Hobbit Dress

After Comic Con, I was left with a hopeless longing to travel through Middle Earth (I blame Karl Urban, but I digress). Thankfully, there was a Hobbit ball coming up. 

I dug through the costume closet, but nothing grabbed my attention, fit well (thank you health issues), or screamed 'I would be perfect for the ball!' Drats. Guess I had an excuse to make a ~new costume~

That meant that I had two weeks max to make something. Anything! I turned to the fabric stash. 

Plenty of options resided there, but would anything work together? The cool thing about the Lord of the Rings movies is the diversity of costume eras and classes to draw inspiration from. Each race had styles and embellishments that matched their culture, and all that with fantasy flair thrown in because why not? I could totally keep geeking out over the costumes in those movies, but I'll spare you. 

With that in mind, I pulled down literally anything and everything that even closely resembled something that might be worn in Middle Earth, compared those to patterns I already had on hand, and tried to estimate if I had enough material to make the idea happen. That was quite the mess, if I do say so myself. I finally landed on an earthy palette with some 1700's flair using American Duchess's Simplicity pattern 8161 from the Outlander series as a loose base to launch my Hobbit vision because I can't leave a basic pattern as it is. I did the jacket, ditched the sleeves, and added a peplum. The skirt and stomacher I did leave 'as is.' So all in all, not a lot of changes. ;) 

If time favored me, I also planned on using the undergarments pattern from that same line to make a chemise and bum pad to finish off the look, but that was the lowest on the priority list given how much time I had to put this all together. 

And so I sewed in any moment I could find. I must say, that was probably some of my more focused sewing, and yet, extremely relaxed. I don't know what was up. :P But that is why I don't have any 'in progress' shots. I would turn up my music and just sew. For the little bit of hand sewing that was involved, I turned on Gilmore Girls. I maybe got through two episodes, and I was done with the hand sewing. All this leaves now is the finished look. :shrugs: That might not be a bad thing. 

The really cool thing with this whole thing? Most of the fabrics were given to me or found for a steal at the thrift store. SCORE! Costuming on the cheap! :fist pump: The one downside to being able to use my stash - the fact that I have a stash to pull from. :P 

Let's do a supplies inventory:

Blue floral 'vest'- given to me

Brown linen/burlap stomacher - on clearance in the remnant bin at Joann's, maybe $3 max

Rust cotton sateen - given to me

Plaid wool flannel for skirt - Thrift store, 8 yards of material for $2/yard but I only used about 6 yards

Jute String - $0.99/yard, 3 yards at Joann's

Grommets - 2 packages of colored eyelets (because I only wanted to use the brown ones and the package had about 5 different colors, so in order to get enough of the color I needed, I had to pick up 2), $6.58

Chemise and petticoat (underneath) - repurposed from other costumes

Grand total: $24.55

WOOT! 

Now, I didn't have the time to make the structural underthings to :really: make the look. But now that I have the outfit, it won't take much to make those. Right? :sheepish grin: What I really noticed was lacking was pockets. The skirt had slits for pockets, but I just didn't have time to throw them together. Maybe someday. 

Until next time! 

SG

Tiny Acorns Regency - Finished!

And just in time too! The last stitches were put in the night before the dance. Why do I do this to myself? 

While I was working on it, I realized after attaching the skirt that I had put the sleeves on backwards. So that added some time to the making-of. I'm of the opinion that no project is complete without ripping out at least one seam. Beyond that, the dress went together quite easily. 

 While haunting one of my favorite fabric stores with one of my besties, we found BUTTONS! And in the giant collection of unique buttons - ACORNS! They needed to be included in the dress somehow. I decided that they would do well on wrist straps to help the sleeves to behave themselves. 

 I think my friends told me to look at the ground. But what am I supposed to be seeing there? 

 If you've been a long-time reader, you might recognize the bonnet. Psst - I blogged about it here. ;) 

 The dress was relatively easy to wear and dance in. I cut the sleeves to a larger size to accomodate my farm arm and to allow ease of movement - who wants to their arms and shoulders to be restricted when they're trying to dance?

 My one point of grr with this whole thing was the modesty panel - that thing would not stay put at all the entire evening. Oh well... I'll figure something out for next time. I'm just glad that I had my brown spencer to help keep things in place. :P 

Project details: 

Pattern: The Elegant Lady's Closet by Sensibility Patterns 

Fabric: Cardamom and Caraway by Marcus Fabrics 

Time: Probably about 2 afternoons including cutting out the pattern, cutting out the fabric, and sewing it all together

Final Thoughts: I like it a lot, but there are things I would change. But that's not surprising at all. ;) Depending on what I feel like, I'll probably tack down the pleating/gathers the shoulder to help the neckline to not look so... fluffy. Beyond that, re-situating the closure, and figuring out the panel that kept peeking out, I think I'll keep it the way it is. 

Until next time! 

SG

A Long Awaited Post - Spring Sewing and the Tudor Rose

Hello all! Was my last post really in January? Well, I guess it's probably because I really haven't had much sewing time since then between work and school and adrenal fatigue. Except for one rather ambitious project. 

I've been placed in charge of decorating the English country dance balls that the group has several times a year. Each ball has a different theme that I get to play with and have some fun with. The theme for April's ball was Shakespeare since the event landed on the 400th anniversary of the bard's death. . The Elizabethan era is also when we have the first evidence of English country dance! The theme for the spring ball was really a no-brainer when we noticed the correlation. 

But how do you decorate a gymnasium for a theme like Shakespeare??? I searched online sources (namely Pinterest), but everything I was coming up with was rather... tacky. Then, my sister and I decided to try going with a more cultural route, so we searched for Elizabethan banquets and feasts and found a treasure trove of ideas (but most were far outside our budgetary constraints since we couldn't magically transform the gymnasium to a 1600's English banquet hall or transport everyone to England). You can peruse our inspiration board here. One of the common themes I saw throughout all the searching was banners. Then I found beautiful images of the Tudor rose. The train of thought then began to wonder how that would tie into Shakespeare since the War of the Roses was about 200 years before Shakespeare's time. Phooey. But wait! The War of the Roses was the setting for Shakespeare's Henry VI and Richard III. YESSSS! I get to make my war of the roses banners!!! 

But first...

Warning: the materials and techniques used in this project are not historically accurate

Now we may continue. 

For the main part of the banners, I used a blue (upholstery) velvet (that doesn't fray on the edges!) that I found in the Joann's clearance section. I then grabbed some double-sided fusible interfacing because applique is a beast without it. 

I then raided my scrap stash for the fabrics for the roses and was ready to get sewing. 

I re-sized the roses from this image, cut out the appliques, ironed them to the background, set my machine to some serious zigzagging, turned on a very loooong playlist because this was going to take a while, and got to sewing. 

And I kept sewing.  

And sewing some more.

I finished sewing on the roses, laid them out on the floor, and stood back. I needed something more. The Tudor rose needed to stand out more from the Lancaster and York roses, something to distinguish it from it's predecessors. After a quick look at Tudor rose images, I decided a crown would be the perfect thing (the whole point of the war was to decide who would rule anyway). So a crown it would be. But that meant I had to cut out and sew on another detailed, curvy applique. Oh well. I found another playlist and got back to work, and I'm really glad that I did because I'm very pleased with how they turned out. 

They made the perfect backdrop! ^_^ 

Looking at the pictures now, I realize that the roses are upside down. Oh well, I sure ain't going to rip those suckers out! They are sewn down well enough to survive the apocalypse.

Until next time! (which will hopefully be sooner than 5 months)

SG

1808 Ballgown - 'Caroline'

It got finished in time for the ball!!! 

Granted, it was finished the day of the ball after I had stayed up til 11:30 the night before working on it. 

All that trim.

So.

Much.

Hand sewing.

I have gained a new-found respect of seamstresses of old. 

The construction of the dress and open robe was pretty straight forward (it helps that I've done these patterns in the past). For the dress, I sorta came up with the pattern as I went since I was changing the Regency Simplicity pattern as I went. I wanted a drop-front gown so that I could dress myself and not have to worry about having someone else lace me into my dress. The open robe is an altered version of the spencer/pelisse pattern from Sense and Sensibility. I can't leave patterns well enough alone, can I? ;) 

After I finished the machine sewing portion of the open robe, I set that aside to do all the hand-sewing while watching TV, listening to sermons, taking my break at work, or sitting the resource room at school in between classes.  That dress was hauled all around town in my project bag along with my portable sewing 'kit' and the invisible thread. Oh yes, all that gold trim on the train is tacked down with invisible thread. That added a whole new dimension to things. Why did I use it? The trim is gold and the fabric is teal. I didn't want thread to show. There are my reasons. 

How many hours in the open robe? I have no idea. The day of the ball, I timed myself. How much time am I actually spending on this thing? Turns out it was about 15 minutes for 10 inches. Whaaaat? Multiply that by 5 yards 10 inches... I'm not going to do the math. All I know is that I love how it turned out. Just like I imagined it would be, even better than the sketch that I drew (because I don't draw very well). 

While I was hand stitching in the evenings and in spare moments, the dress was being machine sewn whenever I had a moment in the craft room. Rather simple and straight forward. Using sketches from the Hungarican Chick, I drafted pieces from my Simplicity pattern that would be transformed into a bib-front. After working out the kinks in my pattern, I chopped up the sleeve pattern (don't worry, it was a piece that I traced from the original) to make the slits and button closures work. And it worked on the first try. Since when does that happen? 

The final result? 

There is an insurance building across the street from the ballroom that had these fantastic pillars. We just had to use them as a backdrop for pictures. 

And the open robe has a loooong train. :Squee!: But how is one to dance with such a long train and not trip? I attached a strap to the hem so that I could sling it around my wrist to keep it out of the way. After I did that, I was going through some fashion plates from the era and realized that they bustled it at the waist (Regency waist - not actual waist) to look like a chunky flower. Kinda cool. But I had already done the work, so the wrist band was going to stay. 

As I was spending goodness-knows-how-much-time sewing all that trim, I came up with a name for the dress. I've decided to dub it 'Caroline' because it strikes me as something that Caroline Bingley would have worn to a ball. 

Until next time!

SG

Burgundy Medieval Gown

On top of fixing up my own costume for the Celtic ball, my sister, Jessica, needed a dress that fit the theme. She came up with the general look that she wanted, and I had to bring it down to realistic expectations since I had classes, homework, work, and ball decorations to do too. ;) 

We found some burgundy sheets in my mock-up material bin, and I started cutting things out. Thankfully, I had done that pattern a couple times before, and it went together very quickly. Which was good because I finished it the night before the ball.

The next thing to add to her costume would be an embroidered belt. With floral swirls. Yeah, that sounds cool. 

After I finished sewing it, I stepped back and realized that we had essentially created Mother Gothel's dress from Tangled. Completely unintentional, but still pretty awesome. 

Until next time!

SG

Scottish Country Girl

I'm still here!!!

After finishing the MotB dress back in January, I needed some super easy projects (pillowcases anyone?), and then I sent my machine off to get a servicing. After goodness knows how many hours have gone onto that thing, it needed some R&R, or just a tune-up, ya know. Then I got it back and started chipping away at the sewing to-do list that grew while the machine was away. First up was making alterations and additions to my costume for the Celtic ball (which was on Saturday). 

Ever since the theme for the ball was announced late last year, I've been planning this get-up. I already had the dark blue skirt/'petticoat', blouse, and yellow over vest thing, but I wanted to add more Scottish flair to the mix. I found a plaid that I absolutely adored (from Joann's, oddly enough), and whipped it up into a floor length skirt. Then I made the shawl. Do you know how long it takes to pull all those threads to make the fringe? Anyways... Those two plaid pieces done, I put the ensemble on Lady Catherine, the dress form, and stepped back. It was quite the mishmash of things. To clean up the look, I made a stomacher using a piece from one of JP Ryan's patterns  and stitched it into place. Much better! The day of the ball, I was able to get into it quite quickly (which was good because I got a late start to getting ready) and topped everything off with a woodsy crown that I found at a Renaissance faire last year. The finished look was exactly what I was aiming for: a Scottish country girl with fashion influences from the 1700's. With flower crown. :P A friend of mine said that it was like a Celtic fairy or sprite and that I needed a special power. Invisibility. That's my super power. But that's a story for another day. ;)

I could probably have dedicated a bit more time trying to work with the tucked in part of the skirt. Oh well! It worked. 

The shawl is tucked into a :really: cool belt loop that was given to me (by a complete stranger, no less!) and held in place at the waist by grosgrain ribbon. 

Until next time!

SG

Ranger's Cloak

Here's the finished cape! 

I ended up needing to dye it again. Unfortunately, it didn't take up much of the dye, so it was dubbed dark enough. 

In between setting up for the ball and the ball actually happening, some of us were able to head outside to take a few pictures.

After looking through them, I've decided that I really need to make a cloak for myself. 

And this is where I say something snarky along the lines of, 'Well, this isn't awkward at all.' 

Apparently Caleb can't keep a straight face in light of such sarcasm. :P 

Until next time!

SG