theladyrebecca | Entries tagged with 1869 candy bustle

Mockup #2 was a success, so I cut out all the bodice pieces tonight. (Though note to self - I still need to cut out the facings.) It took soooo long to cut them out because that linen is so temperamental. I had to starch the life out of each individual piece, line up the herringbone stripe with my ruler, lay it on my ironing board with the fabric pattern piece on top, pin the living daylights out of it, and then cut it very very carefully. So I really really hope this will work. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. I still need to cut out the seersucker bodice pieces for the overbodice/apron, but tomorrow is another day!

Yeah, so clearly doing all my patterning math late at night did not work out in my favor. I sewed together all the bodice seams, and wound up a good 7-8" too small in the bust. Still not sure how that happened. The side back and back pieces are also about 2" shorter than the front pieces. So I ripped open the center back seam, and inserted an 8" wide rectangle, running the length of the bodice. Then I put it back on, pinned closed the front, and pinned out pretty much all of the excess in the back. I think I need to add about an inch in width as a gusset shape under the arm in the side seam, since it still seems to be pulling a little bit. And the armhole is now too big in the front. I also have yet to try it on with the corset (I was doing all this at about 1:30am last night). So all of that will hopefully happen first thing in the morning. But no sewing happened today, at least on my own stuff, since I spent about 10 hrs working at the theatre. I'm glad tech is over (for me, at least)!

I drafted out the bodice for the candy bustle, based on Jean Hunnisett's late 1860s bodice (view E), with some shape and lots of size alterations. And I cut out the mockup. But that's all I got to today. I hope to get it sewn up and fitted tomorrow. I tried some new stuff with bust adjustments which I'm hoping (fingers crossed) will make it so I don't have to do most of the standard mockup alterations I tend to need. But I can't promise much sewing tomorrow, since I'll be working at the theatre from 11am-8pm. I'm working as the dresser/wigs help for As You Like It at Seattle Shakes. I sent my resume out to them and a couple other theatres for overhire work a few weeks ago, and it's really exciting that they responded, since they're one of the top theatres in Seattle. It's just minimum wage, and it's not a ton and a half of hours (and hopefully it won't conflict with Space Needle hours, which I have yet to receive a schedule for), but at least it's in my field! And it's certainly a great step in the door for my first(ish) foray into the Seattle theatre scene.

I finished the candy bustle skirt this evening! Now that it has all the ruffles on, it does appear to be hanging a little more evenly, so I'm definitely going to wait until I have the apron done before doing any minor adjustments. And to be honest, I think I'm feeling fairly pleased about it, too. This thing is going to weigh a ton, though!

Anyway, here's a quick picture.

I probably won't get to do much sewing work until the weekend now, since I was asked this evening if I could be a dresser for a show (starting tomorrow morning!). Assuming I can prove I know enough about wigs, I'll let you all know more info about it later.

Inspired by

llyrafantasyfae, I'm going to attempt to update daily, since I know I've spent the last several months being very remiss in that. So as a quick post before I head off to bed, today, I turned into a ruffle factory, and ruffled my app. 23yrds of flounces. And I attached the top two tiers of ruffles to the skirt. They're definitely not perfect, but I'm waiting until all three are on (and possibly until the apron-type thing is finished) before I make any adjustments. I estimate that I probably have about an hour's worth of work left to do on, other than any adjustments I might make. Hopefully, I'll finish that tomorrow, but tomorrow is also my first day of orientation for work.

And I present you with two pictures - first, the finished petticoat, and second, the in progress skirt, with strange lighting. (The base fabric is white, not pink.) The bottom ruffle will be the same fabric as the top ruffle, which is the pink stripe I found in the fabric district during CosCol, and the middle is the pink seersucker, which will also be used for the apron.

This herringbone striped linen for the skirt is seriously being so frustrating that I'm on the verge of scrapping a day's work and probably around $40-something worth of fabric and starting over with fabric that doesn't go all over the place, even if it means sacrificing the white-on-white stripe I wanted.

Has anyone ever had these sort of problems with linen before? It's a fairly heavy weight, but I swear, it's acting like chiffon - hems practically curling up into scallops, weirdness in how it's hanging, (apparently) moving when it was cut so that rectangles are now parallellograms. I'm honestly not sure what to do. HELP!

I got my limited classes in the mail today. Unfortunately, I was wait-listed for the one limited I really really wanted (the regency corded corset class), but I got the pearl-stringing class, the felted flowers class, and the fabric district tour. I'm really hoping someone decides they don't want the regency one, but I'm trying to keep my hopes down, since I know it probably won't happen.

And... umm... I lied to you all yesterday. No pics yet of bathing suit sketches or petticoats or anything. Sorry. I will try my hardest to do it tomorrow. But I was so busy sewing today that I didn't get a chance to take pictures before it was dark out. On the sewing side, though, I cut out and serged nearly 23 yards of ruffles, finished putting together/hemming/etc the body of the skirt (everything except the three tiers of ruffles). And I hemmed one tier of ruffles, and hope to possibly hem the other two tiers before I go to bed tonight. I'm really hoping to finish the skirt tomorrow, or at least by Monday, since I start my new job on Tues.

With my sewing room all set up (minus that still-missing box), I actually got to sew starting yesterday. I have completely finished the petticoat for the candy early bustle, and I started sewing the skirt together today. The fabric is a nightmare! It's a white linen with a herringbone striped pattern in it, which looks lovely, but apparently was sliding all over the place as I cut it. But unlike chiffon, where I can tell the fabric slides, I had no idea until I started putting the pieces together. So this may work out or it may not. I hope it does.

And my fabric.com wool came. I'm sending one of them (a black wool poplin) back, since it's not at all what I was hoping for. But the navy brushed herringbone, and the light blue herringbone both are very nice. I'm planning to do a full post on my bathing suit plans tomorrow (with pictures!) so you'll have to wait for that, but in short, my one Victorian bathing suit plan has turned into two bathing suits - one teens one, and one 1890s one. I'm excited!

Also I washed the navy wool today, and it's sooo soft and fuzzy now. Maybe a bit too much so, since it's kind of like a nice blanket, but I think it will be okay. Is that what people mean when wool gets felted in the washing machine? I'm hoping the light blue doesn't wind up quite so fuzzy. Anyone have any tips on that? I googled, but everyone said just steam it, which is clearly not an option for something that's meant to be worn in water...

The cage crinoline is finished! I need a longer cord for the lacing inside (which is why the sides look a little wonky right now), but this one is all I have at the moment. I took what I had done with the pattern from Jean Hunnisett, and cut off the ends of the top 5 hoops, so that it could lace around the inside of the back, like the TV pattern. The pad is stitched in to the yoke, and there's about a million and a half intersections that I painstakingly stitched together. If you remember, I started this around Christmastime, spent most of January and February not sewing, but I slaved over it all day today (thanks Oscar Sunday!) and it's finally finished.

So here's a few pics!

I'm going to take a quick look at the petticoat that I started nearly two months ago, and then put aside, and see if it will be a quick finish. If not, I'm going to put this whole project on the shelf for a month or two, and move on to my teens stuff, which I have yet to start. I'm still debating about a corset. I'm thinking I might make do with a victorian one, since making a new Edwardian one would require the purchase of a busk, and I don't think I have time to wait for one to arrive. (Unless anyone has any suggestions?) Plus I've been itching to start draping the dress.

Okay, so it's not quite done yet, but it almost is! I cut the top 5 steels shorter, to make it like the TV pattern, and the shape is sooo much better. Right now, I'm waiting on grommet tape to arrive from ebay, which I'm going to use as the tapes that hang down to attach to the edges of the top five steels. That way, I can lace around the back through the grommets, so it should look nice and neat. Once that arrives, I can sew the edges of the steels to the tape. In the meantime, the only thing I have left to do on it is to sew in the small bustle pad, and to stitch the tapes to the waistband. I also ordered two buckles from the same seller, for the waistband closures of both this, and the bustle I made last fall (which I wore pinned closed at the time).

I'm also working on a pair of Edwardian shoes, which are being made out of an old, very beat up pair of Leo's tan t-strap character shoes. So far, I have cut off the t-strap and resewn the edges, stripped off the peeling coating on the outer layer, and painted a black base coat. I haven't decided if I want to keep them black, or paint them with purple, red, or gold to match the sari my teens dress will be made out of. I also will be "beading" them (meaning I will be using either a beaded applique if I can find one I like, or else gluing seed beads to the shoe) over the toe, and for the straps, which I have yet to make.

And I ordered a pair of black "Bordello" boots (the ones with all the buttoned straps), which I've been wanting for a while.

Not much, but something. I think this might be the first time I've done any sewing whatsoever in about three weeks? So I guess that's an accomplishment. I finished sewing on the ruffle to the bottom of the cage crinoline, and I did something like 16 intersections today (all while finally watching Cars 2). I think I have around 40-something intersections left? And I've decided I'm going to cut the steels of the top section shorter, like in the TV pattern. Then I have to add it to the waistband, and probably hem up the ruffle a little bit in the front. And then maybe I can finally move on to finishing the petticoat! But let's not get ahead of myself. Baby steps, right?

My sari also arrived a week or two ago. It's beautiful, though the fabric is slightly thinner than I expected (never having bought a sari before). I can't believe I got it for less than $20, though. I mean, the entire thing is hand embroidered. Crazy! I'll post pics at some point, I'm sure. I don't know how I'm going to bring myself to cut into it!

And Go Dog Go has opened. It's going well. Tomorrow is our first day off after like two weeks, I think (well I guess that's why I haven't been sewing!) We've done eight performances, and we have 12 left.

I have such a hard time motivating myself to do handsewing, when it's project that can't just fit on my lap while I'm watching tv. Like, for example, the bazillion (okay, that's just what it feels like) intersections on my cage crinoline. At this point, I've finished all the intersections on the bottom four rows (technically, it's the bottom 6 rows, since the two lowest rows are in in the bag, not attached to the tapes). And I've sewn all except about 1ft of the ruffle onto the bottom bag. I think I'm going to need to rehem the ruffle in the front though, since it's swinging down a little. If my estimations are correct, I have something like 70 intersections left, plus adding in eyelets so the lacing can fit in. I'm still debating if I want to cut the top hoops smaller, so that they end by my hips like the TV pattern, instead of coming around to a gap of only 6" in front, as the Jean Hunnisett instructions call for. And I want to make a bigger bustle pad for it, which should also help the shape. I also still haven't added the ruffle or the waistband onto the petticoat yet, and have done absolutely nothing with the rest of the outfit either. So the goal of finishing it by the end of January (when my sari should arrive, so that I can start thinking about the teens look) is starting to look a bit farfetched.

Rehearsals started last week for Go, Dog, Go. At this point, we have almost all of the music learned. But these rehearsals also mean I have to wake up early, so I can't stay up far into the night sewing. Motivating myself to sew was so much easier when I lived all in one room. It's hard to ignore something staring you in the face, as opposed to hanging out in a quiet corner all the way across the house.

Since I promised them awhile ago, here are the sketches and swatches for the 1869 Candy Early Bustle Gown. The textured pink striped fabric was the original inspiration, since I found it at the Cos Col Fabric District tour for (I think) $1/yd. The rest of the fabric comes from Hancocks, and I believe I found the lace at the GBACG Costumer's Bazaar.

The sketches:

And the swatches:
The white on white striped linen is for the under-part of the bodice and sleeves, as well as the skirt. The pink and white striped seersucker is the "apron" part, as well as the middle ruffle on the skirt. The pink striped fabric is for the other two ruffles. The pink plaid is for the bow/belt, the edges of the sleeves, and the strips that hang down to pull up the overskirt. I'm still debating at this point whether I will also use the plaid for the trim along the bottom of the overskirt, or if I will somehow be able to work the fairytale toile in there. The daisy-lace trim will go along the neckline and cap-sleeves of the apron bodice and the back "yoke," as well as at the neck of the under blouse. The pink and white lace will go at the edge of the sleeves. And the pearl-ish heart buttons go all the way up the front. And the ribbon rosettes will probably find their way onto the hat

So since my one show is done, and the next one doesn't start till January, and I'm not working over the Christmas break, I've actually had some time to sew! I've mocked up the elliptical cage crinoline (the large one from Period Costume for Stage and Screen), which will be worn with my 1869 Candy Bustle. At this point, all the intersections are done with safety pins, but the two bags are together, and I've made up the bustle pad. However, the shape is not quite right. I've attempted, for now to lace the front closed by just weaving cording between the rows of hooping in the front, so that might be one explanation. But it seems to me that the front is just swinging too far forward, especially right above and right below the top bag. Has anyone made this crinoline before, who could give me a few pointers? I don't want to start sewing together the 156 intersections if it's going to turn out to be misshapen.

Here are some pictures of the weird shape right now. The first one is with the pad way up where it's supposed to be, and the lacing a little looser across the front. On the second one, I've moved the pad down slightly to try to control the second to top hoop (which seems to be the most misshapen one), and I've laced the front a couple inches tighter.

I'm about to start making a petticoat to go over, so I'll see if that balances the shape out any, too.

Edited to add:
I think I've found the problem, but I have no idea how to fix it. I decided to try it on, to see if it would hang any differently on me than it does on Antoinette, and it does. I think since I've lost some weight in the last month, she's no longer a perfect fit for my measurements. I pinned the twill tapes to the waistband, and I took up about 1/2" or so in a couple of the back tapes, which also seemed to help the shape a little bit. I think the main problem I'm having is that it seems like all of the top hoops (the ones that lace up the front) are swinging too far out. In the first picture below, you can see those hoops poking out. The second picture below shows what it looks like when I press in on them, and it seems to be the shape I'm looking for, but I have no clue how to get those hoops to keep that shape. Any suggestions?

Edit #2: I tried to put some interior lacing across the inside of the back, similar to what the TV pattern calls for, and it seems to help a bit with the shape, though now the front of the hoops are hanging lower than the back. I also added the ruffle along the bottom, as per the book instructions.