Striped dress: finished
Feb. 3rd, 2014 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwTook me long enough, yeah?
Only pictures on Mabel as of today, partly because I'll be wearing it in less than a week, and partly because I didn't work today, so I've got Really Bad Day Off Hair.
It really is an aggressively boring color - yes, somehow it manages to hit you over the head with its boring-ness! But it fits pretty nicely, and I think it'll be warm.
I originally was planning to do multiple flounces (at a later date; clearly I won't have time before Saturday!), but I'm not sure now. I think I might like just the one. On the other hand...boring giant expanse of BEIGE, can use all the help it can get! We'll see.
Admire the neck ruffles you won't see at ALL if I wear the giant derpy chemisette! I tried both it and my linen shirt on under the dress, and they did both fit; albeit with the latter making my arms feel a bit stuffed-sausage-y... And the pompom spencer also dos fit over this (with additional sausage arm-ness), so if I croak and don't manage to make the black spencer wearable, I do have options! It doesn't match very well...
Woobly flounce! Note the lack of hems. Because, seriously? No. I'd still be hemming.
And the sleeve. The band around the wrist has a hook and eye, and just keeps the fairly loose sleeve under control when it's on. And yes, it's another of the deliberately-wrinkly family of sleeves. Nicely easy to fit!
Today I just had to gather the sleeve head, sew the sleeves on, and do the fastenings on the cuffs - which of course managed to occupy me well into the afternoon! Because I am So Slow. And then I had to try it on and fiddle with all its possible different permutations. So I'm not too terribly far with the spencer!
First, a shot of the fabric I have to work with. This is for future reference; either to prove it can be done with that much fabric, or to remind myself that a spencer cannot be made with this much fabric! We'll see how it comes out. And I'm saving every itsy-bitsy scrap to cover buttons with!
I cheated wildly and used my pompom spencer pattern with a few very minor adjustments that I'll probably wish I'd mocked up once I can try the thing on. Anyway, the thing's made of black (Joann's) wool, interlined with cotton flannel, and lined in obnoxiously un-period bright green silk. At least, I've got the impression this kind of stable green was still a good few years away! We'll pretend it's going to change and fade quite soon.
(The real story? It's dupioni out of the scrap bin that's too slubby to use for any kind of outerwear, but I don't care for linings, I wanted to line this spencer in silk, and I had limited choices!)
With flash, but still. SO GREEN.
I'm still using 18thc construction methods on this, as I did on the dress...I haven't quite been able to determine exactly when flatlining really replaced the fold-over-and-topstitch method. In the small number of dresses I can see construction details, it seems like both were used into the 1820s, so I'm calling this valid if maybe old-fashioned by this point! (Yes, my spencer is being constructed like a dress. No, not tailoring. No.) Anyway, the cotton flannel is all basted to the wool, and the back pieces are in the process of being sewn together.
And now I need to go update Blogger! oof.
Only pictures on Mabel as of today, partly because I'll be wearing it in less than a week, and partly because I didn't work today, so I've got Really Bad Day Off Hair.
It really is an aggressively boring color - yes, somehow it manages to hit you over the head with its boring-ness! But it fits pretty nicely, and I think it'll be warm.
I originally was planning to do multiple flounces (at a later date; clearly I won't have time before Saturday!), but I'm not sure now. I think I might like just the one. On the other hand...boring giant expanse of BEIGE, can use all the help it can get! We'll see.
Admire the neck ruffles you won't see at ALL if I wear the giant derpy chemisette! I tried both it and my linen shirt on under the dress, and they did both fit; albeit with the latter making my arms feel a bit stuffed-sausage-y... And the pompom spencer also dos fit over this (with additional sausage arm-ness), so if I croak and don't manage to make the black spencer wearable, I do have options! It doesn't match very well...
Woobly flounce! Note the lack of hems. Because, seriously? No. I'd still be hemming.
And the sleeve. The band around the wrist has a hook and eye, and just keeps the fairly loose sleeve under control when it's on. And yes, it's another of the deliberately-wrinkly family of sleeves. Nicely easy to fit!
Today I just had to gather the sleeve head, sew the sleeves on, and do the fastenings on the cuffs - which of course managed to occupy me well into the afternoon! Because I am So Slow. And then I had to try it on and fiddle with all its possible different permutations. So I'm not too terribly far with the spencer!
First, a shot of the fabric I have to work with. This is for future reference; either to prove it can be done with that much fabric, or to remind myself that a spencer cannot be made with this much fabric! We'll see how it comes out. And I'm saving every itsy-bitsy scrap to cover buttons with!
I cheated wildly and used my pompom spencer pattern with a few very minor adjustments that I'll probably wish I'd mocked up once I can try the thing on. Anyway, the thing's made of black (Joann's) wool, interlined with cotton flannel, and lined in obnoxiously un-period bright green silk. At least, I've got the impression this kind of stable green was still a good few years away! We'll pretend it's going to change and fade quite soon.
(The real story? It's dupioni out of the scrap bin that's too slubby to use for any kind of outerwear, but I don't care for linings, I wanted to line this spencer in silk, and I had limited choices!)
With flash, but still. SO GREEN.
I'm still using 18thc construction methods on this, as I did on the dress...I haven't quite been able to determine exactly when flatlining really replaced the fold-over-and-topstitch method. In the small number of dresses I can see construction details, it seems like both were used into the 1820s, so I'm calling this valid if maybe old-fashioned by this point! (Yes, my spencer is being constructed like a dress. No, not tailoring. No.) Anyway, the cotton flannel is all basted to the wool, and the back pieces are in the process of being sewn together.
And now I need to go update Blogger! oof.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 04:39 pm (UTC)http://extantgowns.blogspot.com/2013/01/early-regency-embroidered-dress.html
http://extantgowns.blogspot.com/2013/07/1810s-regency-purple-dress.html
http://extantgowns.blogspot.com/2014/01/1790s-spencer.html
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/107927?rpp=20&pg=1&rndkey=20140203&ao=on&ft=*&whento=1818&whenfrom=1795&whenfunc=between&what=Costume&pos=2
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/98722?rpp=20&pg=1&rndkey=20140203&ao=on&ft=*&whento=1818&whenfrom=1795&whenfunc=between&what=Costume&pos=16
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 02:39 am (UTC)Very pretty, I love all the ruffles
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 05:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 04:15 pm (UTC)http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/119875888/790246
no subject
Date: 2014-02-06 04:33 am (UTC)