Hrmm

I really ought to acquire more pictures.

Costumer's Wishlist

I compiled a list of garments I'd like to create. It includes, more or less, an entire Georgian wardrobe. I'm a bit torn.

Tagging along with my dear friend over at Arachne Attire whenever she gets around to dressing in drag and shooting Doodles would provide the most likely opportunity wear anything 18th century. However, the 9th spent pretty much the entire war imprisoned in Boston after the Battle of Saratoga. This pins me down to right around 1777.

But I am simply smitten with the 1780s at the moment. The long sleeves, the zone fronts, buttons, and ginourmous hats... Dreamy sigh.

Well, underpinnings first in anycase.

Stays! Part Two

The blue stays are coming along nicely. I've only been working on them casually while hanging out with people--that's what hand-sewing projects are for, after all--and I have all the channels on two of the side pieces completed. So, six more pieces to go. Then it needs to be assembled, lined, boned, and bound...

On the bright side, it's been damp and cool the last week or so, which has seriously triggered my "It's fall!" endorphins. This, of course, makes me want to sew like mad.

Right, so I meant to actually talk about the dress...

About a year and a half ago, I found this utterly horrendous, train-wreck fabulous fabric in the red tag Home Dec section of my local JoAnn's. It's candy pink and leaf green. Synthetic, of course, but for $3/yard, I wasn't about to argue. So I purchased an unreasonable ammount of it, no project in mind.

Sometime later, a few friends of mine started a 7th Sea LARP. Faced with the opportunity to wear something ridiculous to a ball set in an alternate reality, wherein the Golden Age of Piracy took place sometime between Dante and Napolean, I knew I couldn't let the second girliest piece of fabric in my stash wait any longer.

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the construction. Mostly, I made stuff up. The bodice is boned with cable ties, fairly heavily in the front and lightly in back. Having seen the pictures, it could use a few bones in the sides.

The skirt was originally three widths of the fabric, but ended up being four after I realized I'd cut the bodice a bit too small--after I'd cartridge pleated the skrt and sewn it onto the bottom edge. The only reasonable answer, since I was planning to be an utter tart and wear it without a shift due to the fantastical sheer sleeves, was a placket with an extra skirt pannel.

The sleeves came from a weirdly shaped piece of synthetic organza from my stash. I believe I cut into it at some point but never got around to the project. I cut it up into likely looking pieces and prayed that it wouldn't unravel completely before I finished gathering it into bands of the brocade. It was kind of a pain in the butt, but it's the color of moonlight, so I guess it was worth it.

I used 3/8" plastic rings sewn inside the back edges approximately every inch to lace it shut. Please forgive the black hockey lace. I showed up to Pirate Prom only to realize I'd lost my pretty green ribbon on the way....

The pink and green monstrousity

First there was the Flemish working woman. Next came the passion for Venetians. And after a flurry of bustles and Robes a la Francaise, came the reign of the Gaulle a la Reine.

So, I have to wonder, is 17th century the new hotness?

If so, it's kind of nice to be on top of a costuming trend for a change.

Stays!

Hmm, what's a girl to do sometime after 11 on a tuesday night with a pretty piece of blue linen and a big ball of hemp cord? Handsewn corded stays with a bajillion little tabs, of course.

That's not nuts at all, right?