Manchester Costume Museum

I've recently finished my course at college, and am currently on my summer holidays; therefore I wanted to update here more often! I'm going to start with posting some of my posts from Sweet Sewing Chronicles, as I was simply too lazy to post them here too. Along with posting more, I'm going to delete some of my older posts from when this was a private blog. Hopefully it will be more high quality that way!

Last month I traveled to Manchester with my Dad to see the gallery of costume. From the reviews I saw, I wasn't expecting much, as quite a few of them seemed to be rather negative or indifferent - but when I got there, I was pleasantly surprised by how much better it was than I imagined. For one thing, it was much bigger than the reviews made out, and the costumes were absolutely gorgeous.
I was floored by how wonderful the costumes were, as they had everything from the 1600's-1960's (though unfortunately no 1950's dresses that would help with my college project). My favourite was the Victorian room, as everything in there caught my eye and made an impression, but I also loved the 17th Century and 18th Century displays.
There was an exhibition downstairs centred on Mary Quant, a designer from the swinging sixties, which I also particularly liked as it was bright, featuring quotes and day and evening dresses from the Ginger Group collection. She was one of the designers I researched at one point to see which era of fashion I wanted to explore for the final project.

Playsuit by Mary Quant, black with white stitching - 1968-70.

Two mini dresses, one black and white cotton ticking (1967), and the other acrylic/wool grey check tweed (1967-9). I love these two dresses, and can imagine wearing them with some brightly coloured, bold tights. Maybe mustard or burgundy?

Sac coat, 1967-69. Dogstooth-check rubberised wool.

Then came the Victorian room, which I ADORED. Here we have a day dress from 1863-65 made from tartan glace silk. It's a two-piece dress, trimmed with silk piping and black and white satin bands. I can also see some kind of colourful tassels on the shoulders, though I didn't get a close up photo of it.

Sorry for the bad photo here, I couldn't get one that wouldn't reflect on the glass because of the windows. This is a day dress from 1855-56, made from white muslin, and printed from a roller in purple spots and a floral pattern. The flounces were printed à disposition, meaning that the pattern was printed to fit the flounce. 

Now this 1870s dress was my absolute favourite in the whole museum! I love the 1870s and princess line dresses, as well as the duck egg colour of this gown, so it was just my cup of tea! It's an afternoon dress from 1878-80; the description says that it's a trained princess-line dress made from pale green wool/silk mixed fabric, trimmed with blue satin and silk embroidery.

Isn't the embroidery and shape divine?

Even the train is embroidered.

Afternoon dress, 1883-85. It's a two piece gown fashioned from green/grey silk satin with a boned bodice and trimmed with beige lace.

Detail of the bodice. I really like how the colour goes with the lace.

Day dress from 1894-96, in two pieces with a very pale green flecked and corded silk, trimmed with a darker green velvet. I couldn't get a good photo that had all of the gown included, but it is just plain/the same fabric as the rest of the skirt all the way to the hem, without any trimmings at the bottom.

Corset, crinoline, chemise, drawers, and cap. 1860-70. The red is very fetching!

I just love this demi-bust corset, the colour is fabulous and it has cute diamond-shaped stitching patterns! Looks like I've found a new dream corset.

A man's doublet. 1625-35.

I think the fabric is all hand-done French knots from what I can remember, though I may be wrong!

A gorgeous pair of stays with a stomacher, 1620-40.

A pale pink woman's bodice embellished with black beading. 1650-60.

The feathered details, which were apparently uncommon for clothing at this period, but featured heavily in home textiles such as curtains and rug designs. I think it looks beautiful and delicate with the pink.

I didn't take a photo of the date or description of this one for some reason, but I wanted to include it because I really liked the shape and embroidery of it!

Is this called blackwork embroidery? It has tiny little sequins/spangles too.

Two candy-coloured men's waistcoats from 1780-1800. Love the salmon pink and pale blue!

This was my second-favourite dress in the whole museum, and one that received a lot of positive attention on the 18th Century Sewing group on Facebook when I posted it. It's so delicate and sweet in a shade of powder blue. Sackback dress, 1766. Striped blue and white figured silk. Trimmed with silk fringing, silk flounces, ruched bands, and double-tier silk sleeve ruffles.

I had to get many photos of this for all the details and because I adored it.

Chintz dress, 1775-80. Open robe of glazed cotton, printed with rows of stylised sprigs in India and then printed again in England with alternating bands of floral wavy lines.

Skirt looped up à la polonaise style.

I don't think I got a description of this one, but I'm guessing that it's a round gown from the early 1790s with a vandyked flounce at the neck, drawn together by ribbon through a channel. Sorry if I'm wrong, please correct me.

Evening dress, 1798-1800. White cotton muslin open robe, embroidered with tiny metal stars all over, which the sign remarks would have been very costly at the time to make.

Open robe of brown silk satin, 1793-96. It's printed with a warp print (chine) motif in stripes of white and green.

All together! It was crowded, so you might see why it was hard to get good photos, and I was also pushed for time. Which gown is your favourite? Comment below!

1790s Chemise en Robe

Sorry it's been a long time since I last posted - I've been very busy working on one of my first 18th Century costumes, a chemise en robe! I've always admired the summery, dreamy feel of those chemise dresses (so informal and delicate), paired with coloured satin or taffeta sashes and a huge, feathery hat - and thus, I have wanted to make one for a long time!

This dress is made from what feels like miles of gauzy, net-like muslin, which is very soft and delicate to the touch. It is also unbearably hard to work with, so for future chemise en robes (of which there shall be many) I may resort to using linen, silk taffeta, lawn or voile, depending on how period I want to go. It rips so easily and probably won't last long, especially with how much unpicking I have to do. :) Still, I think it looks very romantic and flowing.

At first I found this project very easy making up the bodice and lining, but then came the difficulties with the fabric, attaching the bodice to the waistband, and measuring the length for the skirt wrong (and therefore I had to add another ruffle to the hem, but that wasn't too much of a sacrifice to make). The ruffle was something my grandmother thought up, to create a channel and feed some tape through to gather it; it was very long-winded gathering four and a half meters of muslin and then sewing it three times, but in the end I think it's worth the hassle.

I was also unsure what feel I wanted to give the dress. My pattern from Laughing Moon was for 1790-1800, and what I really desired was a mid-18th Century chemise en robe, not something more Regency in feel. I do like the Regency period, but the frippery, dresses and fun of the 18th Century is where my heart is; so, I wanted to make something that looked like it came from an earlier period. I think I may have managed that with the puffed sleeves and ribbons, but perhaps the empire waist and bust-line makes it clearly early Regency.
Either way, I love how it has all come together! My first costume! When I've had a bit more practice and built up a portfolio, it is my dream to open an online store selling bespoke historical garments from Medieval times to the 1950s - that, along with writing my books. :)

My grandmother helped me making this dress, so I'm very thankful for her help. It would have been very difficult to tackle without her!

I added a black taffeta sash that I made earlier and a muslin fichu as accessories for these photos.

If you want to see my process of making the dress in more depth, see my LiveJournal sewing diary!

Midnight Georgian Petticoat

 I've been doing this project on and off for about a month now, so I'm glad it's done and I can move on to new things. The pattern was referenced from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion volume 1, though I added an additional panel to give it more volume.

 My original design had it paired with a pale blue Georgian sack-back gown that had black trimmings, though I'm always open to suggestions for a new contrasting colour if you have any ideas.

 The back, where you can see the ribbon tied from the front.

I was initially going to gather the skirt, though the material was so hard to work with that I had to give up and try maths with pleats, which didn't really work either, so I ended up with the strangest looking double-pleats ever - perhaps a new sewing invention? (haha)

It looked a bit plain with nothing on it, so I sewed a ruffle and it went really well, even if I was very nervous sewing it! It looks so gorgeous on the end of the petticoat, if I don't say so myself. 

Things I'd like to do better next time I make a petticoat:

• Use a thicker ribbon for the waistband. Trust me, it will make it a whole lot prettier and easier.
• Also, make the ribbon longer for tying round the opposite side of my waist. Ten inches is apparently not enough to tie a bow for me!
• Instead of polyester taffeta, use silk taffeta or cotton - my fabric was really hard to work with. 
• Do single pleats or gathers instead of double pleats (for some reason I couldn't get the waist measurements right, and had to settle for double pleats, which I don't think look very professional - I'm such a novice!).
• Use a proper pattern instead of making your own (or following a Janet Arnold diagram, as obviously extant garments are only one size and would be different to my measurements). 

Next time I'll definitely look at buying a historical pattern from a company in my size, rather than rely on providence to make a Georgian pattern my measurements! Still, I had some fun making this, even if I did commit some sewing sins and the material frayed like the dickens. If I make this again, I'll probably do it in white cotton without as much decoration as an underlayer.

Elizabethan-Costume's Stay Diary: Part 2 - Finished

I recently just tried on my stays and am happy to say that they function rather well! Even though they don't look pretty, I'm rather pleased with the flattened silhouette they give me, which looks very period.

I have to say that I'm not too fond of how they look, though. The fabrics I used (faux suede and a velvety pile fabric) could be more 18th Century, such as linen and silky taffeta, and the overall look appears very rushed and untidy - i.e. there are still lines where the tension was wrong, giving the thread a bobby effect, on show, and I haven't tried too hard to get rid of my basting stitches, as they're hidden in the rather sloppy bias binding...
But still, I managed my second period garment! The fichu is my first item, as I like to start with the undergarments of an outfit first.

For the boning I gave up on spiral steel as the little caps that go with them got stuck in my stay channels, as I didn't have the correct equipment to do it properly; getting those little, um, things out broke all my nails. Very annoying, but it had to be done. So instead I used plastic cable ties, which work like miracles in corsetry - I was so pleasantly surprised with the results!
Then I very messily added bias binding from the corner shop (I'm very lucky to have a sewing shop just one field away from my home, and the ladies that run the shop can't get rid of me!), which went wrong as the cable ties got in the way and wrecked havoc with my sewing machine.
The grommets were stitched by hand with embroidery thread, I'm pleased to say. I love stitching by hand as I can put music or Jeeves and Wooster on and just sit on my bed, sewing away. However, I'm not sure which stitch I used, as buttonhole looked too advanced for me, so I just made something up as I went along, which turned out okay in the end - I think it was satin stitch.

Next time, I'd like to have a go with the spiral boning that I purchased, and adapt my pattern that I drafted from Elizabethan-Costumes, making it longer with a busk, metal grommets, and prettier fabrics. I'd also take more care to make it neat and well-presented - but for now I'll just call them peasant stays.

Elizabethan-Costume's Stay Diary: Part 1

As Bianca from Closet Historian suggested, the Elizabethan Costume website has a stay pattern generator and tutorial that's great for adapting to 18th Century wear. Today I made up the pattern from the customize-able measurements (exciting!), cut the fabric, did some basic basting stitches, and bought the supplies I'll need next!
I'm not making an Elizabethan costume just yet, as the Georgian era clothing has captured my heart, and I'm not adapting it to another style as that would be to hard for me without a guide, so it may seem not historically accurate... But if it does the job of giving me a flatter, conical-shaped torso, then it's done its job.

Making up the pattern was a pretty fun and easy experience, as I had that big pattern paper that you can get from craft shops. The instructions are very clear and concise from this website, so I'll recommend it.
For my fabric I used whatever I had available, as I was at a loss for something to do today and the sewing shop over the road is closed on Sundays. So I found some light grey velvet-like material (left over from my bonnet) which is quite textured, and some darker grey light suede, which I'll use for the lining, or vice versa. Typically, linen would be used for stays, but I have none available for the time being. Maybe next time.
As for the steel spiral boning and busk, I got them from the Sew Curvy online store, which has a lovely catalog of other stays, some from the Victorian and Edwardian eras! If this corset turns out at least 50% okay I think I'll have a go at an Edwardian corset.

Update: Here's where I'm up to so far... As you can see, I have a long way to go, and some of my lines are incredibly wonky - but still, progress!

For now we'll see how it goes, as I'm also making a slouchy knit cardigan for my Mum and learning how to knit - so it may take a while!

The Duchess

Last night I watched The Duchess for the first time and I was stunned by the costumes. Usually I wouldn't watch a movie with that kind of plot line (not really into dramas, being a comedy kind of girl), but I was pleased I did. Lots of inspiration has come from this film and it's confirmed my dream that I want to be a costume designer, as well as an author! Really, who wouldn't want to be surrounded by Georgian dresses all day?!
At the same time, I've purchased Patterns of Fashion 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold on Amazon, and designed some of my first 18th Century garments, including a sack-back gown, an anglaise dress, undergarments, and accessories. Wish me luck!

The story follows the tragic life of Georgiana the Duchess of Devonshire, stuck in a loveless marriage with the adulterous Duke, who even goes as far as to make her best friend - Elizabeth Foster - his lover. Not only that, but Bess was living in her home and she couldn't do a thing about it! So when she proposes that the Duke accept her love affair with politician Charles Grey, she is violated and blackmailed into submission in the end.
From what I've heard dotted around the internet, this story is based on real events. I've even seen Foster on a Duchess of Devonshire blog, listed as one of the biggest, most infamous Tart of the Week - which I admit made me giggle quite a bit.

Anyway, here are some screen shots of particularly gorgeous outfits: