atherleisure: (reader)
Eight yards of 60" wide rose-colored wool twill has carried me a long way.

First I made stays:
1780 Stays - Front

Then I made a pelisse:
1800's Pelisse - Back with Hood up

Now I've made a skirt:
1900s Sports Clothes - Front

1900s Sports Clothes - Side (2)

1900s Rose Wool Skirt - Back

I still have a piece left that is full width for about 7/8 of a yard and half-width for about another yard so I can probably get a jacket to match the skirt out of it if I have conservative sleeves.

I used the same 1897 Harper's Bazar pattern [livejournal.com profile] mala_14 used for her recent 1895 ensemble, and, like her, I thought it also would work for the years just after the turn of the century. I had had every intention of interlining the hem with crinoline, but in checking, I found that it didn't seem likely that they were still doing that by c. 1905 so I skipped it. The hem is faced rather than turned up because I was planning to interline it with crinoline. Somehow my cutting got a bit wonky around the side so I wound up with only about an inch to turn up and had to hem it for flat shoes rather than the boots I intended to hem it for. (Note to self: check how much I length I actually need for my white wool 1897 dress so that I can be assured of having enough length to accommodate my boot heels.)

There are tennis fashion plates of c. 1905 that show women with skirts that drag the ground in back. It sounds ridiculously impractical to me, but fashion plates aren't about practicality, and it may well be that women wore their skirts shorter in real life. I found an article that talked about women's golf wear that said that they didn't cut their skirts shorter until more like the early 1910's. I presume that was compared to the length of an ordinary walking skirt, but I don't know that. Anyway, the point is that I probably should have cut the skirt shorter, but it was so pretty as it was that I couldn't bear to. As I said, I'll probably make a jacket to go with it anyway, which would make it useful outside the sports arena.

Incidentally, the only way I've found to keep the belt of the sweater down to a point like the pattern picture shows is to pin it in place. Otherwise, it just rides up to be an ordinary round waist.

In the pictures I'm wearing a chemise, ribbon corset, princess petticoat, waist petticoat trimmed with hand-knit lace, and a tucked waist petticoat. The sweater was knit from a pattern published in 1907 (Ravelry page).

Events!

Sep. 26th, 2015 01:59 pm
atherleisure: (reader)
After sewing for most of the spring and summer with absolutely no place to wear anything, it looks like events are finally in the near future.

First, there's an English country dance ball on 10/16. I'm not making anything new for it, but I'm going to wear my copper 1820's evening gown for it. That dress definitely deserves another wearing. And I've bartered with [livejournal.com profile] m_of_disguise for a tiara, which I'm looking forward to getting shortly.

Then on some yet to be determined October or November date I'm going to take the children to the Texas Renaissance Festival. I haven't gone to that (or any Renaissance faire for that matter) since I was in college. I always meant to go to the one in Virginia or Maryland with some high school friends who live in the DC area, but somehow it never happened. I'm nearly finished with my things for that, and I'm waffling on whether to try to make anything for the girls.

Hallowe'en is coming up in about a month (five weeks from today, in fact), and I'll get to wear my 1886 dress. My husband has informed me that it's weird that I tell people on Hallowe'en that I'm myself in the year xxxx so I guess I need to find someone to be. I think I'm going to go with Evelyn Emerson from Elizabeth Peters' Egyptological mystery novels. While I don't particularly identify with her, it's the right period, and I have similar coloring - I certainly don't have the dark looks of the protagonist!

Then we're still trying to get a Regency archery event together, probably in early or mid-November. I'm hoping to get a spencer made by then, but if it's chilly, I have a pelisse to wear so it's not of great importance. I don't exactly have a design for it yet, but I do have fabric. That's half the battle, right?

Then there's the DFWCG Georgian picnic the weekend before Thanksgiving. I've got the dress I tried to make for it last year, but it's not very exciting so I need to think of some kind of bright accessories. Or I could wear the green-striped dress that I made over. There's plenty of time to figure that one out, and the weather may ultimately influence my decision.

Dickens on the Strand is only a couple of weeks after that, and I'll need to decide what to wear. I've really only got two dresses from Dickens' working years so I'm inclined toward the wool 1860's dress. We'll see.

Anyway, the rest of the year is starting to look quite full among holidays, costume events, and the start of the opera season. I shall have to husband my time well. Don't be surprised if I don't do much sewing until after the new year!
atherleisure: (reader)
The archery event yesterday was loads of fun - the shooting, the lunch, and the chatting afterward. Unfortunately, how many pictures did I take? 0. How many times did I even take out my camera? 0. Not that it would have mattered anyway because I had to stop taking pictures of the Altman Magazine on Thursday because my battery was dying so I charged it and somehow neglected to put it back in the camera before packing for the weekend. Oops.

I wore my new white dress and bonnet and my old rose pelisse. I had thought we were going to be outside so I also had my shawl and muff, which wound up being completely superfluous. I usually pack pretty light, but with the weather lately, you never know.

So I hope someone else posts some pictures, and I'll have to get dressed up again at some point so I can get pictures of my dress.



And for the record, the back of my neck is sunburnt. I knew I should have taken off my bonnet so that my hood would stop slipping off my head. (From the shape, I know I was burnt during lunch, not during the conversation in the parking lot.)
atherleisure: (Default)
1800’s Rose Wool Pelisse

The JASNA chapter in Williamsburg had an event the day after the George Washington Ball this year that a friend and I wanted to attend. Period attire was recommended, and I’m not one to pass on attending events in period costume. That being said, my only good Regency day dress is a navy voile which would be risky for early March weather. I didn’t really want to wear it with my wool cloak so I decided this was my opportunity to make a pelisse.

1800's Pelisse - Front1800's Pelisse - Front with Hood Up

1800's Pelisse - Back1800's Pelisse - Back with Hood up

And here's what I did... )
atherleisure: (Default)
I don't have any grand updates to post. Since I finished the pelisse a couple of weeks ago, I've mostly been knitting. I worked on an 1871 fanchon hood until I ran out of yarn (and wouldn't you know that color would be back-ordered?) then started a little bag using an 1877 pattern for a bag for bluing. Then I started a pair of stockings from Esther Copley's The Comprehensive Knitting Book. The 1907 sweater is finished, and I'll try to get pictures of it in a day or two.

Then I spent a little time working on my cross-stitched garters over the weekend. I have all the quatrefoils defined now.

Last night I finally got back to my 1868 green silk dress. I'm nearly ready to cut the sleeves, and then I'll be able to do all the piping.

At least I have pictures of the pelisse.

1800's Pelisse - Front

1800's Pelisse - Back with Hood up

1800's Pelisse - Back

1800's Pelisse - Front with Hood Up
atherleisure: (Default)
I finished my pelisse, at least for now. (No new pictures since it looks essentially the same as I posted a couple of days ago.) I should be able to get pictures of me in it next weekend, and those will be more interesting. I say it's finished for now because I still think it needs some kind of trim. I just don't know what that is. I don't want to buy anything, the white velvet ribbon looked good with the rose-colored wool but terrible with the gold hood lining, the cream velvet ribbon wasn't as bad but wasn't good either, and I'm saving the dark brown velvet ribbon for a bustle-era dress that is in the planning and material collecting stage. Nothing else in my trim stash is appealing to me right now.
atherleisure: (Default)
I almost have a pelisse! It just needs eyes for closing it and hems.

1800s Pelisse

I'm still waffling on trim. All the samples I looked at had some kind of trim, but I'm not sure what I want to do. I'll need to play with it a little, but first things first. After it's hemmed, it's wearable in plenty of time for the event a week from Sunday!
atherleisure: (Default)
This week's report is to say that I've made up the bodice and hood of a Regency pelisse. The skirt is in one piece too but not yet hemmed or had the gathering threads run through it. The sleeves still need to be cut.

1800's Hooded Pelisse Bodice - Front

1800's Hooded Pelisse Bodice - Back

It's based on a fashion plate from Costume Parisien in 1809. Mine won't be trimmed in ermine, though.

My 1907 sweater is moving along too. I'm nearly two-fifths of the way through the second sleeve.

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