A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Wow, actually doing stuff? WHO AM I?


Helped that 3/7 students ended up being absent today! I like (or at least don't hate) all my kids but I will never complain about getting paid not to teach! So I got a good chunk of planning out of the way during those hours, so I had time tonight to wrap up my blog post on ze hat, which is here.

Really it's just a lot of low-light pictures and feathers waving, but...that's what a hat do!

Sort of! Nothing extravagant, but solid.

First off, I was bound and determined to finish that damn turn-of-the-century hat. I wasn't real thrilled with it in its fancy-cowboy-hat iteration, but once I started plonking crap on, it improved. A couple of bows and more than a couple of rooster-tail feathers do a boring hat a world of good! It's a very perch-y type, with hair mostly not in the right place to pin through, so here's hoping it's not too windy when we go for our stroll LOL.

I finished That Hat up on Friday night, and was incredibly industrious on Saturday, and took the time to do a trial run of the hair to go with said hat. I wasn't sure where exactly I wanted the main bulk of the bun, and it's so much better to be wrestling with that when it's not the morning-of! (I feel like I have learned very few things in my 17 years of costuming, but I have learned how far trial runs go in feeling put together the day of events...) So I did some very bad hair, managed to get the thing somewhat-securely pinned-on, and even located my black gaze veil to see if that might be a helpful addition (yes, if it's cold, but it does cover up the brim, so I'll only wear it if I think my ears and cheeks need it! Not as good as earmuffs, but a fine silk veil is surprisingly insulating...).

Saturday was also determined The Day To See What Still Fits for the events coming up over the next couple weeks. Regency, for next weekend (because if Robin begs off I'll make puppy-dog eyes at Tom, as I think he'll be in NJ then), and of course turn-of-the-century for the weekend after that.

Regency was a resounding success; my cream wool dress and black spencer still fit over the new Redthreaded short stays, which is rad. The assets are rather...redistributed? in them, though, so I added a piece to the CF closure of the dress, because I had about 1mm of overlap left to pin it closed, which isn't ideal, although would have been still doable if only tried on the morning-of. Spencer was about 85% ok as-is; it had more of an overlap to spare than the dress did. I very briefly considered moving the hooks and bars over, but as it would require new thread bars...nah. I hate making those. It's still fine with a bit of a tug. If I see horrible stress wrinkles in pictures when I wear it I'll reconsider! I also fiiiiinally put hooks and bars on my winter-weight Regency petticoat. I believe my original thought was to pin it in place so it would be easily adjustable to slightly different waist lengths...but, just put more bars in slightly different spots if you need to, doofus. Pinning a wool-cotton petticoat with straps is really not worth the struggle! I only made it in 2014, so, glad I finally came to that conclusion? Sheesh.

Turn-of-the-century was less of an unmitigated success, but I certainly won't be nekkid for the Longwood stroll. I decided my time would be better spent making old things wearable than in a probably-futile attempt to finish new things. So I dug out ye olde navy blue flannel skating skirt that I made a few birthday events ago, squinted at it, tried it on, unpicked the back quarter of the skirt waistband, and added a 2" piece to it in an almost-but-not-quite-matching navy blue wool! (I thought it was the same fabric when I dug it out of the Stash. Cut a piece, realized it wasn't, and said, eh, fukkit, I wanted a belt with this outfit anyway...) Still need to put all the fastenings back on, make the belt, and find out if the shirtwaist that goes with the skirt will actually button or not, but that's much more doable than making new.

Other random thought re:Regency fit: I'm fairly sure I didn't chuck the old nasty corded bodiced petticoat yet that I wore for my Regency outfits, and doing a fit comparison might make for an interesting little blog post, whenever I have the time for that (ha ha haaaa).

I did not do much, reader.

This is entirely fine, as I Needed A Break! I'm...sort of...looking forward to going back to school, although I think it's probably because I can count down the three weeks to Christmas break pretty easily. ;)

But! I did sew a couple of things! Apparently I remained in a Regency sort of mood, as I did find those Redthreaded short stays pretty easily, and worked on them a bit. Not to completion or anything. I did sew all the main seams except the bust gussets - and in my defense, doing them by hand through a ton of layers of drill and sometimes cording is not particularly easy on the hands! I could do finish two seams a day (that's the initial seam, the stitching-the-seam-flat seam, and the covering-the-seam-allowances-with-twill-tape seams) without putting my hands and wrists totally out of commission, so that's what I did. Took pictures, am too lazy to upload and post them. Sad trombone.

(Sometime.)

Also made most of a Regency cap, because I still felt like hand sewing when I wasn't stay-making (just not like hand sewing through six layers of tightly woven fabric!), as I realized I don't actually have a Regency cap to go with this squiggle print dress, and it very much feels like a cap kind of dress. I used one of my Country Wives patterns (British Regency caps), one of the plainer versions. Fear not, it's still got a ruffle! Just have to finish the seams on that.

Also! Buying stuff! Because it's un-American not to shop on Black Friday, right? Online, I hasten to add. Not going out. American Duchess - couple of pairs of 1930s/40s shoes; Orchard Corset - two styles of waist trainers to wear for everyday/work (my posture is rapidly going downhill and it's harder to overeat in a corset!); Yankee Candle - because I like nicely smelly things and it actually knocks out all my second-tier Gifts I Need For People That I Have To Buy For But I Don't Know Intimately Enough To Get a Really Thoughtful Gift.

And (not really Black Friday-related; the date was incidental) I also finally broke down and bought the Persian lamb coat I've been eyeballing on ebay, to use for Furry Warm Things for our winter Edwardian stroll in January. It's a cutter with really awful pictures so I can't tell exactly how damaged it is, but provided it's not actively disintegrating I don't care! Hoping to get a little shoulder capelet and muff out of it, so it's getting hacked up anyway. At absolute worst I'll change up my dress design plans and use it for trim...

...I have been sewing, a little! There's absolutely zero pressure right now, as the next event I need (want, ehem) something new for is Gettysburg. And I do actually intend to start on that soon. Possibly finish off the Rational dress outfit first?

For now, I'm continuing to sew caps when I'm in school (I keep misplacing pieces of that damn Regency cap, or it would've been done by now...currently the only thing I can find is the ruffle), lately of the head-doiley type. I know I want a head doiley to wear with my as-yet-still-undefined dinner dress for Saturday night in Gettysburg, and the Miller's Millinery has two variations for 1860s, so I'm going to make them both and see which I like better. Head Doiley No.1 is done apart from probable ear-bows, which of course won't be added til I know what color I want on there. It's got ear-flappies...

TBH I'm waiting for somebody to walk into the break room while I'm taking selfies with a doiley on my head... "Yes, let's hire that definitely not-insane person as a teacher here..."

Not at school, I'm on a mini-adventure into the world of vintage-style tap pants (and possibly bras, but right now tap pants). Partly because I couldn't resist buying a couple of pieces of Supima cotton from work when it was on good sale a couple weeks ago - I was curious to see if it would be a decent compromise between my natural fibers snobbiness, preference for being able to throw underwear in the wash (I hand wash my bras, that's all you're getting from me), and the slinkiness of silk or poly.

I'll do a nice detailed post on all the patterns I'm using, etc when I've used up all the fabric; as of tonight I've finished one pair, 3/4 finished another and am annoyed with it, and am about to cut out a third so I can avoid dealing with #2.

Sewing day with two of the usual suspects; I didn't get a whole lot of sewing done but I always thoroughly enjoy "sewing" days! Much tea was sampled, many chocolates were et, and I did finish my hat!

It's definitely on the plain side when you compare it to fashion plates, but less so when you compare it to photographs! Bad pictures:



Slightly less orange in natural lighting. And yes, it's got wiiiiings!

I also cut and sewed (and flat-felled) my petticoat panels. And, ahem, managed to flat-fell the CB seam inside out. Ooops? Certainly not taking it out, because, underwear, who cares...at least it's a very neat seam? LOL. I used the center front and two side-front gores from my skirt pattern and a rectangle for the back, because it seemed somehow logical. We'll see if it was when I put it under the skirt, haha.

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And I'm reasonably pleased with it! It's helped immensely by the delightful plaid ribbon, I think. ;)

There are a couple of things I would tweak about the shape - a slight reduction in width toward the bottom of the brim, and I'd take out the upward tilt of the crown, which didn't look quite so tilted when paired with the ginormous brim but is much more noticeable now! Those are really just notes for my future reference, though; I'm not displeased with them, per se! That's the thing about making hats...they're like corsets in that you can't really see if they're what you want til they're just about done. (Except corsets are way more work, which is why I'll never really get good at those. Anyway.)

It's quite a dark bonnet so these aren't great pics - since it rained basically all day and was generally dark and dismal! Oh well, I tried. (And the bonnet is on the head slightly crookedly! oops.)

And, bonnet! I got it all mulled today, and started sewing the silk pieces on. Not Bad.

Here's a pic of the buckram form, with its amusingly wacky bindings. (Also blood splatters, since this has been a very dangerous bonnet to make so far. Here's hoping the silk manages to avoid war wounds...) I make my binding for buckram out of bits from the scrap bin and just keep joining them together, so things like this end up happening!

Finally finished binding the mantle! So it just needs a hook/eye (forgot to buy a big one from work tonight, so that will have to wait) and the marabou trim. And I totally plan to bring mantle and trim to my grandmother's house, where we're going for Thanksgiving dinner. I do not have time to lapse into a turkey coma! Feathers must be sewn! (Said feathers happily showed up on my doorstep today, which is good as I was getting antsy.) I decided on a "pink champagne" color for the marabou, which was a good choice as I think it looks nice with the dull spruce velvet without being too in-your-face Christmassy.

The binding is decidedly woobly; if I'd not planned on trim I would have made a little more effort! But - getting trim, therefore I don't care. There are a few nicks in the velvet (clearance, so unsurprising) and naturally I managed to put pretty much all of them front and center. Oh well! Can't really see them in pictures so it's like they don't exist, right? ;) (And ignore the weird light/shadows. Late afternoon, doncha know.)




I also mocked up a new brim for my bonnet; I'm using the same crown as the peach one from this summer, but as you get to the end of the decade, brims are much lower, rounder, and closer to the face, although not quite the coal-scuttle type that comes in in in the early '40s. If I were really dedicated, I would make up a new crown that has more of a flare out to the brim...buuuut I'm getting short on time, and as a very transitional style of bonnet there are a lot of varations! So the straighter crown is valid too, just not what I'd pick if I had infinite time. Anyway! I cut out the buckram pieces too, and am trying my hand at a blocked crown tip...buckram is currently drying on its ghetto-tastic block aka plastic refrigerator container. Aww yiss.

I cut up the woven hat today and stitched it to the buckram pieces. Not perfect, as you can kinda see the buckram through the weave, but it's not too horribly ugly to wear, I don't think! The stitches are very giant, messy, and obvious - but only if you're closer than two feet from it, haha. Acceptable.

Less acceptable: how the pieces of this hat are fitting together.

Looks promising:


Hmmm. *tilts head, narrows eyes* Less so.

Looks like the fit of the pieces might be a little off. Just a hair. Tiny bit. Almost unnoticeable.

And this is the second time I've put this hat together, btw. I thought it was me doing something stupid the first time, maybe three years ago? I'm really starting to think it's the pattern, though...

Just measured the actual pattern pieces, and the crown edge measures 18 1/8, the brim 16 1/4. IT'S NOT ME. *feels validated* This is Lynn Mc Masters' Natural Form bonnet 1877-82, view A, btw. Which I am surprised at, because I've used other patterns of hers that had the pattern pieces, you know, actually match. Of course I can make it work,it's not a day of wasted hat-sewing...but it IS annoying!