Handmaiden lining is done

I've finished the lining as far as I can do. Now it's just to calculate the amount of fabric needed for the pleated overlayer and to start draping/patterning the robe and hood.

Even if it's just pinned together on my dressform I'm quite happy with the general shape. I'm not exactly tall and willowy, as the photomodels that wore the gown originally, but I think I've manged to create quite a sleek silhouette.

This photo, taken with flash, shows that the lining is actually quite shiny. I'm hoping that some of that shine will be visible through the outer fabric, at least in photos.

The playing around with the lining and how the light works on it has also made change my mind on what fabric was used for the original. I'm now pretty sure what I'm going to order, but it's going to be a lot more expensive than the cotton voile I had planned for. It also of course means that I can't do anymore dye tests until I get the actual fabric that I'm going to use.

I also need to go and measure my largest suitcase to make sure that the roundel will fit inside it. I think it's a tad on the larg side now so I am going to cut it down a bit, but it would be nice not having to do that because it will be unpackable.

My main issue was once again the sleeves. I used the basic sleeve pattern from Construction Historical Clothes, but I'm not too happy about it. I'm starting to think that my sleeve fitting issues aren't just due to the sleeves though, I need to work with the shape of the sleeve head and the armhole as well. I definitely think that I need to work with a shallower sleevehead to fit my chubby upper arms. Since the sleeves aren't going to be visible in this gown I didn't feel like starting over with a new pattern though. This one works well enough.

Recap of 2014

It's time to look back at what I created in 2014. I can clearly say that this has been my most productive year ever when it comes to sewing, and I think a large part has been the Historical Sew Fortnightly. Not only have the challenges made me inspired to do things, but seeing and reading all about what other people are doing has made me inspired to keep on sewing.

Originally my plans for 2014, according to this post, were

Major projects
The 1787 Revolutionary
The Gold Handmaiden

UFOs
Female Tusken

Maybes
Winter Celchu
 18th century wool jacket

Touch ups
Classic Princess Leia white gown
Corset for the Can Can trooper
Trim the navy robe à la anglaise

So what did I actually do

Major projects
I did finish the 1787 Revolutionary.

That in turn included a new pair of stays, the gaulle, the cap, the hat, the shoes, the waistcoat and the redingote.

My second major project came as a big surprise when my sister asked me to make her wedding gown.

The wedding also meant that I made a corset, skirt and a shrug for myself, and when I was invited for a ball I matched the corset and shrug with a late Victorian/Edwardian petticoat and skirt.

I also made an 1830s ensemble that has turned out to be the most worn thing I've made, up until now three of use have worn it for time travel, Christmas fair and Lucia celebrations at Falun Mine.

If those were my major projects, I got quite a few smaller things done as well. For Star Wars projects

Star Wars
Princess Leia's Endor poncho
Classic Princess Leia senatorial gown.

Historical projects
Trimming the navy robe anglaise
a set of sleeve ruffles,
a reticule
a small bergere hat.
a 1930's belt
1950's Christmas skirt


Everyday wear
the UFO skirt
The 1940's skirt

UFO:s
Gold Handmaiden - At least I started it in the last days of the year
Tusken Female
Queen Elsa Coronation gown - a small project that snowballed into something a lot bigger, and now I want to start almost all over before continuing.

All in all I think I've done a lot of things and I'm very satisfied with my productivity. I also think that I have developed my skills a lot this year. The main thing is that I have started to make my own patterns. I still haven't gotten the hang of sleeves, but I feel a lot more confident in creating bodice and skirt patterns. I've also started to flatline my pieces, and realized what a difference that makes. All in all both my increased pattern skills and the flatlining has given my pieces a much more professional look than previous. The third thing that I'm taking with me for coming projects is that I can actually sew garments by hand, and I don't need to be afraid that they are going to fall apart. I now feel that it's soon time for me to actually make a whole project by hand, but we will see when that happens.

Dye tests

So today I started to test different dyes for the gold handmaiden. At the semi-local craft shop, meaning it's in the Yellow/Sunflower handdye and one Orange/Goldfish hand dye. I was pretty sure that the yellow would be too yellow and the orange too red, but I hoped that a mix of them would give me a warm gold colour.

 I made three quite large swatches of the fabric that I'm going to use for the undergown, it's a cotton voile. I also considered this quite a learning experience, so I made sure to follow the instructions. The only thing I did was to halve the amounts of dye/salt/water.

It was really simple. I heated the water to 40C, turned off the stove but kept the pot on the plate. I added salt and the dye, and then the fabric. I stirred quite a lot the first 15 minutes, and then I had the fabric in the dye for another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Here are the three swatches. The yellow is actually darker and warmer than I thought it would be, it's not very far off the colour I'm after. The orange, to the right, I could see immediately that it was going to be red. For the middle swatch I mixed 25 grams of yellow with only 5 grams of the orange, but as you can see the orange was way too dominant.

If I was making the handmaiden flame gown, then I would be really happy with the results, but for the gold handmaiden I need to experiment more. I have ordered iDye in gold ochre, hoping that it will work without any mixing, but I've also seen people who have commented on that it's a lot more yellow than it should be. I have also ordered more of Dylon yellow and Terracotta/Brown, to see if I can find a mix that is just a bit darker than the Yellow on its own.

These dye aren't wasted though, since I will start experimenting with the pleating on them,

The Christmas skirt

This Christmas I felt that I really wanted a big 1950's style skirt. It started when I went to a shop that usually carries a lot of 1950's inspired clothing. This time I didn't find anything though. I have a petticoat from that store though, but I hardly ever use it since I don't have any skirts that go over it. Also feeling the quality of the fabric of the dresses and skirts that they did have, I felt that I could make something myself that was just as good.

Off I went to the internet and ordered 4 meters of a red, plaid cotton. When it came I didn't want to cut into it, and having to deal with the patternmatching. I did what I had done for my sister's wedding skirt. I cut off 3,5 meters and boxpleated them into a waistband. I added a zipper and hemmed it.

the skirt over my petticoat

I'm very happy with the skirt, but not with the waistband. The wide waistband emphasizes my stomach over my waist and that doesn't feel flattering at all. I also managed to make the waistband a tiny bit too tight I could wear it, but I felt that it was too tight. That also made me feel big. I think I'm going to take off the waistband and make a new one, narrower and a bit bigger.

Me and my sister on Christmas Eve. I chose to wear the top over the waistband, rather than showing the waistband.

Draping a bodice

Today I started with the bodice for the gold handmaiden.  Looking at the original gown it's a fairly loose gown, mostly shaped by the obi. The thing is though that I don't want too much bulk under the obi, and since my bust is quite full I felt that it would be best with a fairly fitted bodice.

 This was the start, simply one square of fabric for the front, and one for the back.

In order to accomodate the bust I added a side dart. The vertical tuck started as a dart just under the bust and one dart from the neckline and down towards the bust.

On the back I folded a long dart from the top of the armscye and down towards the back. I simply just held up the excess fabric and pinned.

At this point I had started to just work on one side of the bodice, so I cut off the other half since it was now mostly distracting and making the "good" half hang funny. When I was satisfied with the fit I followed all the seamlines with a pen and also drew a seam line that dived the front into a front and side front piece.

I took the bodice off the mannequin and cut where I had marked the seamlines. I then cleaned up and evened out some of the lines, and the resulting pattern can be seen above.

The skirt was mocked up. I used my basic pencil skirt pattern, only lengthened to reach the floor, and I added a circle of fabric to the bottom.

HSF challenge 24: All that glitters

I really wanted to finish the last HSF challenge of the year. In a way it would feel good to have done at least the first and the last of the challenges, and when I counted my finished challenges I realised that I had made 11, meaning that if I did the last one that would mean that I had finished half of the challenges.

The theme was "All that glitters", which in an ordinary time of the year would feel interesting and fun. Now with Christmas I realised that I had hardly any time, and I wanted to concentrate on other projects instead. I did ask for inspiration from the members of the HSF group and they suggested a lot of beaded things like reticules and headbands. They definitely put me on the path of making some kind of accessory. Then it was time to look in the stash to see what I could use. I had some beads, but I also found a really nasty gold fabric. I think I've bought it more than 10 years ago, it's stiff and definitely some kind of plastic, but it was gold and really shiny at that. That fabric meant that I didn't feel like making something old historical, since I would never wear it with my 18th century wardrobe for example, but something vintage might work. I went off on a search for 1920's and 1930's accessories and sewing patterns to see what I could make. I very soon realised that on all the 1930's patterns and pictures they were wearing some kind of narrow belt at the waist. I gathered some pictures on my pinterest board. Most were wearing some kind of big clasp at the front, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to find a clasp, but a few examples had bows instead of a clasp. Then it was decided I would make a belt with a bow.

The construction was fairly simple. I cut out a long 10 cm wide band of the gold fabric, a cotton lining and fusible interfacing, half as wide as the lining. I fused the interfacing to the lining and flatlined it to the gold fabric. I folded it all in half, sewed it together and turned the right side out. For the bow I made the same thing, but with only the gold fabric, no lining. I added a hook and bar to close the belt. Then I made the bow by simply folding the fabric together and handsewed it on. The bow was sewn on on the over the hook. I had to add a snap to make the bow lie flat against the bar side of the belt. I didn't have any metallic snaps, so I used clear plastic ones, something that also takes away from the accuracy of it all.

Finished belt

Close up of the bow

The closure and snap.

 I wore the belt for Christmas. I don't have any 1930's garments, but I felt that it worked well on its own. I did wear a 1950's inspired skirt and top, and then I just added bling, and the belt was definitely blingy.

Me and my sister on Christmas

The Challenge: 24 - All that glitters

Fabric: 20 cm of some kind of synthetic gold fabric, 150 cm wide

Pattern: None
Year: 1930's
Notions: Thread, hook and bar, plastic snap

How historically accurate is it? Style yes, material no, and I didn't have time to research period techniques, so I would say 20%

Hours to complete: 30 minutes

First worn: On Christmas Eve, with the family

Total cost: This was a total stashbusting project, and the fabric is so old that I can't remember what it cost, but since there were so little material in the project it ends up under $10

Merry Christmas

Happy holidays to everyone that reads this. And thanks to Fredrik for the help with photoshopping and creating this Christmas card.