1860s dress and a bed gown
Dec. 3rd, 2014 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwBecause when I finished the bodice of the candy stripe plaid, I didn't want to gear up in corset and hoop to do the hem...but it was still Sewing Time! I sewed on all the ribbon for the bodice trim, which is not quite even but lalala I can't hear you, and did the buttonholes and buttons.
I had a bit of hair-pulling with the buttons; I didn't take into account how fat the buttons I wanted to use were (hint: very fat), and so my (machined, never fear) buttonholes were juuust slightly too small. Commence hair-pulling and sifting through my button collection for other possibilities, but I was very attached to this option! They look like candy.
(Since I like to live dangerously, I was eating Christmas-colored peanut M&M's and sewing these buttons on at the same time! No, I did not eat a button.)
With very careful snipping and a good deal of wrangling, they fit through the buttonholes, apart from the top hole which I did have to cut and make just a leeetle bit bigger. I suspect this will make dressing a bit of an adventure.
Blurry finished bodice versus scary flash finished bodice!
And I don't think I ever posted my inspiration for the trim - yes, more zigzags, triangles, what-have-you. But I didn't make this one up!
And was it ever a pain in the butt to get those zigzags to play nice around the shoulders! Was not entirely sucessful in the back, but Close Enough.
And then I cut out a bedgown. Um...oops? Well, two days ago I somehow convinced myself (I get bored at work and there's all this fabric around, what can I say?) that I really ought to have some kind of garment to wear while powdering my hair for 18thc fanciness. Especially as I'm planning to try out the loose powder (pink!) instead of dry shampoo next time. Washable, for hopefully obvious reasons. A giant tent of a sheet would work, as seen in some period illustrations, but as I'm my own hairdresser I do need my arms! A bed gown would work...a pretty print bed gown!
Was at first stumped by the "print" part of the equation, as I won't allow myself to buy fabric for a project like this (stop buying fabric!), but then remembered I had about a yard and a half of shell print from a store closing last year. Not enough to make anything but a jacket...or a bed gown. Aha!
Some very haphazard measuring and cutting later...bed gown pieces. The print's not entirely on-grain, which is going to make for an interestingly wonky effect, but that's pretty low on my list of things I worry about for the 18thc.
Especially one I'm partially machine-sewing! Shocking. Still hand-finishing, of course, but this is one thing I'd rather have finished than 100% hand sewn.
The lining's of Very Ugly brown cotton that used to be a Very Ugly And Too Narrow 16thc petticoat, once upon a time. Yes, I keep everything. I was almost going to forego lining in favor of a quick project, but I couldn't cut that many corners! I had enough for the fronts and half of the back to be cut out easily...the other side of the back is pieced in a most period-appropriate manner! (And sewn in a most period-inappropriate manner, but, y'know, I'm just going to cover it in powder!)
I had a bit of hair-pulling with the buttons; I didn't take into account how fat the buttons I wanted to use were (hint: very fat), and so my (machined, never fear) buttonholes were juuust slightly too small. Commence hair-pulling and sifting through my button collection for other possibilities, but I was very attached to this option! They look like candy.
(Since I like to live dangerously, I was eating Christmas-colored peanut M&M's and sewing these buttons on at the same time! No, I did not eat a button.)
With very careful snipping and a good deal of wrangling, they fit through the buttonholes, apart from the top hole which I did have to cut and make just a leeetle bit bigger. I suspect this will make dressing a bit of an adventure.
Blurry finished bodice versus scary flash finished bodice!
And I don't think I ever posted my inspiration for the trim - yes, more zigzags, triangles, what-have-you. But I didn't make this one up!
And was it ever a pain in the butt to get those zigzags to play nice around the shoulders! Was not entirely sucessful in the back, but Close Enough.
And then I cut out a bedgown. Um...oops? Well, two days ago I somehow convinced myself (I get bored at work and there's all this fabric around, what can I say?) that I really ought to have some kind of garment to wear while powdering my hair for 18thc fanciness. Especially as I'm planning to try out the loose powder (pink!) instead of dry shampoo next time. Washable, for hopefully obvious reasons. A giant tent of a sheet would work, as seen in some period illustrations, but as I'm my own hairdresser I do need my arms! A bed gown would work...a pretty print bed gown!
Was at first stumped by the "print" part of the equation, as I won't allow myself to buy fabric for a project like this (stop buying fabric!), but then remembered I had about a yard and a half of shell print from a store closing last year. Not enough to make anything but a jacket...or a bed gown. Aha!
Some very haphazard measuring and cutting later...bed gown pieces. The print's not entirely on-grain, which is going to make for an interestingly wonky effect, but that's pretty low on my list of things I worry about for the 18thc.
Especially one I'm partially machine-sewing! Shocking. Still hand-finishing, of course, but this is one thing I'd rather have finished than 100% hand sewn.
The lining's of Very Ugly brown cotton that used to be a Very Ugly And Too Narrow 16thc petticoat, once upon a time. Yes, I keep everything. I was almost going to forego lining in favor of a quick project, but I couldn't cut that many corners! I had enough for the fronts and half of the back to be cut out easily...the other side of the back is pieced in a most period-appropriate manner! (And sewn in a most period-inappropriate manner, but, y'know, I'm just going to cover it in powder!)
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