How Many White Things Can You Cut Out In 2 Days? - R

There are no pictures for this post because everything I did this weekend was done in white muslin or white material:
Traced pattern, then cut and marked 1940's dress muslin
Cut out white brocade and lining for a man's formal vest and bow tie,
Traced and cut out man's doublet muslin
Sewed a bit on a white muslin farthingale
Machine embroidered the cuffs, ruffles and collars of a man's white muslin Elizabethan shirt.  Have finally learned how to line those suckers up properly.
Did machine black work embroidery on a white muslin smock yoke for me (not at all successful and will probably have to scrap it and start over)
And, finally, made a pattern from an existing dress for my sister (that project is about 10 years in the waiting, but I finally had the skills and materials to do it right).

Waiting in the wings is the white muslin bodice for the Titanic Tea Dress that Lisa will fit to me this weekend, a white muslin Victorian chemise that is almost finished and some other project in a bag that I just didn't bother to look at.

So what do you do when you are sick of white muslin?  Go online the next day and by some colorful fabric for which you will need to make...you guessed it....a white muslin!

Princess Slip - Nightgown is done - L

Here's the lace detail on the finished challenge pattern that I reworked.  FOUR kinds of lace.  And when I say finished, I actually mean finished except for buttons and buttonholes.  I think my machine needs help.  Can't get buttonhole attachment to work.
This was primarily a mental exercise.  Once I figured out how to make this work for my body it was just a sort of a jigsaw puzzle with a lot of long seams.  I posted last week about all the measuring and mental gymnastics of changing a pattern for a short and slender woman into something for a tall and substantial woman to actually wear.  And it worked!  I added the sleeve caps as a visual way to balance my hips.

Here's the whole thing.  Pleating is a pain.  Pintucks are a pain.  I think I have it out of my system for a long while.  And really, only the center front insertion lace offers a possibility of embarrassing the offspring.  The part I ended up liking the best was deciding to use bias binding around the armhole.  I looks tidy and solved a multitude of small problems.  Here is a close up of the bias binding. I did it by hand since I felt I would suffer more trying to machine sew it in all the tight spots.  Actually, I did one of them riding in a car on the way to see my daughters new flat.

Now I'm starting the frock coat.  Actually I'm blogging in an effort to avoid the frock coat.  It's cut out and marked.  Now I have to do the welt pocket.    And YES!  I finished another pair of socks!!!

Who Wants To Wear An Inner Tube Around Your Waist? - R

 "I do! I do!"
  Congratulations, you are now an Elizabethan costumer.
OK, this has got to be one of the most ridiculous items of fashion ever invented, but I'm going with the flow here.  It's done.  Yes, it's lumpy.  I cannot get it NOT to be lumpy.  Hopefully, it won't show under the skirt.  If it does, I'll kneed it a bit more or give it to my dog as a chew toy.

VPLL 1912 - progress on the Princess Slip

I finally got a couple of uninterrupted hours to start working on the slip.  Since I modified the top front beyond recognition, I had to spend some time figuring out how to put everything together.  And since I wasn't sure how it would fit (I'd held the grocery bag pattern up and hoped), I could sew shoulder or side seams without a fitting.  And it was difficult to decide where to put the front lace without shoulder or side seams.  And round and round.
Finally, I just started.  The beaded lace at the neck is just pinned on since I want to sew it around the neckline all at once.  I got the pintucks made on  one side and will finish tonight.  I think I'm only going to use gathers at the bottom.  Also, I'm starting to suspect that the bottom of the 'top' will not be level.  I'll need to shorten at the side seams and maybe a bit in the center to avoid bagging around the waist.
Next step is to figure out placement of shoulder seams and side seams.  I'm going to do it while wearing it.  Should be interesting.

My plan is to pin the shoulders and side seams and mark where I want the armscye.  If I use bias binding around the arm hole, I don't have to try to figure out 'fit + seam allowance' plus it will look and feel better. I have a clever plan to add a sort of flap at the shoulder and attach lace.  If it works, it will add the illusion of wider shoulders to balance the rest of me.  Pictures soon!  
This is my first ever try at pin tucks and insertion lace.  I also used french seams everywhere there isn't lace.  Haven't done that since the 60's when I was a fetus.

I still need some ribbon for the beading, and some small buttons for the back.  I need to cut the lower front.  And then I need to make about 9 yards of pleated flounce with a lace insertion.  And there goes my long weekend!

I've added a very blurry picture of the back.  Showing off my tiny french seams.  I only had a little 'leakage' in a couple spots.
I also finished the vest and will try and start the frock coat this weekend.  Also, maybe go outside and get some exercise.

VPLL Princess Slip - From 'It' to 'Me'

This is my very amateur drawing of the changes I've make to the slip pattern to make it a working nightgown that fits me,  Here's what I did, described as briefly as I'm able.  If you don't understand you can leave me a message in comments on this blog.

I loved the proportions in the picture which are NOT the proportions of the pattern.  The flounce is much shorter in proportion in the pattern.  In addition, I'm 5'10" with long legs, narrow shoulders, large bust and thick mid-section.  This forced me to not only up-size the pattern, but make some major alterations.  After printing the pattern, my scale was not correct.  I chose not to fiddle with it since I'm making so many changes already.  The pattern size I show may NOT be the pattern size YOU get when you print.  (For other VPLL participants)

Pattern:

Bust:  37.5

Waist: 28.75

Hip: 44

Est length (from shoulder) at flounce attach:   43

Est total length (from shoulder) to hem:  50

Me:

Bust: 46

Waist: 38

Hip: 45

Est length (from shoulder) to hem: 58

First, the flounce to total-length ratio in the picture is 25%.  I decided 20 to 25% is what I want.  The need for this much flexibility will be obvious later.  I will want my flounce to be between 12 and 14 inched finished.

That leaves me 44 inches for the top of the slip (58 - 14) from the shoulder.  This is very close to the actual pattern.  However my larger bust will require me to add some inches in the front to keep the hem level.  Also, my bust point is notably lower than the picture.  This means I don't want to add width at the widest part of the pattern.  I want to add it where I am widest.  Also, my shoulders are narrow, so I can't just add nine inches.  In fact, I really don't need to add more than an inch or so at the shoulders (across my back is only about 14.5 inches).  I don't want the shoulders falling off.  First step, I held the side front up to myself and made a mark on the pattern at the point that is roughly my bust point.  At the same time, I eyeballed the shoulder height and location of armscye.  I did the same with the center front.  Then I traced the pattern piece from shoulder to natural waist and started to make changes.

Then I ran into trouble.  I have decided to use 2 1/4 inch insertion lace.  With wider lace, it's normal to cut the fabric, hem the edges, and sew on the lace to each side (rather then sewing it down, cutting it and rolling back the hem).  I suspected that the wider lace would give me a little additional length and width.  It would also complicate my calculations.  I started to modify the pattern and realized that no matter what I did, the lace was 'inconveniently' placed.  Very romantic.  Not practical for an over-50, over-weight mom.  So goodbye to the lower bust band of insertion lace.  I moved it to the natural waist,  And if the vertical bands are stopping at the natural waist, why bother with the princess seams up to the bust?  That would require a great deal of fussy modifications when I could that with two panels that go from side seam to center bust insertion band, and from top lace insertion to natural waist lace insertion.  The biggest advantage to this change is that I could measure the distance from the top of my bust (where the lace insertion ends) to the top of my natural waist (second insertion band starts).  And I could measure it over my bust.  That solves the problem of adding 'volume' over the bust.  In addition, the top insertion sort of runs into the bottom of the armscye.  This means I can make it as wide as I want when I put in the lace.  I will need to trim to adjust the armhole but that's what my pal Robin is great for.  I stand still and she marks where the opening should be.  When I drew the pattern (on cut up grocery bags) is marked where the lace would be so I could have an idea of how big the pieces would be with lace attached.  There is no lace in the back, so I merely added a couple inches near the bottom of the arm hole where I am the fullest.  Here's some bad pictures of my grocery bag pattern:

Notes:

The arm-scythe is cut around towards the back, so the side seams are NOT directly under the bottom of the armhole.  Also, by the time the pattern reaches 'hip' length, the front to back proportions are evenly balanced.  Basically, this means I can just add to the pattern evenly from the natural waist down.  

Things I will do 'on the fly':

Cut an extra inch at the top of the shoulders.  I can take a bigger seam if needed.

Cut the armscye as printed.  I can cut away more, but once I cut, it's gone forever.

Cut the front 'bust pieces as rectangles.  I can put gathers under the bust points as needed and take in the side seams too.

Add little 'flaps' on the shoulders to extend them.  This will allow me to 'cheat' the proportions.  These are about 6 inch long curved pieces, 1 1/2 inch at the top of the shoulder, tapering to nothing.

Add a couple inches of length even though I don't think I will need them.

Wait to cut the flounce until the body of the slip is made.  This way I'm sure it's the right length.   After all, I have made dramatic changes, I'm not a pro, and who KNOWS what will actually happen.

Catching up on Projects - L

The 1912 Project has consumed a huge amount of mental bandwidth, if only because of the outpouring of information in the FB group.  But I still have projects in some degree of 'made' that need tending.  Not to mention that I've taken on the 'Challenge Pattern' from 1912 Project.

First - clothes for a man.  I'm making a vest and frock coat.  The vest is nearly done.  Robin is going to do buttonholes for me and then I just need to add buttons and sew the lining shut.  And since the wearer is deathly allergic to cats, the cat is sitting on it.  I do love how it matches her eyes....
I'm also going to make a frock coat.  A black frock coat.  Sort of dreading it even though I'm using a different pattern than Robin (she felt hers was just too fussy).  I got the fabric and lining in the mail and they are HEAVY.  I may have got too heavy of lining.  Gonna have to think about this.
And, after resisting our silly costuming, he now wants a steampunk gun and holster.  When they fall, they fall hard!

I have also decided to try the 1912 Challenge pattern which is a slip.  It really appeals to me as a nightgown, although you'd have to be 10 kinds of crazy to pleat the flounce on a cotton nightgown.  I think I may pleat it for the project and set the pleats with vinegar but let them wash out over time.  The challenge of this pattern is all the lace insertion and pleating.  A separate challenge for me is sizing up the pattern from tiny 1912 to giant modern tall person who isn't skinny.  In addition, as soon as I looked at the pattern, it was clear that the flounce was not in the same proportion to the body of the slip as it was in the picture.  Aspirational marketing!  I really like the proportions so I'm going to change the pattern to reflect them.  I'm also getting wider insertion lace for the same reason. This is the first time I've actually printed out and put together an e-pattern.  I couldn't get all the marking to show up and I had to shrink it a bit but since I'm going to have to make changes anyway, I'm not concerned. I'm including a picture of the taped together pattern at the end of the post, even though the lines are faint and almost unreadable.  Tonight I will cut it apart and start fidgeting with measurements.  Anything to avoid starting the frock coat.

And here are examples on my insertion lace (2 1/4 inch) and eyelet lace (1
inch) for the neck

The shiny spot is light reflecting off tape

1912 Blouse for Dummies - VPLL 1912 Project

Our first pattern - Blouse EO191.  We made this to the pattern size since neither of us thought we would wear it as it wouldn't be flattering.  We made it up in white muslin, with the trim pieces in beige dotted cotton that we had laying about.  We wanted to make it fully lined and with most of the finishing (everything but back buttons).  We were not able to do any fittings during construction.  Apparently we are giants, and our smallest dress form was perfect except its neck which is HUGE.  The lack of arms was a problem too...
We are re-learning sewing after modest experience in our youth.  We opted to try to follow the instructions as written and write about how it worked for us.  Some of the instructions confused us, but we expected that.  Some of the choices we just didn't like and would do differently if we were making it for us.

Trim
Sleeve trim - sewing the bottom of the trim to the sleeve with a small turned-under hem would not be our choice although it may be the easiest choice with the curved hem.  We thought self-facing would look a lot nicer.  There are no instructions for attaching the top of the trim piece so we top stitched it to the sleeve.  Depending on the fabric used, there are doubtless better ways to do that too.

Neck trim - We chose to double the fabric because our fabric was very thin.  We needed the extra body, especially with the beads.  It didn't meet in the back, even though we took slightly larger pleats in the front of both the blouse and the lining.  This may be because of placement.  We aren't really sure.  Others didn't seem to have this problem.  It didn't lay flat on the shoulders once we put it on the blouse.  The blouse itself lay smooth on the dress form and the lining matched well.  Again, it could be placement, and solved by moving the trim higher up the neck.  We couldn't test that due to the dress form limitations (linebacker neck) and my unwillingness to make my 10 year old son cross-dress for this project.   And then the binding, the binding that  kicked out butts.  This is very obvious at the point in the front.  It's not symmetrical top and bottom.  We know what we did wrong.  We chose not to fix it and call it an awesome learning experience.  Here it is without the blouse.

Sleeves
They seem to stand out from the body and cant forward.  We assume this is period styling.  They went in easily using the pattern markings, although we had no ease (even though the pattern suggested we would).  When we sewing in the lining, we sewed it right under the binding added at the shoulder.

Blouse body and lining

We re-folded the pleats out of personal preference.  We took about an inch of additional volume out of the top.  We sewed the binding strips to the shoulders before we we sewed the side seams which was easier but not nearly as tidy looking after we sewed the side seams.

The lining had us stumped at first.  We started by lining it up at the neck and it just didn't fit.  It was far too small.  We un-pinned it and started over at the arm scythe and everything matched right up.  Thing is, we ended up having to trim quite a bit of fabric from the lining at the neck opening which made it too big.  We added a couple of pleats on the inside and it looks nice.

Too Large

Too Small

From the inside

We didn't like the blouse bottom finish in the front.  We thought a narrow binding strip over the gathers would look a lot better.

Finally, we really liked the little basque in the back.  We thought it would look a bit silly, but really ended up liking it.

Not Surprising -
The drawing of the blouse is much longer and leaner than the actual garment.




This took us 7 hours from cutting to final press and pictures.
One adult beverage (each)
About a '4' on the profanity scale (primarily due to the $*#&$ binding).
We planned to finish this in a day but we were pleasantly surprised when we actually succeeded.