9/8/04 - Research

9/16/04 - More research

1/12/05

Looks like silk is back on the menu girls! It pays to know someone with a wholesale licence...number...thingamajiggy. The silk itself should only cost about $14/yd with an additional $6 for every yard that I want dyed. I think I can get by with about ten yards total, four of which will be dyed, which puts my fabric cost at about $164, give or take. Ten yards is just a guesstimate, though, as I haven't done my mock up yet.

I ordered a small amount of the fabric and had it dyed just to see how it would turn out. It's very nice, even after going through the dying process. It is now a very elegant little brown parasol cover.

I've decided to go with a pattern from The Cut of Women's Clothes (diagram VI) for the most part. The patterns in Period Costume for Stage & Screen were a real possibility, but in the end, I decided to go for as much authenticity of cut as possible. CWC has separate patterns for the boned layer and the outer fashion layer, whereas PCSS has you cut all the layers the same as the fashion layer. Not much of a difference, but I'm thinking that cutting the boned layer with the extreme side-front curved seam may effect the fit and complicate the boning process.

Speaking of boning, I've ordered some plastic whalebone to test out. I'm always a little wary of plastic since it doesn't usually offer enough support for me. This plastic is supposed to be pretty sturdy, which means that it is thicker than typical plastic boning, resulting in my second concern: will the boning show through my fashion fabric. If the boning is too thick, I'll need to add a layer of padding to the bodice--layer number four. I'm hoping that won't be necessary, but we'll see.

So, at this point, I need to begin working on a mock up of the bodice.

1/19/05

I've finally started! I began by using my old technique of enlarging the pattern using a transparency and an overhead projector. Everything seemed to be working just fine. I enlarged it to it's original dimensions, double checked to see that the length was good (which it was) and then just planned on making adjustments to the width measurements later. After two hours of trying to make adjustments, I still could not, for the life of me, figure out how to enlarge the overall width without screwing up the lines. ARGH!

So, new plan...I decided to test my draping skills. Working under the assumption that the basic shape I'm going for is more Renaissance than Victorian, I got out my ren corset, put it on and took measurements. I then made my dressform several inches smaller than those measurements, added some batting to pad her out a bit, and then put my corset on her.

Working from the basic shapes of the pattern I had wanted to use, I draped first the front section, then the back, and then made the side section fill the gap. I then put together a mock-up in canvas. (I didn't think muslin would work well, since this will need to be a fairly supportive garment. The canvas gave me a much better idea how the garment will actually fit.) When I first tried on the mock-up, I nearly panicked didn't fit and it just didn't look right at all. I had no idea where to even begin making adjustments and feared I'd have to start all over again. So, I did what I always do in that situation--waited to consult Mom. When I put it on again once she got home, I gave it a good yank downward at the waist and, voila, it suddenly fit and looked right. I only needed to make two adjustments: the back was a bit large at the top, so that piece needed to be precut so that the center back would still be on the straight of grain; I also needed to make the front piece smaller, which I ended up doing by simply taking a seam down the center front.

Once the adjustments were made to my mock-up, I sewed together a second bodice out of the canvas and began sewing them together with boning channels. At this point, I'm only about halfway finished with the channels, and will then place the boning in to see how it fits. I received my plastic whale bone from Farthingales last week, so I'm going to try that boning first. I'm really hoping it will work well--it does seem strong enough. My only concern is that with how thick it is, it may shrink the bodice way too much. As it is now, the bodice is neither too snug nor too loose, so I do have a little bit of room to play with here, but there is no telling how small the bodice will be once I add the boning. If it doesn't work out, I still have plenty of that super strong steel that I can use; in my mind, it would just be a little bit more correct to have imitation whale bone rather than steel.

I have to make sure that this under layer of the bodice fits correctly before I can move on to patterning the outer layer. The outer layer is actually cut quite differently from the boned layers. It is cut in four pieces instead of three, and the side-front seam is very curved.

2/9/05

I didn't realize I had missed an update. I got the mock up done of the bodice lining, but was only able to get the boning half done with the ten meters of plastic whale bone I had purchased, so that is on hold until my next order arrives. I was extremely concerned when I was putting the boning in: even though I was alternating the direction of the curve in the plastic, the bones twisted in the channels so that all of the boning was facing the same direction. It looked like it was going to be a disaster. Then sarahbellem told me to iron the boning to straighten it out. I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical, but it worked. I steamed the boning (still in the channels) on a medium setting for a few seconds and the gently bent the plastic in the opposite direction it wanted to curve naturally. I repeated this process until each piece was laying flat. The result is that it looks like the imitation whale bone will work after all!

I'm now on to he mock up of the gown skirt, which is proving to be a bit trickier than I thought it would be. I think I have the waistband figured out so that it won't show, even where it will be on top of the bodice. I made a very narrow band and will stitch the cartridge pleats to the top edge. The problem is that the satin I am using for the mock up doesn't do the best job of imitating silk satin. There is something about the weave of the duchess satin that makes it resist pleating, creating a fairly wide cartridge pleat even when pulled tight. The polyester stuff doesn't have this feature, so the cartridge pleats end up being much narrower and closer together. While this doesn't seem like such a big deal--I'll still get a feel for the look--it makes a huge difference in trying to figure out the yardage I will need. So, I'm going to see if it will work to interface the pleated edge of the poly satin in order to create pleats with a bit more body to them. Wish me luck.

No, the bodice isn't crooked; my shirt neckline is.

The bodice is still only half boned in these pictures.

2/17/05

I got through with the mock-up of the skirt, but it seems to still need a little tweeking. First of all, it wasn't until I had finished that I realized there are eight yards of fabric there. No way I'm using that much silk for the skirt! I figured I could probably pare it down to six yards and still have plenty of fullness. I still think the silk will be much thicker than the poly, even though I interfaced the pleated edge of the poly with cotton batting. The other problem was that I didn't make the flat part in front wide enough, so the fullness kind of sticks out over the bodice--doesn't quite work. (You can see in the pictures that although the skirt looks great from the front, you can't see the lower part of the bodice front in the side pictures.) At any rate, it's not enough of a problem to remake the mock up; it'll be easy enough to correct the problems while working on the real deal.

On the other hand, my waistband idea worked out perfectly. I mounted the skirt to the top edge of a narrow waistband. The result is that, although you can see the stitches, it looks like there is no waistband at all.

In other news, I'm nearly finished with my petticoat...er...at least one petticoat. I'm not sure if I'll need more than that. At any rate, I've got six yards of white cotton sateen pleated to the waistband, with what should be an ample flat space in front. All that's left to do on it is to sew a hook-and-eye on and hem it.

I also managed to get the boning in the bodice complete. It's looking pretty good, but the shoulder straps still need just a bit of tweaking. If I take up the strap just on the front piece, it will pull the front in a bit and will get the strap to sit just a bit lower on my shoulder. In the pictures, it also looks like the back is too big, but that's because my lacing strips are in the wrong place; I need to move those over so that they are closer to where the real eyelets will be. So, once I get that one little shoulder adjustment made, I'll be ready to start patterning the cover fabric.

You really can tell in these pictures that the boning is not complete. The shape is much more uniform now that all the boning is in.

3/14/05

Not much to report really. I've hemmed the petticoat and am hoping that it will be sufficient. (I don't really want to do that much pleating and hemming on yet another garment that will not be seen. Of course, I will if it's necessary--anything to make this outfit look right.)

I've also started thinking about the chemise. I can't decide if I want to make it out of some lightweight linen I have (not quite as light as handkerchief weight, which would be better) or cotton lawn or voile. I suppose the linen would be more correct, but I'm concerned about the weight, especially if it shrinks up when I wash it. I guess I just need to think about it some more, and maybe wash some fabric to see what I like best. It would be really fun to find a nice soft silk to use, but I don't know...

2/9/06

This project has been put on major hold. Since starting the bodice, I've lost over thirty pounds. Obviously, nothing fits anymore, neither the bodice nor the petticoat nor the skirt mock up I made. I've decided not to resume the project until my weight has leveled off and I actually have time to do the project justice.

4/26/07

It's time. My weight hasn't entirely leveled off, but the weight loss has slowed, and I don't have nearly so far to go to reach my goal. I also now have the double benefit of having leftover fabric from my wedding dress as well as experience working with the fabric. So, here are a few things I've learned along the way.

*Cut the skirt cross-grain. The silk has more body if the folds go across the grainline rather than with it, which probably explains the wonderfully thick pleats in the paintings. This also means that I can use one solid peice of fabric rather than panels. (The only seams I can find in the pictures are at the center back and possibly at the center front, hidden by the trim. The others may be hidden in the folds, but I'll be happier with my recreation without seams up the skirt.)

*Keep the trim separate from the skirt fabric. The fabric tends to pucker a bit where I've embroidered it; historically, hand embroidery most likely did not produce this effect, and it looks very much like the embroidery was done directly onto the skirt fabric. Since I don't want to ruin the look with a bunch of puckering around the hem, I'll embroider organza which I will then apply to the skirt, or find some free-standing lace design that will work.

*The shoulder straps need to be much more off the shoulders to create the straight line across that is seen in the paintings.

*I'm still a bit perplexed by the white showing at necklines. In many paintings, it really does look like the chemise showing, but in paintings of richer gowns, it just looks too even, too regular. Having worn a chemise under a boned bodice before, I know how it continually shifts around and never stays where you want it. I'm tempted to think that the peek-a-boo chemise may have become a bit stylized and had turned into a piece of trim sewn to the decoletage, especially the ones that look more like draped, gauzy fabric rather than proper ruffles.

At any rate, I feel like I'm starting all over again, which I am. I no longer have a corset that fits that I can drape over, so I'll have to figure something else out to pattern the bodice.