theladyrebecca | Entries tagged with 1890s

The teagown is nearly complete. On Tuesday, I did the whole hem, and yesterday I finished all the velvet ribbon trim. So now it's down to a little hand finishing (adding 4 sets of hooks and bars on the yoke for closures, re-sewing the back watteau pleats by hand, and tacking down the ends of all the velvet ribbon bits inside), and the dreaded welt pockets. If I have the energy after all the hand-sewing tonight, I hope to do at least one practice pocket, and see how it goes.

And I've gone back to wanting to do the riding habit next, I think. I mean, I don't have to do it the super tailored way. I've done a little more research on riding habits, and though I don't know proper construction, I think I can at least figure the skirt shape out. I'll probably give myself a sewing break over the weekend, and then start tackling that on Monday.

The teagown is starting to really look like something! Over the weekend, did all the buttons/buttonholes, and I drafted the sleeves and got them attached (puffed sleeves are such a joy - mockup was almost perfect on the first try!). And then yesterday, the final trim option arrived, and naturally the one that worked best was the one I received last Wednesday (the 3/16" medium blue velvet ribbon). *sigh* Anyway, I started putting the trim on - I have one sleeve's worth completely done (and that sleeve hemmed), plus the collar is done, and I have 1 of the 3 rows on the yoke done. I also pressed and pinned the hem into place.

So I'm hoping that today and tomorrow I can basically finish everything besides the pockets. They are supposed to be some kind of welt pocket, but I'm kind of afraid of welt pockets. So I'm going to have to do some experimenting/practicing there, and if it really comes down to it, I can always do patch pockets instead.

I'd like to have it completely finished by Thursday night, but we shall see. My friend Emily and I have decided that, since our birthdays are four days apart in a few weeks, we're going to pick up a tea spread from our favorite tearoom and have a birthday tea, wearing teagowns. I'm looking forward to that!

Then it's on to the riding habit, though tbh, I'm still feeling a little scared of that project. Mostly because I don't know actual tailoring, and also, after watching Abby's video this week on examining her antique riding habit, I'm just like :o. Like, I have no idea how to do all of that. But also, the likelihood that I'm ever going to wear this on an actual horse is pretty much nil, so in that case, do I just make it look like the movie costume in whatever manner I need to, ignoring how actual riding habits were constructed? I really don't want to put this project off any longer. I'm also not sure how I should pre-treat the wool. Normally, I just throw wool through the washer/dryer, so it can get a bit fluffier/more like thicker flannel. But this one is already the texture I want it to be, so I'm not sure what to do that will make the texture stay the same.

I have to admit, I kind of just want to move on to my 1830s dress, but I feel like this project has made itself into a mental mountain of sorts, and I really need to not let it do that.

The 1890's teagown is continuing along very slowly. The body of the teagown is now fully assembled - it's lightweight wool on the outer, flatlined with cotton sateen. I've also assembled the pleated neckline yoke section, which is a decorative yoke made of one flat strip pleated to fit the neckline.

But once I got there, I reached an issue. And that's basically that Joanns sucks. I went there looking for 1/8" braided trim (or literally any 1/8" trim, or even 1/4" trim if that failed), and didn't find anything. I found one braided trim that was probably more like 3/8", and that's all they had. They also failed on buttons - no buttons at all that were anything like what I was looking for (7/8"-1", ideally blue, and not plasticky-looking).

So anyway, I have now ordered three potential trims from Amazon - two 3/16" wide velvet ribbons (one in medium blue and one in navy), and and a 1/8" navy trim that looks braided. Naturally, the braided one is not set to arrive until next Wednesday, and I wanted to finish this this week... The others should be here today, so I guess I'll see if either will work, and if not, I'll return them and have to be patient. And I wound up getting 7/8" cover button kits, even though it's way more work, and they always wind up breaking. So now I have to make 32 covered buttons. *Sigh*

Yesterday, though, I mocked up the collar, and it came out pretty close to what I wanted, so I should be able to make the small adjustments in the actual collar, and make that up today. Ideally, I'd love to make the buttons today, too. I'm not sure yet if I can do the facings/buttonholes/attaching buttons before the trim gets here, or if the trim needs to go into the facings. I'm hoping it's the former, because then I can ideally finish the entire dress besides the trim, and then just add the trim on and take final pictures on a sort of tight deadline, but still get the video out on it on time (since I have a week leeway with my vlogs). Obviously, I still need to do sleeves and the hem, too.

Once I finish the teagown, it will be on to the Daniel Deronda riding habit, but I'm also still kind of scared of it, since I don't know tailoring...

I managed to get pictures and some video of the 1790s dress yesterday, so that video is now fully edited and uploaded, and the project can be put away. Or at least, it can be put away when the hem is dry (or clean and dry, if I have to soak it in oxyclean or something). Because yes, my yard was still a little muddy, and naturally, I stepped on the back of my hem multiple times. I tried to wash it out just using woolite, so I'll have to see today if that actually worked.

I also started on the teagown. I spent most of Tuesday's sewing time waffling about the differences between the TV pattern and my extant dress, and trying to decide if I wanted it to be an exact copy (other than fabric choice) or if a close visual copy would suffice. Finally, I said screw it, because having a teagown with that much weight coming from the back of the neck, which only opens down the front to hip level would just be a pain to put on and take off. So I'm going with the pattern's closure of buttoning all the way down the front. I also went with the pattern for seamlines, since my antique one has one front piece cut on the fold, two back pieces where the back and side-back bodice sections are cut and seamed together, but then connect all into one skirt panel (if that makes sense), and a gusset on either side. The pattern, on the other hand, has two front pieces, two side-back pieces, and one center back piece on the fold, which just made more sense.

So anyway, I cut out a hip-length mockup, sewed it together, and yesterday afternoon, I fitted the mockup. The main issue was that the hip flare was super not enough. It also didn't quite have enough room in the back pleating to create four pleats like my extant. And it barely had enough extra in the CF to pin the seam allowances together, let alone overlap for buttons. Oh, and the shoulders were way too wide. But all of those are easy fixes, and things I feel confident doing just in the final pieces, without having to make another mockup. So now I've ripped apart the mockup pieces, and it's ready to be cut out in wool with a cotton lining.

I'm really glad that I have a Wed afternoon zoom sewing group, since I did all the fitting yesterday with them, and it helped me be motivated. After our chat, I walked Lion, and somehow came back with a major headache (probably partially stemming from the fact I had been wearing a hairband all afternoon), and had no desire to get up from the recliner chair for the rest of the evening. I hope today's sewing goes better!

The 1790's dress is done. It was a pretty nice, quick project, and it makes into a nice dress, but it's also SO BORING looking compared to what I normally make. Like, I showed it to my mom last night, and she was like, "and that's it? You're not going to add any trim or anything to it? It looks like a lot of nightgowns I had in the 70s." And tbh, she's right. I'm hoping I can get some pictures of it on tomorrow (as in, actually go outside) because it's the only day that's not supposed to be rainy, but also, we actually wound up with snow over the weekend, which has now pretty much all melted, and combined with the rain, the ground is probably extremely messy. And though I cut off some of the train, this white cotton dress still has a tiny bit. Sooo... not sure what to do about those pictures...

It's also weird, because I have shared pretty much nothing about this dress anywhere. Like, I posted one in-progress pic on Patreon, but because I've been running the VictorianFebruary challenge on Instagram, and also because it went together so quickly, I haven't even shared any pics there. I will have a youtube video out about it next week, though.

And now it's time to start the next dress! I'm using the TV 1880s teagown pattern as a base to reproduce my antique 1890s teagown (except in light blue wool, because brown linen = ugly). I think I need to pull the antique out and study it a bit more, but I'm also hoping to cut out and sew together the mockup tonight. Ideally, I would love this to be a two-week or less project, since it doesn't have much in the way of trim, but that might be wishful thinking.

The peppermint bustle is (basically) finished! I have to try it on so that I know where exactly on the shoulders the velvet bows need to go - they're already assembled and pinned in place, but I want to double check that they're in the right place.

Also, my trip to Joanns totally struck out. No wide red ribbon and no more velvet ribbon, so I have nothing available to add to the skirts. Which is a bummer. So I'm not sure when I'll be able to put anything there, but I really hope I find something eventually (it just won't be in time for a photoshoot within the next week).

I still have to do the hat. I think I have a straw base that may work, so I'm going to play around with it a bit today and give it a go, and if that fails, I'll make one out of buckram.

Tomorrow, though, my friend Emily and I are going to get dressed up and drive up to the pass to go play in the snow in costume. I'm really excited about it! I'm planning to wear my skating bustle, so I don't have to worry about hems dragging. And I'm going to try to get some fun footage recorded/take pretty pictures while we're there.

And then next week, I'm going to start working on my 1890's teagown. It will hopefully be a fairly close reproduction to the antique one I have in my collection, except out of light blue wool instead of tan linen. I'm using the Truly Victorian teagown pattern as a base, but altering it to have a yoke neckline and 1890s sleeves. I'm hoping it goes together relatively easily!

Elsa is wearable! Meaning, the dress is done, other than adding thousands of rhinestones to it.

Here's a pic.

So now I have to draw out the rhinestone placement, and start that whole process, which I'm still quite nervous about, and have no idea how long will take me to do.

While I'm rhinestoning, I will probably also start another sewing project, because I can't rhinestone when it's hot out, because then my sewing room becomes pretty unbearable. I think I'm going to attempt my first 18th c outfit in 6 years. I want to make a caraco out of an ikea duvet I have, plus some sort of nicer petticoat and an apron, and possibly a small cap and or a market bonnet. I'm aiming for this, minus the crazy headwear: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/279293614377217357/

In other news, I'm working on my videos for CoCoVid right now. I'm planning to do three over the course of the weekend. One is already filmed and I'm working on editing it (but also I hate it), and I still have to film and edit the other two. Luckily, my three other videos for this month are already complete, so at least I have a little time. I had been thinking I was on track for monetization by the end of summer, but now I'm thinking that's not going to happen unless I get a huge surge from CoCoVid. Oh well. Though I did finally hit 5000 followers on instagram, which is nice.

Oh, and I have my first costuming event on this coming Saturday. We're going for a stroll on some nice grounds, and possibly doing a picnic. I plan to wear my new Tissot bustle, but I have to make a mask to match. It's going to be interesting...

Otherwise known as the project that seemingly will not end.

But actually, I'm finally feeling like I'm in a good place with Elsa. The neckline is completely finished! Everything has been stitched down, including the velvet ribbon, which arrived over the weekend. I did the closures on the back of the neck. I added the little diamond-shaped appliques. And I even did the rhinestones on the neckline yesterday! I think it involved about 148 rhinestones, which is a little scary, since it seems like such a small area. I hope the 15k or so that I purchased will be enough!

Here's a little video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCC8ItzgYiB/

The replacement organza arrived yesterday for my sleeves, which means I can start on those today, so that's exciting. I don't think I'll have them finished today, but maybe tomorrow? Then I just have to add boning in the bodice, draw out my whole rhinestone pattern, apply a bajillion rhinestones, and do the watteau cape thing (with more rhinestones). Oh, and style the wig, which I hope to do this weekend, since it will be one of the videos I'm doing for CoCoVid at the end of July.

2.5 weeks later and I'm back with yet another Elsa update. As you might guess from that, it's still going extremely slowly.

I fit the organza outer layer to the satin layer, taking in the seams, pressing the seams to one side, and doing a rolled hem on the serger on all the seam allowances. I did wind up sewing this layer to the satin layer on each seam, to about high hip, in order to hold it in place and hopefully stabilize it more for the weight of the rhinestones.

I had a minor setback with the horsehair braid. When the stuff I ordered came in, it was much stiffer than what I had started with, so I decided to pick out the facing I had already done on half the skirt, and put the new horsehair all the way around the hem, meaning the back would get kind of 1.5 stiffness, and the front getting 1 stiffness. Then I reattached all the facing, which took me forever because it's really hard to hold a 6" wide horsehair-braid hem in a comfortable way.

I think after I finished that, I did closures up the back? I can't quite remember the order of things. If so, that also involved putting a piece of boning in the center back. I decided that it was too scary to cut into the points of the neckline (and have probably been suffering due to that choice since then), and that I would instead make the mesh/organza neckline layer go over the top of the bodice and applique the points down on top. Except I made up the whole neckline area and then didn't like how I shaped the points, which is causing me all sorts of trouble, but I don't want to redo the neckline.

Oh, and I roll-hemmed the hem of the silk organza layer.

So back to the neckline. The neckline filler area is made up of a layer of nude mesh (the stretchy kind) with a layer of silk organza over, flatlined together and treated as one. There is another layer of nude mesh that goes underneath this, but only in the points of the bodice. On top of all that is a gathered layer of soft mesh/net (non-stretchy, left over from my giant turquoise ballgown), which gathers up into and over a collar band made of two outer and one inner layer of silk organza, which goes around my neck and sandwiches the gathered net/mesh. The inner band was also machine sewn to the mesh/organza collar layer. The nude mesh points layer is stitched in place on the bodice right now. The upper layers are basted together, and are basted into the bodice in the back/sides and pinned in to the front.

The issue is that the mesh/organza layer points are smaller than the bottom nude mesh and the top gathered net layers, so I am a) not sure how to sew them in place without obvious stitches, and b) not sure how visibly obvious that difference is. I've been waiting on some 3/8" velvet ribbon to arrive (which it should today) to see if I can cover and define the edges of the points/make everything look neater. *fingers crossed!*

Oh, and naturally, there's also been another setback. I finally got the 55" wide organza from Dharma Trading, but didn't open it until I went to go cut out the sleeves on Saturday. Naturally, it's nothing like the 45" organza, and in fact, seems closer to chiffon than organza. I talked to them yesterday, and they said they were sending out the 45" to me with a return label for the wider stuff, so I just hope that gets here soon.

Once I finish the neckline and add the sleeves, (or possibly before the sleeves, depending on how long the organza takes to arrive), I will add the bones in the bodice. Then I just have to draw out the rhinestone pattern and heatfix 10k rhinestones all over. Oh, and make a little faux-watteau cape.

In other news, I passed the 1k subscribers mark on youtube last week, which is really exciting! And not only have I been keeping up with one video/week, I also have planned out all the videos I'll be posting through early Oct (and even already have a few filmed and a couple edited). If you haven't watched any yet, go visit youtube.com/c/ladyrebeccafashions.

I've been vlogging this whole Elsa progress, which will be posted in August, and also have some progress pics up on instagram already.

Elsa is again proceeding extremely slowly. Since my last post on here, I tried dyeing some cottons to see if I could get a better match of my skin tone than the mesh I purchased. I couldn't, so I mocked up the neckline out of the mesh. I think it won't look so glaringly tan once it has the organza over it. Then I tried everything on. I need to lengthen the front mesh pieces, because I forgot that the front of the bodice will be cut down into points, but otherwise it works well.

While I had it on, I marked the hem. I decided that I wanted the hem to have more structure in the train, so I tried it out with some horsehair braid, and it looked really nice. But I only had enough horsehair for half the hem, and I felt like it would be weird to have horsehair only in the train and not the front, so I ordered some more. I have already put the horsehair and facing (out of twill) in the back, but will have to wait till my order arrives to finish the rest. I also stitched down the facings at the CB closure, but decided I need to attach the organza to the dress before I can add closures or finish the top of the bodice.

So until my horsehair braid arrives (or my boning, which I ordered to add into the bodice seams), I need to fit the organza to the satin, taking in and finishing those seams. I am thinking about attaching the organza to the satin on all the bodice seams until about the high hip, in the hopes that it might help with the weight that will be added by the rhinestones on the organza. I'm not sure if my thinking is correct on that, though... If I do decide to do that, though, I want to sew that down before I add the boning, since then I can sew the organza down by machine. I also need to remember to add a waist stay tape. Maybe that's the next thing I will do.

Definitely feeling thankful that I have until August for this project. It is going sooo slowly. Also, I'm going to need to figure out where I can actually wear this to get pictures, because outside isn't really an option for a white silk train, and my house is too small.

I'm not sure how I keep letting this languish for so long. Whoops.

Anyway, since my last post like three weeks ago, I finished the entire Edwardian ensemble (here's a pic) and started on 1890s Elsa, which feels like it's going very slowly. I had some hang-ups in the supply chain, where I needed to first wait for a twill order to pick up (I had to wait I think 2.5 days for my pickup order, and drive 45 mins to the only store that even had it in stock), and then needed to wait for a dharma trading order of silk organza (or technically, two orders, one of which I'm still waiting on but don't quite need yet.)

I mocked up a hip-length version of Elsa, which is an 1890s princess gown (similar to this one). Then once I had fit that, I cut out the twill I was using for the interlining, but cut it to the full length. Just cutting it took me a couple days because trying to make my brain work to figure out how to cut an 80" long piece on a 60" long table, which also needed to not flare out so much at the bottom that it wouldn't fit on the fabric was really difficult. The first two pieces literally took me two hours to cut. Eventually I got it, though, sewed it all together, and determined that the train had waaay too much flare. So I took out the two CB gussets, plus about 16" more, for somewhere upwards of 50" removed from the train flare. Much better.

And it was a good thing I did. Because then I started cutting my silk, which was a silk satin faille that I bought from fabricmartfabrics in October during a flash sale for $12/yd. But after cutting half my pieces out, I saw some marks on one side of the fabric (luckily only about 1" from the selvage), and when I measured where those marks were in the length of the fabric to tell Fabric Mart about it, I discovered that they had only sent 9 of the 10 yards I ordered. Luckily, their customer service was super good about it, and within about 12 hours of me emailing them about it, they had not only refunded me for the missing yard and damaged section, but had refunded me half my original purchase. I so appreciated that!

In any case, if I had not removed all that flare from the hem, there is no way I would have been able to cut everything out of 9 yards. But since I did, I managed to cut the dress out in 8, which will leave me more than enough to get the lower sleeve cut out later.

Then I cut out the silk organza pieces, which were the same size as the twill and silk satin, but with a little extra flare. This again took me two days because silk organza is the worst. I have since flatlined the silk satin and twill together, and assembled those pieces, and have assembled about half of the silk organza pieces. I will be flat felling these seams, but am waiting to do that till I try everything on.

I have to figure out what I'm doing for the neckline, since I'm paranoid about doing just silk organza, after what happened with Mary Poppins's silk tearing. I tried ordering some nude mesh to go underneath to help support it, but I picked it up yesterday, and it is only "nude" if you've spent the summer on an Italian beach. So I think I might try dyeing some muslin a pale pink, to see if that winds up a little closer. I want to have a mockup of the neckline done before I bother trying the dress on, since I think that's really going to affect the fit.

Anyway, that's where I am with my sewing currently. It's been hard finding motivation for the last couple weeks, and if it wasn't for the fact that I have unfinished edges of a ton of silk in my sewing room right now, I would probably be putting it aside for a bit in favor of something a little easier...

I really don't feel like I made that much this year. I'm not sure if that's because I just started sewing for the first time in two months, or if it's actually true, though. So here's what I made:

1830s plaid silk dress and yellow bonnet, made for wearing in Oliver, plus the Victorian Festival and Costume College

Blue wool coat, which I basically wear every day

Burgundy and mauve striped silk bustle dress, for the Victorian Festival and Costume College

Burgundy silk Regency dress, as a pattern test for Laughing Moon

Ripaway mermaid tail and Cinderella costume (and some other bits) as costumes for Disenchanted, for which I was Costume Coordinator

1890s Plaid "ice cream parlour" shirtwaist and navy walking skirt for Costume College, but also worn in The Music Man

Yellow 1890s Gala Gown for Costume College, including choker, royal order, bracelet, and petticoat with detachable train

A white cotton Victorian-style robe, which turned out to be the most practical thing I made for Costume College

Elephant dress for my friend's new baby

1910s white cotton and lace dress, worn to Snoqualmie Railroad Days

3 skirts and 3 playdresses through my etsy shop

Dapper Merida for Dapper Day; Also worn in White Christmas and to Christmas tea

Disney-print 1950s jumper dress

Princess Anna Frozen Fever

A bodice and skirt combo for the Silverbells Carolers, plus a few alterations for them

A "Totes Ma Goats" totebag as a secret Santa project

A skirt for my mom

A Marauders Map Fleece Blanket for my dad

The beginnings of an 1883 walking skirt (not finished, though I started cutting out a bodice mockup yesterday)

I guess that's a decent amount of stuff after all. But if I'm going to be on track for CoCo this year, I can't just take a two month break from sewing again!

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/307537.html

Saturday of Costume College, I wore my 1830s plaid silk dress (with the bonnet that was so big that I had to carry it on the plane), because I was wearing it for Jennifer Rosbrugh's Dressing the Plus Size Silhouette Class. I thought I remembered taking something earlier in the day than that, but maybe all I did was socialize, because I can't find anything on the schedule that looks familiar! After her class, I had signed up to take a class on Patterning from an Extant Garment, but it turned out they meant existing, not extant, and it wasn't suitable for fragile extant garments, so I left that class within the first 10-15 mins.

That turned out to be good, since it meant I could start getting ready for the gala. And for once, I wasn't running late! I wore my new yellow silk 1890s gown for the gala. I'm mostly pleased with how it turned out, but there's something about the fit and/or plainness of the back of the bodice that bothers me. I also styled my hair with all the tiny curls on the top of my head, since that's how you always see ladies of that era, but it was such an unflattering look on me! I wish I hadn't done my hair like that, because I'm not a big fan of how my pictures came out. We made the super-long trek to Maggianos for dinner, probably for the last time, since you can no longer walk through the mall, which made it a very long and hot walk. I ubered back, and unfortunately lost one of my shoe rosettes somewhere between Maggianos and the Marriott lobby, which is a bummer. I'll have to remake it for the next time I want to wear my Titanic deck dress. After we got back, we just hung out in the CoCo lobby area, chatting with people and taking pictures. We got a fun picture of (almost) everyone who was wearing yellow, which was a lot of people!

Eventually, we went to sleep, but definitely not early enough! I think I wound up getting about 4.5 hours of sleep before waking up for breakfast and the Bargain Basement on Sunday. I didn't get that much this year, but boy, they wanted to charge me an arm and a leg. Those estimators are ridiculous. I did talk them down significantly, but still paid more than I should have at "bargain" prices. The one thing I was really happy that I got was an extant 1860s bodice, so that was really cool. But no fabrics this year, which was unusual. I did manage to snag a few Truly Victorian type patterns, though, and a couple trims/laces.

For breakfast, the Bargain Basement, and my first class, I didn't have time/energy to wear the bustle dress I had planned for Sunday, but luckily, I made a Victorian-ish dressing gown, so I wore that over my corset/bloomers/petticoat all morning, then changed into the dress after my class. It was a great class! It was making and setting Elizabethan ruffs, and the two teachers each had a different great method for setting them, so it was really nice to learn both. I was so inspired by the class that I had hoped to be able to make one as soon as I got home from CoCo, but didn't wind up having time before the Ren Faire the next weekend, so that is on hold. But at least I have the linen and the know-how now.

After class ended, I changed, had lunch, and spent some time socializing before taking my final class, which was Soutache: Mastering the Tangle. It was a really good class, but I doubt I'll really ever have the patience to apply it on a garment. It's really challenging. I did wind up going to the marketplace a few times over the weekend, too. I bought a whole ton of ribbon from the new ribbon vendor (such great prices!), a gorgeous early 1870s huge fashion plate in a frame (only $10!), and a busk, but totally forgot to go back to Richard the Thread the second day for millinery wire (they had run out by the time I got there the first day). So now I'll have to order that online. We ended the day at the pool (which is what we did Thursday night as well). It was so nice to get to spend so much time socializing this year!

As you've read about previously on here, Monday's shopping trip was really a let-down, and I purchased almost nothing. Luckily, I did make up for that by the trip down there last weekend, so hopefully I will be mostly set for the year now. And I think I might start selling the silks I'm not as happy with anymore. In any case, I need to start making everything so that I'll be ready for next year's CoCo!

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/301171.html

Hmm... Apparently I never did any CoCo wrap-up posts this year. I had so many costume events in August that I completely forgot. Whoops!

So here's part one of a brief wrap-up, assuming I can remember everything.

I arrived Wednesday into Long Beach, met up with a few other ladies (Sarah, Britta, and Patricia), and we drove (in our super fancy Infiniti rental SUV) to the Queen Mary. We changed into our Titanic-era clothing, and spent a few hours there. We dined in the restaurant, then did a self-guided tour all around the ship, taking a ton of pictures as we went (so many pictures, that by the end of it, my phone had died!). It was awesome. We got a lot of stares and complements, of course, and our pictures turned out sooo good! I would love to do something like this again. Here are some pictures:

We changed out of our costumes and left Long Beach around 8:30, I think, stopping for groceries on our way up to Woodland Hills. The next day, DodiRose, Sarah, Britta, and I went off to Burbank to check out the vintage-ish shops in the area. We went to Unique Vintage and Besame, among others, before heading back to Woodland Hills to change for the checking in and the pool party. That evening, I wore my burgundy silk Regency dress. I was pleased with the dress, but I wish I had styled my hair differently, as I don't think the pictures of me look very flattering.

Friday morning, I took a limited class that they should not have allowed me to sign up for. I signed up for Hand Stitches in Millinery during mid-registration, but it overlapped by 30 mins with the class I was teaching (which I didn't notice until like 2 days before CoCo). Combined with the fact that that class was running waaay behind schedule, I learned about 2-3 stitches. It was a good class otherwise, though. I ran behind in the Making Royal Orders class I taught, too, because I forgot to factor in the time it would take to distribute materials (which was like 20 mins). That said, I saw a bunch of my students wearing their royal orders for the gala, and I got lots of good feedback on it, so I think it was still a success. I watched some of Jennifer's Dressing the Silhouette class before going to grab some lunch, before my shoot with

quincy134 (it was so nice that she did that!) and I finished off the class portion of the day with Jenny-Rose and Abby's Pomatum or Hairspray class, which was really cool to watch. During the day, I wore my 1890s Ice Cream Parlour shirtwaist and wool skirt.

Friday evening was when our Titanic group decided to wear all of our costumes. I loved the turnout on this! All my past costume groups tended to fizzle out, but we had nearly 20 people in this group, and everyone looked wonderful. It did make it really difficult to round everyone up for photos, though, and I know we missed at least one or two people in the big group photo, which is really too bad. Some of us made movie reproductions, others opted for costumes of the era, and we even had one person dress as the iceberg! Naturally, we took a bunch of pictures. After a quick tour of the marketplace, several of us gathered for champagne, cupcakes, and chatter in our room - it was nice to host a small room party!

I'll do the rest of CoCo in another post, since this is already really picture heavy.

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/300867.html

I made my choker and bracelet yesterday, put everything on, took a couple quick pics, and determined how I needed to fix the sash (a large dart at the shoulder), and if I should add more boning (I added one bone in the CB). I made all the adjustments, plus added the ribbons to my dressing gown and 1830s shoes, and thread marked where my train will attach to my 1890s petticoat (I realized hand-sewing it on on Friday night is going to be easier than making a ton of buttons and button-holes), which means that all my CoCo sewing is done! I packed almost everything last night, too. Pretty much all I have left is doing a load of laundry of my muggle clothes, so that I can throw my clothes for Thurs in the suitcase. The nice thing is, that even means I can go see a movie with my friend for her birthday today. I'm super excited!

Oh, and here's a quick pic of my gala gown:

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/296385.html

I'm almost done with everything for Costume College! I need to try on the gala gown again to a) see if the one piece of boning I put in the CF is enough, or if I should go ahead and add it to most or all of the seams, and b) figure out how to alter my royal order sash from last year. It turns out that in the 1890s, it was more common for the sashes to go into the bodice at the neckline, because the sleeves are otherwise too poufy for them. I only realized this on Friday, though, so there wasn't enough time to order new ribbon to make a brand new sash, so I need to alter last year's. I'll probably just have to make a new one if I want to wear it again with my turquoise ballgown.

I also realized I don't have the jewelry findings I need to make the choker and bracelet I want to wear with the gala gown, so I'll pick those up tomorrow and do those tomorrow evening.

If I don't have to add more boning to the gala bodice, I probably actually have time to do the trim on the Regency dress, but I don't think I'm going to. I'm going to start packing tonight, finish up the jewelry, and figure out how I'm doing my hair for the gala. And maybe I'll even have a bit of time to relax, go to the gym, or go see Mamma Mia 2 before leaving on Wed morning. After stressing and sewing all weekend, it's a nice feeling.

I'm too tired to post a pic right now, but I have been posting to instagram, so you can check them out there.

As far as this weekend's sewing goes, Thursday evening, I made the gala gown sleeves, trimmed one of them, and sewed the pearl mesh in place on the bodice. Friday, I spent the entire day sewing all the appliques down the front of the skirt, and trimmed the other sleeve. Saturday, I switched to machine sewing and made the bloomers I had cut out, plus made a Victorian-style dressing gown from start to finish. I actually used a Hogwarts robe pattern as the base, which means that unfortunately it's not as full as I'd like, but it will work. I want to get different ribbon for the sash tomorrow, because I don't like the ribbon color I grabbed from Joanns last night. Today, I attached the balayeuse to the gala skirt, put hooks and eyes on the three skirt waistbands that needed it, fixed the tie on my 1830s sleeve poufs, fixed the button on my bustle bodice, added the piece of boning to the gala bodice, and made a royal order. It's been a very busy weekend!

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/295496.html

The gala gown is coming along sooooo slowly. It's really frustrating. Yesterday, I spent over two hours mocking up the taffeta oversleeve that goes on top of the pouf. It just wouldn't lay right. And it wound up being the simplest shape, so I don't know how it took me two hours to figure out. All I got done yesterday was mocking up/making up the oversleeves, cutting out and sewing the inner fitted sleeves, putting on more hooks and bars on the bodice (till I ran out of bars), and doing one side of the binding on both neckline and hem.

I also spent a good hour trying to figure out the trim placement on the bodice. Nothing was thrilling me or looking right at all. I really wanted to find a way to incorporate the skirt appliques into the bodice, but I just couldn't figure it out. So at this point, my plan is just to take the pearled mesh that I'm using for the sleeve poufs, and ruche that over the bust, plus take some ruched mesh left over from last year's gala gown train, and put that over the shoulders. I will also probably add a pearl-embellished trim on the edge of the oversleeves, because otherwise they're looking very plain. It's not at all what I was originally intending, but honestly, once I put a royal order sash and all the jewelry on the form with the bodice, you can hardly tell that it will have almost no trim. You can also hardly tell (I hope!) that all my accents are a mixture of white and pale ivory. I don't know if last year's sash will fit with this bodice, but luckily, I sewed it instead of gluing it, so I could always probably alter where it connects at the hip.

Here's a pic of all the ridiculous jewelry on top of the trim I pinned on:

I have to run to Joanns after work for a bunch of stuff, but today's goal is to finish the darn sleeves, sew down the bias edging, finish the hooks and eyes on the bodice closure, and sew down the ruched pearl mesh. Though with the speed this dress is going, that's probably far too overeager. That said, if I finish that, all I'll have to do is sew down all my pinned trim on the skirt and probably add one piece of boning in the CF of the bodice in order to make it wearable, so at least that's good.

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/294809.html

Gah! I feel like I'm making no progress! Granted, I knew I didn't have much time for sewing yesterday, but all I managed to do was finish sewing on the hem trim, half of the hooks/bars on the bodice, and the tiniest bit of sewing on the right front skirt appliques.

I'm going to the gym after work today, but I think this might be my last gym day before CoCo, unless I actually finish everything before Monday or Tuesday. It just sucks up too much of my sewing time. Unless it's grossly hot in my house when I get home today, I'm going to switch gears and work on the bodice sleeves and neckline/hem binding. I think I'll feel much more comfortable when those are done, because at least at that point it will be wearable, even if it's not done. If I can manage to finish those today, I can use tomorrow after work to maybe add some trim to the bodice and make the spare pair of bloomers, and/or add a detachable train ruffle to my petticoat or maybe start on the dressing gown. I want to try to do everything that requires an iron before Saturday, because it's supposed to get back to disgustingly hot this weekend, and stay that way till I leave. And hand-sewing on trim or the balayeuse ruffle shouldn't require an iron.

No new pictures till something actually looks different!

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/294252.html

Well, I didn't manage to cross anything off my list yesterday. But I did get most of the hem trim sewn on. I think I'm missing about 30" in the front of the skirt right now, and that's it. I also pinned on all the trim on the other side of the front of the skirt, so that's ready to be sewn on, too. I don't have much sewing time today, but my goal is to finish the hem trim, start on the front skirt trim, and maybe get a few hooks and eyes done on the back of the bodice, since I also prepped the bodice enough to put those on (aka, I removed the sleeve mockup and pressed the bodice edges).

Here's a pic that shows the rest of the front trim pinned on. It is unfortunately impossible to get the two sides matched exactly, since all the applique motifs lean in the same direction. I did some cutting and fiddling to get it to be close-ish, though. I really hope this doesn't come out super tacky!

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/293810.html

Costume College is soooo close, and I feel like I'm making no progress! On one hand, I'm totally panicky, but when I slow down and actually think about it, I'm probably doing okay. This is what I have to get done:

Finish gala sleeves. I have already mocked up the fitted and poufy part, but I still need to mock up the petal part that goes over the pouf. All pouf pieces are cut out, and one poufy part is assembled.
Finish edges of gala bodice
Hooks and eyes on gala bodice
Trim for bodice. There will likely be lace over the stomach, plus a ruched or pleated band around the hem, and maybe some sort of band over the bust like in my inspiration. Also possibly lace over the shoulder straps. Obviously I haven't really figured any of this out yet.
Finish hand-sewing trim on gala skirt. I got one side of the front all sewn on yesterday. I have to pin the other side in place and sew that all on. The hem trim is all pinned in place, and I've sewn about 16" of it down.
Add balayeuse to gala skirt. If I run out of time, this may be pre-gathered lace or eyelet ruffle.
Hooks and eyes and waist of gala skirt, 1890s petticoat, and 1890s walking skirt
Fix button on burgundy stripe bustle gown (and make a few extra in case they break again)
Gala jewelry. I want to make at least one choker, one necklace, one bracelet, and 1-2 royal orders.

If there's time, I also want to do the following:

Make a spare pair of bloomers. These are cut out, just need assembly.
Make a robe/dressing gown
Add trim to red silk Regency dress hem

Hopefully that's everything.

By my estimation, I have about 5.5 hrs to sew today, 2 hrs tomorrow, 5.5 Wed, 4 Thurs, 5-6 Friday, 8 or so on Sat, and 10+ on Sunday. I want to finish everything except the optional stuff and maybe the gala gown jewelry by then, because that will leave Monday and Tuesday for packing and any little things I've forgotten.

Today, like yesterday, is supposed to be stupidly hot. I realized yesterday morning right after I turned on the iron, that it was too hot to have the iron on, so I spent all yesterday hand-sewing trim on the skirt. I got all of one side of the front appliques done, plus the little bit of the hem. Today, I'm hoping that I can finish the hem, and if time, start on the appliques on the other side of the front. Tomorrow is only a couple degrees cooler, so if I'm still on hand-sewing, it's not a big deal, but then Wed I will really need to kick into gear on the sleeves and such.

Here's a couple pics of the trim so far:

Crossposts: https://theladyrebecca.livejournal.com/293538.html

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Rebecca Maiten

Lady Rebecca Fashions

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Diary of a Costumer

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1790s and 1890s

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