Upcoming Tutorial

I've been wanting to make tutorials for the things I do ever since I started blogging regularly. I deeply appreciate the tutorials other people put on the web and they have helped me immensely, so I want to add to the pool. However, every time I try I either forget to take photos so I have nothing to post, or I suddenly hate all the photos I took as well as my writing voice and so make a short post. Not this time.

I took a pause from my bodice to work on a Regency turban for the upcoming Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge, and will be posting a tutorial about it. I was originally planning to make a toned down turban that I could wear out with regular clothes but dress up as needed, but then I remembered I'm a white girl.

Shocking, I know, when did that happen?

I like the style of the wrap turbans, so even though mine is a fixed cap it looks similar to a wrap style, which may be deemed culturally insensitive to people who aren't familiar with the Regency fad of women's turbans. Since that idea is dead I'm going full crazy with the trimming, so there will be pearls involved. Until then, here are some of the inspiration pictures that spawned my turban.

Fashion Plate from Costumes Parisiens

Sarah Sophia Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey

Two Opera Dresses

Bridged the Gap

There comes a point when every project losings steam. When you just don't feel like working on it anymore.Where you consider putting it aside for a while and taking a break. For me that point is called the fuckin' sleeves. I hate/fear sleeves. A bodice may fit perfectly, until you add sleeves. You may not feel overly constricted, with good range of motion and joyful thoughts about the project. And then you add sleeves. Bad sleeves can make a great costume a horror to wear. And they are so weirdly shaped. Not to mention historically through a number of periods tight sleeves were the thing, and it's hard to make sleeves that are tight enough to look good, but loose enough to be comfort.

I had a break from my project Monday since Cas had the day off work, so I made mock-ups for her bodice so after I finish mine I can move onto hers without much effort. It can be hard to get a hold of people, and I wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Tuesday I screwed around. Wednesday I reminded myself of my deadline and started doing things. Finished the sleeves and the collar (which took two tries) and started hand-tacking down things on the inside. Today I applied boning to half the bodice, and soon I'll be trying it on to check how they fit (I only want to do half in case some bones need to be moved). I'll also be putting in the waist tape, and adding buttons. Buttonholes probably won't happen until tomorrow. Until then here's some photos from before I altered the neckline and added the collar:

Sleeve looks wrinkled cause I'm holding my arm out of the way so you can see the bustle.

Back looks weird because of angle of backwards selfie.

Here's a quick shot I took to consider buttons. These aren't the ones I'm going with, but you can see the henley neckline and collar.

The Top Half

So after all this time I'm finally making a bodice. Woot!

I know that there are free period bodice patterns online, and so pulled up The National Garment Cutter Book of Diagrams, by Goldsberry and Doran, from 1888. The whole book is available for free from the Library of Congress' Internet Archive, so I can actually use patterns for the bodices without feeling like I'm cheating.

For Dean's bodice I choose the basque in the very front, because I liked the look. After drafting I realized that it had a 24 inch waist, and since one seam has an extra wide allowance, I could let it out a quarter inch and get an inch increase overall. My waist is 26 inches, corseted, but with the hem allowance at the center front I knew I'd be able to pin it at least partially shut and see how much it needed to be altered. The answer was: a lot.

The waist may have only been 1 inch too small, but that doesn't matter when it's 4 INCHES TOO HIGH. My skirt rests at my natural waist, but this bodice's hem couldn't reach. Also, the hump-back look comes from the too small back. In fact, if I wasn't physically impossible and able to touch my elbows behind my back, I would have needed someone to cut me out of that thing.

The armscye was way too small and I couldn't let my shoulders drop to my natural resting position.

However, once I took it off and just pinned the waist at my actual waist level, the bottom wasn't so bad. So after a bit of measuring, I found the waist had to be dropped 4 inches, the bust enlarged by 5 inches, and a few minor tweaks applied. The second mock-up was much better.

Finally something approaching a bodice.

The back hem needed to come down a bit, and the bust needed to be let out yet another inch.

Somehow I failed to lowered the waist evenly, so the center back piece had a waist point an inch higher than the rest of the garment. The shoulder seam needed to be altered, and the line of the center front curved to prevent the neckline from gapping, but I could finally start cutting the fashion fabric.

I made piping out of a leather brown bottomweight, to be a subtle nod to the leather jacket Dean wears.

As a point of reference, the paper piece is the original draft from the book. That thing had a waist only 5 inches below the bust point. In fact I just checked Crowley's measurements; she's only 4' 11" and her bust to waist is still 7 and a half inches.

Lovely piping. The bodice is flatlined with muslin. For the front I applied the piping first to just the fashion fabric, then stitched the lining on right sides together and turned the lining to the inside, which Jennifer at Historical Sewing says is period.

Pinning piping to just a single layer feels weird

The bodice has two fish-eye darts on the front piece, so I used the Dreamstress' technique for sewing flatlined darts without wrinkles.

First you draw your darts to the lining only, and stitch them flat just slightly inside the lines. You can see my green stitching next to poorly drawn blue lines.

Then you fold up your darts and stitch them on the dart line.

And viola! Neatly stitched darts without having to worry about the outer layer not being even with the inner layer.

The main body of the bodice is done, now I'm currently in the process of mocking up the sleeves. Completed photos soon to follow.

Historical Sew Fortnightly #16

With Crowley's skirt finished I can finally move on to bodices. The project is really starting to pull together, and since I'll probably have my nose to the sewing machine for the next couple of days I figured I'd make my HSF post early.

The term I decided to use was actually from a recent post: Brocade.

You can see the black on black patterning on the fabric to the right.

Crowley's skirt uses a black damask as the center front panel, with a black shirting cotton for the main body.

My phone makes it look bluish. It's not.

Crowley as a character wears all black, with simple tailored lines and a black brocade tie as the only shine against flat black.

For my Victorian Femme Crowley, the damask takes the front and center, while the rest of the skirt is bustled up in a frothy period look.

Close-up. Center front on the right. Skirt is bustled in three sets of three pleats, perfect of the son of a witch.

The Breakdown:

The Challenge:  #16 Terminology

Fabric:  Black cotton shirting, polyester damask

Pattern: 1880s skirt pattern, from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1860 - 1940

Year: Mid-1880s

Notions:  Black cotton thread, polyester ribbon braid, cotton twill tape, polyester ribbon, plastic buttons, hooks and bars

How historically accurate is it?  The technique is good, but the damask is synthetic, as is the trim. I ran out of cotton twill tape for bustling, so one of the interior ties is polyester ribbon. Maybe 50%?

Hours to complete: 10ish

First worn:  Not worn yet

Total cost:  $25-40. I don't remember how much everything cost.

Attack of the Sewing Accomplishments

I have been steamrolling through projects, finishing things and marking them off the list. Motivation has been high, and with all the undergarments done I am excited to be working on the bits that people will actually get to see. However, obsession is starting to set in, so I am taking a break today to remember to sleep and eat. (When I get too into a project, I skip meals and start start shaving time off of my sleep schedule in order to keep working on it. I don't want that to happen with this project; I want to work in a relaxed, healthy pace. So I get a day off.)

Things completed include Crowley's bustle:

Made larger than the others for more effect. Black twill stitched in red with purchased bias tape around the edges.

Laying down

Crowley's petticoat:

I didn't have enough fabric to make it as poofy as I'd like, but I did have 2/3s of a yard of 50inch wide black lace that I bought as a remnant to add a bit more volume. It helps.

On hanger with bustle underneath, assisted by my wonderful husband. (Sorry it's so blurry)

Gabriel's skirt:

While being tried on for length (the TARDIS shirt is because this was right before a group of us sat down for the season premier of Doctor Who)

Side view

Completed. The skirt is an indigo cotton, flatlined to a heavier cotton. It is trimmed in green bias tape, made from the same fabric as her jacket will be made from. The contrast panel is a silver-grey cotton/linen blend, to hint at her angelic heritage.

Close-up of the buttons. These same buttons will be used on the jacket, and smaller matching ones used on the bodice.

Gabriel's bustle-petticoat combination needs to be taken in (she lost to much weight while doing fieldwork) and everything listed still needs closures, but I still count them as done.

Crowley's skirt is about 80% done.

All of the panels are sewn together.

Better image of the color. The ribbon trim that you see between the two fabrics is only on one side. I still need to apply it to the other.

The main body of the skirt is extra long and pleated to the center front piece. Twill tape will be added with the waistband, and the skirt will be bustled in the back. Once the other side of the ribbon trim has been added, all the skirt will need is a waistband (with hanging twill ties) and a hem. Should have it finished (minus the hem) in time for the next HSF challenge.

Current checklist:
Chemises - Completed
Drawers - Completed
Corsets - Completed
Bustles - Completed
Petticoats - Completed
Skirts - 4/5 Completed
Bodices - 0/5
Overskirts and accessories - 0/5

With just over two months left on my timeline, expect to see completed outfits soon.

Things I've learned About Making Victorian Undergarments

I just finished Crowley's bustle and petticoat, so I thought I'd post some details about what I've learned from this whole pile of crazy. I am no expert, but these are some things I googled and failed to find results for, so I'm putting out what worked best for me.

Chemise: Make it out of thin, soft, breathable fabric.

Drawers: Drawers do not look good. Period. They're weird. Now, if you make them out of thin fabric, and trim them well, it distracts from the camel-toe front and sagging ass back, but they still aren't sexy.

Corsets: Make them longer than you think you'll need. Once you do a fitting you can trim them down a bit, but it's always better to go longer. For a single layer corset use bias strips for your channels. If you are covering your coutil in something pretty, stitch your boning channels to the inside. If you need exterior boning channels, stitch your pretty fabric and your coutil into a tube, press flat with the seam centered, and then trim the seam allowance.

If you try to do bias of pretty and bias of coutil layered on top of one another, there will be shifting and fraying and uneven-ness. If you stitch the pretty and the coutil together into a tube, trim the seam allowance, and then press, there will be fraying. Better to make a tube, press first, and then trim.

When possible, do a final fitting before all the seams are finished, in case there needs to be any minor tweaking. And always stitch pieces together, then press to one side and stitch down 1/16th inch away from the seam, then finish as you please (flat-fell into a boning channel or trim and cover with bias channel). Stitching each seam twice will let you sleep easy knowing that spontaneous corset explosion is not on the docket.

Bustles: Online tips suggest light fabric, but get the light side of well woven fabric, like twill, or heavy quilter's cotton. Making bustles out of muslin just starts a mental countdown of how long you have until it tears and you have to make another bustle.

If you are making a bustle out of an online guide (like this one) and have never made one before, two-thirds of you corseted high hip measurement makes a nice sized bustle. (So if, with your corset on, your high hip is 30 inches, the top bone of your bustle should be around 20 inches, at least if you want a bustle that looks like those I've made.) You can obviously go larger (Crowley's is the only bustle that is larger that that proportion), but if you were wondering where's a good place to start, that's where I started.

In the American Duchess guide I linked, she put the apex of her top bone 4 inches from the waistband edge. Do not put it closer to the edge than that, or the angle gets pretty extreme. If you are a larger woman, you might want the apex 5 or 6 inches from the waistband, so there is room for your butt and the bustle won't try to ride up.

Petticoats: If you are short (i.e. less than 5 feet tall), and don't mind a petticoat that lacks fluff, you can kinda get away with 3 yards of 44 inch wide material. Otherwise, you want closer to 4 or 5, in order to make ruffle-y bits. All of my petticoats followed the same basic pattern. I cut the front and the side fronts as shown, but I cut the back and back sides only to knee length (usually about 25 inches for the side backs and 26 for the back). Side backs and back stitched together to about 50-55 inches at the bottom, so I made a ruffle out of a 100-120 inch long strip, and wide enough to reach the skirt's finished length, and stitched it to the back. Then the petticoat back can be stitched to the front half, along with a placket for closures and a waistband.

For Samifer's, the whole thing was made about 6 inches shorter, and a pre-gathered eyelet band was added to the bottom. Most have cording thrown in the back, to keep it fluffy, and Dean's has two rows of ruffles. Crowley's was made 4 inches shorter, because she's just that short, and lace was added to make up for the lack of ruffle (her ruffle was only 65 inches, stitched onto the 50 inch back, because I ran out of fabric).

That skirt pattern makes for a super fluffy petticoat for a woman with a 26 inch corseted waist. It makes a decently fluffy petticoat for a woman with a 30 inch corseted waist. Larger than that, and I suggest adding width to each piece to keep the fluff. For Castiel, I subtracted 26 inches from her corseted waist measurement, then divided the difference by the number of skirt pieces, and added that much on to each. Or you could just add where you like. (To a super fluffy petticoat for a 30 inch corseted waist, you'd want to add a total of 4 inches to the pattern, which you could just add an inch to the side back and half back pieces, making 4 inches overall. That way the extra width is concentrated in the back where you want it.)

Pictures of Crowley's bustle and petticoat will follow soon, but for now I'll let you digest that brick of text.

Historical Sew Fortnightly #15

Short post, and a bit late, but I made a walking skirt!

This skirt is made using the same pattern as all of my late 1880s skirts, but altered to be larger for the wearer. It is unlined, so it's not overly hot to wear.

It has an eight inch deep hem facing, as well as half inch horsehair braid to keep the hem wide and easy to walk in. This skirt was made for Castiel for my Victorian Femme Supernatural Cosplay project.

This skirt has the best waistband of those I've made thus far; it is two inches wide, faced, and was cut slightly curved so there is no bunching or folding. The skirt closes with two buttons on the waistband and two hooks and bars on the placket.

It's pretty simple, but practical and comfortable. Photos of Cas wearing it soon to follow (hopefully!)

The Breakdown:
The Challenge: #15: The Great Outdoors

Fabric:  Black linen/cotton blend

Pattern: Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1860-1940, 1880s skirt

Year:  mid-1880s

Notions:  Black cotton thread, two hooks and bars, two buttons, 120" half inch polyester horsehair braid

How historically accurate is it?  Very, minus the polyester and the fact that the buttons are plastic. 90-95%?

Hours to complete:  Didn't count, maybe 15 since the handmade the buttonholes and hand-stitched the hem facing.

First worn: Not worn yet

Total cost:  ~$35