Maude's Summer Edwardian Day Dress

Yesterday I finished my Maude's Summer Day Dress project, using a Butterick pattern and inspired by Maude Fealey's Edwardian style! I think it came together very nicely and was relatively straightforward, so I've gained confidence for future historical projects! I don't feel like writing much, so on to the photos!

And the hat!

Maude's Summer Edwardian Blouse

It's been a while since I posted here, so I thought it might be nice to post an update on my sewing progress! Right now, I've finished one part of my Maude's Summer Edwardian Day Dress project, which includes a blouse, a skirt, a belt and a hat - the belt and the blouse are done!

Right now I'm working on the skirt and the hat, as well as my writing projects. What are you working on at the moment, readers? Feel free to tell me in the comments below!

Wearing my Open Robe at Lyme Park

Today my family traveled to Lyme Park at the National Trust in order for me to get some photos of my recently-finished 1790s open robe for my portfolio. It was also a bit of (nervous) fun to be dressed up in early-Regency style at a stately home, and surprisingly enough, I saw lots of people dressed up as Edwardians, so I didn't feel too out of place!

We didn't have too much time in the gardens, as it looked as though it were about to start raining, so I got changed to save the fabric of my dress!

I'm not wearing any underpinnings, unfortunately, as I haven't made any yet/can't find many 1790s transitional stays or patterns for sale. However, I don't think I'm far off the right silhouette. 

The back view, which has been wrinkled a bit by spending an hour and a half in the car. I'm also wearing my 1790s black and gold turban, and underneath is my 1790s chemise en robe. I accessorized with some feathers, a 1940s pearl necklace, and some little pearl earrings from Accessorize.

 The dress was really hard to walk around in, seeing as it is just that little bit too long.

I may have looked insane, but I felt like a Regency empress for a day!

Alice in Wonderland Frames JSK

It's been a while! I have been busy with finishing off college work, ill health, lack of motivation, and just generally lacking in energy to do sewing. However, among all that wallowing in self-pity, I have been slowly plodding on with this dress with my grandmother - mainly because I set myself a deadline.

I bought the fabric a while ago in London, yet I've only just started using it for an ensemble planned for a Lolita cinema trip meetup, to see Alice and the Looking Glass. I've made an Alice bow - naturally :) - from the same material, to go with the dress. The lace comes from an adorable haberdashery in York that I came across, so this dress contains holiday memories as well as my love for Alice in Wonderland!

The pattern for this came from Otome no Sewing book 2, the "Frames" JSK, which I adapted to fit myself using the slicing method of making a pattern bigger. I traced the pattern pieces to the largest size, working out how I should multiply the measurements to get my size - luckily enough, I only had to separate each strip of pattern piece by a centimeter each time - and put the bodice pieces together by laying them out on the paper and tracing around them to make one bodice piece. I measured the inch for each strip and drew a line upwards with a ruler, and cut the pattern piece into strips. I then cut around the enlarged pattern, adding a centimeter at the bottom of the pattern also.
This is very hard to explain, and I suppose a photograph would do better at explaining it, however I was too excited to take photos at this stage and forgot.

As it was in Japanese I had to do some translating to find out what the miscellaneous, non-obvious pieces were. This made things slightly more difficult, but I battled on. After all, the illustrations in Otome no Sewing were very clear and concise, so I could pretty much guess what the Japanese said when it came to making the thing.

The actual making of the thing was quite straightforward, though in some places we had to improvise where the instructions (or my lack of Japanese) were limited, such as with the shirring in the back and pleating instead of gathering the skirt; I find that pleats look better on me, and I always manage to mess up the gathering somehow anyway in the first go. :)

I'm pleased with the results despite how long it took to piece together.

1860s Chemise and Nightgown

This project very nearly ended up being a UFO if it weren't for me trying it on again and deciding that the fit was okay. Funnily enough, I tried it on backwards the first time (forgetting that I had a narrow slit in the front), and the fit was really off - too tight and gaping at the shoulders - but when I tried it on a second time later, it was perfect! Silly me :)

The pattern is Simplicity 1139, a Civil war era pattern for a chemise, however, I intend to wear this as a Lolita-esque/historical-inspired nightgown so I have something more to my tastes to wear for bed. But when I do make some 1860s fashions, I'll be sure to dig this out for the underpinnings.
At a first glance, this pattern looked very simple and easy - but the picture on the envelope is deceiving! It came with all sorts of strange things that modern fashion seldom ever has, such as gussets, additional panels where just one would suffice, and underarm facings. It was confusing at first, to say the least, as things could have been a whole lot easier without all the little pieces. But once I got started, it was actually okay, even if the underarm facing never got put in because I was so perplexed.

In the end, it makes a very pretty nightdress, and in the future I may do some ribbon embroidery on it, possibly along the hem.

Future Costuming Projects

This year I hope to do a lot more costuming, as it's become one of my main obsessions for over a year now. Here's a list of the things I want to make in the future. I may not get them all done this year (it would be amazing if I could, though), so it can carry on for the next five years seeing how slow I am at making things. :)

In no particular order, I have planned:

• Sky Blue 1790s Open Robe (to go with my chemise en robe I recently made)
• 1790s transitional stays
• 1790s turban to match the open robe

• 1860s Sunshine Yellow Quadrille Ballgown (for a dancing festival I may go to)
• Mid-Victorian corset (the chemise is already in progress, but it doubles up as a nightgown :))

• 18th Century sack-back gown in pale blue and black
• Some more 18th Century stays
• A shift/chemise to wear under the stays
• Some hand-sewn plain white petticoats, one striped, and one with a ruffle. 

• Some Edwardian day dresses based on this pattern; I already have variations in my mind, but I'm planning on a black and blue dress, a white dress with lace inserts, and a black and gold trim dress made of velvet. 
• Edwardian corset

• Lilac Regency Fairytale Ballgown
• Plain white, or striped, Regency dress

• Glinda the Good Witch costume from the Wizard of Oz
• 18th Century panniers as underpinnings

Silk Ribbon Embroidered Pin Cushion for Nana

This morning I finished putting together my Mother's day present for my grandmother. I'm also going to get her some spring flowers, as she helps me a lot with my sewing and other things. My real Mum doesn't sew much, so I thought maybe some fudge would be a better present, but I digress.

The execution of my pincushion is nowhere near as perfect as the pincushion in the video, but I'm pleased for a first attempt. :)

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!

1940s-Inspired Summer Fruits Beach Top

Once again, here is a project that I've altered to fit my moleskine designs. Originally I wanted a crop top to go with my Summer Fruits skirt that I made last summer from the same fabric, which means altering another pattern. Mercifully, this change was very simple, and I only needed to measure and cut some of the length off - so this project was quick, fun and easy. Out of everything, the hardest thing to do was the machine buttonholes - my arch nemesis!

 The ric-rack trim in red really sets off the Reds and pinks in the berry print fabric, which I purchased on a lovely trip to London with my Mum for only three pounds a metre! I'm a big fan of how it looks paired with the skirt, though the good thing is that it can be matched with simple jeans or plain shorts too - perfect for a Floridian beach!

1920s-Inspired Sporty Sailor Dress

Over the past week or so I've been sewing this 1920s-inspired sailor dress with a navy polkadot fabric I picked up on sale. I designed the dress last summer after a trip to London, where I bought the bias binding, iron-on appliques and buttons from Liberty - but I've only gotten round to using them now!

The pattern I based this dress on was Butterick B6185 from the Lifestyle Wardrobe section. I cut the dress short for a dropped waist, added small cap sleeves, drafted and changed the collar to a sailor style at the back, and added a pleated skirt - so it looks completely different from the original pattern. I always have trouble finding a pattern that looks anything remotely similar to my moleskine designs!
I was originally going to add the bias binding (which is gorgeously soft, by the way - I love Liberty fabrics) to the collar, but tackling mitered corners with the bias was really hard, so I had to give up the idea and use it as a faux button placket instead.

  

I think that the red embellishments go really well with the dark blue and white, and it has quite a vintage feel with the dropped waist and knee-length pleated skirt. The sailor collar is super cute and very nautical for use on the beach; I'm currently making my holiday wardrobe for when I go to Florida at the end of March, and this shall be part of it!
I intend my wardrobe to be vintage-styled but still modern and upbeat with quirky touches (such as the angel wing appliques here), so soon I shall be making a 1940s beach crop top and a Lolita-esque skirt from more Liberty fabric. Perhaps, if I have time, I'll also make some fun 1960s dresses from the Burda magazine I bought last year.

Romantic Mourning One-Piece Dress

I've had the Simplicity Alice and Wonderland pattern for about five/six years now and never really used it until recently, to make my Romantic Mourning Lolita OP. Funnily enough, I ended up cutting out the pattern wrong as the labels were a bit off with some mistakes, but in the end it was in my favour. I tried to make view B but the bodice turned out more like view A, for the Queen of Hearts, which I found I liked better after all.

Please excuse the bad photos; it's hard to get good light in my house, especially when photographing black on black.

  

   

Details of the lace, which I bought at a local market.

When wearing it I feel like a mourning Victorian child and a long lost member of Malice Mizer at the same time, haha!
The leg of mutton sleeves could make it look like any period really, from Baroque, the Romantic Victorian period (1830s), to the 1890s and early Edwardian era. 

  In the end, it took just less than a week on and off to make, and I found it relatively easy, with almost no mistakes made! I'm very pleased with it, and the leg of mutton sleeves are fun to wear.