HSF Challenge 23: Modern history - or going to the ball

Yes, I am really early, since the HSF:23 isn't due until December 15. This is such a good example how the HSF really has inspired me to do more historical clothing. As I've mentioned in my previous posts about the 1895 ball skirt my first plan for the the skirt was to make a simple black skirt. Sure it would probably be a bit historically inspired, but I was definitely planning on putting a zipper in and do it all on the machine. Thanks to the HSF challenges and all the inspiration you get from the other participants, when I got going I decided to make a proper late 19th century skirt, in the period way.

The ball I was going to celebrated the 375th anniversary of Västmanlands-Dala Nation at Uppsala University. The student nations at Uppsala and Lund in Sweden, and at Helsinki and Åbo in Finland are student organisations,  they provide a lot of services and entertainment for the students at the universities. They are also quite important cultural institutions, for example V-Dala nation owns and is based in one of only two houses in Sweden by the famous architect Alvar Aalto and actually has the largest private library in Sweden that actually lends out books, the king has a larger collection but he keeps them to himself. When I was a student I was very involved in the V-Dala nation, especially with the library and spex (a special kind of comedic theatre) and was elected as a senior member before leaving the student life behind, it is kind of an honorary title you get when you have been involved as a member long enough, it also means that you continue to get invitations to all the festivities and fun stuff, like the anniversary ball.

For the ball I was clear on that I wanted to use the corset and shrug that I made to wear at my sister's wedding,. and then a black skirt, the construction posts for the skirt can be found under the tag 1895 skirt. The ball started with the opening of an exhibition about the history of V-Dala at Gustavianum
which was the main university building in the 17th century and is now housing the Uppsala University museum. It also has some nice stairwells so I got a couple of photos taken of me there.

 

 Later on the ball continued at the V-Dala nation's house. And even if it's a big house, with 400 people in there quite a few still managed to step on the train of my skirt. I managed to dance at least the waltz without too much trouble though.

Just the facts
The Challenge: 23 Modern history
Fabric: 3 m of black silk taffeta, 3 m of cotton broadcloth for lining
Pattern: The Ladies' treasure 1895 skirt pattern, taken from Young Ladies' Journal 1895. To save some fabric I used a single, but gathered, back panel instead of two shaped ones though.
Year: 1895
Notions: regular sewing thread, 5 sets of hooks and bars, 1 m sturdy cotton tape to reinforce the waistband
How historically accurate is it? I would say that this one is pretty spot on, except that I just zig-zagged the raw edges instead of finishing them properly. I have probably done some misses in the process though so maybe 90%.
Hours to complete: 15 hours
First worn: At a ball on November 22.
Total cost: I picked up the silk in New York for $5/yard and then I had the to only by the hooks and bars and the cotton tape. The cotton for the interlining was scrounged from bits and pieces in my stash in total I would say around $40 if I calculate what the cotton would have cost to buy new.

What I learnt with this projcet
I made a placket for the first time, following these instructions It worked perfectly, eventhough I miscalcualted the width for it and the part that goes under the opening was just 0,5 cm. I also used hooks and bars for the first time, and I loved it compared to hooks and eyes or hook and eye tape. The lower sets of the skirt opening did not stay closed though, since there was no tension in the fabric there, but thanks to the placket nobody except me noticed that though.

Future plans
I actually made the waist a bit too big, so I need to take it in a bit, or maybe just change where I put the hook and bar on the waistband. I've also gotten the advice to alternate the position of the hooks and bars, so I will redo that to see if all the sets stay closed that way. I will also need to clean the train, since there are visible footprints on it, or at least grey smudging. As for using the skirt in the future. I love this skirt and I have around one meter of black fabric left that should be enough to make period correct bodice. I also have a lot of ideas on how base a steampunk outfit around this skirt. Simply put I see this as being my big, black skirt that can be just as usable as an LBD.


Bonus
The corset is also a modern usage of historical clothres, since it's Truly Victorians basic TV110 late 1880's corset. The shrug is my own frankenpatterned creation though.

Skirt is done

And with that I'm finished with what I'm going to wear on Saturday, now it's only the little matter of packing it all, and cleaning up before leaving tomorrow morning.

My hooks and bars arrived, and I'm really happy with the result, much more secure than hooks and eyes. I'm going to put together a more proper post about this when I' have pictures of me wearing it but here's a glimpse

It doesn't have the petticoat under it, so it will be poofier. I did leave a small train on it, but when I'm wearing heels the front should just touch the floor or be slightly above it.

And here's a teaser for what I'm going to wear.

Just the hem left, yeah, right

So today my plan was to just finish attaching the hem, should be easy. Yesterday I had pieced together a deep hem facing from the leftovers of the fabric that I had used as flatlining. I had sewn it to the skirt edge and it should only be to attach it to the flatlining.

Well my piecing apparently hadn't been as precise as I wanted, and since it was pieced the grainlines of the pieces didn't line up properly with the fabric. The result was a lot of stress wrinkles in the fabric. I tried to pin both fabric into submission, then I even cut some deep cuts into the hem facing to release some of the stress, it still didn't look good though. So after around three hours I gave up. I cut down the hem facing, so instead of a knee deep hem facing I know have just around 10 cm, but it looks so much better and the wrinkles have disappeared.

I still have to attach the hem facing, by hand, but I'm not too stressed. I have one evening left, and that should be enough to finish the hem and mend the shrug that I'm going to wear, it had a bit of tear in the underarm seam. If I have time I would like to add an extra dust ruffle to either the petticoat or the skirt, since the hem facing isn't as deep as I want and I want to protect the skirt properly.

Decisions, decisions

So I need to decide if I should be practical and cut off the length of the skirt, or let it stay majestic with a train that puddles nicely in the back. I love the look of the train, but wearing it outside in November will be a nightmare, even if I make a really deep hem facing for it. Tomorrow I will have to start with the hemming, so I need to decide until then.

I've been away in Uppsala over the weekend, but I got some sewing done anyway, alas it wasn't for me. I helped Kee to start on her ballgown, since she has almost no time to make it until Saturday. I could at leat help her with flatlining and assembling most of the bodice and finishing the neckline, and come up with a solution for some gaping in the bodice, she will have to make the rest herself though.

I was also glad to discover that Åhlens in Uppsala carry hooks and bars, so if the ones I have ordered don't arrive until Thursday, since I leave for the ball before I get the mail on Friday, I can at least get hold of some expensive ones. My hooks and bars have been shipped though so I hope they will arrive in time. I also couldn't help myself and I have picked up a little tiara to wear, and if that feels like too much I bought a soft lace/flower hairband as well so I have something to choose from.

I haven't been to a ball in a really long time I'm really looking forward to this.

The black, crispy ballskirt

I have made progress, and enough progress that I don't feel too stressed about finishing the ballskirt for the ball next weekend.

Now with my big petticoat I needed something to match it, and I figured why not make an accurate late 19th century skirt to go with it. This is not an era that I'm terribly fond of, or have studied a lot, so my first step was to go out and find some inspiration. I was definitely drawn towards the late 1890s when it came to skirt. I put some of the pictures that I found on my pinterest board. Two of the dresses that I fell for immediately were thes

Portrait of a Lady in Black", c. 1895, by William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916).

Evening Dress 1898-1899, Metropolitan Museum

I liked the fairly simple front, and then you have all the fabric cascading in the back. For a pattern I went to this free pattern for an 1895 skirt. I didn't try to scale it up, I rather used it as a guiding line for making my own pattern.

It turned out I definitely had enough fabric of my fancy fabric, but I could just find bits and pieces of dark fabric I could use as an underlining, I didn't want to use light fabric under the black taffeta. That made me do some changes to the pattern, most of all I didn't do the two back pieces, instead I've cut out one rectangular piece that I'm going to pleat in the back. In that way it's more like the back of an 18th century gown. The skirt consists of one front piece, cut on fold, two side pieces, two side back pieces and one back piece. The front piece has two darts and all the others, except for the back, has one dart to give shape to the skirt.

My process so far has been to first flatline all the pieces. Then I made a placket between the left side and side back piece, according to these instructions It's the first time I've made a placket, and except for making it a bit too narrow it wasn't hard at all  Then I sewed all the darts and then I finally attached all the panels to each other.

 I've started to play around with the pleating in the back, nothing really serious but I haven't decided about using knife pleats or box pleats yet. I need to wait with that until I have fixed the front though.

.The front is way too big. I can't pull it tighter, then it gets too tight over the thighs and knees, so I will have to make the darts much bigger, and possibly take in the side seams as well.