A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

Cabinet des Modes  will begin tomorrow (assuming you read this on the night that I'm posting it). I'm excited! I'm going to post about the amazing experience I had this weekend - it was a party! And Susan de Guardiola was there and so I danced a whole lot! - but I have no pictures to share yet, so I'll just do some dress talk. My plan to make a second version of the bodice of my Cranford dress succeeded: I worked on it most of Saturday, and in the end I had one that was longer and less too-big than the original. (Too long - I think I cut it so it would be right if I did a hem like a normal person, but for whatever reason I only turned it down once. Why?) The darts are still a bit off, the armscyes are too big, and even after I'd cut pieces smaller while making them anew they were still too big. I only fixed that issue by turning down the center back edges quite far, and while it doesn't look bad , in the extant piece I took the pattern from, the curving side...

I always make too many plans - but compared to my past output, what I've done this year is so outstanding that it makes me think I can decide which pieces I need to build a basic and versatile wardrobe, based on the events I've gone to this year (which is, again, an astounding amount compared to how many I attended in previous years, mainly thanks to Julie ). Detail of bodice I sketched at FIT, that sparked my love for the style - My muslin gown makes me happy enough that I don't feel the need to replace it yet. However, I do feel most comfortable at this point with the 18th century methods of construction and my ability to get a good fit for that sort of bodice, so if I do make the jump from cotton to silk it's likely going to be for a 1780 pleated-back and closed-front gown based on one I've patterned, with plenty of pinked trim. (Must buy pinking shears.) - What surprises me when I think of it, for some reason, is that Victorian events have been the most...

So, I spent the past week engaged in making a Regency day dress for myself.  Fastest thing I've ever fully put together!  Albany's TulipFest is not really intended as a costumed event, but the Empire State Costumers (join us!) can turn any party into a dress-up party. (I'm the second from the right.) To start, I used the pattern I took from an evening dress in the Albany Institute's collection (combined with some Janet Arnold sleeves) and striped cotton from Renaissance Fabrics .  As usual with extant pieces, I am not quite as dainty, so I knew I would have to enlarge it.  Unfortunately, I chose to widen it from the center front, which made the straps set at the wrong angle and there were just all sorts of issues.  Think I'll definitely take another go at it, raising the waistline and fitting it better, but for now I need to move on. l'original Next up: I'll be doing a talk at Clermont on women's fashion in the 1920s in June, and I would ...

I'm not going to tot up everything I made this year because it's kind of pathetic, but I will tell you what I got for Christmas! - What Clothes Reveal , Linda Baumgarten: no explanation needed. - Seventeenth-Century Women's Dress Patterns, Book I , Susan North and Jenny Tiramani: truly amazing resource that shows off how far technology's progressed.  X-ray pictures of garments that show all the layers of fabric, interlining, and boning; pages of full-color detail photos; delicately-drawn patterns of clothing and bobbin lace and construction steps.  I got an Amazon gift certificate as well - I may use it to buy book two.  I'm not sure when I'm going to get to use them (Dutch settler party at Fort Orange, maybe?), but they are FANTASTIC resources. - Period Costume for Stage & Screen , Jean Hunnisett: I've always been a bit leery of this one because my impression based on the title was that it was about stage/movie costumes, patterned for looks rathe...

I don’t talk very much about this project o’mine, because everyone knows the stereotype of the person who makes loads of plans to do something amazing and talks about it incessantly but never gets around to doing it.  I don’t want to fall into that trap!  But I do think about it a lot of the time.  A mannequin I dressed with a partner at FIT When I was taking a class in sketching extant clothing and dressing mannequins at FIT, I liked to joke that my ambition was to be the next Janet Arnold.  My sketches went from scale versions of the study garments to full-on patterns with directions.  I even did an extra one because I wanted to make the dress.  While I was researching my thesis, I took a couple of really quick patterns of garments that weren’t technically related to my topic.  (I’m glad I did, that set of stays made up very quickly.)  Then, when I was interning at the Albany Institute, it suddenly struck me that it would be a fan...

I'm not going to detail what I made last year because it's a very short list, but I find it interesting to look over other peoples' lists of what they hope/plan to make in 2012.  And now that I've finished writing my thesis (fireworks, trumpets, cannons, etc.), I'm sure that I will be able to let myself sew more. Sensible, probably will happen items: - My first planned project is the 1911 corset sew-along.  I'm doing a seriously budget corset, with ticking (hey, the site said it was a good coutil substitute), my cotton twill tape, cable ties that I already have, and a busk taken out of a costume corset I made a while ago.  My plan is to make it slightly bust-supportive, but if that doesn't work out, I'll be making some kind of early bra-type thing. (Examples: a , b , c , d , and e .) Then, of course, I want to make a dress to go with it.  Specifically, a lingerie dress, probably a copy of one of the antiques that I have.  (I don't know if it cou...