What I’m Working On | If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Mid-Week Progress and Ponderings

Half-way into the week, there has been a detour, progress and, of course, some ponderings. First the progress (detour included):

Tuesday – Assemble & attach sleeves. Put bodice & skirt together (green dress) Detour – food poisoning or food intolerance of undertermined nature
Wednesday – Handfinishing on bodice (green dress) – Dress finish. Well, the base of the dress is finished and a make-do collar attached. It needs something. (see below)
Thursday – Handfinishing on bodice (green dress). Finish hem. – (Hem done) Adding: Pull all of Dan’s clothes out of closet & dresser. Adding: Fix my cage or starch my corded petticoats.
Friday – pack & see Dan off. Finish bonnet to wear. (Hope ribbon arrives.)
Satuday – Work on NB dress as much as possible. Draft Dan’s coat & waist coat
Sunday – Wear green dress
Monday until? – Focus on NB clothes.

Now, the ponderings:

I think this something for the green dress will be pleated bias cut (pinked?) self fabric along the neckline and closure, along the opening of the sleeve or angled and something, maybe circles on the bottom of the skirt. Maybe, eventually a different color silk ribbon as well. Pink?
As I’ve opted for an open sleeve, I should have undersleeves. This is just the chance to wear the undersleeves entered in last fall’s Agricultural Society Fair. The sleeves I haven’t seen since said fair. Where, oh where are you my undersleeves?
I have yet to put together the silver-pearl grey bonnet I intend(ed) to wear for this weekend. Part of that is that I was waiting for my favorite ribbon merchant to return. The other part is I still can’t make up my mind on the ribbon for this bonnet. I was thinking pink then green then pink… Then I saw this nifty red/black/white plaid and thought “OOooo” Of course, that would clash horribly with the green dress and just about every dress I anticipate for this year. Back up option 1 is the slate gray bonnet trimmed in burgandy; option 2 is my white sheer that may or may not still have the flowers attached.
I don’t think I have the right stockings for the Netherfield Ball. Mine are cotton. I lack silk stockings. *pout* I honestly don’t think I’ll get around to getting silk stockings. Trying to be budget sensible while the want of silk calls is such a challenge. 🙂
I do believe I’ve remade Dan’s current carpet bags into a bigger one for him and one for Lily or myself a dozen times in the past week. I have one fabric that will work, assuming it is in the cabinet. What are the chances I’ll stumble upon a fabulous reproduction piece of ingrain carpet in an uber-clean state at a yardsale for ridiculously cheap?

Dresses always look so blaaa on the hanger. Once the detour is finally back on track, I can put my corset on & try this on.

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on May 15, 2013 at 8:00 pm Comments (2)

Green Dress Progress

As almost all of my other dresses have a name, this poor green dress needs a name. Nothing has come to me yet. As I have a rather looming deadline and lots of odds and ends popping up, I’m trying to keep myself on track. Taking a look at the plan I set last week, this is where I am at:

Wednesday – Assemble green skirt (make Dan’s book if possible) Skirt assembled, set, hem faced at 10 pm. Didn’t get to Dan’s book
Thursday – Cut out green bodice and NB bodice. Cut out Green bodice & NB bodice. Assembled green bodice.
Friday/Sat/Sun – Get Dan to stand still so I can drape his coat and waist coat. Cut bias. Do what hand work I can. I managed to get some of the handwork done on the bodice as Dan fell asleep Friday evening. The gathers at the waist were shifted out while the gathers at the neckline were shifted in. This is dead opposite of what I normally do. So, this may or may not stay as is. I did not get Dan to stand for draping. It seems like every minute of the weekend was full. I did however, get his book made. It does not look like what I had pictured in my head. He likes it though. I broke a few needles and bent another. Not the easiest leather to work with. (The little bags he wants may have to be done by machine with the walking foot.)
Monday – Assemble green bodice. Decide on sleeves. – I decided to go with a one piece, open sleeve with a hint of curve, set on the bias. These are now in place. I do find it easier and neater to set sleeves by hand. This is good since sewing the leather last night threw the tension off again on the Bernina. I have to Not sew leather or carpet on that machine ever again. These must be done by hand or maybe with the Pfaff when she’s oiled up & has some tlc. I’ll put a photo of the bodice below. While I don’t think I’ll trim it before this wekend, I also have a photo of possible placement on the sleeve. There are several trimming option floating in my head. I still haven’t draped Dan. It turns out the random piece of muslin I picked up from Bits & Pieces turns out to be a nice heavy, wide piece that will be a quild back instead of toile scraps.
Tuesday – Assemble & attach sleeves. Put bodice & skirt together (green dress)Adding: Pull all of Dan’s clothes out of closet & dresser.
Wednesday – Handfinishing on bodice (green dress) Adding: Fix my cage or starch my corded petticoats.
Thursday – Handfinishing on bodice (green dress). Finish hem. – (Hem done
Friday – pack & see Dan off. Last minute finishings. Finish bonnet to wear. (Hope ribbon arrives.)
Satuday – Work on NB dress as much as possible. Draft Dan’s coat & waist coat
Sunday – Wear green dress
Monday until? – Focus on NB clothes.

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on May 13, 2013 at 8:00 pm Comments (5)

Pair of Hats

Up until this year, I stuck firmly in the mid-century for straw millinery. When Bevin suggested I give the 80s and 90s a try I soon became ‘wowed’ by the shapes of the 80s. Talk about an era of amazing lines, shape, curve, height. What fun. I can’t wait to do more.

Finally, I get to show you the pair of hats as they were worn in the Genesee Country Village’s Mother’s Day fashion show. I did the straw forms of fine hemp plait. Each one is hand sewn, wired and blocked freehand. Bevin had the fun of doing the feathers. (Now, the photos aren’t the best as I need to check the camera’s settings.)

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on May 13, 2013 at 5:00 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Anna's Millinery

Mother’s Day at Genesee Country Village & Museum

I was very pleased when mom asked to go to the museum for Mother’s Day. Here are some of the highlights. (I will save you from my inablity to take runway photos. But, I assure you the fashion show was wonderful.)

First stop was the gallery to see the Green Collection. It was neat to see that mom had to open every drawer and read every label. While mom got her first look at the collection, I took a closer look at some of the men’s Regency clothing. I also decided I simply must find some horsehair braid. Silly, fabulous 80s.

Mom particluarly enjoyed the kerchiefs. Her favorite is the upper left.

Of course the quilts in the lobby caught our attention. Grandma spent so many years quilting at the museum. She enjoyed working on the “A Stitch in Time” project.

If you are in the area, come out the the museum next Sunday for Red Day. I’ll be finishing up my dress this week, so I can volunteer on this fun day. I am going to get a few copies of “A Stitch in Time” signed.

Each time we stepped into a village kitchen we could smell chocolate and get a taste. Heritage Chocolate is available in the gift shop and on the museum’s website (www.gcv.org) If you haven’t had a chance to taste this chocolate, I highly recommend it. If I have to pick, the small balls of chocolate with a hint of orange at Livingston was my favorite.

It was off to the fashion show after a stroll by all the animals.

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on May 12, 2013 at 6:43 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: GCV

Bodice Update 2

I finally did it. I cut into the sari.
I’ll back up. Tonight was dedicated to working on both my Netherfield Ball bodice and my green dress bodice.
First up, the green dress, which needs a name. This was a fairly easy cut & assemble process. As I dove right in, I forgot I wanted to line up the back on the wider stripe. Oh, well. Rather than do the jewel neckline, then regret not doing the gathered V neck I love so much and find more comfortable when I have one of my over heating or forgot to eat right spell, I went with the gathered V. I can alway change it out after. I have yet to decide gathering placement. Each has its adventages.

Next came cutting the NB bodice from the sari. I’ve had a particular section of the sari in mind for the bodice from the start. The pieces barely fit.

This is one project where every bit of scrap will be saved just incase. I was particularly happy with how the white read through the silk. The color firmly became a lovely peach rather than ‘I might be orange’. I hope you can see the difference here.

I was hoping to get Dan’s book started as well. But, I ended up proofing my little sister’s research paper. Nicely done. I look forward to hearing what her teacher thinks of a particular phrase.
Next up – Hand finishing the green bodice and deciding on sleeves. Also, getting Dan to stand still for draping.

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Working on - Projects

on May 9, 2013 at 7:22 pm Leave a Comment

All Those Odds and Ends

Now that it is May…. there are only 4 weeks of classes left… the Museum opens this weekend…. Dan has an event next weekend… and I will dress next weekend…. I am having one of those “eegads!” moments. Okay, a series of them.

Odds and ends of items keep popping into my head. These are pieces I forgot needed to get made, hadn’t thought of or just have been lingering. Some really are not small pieces either.

So, here it is. My long delayed list of items that should have been made months ago, in completely random order:

Dan’s book. (I told him I would make him the book he had been wanting for our anniversary.)
A general volunteering dress of a tbd date and style. (I would love an excuse to make up the sprigged muslin or welcome a kick in the bottom to get to work on the travel dress. This would be nice for my red/brown fabric)
Lily needs a real bag as the one I made her years back just isn’t up to par any more. I am picturing a nice frameless carpet bag.
I need a carpet, carpet bag. I love my fabric carpet bags. But, after making the museum’s bags, I really feel like I aught to have an awesome carpet bag.
Dan needs better carry-all type bags or box or something. He has his pair of duffle bags and carpet bags that are just way too out of proportion. (long and short. difficult to hold anything.) (What I really should do is pull the frames out of those bags. Remake that fabric into a more suitable, frameless version. Then use the frames for bags more proportionate.)
That long, long list of travel items.
The Jenny Lind style fan. This will require finding the damaged fan base I intended to use for this.
Lily’s stays
Fix my cage. This means reattach the tapes to the bones and strengthen all the other joinings. This poor cage has taken a beating during limb0-living.
Alter one cage for Lily.

Just to make things interesting, here is this month’s “If I could make a dress per decade” list. (I am defaulting to the MET’s dating today.):

1800-10 – I want this fabric to do this dress.
1810-20 – I want to squish together this dress and this dress.
1820-30 – I love this bodice along with the soft smoothness. (I also really like this one from completely different reasons. Light, air & adorable. Then there is this one for the early part of the decade.)
1830-40 – This dress in just this fabric. But, it would have to be for someone lean like my sister.
1840-50 – The lines curving through the bodice and the pleated trim set into the piped edge look like so much fun to make, while the dress looks so comfortable to weare
1850-60 – Not my normal pick for this decade. Someone showed me this dress the other day. Can anything look so comfy? This is a print I would expect to see on a quilt weight fabric, but I would love to find it in a shirting or lawn.
1860-70
1870-1880 – Maybe
1880-90
1890-1899

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Working on - Projects

on May 9, 2013 at 4:00 pm Leave a Comment

Bodice Update

I have managed to meet my goal for the evening. Both mock-ups and patterns are worked through for the Netherfield Ball dress and the green plaid sheer dress. A mix of corsetry and fitting thoughts….
As I put it on, I realized this was the first time I put my 50s/60s corset on in nearly a year. It is a good thing I did. Lets just say I am a tad over the 4″ gap ideal. Luckily, the shape of me is still basically the shape of it, just a few even inches fluffier. The girls are puckering or over flowing or overly uncomfortable. How odd is it that I am more comfortable with a gap reduction goal than a weight reduction goal?
I have discovered the easiest was for me to put on my Regency stays is to lay down. The girls rest upward, out-of-the-way while I lace up the front. When I sit or stand up, everything rests nicely into place. This does remind me of Missy’s suggested method of getting her earlier 18th century stays to fit and sit right. She suggested leaning over forward to get everything in position. Now, in the case of today, I layed down on the floor and just didn’t want to get up. Btw – Have I mentioned lately how comfortable these stays are? I like them so much, I want to make another pair just because. Yes, this does sound like an easy way to tempt me into another era permanently.
On to the bodices. The mock-up for the green dress went easier than I thought. I pulled out the pattern I used for my Fort Stanton dress. Oddly, it was the back I found to be too big. I transitioned what I’m removing to the back side. The center front line did change angle a bit. Other than a slight change in the armscye just to please the eye, that was almost it. The other bit is a bad posture problem. I slouch. Bad, bad me. This has caused the back of the neckline to stick up. Option 1 is a tiny dart hidden under the collar. Option 2 is to recut the neckline as much as a half-inch in the back. I’m not sure which I will do.
The Regency bodice was a little more fussy. Why do I want a cross-over bodice so much? Because I do. I think I have the angle of the cross-over right. I do feel like it is very low-cut. While the angle is nice, narrow shoulders, a short shoulder to bust distance and a large bust result in a deep plunge. I will be adding a horizontal panel inside the center. I may also completely raise the line a half-inch. I do have to take a close look to see if originals have the bodice end just under the bust or just below.
Here are some photos of my thought process:

The green fabric is safely in the wash so I won’t be tempted to cut into it tonight.

Hopeful schedule:

Wednesday – Assemble green skirt (make Dan’s book if possible) Skirt assembled, set, hem faced at 10 pm. 🙂 Didn’t get to Dan’s book 😦
Thursday – Cut out green bodice and NB bodice. Cut out NB skirt & piece panels Postponing skirt
Friday/Sat/Sun – Get Dan to stand still so I can drape his coat and waist coat. Cut bias. Do what hand work I can.
Monday – Assemble green bodice. Decide on sleeves
Tuesday – Assemble & attach sleeves. Put bodice & skirt together (green dress)
Wednesday – Handfinishing on bodice (green dress)
Thursday – Finish hem
Friday – pack & see Dan off. Last minute finishings. Finish bonnet to wear. (Hope ribbon arrives.)
Satuday – Work on NB dress as much as possible. Draft Dan’s coat & waist coat
Sunday – Wear green dress
Monday until? – Focus on NB clothes.

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on May 6, 2013 at 6:44 pm Comments (1)

New Dress/Sewing Plan

Miscommunication becomes a new dress plan. It turns out I thought we were planning one event for an upcoming weekend, while Dan had plans for another weekend. Upon this realization last night, my brain became quite muddled with thoughts of availability reshuffling. This meant I am now available to volunteer for a particular fun day, if I am needed. Yeah. Then came the thought – Eeek, dress?

I’ve been so focused on the Netherfield Ball clothes, and honestly having little freak-out session over not knowing the detailed ins and outs, that I haven’t put a single thought to a mid-century dress that actually fits. Not one moment of thought.

Oh, did I mention it is May already?

So, this week there will be a new dress.

I will be using the semi-sheer green plaid on the left. (Yes, this is one of the fabrics I was thinking about dyeing. Too late for that.)

I have two different dress thoughts – Simple, basic, versatile is one idea. The other is a 50s to 60s comparison. Since I have the same fabric in another colorway, a peachy/pinkish color, I like the idea of doing one as 50s and one as 60s, this being the 60s.

But, time is a factor here. Did I mention it is already May and I still haven’t mocked up Dan’s Netherfield Ball clothes?

The plan and the options….

Skirt – Sticking to a plain skirt. I can always add trims later.

Neckline – Basic pearl neckline. While I prefer a V neckline on my sheers, I can/should do a nice V neck on the 50s dress.

Sleeves – Open or closed??? I would like to do an open sleeve with tiers in the skirt for the 50s dress, assuming I have enough fabric. Does that encourage or discourage me from doing an open sleeve for this dress? Hmm? I do rather like the idea of an open sleeve. (I used to find them such a bother to wear.) This one looks like it would be very comfortable in the heat. It may also be nice to mimic the sleeve I have on the original brown dress. If I did a coat sleeve or a bishop sleeve, I would be tempted to do something with the top of the sleeve. Do I really want additional fabric at the top? I don’t think I do. (Though, I can always change that.)

Bodice – Basic, gathered bodice with half high lining.

Sounds like a plan. My hope is to cut out and fit both my Regency dress mock-up and the mock-up for this Monday night. I know I can work through this dress fairly quickly. It will be good to do a dress I am confident about doing before confusing myself more (again) on the Regency clothing.

Of course, after all this thinking, I had to remember this dress. How lovely it would be to have a cross-over sheer. Oh, the comfort.

PS – I loved the fabric on the right when I bought it. Since then… I’m not sure. Thoughts?

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Working on - Projects

on May 5, 2013 at 8:00 pm Comments (4)

NB Sewing Journal – Underpinnings Finished

I finished my shift/chemise, stays and bodiced petticoat last night. The last button-hole was finished as bedtime settled in. As soon as I was home from work today, I was able to try everything on. 🙂 This evening is test night to make sure everything fits and is comfortable. I really wanted to share photos. But, as soon as I got my chemise and stays on, my phone’s battery died. So, a summary instead. Everything is quite comfortable. There isn’t much I can say about the chemise, other than it draws up quite nicely. The stays are a comfort level that may just threaten my mid-century clothes to banishment. Really. This one is that comfortable even with the “shelf.” I figure I’m giving them quite the wearing test as I’m curled up on the couch. It is so nice to have this support without having a large underwire digging into my side. I don’t have as much “separate” as I know is ideal. I’ll be more able to achieve that with a transitional pair for my next set. Yes, I’ve already decided there will be more of this clothing. (see below) Now, the bodiced petti…. can we say “C.O.M.F.Y.”? I did a gored skirt with a 84″ hem. LOVE it. This skirt is so very comfortable.

Adjustments:

– I still need to solve the lacing problem. I couldn’t get the 1/4″ round cord through. Right now I have crochet cotton laced in with a bodkin. Either, I need to find a strong, narrow lace I can use with the bodkin or I need to make the holes bigger.

– The waist of the bodiced petti needs to come in about an inch, maybe two, to fit more snuggly. I don’t think it should be loose. I need to decide between a drawstring, darts in the bodice front or taking it out of the sides. So, the question would be – Did they use darts?

Next steps:

– Decide between drafting and draping my bodice. With the duct tape dummy oops, this is a looming decision.

– Drape or draft a toile of my bodice.

– Get Dan’s measurements and do some rough sketches of his clothing.

You know how I mentioned more clothes above? Well, I keep dreaming up dress ideas for the uber-awesome white and green sheer a truely lovely someone sent me. I also started thinking up clothes for Lily.

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on March 19, 2013 at 4:36 pm Comments (3)
Tags: Netherfield Ball

NB Sewing Journal – Bodice thoughts

As this weekend is packed full already, there won’t be any sewing likely. I am hoping to get in some sketching for my bodice. I know how I want the front to look. That is just going to be a matter of draping. The back is another story. Looking at originals and sketches, this era seems to have a greater variety in back construction than the 40s, 50s and 60s do.

Here are some of the bodice back constructions I am seeing (pulled from Costume in Detail):

With these in mind, I’m leaning in one of two directions. This is the safer direction. The construction seems simple with lines that make sense to me. With this type of back, the sleeve placement should be easy enough to find.

The other option I find quite tempting is this cross-over back. With the cross-over front I have in mind, this would complement nicely. I would still want the closure to be in the front. Although, this back closure looks easy. The part where this dress has the nice front and back cross-over is quite appealing.

Now, I do have a bodice related snag. After reading this article, I need to put my stays back on to compare. I’m concerned I should have put in gussets. My mid-century corsets are all about gussets. Gail shaped this very nicely to my body. So, maybe she got the right fit without the gussets. Fingers crossed since the bones are already set in.

Thinking a bit about the sleeves. Here is one thought (there will be many more). This is a simple sleeve. If I can get one of the gold motifs to sit centered, that could be nice. It might need applique.

A side note – I do wish I had a list of hem circumferences. I was only able to pull a couple from CD. I think I’m leaning towards a 96″ petti hem and a 112″-120″ dress hem. The metal weave is rather stiff. Around the hem, I think it will hold out some body rather than hang.

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on March 8, 2013 at 12:20 pm Comments (4)