teens outfit progress

[mandie_rw]

I fitted my mockups for the teens skirt and blouse today and got them to, well, fit. That's always a good thing! It was three-plus hours worth of fiddling this afternoon before work...it certainly doesn't look like it, but I promise you it was! Must remember I am World's Slowest Sewer. Nineteen-teens are...fiddly. I forgot that this is one of the few eras I like wearing more than I like making. Usually it's the other way around!

Unusual for me, I'm not really basing this outfit on a photo/fashion plate/etc. Instead, I've got this light blue, slightly heathered wool suiting (that didn't look at all heathered in the picture, or I would not have bought it, despite the price) from a fabric.com sale a few years ago, that has always wanted to be a teens suit. Lady Mary Crawley had a very pretty light blue jacket in series 1 (remember this is being worn to see a Downton Abbey costume exhibit!), but that's more of an inspiration than a concrete basis.

The overall plan is to have a matching skirt and jacket, with a blouse. I'm being smart and making the skirt and blouse before I worry about even mocking up the jacket!

The skirt started as one of those super-easy 3-in-1-envelope patterns, Simplicity I think. It had four pieces and a waist yoke. I have seen teens skirts with a yoke (my red 1913 dress actually has one), but good grief that was unflattering! Made my ass look huge. (There is almost a 6" difference between my bust and hip, so that's not something I need to emphasize...) And no, I didn't take a picture of that mockup. It was bad. So I just drafted the yoke into the skirt pieces and that looked waaaaay better.

I was afraid a straight plain skirt would be too boring, as the vast majority of teens skirts have at least a little somethin' going on in the front! So I poked through my books and found a little diagram in the beginning of PoF that had a skirt with seams like mine and a couple pleats at the front seam. Minimal effort put into skirt decoration? Sounds good! I didn't bother making them all face the right way when I zipped down that seam, so they look a little wacky in the mockup

The blouse was pretty straightforward - didn't bother with cuffs or collar, just the basic shape. Make it smaller. And smaller. And - yeah, a bit smaller than that. It's an Ugly McCall's blouse pattern...6840. And yes, it was worth buying so I don't have to figure out my own cuffs and collar, thanks very much. I hate collars! And no..I didn't mock up said cuffs or collar, so it looks even uglier! I'm going to cut the sleeves to 3/4 length, about to where the one sleeve's rolled up. Nothing looks too great in cheap muslin or old sheet, but if you can get past that... ;)




I did a couple more tweaks to the fit of the skirt after I took these pictures, but you get the general idea, I think. And can I just say how much I love my teens corset? It's so comfy! And yes, that is very decidedly a "hobble" skirt; I think the hem's about 50"! I thought it was great fun to toddle round the house in it and get myself a meal before work!

Day off tomorrow, but it will mostly be spent Partying with blackcat452 in funny clothes, because she had to miss Fort Fred! So I can't guarantee any more sewing. Though I should probably put an actual waistband on my teens petticoat before this event...that made it great fun to fit the skirt. Add it to the list!

Comments

[madamekat.livejournal.com]

Glad your mock up is going along well! I don't have to tell you how I like to use patterns because it's silly to reinvent the wheel when you have limited time and don't have to. It doesn't make your outfit any less beautiful and well crafted if you use a pattern for the stuff you don't feel like drafting. People who say otherwise are also the sort of people who come up to strangers and inform them that their green shoes aren't historically accurate LOL.

[mandie-rw.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think I do need to be reminded of that every once in a while, as regards my own stuff (not others', of course!)...for 18thc I've been draping my patterns for so long this feels like cheating to me. Which of course it's not! Silly ass Amanda.

OMG yes, the Judger of the Green Shoes! No one wants to be her. xD

[sewloud.livejournal.com]

It looks great! well...maybe you should leave that sassy disapproving face at home for your outing ;-) and I rather like the white and blue together.

[mandie-rw.livejournal.com]

LOL, I dunno, that could be my Maggie Smith 'Dowager Countess' face! xD

Almost as nice as, say, teal and white!