theladyrebecca: (Default)
Thanks to Black Friday, I finally managed to buy two acid free boxes from The Container Store, and now all my lovely historical pieces get to rest in comfort! Two 41x19x6" boxes was just enough to hold everything. At this point, my collection consists of a jet-beaded capelet, at least 5 or 6 (I forgot to count) black bodices from between the 1890s through I think about 1905ish of various styles (some beaded, some lace, some silk, some cotton, etc), a mid-1890s silk walking suit, an unknown-dated velvet jacket (which I honestly can't tell is a riding habit or eton jacket, or something entirely different), two beaded lace guimpe blouses (one cream, one black), and my 1860s cotton stripey dress. And there's a a heavily-soutached capelet on it's way to me, too.

I might have an ebay addiction.

Here's a couple pictures of ones that were looking particularly pretty in the tissue paper:

The one on the left might be my favorite, because of how absolutely enormous the sleeves are. I like the intricate closure of the one on the right, though.


The ivory guimpe, which is practially a dickey, since the length is so short. All the little grey specks are basically tiny rhinestones, and I like the bust improver. The collar is also quite stiffly boned.



I also cut out the outer layer of my corset, which took way too long for some reason. I still have to cut out the inner layer, but then again, my busk is still not here anyway... 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I got back from CoCo late last night, and have spent much of today recuperating and dreaming about projects. Most particularly, I desperately need a new Victorian corset (or two). I'm aiming to make one from about 1875 first, which will be appropriate to wear with the skating dress and the other winter dress I'm making in my hopes to attend the Little House party. Does anyone have any recommendations on a good 1875-76ish pattern? I'm going to use the german plastic boning, and I'm really excited!

As far as a CoCo wrap-up goes, I'll get to that slowly, probably. But I did get all my photos up on facebook while waiting for my connecting flight. It might be my fastest CoCo photo dump ever! Overall, though, I felt CoCo this year went by faster than any other year. It was great getting to see everyone, but I felt like I only got to see a few people for more than about 10 seconds the whole weekend! I'm just glad that my laryngitis, or whatever I had this weekend, waited until last night to really turn into coughing fits. Sorry if I sounded like a dying frog all weekend, though!


Oh, also, on an almost completely unrelated note, all of Luca's amazing classes prompted me to take out my antique garments today to do some studying, and my cotton 1860s dress is starting to have some major issues. I realize now that when I thought I was protecting it by moving it out of my dresser drawer into a plastic underbed bin, I was really harming it by cutting off it's airflow. So I know I need to get one or two acid-free boxes to store my antique stuff in. Does anyone have any recommendations on sources for these boxes that don't cost an arm and a leg? I'd love a 60" long one, because then I could lay it completely flat, but if I have a 40" one, I should be able to get away with just folding at the waist (which is how it's been lately). But the ones I found online today were insanely expensive. Help!
theladyrebecca: (Default)

I'm getting a bit more nervous about the bodice deadline now.

I finished the eyelets, bound the sleeve hem, and attached the sleeves. And then I finally got to try it on. Unfortunately, the neckline is a good 1" too high in the center front. (The bodice also makes me realize just how in need of a good fitting corset I am - mine kind of flares into the bust around my ribcage, so it doesn't actually do anything to the bust. In an evening bodice, you can really tell! So I'm going to be stuffing beneath my bust to try to fix it for this weekend).

To fix the too-high front, I have to take off the lace, binding, and fringe in the front, cut the bodice down, and somehow reattach it without it being too obvious that I will now be piecing in little bits of lace to the very front and center of my neckline... Otherwise, I have to redo all the lace, which I'd really rather not do. I also have to get new shorter boning for the front, at the very least. I haven't yet checked if the dart length boning was affected, too.

Once I laced it up, though, I also marked my darts. And the bodice was really big around the bust at first, so I've actually created one faux princess seam and one dart on each side. I don't think it looks bad this way, and the princess seam doesn't ease out at the top until it's under the fringe, so no one will even know it's faux! I tried it on again after, and other than the neckline issue, it fits like a glove. So well, in fact, that if I don't have time to sew all the boning channels in, I'm not going to be too worried.

I found my hand-sewing kit, too, which had been trying to tuck itself into the back of my sewing machine (sigh). So I sewed on the bus this morning, and I have one squinchy pleat left to do, plud the pearling. I'm hoping there's a chance I can finish it all on the bus ride home, but we shall see.

So at this point, my main concern is fixing the neckline, followed by binding the hem, adding lace to the sleeve hems, and attaching the pleated trim to the neckline. And boning, if time.


Oh, and in purchasing news, one of my antique bodices came. I think it's a dinner bodice because of the lower neckline and long sleeves, and it looks like late 1890s. It's super cute - I'll post pictures after Saturday at some point. The marabou trim I ordered for testing the new Laughing Moon cloak pattern also came. I'm disappointed. Where do you guys get that wonderful fluffy stuff? This seems rather sparse... And my Rapunzel wig came. It needs some serious restyling, but that will be a fun project in a couple weeks. At least the hair feels like good quality.

theladyrebecca: (Default)
I have done almost no sewing since my last post. In fact, I wound up with a massive headache yesterday after work, and fell asleep at about 9:30, which for me is insane. I figured I would probably just wake up early and sew this morning, but I actually managed to sleep for nine hours! I guess I needed it. I did have enough time this morning to serge two of the Rapunzel skirt panels, but that's it. (Have I mentioned before how much I hate poly satin on the bias?)

My cedar balls also arrived yesterday, so I took the boots out of the freezer, vacuumed all the moth poop out of them, and put a few cedar balls inside, as well as the slipper socks that were keeping the non-moth-eaten one upright (maybe moths don't like slipper socks?) They are now back on top of my bookshelf. My guess is that my moth traps will arrive today, so I'll put one of those up there too, and I'll be monitoring both the traps and the boots very closely over the next several days. Fingers crossed!
theladyrebecca: (Default)
No, seriously. These are the biggest sleeves I've ever made. They are 30" tall, and 36" across. All of that fabric will be from my elbow to my shoulder. Right now, all I've done is cut them out, but they are going to be ginormous. Just in case you don't believe me, here's a picture of the piece, with my 18" ruler for scale:



The upper sleeve will consist of the outer layer, which is a tea-dyed embroidered stripe cotton, organdy interlining, a gathered strip of crinoline that has been doubled over in order to be 6" wide, and a fitted muslin lining. Somehow I'm going to have to gather the 55" sleeve head into my 18.5" armseye. I hope this works!

I took a look at my 1890s extant bodice to see how those crazy sleeves are constructed. It is a later bodice, I think, since while it does have large sleeves, they're nothing like this. It has a smaller lining and a larger outer sleeve (the outer having weird squared corners that are tacked down to the body of the sleeve), but the crinoline in the sleeve is not between the two layers. It's below the liner layer, which seems like it would be very itchy and uncomfortable!

Anyway, I had to run all sort of errands yesterday, so all I had time for was cutting out. I'm hoping tonight to at least make the whole upper sleeves, and I think I may be able to finish the entire sleeve. Then it's just filling in the neckline/collar and making the belt!

I realized, too, that I will have at least one event coming up that I can actually wear this to! Port Gamble, the cute little Victorian factory town across the water, is having a Steampunk faire in a couple weeks. I think this will be perfect to wear for that. I also may go to Steamposium, which is a Steampunk con in Seattle in late Sept. Not sure on that one yet, though, since it's quite expensive and they haven't released any scheduling details yet.


On the moth front, I vacuumed the top of the bookshelf this morning. Lots more moth poop underneath where the carriage boots were. I moved all the other boots up there to clean the whole thing, and I found a live moth hiding between the ivory Funtasmas and my vintage Mickey marionette (who I had already checked for moths on Sunday). Naturally, the Funtasmas became a weapon of death, but it was disconcerting to see a live one. I hope they're not hiding out anywhere else. Do they eat books? I still have to vacuum the floor by the bookshelf, but that will have to happen tonight. The boots are still in the freezer. 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I got a fair amount done on Rapunzel this weekend. I mocked up the pattern, which was a nearly perfect fit. The only thing I had to change was the angle of the straps, so I only had to recut one of the pieces, and everything else from the mockup will be my interlining. I serged all the interlinings to the outer pieces, and sewed them all together. I'm pretty sure my Rapunzel pattern has more pieces than any other bodice I've made. There are 17 pieces, and two layers in each piece. But it always has turned out really nice before, so I hope this is no exception.

I've decided to go with flat steels for the boning. I just don't feel like spiral steels are going to have enough hold, and I've never worked with them before, so I guess it makes me nervous. I don't think it will wind up too terribly stiff. There will be a piece of boning on each seam, (stopping under the bust in the front), and the front lacing will have boning on either side that goes from bottom to top. I would like to figure out the measurements today, but at the same time, I'm wondering right now if I have it going too far over the hips. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make that call until I start the skirt and see them both together. So the boning may have to wait. Luckily, there's a local lady who sells pre-cut boning, so I can order from her and just pick it up, which means no waiting for shipping!

Speaking of shipping, my Vogue fabrics order should be arriving today, which means I'm going to put Rapunzel aside for a day or two, and hopefully finish off the 1890s outfit. It shouldn't need much, and I find that giant gathered sleeves are always easier than fitted ones. I think I may do a fitted liner inside the pouf to keep the pouf in place, but it doesn't have to be pretty!

In other news, I went to the Ren Faire on Saturday. It was way better than when I went a couple years ago, probably due mostly to the perfect weather this time. We only stayed for a few hours, but my bf found pants that I think he can use for Flynn, and he got to try on the boots that he's ordering online. I didn't feel in the mood for hoops and velvet, so I wore my maiden outfit, which is basically my Ren corset, a peasant blouse, a couple of 18th c petticoats, and lots of flowers. It was comfy at least!

And a follow-up to my last post. It sounds like my boots somehow got moths. :( They're in the freezer right now, so hopefully all the moths will die. I checked all my other antiques, including the Victorian clothing and the vintage furs, and there's no sign of the moths in any of them. It definitely makes me nervous, though - how did they get in? I've had these boots for two years, and this could only have happened (at least I'm pretty sure) in the last several months. 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I'm really worried about my carriage boots. I've had them for about two years, I think, and in that time, I've kept them on display on top of my bookshelf, along with my Victorian repro boots. They're quilted silk with rabbit fur trim, and they had only a few tears/imperfections when I bought them on ebay. However, when I pulled my Fugawees down for CoCo, I noticed there was a tiny bit of the rabbit fur on the side of one boot, where it had been touching one of the carriage boots. I thought nothing of it - fur always sheds a little, right?

Today, though, I went to go dust the boots, and all I did was blow on them, and fur started flying off in small clumps. I took them down and examined them further. The left boot, which had been touching the Fugawee boot, is losing a ton of fur. (See first picture) The right boot, on the other hand, has had almost no fur loss. I can't understand why one is being so affected, and the other is not, but naturally, I'm really concerned. The only differences I can think of is that for the last 5-6 months, the left boot has been touching the Fugawee, which is leather with paint on top, whereas the right boot has been touching a poly-lace/PVC Funtasma boot. Also, the left boot had the plastic insert from a Gingher box keeping it upright, whereas the right boot had three slipper socks stuffed inside to keep it upright,.

The left boot seems like maybe it's silk is deteriorating too? There are tiny black specs that have gotten all over the inside (which is white silk, so that seems peculiar), and were coming off the outside with a slightly damp cloth. The other thing I noticed is that the left boot also seemed to have little greyish things on/in it, maybe 1cm long, and about as thick as two pencil leads. I thought at first they were dead bugs, which really scared me, but they don't appear to be. No sign of legs or antennae, and they didn't crunch when I was cleaning them off the boot. I saw one on the right boot, and few very black specs.

So basically, I'm at a loss, and I'm feeling horrendously guilty that these lovely boots, which have lasted probably over 100 years before coming to me, are all of a sudden falling apart in my care. But what do I do? I doubt there is any way to reattach the fur that has come off, but is there a way to stop it from happening even more? For now, I have put the left boot in a ziplock bag, and put them both on a shelf in the closet instead of on my bookshelf. However, I did buy them to display them, so I'd like to be able to put them back... Help!

There's a bunch of pictures under the cut, so you know what I'm talking about. )
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I'm finally delivering on the pictures of the antique pieces I got earlier this year. All of the pictures I took can be found here, with more information, but here's a few of my favorites.

The first one is my 1860s dress. It's all handsewn, made of cotton with a cotton twill lining. The bodice is piped on the armseyes, neck, and waist. I also love all the ruching and ruffles. And it is pieced! I love this - it's the oldest thing I own and it feels really special to have such a neat piece of history.




Look, it's a wearable size! Anyone in Seattle with a 25-26" waist want to come try it on, so I can take pictures of it on an actual form? You have to be tall, though, since it's actually pretty darn long.


I thought this was so interesting - it's like they accidentally cut the front too small, so they just whipped it to the lining. (The buttons aren't original. Pretty sure they're plastic.)


And next, my late Victorian bodice. I think it dates to 1898-1900. The collar and sleeve puffs are cotton, with the rest silk faille, and a cotton twill lining. Bones are whipstitched to most seams. And it has one button left!




Watch pocket!


And lastly, my capelet. My best guess is 1890s, but I'm honestly not sure. Any other opinions? Velvet, lined with silk, and beaded with maybe something like jet, I think.

theladyrebecca: (Default)
I was bad, and went garage-saling on my way home today. I didn't buy too much, but I did get a vintage fur coat, and an antique painted silk art piece, both pictured below:



I also worked a ton on embroidery today. First, I did a little bit on the engageantes, though I didn't complete any more of them. And then I did all six of the embroidered motifs for the front of the overskirt. Four of them are pictured below:
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I think I mentioned a while ago that I found an antique fan at an estate sale. I finally have some pictures to show you!

It's hand-painted, with metal spangles. Carved and gilted wood slats, cloth (presumably silk) fabric. It's a little bit more pink than the pictures show. The only thing throwing me off is that the stoppers on the handle look like plastic! Any ideas on the date?


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