Pleating tutorial

So the pleating of the gold handmaiden is taking a lot of time, but it's worth it. When I started thinking about this dress I thought I was going to do proper box pleats and simply press them down. When I started to fiddle with the fabric I realized that I couldn't make them tiny enough though, so I had to come up with a different process.

First I marked up the whole fabric with straight lines, around 0,7 cm between them.

Then I used a running stitch and sewed two lines together. That forms a ridge.

This is what the whole piece looks like when I've finished making all the ridges.

Then I pinned the fabric to my ironing board, trying to stretch the fabric as much as possible. The more you stretch the straighter the pleats will be. Ideally I would have someone helping me to hold on to the fabric instead of pinning it, but being on my own the pinning had to do.

Then spray the whole fabric with starch. I'm using a strong start made from 1 table spoon potato starch and 150 ml of water. Use a spray bottle and make sure that all the fabric on the iron board is wet. Let the starch sink in for around 30 seconds-1 minute. Set the iron to a fairly high setting, I'm using the silk setting, and press the iron straight down to the fabric. Don't try to move the iron, but simply lift it straight up and put it straight down for the next section of the fabric. It really helps if you also try to use your hand to stretch the fabric. Go with the iron all over the fabric until it's dry, or at least almost dry.
Make sure that the fabric is left to dry completely flat, don't hang it.

HSM 15: Challenge 3 - stashbusting, or the handmaiden cloche

When I started planning this year's projects I said that I didn't know what I was going to do for this challenge, but that something would probably come up. Then after the blue challenge I was so happy with my muff that I decided that I wanted to use the remaining piece of fabric to make a matching cape. I didn't feel like I had the time to try and make a pattern and I also didn't really think that any of my fabrics in the stash would be suitable for a lining. My heart simply wasn't in it, instead I'm spending all my time on my gold handmaiden.

Then came my disappointments with the dye results of the velvet. I now had a lot of velvet that is going to go into my stash, and especially had a lot of fairly small pieces. Now pieces that are less than a meter, but too big to just throw away have been the bane of my stash, and I decided to see what I could make from just small scraps of fabrics. To be honest I don't know how I came up with the idea of making a 1920's cloche hat, but then I realised that I could make a handmaiden cloche. Cloche hats with their fitted shape brim are actually not too far off from the hood with a tight underhood and brim that make up the handmaiden flame gown, and since the velvet that I had would be perfect for the flame gown in colour I felt that it would be fun to do a take on a 1920's version of a handmaiden.

For reference, for those of you reading this that might not be familiar with the flame gown, this is Natalie Portman wearing the costume in Star Wars Episode 1.

I found a pattern online, avaiable here and dived into my stash to find what other small pieces I could use for it. Below you can see the material laid out. Two pieces of my velvet scrap pieces, three pieces of linen, I think that might have been the lining for the 1787's redingote or vest, and a small piece of poly organza, that I had used for my dressing up as The Lady of the Mine.

The organza was used as interlining for the velvet and the linen was used to fully line the cloche, I didn't want to have velvet against my hair.

The pattern went together fairly easy, I don't think the pieces are perfectly matched up, but it might also have been that I was a bit too sloppy when cutting the velvet. The linen lining was a lot easier to sew than the velvet. I used a 1 cm seam allowance, and that made it fit really snug but comfortably on me. The yellow velvet was used for the underside of the brim, I was thinking about using a piece of red satin for it to make it more closer to the flame gown, but I have a very pinkish face and bright red would clash with my face.

To decorate the clash I went looking in my stash and only found a ribbon wide enough in a wine colour. I added the ribbon around the cloche and simply folded it in several layers to create a bow/flower on the side. It was finished by a sparkling bead that was probably the oldest thing that I used. It's from a party top that I bought a very long time ago and never used, but when I threw it out I unpicked all the big beads and put them in my stash, and that must have been 7 or 8 years ago, while I was still a student.

I might switch out the ribbon in the future, since I'm planning on using this for everyday wear together with a coat that goes more in yellow/brown/red, the wine colour is clashing a bit with it, which I noticed today when I wore them together. This was a stashbusting challenge though, so I kept to only using things I had at home.

What the item is: 1920's cloche hat

The Challenge: 3 stashbusting

Fabric: 0,5 m silk orange silk velvet, 0,1 m yellow silk velvet, 0,5 m linen

Stashed for how long?: The velvet was just relegated to stash when I failed dying it correctly, the linen 1 year.

Pattern: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Sew-a-Cute-Cloche-Hat/

Year: 1920's

Notions: Satin ribbon (unpicked from a 18th century hat and stashed for 2 year) Sparkly bead (stashed for at least 8 years), regular sewing thread.

How historically accurate is it? Even if the pattern isn't a vintage pattern there are original 1920's cloches with very similar seamlines

Hours to complete: 3 hours

First worn: Today when going shopping

Total cost: It was all from small leftover pieces in the stash.

And finally a bad selfie o me in the cloche.

Free publications on fashion

The Metropolitan Museum in New York has a huge library of their publications, through Met Publications, available for free online. There are 54 publications just from the Costume Institute, covering a huge spectrum about fashion and costume history.

Here's the link, don't get lost for too long, I know I want to spend many hours browsing all these publications.

Back to square one with the velvet

Yesterday I felt that it was my last chance to dye the velvet for my gold handmaiden. I went home to my mother to be able to have full access to her big pots, big bath tub and tumbler. I had prepared the velvet by cutting out the general pieces for the robe and the hood, and I decided to first do a lot of tests with the velvet pieces that I had gotten as left overs from cutting out the pieces.

This is the result from the tests. At the top you can see a piece of the silk taffeta that I'm using for the gown and that's the colour I need to match. The colours here are a bit too light, since the photo is taken in direct sunlight. Also this is a good example of how different fibres take dye differently, since I used the exact same dye for both the silk taffeta and the velvet, which is rayon on a silk backing. It's the rayon that reacted differently, the silk backing got the exact same colour as the taffeta.

The furthest to the left was the velvet that I started with. Then I used RIT colour remover.and put the two swatches in. The first one was taken out after just two minutes, it had lost a lot of the red but was still too yellow. The other swatch was left in for 10 minutes and you can see that it lost all the red pigments but now it was definitely yellow and not gold/yellow. I made a last attempt to see what would happen if I added a tiny bit (1 gram to 4 litres of water) of Dylon Terracota Brown to it, but as you can see I was then almost exactly back to the colour of the swatch that I had removed after two minutes.

Now I started to despair. As interesting as it was to see the different results, none of the results were close to the same gold tone as the silk. If I was doing the Flame Handmaiden Gown I would have loved these colours.

Well I decided to go back to square one.Around a year ago I ordered a swatch of velvet from Beckford Silk in the UK. They are the company that custom dyed the velvet for my Travel Gown. Unfortunately they have since then changed their policy, and pricing, of custom dyeing velvet so that was not an option for me this time. I wasn't totally satisfied with the swatch, and that's the reason why I've gone through all these dye tests. Now with three weeks left to Celebration I must admit defeat and say that the original test swatch is a lot closer to the gold tone I want than any of my tries.

I have now ordered 7 meters of that velvet, and I hope it won't take more than two weeks for it to come here. In the mean time I've spent around $250-300 on the velvet and dyes, and not counting the hours and water I've used up, that I won't be able to use. If I had taken the decision from the start to go with this velvet I would have been a lot closer to finish the whole project.

I must say though that it has been a very interesting learning experience, and I'm definitely not afraid of using dyes anymore. I now sit here with a lot of velvet pieces in a beautiful, warm glowing shade of gold/orange. Thankfully the pieces are quite large, since they were cut out to be a free flowing robe so I should be able to use up and turn them into something else. I just need to come up with some kind of inspiration for it, who knows maybe I should go with the flame handmaiden sometime in the future.

No costume contest at Celebration

So today I received a rejection email that I was not selected to take part in the Cosplay Contest at Celebration. Of course I am disappointed, I was really looking forward to it, at the same time I couldn't send in a picture of the finished costume, and the gold handmaiden is a background costume so I definitely can see that they would prefer more recognized characters.

I still aim to have it finished by Celebration though, hopefully I can have it done in time so that I can send in application photos for RL and have it at the main Rebel Legion photo.

As of today I've just finished 2 out of 3 pleated panels for the skirt of the gown, so even if it's going to be tight I feel that I should have it done in time.

If I succeed in redying the velvet...

Costume/Cosplay meme day 22

22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)

Depends on how you look at it. I have worn historical costumes at work, since I'm working at a museum, so that is actually part of my job. I also have a two red jackets that I call my  "Enjolras" jackets, and I definitely feel like a modern genderbent Les Mis character when wearing them, but that is so subtle that nobody really notices it.

A couple of times I have had to travel in costume to an event, quite easy with the Endor Rebel Trooper, but I that one time I wore my blue Tatooine poncho on a flight from Stockholm to Malmö, and back again, I definitely raised a couple of eyebrows. I think most people thought I was some kind of strange hippie though, not a SW costumer.


 Your first cosplay.
2. How many costumes have you done?
3. Your most recent cosplay.
4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)
8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)
9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
12. Your cosplay idol.
13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay
16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
17. What events have you cosplayed to?
18. What is your best cosplay memory?
19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
23. Your most expensive cosplay
24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.

Costume/cosplay meme day 21

 I realized that I hadn't finished this meme, and since I don't have much to update at the moment (I'm pleating and pleating the handmaiden) I guess it would be a good idea to finish this.

21: Show us your best cosplay derp photo!

I think I'm quite vain in that I don't keep photos of me in costumes where I'm not looking good, so instead of a proper derp photo I give you this mother/daugher duckface

1. Your first cosplay.
2. How many costumes have you done?
3. Your most recent cosplay.
4. Your cosplay communities, where do you go to talk about cosplay?
5. Blatant self plug! Link us to your cosplay page, be it dA, ACP, Coscom, whatever!
6. Your favourite cosplay (that you have done)
7. The character you have cosplayed that is most similar to you (if none that you have cosplayed, then one that you will cosplay)
8. Your cosplay plans for the rest of the year (if you have no more for this year, then do next year!)
9. The dream cosplay that might just happen
10. The dream cosplay that will never happen
11. Something cosplay-related that you will never do (eg. crossplay, cosplay from a certain series)
12. Your cosplay idol.
13. Your cosplay specialty (ie. something that seems to apply to a large amount of your cosplays, it could be a specific series, or a common feature in their appearance, such as glasses)
14. Your cosplay-making habits (eg. singing while working on cosplay)
15. Your least favourite thing about cosplay
16. Do you belong to any cosplay groups? If so, what are they?
17. What events have you cosplayed to?
18. What is your best cosplay memory?
19. What is your worst cosplay memory?
20. Have you won any cosplay awards?
21. Show us your best cosplay derp photo!
22. Have you worn cosplay in a regular situation? (eg. at school, to work)
23. Your most expensive cosplay
24. Your most comfortable cosplay and most uncomfortable cosplay
25. The cosplay you put the most effort into
26. Any unfinished costumes? Will you ever finish them?
27. How many wigs do you own? Which is your favourite?
28. Where do you work on your cosplays and where do you store them when they’re done?
29. What is your favourite cosplay item? (eg. a pair of shoes, a wig)
30. Describe cosplay in three words. No more, no less.

some advice for handsewing

So I'm pleating like madly, and getting worried that it takes too much time. Since it's handsewing I'm watching a lot of TV in the evenings. And now it's time for an advice for being able to sit for a long time and do handsewing.

Tailor Karl Gustav Widberg and two apprentices http://www.familypix.se/index_gl_1.html

Do you see the position of the two apprentices? In Swedish this is actually called "tailor's position" (skräddarställning). When I tried to find an English translation all I got was "lotus position" and a lot of pictures of people doing yoga.

Seriously if you have the possibility try to sit with your legs crossed under/in front of you and rest your elbows on your knees. It helps to keep your back in a good position, and the support for the elbows makes it easy to keep the fabric quite close to your eyes while sewing.

Now it's back to pleating.

So many pleats

I'm in full Gold Handmaiden mode right now, and it's the pleating that is taking so much time. I'm not going to go into the details on what I'm doing,until I'm finished, but here is the first panel done.

The stressing thing is that it's taken me the whole week to get this piece done, and this is just a small part of the whole gown. It's definitely been a learning curve, you can see that the pleats do differ in evenness, size and straightness over the piece. This is going to be a back piece so it's not going to be very visible, I'm going to practice on the other back piece before I start with the visible parts.

Swedish railway museum anniversary

On May 23rd the Swedish railway museum is celebration 100 years. They've especially invited people to come dressed in 1900-1910 fashion, and I have decided to go there. Those of you following this blog might realize that's not my regular time period for fashion, so I will have to make some new things to wear.

I do have someplace to start though. I have my 1895 skirt and I have at least two late Victorian corsets to wear under it all. I hope that I can have my silver corset since I would prefer not to use my latest blue brocade corset as underwear. I do need to make some kind of chemise, my 18th century ones are too bulky, and a corset cover, but that shouldn't be too hard.

Then it comes to decide what I should wear with the skirt. I have the TV493 plain bodice pattern from 1896.

I figured that's a good starting to point to whatever I want to make. I'm basically down to two options.

I love this portrait of a woman all dressed in black.

I probably have enough black fabric left from the skirt so that I can make the bodice, but at the same time it feels a bit too grand for a day out, and I think something casual would be more suitable. That leads to the shirtwaist of the late 19th early 20th century.

There are so many different varieties of shirtwaists and it doesn't seem to bee to hard to construct one. I would need to buy fabric for it though. A bonus with a shirtwaist is that it would go well with the HSM challenge for May, since that is more about everyday wear. If have time it would be nice to make a shirtwaist and then use the TV pattern to make a jacket to go over it. I think I have a purple pinstripe fabric in my stash that would probably look good as a jacket. I would only like to find more example of jackets in different colours than the skirt.

Birthday presents to myself

So just before the championships started I celebrated my birthday, and I bought two presents for myself. Now the presents didn't arrive until a week or so ago, but I'm very happy with them.

The first one is Jill Salen's Corsets. It's been on my wishlist for a long time and I regret that I haven't bought it earlier. I'm pretty confident when it comes to constructing Victorian corsets but I've more or less only used the TV pattern. With this book there are patterns for a lot more corsets, and I definitely feel inspired to make a corset with proper hip gores and cording now. I think what I like the most about the book are the clear illustrations on how to place the boning.

The other present to myself was Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 2. I have the first one, and even if I haven't directly traced any patterns from it I've used it a lot for inspiration and instructions when it comes to constructing the garments. I am starting to feel more and more drawn to late Victorian fashion and with these two books I feel I have a good foundation to start with those kinds of projects.

Nordic World Ski Championships 2015, Falun

So this post is not going to be about costuming or sewing, but rather explain why I've been gone for the last few weeks. Falun, my hometown, hosted the Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 during the last two weeks of February. It's one of the larger winter sports event outside of the Olympics and I've been part of the local organizing committee for ski jumping and Nordic combined, a sport where you first do ski jumping and then follow up with a cross country race. I've been working with preparation for this since 2012 and during the championships I was race secretary for Nordic combined.

 This is from inside the competition management room in the ski jumping arena. The chief of competition, TD and assistant TD are preparing the day's jumping. My job is to basically keep track and note down everything that they decide to do.

This is the view when looking outside the window. During the most intense competition phase I don't have much time to actually see any action though.

After the ski jumping there was usually stuff to do to prepare either the next day or the cross country event. Our jury room at the cross country stadium was really nice though so I managed to see quite a lot of the cross country races.

This was on the first Sunday when a totally magic light came over the whole arena. I only had my mobile to take a picture, but it was really beautiful.

 The official mascot is called Bubo and is an eagle owl. Here he was on the wall to the TV-boxes at the cross country arena.

On the last Friday we were quite tired of the lunch buffet that was served, so we went and bought hamburgers instead.

On Saturday we finally managed to take a picture with the whole competition management for Nordic combined, four of us from the local organizing committee and five from the International Ski Federation.

This is the final picture of most of the local organizing committee together with Sarah Lewis, the secretary general of the International Ski Federation.

In the first week there was also a very special occasion when my sister released a book that she'd been co-editor of. It's the first book about the history of women's ski jumping.

Some of us thought it was very funny that during the release there were pictures of women ski jumpers throughout the ages, and five of us who were there for the first national camp and first official women's ski jumping competition made sure to take a photo of us 24 years later. (It's my mother and one of my sisters who organised it, the sister who's the editor didn't have time to be in the photo, and then there's me and Linda who were jumping at the time).

These are the more things I've come home with me. It's my sister's book, a starting bib, a jury bib and a "world champion 2015 bib", the medal that was given to all the athletes, a pin from the organisers of the Olympics 2018 who were with us to study who we worked, a mascot to my mascot collection and a chocolate bar that I got from the Swiss TD assistant.