HSF Challenge #6 - The Fairytale Challenge

The Challenge: #6 Fairytale
What it is: A gown for Lucretia Borgia (I know, I'm reaching!)
Fabric: Cotton, Polyester
Pattern: TV 201 - 1870s underskirt; Butterick 3012 - bodice (heavily modified)
Year: 1875-1885
Notions: gold/green trim, green and cream rat tail cording, green ribbon, hook and eyes
How historically accurate is it?   This is a period period gown. It is 1875 does 1500, so it is very difficult to say. The skirt design is accurate to the 1870s, but everything else is based on what I could glean from photographs and fashion plates. The fabric is not at all accurate, though. 
First worn: April 26th, when Miss Nellie Boyd has her next appearance.
Total cost: The green fabric is from my stash, the brown I just bought. The white is an old cotton sheet. So, with trim and fabric, it's about 25$ - 30$.

Ok, so I have to admit to bending the rules a bit on this one. I wanted to do the challenge, but I also have to make costumes I can wear in my performances. I perform a small scene from the 1860s melodrama "Lucretia Borgia" with myself as Nellie Boyd in the lead. I thought it would be perfect to create the costume she might have worn on stage. So my fairytale princess is more like a renaissance duchess with an unsavory reputation.  In the play she is killed by her long lost son, whom she has just accidentally poisoned. (In real life, she died giving birth to her 8th child.) I just love those old melodramas!

The design is loosely based on one of Ellen Terry's costumes as Beatrice.

I used the very 19th century shirring on the skirt.

It was my first attempt at shirring, so the lines aren't as straight as I would like, but it's serviceable. I also used the sleeves from Ellen Terry's gown, because I saw them in a few other places, as well as on a very Italian painting.

 

My sleeves, with this wonderful trim I found in our discount fabric store downtown.

I also looked at lots of Renaissance gowns.

 

The truly challenging part of this was making a renaissance gown look like it was made in the late 19th century, so I needed to look closer at 19th century actresses. Unfortunately, the ones I could find were more Elizabethan than  Italian, since they were mostly doing Shakespeare, or Queen Elizabeth.

There are not many extant stage costumes from the 19th century, so I really was on my own here. I went with what I know about 1) costuming for the stage; 2) Renaissance costuming; 3) what I think Nellie Boyd would have thought was important in a costume; and 4) the fabric I had access to.

 So, what makes it 19th century and not 16th? Mostly the bodice. Italian renaissance bodices had the empire waist (yeah, I know it was before that, but that's what we call that style!) Even true Elizabethan or Tudor bodices were tubular or conical, and did not accent the waist and bust the way Victorian bodices did. The shape of the corset underneath is what defines the shape of the bodice, and just as they did in Hollywood in the early days, actresses wore dresses that were kind-of period, but with a "modern" shape.

Also, the shirring on the skirt - as well as the whole skirt itself - was very popular in late 19th century clothes, probably because of the wonderful shirring attachment you could get for your Singer - just like the one I used on this skirt. Yes, I have a 1920 Singer treadle machine, and my new Kenmore does NOT have a shirring or ruffler attachment (though I'm sure I could get one.)

Why is it green and not red, which would have been more in keeping with the Borgia theme? I had a lot of green, and I also have an 1880s bodice made from the same fabric already. I can wear the skirt and pull the overskirt into a bustle, and voila! I have a new 1880s outfit. Sweet, right?

One note on the fabric I used for the skirt. It is a faux silk (aka polyester), but it is a shot silk, and really pretty in the right light. The weft (or the warp, I'm not sure which) is actually green, so this golden-brown fabric shines green in the right light. That's why it goes so well with the bodice and overskirt.

Body Double

I have had my Grey Lady for several years, and I have never been satisfied with her. No matter how adjustable she is, she is NOT my size. I have never been able to put a corset on her, and she was only good for hanging things on.  So, after seeing a lot of references to duck tape dress forms, I decided to fix her. I don't have a before picture, but let's just say that recently, she broke a hip, and was looking like the victim of severe scoliosis.

Here she is now, wearing one of my store-bought corsets

I used a lot of fiberfill padding, duck tape and a measuring tape. Now she's just my size, although the boobs still aren't quite right - the ones on the mannikin are in a weird place and they don't squish properly. I have to say that it wasn't as depressing as I thought it might be. I've gained a lot of weight in the last couple of years, but after looking at her, I don't feel so bad about it.

HSF Challenge #4 - Under It All

The Challenge: Under it all
Fabric: Printed Cotton
Pattern: None
Year: 1875
Notions: hook and eye
How historically accurate is it?   Aside from the polyester firberfill, it's as accurate as it can get.
Hours to complete: Two episodes of Project Runway, and one Ghost Hunters (perhaps a little more. I didn't like its first incarnation because it was too wide even for my butt, so I cut it down.)
First worn: Not yet.
Total cost: Well, I had just bought this fabric for my stash, so I guess I have to count it. 2 yards at $6.66, so $13.32.

First, I am desperate need of another bustle pad, so the choice was easy. I had been looking at this one at the V&A Museum for a while now - I just love paisley - and decided to do something like that.

The original inspiration is also cotton paisley, but it's huge! After looking closely, I realized that it had started life as a smaller, two-tiered pad. The two lower pads were added later. You can see that while the fabric is very close, it's not the same.  So I settled for a three-tiered compromise. I also wanted something that woud be more of a late 1880s "shelf", so I didn't make it as round. Perhaps I should have. Oh, well, that's what happens when you are working without a pattern while watching TV after work. I think it will work, though.

1905 Dress Finished

This weekend saw the unveiling of the Nellie Boyd dress on Friday, and it's final appearance on Saturday, and therein lies a tale. And a lesson learned (well, many lessons learned).
The dress looked almost exactly as I had pictured in my head.

The lace panels down the front still bother me.  I tried several different things here, but after a certain point you just have to make a decision and go with it. I'm happy with everything else. Except the fabric.
Yes, this beautiful periwinkle blue, faux silk fabric, that just looks so lovely, is a nightmare. It sheds! Everytime I worked with it, there was a fine blue dusting on everything - my sewing machine, my iron, my ironing board, and in my fingernails. Ugh! So of course, adding cream lace was the biggest problem. I didn't realize how much until I looked at the cuff of the sleeves. They are dark blue from rubbing against the fabric. And all the other lace appliques are rather gray instead of cream. Oh, well. It was very cheap, and I didn't even consider washing it first. In the future, will just have to be more critical of my fabric before I start using it.
Also, back hooks are a bad idea if you don't have a lady's maid. I had to have my loved ones help me get in and out of it.  I plan to make another 1905 outfit, but I will make it with a front buttoning shirtwaist, and a front buttoning bodice. And fabric that doesn't shed.
The dress was a big hit, though. Here is Miss Nellie Boyd at dinner on Friday night.

 Now, I have a new bustle to make for the HSF Challenge #4 - Under it all. Or, I could clean the house. Heh.

HSF Challenge #3

The Challenge: Pink

Fabric: Cotton, cotton blend

Pattern: Janet Arnold, 1887 skirt

Year:1887

Notions: none

How historically accurate is it?  Not terribly. The fabric is all wrong, although the construction is right for the time period. The color is ok, too.

Hours to complete:  Approximately 6

First worn: Will be worn for a stage costume, under a much nicer draped over skirt.

Total cost: $2.99 for thread.  All else from my stash.

I consider this a failure. The real challenge was finding enough pink fabric in my stash.  What I found is all wrong for the design. The darker pink was allright - it is a heavy, moire-style cotton I had dyed pink several years ago. But there wasn't enough, so I used this pink/green check with it. The pink/green is too light, so the folds do not keep their shape.  Oh, well. It's good enough to wear under a better draped over skirt that will cover most of it.

 

Nellie Boyd's 1905 Dress Part 1

In the past, I have not posted detailed progress reports of my projects as many bloggers do, mainly because I am self-taught, and I wouldn't want anyone to think that this is "the way it should be done." A lot of my methods are trial and error discoveries. But, since this is my sewing blog, and I have been doing this long enough to at least pretend I know what I'm doing, I want to start documenting my sewing projects. I start with this 1905 dress that needs to be finished by February 21st.

Nellie Boyd (1851-1909) was a famous and well-loved actress in the old west. She travelled by stage coach in the early days, and then by train as the railroad spread west. Hers was the first professional theatre troupe to come to El Paso back in 1881. For that reason, I chose her as my alter-ego, and have done extensive research. In February, I will give my first public talk as Miss Boyd.

I chose a 1905 dress because I am speaking as the retired Miss Boyd, who now owns a raisin farm in Fresno (don't laugh, she was very successful!)  In her waining years, she did speak now and then in various venues, though probably not at a Rancher's Grill. I also just really like the fashion of that era and wanted an excuse to make a dress.

This is my starting point:

Jacques Doucet (French, Paris 1853–1929 Paris)

Afternoon Dress, ca. 1903
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Yes, I know its says 1903, but what's two years between friends? Anyway, I found some beautiful periwinkle blue polyester that really has the look and feel of silk (as much as polyester can.) I also scored some cotton lace and trim.

I am using Simplicity Costume pattern #9723 because I never learned how to make my own pattern, but I have gotten pretty good at fiddling with commercial ones to make them do what I want. I started with the bodice. I have some polished cotton as a lining/foundation. I attached the lace to it for the bib and collar.

The pattern - and historical accuracy - calls for stays on the bodice. I usually use spiral bones, but I only had steel short ones, so the don't bend pretty.

The pattern also calls for attaching the outer layer to the lining, which I did. I made the outer layer a little bigger, because I wanted more of a pooch on the pigeon pouter part of the bodice. It's rather pronounced on the model, but scaled back in the modern pattern. Also, the pattern did not require a lining on the back half of the bodice (really?) I fixed that, too.

 This is before I sewed the side seams. I was reluctant to, because I really should have applied the embellishments before I put it together, but I am just having a hard time deciding exactly what I want on it and how to use my lace to its best advantage. So, I will complete it, and the skirt as well, and then decide. It will be trickier to to attach, but I will be happier knowing what it will look like.

This is where it stands now. Next up, the sleeves and the skirt.

HSF Challenge

I revived this blog mostly so I could follow along with The Dreamstress on the Historical Sewing Fortnightly challenge. Unfortunately, I found out about it too late to participate in challenges #1 and #2. But challenge #3 isn't due until the 15th, and it's pink. Yes, just pink. I need a more formal skirt of the 1885 variety, so I will attempt to make a skirt with big box pleats, something new for me. And really, that's the whole point, to challenge yourself. But, honestly, the challenge will be to get the pink skirt done AND the 1905 dress for my appearance as Nelly Boyd on Feburary 21st.  I will keep you posted.