Poppy Girl 2010

Corset Number 2

I've made one finished effigy corset with tabs and it's too big. I'm going to try it again.
I'm using the Corset Generator from Elizabethan Costume.net.

Altering a Man's Vest-Mundane

I was giving the task of making a XL vest into a 2X. I have decided to replace the back satin, since it's ripped and I don't have any fabric to change the front. It won't be long enough, but that's not my problem. I will just add an inch to each side seam. Very slippery and when I took it apart, I made a note of how it was put together. Well, it's cut out...here goes.

The internet recommended a book by Mary Roehr on altering men's clothing. Looks great.

DONE! Well, that was fun. It was a case of sandwiching the front between to pieces of back. I found it facinating.

Photos of Surcotte

I'm not happy with it.
It lists to the right while wearing, due to some mistake I made sewing the shoulder seams. The side openings are too low, due to my adding 2" to pattern thinking myself long-waisted. The hips are too snug, due to cutting it too small.
The fillet is okay, the barbette is okay, but the veil is too stiff(linen) and white. It looks like a nun's whimple.

2009 Medieval Sideless Surcotte and Cotehardie(con't)

After making this dress, I found an article that said it is rightly called a 'PELLOTE'.
www.virtue.to/articles/extant.html




The italics wouldn't turn off, so I'm starting a new post about the surcoat with nap.
I have made the changes to the shoulder seam., to make it shorter, I cut it too long in the waist. The hip seam is changed to give it the most width, I cut that too small. The bottom facing is assembled and ready to be sewn to the bottom raw edge. I will work on it NEXT WEEK. I will pin the the whole thing near the sides and top edge with safety pins to keep each section aligned with its counterpart. But for actual sewing, I'm going to work with the 6" of fabric in front of me, slowly and carefully with no paper or pins.
I'm not clear on how to finish these seams. The allowance isnt big enough for a flat-felled seam and I DON"T have a serger. If fact, I don't really want to work on this dress. I want to have one, but not make one.

March 17th.

I don't know how it happened, but I've just picked up this sewing project after a break and it sewed like a dream. I just sewed the huge facing to the bottom hem and it went on like a dream.
I've just finished sewing the seam allowance to the facing, right next to the seam. It makes the facing lay nice. Now all that's needed is to handsew the top of the facing to the inside and it's DONE.
I have handsewed the top of the facing to the dress. You caN see the stitches, but I hope pressing will fix that. Anyway, I'm calling this dress Finished. Now to work on a hat.

Hat First Try:
I looked at the Burda pattern and a site I found, http://www.virtue.to/articles/coffee.html
but found them hard to understand. I used a buckram like material from my stash as an interfacing between two pieces of linen for the fillet(ring around head). I used scraps of linen and muslin sewn right sides together, then flipped for the barbette(chin strap). I think it's too wobbly. Could be taller, to hide my head and stiffer.

Pouch

Here is a pouch I made for a friend. She sent me a picture of someone wearing it. I have never seen these kind of pouches before. I used the pattern to make a prototype. I'll post that later.

I left the top unfinished pending her input. The hole may be too big. It's sitting pretty much upright showing the actual size. More later....

2009 Medieval Sideless Surcotte and Cotehardie

Ah, I'm thinking of starting a new project for 2009. I have purchased the Burda 7977, surcotte/cotehardie pattern and some fabric and trim. I did some sewing for Christmas gifts. I noticed two people are following this blog, gee thanks, I like your blogs too. I LOVE DRESS DIARIES. What an excellent way to sew. Even tho' I'm here alone, I feel the strength and encouragement of all the women who write dress diaries. Thank you, all.
The greenish dress underneath the light colored fabric is a store bought dress given to me by a friend. It fits like the cotehardie, but the sleeves are flared.

BEGAN DRESS ON FEBRUARY 24

The layout didn't suit me, so I made one of my own. I have tweaked patterns before, but never completely disregarded the layouts. This fabric has NAP. After looking it up, I decided it was okay to have the nap going UP. I won't need to smooth this dress much and stuff doesn't stick to it easily SO, it's my preference, right?
I cut the lining pieces (which will be visible when the inside of the bottom edge shows) so the nap is upside down from the front. The wrong sides will be together in the finished dress.
Pattern pieces were laid out this way, on the straight grain, all facing the same direction to get the nap to match:
*dress front went right side up on the fold. Cut 1
*dress back went wrong side up next to it. Cut 2
*godet(gores?) went wrong side up on the fold. Cut it 2 X.

Today I begin sewing and the very first center back seam had to be torn out after just a few stitches. The two fabrics are shifting, like velvet because of the nap. so I'm looking up some tips and probably putting pins in parallel to the seam.
I found this at http://www.fashion-era.com/velvets/velvet_sewing_tips.htm#Stitching_the_Seam_

If you don't have a walking or roller foot or a dual feed machine, scour your wardrobe for some tissue paper and place long strips of tissue paper between the velvet pieces and sew the seams through the tissue. The tissue can be torn away once off the machine.

[Update August 2006 - A reader recently wrote to me ' Please let me offer an additional tool: I've decided that wax paper is my new best friend. I design on it, can affix it to the fabric in a variety of ways, including simply holding it since it does have some grittiness to it, sew right over it, see through it. And, it's easier to remove from the stitches than is tissue paper. It doesn't shred into such teeny pieces.'

So whilst I have not personally tried this method it may work well for you.]

It said to hold the fabric taunt and sew from top to bottom, as it easier to fix the hem if the fabric is uneven.

I tried to turn off the italics but it won't budge.

Ok, I tried the above velvet sewing tips and didn't like any of them. I sewed the seams with mostly NO pins at all, going slowly with a regular foot. Also, I think the WAX PAPER method meant to put the wax paper ON TOP OF the two fabrics, not in between as i did. oh well.

According to me-MISTAKE ON PATTERN?

This pattern has a mistake on it. It calls for 56-60" of trim for the Surcoat, but I used that on ONE side. Also, I didn't understand Fabric I and II, so I'm using the same for both.

Oh baby, this trim is hard to sew down. I'll have to wait and see how it looks after I get the

GODET'S on. I'm going to hand baste them after pinning first, THEN stitching, since it's a bias piece being attached to a straight-ish piece. OI!!

Result: basting first didn't keep it from sliding, the top layer still ended up 1/8" away from the edge.

Changes made to Blue/Green Gown

Needed more length in front, farthingale shows when I sit down. Took out Green front of forepart and found 1-2 inches of fabric folded in the seam. Yea!
Also, I needed a tutorial for sitting down whilst, and at the same time, wearing a hoop.
Most seats were fine, but when sitting between two other ladies wearing hoops, i needed to: LIFT THE HOOP CLOSEST TO MY FINGERTIPS ONE STEP BEFORE TAKING THE STEP BACK TO SIT. Got it? Somehow that made all the difference.

Need to make shoulder rolls, my partlet and camecia show too much. See photos of shoulder rolls on the 'partlet number 3' post. The pattern for a shoulder roll is an ELLIPSE! That surprised me. i found it on a PDF file somewhere with patterns for tunics.
Sleeves attachments were inefficient. Kept falling off or were too tight. Replaced stretchy hair ties with gold cord that unravels just looking at it. Used that for the 2 center loop2 and used green/gold ricrac from sleeve for the other 4. Total 6 loops.

Tomorrow is my debut in this dress as Sybille Frederick(of Cleves) at the MMRF.

Addtional changes: could put a GUARD of Blue along the bottom edge to protect it. I'm still not happy with the sleeve attachments. I re-did the shoulder rolls and they look better. But the sleeves still look saggy.

Partlet Number Three

These are three ways I can wear the partlet I made today. I won't go into the construction, because I used a man's Medium button down shirt pattern. With a few modifications and some lace....and 5 hours later....geez, I have a nice partlet. The fabric is light weight 100 % cotton. There is a wrinkle on the left side. I may put buttons or beads or trim on it later.

Underpants, Drawers, Bloomers!

I made some out of muslin I had laying around. I use a pants pattern from Nana's stash. I made them crotchless. Lady Gwendolyn gave me that idea. She said when you have a hand full of skirts and accessories, you don't have to pull your pants down to pee. AND the Drawers cover the dirty toilet seat a little and that's a plus. Now I have a pair for Saturday and for Sunday. Genius!

Chemise

I need a new chemise for the red/gold Venetian. The camecia sleeves are too bulky. I'm trying a SMOCK GENERATOR from Drea Leed, I presume. I found it here: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/index.html under 'underpinnings'. It says it will be a close fit. I had a big piece of linen from ??, 54" wide. I'm cutting it out directly, using the pattern and instructions.Okay, it's done and here are my comments.

I like the Generator. I enter my measurements and it gives me all the numbers I need. I cut it out with no problems. It sewed together just fine and fit like a cotehardie (my word for a fitted long sleeve gored dress). This will work well with the Venetian gown as the sleeves are tighter, not flared and the body is not bulky. I had to make the neckhole bigger to sit at the edge of my shoulder. This gown sits close to the edge.

One complaint is where the gores and gussets get sewn across each other. There is no way to cleanly finish that seam.

This smock is not suitable for the regular Ren Faire garb. It's not poofy at all.

A Hat for the Red/Gold Gown from 2008

I bought a sequined 1980's hat from a thrift store and covered it in the same gold as the kirtle. I made a bow out of the same curtain sheer fabric as the partlet and hotglued trim on the edge. I also made a caul of the same gold fabric.

A Hat for the Blue Gown from 2007

I'm not happy with the placement of these pictures, but don't know how to fix them. sorry if it's difficult to read.






































Construction links are included.
It starts with putting my shoulder length, thin hair in a bun at the back of my head, below the crown. Then I wrap a fake braid around it and pin in place.
Next, I tie on the FOREHEAD CLOTH. (see http://www.extremecostuming.com/articlesii/howtowearthecoif.html) I have left the ties hanging in these photos, but at faire, I would tuck them in.
Over the Forehead cloth, I lay on the CAUL, (see http://www.sempstress.org/patterns/hatmaking/simplecaul.shtml) and secure it with a corsage pin.
Next goes the 'flat cap', bonnet, whatever you want to call it. I put it forward enough as to be in front of the bun...bulk.. if you take my meaning. (see the same sempstress.org site, just click at the bottom of the page 'semptress'. or see one of these http://www.elizabethancostume.net/index.html under 'Hats and Headwear'.)
I bought the feather and metal cone at Michigan Ren Faire and I'm sorry I don't know the name of the vendor, but it's in the back, at the top of the hill and on your way to Owain Phyfe.

Dress Sleeves

I'm beginning work on the sleeves of the red gown. we are going to Derbyshire tomorrow. I probably won't wear the new dress, as it's a 3 hour car ride and I've never been to Derbyshire before AND i'm having husband trouble.
I'm going to keep it as simple as possible.

I found two pieces of scraps for the sleeves. After much fussing with length and seam allowances, I have settled on a design. It is a tube sleeve with buttons on the outside of the top edge that attach to black hair ties sewn under the straps. Also, I made some cording for the top/bottom edges. The seams were miss matched, so hand sewed two pieces of trim to cover them.

Note to self: when using a commercial sleeve pattern, one must be laid WRONG side up, thus giving me a right and left sleeve. As it is, I have two right sleeves. It isn't a tragedy, but next time, do it correctly.

I wore the dress to GLMF, Derbyshire and the State Theatre in Bay City to see Equinnox.

FINISHED(practically)Venetian 2008!!!

The finished dress. I suck at arranging these pictures. They may not turn out in the positions I have them here. BUT, one was taken at Great Lakes Medieval Faire last week, one is a close up of the trim on the front of the bodice. One is the center back and you can see where I resolved my pleating problem. I STACKED THE BOX PLEATS in a 5 -8 inch area in the center back. For the full frontal photo, I shoved a plastic sheet in the bodice to keep it flat, my dress form gave it a caved in look. As you can see, the gold underneath isn't as wide as the fashion fabric bodice. Oh well, That's another project for another day.
TRIM:
I had the gold trim in my stash. It's very modern looking, but the perfect length and color. I bought some beads from http://www.purple-sage.net/
The Purple Sage Bead Store on Center in Saginaw Township. The trim has holes and I filled the holes with alternates of red/clear/gold. Then I sewed a little red bead to the top of the trim braid on every second spot where it criss/crosses. If I do it again, I will not use flat beads, unless I learn how to sew them so they stay flat. I used a fairly short 'sharp' needle with a very small eye; and regular thread, single strand.

notes to me

The bodice post is done.
I have finished the skirt pleating and adjustments. I had it all pleated to the bodice and was looking at the home stretch. When I realized that there was going to be an extra foot of skirt leftover. no room to pleat it to the bodice. I posted a forum to Ren Forum and now I can't open it.
I need assistance in how to finish this skirt.
maybe I'll post something here and on the things I can open. But for now, the sewing sits there as I contemplate the meaning of this delay. Also, I may be getting a full time job soon and I am looking at my house and changing my priorities.
ONE month later:
Instead of erasing that first part, consider this:
The reason I couldn't get in, is that the Ren forum has some kind of melt down. They set up house somewhere else, I figured it out, the ladies chimed in with their usual excellent advice and I resolved the pleat issue. Stacking the box pleats that were left over.
The job hasn't materialized and I have since finished the dress. Pictures are in the May 30th Post titled, FINISHED (practically)Venetian 2008.

Bodice Construction

PHOTO A: Back pattern piece



Back pattern piece, flipped over, with a Red Bull drawn on it, just for shits and giggles.


PHOTO B: The front pattern piece. I only put straps on this pattern piece when i cut out the fashion fabric.

These are MY step by step instructions for making a ladder laced Venetian bodice in the style of 1570"s. I'm being as specific as I can for my own info later and anyone who, like me, loves to read these things and learn but needs a little more remedial sewing info.


STEP ONE: transfer the changes from the TOILE to the paper pattern. Add a half inch seam allowance all around each piece. Set both patterns on the straight grain. There should be: one back pattern that can be cut on the fold or open.
One front pattern. I folded the fabrics, right sides together and cut two (left and right)at once, but there is no fold.
You will be copying the pattern to Inner Layers and an Outer Layer, I used canvas and cotton, red lining and fashion fabric. This gave me a bunch of seams on top of each other. I'm wearing the bodice right now and I don't see or feel the side seams at all.
I'm not going to talk about straps much, since I'm still learning how to do them. I didn't have them on my Inner Layers pattern, then added them to the paper pattern for the lining and fashion fabric. I really just made it up as I went along and it;s not such a good plan.
FIRST THE INNER LAYERS. Lay the canvas on a flat surface. Play around with position and make sure you have enough to cut out two fronts and a back.
1. Open the back paper pattern and TAPE it to the canvas, draw around pattern with a pen or something. Remove paper pattern. With a ruler, take a half an inch(seam allowance) off ever edge, except the curved edge that will be sewn to the front. This will give you a piece the exact size of your bodice and won't add bulk to the final product. In the above photo of the front pattern piece PHOTO B, the silver scissors are next to the curved edge that you will sew to the curved edge on the back piece, right sides together, easing it in.
2. Do the same with the cotton. Press the seams toward the front. This may not be kosher, but it worked for me.
3. Lay the patterns, right side up on your lining fabric. I used a solid red cotton and I added straps (1 1/2")with seam allowances(1/2"). Copy the pattern to the fabric and this time use all the seam allowance. Sew the front and back together and press.You should now have a canvas and cotton bodice with no seam allowances on the outside edges. One inner lining bodice with a seam allowance all around the outside.
Marking the BONING CHANNELS. I set the cotton and lining bodices aside, using just the canvas to draw on the boning channel marks.
I used plastic cable ties, 1/4" wide, 15" long(for a pointy bodice like this, I could have used 20").
1. Take one and lay it in the very center of the back. It should be as long as the canvas/cotton. I will be wearing a corset under this dress and only used 9 bones. Three in each front and three in the back.
2. I laid the bones on the canvas and traced around them. I used my hubby's tin snips to cut the heads off the cable ties, cut them to length and round the edges. I didn't label them this time, there were only 9. I didn't sew them yet, I wanted to include my red lining.
3. Lay the red fabric wrong side up, lay the cotton either side up and finally the canvas, wrong side down. SafetyPin it to keep it steady and sew through all three pieces, along the boning channels, just outside the lines. Slide a bone into the first channel to check size, if it's okay, continue. It's easier to make changes now, with one, than with 20. Leave the bottom/ tops open, you may need to take them out and adjust length. When you're done, slide all the bones in to be sure of size. You may take them out till later, if you wish. If there are a lot of them, label with a marker.

LACING STRIPS. I'm using the double ribbon method of front ladder lacing seen Jen Thompson’s two-lacing-row technique (detailed at A Festive Attyre)
I measured in about half an inch from the raw edge on the red lining side and marked where the first ribbon would go. The I laid a bone next to that, then a ribbon and another bone. I left a little room between them. I used a black strap I found in my stash and cut into 2 long and 2 short pieces for the lacing strips. I'm not going to describe it here, except to say that I eyeballed the distant between ?? and used a straight edge to try to keep the left and right sides even. It looks okay. I sewed through all three pieces and used a 1/2" stitch with a little zig zag to make the ??? Below are two photos showing the canvas side. (Actually, these are photos of the fashion fabric pinned to the other bodice pieces.)


After the channels were sewn. After the lacing strips were attached, I used the paper patterns to cut out the fashion fabric. I have added straps to the front and back paper pattern pieces. I laid the fashion fabric on the living room floor and smoothed it carefully. I laid the open, back paper pattern piece on it right side up(even tho' it;'s symmetrical). I set it on different parts untill I found a good section. I taped and pinned it carefully, took a deep breath and cut it out, with all seam allowances. I folded the fabric in half being careful to create a left and right front that looked nice across from each other and cut out two fronts. Sewed them together, pressed and pinned it to the other bodice pieces with the right side on the red lining side. This way, when I turn it, the fashion fabric will be on the canvas side and the red lining will show.

Here it is before sewing and turning.
Here is is after sewing and turning, which I had to do, of course with the bones in it. I left the top , middle back open for turning. Also, the inside of the straps was open for extra turning room. Here you can see the lacing ribbons on the red side. I found a thick gold/sparkly rope to use instead of cord.
Laying it inside out, like the photo above, I used a hook to pull the rope loosely through the ???. I put the bodice on by myself, over the corset/kirtle. It fits divinely!!!(looking with a more critical eye several days later, it looks a little long.)

Kirtle_

The photos at right were taken by my hubby with my phone. He helped me into the corset and gown. (and out of it...oo la la).
EARLIER IN THE DAY:
It Fits.! tried it on over camecia/corset, all by me onsies. Here's how: I loosely spiral laced the back a 1/3. Dropped it over my head BACKWARDS. laced a few more rows and spun it around gingerly. I felt behind me and pulled it a little tighter still. Then I pulled the straps which were attached to the back, over my shoulder and pinned them to the front. Then adjusted the whole thing and checked it for fit. Seems fine. I looked it over to see what needs to be changed if I use this pattern somehow for the fashion fabric Bodice.
1. Move the straps over, closer to my shoulders in front and back to get that really wide Venetian look.
2. armpits could be a TINY bit higher.
I'm going to line it. It's very thin and I don't like how I can see the bones of the corset under it.
So now goes a lining/facing and underarm finishing. Straps and hem. Grommets and back finishing.
I added a 2" panel along each open side of the back center edge. It will strenthen the area where gromments will go. NEXT TIME: sew the facing first then add these panels.

Lining is done. I sewed in on while the dress was laying 'flat' on the floor. Sewed it right sides together and flipped it over. The details were excruciating and won't be spoken of here. Its midrif length and i tucked the sides in under the grommet panels.

Straps- two 12" straps are attached with safety pins to the 'nubs' I left after lining the top of dress. There are 1 1/2" wide finished, gold on both sides. The classic tube.

I'm wearing the kirtle right now. I hemmed it just about the ankle, so it doesn't show under the main gowns.
24 Grommets are in the back. There are a few little tweaks I want to make but not worth mentioning here.
ITS DONE AND READY TO WEAR.

Cutting out the kirtle- mistakes

Leaving the extra fabric around a cut out pattern piece and NOT marking where the pattern ends, proved to be a mistake. I'm typing it out in hopes of not glossing it over in an 'oh well'. Now I have two beautiful seams, 3 lovely pieces and the center bodice is an inch too low. Exactly WHY I altered the corset pattern- to make the kirtle high enough. Not only that but the bottoms don't match.
MAKE ALL MARKS ON ALL PATTERN PIECES AND STAY PRESENT.! no daydreaming. No scolding. Eat lunch, tear it out, start over. PERIOD. it isn't bad, it's just what is.

FACING, I am not going into how that transpired. Whew! Suffice to say that the facing is in, it goes about midrif length. It's made of one layer each-muslin, gold taffeta, white satin.

GROMMETS- This was my first time grommeting a real dress. There were two that I forgot to put the top piece on and hammered it down with it. DUH! I had a hell of a time pounding a hole in the fabric, I mostly cut it open one layer at at time with my little scissors.

Cutting out the kirtle

The gold taffeta was spread out on the living room floor, right sides together. It was pinned randomly to keep it from shifting. Paper Pattern pieces were TAPED to the wrong side of the fabric. Pencil marks were made 1/2" from pattern to mark the seam allowances. From the pattern on down, I had to free measure and mark a 42" skirt gore. There were pictures on the computer and I kept running back in to check, but Lordy! if I didn't make mine different.
The fabric cuts beautifully and hardly frays at all. left and right pieces were marked with their pattern letter A, B,C or D. The center piece was cut on the fold.
I saved a bit of uncut fabric above the front strap. I didn't completely cut that part out, as I haven't' decided what to do about straps. And I'm rethinking the need for sleeves. That would mean I'd be wearing my huge linen camecia AND big gold sleeves as well. Too Hot!

I found the proper lefts and rights and sewed the 7 pieces together. 1 front, 2 side fronts, 2 underarms, 2 center backs. I had to place the paper pattern on the fabric several times to see how it lined up with the previous piece. The bunch of fabric I was hoping to make straps out of proved to be a big hassle. I cut the extra off and from the front it looks like a strapless gown. The basic dress is done. I have not attached the facing or straps. I want to try it on ME first to fit it properly.
The photos below show the kirtle sewn with NO FACING OR STRAPS, yet. I used my LACING STRIPS (they are pinned to the outside of the dress) to figure placement of permanent grommets and back width.