Saturday, April 3, 2021

March Summation and April Plans

 To be entirely honest I don't know how many people would even be interested in this type of post but it seems as good a place as any to start documenting how things have gone and where I want them to go so read on if interested and ignore if not.

March Goals

For March I was supposed to get done my Renaissance Dress and My Hoop, neither of which happened.  I did however manage to get finished two unfinished projects and a new 1920's 1hr Dress as well as complete the layover 40's dress from February.  I know that last one is technically not finished but buttons will happen when I find them and no sooner.  I also am most of the way through sorting out my stash and documenting what I have so that is another win.

Finished Project 1, was the 1950's dress which does not even come close to fitting right now but I do really like. Maybe by next winter I can get it closed.  In the mean time I shall have to find a way to pack up the stuff that doesn't fit me anymore or maybe I find a new home for it with someone who can zip it up.  What is certain is it feels good to be getting some of those lazy projects out of my pile.  

Finished Project 2, turned into an 1860's ish dress with a matching bonnet and a pleated underskirt.  The underskirt will be very useful as a petticoat for all my hoop projects though I will need to finish the hoop more on that later.  I was very pleased with the rework, more pleased than I was with the original design.  Having worn it today however I do think that the green dress needs something more on its hem, so whilst I am leaving it for now as functionally finished don't be surprised if it finds its way back for more embellishments.

New Project was the 1920's 1 hour dress for my niece.  This is the one that I am most happy with from this month probably because it caused me pain to get to where it was done but in then end was so pretty and worked so well.  I may tackle more 1 hour dresses in future.

Stash Fabric Used - technically I did get rid of 3m of satin though it was not used in a finished product it was attempt 1 of the 1 hour dress and we shall call it a mock up because it sounds more encouraging than a cock up.  Down side is that I did not really get through a lot of the stash in this month and instead did have to buy more fabric than I would like and should therefore plan for better busting projects moving forward.  I did use up some green ribbon, ivory ribbon and white cotton lace from the trim stash so that's something at least


April Plans

April has some must have plans as well as some desires.  Thanks to the cleaning out of my stash I have so many projects that I have remembered I have fabric for so I should see some stash busting in this month.  

Skills to work on include drafting my basic block using the corset and stays instructions (at this time) and attempting to fit that block for future use.  Drafting one stay or corset from the afore mentioned books and hopefully seeing that through to first mock up.  

Project 1 will be a 1930's ensemble for a party at the beginning of May.  I have had the fabric for a good many years now with this plan in mind so it will be good to get through that and also necessity for the theme of the high tea I am to attend.  It will need some resizing and fitting so I plan on actually doing this properly this time.


Project 2 will be the hoop, I know it needs to be done I have the fabric chosen pattern traced and just need a nice day to cut metal outside (this is not an inside task).


Project 3 will be the renaissance dress, there has been some start on preparations but long story short I have the entire requirements and will be need to start putting the dress together.  This may be a project over a couple of months because the embellishments are quite involved.


Bonus Projects wearable block dress based on the skills above, 1950's spotted dress, 1940's tropical crepe dress all of which fabric has been acquired for.  I also have earmarked an unfinished 1940's dress from late 2015 in my unfinished pile.

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Finishing the Unfinished - Big Green Edition

 Sometime in a January, I am going to guess 2019 because 2020 was a blur of nothing, I started sewing a simple dress of green cotton to wear to an event at the Australiana village in Windsor.  The idea was a rework of the pagoda bodice body, a semi-full skirt over just the petticoat with no hoop, long sleeves and the use of a collar I had acquired from the sewing basket.  I had planed it to button up the side under the arm and sized the whole dress to be able to be worn without a corset for the sake of Australian summer.


I got the outfit to the point where the hem was pinned, no buttons yet and no sleeves but I had handsewn in the collar, which I may add, was no mean feat.  Trying to get it pinned to lie flat on the bodice with it on me (Gladys is in need of repair so not really good for that sort of thing) was not something I wish to ever repeat - but I did get there.  All the internal seams were finished in a hand felled method or french for the long skirt seam (there is only one).  And there it sat.


From memory I had issues working out what sleeves I wanted then there was trying to get a sleeve to fit into the hole left by the drop sleeved style of the pagoda bodice, and finally the event ended up on a day I could not attend (the reason why escapes me as it was a date I had organised so all I can think is that a family event came up).  Then I sent Gladys for repairs (that never happened and took 9mths but that is a whole other story) so the dress came down was packed away and passed over for more needed or exciting projects.

This month we have an event on, open themed and I wanted to make the renaissance dress for it but the green dress made its way back up and into sorting as we move my stash from under the house into storage for mould reasons.  I took another look at it and thought it deserved to be finished - especially after the battle that was the yoke/collar piece, however the basic colonial style wasn't exciting me.  



First step was to put sleeves in and rather than spend weeks wrestling with patterning I decided to put the pagoda sleeves on.  I wondered if it would fit over a hoop (as that was also on my to do list this month) and a new plan was born.  Raise the hem, make a pleated petticoat to go underneath and fit over a hoop.  I added some stash cotton lace and ribbon to the sleeve ends to finish them nicely and balance the white portions.  Also yay some stash use.


I did not have the required amount of fabric for the petticoat, so I hit up spotlight for the first of about a million visits this month.  Cotton cost was high given the amount used in a hoop petticoat, plus the cotton needed for the pleats would make one very heavy petticoat.  Given my other petticoat is already out of a too heavy linen the idea of having both on my hips was not appealing.  In order to save money and in line with the "is it pretty" mentality I bought some $2/m poly/cotton poplin and a couple of meters of white quilting cotton (same quality as the green fabric).


As it turns out 2m was very ambitious as I worked out the pleat depth etc and returned the next day for another 2m.  I would need 12m total to make the 4m hem of pleats.  Setting the pleats I tried the vinigar methods and other than giving me a craving for chips it did not seem to help me much.  But giving them a good steam and basting has held them so far.  The dress hem ended up being lower than anticipated so I have kept a basting stitch above this hem to hold the pleats better.

When hemming the dress my original plan was to have about 10 inches of pleats showing, however that did not look balanced at all, so after consultations with friends it was decided to just about halve that, in the end its 6 inches from green to floor in hoop.  This is mostly eyeballed but i also used a 6" paper template to run under the green and make sure it was at least in the ball park.

yes this was to much pleats

One of the best secrets about this dress is the with the side closure I can line up a whole bunch of openings to be able to access my Bernie Pocket rather than carrying a bag.

I am very happy with the result and glad I took the time to reimagine and finish this project.


Keen eyes may have noticed a bonnet appear in the final photos.....I have considered a separate post but as the bonnet was made in one night I don't think I have enough to say to fill out a whole post.  


The basis was made from some fleeting tips made by Angela Clayton, and it is constructed with buckram and wire frame, padded with some quilted wadding and covered in left over cotton from the pleats and uses up a length of ribbon I had in my stash from gods know when.


I love the gather effect on the back though I have been told it looks a little bit handmaids tale so I may need to add more adornments before I wear it again.