Miss Philomena

picture from sewloud

I made a new outfit for Belvidere this past Saturday. And I mean everything. The only thing that wasn't new was my hat. Chemise, pantaloons and corset were all new. I may or may not post pictures of those some day.

Wanting a natural form summer gown, I bought 30 yards of hand block printed cotton voile on Etsy. It was the best price, being $25 for five yards, $50 for ten yards, or $70 for 30 yards. I put almost half of it into this outfit anyway, so it's just as well I bought that much!

I used one of Butterick's costume patterns for the underskirt, adding a drawstring and a tie to get the natural form shape, Truly Victorian's 362 Wash overskirt, and 462 Tail bodice. Yes, those are both technically late bustle patterns, but the overskirt pattern notes mention it being in an 1882 advertisement as well, without a bustle underneath.

I really love the outfit, I just need to do a little more work on my corset. I need to put more boning in to better support the girls, but everything I have on hand is too long at the moment. I'll get to it at some point.

The green dress is almost finished. I just need to do the last bits of tacking down the binding in the bodice and add the closures and buttons. The skirts are completely finished, and even have actual skirt hooks for closing, so I won't be safety pinning myself into it for once.

I'm about go to start on the white and red dress too. I think all the fabric is done drying by now. I also decided rather than try and find white eyelet with red embroidery, it's just going to be a fully white dress with a red sash.

Then my sari for my Titanic dinner gown should be arriving tomorrow, so fingers crossed~ It's only taken me a month and a half to get it, after the first one I ordered was damaged in processing and I had to pick out a new one. Dx

And finally~

I'm teaching a class at Dress U, first thing on Friday afternoon, 4pm-7pm. It's how to make knit beaded Victorian (and earlier and later) purses. Only two people signed up for it, but that should make things go faster and easier, I hope. Dress U itself says you can't get into the class day of, but I was planning on making some extra kits for it anyway, so I have no problem accepting extra people as long as they pay for it. We'll see, I guess~

For my blue and copper dress I need a short bustle, one that won't poke out below the planned knee length skirt. I was all set to start one from scratch when I remembered I had one I started a few years ago. I was working with this Ageless Patterns bustle pattern, but of course like most of their stuff, the directions are nonexistent, and when I couldn't make it work right, I gave up and into the unfinished pile it went. (Looking back now I think part of the problem was using hoop steel instead of springs, so it wouldn't curve like it was supposed to, but that's not the point.)

Anyway, I pulled it out in it's unfinished state, which looked like this.


As you can see, it's basically a series of vertical bones.

( What I did to it was to add two horizontal bones, and here's what it looks like now. )

Everyone else is talking about Victorian fancy dress costumes, and I can't help it. I need to jump in, even though I won't be at Costume College. I'm liking this one the most. A Victorian take on Italian Renn is what it looks like to me. Kind of like a Victorian Juliet. I'll have to poke through the stash as I sort out what will go into storage and see what jumps out at me color-wise. I'm thinking maybe ivory? With a nice deep burgundy for the sleeve puffs and underskirt.

And a nice coppery-brown leather for the belt/pouch, which I just happen to have already...



Miss Scott in costume, Montreal, QC, 1881

so scrapbook isn't working with the lj.app or something? Not cool, LJ. Your force me to email my pictures to myself just so I can upload them here. 365 pics will have to wait until LJ decides to behave again.

But anyway, stripy natural form update! Okay technically it's not an update because I haven't done anything else, but I took a picture! :D It still needs hemming, but that shouldn't take too long. And then all I really need to do is the bodice! I still need to cut the flatlining for that before I can piece it. I'm flatlining the main body with the same green striped cotton I used for the underskirt, and I'm gonna bagline the sleeves with probably some white silk taffeta I have in my stash. And I'm still trying to decide exactly how I want to trim this. Because the silk itself is such a bold design, I think I might only do some ivory lace around the neckline and end of the sleeves. And I think I'm gonna do either ivory or gold buttons on the bodice too.

( big pic )

Now, for a bit of planning~ I think the next thing I'm going to work on is a summer bustle gown a la the 1872 dress I posted the other day. I was originally thinking of some type of floral print like the original, but then I remembered I have a lovely blue striped cotton gauze in my stash. It always comes back to stripes, what can I say? So not only to I want a nice light summer gown, I want it for something specific. That being Belvidere's Victorian Days this September. Which also means I'll probably need a white or light colored corset, instead of my black one. >_> But I've got a pattern I already like, so I'd just need to make another one.

ETA: works so much better when I get the html right >_>;;