little corset I modeled it after an original example I found on Pinterest. I will have to try and look it up again. I cut hers out of a small piece of purple silk I had and am doing it with 2 layers of muslin. I don't want it tight or uncomfortable so it will also be very lightly boned and nothing like the original in that regard.

 



The Gathering of the Rebels progress...

Today I drafted and cut out my corset and my chemise. I also cut out my petticoat. I cut out Elaina's Carraco Jacket and skirt, as well as her little corset and then sleeves for her chemise. She has a Regency chemise she outgrew, so with some fiddling, I think I can get it to work, then I can just add the new sleeves. Tomorrow I will cut out Kalysta's dress.

And the winner is....Yellow!

I need to make different 18th Century stays to go with my outfit for The Gathering of Rebels. I looked at patterns and read reviews and just decided to draft my own. I am not sure yet if they are going to be fully, or half-boned stays, as I could do either with the particular design. All I know it that I will have them lace both in the back and the front and they MUST be in yellow. I have seen so many pictures of yellow corsets from the 18th Century, and was inspired by these two. What I have on hand is a bit more goldenrod, but it still should work.