Looking at silk fabrics

I'm not seriously thinking about buying any of these, as it'd be about $100 worth of silk for a dress, and I don't have a reason for a dress right now. But, they're fun to look at anyway, and I'm comparing them to original gowns.

First up, a gold and red "vintage" style plaid taffeta. Compare it to this original 1860's green plaid dress. Close-up view of the fabric is here.

Next is a beautiful gold plaid and satin stripe taffeta I found. Wow! Then I came across this this original blue and brown plaid/stripe dress... they're not the same, but I can see some similarities. Original fabric close-up is here. And here is another original dress that reminds me of this silk. Oh, here is another lovely silk. They're both gold, and I have no idea how that would look with my strawberry-blonde hair and ruddy complexion!!

One of my favorite silks so far is this red/brown/gray/black/white plaid taffeta I found, which sort of reminds me of this dress. View the close-up here.

I found a lot of checkered fabrics on the Pure Silks site, too, mostly in lighter shades of gold, green, blue, gray. Here is one, and it reminds me of this original dress, which looks more like a horizontal stripe until you see a closer view. I like the trim on the sleeves, it looks military-inspired.

They have a couple of pinstripe taffetas too, comparable to this original bodice. I wish more detailed pics were available of that dress.

I absolutely love this multi-colored plaid but I'm not sure if the plaid is too big... and I can't quite tell if that is green or gray. If it's green I might look very Christmas-y. I also love, love, love this black & white plaid from their eBay store, but it does seem a bit big. Or does it? This plaid dress and this one have very large patterns. Oh, why don't they make silks like that last one anymore? (DROOL!!!!)

Oh, and I just found one more, a that looks ever-so-slightly like this circa 1865 gown.

Maybe I can treat myself to a length or two of silk when I reach my weight-loss goal. 45 lbs down, only 60 more to go! (Sigh)

I wonder if this will make a good shirt?

My husband's birthday is coming up in a little over two weeks. I need to decide what to get for him. I've already bought him an 8G Sansa Clip MP3 player, which I plan to load up with Bobby Horton albumsI downloaded off Amazon.

My husband has really been focused heavily on Scouts lately, and I'm trying to remind him that Civil War reenacting is a whole lot more fun that Scouting. And involves the whole family. ☺

Anyway, I bought some Civil War "150th Anniversary" fabric online a few weeks ago. I didn't have a plan in mind when I ordered the fabric- impulse buy!- but I've been wondering if I could make two nice shirts with it. Somewhere in my pattern stash I have a copy of Simplicity 5581.

I don't know anything about quilting, so that's not much of an option with my time constraints. And if I had been planning to do a quilt, I would've gotten a couple more of the coordinating prints, which are now all sold out from the website I got them from.

Set of 1860's clothes

In the past 2.5 weeks I have made a chemise, a corset, a cage (hoopskirt), a petticoat, and a dress. I intended to make some drawers today but I totally messed up, and gave up on them. Maybe, maybe, maybe I'll get some made by the end of the week, but that's a big maybe.

So, here it is, photos of all the items one at a time. I laced the corset onto the dressform and I didn't want to remove it to photograph the chemise by itself. Sorry. And, once again, please excuse the messy room. That's one of my next projects, cleaning all that up...

• Chemise: free pattern drafting instructions from The Sewing Academy
  
• Corset: Simplicity 7215 (out of print, available on Etsy.com and eBay)
  
• Cage: Originals by Kay 7-bone cage kit (okay, I used some hoopsteel I already had, and the instructions from my old kit)
  
• Petticoat: free pattern drafting instructions from The Sewing Academy
  
• Dress: Past Patterns #812 Sheer Muslin Dress (added the ruffle myself)

Corset and chemise:


With the cage:


And the petticoat:


And the dress, with the corset peeking out:


And, finally, the dress. In person it's just possible to discern the slight shade of pink underneath the dress, but it doesn't really show in the photos. I didn't think it would show at all! Ah well.

Bubble-gum pink corset

I started this over a week ago, what a chore! The pink twill is a bit heavier and stiffer than what I'm used to using (even after I pre-washed it) so it took me longer to make than usual. I used the now out-of-print Simplicity 7215 corset pattern, which works best for those of us with curvy figures. You'll notice that I have a pink satin ribbon at the top of the corset... I drew it through the top binding, so I could pull the bust area of the corset in some (these hard plastic dressforms do not quite fill these corsets up properly. Ahem.)

It doesn't look as good as I'd hoped because needles that were sturdy enough to go through the fabric punched a hole in it, and I never could get the tension quite right (it's tough when you're going through 4-6 layers of this twill). I've used this pattern twice before, but with lighter and softer twills, and it works great for those.

And I had to use two pairs of shoelaces (tied at the top and bottom) because I did not have any corset lacing! And if I ever use this pattern again, I might put the eyelets 1" apart, instead of the 3/4" apart they currently are... 18 pairs seems a little excessive. To me, anyway (I also don't like placing the eyelets so it'll save me a few minutes of time).

Click for larger images.

Front view:


Side view:


Back view:


Full-length view. Chemise is made from Elizabeth Stewart Clark's free pattern.

The dress is finished! Kind of.

I must ask that you please ignore the messy room. :)

I finished the dress on Saturday evening. I was so happy to have it finished... until I realized that the skirt is lopsided! You can't really tell in the photos, but it is one inch longer on one side than it is on the other. D'oh! What happened was that I didn't fold over the top edge of the fabric on the left-hand side (the wearer's left side) before I gauged it. Grr. I'll fix it at some other time. It's a pattern size 12 (34" bust, 26" waist) and it's gonna be a while before I'm there, so I have time to get back to it later.

So... I paid $4.95/yd for this fabric. Took me 7 yards to make the dress. I thought I was getting a decent price. However... the fabric went on sale for $1.99/yd last week! Unbelievable! Just my luck. Of course, the lovely plaid wool I bought for my Halloween costume at $4.95/yd also went on sale for $1.99 three weeks ago. I can't win! (But that's okay, there isn't a lot I can use that wool fabric for anyway... too heavy for a dress...)

Here are some small pics, they're big files so they might take a few seconds to load. Click on the image for a larger view.

Front view:


Side view:


Closer view of the bodice:


Close-up view of the gauging (What is gauging?):

Cage and petticoat... finished.

I made a cage crinoline today... this type, 108". I used to have a 90" one but it wasn't quite big enough for nicer dresses... and, I threw it out when we moved. It had been misused and abused.

I made most of the petticoat last Wednesday, and needed to wait until the cage crinoline was done before I could set the petticoat on a waistband... so I could adjust it for length. This cage is 3" longer in the back than it is in the front. The petticoat originally had 7 half-inch tucks in it, but when I put it on the cage today I noticed it was too short! So, I took out the two bottom tucks, lengthening the petticoat by 2". I need to give it another good ironing to try and remove the evidence of the previous tucks, and give it a light starching.

Wow, do I need to clean my sewing room!! Or then den, I should say.

Front View, click for a larger image:


Side View:

Bodice construction nearly complete

Today I finished constructing the bodice. I'm really trying to get the hang of stitching down the gathered fronts, but I can't quite get it. Each attempt looks better than the first, but I'm not sure I discovered the trick to it yet.

I finished the sleeves day before yesterday. Tomorrow I just need to cut some bias strips, put them around the armscyes, neckline, and waistline, add piping, then sew the sleeves on, and stitch the piping/binding on the inside. I messed up on my first attempt (a plaid bodice) so hopefully I'll do better this time. The plaid bodice can be salvaged, but since this white one is for a talent show, I want it to look really good.

Click for a larger image.



I need to make a cage/hoopskirt before I can make the skirt! I'm still waiting for my husband to cut the hoopsteel for me. I'll have to work on the chemise and drawers in the meantime, and as far as I can get on a corset while waiting for the busk I ordered to arrive.

Oh, and the corset is going to be pink cotton twill. :)