Late 1830's Underpinnings

I made this beautiful corded stays/corset to wear under my 1837 day Dress, but it honestly doesn't work the way I hoped it would. Because there isn't any boning (except for one bone on either side of the back opening and the busk in front) the petticoats and skirt cut into my waist…not comfortable. To top things off, I modified the bust darts (thinking they would be too large) to the point that they gave me a strange shape. You can see that I tried to remedy that by adding additional fabric to the bust gussets. Honestly, I am frustrated with these stays to no end. I like them (and spent quite a lot of time cording them) but I just can't wear them in the way I had imagined. 

Front view

Side view, and a closeup of the cording

Back view. It's also a pain to get into because the lacing is in the back and there is no separating busk

Here is my corded petticoat. It works just as well as I hoped it would, thankfully. I made it out of some wide muslin I had leftover from some other project. The cording is some very thick hemp twine.

Here is the corded petticoat with my two other petticoats over the top. I made these petticoats for my civil war dress originally, but with one modification to make them one length all around, they work just as well for an earlier period. They are made out of some old sheets… the top one is cream colored while the one underneath is made from some red satin sheets. The red one probably isn't very accurate, but it does its job and that's all that matters.

Two Federalist Era Dresses

I've made two dresses from the Federalist Era, as it was known here in the United States. The pattern I used is Past Pattern's Circa 1796-1806 Lewis & Clark Era Front Closing Gown. I modified the pattern for the second dress to make it an "apron front" closing gown.

Federalist Era Underpinnings

I made a set of underpinnings to go with my two front closing gowns, which will be featured in my next post.

This chemise works well for most time periods. It's constructed with simple geometric shapes. The neckline is adjustable since there is a ribbon encased in the hem.

The underarm gusset

Edwardian Ensemble is Finished!

Yay! I finally finished my Edwardian ensemble! I finished the skirt this afternoon and just had to put everything on and try it out. I like the overall look very much. Just some fair warning, I was taking the pictures that are to follow using my laptop, so they aren't great, but will give you the general idea.

Edwardian Skirt

I finally received the fabric I ordered to make my 1905 circular skirt. It's such a pretty shade of purple! I decided to bite the bullet and go with a color other than black, brown or gray. It's a mid weight, subtly striped twill described on the website I ordered from as "Mulberry". I do think it could be mulberry-colored, but it reminds me more of a slightly underripe blueberry! It's a rich, beautiful shade of purple no matter what it's named.

See? Isn't it such a pretty color? It's a bit darker in real life

Button-front Shirt Refashion #3

This refashion uses three shirts, technically. I made a dress with the upper portion of a white shirt, the lower portion of a red silk shirt, and a strip of fabric from the lower portion of a black shirt.
I took inspiration from pictures of color-block dresses, which are quite trendy right now, I suppose.

Button-front Shirt Refashion #2

For my second refashion, I took a soft, purple, short-sleeved, rayon button-up shirt and turned it into a racer-back tank top. I traced the neckline and shoulder lines of an existing tank top while I had the shirt on my dressform. I took the side seams in a little bit right beneath the arms but left the fit pretty loose. I couldn't make enough bias strips to finish the neck and arms with the short sleeves, so I found a bit of black knit fabric to use instead. The armholes gaped strangely, so I ran yarn through the bias trim on the armholes and used them like drawstring casings to make things look better. And voilà, a cute, light and breezy summer top.

Sewing Galore: Button-front Shirt Refashion #1

I have been sewing a good bit since I got done with finals on Friday. I suppose I'll start with the first thing I sewed this week.
A while back, my mom gave me some button up shirts that she never really wore, and they have been sitting in my closet staring at me ever since. Most of them are/ were too big and boxy for my slender frame, although I found one I like to wear under one of my vests... But I digress. Long story short, I decided to refashion some of the shirts into something I would actually wear.