Diary of a Costumer

This was the project of the year. I was inspired both by classes and some of the gowns I saw at last year's CosCol to make an early bustle gown of pink and white stripes. I bought my first 10yds of fabric at the LA Fabric District last year (I think for $1/yd?), and then set out to find other fabrics to coordinate, most of which I found last November at Hancocks. As you will all know if you read my LJ at all for the last year, this project took me FOREVER. I started the cage crinoline in December, painstakingly stitching all those intersections together (if I remember correctly, there were 156 of them). I started the petticoat sometime in Jan or Feb, I think, but put it aside and never actually finished it until May, when I began the rest of the outfit. And I finally finished the whole thing just before CosCol.

And of course, after all that, I wore it Sunday, for a grand total of around 6 hours, during almost all of which I was sitting down. I wore it to my felted flowers class, and from there went directly to the Fantasy Tea. Sitting for that many hours in that many layers was really not comfortable (due to a combination of the corset and having to sit on the top hoops), but it probably would have been much better if I had been wearing it to a normal event.

I wore it with the chemise and lace gloves I picked up last year from the Costumer's Bazaar (the hat blank was also from there), my corset and bloomers, and the other undergarments I made. I also decorated the hat, and made the matching pink pearl earrings and necklace in the Basic Pearl Stringing Class from Saturday at CosCol.





First two photos by Andrew Schmidt

I made the hat for my candy bustle dress today.



I also bought the twill to line my ballgown bodice, and cut that out. It's amazing how much quicker I can cut out those pieces when I'm not trying to match plaids. :)

I put the bars on the bow, moved the bars on the petticoat, took in the skirt, and put most of the hooks and eyes on the overskirt (except naturally, I'm short one bar. Of course, I still need 8 more so I can hook the skirts to the bodices). I'm also about halfway done with stitching on the trim around one armseye on the overbodice. I still haven't decided what sort of trim (if any) to put around the neckline of the underbodice.

I'm also starting to wonder if I might want to try to make the ballgown bodice and overdrape for the Dickens dress that I've been meaning to do for about a year now, and wear that to the gala. I haven't decided yet, though.

I finished the first row of hand-stitching on the neckline trim for the overbodice. And actually, I think I'll only need to do another row around the curves, so that it doesn't flip up. But that's all I did today, since I worked for 10.5 hrs...

I finally have more pictures to post!

Today, I sewed the pleats down on the waistband of the apron drape, tried on the under (and over) bodice for fit and did a couple tiny alterations, and made most of the sash. It still needs the part that goes around the center of the bow, the bow needs to be attched to the waistband, and I need to put closures on it. In the pictures, I pinned up the apron drape where I'm going to bustle it - I had originally planned to have strips of the plaid running down the outside to tie it up, but now I'm thinking I might like it with hidden ties inside. I also want to add seersucker as a band along the hem of the drape, and a patch pocket from the ridiculous pink and cream fairytale toile. The bodices still need all their trimming, hems, and the over bodice needs binding on the arms, while the underbodice needs sleeves.

I sewed a bunch today! I did all the binding on the necklines of both bodices, did all the buttonholes, tacked down all the facings, and sewed on 12 buttons, before I ran out of them. That's Murphy's law of sewing! I just hope Joanns has more, since I bought these from Hancocks way back in November... Luckily, I did have enough that all the ones visible once I have both bodices on are the little pearly hearts, so I can always do plain buttons for the ones that won't show.

I have to run a bunch of errands in between the two shows tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll have time to sew more than the remaining buttons, but I really want to get the overskirt cut out.

I got all my facings attached, and all the seams are pressed. I'm probably just not wrapping my head around it now because it's late, but can anyone tell me how to do a curved front opening with buttons. When I'm looking at it flat, it just doesn't seem to want to close smoothly. I remember having a slight problem with that on the Jane bodice, too, but that wasn't even as curved as this one is.

Also, Brave was terrific! It was really neat to be seeing it before it has even had it's premiere. We had a bagpipers/drummers/dancers group that performed for the half hour that they were loading everyone into the theatre. And I was the very first person in line!! I got there around 3 hours early, I think, though several other people got there within seconds of me, so I only just made it as first. :) The movie itself was so good, but it felt too short! It really felt like it could use at least a half hour added onto it to really finish Merida's story, which makes me think there might be a sequel. But the setting of the movie was gorgeous! It made me want to go riding off into the Scottish wilderness. The animation was fantastic - especially the way water affected Merida's hair. And I really want to get the soundtrack, when that comes out. Also, make sure that you stay until the end of the credits when you go to see it, because there is a quick scene afterwards. I think I'm going to go see it in 3D once it comes out in theatres, so I can better judge where it falls in my ranking of favorite Disney and Pixar movies.

I sewed together the pieces of the new overbodice this morning. I'm pretty happy with how it looks (fabric-wise, since all I've done is sewn together the main bodice pieces). I'm thinking that to tie in the seersucker ruffle on the skirt, I might try doing a small row of ruched trim in the seersucker fabric around the neckline. And/or a small pocket on the apron drape. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll cut out and attach the front facings on the bodice, and maybe even start on a sleeve mockup for the underbodice. But that statement is probably over-ambitious, since we have two performances of As You Like It. And I might be finally joining the smart phone community in between the shows!

The Edwardian bathing suit is almost done. Thank you all for your opinions on my last post - I've decided to keep it as is, and not add any additional width. At this point, all I have left to do is serge off the excess in that band around the hem, and serge (and then hem) the sides of half of the sash. I started doing it tonight just before midnight, and wound up waking up my roommate. Whoops! So clearly serging (at least with my machine at its weirdly noisy level that it has been since I shipped it up here) is something that's going to have to be done only during the day...

But the rest of it is done! I think I want to try making a bandeau for my hair out of the salmon flannel, but I'm not sure I'll do that right away. But I love it! It's so cute, really comfy, and was so easy to do. I'll be wearing it at CosCol - either at that Thurs night pool party they added, or at the Sunday pool party. (that's still happening, right?)

And in other news, I tried dyeing the bodice to be a brighter pink. I don't like it. And it didn't dye evenly, either. But while I was at Joanns buying the dye, I saw a pink and white striped cotton that I think I like and had the aforethought to put it on hold, so tomorrow I'm going back with swatches, and will hopefully pick it up. Somehow I'll have to incorporate a bit of the seersucker into the bodice or apron drape, though, because I really don't feel like taking off the seersucker ruffle on the skirt.

Oh, and in really other news, I saw Bel Ami yesterday at the Seattle International Film Festival. The movie overall was good, though not something that I feel really has to be seen in theatres. Robert Pattinson annoyed me for most of the movie - he was really pretty one-dimensional, and didn't come into himself until the end. The costumes were very nice, though! I was slightly confused as to the mixing of 80s bustles for day dresses with mostly 90s evening gowns, but it was supposed to take place in 1890, so it didn't bother me too much. The standouts for me were a red bustle dress that Christina Ricci wore, and a blue bustle that Uma Thurman wore (the one that's been in the screen shots).

I realized this morning that I desperately needed to flatline my bodice pieces, so today, I cut out the flatlining pieces for the linen underbodice, serged and sewed them all together, then ran off to Joanns for pink cotton to flatline the seersucker overbodice. Then I cut out all those pieces, and serged and sewed them all together. But honestly, I'm not sure I like how the seersucker looks against the white. It seems so pale! The other pink stripey fabric pops sooo much more. But then I feel like there would be way too much of that fabric, if I use it for the bodice and the overdrape, since it's already in two out of three skirt ruffles. But I'm going to wait until I can see how it looks in daylight, since my view is probably quite affected by the fact that the only sources of lighting in the living room come from a string of colored Christmas lights, and a very bright desk-style spot light. If I can't decide, I'll post pictures and have you all help me. :)

However, I doubt I'll get much sewing done tomorrow, since I'm going to go see the new period drama Bel Ami at the Seattle International Film Festival. And then I have another audition.