2012 Recap

     So, I have been a bad blogger.  I have been sewing, but I have not been updating.  Also, my summer plans were a bit too optimistic, and I still have not finished everything I wanted to get done.  However, this post will show what I have finished and also be a bit of a teaser for the gowns I have finished, but not photographed, or am still working on.

     So without further ado, here are my finished projects from 2012:

1. My knitted pinball.

 I have worn this to almost every 18th century event I have been to this year.  A fellow reenactor dubbed it the "woolen mace", so that is its new nickname.

2. The Strawberry-Daisy print 1940's dress

 

 

3. A Plaid 40's Shirtdress

 

 

This has become my go-to 40's dress.  I've worn it to several events so far.

 

4. A White Windowpane-checked Apron

 

I made this one with ties long enough to wrap all of the way around the front and tie.  I usually wear my pinball tied on the waistband of this apron.

 

 



5. 18th Century Stays

6.  A Teal En Fourreau-backed Roundgown

 

This gown will be further covered in another post, but I finished it in time for a fall event.  It is really comfortable!

 

 

In Progress:

 

7.  My 1780's block printed gown

 

 

 

Technically, this one is already "done", but it has fit issues with the sleeves and armysce, so I'm going to have to redo it.  I currently do not have any finished pictures.

 

 

8. The 1760-70's Francaise gown.

 

 

 

The back is currently all I have done.

 

 

9. A Regency Apron-front Gown.

 

I have no pictures of this one.  It was a spur-of-the-moment gown for an event that was canceled, so it's not finished yet.



I'm hoping to get these finished by the end of Christmas break.  I will be taking some finished photos of my gowns soon, hopefully.  Once that is done, I will do some photo posts on each of the gowns I am done with.

Rebecca

23Skidoo!

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted.  I don't have a lot of time for sewing-related things these days.  But enough about my lack of sewing.

Here's a look at American Duchess's newest product:

23Skidoo 1920's style shoes!  This is a first for American Duchess, and they've turned out quite well, don't you think?  They come in brown and white, or paint-your-own.  You can find them here:  http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2012/11/v308-23skidoo-1920s-shoes-giveaway.html

Check it out!

Rebecca

Star-Spangled Man with a plan

As my last post implied, I am really in a 1940's mood right now.  In lieu of any actual content, I thought I'd share one of my favorite scenes from a new "old" movie...

In my opinion, they did this scene just right for the 1940's!  From the enthusiastic singing to the dancing girls, it was perfect.  I love the part where "Hitler" comes sneaking in, that is definitely something they would have done back then (before political correctness!).

And here's another one for the costumers among us:

I hope you enjoyed them, whether you've seen them or not!

Rebecca

WWII Reenacting woes...

So today I went to a fantastic WWII museum (dressed 1940's style in the shirtdress and a new hairnet/snood I crocheted).  I've always been interested in not only the fashion styles of a time period, but also the things that were going on.  When I get into a time period, I am interested in everything I can find out about it.  Going today has kind of re-sparked my interest in WWII reenacting.  I've been trying to figure out some way that I and a few of my friends could get involved.  I am not really interested in being a nurse (well, maybe, I haven't tried it) or a "girlfarb" (I could never, never pass for a guy.).  I am thinking about maybe doing some USO kind of things, or trying to make my own group of "home front" reenactors who could do presentations at a military reenactment, to show the other side of things.  I wish there were more opportunities for women in WWII reenacting (although I understand there are similar issues with Civil war reenacting also.).  There aren't really very many roles women (and children, for that matter) can accurately portray.  Unfortunately, even the most accurately dressed 1940's American female civilian does not belong in a 1940's war zone any more than a modern person does.  That's not going to stop me from dressing out to go to a reenactment, though.  I still feel more accurate that way, even if I'm not.  I'm going to try to find (or make) more opportunities for my friends and I to reenact.  If any readers know of any, would you be so kind as to make suggestions?

Rebecca

Big Hair: The Planning Stages

I have been invited to a late 18th/early 19th century ball that is taking place this coming week.  I plan on having my second dress of the summer done in time to wear, but for this ball, I want to go all out and do something I have never done: 18th century hair.  I've decided I want a pouf, like Lauren's, and not a hedgehog, because my hair is too long for it (seriously, my head would look like a huge rat's nest if I tried to pull that off).  I tried Lauren's tutorial, but the back looked terrible because the extra hair that went over the pouf didn't have anyplace to go, and I couldn't figure out what to do with the back.  To remedy this, I've gone on a YouTube hunt.  Here are some videos I've found:

18th Century Pouf Tutorial by jennylafleur

Part 2

1700's French Revolution inspired hair - Marie Antoinette/Carlotta by MistiqueMakeup

 Hairdo How-To: Marie Antoinette/18th Century Do by taniathepirate

So I've made my plan:

Step 1: Put hair in foam rollers to give it some body and volume. Make sure hair at back of neck is in 2 curlers, 1 on each side.

Step 2: Undo curlers, all except for the 2 on the base of neck. Brush out a little.

Step 3: Section off hair front and back.  Braid back section of hair upside down (this is where sisters come in handy) and form into a braided bun on top of head ( this will be useful to pin into).  

Step 4: Move front hair forward.  Pin rat on top of head on front of bun. Slightly tease front hair and pin in place over rat.  Pull remaining front hair into a ponytail behind pouf.

Step 5: Make ponytail into a hair bow. (That seems like a very 18th century thing to do, doesn't it?)

  

Beautiful Wedding Hair Bow Tutorial by CinthiaTruong

Step 6: Take down rollers at the back of neck to make curls to hang over your shoulders.

Step 7: SPRAY!!!! 

So that's the plan.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Rebecca

Finally Finished 1780's Stays!

Well, here they are!  I finished my new back- and front-lacing 1780's stays last week.  The pattern fits very well, and they are surprisingly comfortable most of the time.  They were originally intended to have straps, and they may one day, but I like them as they are for now (even with the little stubs, they don't get in the way that much though).  The chanels are all machine sewn, except for the first channel I did, which made me decide to use the machine!  The binding and eyelets are handsewn, however. 

Materials:

Top layer- Linen

Middle layer- Denim

Inside layer- Cotton muslin

Boning- Thin cable ties (Strategically placed, and they are definitely enough for my figure.  I tried a few larger ones, but I had issues with them twisting in the channels.  The boning was placed between the 2 inside layers, because it showed under just the top layer)

You can see how the stays have already conformed to my figure a little bit.  I have worn them for about 7-10 hours so far.

And a few shots of the inside...

I didn't take many in-progress shots, because I was sewing like mad to get them done so I could start some other projects.

Testing out the channel width and boning choice.

The two front panels, which were lonely for a few months until I felt like sewing the rest of them.

I hope you enjoyed seeing them!

Rebecca

Working, working...

I apologize for not having posted in so long.  The reason is that I've been sewing like crazy!  In the past few days, I have finished my 18th century stays and started a new linen round gown.  I will be working on photographing the stays as soon as I can, and the gown once it is done.  I'm trying to finish it in time for an event next weekend, we'll see how that goes...

Rebecca
(PS:  For some reason, my fabric for the Sacque back dress has still not arrived!  I'm not sure what to do about it, I've already called Joann's.)

How to Scale Up a Pattern the Easier Way!

In this post, I'm going to show you the way I scale up gridded patterns.  This is the method I used to make the pattern for the waistcoat, as shown.

(Warning: There is some geometry involved here, as in all pattern scaling, I've just tried to make it as easy as possible to understand)

What you need: A gridded pattern, a ruler, a pen or pencil, lots of scrap paper, an iron, tape.

Step 1:  Trace your necassary pattern pieces on a piece of paper. It doesn't have to be notebook paper, but it hepls you keep a straight line.  Then look at the scale on the pattern (in this case, I think it was 1 square equals 3 inches, we will call the side of the square N, to make the instructions simpler) and draw a grid according to that scale.  If your grid is not correct, the final pattern will either be too big or too small.

Step 2:  Prepare your pattern paper.  This can be any type of thicker paper you want. It's is a very good chance for recycling!  It is preferable to iron it on low heat and get all the wrinkles out.  It works like magic!

Step 3:  On your pattern paper, begin to form a grid.  If your paper has a 90 degree corner, it is easy to start, mark a spot N in. from the bottom of the paper on both sides and in the middle.  If your paper does not have a corner but has a straight bottom edge, measure N away from the bottom at a 90 degree angle and mark it in at least 3 places.  If you have a randomly shaped piece of paper, make a fold near the bottom or draw a line and use it as your bottom edge.

However, instead of drawing lines for the grid (which is very time-consuming), fold the paper like a fan where you would draw the line.  Run a ruler or something heavy and flat over the crease to set it in (I do not recommend using an iron at this stage, because it will get rid of all of the creases).

Continue folding, like a fan.

Once you finish going one way, start the folds going the other way, to form the grid.  The folds should be the same depth (N) going both ways, because the grid needs to be a square. 

Step 4:  Begin scaling up your pattern.  You use the creases you made to guide you, and the good thing about this method is that it takes much less time than actually drawing out a grid.  You also don't have a bunch of pencil lines going across your pattern piece.

After scaling it up, cut it out!

The finished pattern:

Front

Back

Hopefully this helps you have some more sewing creations flying off the needle this summer.  Best wishes!

Rebecca

Finally, some 18th century!

Last week, I got something in the mail...
My American Duchess Kensingtons!
I would highly recommend them to any 18th century reenactor! They are very well made and comfortable. I would definitely buy from her again. She did mention some 1930's one coming up... ;-)

In other news, I am hopefully going to get some 18th century handsewing done this week. I have to work on some portable projects this week because I have several car rides in store. I'm hoping to make an apron from start to finish, and hopefully make some hair bows (I'll try to take pictures, because that would make a good tutorial). But anyway, I'll leave you with some pictures of my new Kensingtons.

Rebecca

2 finished 40's dresses:

So I was going to post sort of a dress diary on the teal 40's dress I was making, but the first week I was working on it, there were some unexpected things that led to me not feeling like it. By the time I felt like posting, the dress was almost done, so I decided to wait on it.  Well, it has now been done for several days, so I figured I would finally share the finished dress!

Here it is!

I love the way it turned out! The collar looks great, and the sleeves are perfect for dancing, because they have plenty of "give" and freedom of movement!

I am particularly proud of the sleeves, because I ended up drafting them to get them to look the way I wanted.  I was having trouble sewing the cuff on, but then I realized that the bottom of the machine comes off to make it where you can sew sleeves on it.  After I did that, it worked perfectly!

The darts turned out really well.

18 buttons in all!  This was the first time I was able to get the buttonhole function to work on my machine.

The skirt is roomy enough for dancing, but it's a really good fit for the 40's, because it's still narrow enough to be pre-New Look. 

I had to make a box pleat in the center back waist, but I like it because it adds to the shirtdress feel.

Here are some in-progress shots:

I added a lace hem facing for a luxurious touch, because to me the 40's and 50's mindset made a little bit of glamour accessible to every woman, while still being sensible.

And the hem facing sewn in (it's hard to see).

Both the hem facing and dress fabric date to the 70's, so they are vintage, just not quite as old as the dress style!

The entire dress was draped by me on my dress form.  This picture shows the left front side taking shape.  Once I had it how I wanted it, I trimmed around the edges, leaving a seam allowance, and cut a matching piece for the other side.  Believe it or not, this was the first time I had actually had to pattern match plaids.  I think it turned out pretty well!

Then I started to shape the collar.  The bottom half was in 3 pieces, and the top was 1 piece.

The back of the collar.

Sewing the collar on was the hardest part, it took a combination of machine and hand sewing, but it finally turned out looking very sharp!

While I was taking the pictures for this post, I realized that I has never officially posted the finished version of the dress I made for my sister back at the beginning of the year.  Well, it has been done for several months, and worn a few times, and here it is:

I ended up binding the edged with red bias tape, which brings out the color of the strawberries.

I had to cut the neckline a little lower than I was originally going to, because it was too small for a head to fit through!  That's kind of the purpose, isn't it?

The back looks very pretty, and I really like the way the dress turned out.  It has a very 40's character, between the print and the style, and I anticipate both it and the other dress being worn to many 40's events in the future!

Rebecca