Plans for the Next Challenges: Underpinnings and Embellishments

After the lesson I learned with the previous challenge about starting too late, I decided I was going to plan each project well in advance.  With this challenge being focused on underpinnings,  I decided it's time to make proper 18th century stays for that ideal conical shape so integral to the era.  I then decided to combine this challenge with our next challenge focused on embellishments.  This is due to the fact that I need a little bit of a slower pace with my sewing, and I'm handsewing these stays so I wanted a little extra time to work on them and really make them special.

One of my favorite sets of stays from the V&A museum.  It shows the embellishment of thin ribbon covering the seams.  It is also an example of partially boned stays with exposed channels.

I'm going with a light blue linen for the outer fabric, and the lining is left over white linen from my chemise.  Both from the stash.  I ordered the pattern, the caning, and most of the notions.  I had debated using a pattern versus scaling one up as I own Norah Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines, but am a bit daunted at scaling up something I'm so unfamiliar with.  Stays are a bit of a mystery to me, and I really only have an elementary understanding of fitting a 2D pattern to a 3D human form.  Any understanding I do have is based on modern patterns and fitting techniques...not historical.

Another favorite of mine.  This set also shows the ribbon embellishment over seams, and a more dramatic contrast color for the casing channels.  This set is partially boned with exposed channels.

While scaling up a pattern isn't necessarily that difficult, it still doesn't change the fact that I don't know if the
size provided would fit my form without getting the stays almost to completion, and I don't know how to make the changes necessary to get it to fit my form.  Plus, I really wasn't looking forward to making a gazillion muslins to get it fitting correctly.  I finally decided to go ahead and buy a pattern that was relatively close to the shape of the patterns in the book so that I would have a decent base line and reference for any future stay making when it comes to my measurements.

The pattern by J.P. Ryan I'm using.

I went with J.P. Ryan's half-boned stays as there are several aspects to them I wanted to have for future reference as I know for certain that after I'm finished with my first set of stays, many more sets will be in the offing.  The details I wanted were:

1)  Shoulder straps.  I prefer the look of stays with shoulder straps, but would like to eventually make a set sans shoulder straps as you can get a better range of shoulder and arm motion with them.

2)  Back closure.  I like the cleaner front, and that it prevents a lot of bumpiness.

3)  Between 4-6 pieces.  This is mainly due to my sanity for right now.  Some stays have many pieces, and the channels cross multiple pieces, which means a lot of lining things up.  That's a headache I don't feel ready for as yet. 

4)  The basic shape of the stays.  The shape of this pattern is one of my favorite shapes, and it's extremely versatile.  There are a lot of future variations I want to be able to do, and having a foundational shape to compare everything to is important.

5)  Half boned.  Again, my sanity is the basis of this decision.  I'm not ready for backstitching my way through channel after channel.

An extant example of stays from the Met Museum.  This set shows the wavy embroidery in the blank spaces between boning.  In some stays the wavy embroidery is a casing for cording.  However, in this set I believe it's entirely ornamental.  It's another example of partially boned stays with exposed channels.

I'm planning on doing a much more indepth critique of the pattern, but here are some basic likes and dislikes.  She gives really clear markings and instructions for pattern alterations to make the stays fit better.  I bought a size 8, which fits a 34 bust and 26 inch waist, and a 16 1/4 inch center back measurement.  The bust and waist measurements are my exact measurements while the center back needed to be lengthened to 17 inches.  I've made that adjustment, and I lengthened the straps by 3/4 inches.  Doing that was very smooth and seamless.  The pattern paper is a strong butcher paper, not tissue, which I really like.  The main dislikes I have is that she doesn't give much information on handsewing stays or embellishments and finishing, and if I wasn't already familiar with sewing I'd really be struggling with the instructions given for putting the stays together.

A detail shot of a set of stays with elaborate trim and ribbon embellishment on the center front.  Some 18th century dresses involved stomachers, and sometimes instead of using a stomacher the stays were exposed.  I believe that was the case with these stays.  I mean, how could you resist if you have such a lovely set?

Lots of research has been called for to embark on this journey.  I started with several online resources, and some blogs that have gone into stay-making.  After feeling like my eyes were crossing from information overload, I then broke down and bought Norah Waugh's book.  I ended up being slightly disappointed because the book wasn't what I was expecting.  While the historical side of what she's describing is absolutely fascinating, I had hoped for a bit more information on putting the stays together and fitting them to one's body.  However, after everything was said and done, I had a variety of resources that put together a complete picture concerning 18th century stays. 

This is a later 18th century bodice.  I've been researching folk dresses lately, and while this bodice is from France, I have a couple of theories as to how it was worn.  Either it was intended as an outer bodice for a traditional folk dress, or it was worn similar to stays.  Due to it being dated in the 1790s, transitional stays were being used which explains the shorter length.  There are hip rolls made into the set so either the petticoat hid just those hip rolls, and the top was exposed, or they were hidden all together.  It would be a shame if that was the case as they are so beautiful.

One of the decisions I'm making with this particular set of stays is that I will be incorporating some embroidery into it for interest and embellishment purposes.  I've been debating the historical accuracy of such a thing, but I don't think that it will be a historical anathema for a couple of reasons.

1) As these are half-boned stays there is a lot of blank space.  I found some extant examples of stays that were half-boned with visible channels and had some backstitching designs in the blank spaces to, I assume, prevent any shifting or unnecessary stretching of the fabric.  Some examples even incorporated cording in a wave pattern in the blank spaces.  I found that fascinating.

2) Most of the decorations I found on stays were the result of them being made out of either a brocade, already embroidered fabric, or a considerable amount of trim being added to front lacing stays.  I assume the reason for the trim is because the front lacing stays were intended to be shown. 

A detail shot of a set of Italian stays.  This is my main inspiration for the embroidery pattern I will be using.  I can't tell if the embroidery was originally a part of the fabric or added later.  However, with the addition of the sequins and how perfectly the embroidery follows the casing channels, I wonder if the embroidery was added to the fabric either prior to sewing or after sewing the actual stays.

Basically, it wasn't unheard of for people to add decorations and embellishments to their stays.  There's usually some kind of ribbon trim on the seams, and many times that trim is in a contrast color to give interest.  I found several stays in wonderfully contrasting colors.  It's highly probable that most of these examples were owned by the wealthier or middling classes.

Tomorrow I will be posting my progress with the set of stays I've been working on as this is meant as an introductory post.  I am planning on doing a progress report next week sometime, and then the final reveal the following week during the embellishments challenge.  After that I will be doing a pattern review.  If I finish these in good time I'd like to possibly do some little embroidery touches to my other two undergarments: the chemise and underpetticoat.

Reading Classics: The Discipline of Commitment

As a Christian it is important to train to be godly, 1 Tim. 4:7.  To make progress in the pursuit of holiness a regular commitment is essential.  You must commit yourself to God.  Paul calls for commitment in Rom. 12:1.  Commitment to God is not necessarily a holy life style or a set of values.  It is putting on Christlike virtues. 

"When we sin we are more vexed at the lowering of our self-esteem than we are grieved at God's dishonor.  We are surprised and irritated at our own lack of self-control in subjecting ourselves to unworthy habits...The first cause of this is self-love, which is unable to stand the disappointment of not seeing ourselves in time of trial come out beautiful, errect, and admirable."
Frederick W. Faber, paraphrased
We need to offer our entire being to God.  Offer  as in Rom. 12:1 is a decisive, once-for-all dedication or commitment.  It is a decisive commitment that is continually reaffirmed.  A commitment to God to pursue a way of life that is pleasing to Him.  We must make it our own aim not to sin.  However, we won't arrive at sinless perfection in this life.

Our intention needs to be to please God in all our actions.

"Sin has a tendency to exert an ever-increasing power on us if it is not resisted on every occasion."

Rom. 6:19, commitment to not sin willfully and commitment to clothe ourselves with the positive virtues of Christian character.  Col. 3:12.  The commitment to pursue holiness must embrace every area of life; the significant and insignificant.

Some steps that helps lead to this commitment is first identifying the areas we are most vulnerable to sin.  There are two kinds of temptations.  The sinfulness of our own heart, and environmental circumstances.

After identifying areas of vunlerability then take the time to ideantify areas of temptation to make a commitment.  These could be: temptations of the eyes, what you say/think, work, school, or relationships.

God cannot compromise His holiness.  God wants to conform us into the likeness of His Son.  Even Jesus was tempted, Heb. 4:5.

"Paul's entreaty teaches us that men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy...Paul,...in order to bind us to God not by servile fear but by a voluntary and cheerful love of righteousness, attracts us by the sweetness of that grace in which our salvation consists."
-John Calvin

God wants us to pursue holiness, and provides the grace to enable us to do it.  Rom. 6:11-14.  Unreserved pursuit of holiness can be exhausting, but it's not oppressive when grounded in grace. 

-when preaching gospel to yourself reaffirm love and gratitude to God, commitment, reliance on HS and His enablement to carry out your commitment.

Stash-Busting!

Over at Cation Designs there is this wonderful sew-along happening called the Stashbusting Sewalong.  The goal is to reduce the size of our sewing stashes, which mine is in desperate need of.  It's a bit ridiculous how much fabric I have.

So, here is my pledge:  I, Rachel,commit to using 12 pieces of stash fabric in 2013.  For this year, I will only buy necessary fabric for any historical costuming, but it will be used right away and only bought on an as needed basis after the project has been completely planned out and I check my stash first to make sure that I don't already have something that would work. 

I'm pretty sure I will be able to do more than that, but I want to keep it reasonable at one project a month.

I want to try and avoid buying fabric entirely, but there are certain historical projects I have planned where that just can't be done.  I am going to do my best to make sure that I always check my stash before buying anything for a historical project.  I'm not including notions or patterns with this, but I am going to keep any buying of patterns and notions to an as needed basis. 

Historical Fortnightly: UFO Times Two

Several months ago I had a rather extensive list of projects to finish for the fall.  So far, only one has been completed, and a second one is about a third of the way there.  I wanted to knock out two birds with one stone by finishing one of those intended projects and at the same time completing something for the Historical Sew Fortnightly.  One of the qualifications The Dreamstress gave was if you don't have a UFO that fits, to do a UFI (unfinished idea) instead.  I have this lovely blackwatch plaid in my stash.  I was thinking of making a 1940s gored skirt with it, but wasn't thrilled by the idea of using such a wonderful fabric for such a basic garment.  I wanted to make a statement piece with it.

With a little bit of digging I found what I was looking for.  I found a lovely 1930s pattern (I believe later 1930s) with some subtle details to the bodice and skirt that I thought would really emphasize the plaid, and therefore make a lovely statement piece.  Unfortunately, I started a bit late and then realized that the fabric I was going to be using as an underlining wasn't appropriate.  The blackwatch plaid I have is made out of a very thin wool crepe.  It has a sheer quality to it, and as a result it needed an underlining or a slip.  Without really thinking the issue through, I figured a white batiste would be fine for an underlining as I had more than enough for several projects.  However, it turned out the white batiste really took away from the blackwatch plaid.  I had some navy linen on hand, and placed the plaid on top of the linen to see how much of a difference it would make.  The navy made the blackwatch sing while the white took away from the whole effect.



The Blackwatch plaid.  White lining on the left, navy linen on the right.  See the difference?

I then had to order the right fabric, and it still hasn't arrived.  I decided on a navy, silk habotai for the underlining.  I love habotai as a lining as it's completely luxurious against the skin.  To at least begin things on this dress, here's what I did:
-Gathered all of my other notions together.
-Pre-treated my wool by first rolling it up with a damp sheet, and then after the sheet air dried I steam ironed the wool like crazy with a press cloth to protect the wool from the direct heat of the iron.  It's timely, but when done with a bunch of wools at once it knocks out a lot of work.  Plus, it's a great way to catch up on a show you might've missed some episodes of....or the entire series of BBC's Pride and Prejudice.

-Ironed out the pattern with a warm iron, and have begun tracing the pieces onto Swedish tracing paper. 

-Compared the bodice pieces to a bodice pattern of a modern dress I made to check on arm hole sizes, length of the bodice, and shape.  I still need to get those changes onto the traced bodice pattern.


The pattern.  I'm very confident it's late 1930s.

Once I get those changes done, I'm going to make a muslin of the bodice.  The bodice front is a total of three pieces that are shaped in such a way that removes the necessity of darts.  The only main changes to the pattern I'm making straight off are making sure the length is correct and that the arm holes are large enough.  The bodice pattern I'm using as a reference uses darts so I don't want to make too many changes to the 1930s pattern right off because it may significantly alter the fit, and the pattern is sized to my exact measurements.
The pattern/muslin stage is the one I'm currently on, and I'm hoping to get it finished in the next couple days so that once the habotai arrives all I need to do is pre-treat the silk and then I can begin cutting and sewing away!  I fully intend to finish this dress as it's lovely and I want to be able to wear it a lot.  It's also a lot of firsts for me.  The first time I'm working with a vintage pattern, the first time I intend to use couture finishing techniques (which I think are appropriate to the 1930s), the first time working with wool, etc.

So while I was wallowing in the disappointment of unintentionally creating a UFO, I decided to finish a project I had intended for the last challenge.  For the centennial challenge I wanted to make two petticoats, but then a very important test wound up being scheduled for the week the challenge was due.  For two weeks prior I was in mad study mode, and fit in increment breaks here and there (yes, I passed the test).  I only ended up getting one of the petticoats done, and had prepped the fabric for the second petticoat.

I figured this was a perfect opportunity to knock out that project so that I at least had gotten something finished as well as I'm planning several other projects to go with this petticoat so it was important that it got finished.  The petticoat is 18th century, and made out of a beautiful wool that's slate blue, which is one of my favorite colors.  One of the things I'm trying to do is stick to colors that I know look good on me to maximize mixing and matching my historical wardrobe.

I referenced the same tutorial as my first petticoat and used the same methods of cutting it out.  It went together faster and easier than the first time.  I finished the whole thing in one day.  I love how it looks with my linen petticoat under it.  Very poofy.  I intentionally made the linen petticoat a couple inches shorter than the length I intend to wear most of my petticoats so that it doesn't show past the hem.  Both lengths are just right for me.  I have to admit it's very satisfactory finishing a project like this just because it's so do-able, and you have a lovely result when it's done.

Just the Facts, Ma'am:

The Challenge:  Number 3, UFO/UFI

Fabric:  Worsted wool.

Pattern: None.  Just two measured rectangles sewn together, eyeballed hem, and eyeballed pleats to match up with my measurements using a ruler as a guide for the size of the pleats.  I pulled out a thread of the wool at the point where I needed to cut to mark the line.

Year: Majority of the 18th century.

Notions:  Beeswax for thread, linen thread, 1" cotton twill tape for binding.

How historically accurate is it?  I'd say 10/10.  The fibers, colors, and pattern are all correct for the mid to later 18th century.  Early 18th century is a little more ambiguous when it comes to the use of cotton.

Hours to complete: Somewhere between 6-7.

First worn: Around the house when it was finished on the 26th.  I just couldn't help myself, and then again for the photos. 

Total cost:  Thread - $6 for a large spool, wool - $35, tape - free as there was plenty left over from the last project, so $41 in all.


LOVE the pockets slits!  In the very near future I will be making actual pockets so that they have some use.  I got tired of wearing a t-shirt under my chemise, so I decided to start using a fan I got from Korea when I went last year.

Re-Fashioning an Eddie Bauer Dress

I've had this dress forever in my stash.  I picked it up at Goodwill about a year ago, and have shamefully not done a thing with it.  It was too large, awkwardly long, had a few tears in the fabric, but had so much potential.  I love the color of the plaid (despite the plaids not matching), and its shape is one that's easily changeable.  It's a warm cotton/rayon blend flannel, and just screams 'winter!' to me.

The big changes I decided to make were to make the bodice fit me better, shorten the sleeves and make them fit straight, shorten the skirt to get rid of the hole, but reattach the left over fabric to keep the length past the knees.  The remaining left over fabric from the sleeves was used to create little fans between the buttons.  I used this tutorial here for the fans.  I loved the vintage button up feel of the dress, and wanted to expand on that with the little details I added.  I wanted to keep the skirt full so instead of taking it in along with the bodice, I decided to remove it, gather it, and reattach it while being careful to make sure the buttons lined up.

I have to admit I'm extremely methodical when it comes to planning out sewing projects.  This project was done in a couple of stages.  I looked at the bare bones of the dress to determine what shape I wanted to go for.  Did I want to keep it as a dress?  Emphasize the western or vintage feel?  Keep it a shirt dress, or remove that detail?  Things like that.  I then looked amongst my massive files of photographic inspiration to figure out what details I wanted to add.  Once I did that I did a basic sketch of everything, and wrote down the changes I wanted to make.  After that, I planned out which changes I'd do over the next few days.

This really worked for me because it allowed for me to pace myself instead of doing it all at once.  Sewing marathons can really be a frustrating mess after awhile, and I'm trying to avoid them.  I like having my thoughts in order so the planning sheet keeps me on track, and takes out the 'what am I doing again?' factor.  I can be pretty absent minded if I don't stay dilligent in my lists and plans. 

Historical Fortnightly: 18th Century Petticoat

The second challenge for the Historical Fornightly is the Centennial challenge.  Meaning, making a garment that could be from the 1913s, 1813s, 1713s, etc.  This produced a bit of an obstacle for me because not only am I just beginning to build up a historical wardrobe, but I'm also primarily pulling from the 18th century for this year.  Why is that a challenge?  The early 1700s are a bit of a blank from a research perspective.  It's hard to find anything on what kind of clothing was worn during that time.

I ended up starting a facebook thread on this topic on the Historical Fortnightly page, and got a lot of amazing feedback.  In particular, there were two garments that came up for the early 1700s.  The first was the Mantua, and the second was the Robe Battante (or Volante).


A particularly beautiful Robe Battante.

When researching these two garments I found that the Robe Battante came more around the 1720s, and eventually morphed into the Saque Back Gown that's so popular in the late 18th c.  The Mantua was definitely the one for the 1710s.  What was amazing to me, though, was when I was looking at extant examples of this gown, I found that the style dramatically started to change from 1700-1710.  There's huge differences between one from say 1703 and one from 1708.  This gown eventually morphed into the Robe L'anglaise.


The Mantua.  This is an extant example I found that's the closest to 1713 I could find.  It's dated somewhere around 1710.

All of this certainly has a point as to why I chose to make what I did.  In narrowing down my choices I knew there was no way I could make a Mantua right off the bat.  The biggest reason being my own sewing skill level, and second being I don't have the proper undergarments.  Stays are a bit of an imperative with correctly draping and making that particular gown.

I decided that for right now the focus needs to be on the undergarments, and once I have a good foundation of them I can start adding in some of the outer garments of the different stages of fashion.  Enter in, "operation under petticoat."



The back of the gown.  Note how the skirt and the bustle/train look like two separate pieces.  The skirt hangs down straight while the bustle/train is propped up in the back.  It's not the same piece as is the case with Victorian fashion.

In my research I discovered a basic underpetticoat would meet my needs for this gown.  In the pictures it looks like any kind of bustle going on is in the potruding, back portion with the train vs. the main skirt so there wouldn't be a need to drape a petticoat over a bustle like in the Victorian Era.  I discovered that pocket slits were definitely occuring by this time, and similar to later 18th c. skirts and petticoats there were variations in whether or not the skirt was pleated with a straight piece in front or pleated all around. 



Aside from the lighting making this look like a completely different color.  This is a close up of the bustle of the same dress.

After contemplating all of this I decided that following a basic 18th c. petticoat pattern would fit my needs nicely not only for the Centenial challenge, but would also fill in a very important need with future historical reproductions.

The top stitching of the cotton twill tape.  I used a backstitch for this portion of the petticoat.

The underside of my backstitches.

Hand stitched hem.  I did a basic whip stitch, and only grabbed one thread of linen so that it would be as invisible as possible from the wrong side.

I did similar stitching for the pockets' seams.

I made my petticoat from this tutorial.  The only thing I didn't know how to do by hand was a blanket stitch (sorry, no pictures), and so I used this video off of Youtube to figure it out.  The whole thing went together very easily.  It's entirely hand sewn.  I didn't use any kind of pattern.  With cutting the big fabric rectangles I snipped where I wanted to cut, and then pulled out one of woven threads of linen to give me a straight line to follow with cutting it all the way across.  I eyeballed my pleats using a ruler to get my first one inch pleat, and then made all of the other pleats from there.  They all came out relatively even.



Finished petticoat!  I love how it looks and feels.  It looks beautiful with my chemise.  Again, sorry for the non-extant t-shirt underneath.  Like when I made my chemise, I wasn't quite comfortable showing that much skin.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

The Challenge: Bi/Tri/Quadri/Quin/Sex/Septi/Octo/Nona/Centennial

Fabric: 2 yds. of heavier weight linen that was about 60" wide.

Pattern: None.  Just two big rectangles of fabric sewn together.  Some slight measuring for the pleats and marking the pocket slits, and a basic eye-balling of the hem and seam allowances.  The beauty of linen is I can just press it with my fingers.  No need for pre-ironing my hems!

Year: 1713

Notions: Linen thread, cotton twill tape.

How historically accurate is it?: I’d say 9/10. It’s completely hand sewn in period-correct stitches with the linen being accurate, but depending on what part of the world I'm in the cotton twill tape might not be accurate.  Cotton was being used in the states, but it wasn't until almost the mid-18th century that the cotton bans lifted in Europe.

Hours to complete: Somewhere around 10-15.  I haven't been very good about guaging how long the hand sewing takes, and I was in the midst of studying for a major exam that I just passed today!  Yay!

First worn: Day of being finished, and then again for photos.  January 16, 2013.

Total cost: I used the linen thread from my last project, the cotton tape was $2.50 for 10 yds. so it should get me through a couple projects, and the linen was a total of about $20.  So $22.50.

Pocket slits!  I can't wait to have actual pockets!

Quick Break

This is just a quick little post to say that this week I really need to focus on some outside-the-blogosphere things.  I'm in the midst of writing up a bunch of posts, and next week there will be wonders galore.

In case you're wondering, I'm studying to re-take my EMT test so that I can get state affiliated and begin working part time for a private ambulance company.  This is all for my bigger plan of becoming a Firefighter Paramedic.  Before even being able to apply to Paramedic school I need an extraordinarily large call volume.  Thus the need to work for a private ambulance company.

I'm still sewing (my break between studying sessions), and have three planned sewing posts coming up.  In the mean time, here is a picture of my cat just chillin'.