Further 1890s Suit Research

As I plan my vacation and do some small side projects, I'm continuing to look through some reference materials and dig through my stash for supplies that I already have.

To start, I dug up some fabrics that I already had. The first is a length of green-grey wool that I had bought down in the LA Fashion District during a visit home to Southern California in spring 2015. When I bought the fabric, I had already had this project in mind so I made sure to get several yards. I'm opting for the TV291 Walking Skirt, as that's what fits with the outfit in mind.

The fabric photos lighter than what it actually looks like.

I also have this cotton eyelet fabric that I chanced across at Joann's fabric a while ago. I already have TV491 Blouse Waist, but I may opt for TV494 Shirtwaist instead since I'm looking for a more casual appearance.

The eyelet is super lightweight and has small embroidered lines through it.

 Speaking of blousewaists and shirtwaists...

An 1890s Walking Dress

Sooo after forever, I've decided to start working on a new Victorian dress project. What I have in mind is something that has been on the eventual to-do list for a while - just a simple 1890s walking outfit. I've been wanting an outfit like this for its simplicity and ease of not having to worry about things like trains/long hems, ruffles, etc.

What I'm looking to put together is a simple shirtwaist with a flared skirt. I may make a fitted vest to go over top of the shirtwaist and - pending that I have enough material - maybe even do a false shirtwaist to go under a jacket. We'll see.

In the meantime, here's some of the photos I've been poking through to get the creative juices flowing.

1890s dress via Pinterest

1899 Wedding Dress from V&A

A Few Quick Updates

Ugh, I have been so lazy in keeping up to date on my posts these last couple of months.

Part of the problem is I haven't had a hardcore costume project to keep my mind focused for a while. I've been mostly doing quick sewing projects since the start of the year that don't warrant too much research of time for putting together. I'm planning to make some changes to that (more on that in a couple of posts).

Part of my distraction lies in that I've been starting to make plans for August for traveling, and my wedding next year. Yep, I'm engaged now!This happened back at the end of April, but due to aforementioned laziness, I'm just now mentioning it.

I have to show off my ring though because Kerry proved just how well he knows me by picking a vintage ring. We know it's about 100 years old, but that is about it since it has no maker's marks and came with no provenance. I absolutely love it though and the gentleman who gave it to me!

1960s Repro Work Blouse

So another addition to the "things I've made but haven't gotten around to posting yet." This piece also stems forth from my recent binge shopping trip for vintage patterns. The pattern I used for this project was Simplicity's Jiffy 1364, a reproduction from the 1960s.

Simplicity Jiffy 1364

I opted for View B, since I wanted something comfortable for summer. For the fabric, I opted for black and white polka dot charmeuse purchased from Denver Fabrics, since I wanted to be able to wear it work with one of my retro skirts. I reviewed the pattern and it was fairly simple in terms of execution. The real challenge came in the material I selected. I have never worked with charmeuse before, but figured this was a good pattern to test it out on since it would be easy to put together.

It definitely proved to be a little tricky since the material is very slippery and silky. I've worked with dupioni and shantung silks before, but those are a little stiffer. Perhaps the hardest part was sewing two bust darts along the bias of the material. It took a lot of pins to make sure nothing moved while I put the darts in.

Measure Thrice and Cut Twice

So a couple months ago I went on a 1950s bender and bought a bunch of vintage and vintage-inspired patterns. The first project I decided to work on was a Hawaiian print, pleated skirt.

McCall's M6706 Pleated Skirt

I have not used McCall's before so I did a lot of measuring before hand to pick out the size that would work best for me, since nothing ever runs true to the given measurements it seems.

So I picked my size and starting  putting everything together. The first problem I ran into before I could even cut out my pattern pieces though is my fabric was too narrow for the pieces.