In Which I Venture into the 18th Century

The Partner in Crime and I have stated a little Meetup group to further our costuming adventures, so hopefully there will be more excuses for me to make and wear things and consequently more reasons to update the blog take pictures.  We're trying to do one event every month.  We shall see.

May was Steampunk World's Fair, June is a little vintage themed tea, and July is Bastille Day at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Steampunk and various vintage periods are well within my wheelhouse.  I can cobble that stuff together pretty easily and I've sewn for those periods before.  The 18th century is a whole new beast.

I have none of the undergarments and nothing even remotely suitable to wear and I'm unlikely to pick up anything appropriate at the Goodwill.

Luckily it is pretty popular with reenactors, so I can research fairly easily and I patterns are available and the event isn't really meant to be historically accurate, so I'm not feeling overwhelmed on that end.

I'm going to attempt something working-class for this event. 

A word about accuracy:  I'm not concerned about historical accuracy in my costuming.  I enjoy the research and I can probably tell you more than the average person about what people really wore at any given time in history, but I also know that period appropriate fabrics are expensive and period techniques (like hand sewing) can be time consuming.  I'm far more interested in making something that is evocative of the period at a cost that is reasonable to me in the 21st century.  

Planning

American Duchess just released some patterns for Simplicity that I'm going to use as a starting point for my undergarments and a little jacket.  I'm planning to make the petticoat without a pattern. (Pray for me).

 


They're Outlander themed, which would be a bit earlier than the period I'm shooting for, but the base patterns should be pretty good for what I'm planning: A walking length skirt and Pierrot jacket.  I'll need to make some alterations, but it's a good start.

I'm hoping the end result will be something like this from the Kyoto Costume Institute:

Vive la revolution!

As intimidated as I am of this project I've really been wanting to do something from this period for a while and now I finally have an excuse.  And I have an excuse to buy these gorgeous shoes that I've been lusting after for at least a year...

American Duchess Kensington Shoes in Oxblood
Be still, my heart.

So...things I need to make:

• chemise
• stays
• bum pad or bum roll
• fichu
• cap (maybe)
• apron (maybe)
• at least one petticoat (but I really need several)
• skirt
• jacket

Plus I need to buy stockings and shoes and a hat.  And the event is in a month.  

It's highly likely that I will not make that chemise.  I'm not banking on it, but the stays are non-negotiable.  I have to make them and the bum pad or it's just not going to look right and I'm slightly terrified of making the stays.

I picked up a super cute (but probably not even remotely historically accurate) fabric for the jacket at JoAnns and found some pretty fabric for the stays, ordered reed boning (that I may or may not use), and ordered some linen blend fabric for the petticoat(s). 

Stay tuned.

Steampunk World's Fair 2016

The Partner in Crime and I attended the Steampunk World's Fair in Piscataway, NJ a few weeks ago.  Unlike last year I actually remembered to take pictures of our outfits.  Don't get excited, they're not great pictures, but they do exist!  Baby steps.

Friday

We arrived late on Friday night since she'd worked all day and I was furiously finishing up costume bits.  I know this is shocking, but I decided to add stuff at the last minute and then didn't actually have the materials to complete that piece.  Planning!

So Friday we knew we were going to go to the American Murder Song premiere for VIPs.  Bought the VIP tickets especially for it.

We ended up not actually seeing it because we chatted with friends before going to see the show.  That was dumb.  Lesson learned.

We'd decided to go with a dark theme for this night.

PiC is a voodoo priestess.  I lamed out on my costume makeup and just ended up wearing some black and blue stuff that I cobbled together.

The lace shirt is from the Goodwill and worn over a blue tank top from H&M.  Blue and black paisley corset is the 426 from Orchard Corset, and the black skirt is the bustle skirt from hell that I made up for Steampunk Unlimited last year.

 

Saturday

Right, so we decided that for the big Saturday costume we were going to make Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry Muffin outfits and compete in the costume contest.  We were pretty excited until we realized that when the event coordinators announced the schedule there was no costume contest. *whomp whomp*

Because the schedule only comes out a few days before the event and costumes take considerably longer than that to create we were both already pretty deep into the Berries.

We decided to persevere since at this point I was mostly done with the creation of significant parts of the outfit and she'd already purchased everything for hers.  We were going to look cute either way.

But at the last minute a sponsor came forward and they were able to make a costume contest happen!  We participated but were totally blown away by some of the amazing costumes so we didn't win.  This outfit was so comfortable that I ended up staying in it all day.  Hooray!

Here's me being Lieutenant Strawberry Shortcake, Airship Brigade

Everyone thought I was a stewardess....I am not a stewardess.

I dug myself in pretty deep attempting to make a pair of jhodpurs from the new Butterick pattern (B6340) that just didn't end up coming out to anything that I could wear.  It's actually a pretty nice pattern, but it probably shouldn't be make up in white. (Bad things happened.  That's another story.)

In the end I made the jacket (more details in a future post) and did a quick modification on some pants from WalMart.

I purchased the corset from Timeless Trends and found the blouse at Goodwill. The socks are leprechaun socks from JoAnn's bought on clearance after St. Paddy's Day.  There's an obnoxious buckle just under the knee, it's hidden by the pants.  I already owned the brown boots.

Some detail pictures of the jacket and my adorable strawberry medal.

 

And a better picture of the hat

Kimono Dress

I wore the kimono dress Saturday morning, but styled it differently from last year.  Of course, I have zero pictures of last year's outfit...

Here it is this year.

 

I made a bustle!  And yes, I am in desperate need of a petticoat.  It's on the project list.

The obnoxiously coral underskirt was the last minute project.  I ended up at Walmart around 1 PM on Friday to buy thread to finish that skirt.  Because I am the queen of last-minute costuming the skirt is finished and actually not half bad.

It's not properly made up by any means and the side and back seams are sewn with white thread, but it's in one piece and it's wearable.  

Some (maybe not so) obvious problems with the skirt:  It's too short in the back.  I bought 4 yards of this fabric assuming that i was going to use one pattern and then decided to use a different pattern.  This was probably a good idea in the end, since the new pattern allowed for the giant bustle in the back, but I ended up short about a yard of fabric, so I didn't actually make the pattern properly which ultimately left it short in the back.

It didn't really matter for this outfit since the back is covered. but if I want to make wear it with the bustle and no over skirt I am going to have to lengthen it.  Somehow.  Right.



I also made that giant bustle.  It wasn't as hard as I anticipated and I was actually able to make it entirely in two evenings after work.

It was serviceable for the event, but still needs work. There's some really terrible gathering at the top that luckily got covered by the waistband but I managed to totally mis-measure the waistband so it's too short.  I also ended up having so much trouble with the boning piece at the top that I gave up on it.  I called it done at the time, but I will correct the waistband issue and add the extra boning piece at the top.  I also wanted to add a pleated ruffle at the bottom, but I got lazy (shocking) so I didn't do it.

And yes, I see the very obvious boning through the dress.  I know I am also in dire need of a petticoat.  I actually just bought some sheets that I intend to cannibalize to make a lovely yellow petticoat.  With ruffles.  Progress.

Some close up shots of my hair and the corset.

 

 Sunday

Sunday was a quick pack up and leave.  We'd planned to wear our lovely outfits purchased from Midnight Orchid and I paired mine with a tank top.  Under normal May weather circumstances this would have been perfect, but the weather did not cooperate and we ended up freezing our butts off and changing into civilian clothes in short order.  Unfortunately no photos since we changed so quickly.

Steampunk Unlimited and the Bustle Skirt from Hell!

I'm such a procrastinator.  I have a terrible, terrible habit of planning really well and then just not executing.  *sigh*

At any rate, Steampunk Unlimited...  I've known since last year that I'd be going to this.  Do I have anything to wear?  No, no I don't.  Well...I mean I could wear what I wore last year...or something I wore to Steampunk World's Fair...or I could have finished one of my UFOs...but I didn't.  I decided I wanted to do something different.

Of course I did.  Over planning and under performing.  Yep, that sounds about right.

So after the crazyness of impromptu costuming all summer and the Prohibition party I finally sat down to decide what I wanted to wear.

Two weeks before the event.

Yep.  That sounds right.

I have a pretty decent fabric and pattern stash, so I started there.  I found Simplicity 1819, which I've been wanting to make for a while.  I actually have a stash of lovely home decor fabrics that I purchased specifically with this pattern in mind.  I pulled some of the fabric and played around with my surprisingly vast selection of corsets and settled on two outfits.

Yes, two.  In spite of the fact that we're only going for one day and that I had just two weeks to make the outfits.

Sounds about right.

I wanted something that I could wear during the day and then easily change in the parking lot for a different look for the evening concert.  I decided to make the long skirt without the apron and the short view separate, wear one corset and bring a second.  I knew I wanted to change the waistband to a  drawstring to make it easier to get in and out of and eliminate the need for adjustments later.  I hate adjustments.  I don't like the ruffle, so I planned to extend the bottom to make it long enough and eliminate all that work making the ruffle. 

Awesome.  So I had a game plan, got myself together and cut the pattern out.

And then nothing.  Because I have an event in two weeks, so there's no pressure for me to make anything yet, right?  I don't even have a good excuse for this, I just didn't want to do it.

So this weekend I knew I needed to get this stupid skirt made.  So I watched TV and didn't actually start working on the skirt until 3 PM on Saturday.  Ugh such a procrastinator.

At some point during the cutting process it occurred to me that I might not have enough fabric to actually execute on this grand plan.

It was about this point that I realized that I'd already screwed up.

This pattern is weird.  It's an apron and bustle built onto the skirt.  The front and back cascades are all separate pieces.  I did not realize this when I cut the pattern pieces or when I started to cut the fabric.

The front of the skirt under the apron is three pieces.  I ended up cutting two of those pieces at the longer length, but not as long as I wanted to replace the ruffle before I realized my mistake.

The apron is (way way!) too short to make without anything under it (although now that I think of it it would have looked cute over leggings...)  Since they were too short to use for the long skirt and too long for the short skirt,  I cut them down, but I ended up wasting a good chunk of the fabric because of it.

Luckily I caught it before cutting the third panel or the back pieces.  *sigh*  Once I realized my mistake I cut the remaining pieces and started putting the short skirt together.  I figured of the two skirts the shorter one would be more versatile and I knew I'd definitely have the fabric for it.

I ended up about 1 yard too short to make the longer underskirt and decided to go to the fabric store in the hopes that they might have some more of the fabric.

I bought this stuff on red tag clearance from JoAnn's years ago but I still see it show up occasionally.  The problem is that it's not JoAnn's fabric, its remnants from somewhere else that end up there, so if it wasn't in clearance there wouldn't be any of it anywhere in the store.  It was a crapshoot, but I decided to at least try to see if I could get some more of it.

They didn't have it.  They had the same taffeta in a gorgeous teal color that I seriously considered buying to make a layer, but ultimately decided against.  And that is how I wasted most of my Sunday.

Let's recap: wasted half of Saturday cutting fabric I ended up not using.  Wasted half of Sunday shopping for fabric I ended up not buying.  Skirt still in pieces.  Event the following Saturday.

Awesome.

That is how I ended up sewing this stupid thing together at 10 PM the weekend before Steampunk Unlimited and why as of Monday and it still was not done.

I ended up scrapping the cascades because I am, quite frankly, too lazy to cut a lining or properly finish the edges.  I'll tell you it's because I don't like the way they look, but that's only half true.

So I spent all that time carrying the pattern markings over to the fabric and by the time I actually needed them they'd worn off on all the pieces except for the cascades, which I wasn't using.  Excellent.  Guess it's not like I needed them or anything...

In addition to deciding to scrap the waistband I also decided that I didn't like the weird bustle pulley system Simplicity wanted me to rig up or to line the bustle.  I ended up deciding to make the bustle like I did for my skirt last year and just tack up the puffy bits.  So I really didn't need a lot of those markings.  I made a rolled hem on the bustle.  I hate rolled hems.

As of Monday and the skirt was mostly done.  I managed to tack up the puffy bits on the bustle (previously held up with safety pins) and hemmed the skirt.  True to form, I did this Friday night after work.

I also found out at that last minute it was going to be in the 50s on Saturday and my "clothing" plan was a short skirt, lace top, and a corset...I contemplated making myself a jacket too.

Unexpected jacket made in less than a week?  Hahaha! No.  I wore a cloak that I'd made years ago for a red riding hood costume.

Summer Summary

Just a quick summary of some outfits I've pulled together for some summer costuming opportunities.

I say "pulled together" because I didn't actually create much for these, so there isn't much to say about patterns or construction. I'm very grateful to past me for my costume closet and stash.  Thank you, past me!  

High Tea (50s inspired styles)

I already owned everything I'm wearing here.  The gloves, purse, and hat are all from my costume stash via Goodwill.  So are the umbrellas, which just happened to be in my car.  The belt and shirt were retail purchases (belt from JC Penney's and shirt from Banana Republic).  Circle skirt was salvaged at the 11th hour, but made by me years ago.  The shoes are the wonderous Clark's Brier Dolly that I wear to work almost daily.

I had every intention of completing a new circle skirt for this outfit.  I bought beautiful fabric, drafted a pattern, cut it and pieced it together, and then realized I screwed up.  I fixed it, sewed it, and then I realized it was still screwed up.  It was also midnight the night before the tea.

I gave up, grabbed an old circle skirt that no longer fits me, pulled out the waistband and zipper, created a pocket for elastic, threaded it through and called it done.  It's not perfect, but it works.  Plus, now I have a wearable floral circle skirt.

PA Ren Faire: Pyrate Invasion 

This is made entirely from previously-made items.  I haven't ever worn them together, so it was a totally new outfit for me.  The shirt was originally worn for a Ren-Faire pirate event a few years ago, the skirt for yet another Ren Faire outfit.  I recently purchased the corset (Orchard Corset 411 in leather).  The only item purchased for this outfit was the hat, which I'm not entirely happy with.

PA Ren Faire: Time Traveler's Weekend

Rule 63 11th Doctor (Doctor Who) I bought the shirt for this one at Goodwill, the bow tie at Walmart and ordered the fez on Amazon.  The corset is my good old Orchard Corset 411 in cotton that I wore at Steampunk World's Fair. Skirt and ankle boots (which you can't see) from my normal wardrobe. 

Real Talk:

I'm honestly feeling a little burned out on costuming lately (say it isn't so!).

I used to do one major event (Otakon) annually, plus Halloween and maybe one Renaissance Faire event.  This year I had planned to attend Wicked Faire in February, 3 days at Steampunk World's Fair in May, Jazz Age on the Delaware in August, two PA Ren Faire events this summer,Steampunk Unlimited in October, plus Halloween.  I added the high tea event (August), a Prohibition Era costume party (September), and got invited to 4 (FOUR!) Halloween parties.  I obviously love costumes and will really create just about any reason to get dressed up BUT

in retrospect, I may have been a wee bit over zealous this year...

I'm feeling a little bit over costumes right now.  Monday I had a three hour costuming meeting with my costuming partner in crime.  We fueled up with coffee and didn't even get through the agenda.  Oof.  Fail.  Turns out she's pretty burnt out too.   We've got a game plan for the rest of the year and then I have a break from events, but not construction, until February.

Maybe I'll finally get those outfits from Steampunk World's Fair photographed? *sigh*

Vogue 2859 Review

For my Jazz Age on the Delaware outfit I decided to use Vogue 2859,  but only the shirt piece.  I'm fairly certain that the dress would look awful on me.

The hardest part, for me, when trying to evoke a particular decade is getting the fabric choice right and making the finished product look more like an everyday outfit rather than a costume.  I also knew that in August it was going to be hot, so I wanted a natural fabric that would breathe .

Getting the fabric for this outfit was an exercise in frustration.  I was trying to find a floral print fabric that wasn't shiny and had the right drape, but I kept striking out.  I finally settled for a green seersucker, which wasn't what I really wanted.  Then when I went to get it cut the bolt was actually two cuts of fabric and not long enough for my pattern.  Fail.  I ended up buying some red seersucker, but I still wasn't happy.

I brought it home and washed it, but because I wasn't happy with it I never got around to cutting it.

I hit the fabric store a few weeks after getting the seersucker to pick up some patterns and I just happened to find an absolutely beautiful plaid fabric at my local JoAnn's in their "famous maker" section.  It's a light yellow with grey and blue stripes, it's a little bit sheer and it's wool.  Yes, wool.  For summer.  It's a summer- weight wool.  I did not even know this existed. It's super soft and feels awesome.  I'm incredibly impressed with this fabric.  I also had a 50% off coupon.  The seersucker lays forgotten in the fabric stash.

So much love for this fabric!

On to the review!


Pattern Description: Back wrap blouse: short sleeves, kimono in front and raglan in back, triangular cut-out, twisted collar extending from front and tie ends that slip through bound buttonhole in back and knots in front.

Pattern Sizing: 18/20/22

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing it? Yes, it did.

Were the instructions easy to follow?  Somewhat.  I generally don't read pattern directions at all, but that's not really an option with a Vogue pattern.  I followed them where I needed to and figured out the rest on my own.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?  It's quite short and definitely not meant to be worn with low-rise anything, and almost all modern clothing sits below your natural waist.  I'm wearing it with a skirt that sits at my natural waist and I still needed to extend the length by a few inches to reach the waist of the skirt.  Be aware of that before cutting the pattern.  Also, if you're a dancer, you may want to make it even longer.  I found that I was constantly tugging it down whenever my partner turned me.

The little bow in front was an absolute nightmare for me, I almost gave up on it.  The directions made no sense to me in spite of reading them at least a dozen times.  I finally figured it out, though I'm still not quite sure how I did it.  In spite of how difficult I found it, this detail is really one of my favorite things about this piece.  It's a very cute little detail and I think it really gives the shirt some character.

Fabric Used:  Lightweight wool

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I lengthened the bottom hem by a few inches.  I'm 5'8" and I have a large bust, so I knew it was going to be short.

I didn't follow the directions (big surprise) for making the bound buttonhole in the back of the shirt and just left an opening in the side seam for the tie.

If you are using a fabric with an ugly/noticeable wrong side, you'll probably want some extra fabric to use on the ties.  Because you only do a rolled hem you'll see the wrong side.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  Yes, I really like the pattern and would sew it again.

Conclusion: Overall it's a very nice pattern, has a lovely vintage style, and goes together relatively quickly (for a Vogue pattern).  Plus it's one of very few 30s era patterns that are commercially available, so if that's what you're looking for, this is a good bet.

Gazing longingly at the 1930s Model A

PS:  I haven't forgotten about taking those photos for Steampunk World's Fair.  My sewing room looks like small tornado blew through it and I'm disinclined to spend hours on the fourth floor of the house in 90 degree weather cleaning it..  Best case scenario:  I take the dress form downstairs and photograph it that way.  I'm honestly just glad that I finally brought them back into my house after a month and a half.

Yes, really.

Jazz Age on the Delaware Outfit

I attended Jazz Age on the Delaware on Saturday August 1st!  I was super excited about this for couple of reasons: First -- jazz, costumes, and dancing are pretty much my trifecta of an awesome for an event.  Second -- Drew Nugent is playing and I know from experience that he's awesome to dance to. I wasn't terribly excited that it's was in the 90s on Saturday, but in the shade and with the breeze it really wasn't too bad.

Originally we were planning to go to the big Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island in New York, but I found out about a month ago that Glen Foerd on the Delaware is also doing a lawn party this year.  Glen Foerd is so much closer and if I don't need to make a trek then I'm glad I don't have to.

I decided to go 1930s rather than 1920s because the dropped-waist, bust-minimizing styles in the 20s look pretty awful on my figure.  I can rock a 50s dress, but anything too straight looks terrible on me because I'm crazy curvy.  


Vintage reproduction patterns from the 30s are not popular.  I scoured the pattern sites for something that would work for 30s, but really couldn't find much at all.  Most of the reproduction patterns are from the 50s, with a few from the 40s or 60s and I can't do a true vintage pattern without scaling it up like crazy because of my size.  I settled on Vogue 2859 and after a bit of a debacle found some a really lovely plaid fabric that I thought worked for the period.  I'll have a review of the pattern up later in the week. 



This is one of the first costumes where I've mostly bought items ready-made.  This is kind of life-changing for me.  I've never had a costume come together so quickly.  I purchased everything but the shirt and as a result was able to pull together the entire costume in about a week (yes, including making the shirt).

The skirt and shoes are from AmeriMark, which may have just become my new favorite store.  They cater to a more mature clientele and as a result they're pretty cheap and everything is so comfortable!  Seriously, do not underestimate the importance of comfort in an outfit.

The skirt is a trumpet style gored skirt in navy and was about $30.  The shoes are a lace-up oxford with a short heel in bone and were about $20.  They're not great if you're after some very modern looks, but if you like vintage-style clothing and shoes they've got some options.


Goodwill rarely fails me, but after trawling the Goodwill for a 20s/30s style hat for months I was coming up empty.  I picked up this one at H&M, of all places.  It's not my normal style, but I think it looks suitable for the period. I think I paid about $12 for it.  Goodwill did come through for me on the purse, which was $4.50.  WIN!

We had a really fun time picnicking, dancing, and checking out the grounds.  I'll definitely go again if we have the opportunity!

A Short-ish Update

So I wrote a whole post on Steampunk World's Fair prep that I had done and fully intended to photograph my costumes before leaving.  Then I decided to add a costume about a week before the event.  I tried really hard to pull it together and actually got most of the work done on it, but the night before I had to leave I was in my sewing room at 11:30 PM getting ready to do the final few steps when I realized the sleeves and waist were too small and would need to be adjusted.  I gave up, packed up the outfits that I had finished, packed up the car, and called it a night.  I got to bed around 2 AM, worked all day, then drove up to Piscataway for the event. 

My costumes from Steampunk World's Fair have still not been photographed and, in fact, are still in my car.  It's been about a month since the event, so you can see how on the ball I am about this.


The almost-but-not-really-finished costume is still in my sewing room and I haven't even gone up there in a month.  It's so messy that I'm totally overwhelmed and am trying not to even think about it. 

I have every intention to take the outfits out of the car, clean up the sewing space, and photograph them all in the very near future.  In the meantime, here I am in the Dig This Real video from Steampunk World's Fair in my hottest outfit on the hottest day right after doing a(n amazing, but hot) self-defense class with Mark P. Donnelly.  Outside. It was (so, so) hot in that outfit.  And my obijime came untucked.  :(  http://youtu.be/VctUfVZjjpo#t=8m42s

I'm also continuing to over schedule myself, so here's a list of some stuff I'll probably be attending and creating costumes for. 

Upcoming (possible) events:

Celtic Fling at the PA Ren Faire 6/27 (no costume planned)
Jazz Age Lawn Fest, Governor's Island NY 8/15-- 20s/30s attire (I lean 30s due to my particularly non-flapper-esque body shape)
Pirate Invasion Weekend at the PA Ren Faire 8/22  -- Planning to use a Turkish inspired outfit that I've already made for this one but adding a new bodice.
Time Travelers Weekend at the PA Ren Faire 9/19 -- Probably something steampunk for this one.
Steampunk Unlimited at the Strasburg Railroad 10/16-10/18 -- Various generic steampunk stuff, plus the outfit that I wasn't able to complete for SPWF.  

Costume photos to follow.  I promise.