SPP 2009 Triming Ideas

I wasn't thrilled with the trim on the original dress

National Museum of Denmark mus. nr. 6070/1977 to 6072/1977

Source: natmus.dk via Corsetra on Pinterest

My early ideas were to make the dress a bit more steampunk.

February 26th, 2009 post on ideas
"The dress will be in the red/brown, assuming I have enough of it. The bolero as well. I think I will skip the waistcoat  and put the corset over the skirt and under the bolero. more steampunked that way. I still need to figure out how to make a mini hoop, I would like to do an uncovered one if possible.
And will need a riding hat or some other bonnet and boots.
I would like to change the trimming on the skirt to be a bit more steam punk, but I haven't figured that out yet."

So the first obvious place to start was the hem trim
March 18th, 2009
"While at the hardware store the other day I found #6 external locking (or tooth) washers that I will use for the "gear" decoration on Elphaba's dress for the Single Pattern Project over at Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.
Here we have a few drafted mock ups of trimming options for the skirt. the circles will be the gears and the lines will be couched cord. (I think the thinnest chain I could find would be too heavy.)
I think the purple and blue would end up being too heavy. the green is kind of meh. I was trying to imitate some of those fabulous soutach patterns that are so often found on mid 19th cent dresses, with gears at the corners and not crossing over any lines."

 I also played with the bolero triming
March 28th, 2009
"his is how the #6 locking washers look as bodice triming. pattern is properly scaled for Elphaba."

"A mock up of the skirt triming, before I went and played in CAD."

I wasn't thrilled with it, so I decided to toss the steampunk idea and go for something more historically accurate which means back to the research. I spent some time looking for a different triming option, and finally settled on a combination of This bodice from August 1862 Peterson and a mutilation of May 1863 dress

I think it turned out well in the end

Etsy Monday November 19th Beaded Dragon

It has been some time since I did an Etsy Monday since I am celebrating my Birthmonth by running a month long special. 50% off by using the code

BIRTHDAYMONTH

Today is a new listing.

Meet DragonBert
Now on my etsy shop.
He stands on his own at about 1 3/4" tall. Green beads and green wire make up his figure.


He goes very nicely with the beaded fairy.

SPP 2009 Color choices

I knew that the dress would be made in silk, so the first thing I did was go through my small stash.

Elphaba's green skin tone would prove challenging, but that is part of why I love her so much. all these photos were taken in natural light.

The first choice was a red/black and is actually more brown than these photos. It was just scraps left over from another project.
My issue with it was it is very close to the color of her hair.

The second choice was black, the standard Wicked Witch of the West color. and she will get a black outfit some day, I decided that I didn't want to make the dress in black. This is also scrap fabric (was going to be an elizabethan shirt, but I learned better.)

The third choice was teal/purple. I had some prewashed scraps (left) and 2 yard of it that were not washed (right)



So of the three colors I had in my stash, the red was the top contender, but my husband (who has a better sense of design and color than I) didn't care for it, so we went shopping. We found
a gold haboti. I put her up against it and it looked good on her, so did the pumpkin below the gold. So I decided to get a yard of each which is enough for the dress, believe it or not. There ended up being two yards of the pumpkin so I took it all.

Now the next day I pull out my silk ribbons, the gold I had is really close to the gold haboti!

AND the gold is really close in color to the actuall SPP dress as seen in Moden!

So now to decide on what color to trim it?

Pumkin with the gold and a gold waistcoat?
Pumkin with black? (too jack-o-lantern?)
Gold with white?

I had a quick look through my books and the only really orange dress was rather plain.
I had some 4mm black silk ribbon on hand for this picture

I picked up some other colors of ribbon at Lacis

These are the 2mm ribbons and the design called for three rows of trim.

In the end I went with the gold and black.

SPP 2009 Gathering up ideas.

One of the first things I did was look up similar dresses.
The Museum at FIT
Object Number: P90.22.2

Source: fashionmuseum.fitnyc.edu via Corsetra on Pinterest

Source: fashionmuseum.fitnyc.edu via Corsetra on Pinterest

Metropolitan Museum C.I.60.6.11a,b

Source: metmuseum.org via Corsetra on Pinterest

Which was the inspiration for Simplicity 3791

Grace and Favour: Victorian and Edwardian Fashion in America Cincinnati Art Museum ISBN 0-931537-16-9
Page 43 plate 12 1826-64 walking dress with jacket, vest, and sleeve ends, page 89 has the text and accession number 1989.39 a-e, this does not show up on their website, so here is a picture

August 1862 Peterson from New York Public Library

Source: digital.nypl.org via Corsetra on Pinterest

Le Petit Messager. Journal de Modes.May 16, 1863 from UW

Source: content.lib.washington.edu via Corsetra on Pinterest

1863 Madam Demorest Pattern for a Ladies vest from New York Public Library

Source: digitalgallery.nypl.org via Corsetra on Pinterest

July 1864 Peterson from NYPL

Source: digital.nypl.org via Corsetra on Pinterest

Single Pattern Project 2009

Back in 2009 Your Wardrobe Unlock'd had the Single Pattern Project. The challenge was to make something using the pattern for this dress

Source: natmus.dk via Corsetra on Pinterest

National Museum of Denmark mus. nr. 6070/1977 to 6072/1977
At the time of the challenge, the Danish Museum's website was done differently and the patterns were freely on their website.

Do not fret, the patterns were originally published in a series of books, this one was in Moden 1840-1890, which I own. The books are hard to find these days, especially in America, but they are very nice, and the website did not post all the patterns when they were up, so it was worth it to me to buy the books. even though I can not read much of it, though some of it is in English

I was pregnant at the time of the challenge, so I decided to make the dress in miniature for my doll

Source: angelicdreamz.com via Corsetra on Pinterest

Tonner 2007 Basic Wicked Witch of the West (left) My first Tonner doll, my husband picked her out at a doll show.
In the end I made her the entire outfit, much of it sewn by hand, due to the small size. The outfit includes all period correct undergarments.

I will slowly port over the dress diaries for each piece.

Etsy Monday for November 5th

Today's Etsy Special for the next 2 weeks is 50% off anything in my shop through November!

Why?

November is my birth month!

Use this code

BIRTHDAYMONTH


So there will be no more etsy monday posts for the month except for NEW listings.

Time to start thinking of Christmas!

Panda cake by Струјајое on Wikimedia

Funding Research

Put your Money where your Heart is

Yesterday was the first of  November and I donated my October Etsy Sales to Sarah Lorraine of Mode Historique for her research into the "chemise a la reine."


It wasn't much as my etsy sales are sparce, but it was the best I could do, seeing as the Etsy sales are the only income I have.

Sara has returned from her research trip and appears to have enjoyed herself very much, sh has posted some information already on her blog Scandalous Liberty but don't expect to see everything there as this is her Thesis! She has, of course, promised to share her research with the larger world in some undetermined format at a later date. Possibly as a book, in which case, she will likely need more donations. so I urge you to consider funding her project.

The original blog post I made about donating the sales, is here

I wish to thank anyone who helped Sara.

Hallows recap

We had a good Halloween here, no part, not even trick or treating, but the Children did get to wear their outfits.

The tails did have issue with coming unsnapped. Surprisingly enough the Kitty tail stayed on the best even though it only has 2 snaps and the Bear and Puppy have 3?

So while I pat myself on the head for having Halloween outfits finished before October 1st, I still feel like a failure. Why?

My children appear to have dietary issues, so we are on a Gluten, Dairy and refined sugar free diet. Thus My School aged chidren were told to only eat what I gave them in their lunch, and nothing else, which they did. I tried my best to make thier lunch more special that normal, and apparently succeeded!

From that small intro intro our diet, I think you can see why we didn't Trick or Treat.
We didn't attend any parties as we have only been here 6 month and haven't made friends yet.

I didn't dress up. I think that is why I feel like a failure. Like many others in the Historical Costuming field, I don't generally wear my historical outfits on Halloween. A lot of that is still in storage from the move too. The only corset that fits is the Corset en X, which isn't very costumy. Even my witches hat is in storage.

My children's outfits, while made by me and USEFUL are not actually costumes, which some class mates pointed out. but My children are all happy with their outfits!

I had several costumes made by my mother growing up, she is the reason why I am interested into Historical Costuming, she even did theme parties at other times of the year. I feel like a failure as a costumer for not doing something for Halloween.