hey I actually sewed
Feb. 6th, 2022 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwApparently I felt very inspired yesterday. I had set myself a stern requirement that I finish that charcoal grey wool jumper before I get into the Italian Ren dress, but...guess how that went. Well, sewing in a zipper sucks, and starting a new project is fun!
And I was also very productive at it, which probably means I won't pick it up again for the next six weeks or so, but whatever. Also I took like three progress pictures but haven't uploaded them yet, and my phone's all the way over theeeeere, so...uh, maybe later. I'm out of practice with documenting costume progress.
Anyway. I decided to mock up the bodice for the undergown over my mid-1790s stays - the bodice will be self-supporting but I figured 1790s were my best place to start for a relatively natural bust shape and a high waist. (Example of just how high a waist is below!)
And yup, that seemed to work pretty well! Just HOW well, we shall see when it gets to a try-on point. So, I went through a couple of mockups to transform the pattern for the lining of my white 1790s gown into a 1500 Venetian undergown. Shortened the waist, made the neckline higher, tightened it all up a bit, and moved some seamlines around - I want to have an unbroken line of trim around the neckline, so it's side-lacing for this bodice. Always mildly awkward to put on, but better than back lacing on a waist this high! I can get myself into a lot of my back-fastening dresses, but I can't tie off lacing in between my shoulder blades. :P
I'm doing a mix of hand and machine sewing on this dress - it's mostly a pretty-pretty-princess dress, but some of the construction still makes more sense to just do by hand (also you may have noticed I like hand sewing). I cut the inner supportive layer of the bodice out of two layers of cotton duck - probably overkill but I didn't want to use my nice linen canvas on this, and I have a lot of duck, so. I ran a few lines of hemp cording at key points - CF and CB, and around where the lacing will be at the sides - and stitched the duck layers together with random lines around the rest of the pieces. And they stand up pretty well on their own!
After that, got as far as pinning on the outer taffeta layer and folding in the edges on one of the pieces and pinning. Realized I would run out of pins if I did both pieces and wanted to sew the skirt panels too (and need pins for that!), so sewed up the skirt instead of pinning the other bodice piece. The skirt is 2.5 panels of 54" (for my own future reference, when I'm deciding how full to make the overgown!).
And with that, I'm actually done with machine sewing on this dress - which is great because half the battle of "I'm too lazy to sew" these days is setting up the sewing machine! Setting the lining, doing the eyelets, shoulder seam, and attaching the skirt and hemming is all hand work.
I probably won't work on it again til next weekend, but I'm picking out and ordering my trim for the outfit today before I switch over to lesson planning today (ebay - from India so I want to order it NOW rather than later!).
Also - a funny thing about the navy-and-gold shot taffeta I bought for the undergown - it ends up looking kind of mossy green at most angles. Always a risk buying shot silk without getting a sample...I'm fine with green, I just chose that fabric because it looked more blue online and I already did green with the orange fabric for the overgown, with the 1790s accessories! Clearly the fates say that this orange silk prefers to coordinate with green and who am I to turn them down lol.
(Tom says it looks like an ugly Army green tarp, but his opinion is invalid when it comes to fabric! I asked if you thought it looked more green, not whether you liked it, SIR.)
And I was also very productive at it, which probably means I won't pick it up again for the next six weeks or so, but whatever. Also I took like three progress pictures but haven't uploaded them yet, and my phone's all the way over theeeeere, so...uh, maybe later. I'm out of practice with documenting costume progress.
Anyway. I decided to mock up the bodice for the undergown over my mid-1790s stays - the bodice will be self-supporting but I figured 1790s were my best place to start for a relatively natural bust shape and a high waist. (Example of just how high a waist is below!)
And yup, that seemed to work pretty well! Just HOW well, we shall see when it gets to a try-on point. So, I went through a couple of mockups to transform the pattern for the lining of my white 1790s gown into a 1500 Venetian undergown. Shortened the waist, made the neckline higher, tightened it all up a bit, and moved some seamlines around - I want to have an unbroken line of trim around the neckline, so it's side-lacing for this bodice. Always mildly awkward to put on, but better than back lacing on a waist this high! I can get myself into a lot of my back-fastening dresses, but I can't tie off lacing in between my shoulder blades. :P
I'm doing a mix of hand and machine sewing on this dress - it's mostly a pretty-pretty-princess dress, but some of the construction still makes more sense to just do by hand (also you may have noticed I like hand sewing). I cut the inner supportive layer of the bodice out of two layers of cotton duck - probably overkill but I didn't want to use my nice linen canvas on this, and I have a lot of duck, so. I ran a few lines of hemp cording at key points - CF and CB, and around where the lacing will be at the sides - and stitched the duck layers together with random lines around the rest of the pieces. And they stand up pretty well on their own!
After that, got as far as pinning on the outer taffeta layer and folding in the edges on one of the pieces and pinning. Realized I would run out of pins if I did both pieces and wanted to sew the skirt panels too (and need pins for that!), so sewed up the skirt instead of pinning the other bodice piece. The skirt is 2.5 panels of 54" (for my own future reference, when I'm deciding how full to make the overgown!).
And with that, I'm actually done with machine sewing on this dress - which is great because half the battle of "I'm too lazy to sew" these days is setting up the sewing machine! Setting the lining, doing the eyelets, shoulder seam, and attaching the skirt and hemming is all hand work.
I probably won't work on it again til next weekend, but I'm picking out and ordering my trim for the outfit today before I switch over to lesson planning today (ebay - from India so I want to order it NOW rather than later!).
Also - a funny thing about the navy-and-gold shot taffeta I bought for the undergown - it ends up looking kind of mossy green at most angles. Always a risk buying shot silk without getting a sample...I'm fine with green, I just chose that fabric because it looked more blue online and I already did green with the orange fabric for the overgown, with the 1790s accessories! Clearly the fates say that this orange silk prefers to coordinate with green and who am I to turn them down lol.
(Tom says it looks like an ugly Army green tarp, but his opinion is invalid when it comes to fabric! I asked if you thought it looked more green, not whether you liked it, SIR.)
