Rejoicing with the Truth

Today was an off Friday, so I was able to sleep in a little bit. The morning and a little bit of the afternoon I did the monthly bills; not the most fun thing to do, but necessary and instructive as always.

Then I got to work on the petticoat. My late-night post may not have been clear; while I did not finish it, I did complete all of the skirt seams. So I did the hem and put in tucks with the handy-dandy antique Singer attachment.  After a false start (getting the spacing wrong for the second tuck), I got in all five tucks pretty rapidly. For future reference, angled seams do make tucks a little tricky. More importantly, though, as the series continues, it gets harder for the tucker to mark the fold of the next tuck because of the thickness of the previous tucks folded under. Also, sometimes the edge of a previous tuck gets hung up on the fold line marker, which throws off the fold line. It would probably be less of an issue on something lighter than Pimatex. Otherwise, working tucks from the top down, or sewing from the underside, would be the better choice.

The ruffler also gave some difficulty. It's hard to gather to a specified length; and it didn't help for the needle to loosen itself and jam in the works in the middle of it! But it got gathered up okay. There was more drama, when the waistband ended up way too big, but I pleated it in a couple places and managed to get the straps a good length and placement.  It's a great petticoat!

Then, with the dress on over it, I realized two things: (1) Lawn is not the best material for 1810s-onward gowns.  It's SO soft and rather clingy. So especially in front, it doesn't hang just terribly well over the petticoat. I do believe that a couple of flounces would help, by weighing it down a bit. (2) The front panel was too narrow, and I had further messed it up by cutting and hemming slits instead of letting it open further to the side. It scarcely overlapped at all, and hung open.

Fortunately, this wasn't a terribly hard fix. I just cut the bib off it and replaced the front panel. The new one is wider by 4-5", and has no slits in it; just a simple apron-style opening. I did a casing for the top edge that has a ribbon through it.

All that's left is the little bit of hem at the front, and fixing a drawstring in the back neckline that pulled loose. Plus a button or two on the petticoat waistband.  I also need to get fabric glue tomorrow for the ribbon on the boots; though now I'm wondering. I'm not sure I want to disguise that lovely seam line. :) I did make bows out of white silk ribbon to go on the toes.

So once I get those little things done, I can get back to setting up the beading. Yay!


I almost forgot - my order from tayloropolis's Etsy store arrived today! Super fast work; I ordered on Sunday, and she had to custom-make it. I got a sapphire stone cross pendant with matching earrings, which are the double-drop style seen here. I got silver metal this time, too, since my red set is in gold. They're so pretty! I'm excited to wear them to the concert picnic on Sunday.

As the first day of the four-day weekend, I took my friend to the fabric warehouses in Dallas for her birthday. She'd never been, so it was fun. We spent most of the day there, with a break in the middle for a huge lunch at Red Lobster. I'm still very full!

Although I wasn't really looking for anything, I bought the most. At Golden D'or I found a bolt with two yards of a really gorgeous silk brocade. The ground is an eggshell/tan, with a pattern of foliage in sage and flowers in pink, blue, purple, and yellow. The colors are rich and jewel-like, not faded. It's not the same design as this gown, but it's a similar effect. What can I do with two yards? Anything besides a jacket? (It's a good thing there wasn't enough for a sacque - at $18/yd it wasn't unreasonable, but I haven't budgeted for a big gown!)

I also found a green print that has a very 40s look - green flower shapes on a background of small green dots, some of the flowers made of fine stripes. It's a lightweight fabric, too, so much better suited for dressmaking than quilting cotton is. It was $3/yd. At the same place I found a really adorable tropical print. The ground fabric is a darkish gray/sage, which I'm not wild about, but it's got ocean liners and palm trees, and little huts on tiny islands, and pineapples and guitars - and those colors are white, gray, tans and browns, and two shades of pretty green, and two shades of pretty pink! It's SO cute. There was not much of it at all, alas - less than 2 yards. But I may be able to eke out a skirt, or definitely a shirt/top of some kind. And it was in the $2/yd section, and the lady measuring just call it one yard. I can deal with it for $2!

Best Fabrics, which used to be at the corner of Harry Hines and Perth, just moved across the street on Harry Hines into a bigger store. I just happened to look closely at one of the few wools they had - navy blue cavalry twill!  Some of you remember the vintage jodhpurs I wore to the Safari at the Zoo last year:




These fit me wonderfully in the waist and hip, but are ludicrously short in the legs. I could add at least 3" both above and below the knee. Even my Bro. No. 2 knew the solution - take them apart and make a pattern! They're pretty generic and don't have tricky tailoring, so it would be pretty simple. The big thing that's been holding me back is finding cavalry twill. It's still made (obviously) but rarely labeled as such, and while the double twill is obvious in person it's hard to see online. And I've also dithered about what color I want. The green is great; but tan is more traditional AND more adventure-y; and navy is my 1940s base neutral. So this takes it out of my hands. And not only was it $10/yd, they're having a 25% off sale on everything because of their move! Yay!

So of course I want to make those now instead of finishing the Pesky Pannier. :p


Anyway, I was way too tired by the time I got home to sew much. But I did use my last package of dye remover on one of the lengths of lace I got in my shopping spree several weeks ago. It's a very fine cluny-type edging, but unfortunately distinctly ecru. Which will look lousy on my white undies. But the dye remover seems to have mostly worked. It's not pure white, but I think it's just barely off-white. That'll do.

Now I think I'm going to set my hair in sponge rollers. I'm getting tired of not curling it, and the hot rollers are a hassle and just don't give much curl after three days.

I spent a rather frustrating Wednesday evening. I did wear the stays around, which was good for them. But I broke the tape lace again. (This is developing into a very bad habit!) I scaled up and printed some patterns, which was good. I also estimated yardage for a few purchases. But I got myself worn out trying to decide how to make a period-appropriate 1916 petticoat (i.e. one that helps the skirt stick out) with a minimum of new fabric and work. (The catalogs full of silk taffeta petticoats with rows of tiny frills and bigger flounces and cutwork were not helping.) (I think I've decided just to settle for pimatex with three flounces [of pimatex or stiff organdy] and starch from there.) And also trying to estimate what lace I need for the princess slip and the envelope chemise. Ugh. This stage is just paralyzing!

So I need to make a master list, for each piece of each outfit if necessary, outlining specifically what patterns I need, what I will use, and what I need to buy/source.


1780s white silk Romney
Source: Portrait of Mrs. Moody
Materials have: white silk, pink silk, fine cotton for ruffles, linen lining
Materials need: button forms for cuffs
Pattern: Fit a basic 1780s block, starting from 1780s gown in POF p. 40, then altering for this to a straight front and back waist and fuller front with tucked (?) casing. 

1780s sprigged silk
Source: _____________ (several possibilities - separate brainstorming post)
Materials have: sprigged silk, linen lining, ivory striped sheer silk for ruffles
Materials need: trim?
Pattern: ______________ (also part of the brainstorming! I've never done a sacque-back gown and I'm getting scared)

1810s yellow muslin
Source: here and here
Materials have: yellow muslin, lining, cording
Materials need: nope
Pattern: hopefully something with the wide-set sleeves c. 1815. Either start with my white muslin pattern from years ago and try to fill in the armhole a bit, or use (a) 1818 pelisse from POF or (b) 1816 evening dress from Cut of Women's Clothes. Maybe do like the_aristocat and just free-hand trace it from my pattern and modify according to the two samples. ;)

also needed:
* 1810s shift 1 - nearly finished
* 1810s shift 2 - cut out, needs assembly
* 1810s petticoat (shorter and fuller, maybe with cord in hem) - use Pimatex
 Materials need: cotton cord for hem
 Pattern: narrower version of Skirt D from Hunnisett

1910s Envelope Chemise
Source: article from fancyfrocks's magazine, dated 1916
Materials have:
Materials need: batiste from Farmhouse Fabrics; __ yds various lace
Pattern: pattern from fancyfrocks

1910s Corset
Source: none really; reference above article
Materials have: white brocade coutil; garters (search "hose supporters" on ebay for the wide ones), lace
Materials need: busk, boning, corset lace
Pattern: jenthompson's pattern

1910s Brassiere
Source: article again, confirming what was worn in 1916
Materials have: probably Pimatex
Materials need: boning (probably)
Pattern: article/pattern for hooked brassiere, from jenthompson

1910s Princess Slip
Source: n/a
Materials have: some lace
Materials need: batiste from Farmhouse Fabrics; 2.5 yds narrow beading for minimum
Pattern: pattern from fancyfrocks

1910s Petticoat
Source: catalogs from fancyfrocks, showing the crisp taffeta petticoats necessary to hold out the flared skirts of 1916
Materials have: Pimatex cotton, super stiff "cambric" (have 2 1/4 yds, 39" wide)
Materials need: 18 yds edging if I do three frills and edge them all, stiff organdy from Pure Silks if it's better than Pimatex or there's not enough cambric
Pattern: princess slip pattern as base, using circular flounce; mount flounces on it

1910s Empire Negligee
Source: May Manton pattern
Materials: white crossbarred muslin, pink silk ribbon & lace trim unused from 1860s sheer
Materials need: none
Pattern: same as the source

1916 Blue Sprig Dress
Source: middle dress, from a 1916 catalog owned by fancyfrocks
Materials: semisheer white cotton with woven openwork and woven dots, printed with a blue sprig pattern, very similar to the catalog picture. Blue silk taffeta left over from the Star dress for the sash and buttons. Some nice cotton for collar and cuffs.
Materials need: pleated net for collar and cuffs trimming
Pattern: waist and skirt patterns from fancyfrocks

1920s Bandeau
Source: n/a
Materials have: vintage pink medium-heavy rayon satin from antique mall
Materials need: 3+ yards 1/2" ribbon for straps; 2" wide elastic (pink if possible)
Pattern: Women's Wear of the 1920s

1920s Teddy
Source: Les modes, showing this as the most common/fashionable undies
Materials have: some lace; white silk ribbon
Materials need: white crêpe de chine from Dharma
Pattern: Women's Wear of the 1920s

1920s Pannier
Source: shape from model image
Materials have: narrow steel hoop wire
Materials need: black silk organza from Dharma
Pattern: Costume Close-Up and 1920s example with similar a-line shape

1920s Navy Beaded Robe de Style
Source: 1 and 2
Materials have: navy silk; cotton for lining
Materials need: beads, cotton net, organza for lining (maybe)
Pattern: pattern from fancyfrocks and Women's Wear of the 1920s (Lanvin copy)

1940s Open Midriff Evening Gown
Source: Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not
Materials have: heavy-ish rayon crepe in dark teal blue
Materials need: metal ring (try Home Depot); hopefully fresh tropical flowers for hair
Pattern: Draping from ebay image and basic blouse and skirt patterns from stash