Jomar has gotten in a ton of dead stock trims from some defunct wear house. This is trim love!!



( See each trim close up here )

So I popped over to Joann's to get lining, black linen, and a few supplies for the Titanic Boarding Suit when I saw the crepe back satin was on sale. And they had the most delicious red. Yeah, so I bought that just in case I have time to work on the Jump Dress for Convergence.

This is a tough week for me because I scheduled a bunch of needed dental work for Mon, Thurs, and Friday and I'm taking someone sight seeing on Wed. I won't be able to start working on anything again until the weekend (and I think I'm going to that Acorn Hall Victorian Weekend on Sunday)

So as you know I've decided to go for a Titanic-era wardrobe for Convergence 15 on the Queen Mary next month. I think I'll only have time to make one thing, and that will be the Titanic Boarding Suit. I have the Winego patterns for the jacket and skirt and have even cut the patterns out. And thanks to bauhausfrau, I have the striped linen. Accents will be black instead of purple.

Yesterday I was inspired by finding the Titanic Rose "Jump Dress" Barbie for a great price at a local shop. I tried to take pics of it, but they kept coming out too dark. If you Google it, you'll see it. Wish I had time to make a non-beaded version of that dress, too, but I'm not going to kill myself trying to make two things in 3 weeks.

A while ago I promised scans of my Peterson's 1872 and 1873 and then I forgot about the project after showing a few pages.

Here are several fashion plates for 1873



( More under here )

I'm so excited! I just found a 10 yr anniversary edition Pink Label Titanic Rose Barbie for $14.99 at a local shop. Pretty red evening dress!

This is for my_stitching, who has black fabric and trim she wants to use...



( More black gowns under here )

Sorry I was absent for a while there! I had some wonderful house guests to attend to and a party to throw. I had a great week!!

Here are photos of the Victorian Party
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14941369@N07/sets/72157619776977768/

I still have to finish my dress! I never got those box pleated organza ruffles on.

LOL! No attempt at stripe matching, but as I said to someone else this evening (morning?), it's nothing a good bow and a strong personality can't conceal. Took me a while to get the notched collar as I was attempting to follow the directions and they were a wee off on the collar (which is weird for a TV pattern, and how I got into trouble because I trust every word). Once I ignored what it said and trusted my own instincts as well as some advice from Heather herself, the collar came out fine.

Then J and I drank wine and watched "He's Just Not That Into You . OMG, that movie is SO GOOD!! I was all "eh" about it from the previews, but really, go see it. J enjoyed it, too (no, really, otherwise he'd have been making jokes about turning it off like he does when I watch The Age of Innocence, and wandered away to play video games)

Oh, right, the dress! I also put all 20+ yards of the organza trim into a pot to tea dye it, but it totally didn't turn out like my test strip. I apparently needed more tea, but I put in all I had, so oh well. It barely stained this time, but that might be on the bare edge of "good enough" as I just needed it to not be glaring white. Anything but glaring white. Time is of the essence, so it'll have to do.

The very sweet and talented Zoh is appearing on the latest Threadbanger how-to video demonstrating how to make spats. It's a great video!!

http://www.threadbanger.com/

In other news, today was partially taken up with cats/vet appts, so J's duster STILL isn't done. Just have buttons, button holes, and hem left...I think.

Sleeves and cuff:

Last night I made the sleeves. They are unlined, but the directions do not have you flat-fell the seams, but only tell you to press them to one side and stitch the seam allowance down 1/4" from the seam. Leaves the edges all raw (since I forgot to serge the sleeves). Another thing I don't like about the sleeves is the cuff. The cuffs do not meet edge to edge like they are supposed to, but are an inch too short to do so. In addition, the way they have you attach the cuffs leaves the raw edge of the cuff showing just inside the sleeve! They say you can hand stitch it down "if you want". Yeah, I want.

Here's a pic of the sleeve with the raw edges of the cuff waiting to be stitched down so they don't flip back up and wave at everyone. You can also see the top stitched sleeve seam allowance.

I finally got around to holding up the white box pleated, black rolled hem organza I have for this dress, and I realized my precious linen is really ivory. Oh no! The white is GLARING. What to do?

Tea!

Lemon tea!

No, not to calm me down, to dye my poly organza trim. I wondered if it would take the tea dye, but it did. Yay!



See the difference between the tea-dyed test strip of organza and the glaring white organza? Yay, I'm so glad it worked!

I'm so excited! Jason's motor duster looks like something sort of! I made my first notched collar tonight whoo hoo!



Now to do the other side, but that is for tomorrow.

I also washed and dried all the linen and cotton for my own gown tonight. I'm hoping to start my own gown tomorrow.

Wow, I got so many great responses about making the linen skirt. Thank you all so much for your valuable input! And thanks for putting the "why" in there, too. Helps me to remember for next time. I will flat line the linen in cotton :)

Now! To wash and dry the bodice and skirt fabric while I continue to work on J's coat.

I'm going to attempt to make a version of this outfit for a party in 2 weeks. Wish me luck! (Luckily, I already have pre-box pleated organza trim for the skirt!). Anyway, I have an ivory linen with a think black pinstripe for the bodice. Should I use a plain ivory linen for the skirt? If I do, should I flat line it so it has more body or will it depend on the weight of the linen I choose?

I forgot to mention that Butterick has put out a pattern with 7 historical gloves. Yay!

http://www.butterick.com/item/B5370.htm?tab=costumes&page=1

A few weeks ago I cut out most of the motoring duster for Jason from the new Simplicity pattern. Yesterday I finally serged the edges and put on the interfacing on the fronts. Today I cut out the pocket pieces and struggled to make the welt pockets and flap. Went ok, but I really need more practice. After that I put in the back pleat and then attached fronts to backs. Had to stop there to wait for J to come home and try it on. No sense going further if it's too big or too small. So he came home and it fit fine. Yay! But I think I'm done with that for the night because he also brought home a new gin to try: Hendrick's. It's sooo good!

Have I mentioned how much I love my new boots? They are the most glorious thing I have ever put on my feet!!

They are beautifully packaged in this girly box reminiscent of French boutiques! Each boot was encased in a separate boot bag to protect the velvet. Nice presentation!



( Click here to open the box and see the boots )

I haven't been very inspired to sew lately, which is a bad sign since I need to make Jason's motoring duster and my own new gown for June. Sewing mojo...come back!

Anyway, this week I have veeery slowing been completing the Lady Dragon bodice that goes with the skirt I made last week. As you may recall, the bodice was all together by last Saturday, but I hadn't done sleeves, boning, etc.

The past couple days I made and set the sleeves (which oddly went right in with no sleevil-type shenanigans), made and set the collar (twice, because I changed my mind about how it should look), and cut the boning and set them in casings made of bias tape (they still need to be sewn to the seam allowances).

So if I want to wear this tonight, today I must trim the sleeves, put in buttons and button holes, sew down the boning, and finish the hem. I think it's doable since Jason has discovered True Blood on HBO and has been glued to the TV since last night. The show sucked me in, too. (ha ha for the bad pun)

Here's a poorly lit photo of the present state of the bodice. Better pics later today, I promise!

I wish TV or someone would publish a pattern for the pretty turn of the century pouter pigeon gowns. I have the Janet Arnold, of course, but I need directions. Ageless Patterns and Patterns of Time don't have anything like this, either.