1860s - almost done
May. 31st, 2012 01:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwJust needs a hem, and it's done! Which is good, because I wasn't looking forward to staying up all night tomorrow after a long shift at work.
What happens when you don't have enough fabric for the skirt to cut pieces with the grain all going the right way. Er. Just avoid flash photography, and I'll be fine.
Gores, gores everywhere!
And then today I cut out a million miles of fricking little triangles...I just worked it out, and for this dress, I've ended up cutting 756 inches of vandyked net.(Or 21 yards, but 756 sounds way more impressive!) It adds up quickly when you have to double every length of triangles you need!
Anywho - skirt decoration. When I started this dress, I was going to do two or three plain (well, vandyked) flounces, but when the bodice ended up on the short side, I took another look at 1864-66 trimmings, and the ubiquitous large flounces that you tend to think of for 1860s ballgowns weren't, well, so ubiquitous! Wide (ie, 2-3 on 3/4 of the skirt) flounces seem to be more popular early in the decade. Huh. Well,the more you know...
Tunics or overskirts seem to have been quite popular during that time, and I had the bright idea that maybe a net overskirt would help hide my cracked-out fabric grain (it doesn't, but it seemed smart this afternoon!). So - net overskirt it is!
I had a "helper", which I'm quite used to and don't mind, but when he started trying to eat pins, I evicted him from the premises.
And then I cut hundreds of inches of fricking little triangles to trim the overskirt (took forever!!), and sewed that trim on. Then all I had to do was attach the two skirts, and pleat them to the bodice.
That also took forever. Partly because I had half the skirt pleated, when I realized the pleats were facing the right way for an 18thc petticoat - which meant they were the wrong way for a mid-1860s ballgown. Ffffff.
But then I got to try it on, to see how it all was looking (nothing like the "I have an almost-finished dress!" feeling). Not bad. (Oh, and I also realized there's nowhere in my room I can get a full-length shot of myself in a crinoline! There's just not enough space!)
Er, that's not such a good angle. And you many notice the wrinkly ick at skirt CF - that's because the skirt has a flat front, and the crinoline doesn't like it. Welp, the crinoline can deal.
I was thinking about adding a flounce or something at the hem (I saw a bunch of examples that have an overskirt with some kind of hem treatment; a flounce, etc), but I think I like it simple. Well, I'll wear it like this to Dress U and you all can tell me if it needs more trim!
What happens when you don't have enough fabric for the skirt to cut pieces with the grain all going the right way. Er. Just avoid flash photography, and I'll be fine.
Gores, gores everywhere!
And then today I cut out a million miles of fricking little triangles...I just worked it out, and for this dress, I've ended up cutting 756 inches of vandyked net.(Or 21 yards, but 756 sounds way more impressive!) It adds up quickly when you have to double every length of triangles you need!
Anywho - skirt decoration. When I started this dress, I was going to do two or three plain (well, vandyked) flounces, but when the bodice ended up on the short side, I took another look at 1864-66 trimmings, and the ubiquitous large flounces that you tend to think of for 1860s ballgowns weren't, well, so ubiquitous! Wide (ie, 2-3 on 3/4 of the skirt) flounces seem to be more popular early in the decade. Huh. Well,the more you know...
Tunics or overskirts seem to have been quite popular during that time, and I had the bright idea that maybe a net overskirt would help hide my cracked-out fabric grain (it doesn't, but it seemed smart this afternoon!). So - net overskirt it is!
I had a "helper", which I'm quite used to and don't mind, but when he started trying to eat pins, I evicted him from the premises.
And then I cut hundreds of inches of fricking little triangles to trim the overskirt (took forever!!), and sewed that trim on. Then all I had to do was attach the two skirts, and pleat them to the bodice.
That also took forever. Partly because I had half the skirt pleated, when I realized the pleats were facing the right way for an 18thc petticoat - which meant they were the wrong way for a mid-1860s ballgown. Ffffff.
But then I got to try it on, to see how it all was looking (nothing like the "I have an almost-finished dress!" feeling). Not bad. (Oh, and I also realized there's nowhere in my room I can get a full-length shot of myself in a crinoline! There's just not enough space!)
Er, that's not such a good angle. And you many notice the wrinkly ick at skirt CF - that's because the skirt has a flat front, and the crinoline doesn't like it. Welp, the crinoline can deal.
I was thinking about adding a flounce or something at the hem (I saw a bunch of examples that have an overskirt with some kind of hem treatment; a flounce, etc), but I think I like it simple. Well, I'll wear it like this to Dress U and you all can tell me if it needs more trim!
