Upcoming White & Black Challenge

Okay, so I am bound and determined to have this new challenge finished on time - Challenge #9 Black & White. However I might be fudging things a little with this project. I knew about it a while back when the challenge list was released, and since that point, kept pondering what I would do for Black & White. Each time I kept coming up with the same exact thing - zip, zilch, nada. The creative juices weren't exactly flowing, but the manipulative ones were.

About a year ago, I started work on a mid 1860s ballgown inspired by an original in the Kyoto Costume Institute. 

KCI Evening Gown, 1866

I got the bodice and dress done for the event at the Dress U Conference last spring, but just never got around to making up the overskirt portion of the dress. So this is where I stand with the dress.

Dress U Conference 2013

The challenge is black & white, ivory is a sort of off-white color, therefore ivory counts as part of the challenge, right? Right? Right! Yeah, okay, now you see how my mind works.

Well, onto the actual word - challenge. So the only existing photo of this dress is the one pictured above released by the museum. No close-ups, no detail descriptions, no alternative view. Once again - zip, zilch, nada to really work with for constructing an overskirt.

So I'm going to wing it and do the best I can with what I've got to work with.

I pulled some apron pattern pieces from existing patterns that I own and sort of changed an angle here, shortened and lengthened over there, and did a whole lot of guessing.

Wish me luck, I'm going to cut draft pieces over the next couple of days and put them together to see how everything looks.

New Corset

Once upon a time I decided that I needed a new corset (amongst a few other things, more on that later). I had bought one a few years ago at the local Renaissance Faire that was intended for being worn on the outside of clothing and then it ended up on the inside of most of my outfits after being bitten by the Victorian sewing bug. At the time, it was my first corset so there were a lot of things that got overlooked in my excitement. For starters, it didn't fit exactly (liveable at the time), but had great support (wow, there's no such thing as slouching in this thing), and did exactly what it was supposed to do (yay, my waist is eight inches smaller!).

Fast forward to about two years later. I've had dabblings in corset making at this point, seen a few originals for reference, and while my original corset has become well seasoned, the bones were starting to come out and the whole not fitting exactly thing is starting to get to me.

I ended up purchasing most of my materials and fabric in the summer of 2012, but only got around to sewing it this spring after it was determined that I would need it for attending a conference and for properly fitting some of the new dresses I would make. The end result though was I had a corset that was halfway finished when I went to conference. Out of time and running on only a couple hours of sleep, I simply wore it as is.

Now I've been home for about three weeks and it sits on the top of my sewing pile quietly calling, "Finish me!" All right I will, you demanding little thing.

The corset I made is inspired from an original 1880s corset in the Kyoto Costume Institute collection made of blue silk satin with lace and embroidery work. The pattern comes from Truly Victorian and has minor alterations to better fit my body (because no matter how much I want to try, I will never have Victorian lady curves).

KCI 1880s Corset

While the finished corset will be decorated, it will not have as many frothy frillies as the KCI original. I found some lace at the local fabric store that I liked against the blue and as soon as my bias fabric is sewed down completely, I will work on adding the lace as well. 

My corset in it's unfinished glory

 

Lace to go along edge

Perhaps the only thing I am not looking forward to is the task of hand sewing the lace on. I've examined all sorts of possibilities, but this seems to be the best method for attaching and making sure it lays correctly at the same time. For the official record, I hate hand sewing. There may be some mumbled curses coming out of northeast Ohio over the next week or so.