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construction

Vogue Cape V9288
*, construction, Everyday Wardrobe, pattern

Vogue Cape V9288

I made a cape! I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a cape before, so this is a little out of my comfort zone for modern daywear, but it’s a lot like wearing a big blanket and I appreciate that part. And I love the 1960’s vibe of it. Best of all, everything came from my stash except for the buttons and thread! (and I got a good deal on the buttons!)

I used a modern Vogue pattern, V9288, and made it up as-is without any fit adjustments. I did change some of the construction, though, which probably takes this garment out of the “Very Easy” category. 😂 (I pretty much always manage to make every project more difficult than necessary.) I made the view A length version, but included a belt like in B/C.

Vogue V9288

My fabric is a lightweight wool check, which was just dreamy to work with. Living in SoCal I don’t get the opportunity to sew with wool nearly as often as I’d like! The fabric drapes beautifully, but is very thin, so I added a rayon satin lining to help keep the wind out. I wanted the pockets (of course!) but I wanted them to blend in as much as possible, so I hand slipstitched them in place instead of topstitching. Oh! And I added lining to the pockets too, to help avoid them stretching out over time.

Initially I made machine-stitched buttonholes, but I didn’t like how they turned out, so I did hand-stitched buttonholes on over the machine work (which actually provided a nice base for the handwork). Pro-tip – always start at the bottom of the garment for work like this, so that your messier first attempts aren’t at eye-level!

Handstitched Buttonholes
Vintage Bakelite Toggle Buttons

As mentioned above, I added a rayon satin lining. I also decided to add an interior belt loop to the CB of the cape, because it’s not attached any other way and I don’t want to risk losing it.

Lining and Beltloop

The rayon lining is a tight weave and is stable, but the wool can easily stretch, so I added a stabilizer to the shoulder/sideseam of the wool to help support it.

Seam Stabilizer

And finally, a close up shot of the vintage carved belt buckle. It’s been sitting in my stash for years, just waiting for it’s chance to shine!

Vintage Belt Buckle

Do you wear capes? Do you have any tips on how to wear them without feeling terribly awkward? 😂

Truly Victorian 1913 Late Edwardian Corset
1912, construction, Corset, Edwardian, Historical Fashion, pattern, review, Sewing, WWI

Truly Victorian 1913 Late Edwardian Corset

If we’re going through our layers from skin out, after the combinations comes the corset. And y’all, this is THE EASIEST corset I’ve ever made.  It’s a single layer of coutil (no lining), and there are no gores or gussets, so fitting is fairly simple. I made a mock-up for peace of mind before cutting into my coutil (that stuff is expensive!), but I didn’t make any major fit changes to the mockup. If I were braver (more foolhardy?), I could have skipped it.

TVE13E – 1913 Late Edwardian Corset

As with my Wearing History combinations, I chose the e-pattern version of the Late Edwardian Corset from Truly Victorian. I resisted e-patterns for years after they started becoming popular, but I finally saw the light: INSTANT GRATIFICATION. And taping a pattern together takes about the same amount of time as tracing one off, so they don’t take more prep time for me. I’ve used a number of e-patterns from different companies at this point, and I have to commend the historical/vintage patternmakers – in my experience, the e-patterns from these companies generally go together much more easily than e-patterns from modern indie pattern companies.

I chose this particular overbust style because someday I’d like to do a proper Titanic-era outfit. The slim hip wasn’t as critical for this 1918 outfit, but it will be great under a more fitted 1912 dress. I LOVE the sleek silhouette this corset gives! Late-teens clothes aren’t extremely fitted, so if you wanted to skip the corset you could probably get away with it, but I enjoyed the effect it gives. It doesn’t cinch down much (and I’m not very squishy anyway – my corseted waist is usually about the same as uncorseted) but it REALLY changes your posture. No slouching allowed!

The instructions for this pattern have step-by-step text and a few illustrations, but I followed Jen’s 1910s corset tutorial at Festive Attyre for most of my construction. I guess my corset still is technically unfinished (no garter hooks, no lace at the top, etc) but it’s completely wearable, so honestly it’s probably as finished as it’s ever gonna be. For the Great War Gallop I wore knee-high socks from the Dollar Tree, which worked fine. Maybe someday I’ll want “proper” stockings, and then I’ll have to attach garter hooks. Maybe.

I do want to share how I handled the fitting stage. I stitched together the panels, inserted the front busk, back grommets, back (steel) bones and sandwiched my waist stay tape into the back facing seam. At this point there is only boning at the CF and CB, but you can try it on and get an idea of how it will fit and make adjustments because the seams are not yet covered with the boning casing. I ended up letting out the waist about 1/4″ on every seam to get a straight lacing gap in the back. I also made sure to sit while wearing it, so I could get an idea of where the bones needed to end in the front (the wrinkles show where my hips bend, so the boning shouldn’t extend past that point).

Inside of the partially constructed corset, ready for fitting

The waist stay, boning channels, and top and bottom binding all use 1″ twill tape, because I have a massive roll in my stash, so I use it for EVERYTHING. I used synthetic whalebone for the first time, and I found it to be very similar to the zip-ties I have used in other corsets. It’s so great to be able to easily fine-tune the length of the bones! I just use scissors and a heavy duty nail file to shape the tips.

Inside of the finished corset, nice and wrinkled from an afternoon of dancing!
Wearing History 1917 Combination Underwear and Chemise
construction, Edwardian, Sewing, WWI

Wearing History 1917 Combination Underwear and Chemise

As I mentioned in my last post, for the Great War Gallop I created all new pieces – from the underwear out – which was both harder and easier than I expected. Everything came together pretty smoothly, and the only mockup I made was for my corset (which I probably could have skipped, but coutil is too expensive to take chances with).

But as a bunch of us have discovered recently during our forays into this period, Teens-era construction is deceptively hard! Basic skirts look like they should go together in the same way that modern clothes do, but are actually more similar to earlier periods. And yeah, there are sewing patterns, but most of the instructions are pretty sparse and cryptic. We joke that instructions on old patterns consist of a single sentence – “construct in the usual way” – but in this case, that’s true. Which is fine if you wore these clothes every day of your life – you’d know what the usual way was, but I haven’t spent much time studying extant garments from this era so it was unfamiliar to me. I spent a decent amount of time throughout this project looking at old sewing manuals online (yay public domain!) and asking friends how they thought something should be assembled. I don’t know that I got it “right” every time, but nothing fell apart and I think my construction techniques are close enough to the “usual way”, so I thought I’d share in case anyone else finds themselves in the same boat. Once you figure out how the darn things are supposed to be assembled, the actual sewing is fairly simple.

For my combinations (base-layer undies) I used Wearing History’s circa 1917 Combination Underwear and Chemise e-pattern. After purchasing the pattern I realized that I have a couple original vintage combinations patterns in my stash that I could have used (oops!) but I do enjoy the ease of e-patterns. This pattern includes the original instructions (which aren’t much) and some text “translations” of what those instructions mean for modern sewers, but not step-by-step illustrations for construction. Hopefully these photos will help explain some of the tricky bits, and if you have more questions check out the in-depth post that The Dreamstress did on this pattern.

I used a lightweight cotton broadcloth and made self-bias tape to finish the armholes, bottom edge, and to finish the inside of the CB pleat. I finished the neckline with beading lace using the heirloom sewing technique described on the Wearing History blog. If you don’t want to buy pricey lace or want a very sturdy top edge, you could also finish the neckline with bias tape and use that as a casing for your drawstring.

  • Straight sideseam! After pattern alteration
  • Back – flap buttoned

I only made a couple fitting adjustments – the balance was a little off so i removed a little from the front shoulder length to get the sideseam to hang straight on me. I wish I had scooped out the neckline and armhole a bit after shortening the front armhole, but I didn’t realize how high they were until after attaching the lace. And I took some of the width out of the sideseam because I didn’t want quite as much bulk under my corset. 

Front pattern alterations – Blue indicates the changes I actually made, and the purple lines are changes I’ll include for next time!

And here are a few more construction photos. Make sure to also check out The Dreamstress’s blog to see how she constructed these parts! Her versions are a little different but I think they all qualify as “the usual way”.

  • Outside CB Pleat Construction
  • Inside CB Pleat Construction
  • Neckline

Regency Evening Gown 2012

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have some process shots of creating my dress for this year’s Jane Austen Evening. My dress was inspired by this one from the exhibit Napoleon: The Empire of Fashion – I’ve drooled over the dress ever since I bought the catalog, and when I found some sheer striped fabric in the LA garment district I decided to give it a shot.
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Inspiration
The below 3 images are found via Thomason Photography. I was happy to find this website, because the exhibit catalog doesn’t show the sleeve clearly. I never found a photo of the back, so I just made it up based on my previous Regency dresses.

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Draping

Earlier this year I bought my very first dress form, Beatrice, and she was a life saver for this project. I took all my measurements with my stays on, then put them on her, laced and padded her out to match. I draped the bodice directly on top and only had 2 fittings from start to finish, and honestly the bodice of this dress fits me better than anything else in my closet. 
I had 2 fabrics to work with, my base satin and the sheer striped fabric. First step was draping the satin underlayer – I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted the neckline, so I marked a couple options and picked one in my first fitting. I think(?) I picked the lower one.

I like to make notes on my muslins during draping or fitting, so that I remember what to do to the pattern. I decided to have drawstring closures at the neck and waistline, and because I wanted a slight gathered effect, I added a little extra to the CB of the pattern when I traced off my muslin.
I don’t have a shot of the side view, but I kept the armhole really high, right under the armpit. High armholes are not the standard in today’s clothing but they are crucial for good movement (especially in non-stretch fabrics!), and since I would be dancing in this dress I wanted to be able to lift my arms!

Next I draped my sheer striped fabric on top of my muslin. Luckily this fabric was not expensive, so I bought extra and decided to drape directly in the real fabric, and knew I could start over if I had too. As you can see, the bodice is bias like the original. Love directional stripes! (OK, all stripes are directional, but you know what I mean.)
 I don’t even want to remember how long it took me to drape this darn bodice! Hours, literally. Getting all the tucks and poufiness placed correctly and flatteringly was really hard. I draped half, marked all the tucks, and then transfered it to the other side on the flat. The over layers of the bodice are flatlined to the satin.
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Construction

The rest was fairly easy! So of course I didn’t take process shots of it, grr. The neckline is finished with bias binding casing and trimmed with lace and a beaded trim, and I slipstitched the waistline seam allowance closed to create a casing. Here’s the inside view of the front – yes, I overlocked the inside seam allowances!
For the skirt and sleeves, I used my modified Sense & Sensibility pattern from last year and just added the striped overskirt, which was a couple of rectangles with a bunch of box pleats. I did the CB placket wrong because the edges are supposed to butt up to each other, but my placket is for edges that overlap. Oh well, that’s nothing a little hook and eye can’t fix!
The Finished Dress!!
Whew! Thanks for indulging me that post, and congrats if you made it to the end! 😉

70s does 30s Blouse – New and Improved!

As a swing dancer, I’m always on the lookout for vintage-y pieces that aren’t precious real stuff. Silky blouses with flowy long sleeves are one of the hardest garments to find and are highly coveted among my friends. We get our inspiration from these dancers, among others:

Whitey’s Hopper Maniacs, better known as Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers

So every time I see a 70’s necktie blouse with lovely gathered yokes, pintucks, bright colors and bold prints, I’m sad that it looks so darn 70’s! They’re affordable, sturdy, and cute. But the necktie just won’t work.

A couple weeks ago I needed a “shiny shirt” for a performance, and rather than risk wearing real vintage I pulled out this F21 blouse from the pile and attempted some Swing Era Transplant Surgery!

Here’s the steps in case you want to try:

Put the blouse and mark the new collar. (My seamline is marked with the blue pins on the viewer’s right.) Try it both buttoned up and unbuttoned. I went as wide & long as I thought I could get away with!

Mark your edgeline (where your pins were). If you’re smart, use disappearing ink or chalk. I’m not smart and usually use a Sharpie cause it’s handy, so I made tiny dots…hope you can see! Your lines should be more or less straight – no need to curve the collar tip.

Transfer markings to the opposite side.

Staystitch a line 1/8″ inside your edge to stabilize the layers.

Carefully cut along your edgeline, and apply Fray-Check if needed.

Grab your trim, swap out the thread colors on the machine if needed (I changed to black on top and white in the bobbin), and apply trim along the entire collar edge to cover your raw edge.

If your trim is double sided (like rickrack) you can just fold it back at the corner instead of trying to turn the corner – it’s a tight corner, so it’s worth finding doublesided trim!

My project’s a little messy, but that’s not visible unless you’re photographing it on macro. 🙂

Here’s the finished product – I love how the contrasting trim highlights my new collar!

If you try this project, send me a link or a picture – I’d love to see!

A Dealer’s Life

For me, the most fun talk at last weekend’s symposium at LACMA was “A Dealer’s Life: Conversation with Martin Kamer and Wolfgang Ruf”. These were the two men who teamed up to build the collection that LACMA acquired, and together with Sharon Takeda, the senior curator of the Costume and Textiles Department, they told many interesting stories about their friendly rivalry and acquiring these pieces.

I managed to snatch a couple of burry photos from their Powerpoint presentation – there were a lot of behind the scenes shots that were a real treat.
This 1860’s dress is featured in the exhibition to display the roller printing techniques that were newly developed. What didn’t make the exhibition cut was the matching day bodice:
Exciting, right? Well, the audience thought so – there was an audible gasp when the picture flashed on the screen. Kamer also explained that this day bodice has hook and eye tape down the front, which is the earliest example he’s seen of that. (Hope I got that info right – I was madly taking pictures and notes and probably didn’t get everything right!)
Another crowd favorite is this dress from the 1830’s:
Aren’t those beret sleeves delish? Here’s a couple more (fuzzy-wuzzy) shots from the screen.
Bottom and Interior Views
THE SLEEVE FOLDS FLAT!!! Pure genius.
It kind of reminds me of this, but the pink one is way cooler. 🙂