HSF '14: #5: Bodice: Inspiration and Progress

With just a few days left before the next HSF challenge is due, I thought I would share some of my processes and inspirations.

For this particular challenge, I had the most perfectest item in mind to make. I spoke about it in last year's #10: Literary inspiration post, which was more side-related to that project. To recap, I was reading Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, and in Soulless, Alexia went out for an evening in a cream ballgown with raspberry trim. As I was in the middle of constructing a cream-coloured dress and had planned for raspberry accents when I had time, this was very fortuitous, as it gave me another option to make for the skirts.

One reason that I am enjoying participating in the HSF so much is that it gives me focus. I'm one of those people who works much better with deadlines, and I think it is great to be working on projects even when I don't have a particular NEED for those projects. I usually end up frantically sewing late into the night and waking up early to finish a costume, usually to just a wearable state (most of my skirts don't have closures, for example; they all close with safety pins). It's nice to work with a deadline but not have a specific need. This bodice challenge will be one that I likely won't 100% finish it (I'll consider it a win if I can get it to "wearable"; it definitely won't be trimmed!) but it will be a lot easier to complete it when I do need it with most of the work done already.

Photo by A. Yoner.
Big Valley, AB, Canada

In 2011, when I made the original outfit, I ended up making a favourite, Truly Victorian's 1884 French Vest Bodice. It was another event that I was frantically sewing for - I had spent the day before hand-sewing a hat and by the time I got home, my fingers were so sore that I put on 16 out of 20 buttons, and there was no way I was going to be able to stitch the pleats in place. I sewed the last of the buttons in the car, and the pleats were pinned into place. I've since sewn those down, but the skirts still lack closures...

And looking at it now, the fit is not great. I hadn't yet figured out that I needed to take out some inches in the chest, and at least part of it is the wrong size. I'm not sure yet if I'll ever take it apart and try to correct those issues. It's gonna be a lot of work. I have not worn it since 2012, and while I don't want to retire the outfit, I'm not sure when I'll wear it again.

Anyway, this challenge is PERFECT. I've been wanting to make a matching ballgown bodice since I made it. I didn't have a lot of fabric left - one piece 22" by 66", to be precise. I had JUST BARELY enough to make the main pieces. There is not enough left over to make sleeves, so this will be a sleeveless bodice.

That dark shadow in the corner is from the rather large amount of fabric my mum gave me :3

Of course, I had to second guess myself a lot first. Even though I'd planned this since the challenge was announced, at the start of the week I started wondering what else I could make that wouldn't take a lot of effort. When I made the original gown, I was timing myself on the construction so that I would have a better idea on the amount of time and effort spent. The skirts - the base, the pleated ruffle, and the overskirt - all took less time than one bodice. The French vest bodice was about 20 hours of work; that's a lot to spend on something, even over a couple weeks. But I was really stuck on the idea of "bodice", and after considering and rejecting several ideas, I decided that this one really was the one that needed to happen.

It took a little Tetris-ing, but I got all of the main pieces laid out. Sweeeet. This pattern has the corrected chest, and I also made changes to the armhole. My first ballgown bodice, in tangerine taffeta, did not have the armhole corrected and I find it sits somewhat oddly on my shoulders, mainly that it doesn't. It should hopefully be good now. I am confident enough in the pattern to just jump in with both feet. I have the outer layers basted and constructed and boned; now I just need to decide what to line it with :)

Mum... can I start pulling out all those pins you just put in?

And after I had laid out my fashion fabric, I discovered something. I always thought I had just managed to drop an unusual amount of pins, but it turns out that if I leave the pin dish on the floor, my cat will steal pins out of it and then chase them around a bit. I think he likes the way the pin causes the ball to skitter unevenly. So I've been good about picking it up once I'm done with it. After I'd pinned out the fashion fabric, I left it on the floor to retrieve a drink, and turned back to find him pulling pins out of the fabric! He pulled out half a dozen, just like that! He's thankfully shown no interest in actually eating them, just pulling them out and chasing them! What a silly kitty!

HSF'14: #4 Under It All: A 1700s Chemise

There really isn't a lot to say about this, so here it is :) I picked up the fabric right before I visited the Harry Potter Exhibition, so I carried 5yds of linen around in my bag for several hours. Turns out 5 yards of 3.5oz linen doesn't weigh a whole lot as I barely noticed the extra weight lol. It was washed the next day, and I began work on the shift the day after (ahhh long weekends!) and finished most of it. But then the next day was the follow-up for the bedbugs so everything got packed away again, and then I was hit with my seasonal depression. It took a week and a half more before I could finally convince myself to put all the boxes away, and only then did I finish the shift. Luckily, I pushed hard enough on the first day that all I had left to do was trim and fell the side and sleeve seams, and hem it. That was it. It was a very quick garment to make, easily do-able in one day (by machine, anyway). The only thing I would change is perhaps to make the neckline a liiiittle bit narrower; I had not planned to put a drawstring into it, but once I had it ready to try on, it was quickly apparent that it was necessary.

The Challenge: #4 Under It All
Fabric: 100% Linen
Pattern: Drafted from MaraRiley.net
Year: 1760s-1780s
Notions: Thread and some ribbon
How historically accurate is it?* In materials and general shape and patterning Poly thread and poly ribbon, machine stitched.
Hours to complete: 8-10.
First worn: Not yet.
Total cost: $15

Further resources:

Construction from marquise.de
Research and construction from SharonBurnston.com

*I decided that I found this category the hardest to fill out, as what makes something historically accurate to me may not qualify sufficiently for someone else, and I feel it is a little arbitrary for that reason. No one is grading me on these items, so I have decided to avoid a "grade" and will focus instead on the elements that make it historical.

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HSF '14 #3: Pink: Pocket Paniers

I'm pretty pleased I got these done only one day late, considering I wasn't planning on doing it at all (I've been too busy sulking about the state of my apartment and missing my cat, who is staying with my friends until after the bedbug re-spray. Just a few more days!) I would have had them done on the due date as they took next to no time at all, except I had given myself a "social day" with friends at the Harry Potter Exhibition and looking through a telescope at the sun. So I didn't start them until about 7:30pm and there's only so late I want to work on things. So really, it's my own fault it's late ;)

My current set of undergarments is packed up for the spray (grr) but I laid some fabric over top to see how they would lay. I didn't add the tapes across the front and back, thinking that they weight of any petticoats on top would help keep them down, and the fabric seemed to hold that theory up. I couldn't fit through any doorway in my apartment. AWESOME :D

I was determined not to buy anything new for this challenge, and I was whining to myself about using up more twill tape than I wanted. I decided to try bias tape, since I got a bunch about 20 years ago from my Gramma that I have no practical use for but can't throw or give away because some day I might need some lavender bias tape... I tested the first three channels after I sewed them to make sure the cable ties would fit. One advantage to the bias taps is that it would stretch a little around the cable tie and really hold it in place.

I really like the juxtaposition of teal on coral :)

The cable ties came in a rolled-up package and retained their curl when I opened it. At first I put them in following their curl but the panier collapsed in on itself that way, so I had to flip them over. Much better, except in a few places where the plastic can't decide what it's doing. As long as it does its job, it will be fine :)

The Challenge: #3 Pink
Fabric: 1m-ish coral mystery fabric (likely poly-cotton)
Pattern: The Dreamstress' Panier-a-long from last year
Year: 1760-1780 (as per the above link)
Notions: poly teal bias tape, poly twill tape, heavy duty cable ties
How historically accurate is it?: In shape only.
Hours to complete: 4
First worn: not yet
Total cost: Around $5.00, with most of the cost being the cable ties The fabric and bias tape were both stash items that I'm reasonably sure I received from someone else, the twill tape was $0.80 and the cable ties were about $5.50 for 10 (used 6).

HSF '14: Falling off the wagon (already)

During last year's HSF, I contracted 6 "plagues" in under 2 months (I had a cold, two stomach flus, tonsilitis, and two other illnesses I can't recall, just that I spent most of January and February in bed) and my sewing fell by the wayside something awful. I've never been that sick that often in my whole life. Excepting a sinus cold in August, I haven't been since, either (knock on wood!). This year was going to be different, I said. This year I was going to finish all the projects on time, AND finish all of last year's too.

Winter, however, does not like me much. I feel fine, but the last two weeks have just been a series of minor obstacles, and so my project for #2: Innovation will not be ready. Sadface.

I had initially planned to make a corset with a separating busk as the innovation. They were a great invention after the one-piece hard busks down a lady's front, enabling her to get dressed more easily by herself (I suspect this was not the reason of their invention, but in our modern world of not living with extra hands to help us get dressed, they are wonderful). All of my current corsets do not fit me ideally. My first one fits the best, front and back lacing, if just a touch too long - the front bones dig into the tops of my legs when I sit down. Whatever boning was used in them is easily bent at that point. The lady who made that corset got her hands up against my waist a year later and told me that my ribcage is sized more proportionately for someone 4-5" taller than I am.

I'm telling you, I was meant to be tall.

My second one was purchased online, and is a very nicely made corset. Nice thick, sturdy fabric, spiral steel boning, good lacing, not too long over the hip. Buuut it doesn't fit right. I can't really buy "off the rack". My waist and hips are one size, and my bust is a full size smaller. I have a belly pooch that resists reshaping very stubbornly. I broke a rib some 8 years ago. I have a lower back injury that has never fully healed, partly because I keep re-injuring it. I've bought corsets according to every guideline with which to do so - by waist measurement. But since my waist is bigger than my chest, I always end up too roomy in the chest. Even after I took this corset apart a bit to bring in the bust, it flattens me out far too much, and pulls too hard over the hips. I was quite uncomfortable by the end of the day at WorldCon.

I really need a custom made corset and really can't afford to get one unless I make it myself. I don't want to compress my body too much; it's just too uncomfortable. It needs to be just small enough to fit snugly and give the proper shape under my gowns.

I had such grand plans. I bought a couple busks close to 10 years ago and have been meaning to make one for nearly as long (I made a corset in 2005, more to say that I did, and have made mostly stays ever since). I first drafted up a scaled corset from Frances Grimble's Fashions of the Guilded Age Vol 1, and then bought a commercial pattern since it was extremely similar and had the added bonus of being a single layer. I whipped up a quick mock-up and was going to go ahead with the corset when I realized that my busk was too long.

Nooooooooo :(

There was no time to order supplies (Fashions' corset is for a spoon busk, and it's quite short, so maybe that would help at least keep the busk from sticking straight out from the pooch? Thank goodness belly pooch is very Victorian!). It was under a week before the deadline, which also happened to fall on the same day as a local convention, so there wasn't enough time to go through the mock-up process with a new pattern.

Then I was going to make open drawers - what another great invention! Drawers weren't common for women (if at all) until the Regency era, and after spending an hour outside at New Year's in -25 and losing feeling in my legs, I had a great feeling that I would have been more comfortable in flannel drawers and two petticoats and skirts. No matter what though, I wanted a pair of drawers that I could wear under other eras. Sure, they're not period for Elizabethan or Georgian, but who's going to be inspecting under my skirts? I am much more comfortable while wearing a split-leg garment of some kind.

Fate conspired against me again. For the fourth time in under 3 years, I am being sprayed for bedbugs. I don't have them, never have in all of these sprays, but it means that everything I own must be packed up and moved away from the walls. So while I haven't been packing and moving anything and have been sulking instead, February is pretty much a write-off in terms of sewing. I look at my projects and think "what's the point, it all has to be packed up anyway". It's not just the spray, it's the re-inspection two weeks later. There is extremely little point in putting my residence back in order when I'll just have to re-do it.

On the upside, it'll give me a chance to find my embroidery hoop and go through the old VHS tapes I've stuffed into a back corner of the storage closet. But Innovation is off the table for now, and Pink is not looking fantastic either, especially since I can't find my pinking shears.

Have a picture or two of my cat being oh-so-helpful for making it to the end of the post :) I nearly had a heart attack seeing the bustle move out of the corner of my eye until I realized it had grown a tail.

HSF #25: One Metre: Green Neckerchief

One advantage to completing last year's challenges for the Historical Sew Fortnightly is that I can pick and choose which ones to complete based on the needs of my wardrobe and what I'm in interested in working on at the moment. I still feel like a dirty, dirty cheater for doing it this way, but at least it's getting my wardrobe up to snuff in a roundabout fashion ;)

I knew I needed a neckerchief or fichu to fill in the neckline of my pink gown, and for a time I waffled on whether or not I wanted to have a coloured one or wait until I could get some white linen. I did some poking around on the internet and decided that a coloured one would be fine. Lucky for me I had some hanky-weight linen I got for a steal at last year's sale in a pretty green. I just wish it was suitable for a shift too! It was a dream to sew!

The Challenge: #25: One Metre
Fabric: linen
Pattern: none; It is roughly 1m on all sides.
Year: 1775ish (does a hemmed square of fabric really have a year?)
Notions: Thread
How historically accurate is it?: 95%! The thread is polyester lol.
Hours to complete: 3.
First worn: Not yet.
Total cost: $2

Fills in the neck nicely :)

HSF #24: Re-Do: A pink robe a la anglaise en forreau

The theme of the 24th challenge of the Historical Sew Fortnightly was "Re-do" - re-do a previous theme. I chose to repeat a VERY recent one (of the ones I've completed so far, anyway), mostly because I absolutely could not have done this without the internet holding my hand through it.

I chose to "re-do" the Gratitude challenge.

When I decided to commit to a Georgian, I had intended to use a length of lovely green linen to make a robe a la anglaise with an en forreau back. When I finally dug it out of a box (ahhh moving), there wasn't nearly as much of it as I remembered. I had made a little note with the measurements but it got lost in the move. Not that it mattered - there simply wasn't enough. I recall it being an odd width, but even if it was 60" wide, it's only 2.5m long. Not enough for a full gown. Nuts! I'd so had my heart set on it.

Just prior to finding this out, I'd gone to the annual New Year's Day sale at Fabricland where I scored 6m of pink linen/cotton blend for around $4.50/m (regular $14). I was quite pleased! I know it's not strictly period, but I had intended to make undergarments with it - pocket hoops and a petticoat at the very least. But after I rediscovered that the green linen was insufficient, my plans changed.

So now I'd decided on making a pink linen/cotton robe a la anglaise en forreau - phew, what a mouthful. I was utterly terrified to start. What if I made a mistake somewhere? What if I ruined my gown and/or fabric? Aiiieee!!

Take a deep breath, self. You can do this. While I still have a hundred and one things to learn, I'm moving up towards "advanced" seamstressing. I can do this.

But I really could not have done it without Katherine's wonderful and extremely detailed tutorial. I started with a pattern (Reconstructing History #822) to give me basic shapes to start with and made a muslin first. I had to grade the seams out a bit to accommodate my shape and trim away a lot of the neckline and shorten it a bit at the waist, but despite that, I really only had to make minor changes. I transferred my changes to the paper, accounted for seams, and moved onto a lining. A bit more fitting to fiddle with (mostly opening the neckline more, front and back). Finally, I was satisfied with the fit and it was time to move onto the fabric.

DEEP BREATH, SELF. REMEMBER, YOU CAN DO THIS.

I did make one mistake in cutting the back, which was easily fixed and I amazingly did not full-on panic about considering how scared I was to start. You can see the fix I made in these progress pics on my LiveJournal. I also ended up with the neckline a bit too wide, but as I won't be wearing this without some sort of neckline filler and I'm planning on trimming it anyway, it should be OK.

The Challenge: #24: Re-do. I redid #23 Gratitude, with huge huge thanks to Katherine's tutorials on anglaise, sleeves and francaise (binding).
Fabric: 55% Linen/45% cotton, white linen/cotton for the bodice lining and what I believe is cotton for sleeve lining.
Pattern: RH #822 with modifications, sleeve drafted from Costume Close-up.
Year: 1775-ish
Notions: cotton thread, poly twill tape for petticoat ties.
How historically accurate is it? Pretty darn close; perhaps around 80%. I ended up handsewing nearly the entire thing except for skirt and bodice lining seams. Everything else (hems, any visible stitching, and the sleeves) are hand-done.
Hours to complete: around 15-20 hours, I think, not including mock-up time. I wasn't keeping super-close track.
First worn: Just for pictures.
Total cost: $30 for pink fabric, linings were leftovers from other projects, thread randomly appeared in my stash, tape was perhaps $2. Max $40.

Sleeves set in by hand even though the strap is cut as one with the bodice.

The left back shoulder ended up being a little too short so I patched it. Probably could have covered it with the facing, but oh well.

My "oops" with the skirt is nearly completely hidden :)