Can-can Skirt - Ruffles!

It's only been a couple of weeks but already I'm making progress on my skirt (And yes, I did put aside some other stuff I'm working on to do it).

The most tedious part I've come to find about this project is the repetition. The skirt base itself is made up of seven "wedges" which are from the same pattern piece.

You see all those small, curved lines? I then had to transfer all those lines to the seven pieces to mark the placement of the different ruffles.

Then there's the ruffles. Rather than take the ruffle pattern piece and pin, cut, repin, and cut continuously, I measured out the width of the piece and used my rulers and rotary cutter to quickly cut out the strips of fabric.

I then sewed all the strips together (using the selvage when possible). The one fabric that I ran into trouble with though was the black and white spade pattern. I had wanted to carefully cut it so that the print would be even along the fold and cut lines.

But then I ran into the problem that the pattern was printed cockeyed on the fabric. And by cockeyed, it's along the lines of a, "What the heck? Do they not know what a cross grain is?" Where one spade is on one end of the fabric, it's about 1 1/2" lower on the other side.
So when I started pinning and sewing, the warp was so bad, the strips started to do their own little thing on the ironing board.

Thankfully, an iron took care of that, but it definitely makes it harder to work with than the other fabrics.

So once all the strips were cut and sewn, the raw edges were pressed together. This is so the right side of the fabric will shown underneath the skirt at all times.

These edges I then overlock stitched together so they wouldn't come apart during the pinning process.

With the first row, I did my usual hand pin method where I keep breaking everything down in half and then pin. Because I'm working with a constant 1:1.5 ratio for the length of the ruffle strips, I got a feel for how big the gathers and was then able to just gather and pin and the rest of the ruffles.

This method is actually making things go a lot faster because I've managed to attach 5 rows within the last 10 days (Again, a lot of repetition). And this is where we are!

Now that I have half the ruffles on, I'm going to start the last few soon. However, the fabric will be reversed so that the white fabric is at the very edge to simulate a petticoat underneath the skirt (a feature of original can-can skirts). It's quickly turning into RUFFLE MADNESS! But it's so much fun that I can't wait for the skirt to be finished and to be able to try it on.

HSF - Challenge #13 Under $10

Challenge - Under $10

Fabric - 100% cotton reproduction fabric from Windham fabrics. Print is dated for 1845-1865

Pattern - Heavily modified Garibaldi Blouse (TV441) pattern from Truly Victorian

Year - 1850s-1870s, no specific year

Notions - Buttons and poly thread

Hours to complete - About 18

First Worn - Just for photos right now. Still have to make other things to go with it.

Total Cost - Only $0.75. Fabric was in my stash, and thread was leftover from another project. Buttons I found on clearance at the fabric store.

How accurate is it?
To be honest, not really sure. I scoured the internet trying to find photos of frontier style work blouses, but really couldn't come up with anything. As work blouses, these garments were usually worn until they were worn out then discarded, so there are few originals still in existence. Photos did not help either since most frontier/pioneer photos are of families in their Sunday best, not their work clothes. Using other existing reproductions, I heavily modified an existing pattern which is very historically accurate in design.

Lucky 13, I managed to get this challenge done on time! I've been wanting to do a dressed down outfit for a long time (hoop skirts, petticoats, and yards of material can be cumbersome sometimes). I bought this fabric about three years ago with the intention of using it for a bodice or blouse, but never had any firm plans until now. The outfit I finally put together in my brain consisted of a brown skirt to go over a corded petticoat with a simple cotton work blouse with roll-able sleeves.

Recollections

Recollections

Since it was in the stash, I started with the blouse. As mentioned above, there were very few original examples or photos to work from, so I looked at a few reproductions and just sort of started mashing designs together using the Garibaldi blouse pattern as a base. 

Garibaldi Blouse TV441

The first change I made was to the chest area. Smashing together different sizes and measurement adjustments, I took the chest in so it wouldn't be as loose fitting and shortened it about 2 inches.

I did the same with the sleeves, taking them in about four sizes so they wouldn't be as puffy, a characteristic of the Garibaldi blouse. The sleeves were also shortened about 4 inches not only to reduce more of the pouf, but due to material shortages.

Original sleeve pattern over the shortened fabric

When I bought my fabric eons ago, I only grabbed 3 yards of it, figuring there would be enough. Right... I used every inch along the length of the fabric with less than 1/4 inch between pieces to maximize space. I even had to piece together the neckband piece.

The other major change I made was to the cuffs. I widened them considerably and added 1" to the length so the ends would overlap. I also widened the placket which would allow me to roll the sleeves up when unbuttoned.

Finished sleeve cuff

After everything was sewn together and stitched down all the loose edges, I added my awesome clearance buttons. When shopping at the store, I had found one style that was okay, but then I found these in the clearance which went nicely. I went ALL of the clearance buttons to find more and lucked out, finding just enough for what I needed for this project.

Total cost came to $0.75. Yippee!

I opted for modern technology when putting in my buttonholes, using my handy dandy buttonhole foot on the sewing machine. I know I need to eventually look into making buttonholes by hand, but decided it wouldn't be on this project at this time.

Buttonholes on cuff

All the buttons are attached by hand though to ensure that they stay attached to the blouse and I finished off all my open edges with a small whipstitch to keep everything in place.

For starting without a mockup, the pattern size mashup turned out very well along with the fit. Although it's still not as fitted as I want through the waist area, I figure I could easily add in some darts if I find the extra material is bothering me too much. Yay for finishing though, since HSF challenges will have to be set aside for right now.

Wonderland Wedding - Card Guard Dress

As I work on finishing off my Ophelia bonnet and another HSF project, I'll give you a preview of my next projects(s). So first the background- 

My best friend from high school, Jenna, is getting married this fall in New Orleans on Halloween. It gets better! The wedding theme is Alice in Wonderland! She had asked me to be a bridesmaid a long time ago and of course my brain immediately kicked into costume design gear. I only had vague plans and didn't really know which direction to go until Jenna suggested card guards for the wedding party. Then I also thought of the Um costume worn by Mia Wasikowska in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Um dress via Pinterest

While not exactly like the Um dress, I did like the hourglass silhouete. I started looking at patterns and pulled out my 1892 ballgown bodice pattern (TV492) and purchased the can-can skirt pattern (TV280), both from Truly Victorian.

Ballgown Bodice TV492

Can-can Skirt TV280

The plan at this point to do half the skirt in black and the other half in red and the bodice the same colors but on opposite sides (sorry, no sketches). The layers of ruffles underneath is where I'm going to have all the fun. I went shopping at the fabric store and came back with these:

With the solid fabric on top, I felt that there needed to be some fun underneath. Since this an actual costume rather than a historical costume, I can throw the rule book out the window in terms of trying to be accurate.

Oh I can't wait to get started!

Ophelia Bonnet Homestretch

In case you missed the squeals of delight on Facebook, my silks are finally here! Ordered in the middle of March, I endured shipping delays, wrong items being sent, secondary packages which were also delayed...

My beautiful silk from India! Color is actually dark navy.

Yeah, patience has certainly become a virtue where this project is concerned (it was started in early February). Along with my silk issues, I had supplies run out on multiple occasions, which resulted in more delays and frustrations that nearly made me throw in the towel for the whole project.

Before getting started on the covering and trimmings, I'll give a quick progress report on how the actual bonnet construction went.

This was my first venture into hat making where I constructed the base myself. Once I had all my supplies together, it went together very easily, much to my surprise (aside from running out of a few things - AGAIN - during the construction process).

Millinery wire taped and ready to be sewn to the buckram.

Finished crown, pipe, and brim. These are the pieces that make up the full bonnet.

The crown piece and brim are attached to each other using just a whipstitch around the wire and crinoline tape.

Finished form ready for covering.

Like most hand sewing projects though, very slow going but the outcome is certainly rewarding. Although the the buckram form has been sitting around for a bit now, I still look at it and go, "I made that?" Now looking forward to finishing it.

These are all my trimmings which I have been slowly accumulating during the project.

The plan is to cover it with blue silk and line the brim with cream dupioni (not completely period accurate, but this will be on the inside and not as noticeable). Still have to play with the ribbons, but the wide cream will be used for the ties, and the thinner cream and pale green for pipe trims. The flowers, bing cherries, and leaves will go at the very top of the crown, similar to the ones in my research plates.

Keep your fingers crossed that the next time I post about the bonnet, it will be finished!

And just for fun, a late night selfie from when I had actually finished the bonnet.

The Making of a Lady review

I recently came across The Making of a Lady while going through the new movie releases at the library. The first thing that caught my immediate attention is it is based off a literary piece of work by Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of the popular books The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. Although the titles differ, the basis for the film is taken from The Making of a Marchioness.

Image from Amazon.com

Aside from James D'Arcy - who plays Captain Alec Osborn, one of the leads - I was unfamiliar with the rest of the cast. Lydia Wilson plays the leading lady, Emily Fox Seton. When we are first introduced to her, she is working as a secretary to Lady Maria, an upperclass woman during the 1890s (sources point to the year being 1901, I beg to differ but that's for later) and ekes by in a ramshackle boarding house when not working. Although she has hopes for a permanent position, she abruptly dismissed soon after a fancy dinner party.

At said dinner party though, she meets her employer's widowed nephew, Lord James Walderhurst, played by Linus Roache. Despite only meeting once, he comes to her soon after with a proposal of marriage, which she accepts with some hesitation.

While this may initially seem like one of those contrived, two strangers who marry for convenience then grow to love one another stories, there's another aspect. Lord Walderhurst leaves soon after and his cousin, Captain Osborn, comes to live at the house with his Indian wife. Slowly but surely, they begin to take control over the household and then Emily's life.

Image from Pinterest

The unfolding romance between Emily and Lord Walderhurst is well-paced, but it is the later interactions with his overbearing cousin and his wife that seem to be rushed. At almost every turn, there are brief mentions of why Emily shouldn't concern herself with Captain Osborn, but the full story of why was never actually revealed (unless I missed something while my head was buried in petticoat pinning).

Emily's actual reactions to how these oddball relations treat her paint her as a very naive woman as well. A bit conflicting since part of the reason Lord Walderhurst married her was he knew she was an educated woman who knew her way about in life.

Image from Pinterest

The acting throughout the film though I found to be superb since each person managed to make their character very believable. There has been some criticism from others about changes from the original work, but have no comment at this time since I haven't read the original.

The Making of a Marchioness is available for free via Amazon kindle download for anyone who is interested.

Image from Pinterest

Now to my favorite - costumes! As mentioned above, they have pinned the movie at taking place around 1901 (the same year the book was published). However all the costumes point to it being around 1889 through the mid 1890s. Emily wears a few directoire revival fashions, and her wedding dress has the famous hourglass shape of the 1890s with the large leg-o-mutton sleeves and flared skirt. These costumes are also great because they provide a good example of what someone from the upper middle class would have worn - nothing is too extravagant, it's simple but detailed. For being only an hour and a half, there are a number of wardrobe changes throughout so there's great opportunity for finding costume inspiration from this period.

Overall review - 4 out of 5
Costumes - 5 out of 5