Nordens Minerva, 1762 ball

Yesterday (June 8th) it was finally time for Nordens Minerva, the 1762 ball that I had prepared Lady Poe for and one of my main costuming goals for the year.

Lady Poe got finished (well at least in a wearable state) and I had great fun. I didn't take a lot of photos during the evening, it simply felt wrong to have the mobile up too much when we were there to experience a proper time travel to 1762.

Just like with Celebration I will give you my schedule for the day, so you can see what goes into an event like this.

6 am - wake up and finish the last bit of rushed trim on the robe (I had been up until 3 am)
9:30 - take the train to Stockholm
12:15 - arrive in Stockholm. I had lunch at the railway station  and strolled around the shops there to pick up some flower decorations for the hair and a brush for my hair powder.
13:30 - check in at the hotel, thankfully my room was finished so I could get access to it early. I started straight away with the hair, since I figured that would take the most time, having never worked with hair powder before.

I really had a tiny room, the bathroom was bigger than the rest of the room. It was comfy with a good AC, but it was a bit complicated getting dressed in historical costume.
15:30 - I added the last stitches by attaching my sleeve ruffles to the robe. I switched my regular shoe buckles to the more fancier ones and put on shoes, stockings, shift and stays.  I always try to wear the stays/corsets for 30 minutes before I do the final tightening of it. That way the body has adjusted to it, and it's not just about being able to cinch it more it has to do with it not getting too loose and thus uncomfortable after a while.
16:00 - Put on make up and finished the hair with flowers and and some final powder
16:20 - put on the pocket hoops, petticoats and robe. I was ready to go.

My gown almost takes up the whole room

17:00 I was at the bus stop waiting for the chartered bus to arrive. I was lucky in that they had decided to have the chartered bus make a stop in the part of Stockholm where I had booked my hotel, otherwise I would have been more stressed about getting ready in time and getting through the subway in full 18th century costume.

18:00 The bus arrived at the place of the ball, Svartsjö slott.

I couldn't help myself and was even more excited about the ruins of the 16th century castle.

Some of the people I knew started to arrive after a while as well. Including Johanna in her robe trimmed with beautiful fly fringe.

That fly fringe was a quest on its own, she had lost all her fly fringe that she had been working on for months, but decided to simply start over and have it all finished by the ball anyway. There were a lot of us who were really happy for her.

After a while the ball proper started, with an appearance by the "king" and "queen" (the whole set-up for the ball was that it was a surprise party for queen Lovisa Ulrika who was designated as Minerva of the North). There was a live trio playing on authentic instruments, a poetry reading and ballet performance by a ballerna - all in period style.

Then there was dinner, and it was sooooo good. A lot of courses, and it even included a big showpiece in the middle. There was so much food that I was really full afterwards.

It tasted really good as well

The royal couple and their closest attendants.

Then there was dancing. This ball is organised by one of the really good dance groups, so I could only take part in the first dance. They did instruct it very quickly, and Johanna led me through it (I got confused when we had to switch and go the other way after half the dance).

The rest of the evening I mostly spent watching the dancers. The evening was warm and it was magical to sit on the veranda outside and watch a full ballroom in period dress dancing some quite complicated dances. By now my feet were tired, and I was tired from lack of sleep the nights before as well.

At midnight there was again some entertainment, with an opera singer singing Händel. Then the dancers finished with a dance by torchlight in the garden before the bus went home at 0:45.

I was back in my hotel room and in my bed at around 2. It was nice to get out of the stays after that many hours. It's not that they are too tight, it's more that when I get sweaty my skin starts to itch and after a while the shift doesn't really help.

It was a wonderful evening, and I am definitely going to keep my eyes out for when/if the organisers make another ball. Last year they did a 1680s event, so it can also be a challenge if they pick a time period that I haven't done before.

Chinese brocade jacket - Butterick 6134

I finally have something to post about, yay.

On Saturday I'm going to a ball. First I hadn't thought about making a new ball gown, but of course the closer I got the more I wanted something new. Due to various things I have also gained quite a lot of weight over the last year, so I knew that my old ball gowns would probably not fit very well. Thinking about what I wanted to do I put up some considerations:

1. It should be practical, not just something I'm going to wear for just one evening
2. It should be comfortable, and with my shoulder problem that meant nothing that would close in the back.
3. I wanted to work from my stash.

In my stash I had a gorgeous emerald green brocade that my father bought in China some time in the 90's. He did quite a few work trips there and brought back wonderful fabrics. He tended to buy nice silk brocades, but it's been hard to find something to do with them. The emerald colour goes really well with my current hair colour though, so that settled the fabric. I would not be able to get a whole dress out of it though, and for practicality I decided to go with a top in the brocade and just a plain black skirt.

For the top I bought Butterick 6134

I liked the raised swan neck collar, which givess it a hint of oriental design, but without being and obvious mandarin collar. The seams also gave it a bit of an edgier design. I also liked that the pattern was marked "easy".

The pattern calls for the top to be made of a lightweight vowen or stabile knit fabric and a hidden zipper in the back. I of course made it in a heavier fabric, and I changed the zipper in the back to a dividing zipper in the front. I also flatlined all the pieces to cotton voile but since the fabric was already heavier than called for I skipped the fusible interfacing on the collar facings.

All the pieces went together really easy, and the raglan sleeve meant that I didn't have to fuzz with setting the sleeves. There were issues with the fit though. I cut out my size according to the measurments. When I first tried it on it was way too big from the waist up, but too narrow over the hips. The pattern is clearly made for someone with a more pillar-like shape than I have. I did take in a lot on the upper part through the center back seam, and some in the side seams.

The upper seam is the original, the bottom one after fitting

Quite a lot of the shaping in the back is made with two large darts. I Think the darts would have been better if they were highter up. I usually have to lengthen bodices, but with this one I felt that it was too long for me from the neck and down to the waist. To make it bigger over the hips I simply ripped up bart of the sideseams and made two slits in the jacket.

I am happy with the final result, but I can see that it would have looked better in a softer fabric. The collar stands up quite dramatic instead of being smooth around the neck, and there is some wrinkling going on that would have been hidded if the fabric had had any stretch in it. Still the overall effect is a nice party jacket, that I can wear both as a top by itself or as a jacket with a tight top underneatch.

My hair at the ball

For the ball I of course wanted to have a nice and elegant hairdo. My hair now is quite long and since I've started with more historical costumes I've learnt quite a few tricks about styling hair, and even if I'm not good I wanted to do something that looked a bit more refined. My main inspiration was the hairstyle I did for the 1920's party I went to this summer. With all the stress of preparations, my friend that I stayed with hadn't even finished her ballgown until just before we left, I didn't take any progress photos of my hair work.

I started out with rolling up my hair. Previously I have used the long foam rollers, but now I had bought the hard plastic rollers that are used for perms. The plastic rollers were a lot easier to manage than the foam rollers, something I really noticed since I couldn't get all my hair up on them and had to finish with the foam rollers. I sprayed some water on the rolled hair to make it damp. I did not roll quite a large chunk of my front hair, wich I had parted very much to the side. This I put in a braid, to get it out of my face and then I went to sleep.

Or rather tried to sleep, it was not easy get a comfortable sleeping position with the hair. The rollers themselves weren't too bad, but every time I moved my head they pulled on my hair. I did suspect this was how it was going to be, but the ball started at 14:00, instead of in the evening, and my hair takes a really long time to dry, and I didn't want to get up early just to start with the hair. Anyway when I woke up the next morning the hair was a bit frizzy, but I had a lot of curls.

Now I tried to make the front hair into fingerweaves. I didn't get quite as good as a result as the first time I tried, I actually think it would have looked better with less hair. I also can't really manage to get them even, it feels as if I need three hands for that. With some practice I can probably get a nice result though.

When all hair was dry, including the front hair, I took the rollers out and had a lot of unruly curls. Now my hair is quite frizzy in it's natural state, and I had a big halo of frizzy hair. I have discovered the joy of a volume and anti-frizz gel though, so put it on generously all over the hair. It really works wonder and helps give that that finished and sculpted look to the hair. After having just let the curls loose a bit with my fingers I had a lot of volume as well. I put on a headband that I bought, and then I simply pinned the curls over the ribbon that closed the headband in the back. It's always hard to see what you are doing in the back of your head but I didn't go for perfectly symmetric. I also pinned the front hair in place. I didn't get the distinct finger weaves that I had hoped for, but I got a bit of voluminous wavy hair, and it still looked good.

Front. Just having a side part instead of my usual middle part totally changes the look of my face

Side. I actually think the hair looked best from this side

Back: A curly and voluminous messy look

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.

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.