Simplicity 1687

This summer, I began giving sewing lessons to an incredibly talented 14-year-old sewist. She got some home ec. training in junior high, but hasn't done much since.

For her first project, she chose Simplicity 1687.

It was a great match for her shape, but it presented a fair number of sewing challenges:

1. 9 separate pattern pieces
2. princess seams
3. pleats
4. angled waistline
5. piping
6. invisible zipper closure

In retrospect, perhaps I should have suggested a first project with a more straightforward pattern, but my student handled it all really well.

The only problem I found with the pattern itself was that on one of the skirt pattern pieces, the direction of the pleats was not marked. We had to infer it from the instructions and design diagrams.

We made a muslin with extra large seams for fitting purposes. We made some minor changes to the upper back area and hips, but all in all the muslin fit pretty well.

My student chose a fabric that needed to be lined, so we flatlined it with a polyester lining fabric. We omitted the pockets, but kept the vertical piping detail.

This is a really cute design that would flatter many shapes and has lots of seams, which makes alterations easier. It went together smoothly, but I would not recommend it for a first project for a beginning sewer working on their own.

Here's my student in her new dress. Doesn't she look great?

Steampunk Alice in Wonderland

This was the first time I really put together a costume as a recognizable character. A friend of mine wanted to do Steampunk Ariel as an excuse to make a swimming costume, so I said I'd play along.

I made the Laughing Moon drawers in white. I closed them at the crotch, as they would be visible in the costume. The drawers were pretty straight forward. It was my first time doing tucks, and I didn't do a great job, but they were wearable. I also made them a size too small (on purpose), but if I made them again, I would increase the size. As a wearing note, drawers are usually underneath the corset (as they needed to be for this costume). They are also usually covered by a chemise and several layers of skirts. If I make another pair of drawers to be worn as true underclothes, I will definitely make open drawers. It makes getting to the restroom and then getting back together again much easier.

I used the Simplicity Chemise pattern #9769, but I cut if off at hip length. I made the chemise in blue and I didn't want it to extend out from the corset in a visible way. This was straightforward enough. Somehow, the Simplicity pattern diagrams sometimes more confusion than they solve, but I got it done. Before I cut the neck line, I measured my shoulders about where I expected the chemise to fall. I know that I have narrow shoulders, but I cut the neck line about 3" shorter than my size otherwise called for. This is an important fitting step if you don't want the chemise falling down all the time.

I used the corset I made from the Laughing Moon Silverado pattern. I used the same blue fabric that I used on the chemise to help create the line of Alice's dress.

I also modified this 1950's style apron from Simplicity so that it only had one skirt layer. I liked it because I was round enough to get over the hoop skirt and had a big bow in the back for modesty.

The big effort for this costume was making a blue hoop skirt. I used Truly Victorian 142 (the Walking Cage Crinoline). This project was more time consuming that it would be for most people because I needed it to be in a periwinkle blue. That meant that I couldn't use standard, pre-made hoop casing. Instead I used grosgrain ribbon wrapped on both side with strips of my fabric. This providing a casing for the hoops and a study surface to attach the vertical strips to. Additionally, I just used a regular waist band instead of the boned, laced belt. I used a strip of Velcro to hold it on, but I found that in a crowded hallway, it was better to supplement it with a safety pin.

The hoop skirt was tedious and I spent a lot of time fine tuning the balance of the hoops. I think if this had been intended strictly for undergarment use, things would have gone a lot faster and I could have fussed less.

Here's photos of the hoop skirt & apron:

And here are some of me in the full outfit:

These are totally awesome Tavistock boots from American Duchess

This cracks me up! That's my husband is his totally rad Vader Lord of the Pith costume. We make a cute couple. 

Preparations for Steampunk World's Faire 2013 and promises of posts to come

I have been sewing like a mad woman since Steampunk Gettysburg (at which I managed to take exactly no photos BAD BLOGGER!)

The sewing marathon has been in preparation for Steampunk World's Faire, which takes place this weekend. I am still putting the finishing touches on my projects, so I don't have time for full write ups right now; however, I'm stuck at the office and in a lull so I thought I would at least preview the coming posts.

This year, I have made three new outfits, a new corset (again), a new bustle, my very first proper petticoat, my first round hoop skirt, and my very first self-draped pattern.

Outfit #1: polonaise in stripes
My friends and I all bought versions of the same fabric. We have visions of all wearing outfits in this fabric at the same time. Silliness.

For this project, I used the Truly Victorian TV 410 (1873 Polonaise) along with a TV underskirt pattern.

Outfit #2: Steampunk Alice in Wonderland
Another friend will be attending as steampunk Ariel, and she talked me into doing another princess. I've avoided doing an Alice costume for a long time, but this seemed like the perfect excuse.

I used the Laughing Moon drawers pattern in white, the Simplicity Civil War Chemise in periwinkle, I made another version of the Laughing Moon Silverado corset in matching periwinkle, the Truly Victorian Walking Cage Crinoline (TV 142) also in periwinkle. I topped it off with a modified version of a 1950's apron from Simplicity. The idea is to give the impression of the Disney version of Alice's outfit, but using a somewhat deconstructed looked.

I was inspired by this image from the Truly Victorian website:

 Imagine this outfit with a blue hoop skirt, blue corset, and blue chemise. Then top it with an apron.

Outfit #3: A ball gown inspired by Charles Worth
I have been drooling over the Worth/Mainbocher online exhibit from the Museum of the City of New York. If you haven't seen it, you must go. It's an incredible resource. Well documented with lots of high resolution images you can inspect for detail.

I have been in love with this dress for quite some time:

The one I'm making has a very different color scheme, but the lines are the same. To make this, I am using the blue corset I made for the Alice costume, then I made the TV 163, the Imperial Tournure (the new lobster tail bustle)

I'm topping that with my first real petticoat, TV 170. I made the version on the left:

I drafted the front asymmetrical drape myself. This is a major jump in my skill set, and I'm ridiculously pleased with myself. I modified the Butterfly Train from Truly Victorian (TV 361) a little because I didn't have enough fabric, but it's looking good:

Lastly, I heavily modified Truly Victorian's 1892 Ball Gown Bodice (TV 490) so it would fit over the bustle. This may have been more trouble than it was worth, but I'll discuss that in another post:

So... I'll have many posts for you in the coming weeks. As soon as I recover from this weekend and get the sewing room back in order.

Simplicity 4059 UPDATE

My dad loved the costume. He wants to get a hat and everything. :)

Here is is modeling. Very handsome.

Simplicity 4059

This is going to be a Christmas present for my dad. You can read the full review at PatternReview.com.

The Shirt






I added a tie so that my dad could close the shirt if he wanted to wear it without the doublet.


A close up of the cuff:


The Doublet






I left off the trim on the peplums and shoulder tabs, but they probably couldhave used to top stitching for permanent ironing.


Doublet and Shirt Together
Looking pretty sharp, even on my dress form.








Pants
close up of the front yoke.


cuff detail. There is no elastic, only a ribbon tie. We'll see how that goes over.




The back is made somewhat adjustable by adding these tabs which can be simply decorative or they can be tied tighter to take up about 3" of ease.

Endless Combinations Wardrobe Contest at PR

In order to get myself sewing again, I have decided to join PatternReview's Endless Combinations Wardrobe Contest. I'd like to have some more clothes to teach in and I really, really like to get back to sewing.

Here is my proposal:


UPDATE 12/31
Both skirt and dress have been completed. Both were Christmas successes.

UPDATE 11/13
I traced off the BWOF patterns (Shirt 122 & Dress 111). I think I traced off the dress 2 sizes too big, but I will be making a muslin, so we'll see if I will need to trace it again.

UPDATE 11/21
Last night I adjusted the BWOF shirt pattern.

UPDATE 12/6
made muslin of the skirt (NL 6163). I used the pants sloper that I recently drafted in a class at G Street Fabrics. My pants sloper calls for two small darts in the front and no darts in the back (just a slightly shaped center back seam). That pattern has two small darts in the back and a flat front. I determined that I would probably get a pretty good fit if I just switched the front and back pieces. I then used my sloper again to determine that I needed to cut at size 16 front and a size 10 back. It worked like a charm! ::pictures to come::

UPDATE 12/8
I've completed the NL6163 skirt. I used a 100% cashmere wool and lined it with silk charmeuse that I had left over in my stash from a previous project. they both went together beautifully. ::pictures coming soon::

UPDATE 12/8
I made a muslin of the red dress (BWOF 11-2008-111). he muslin fit ridiculously well. I added 1/2" to the upper side seam for a FBA. I raised the arm hole slightly. I also shorted the front bodice by about 3/8". I also realized that I can move the zipper to the side seam, making this much easier to get in and out of.

I adjusted the pattern and cut out the wool crepe. Mid-way through the cutting process, I realized that I wanted to underline this fabric with some lining fabric rather than figure out how to draft a lining pattern. After I had the wool cut, I cut the pattern out of a silk bled that has been in my stash for ages and ages.

It went together like a dream. Now it's just waiting for me to get an invisible zipper, finish the arm holes, add facings, and finish the seams. That sounds like a lot, but I should be able to finished all that in another night of sewing.

Hiatus

I will be on a (hopefully) brief sewing hiatus. I am packing up my stuff and moving to a new home city to start my very first teaching position. This is really so exciting.

I just finished Simplicity 3678, but my camera has been packed away already. The short review is that I am very pleased, but my rayon jersey has more than the recommended stretch, so I have some minor fitting quibbles. On the whole, very cool.

Back soon!

Simplicity 4273 tank top

This came out mostly OK. I wish I had made it about 2" longer and raised the armseye slightly. Other than that, nice and easy.

Yay for projects that work!

I got a bee in my bonnet that I really needed to complete a successful project in order to restore confidence in myself.

I bought Simplicity 4273 a while back. It looked like a nice wardrobe and I really like the skirt pattern. The dress was a surprise bonus that went together beautifully in 4 hours from pattern prep to hemming. How nice to put something together so smoothly!

You can see my full review on PatternReview.com (check out the widget off to the side here), but here are the pictures:

The dress:






The jacket:





Actually, the pattern layout deserves special note. I only had 1 1/2 yards of the brocade, so getting all the main pattern pieces on there was a real challenge. The stroke of insight came when I realized that I could cut the facings out of a different coordinating fabric. I used the rest of the gold silk from the doctoral gown. Pretty sweet.