She had me at "Young Victoria"! (A review of the 2015 Disney Cinderella)

Let me just say, that I adored Sandy Powell's work before "Young Victoria," but I loved her after that, so many outstanding costumes from that film, that it is hard to pick a favorite.  Now, however, after seeing the new "Cinderella," I must pledge my undying costume devotion to her!  The trailers and stills cannot convey how magical the film and costumes are. 

A whole new generation of little girls, will now believe in fairy godmothers and "happily ever after."

I do not think this a bad thing, if we women believe strongly enough, we can make it happen, as they say in the film, "with courage and kindness."

All involved in the film deserve praise, from the adorable Lilly James, to the CGI mice, Kenneth Branagh's direction, and indeed Disney for all the magic and not stinting on this production. 

We went, my daughter, myself and my mother to see the film this evening and even her sweet fiancé came, (I'm sure he was a bit bored being his idea of viewing pleasure involves the "Packers" and beer.)  It was in celebration of her 25th birthday and we went out to dinner after where part of her presents included the Cinderella doll in her wedding gown, and the fairy godmother doll.  The reason I chose her wedding gown is my daughter is getting married in May.  Funnily enough she chose pastel colors of lavender, pink, blue and white 2 years ago.  The very color scheme for the film.  I am sure this film wedding will be more copied than the recent British royal wedding gowns.  And God bless Sandy Powell for putting her in a gown with sleeves.  I am so thankful that the tyranny of the strapless gown is ending!  My personal opinion is that it is incredible that a style that looks well on so very few women, could have dominated the wedding world for so long.  No more wedding videos of the bride hiking up her bodice!  (Pet peeve aired and taken for walk, moving along now!)

The centerpiece of the film is naturally the blue ball gown.  When Cinderella transforms you feel as if it is you the magic is happening to, and when the final reveal happens, you want to applaud, a costumers masterpiece!  If she never designs another thing, she could still live a happy woman and her name should be inscribed in the costumers hall of fame!  The gown lives and is magic and fits the actress, sets, dance and story so well and is fresh and lovely, such a challenge for such an old and many costumed tale. 

The other costumes are wonderful as well, the men, loved the cavalry capes with heraldry, the Step-mother, millinery genius, that Cate Blanchett carries off to perfection.  The wonderful, wacky stepsisters, almost burlesque 1830 and 1950 dresses.  You can tell that Helena Bonham Carter was having fun as the fairy, I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of making that white confection look as if it were all in a day's work. 

It was so delightful to see little girls in Cinderella costumes lining up to see the film with their mommies and daddies, and even little boys.  One never knows, if there is a budding male designer who could be inspired by this film. 

So to wrap up, the film is a delight, magic from beginning to end.  I curtsey, (ever so gracefully and swirl my imaginary silken skirts), to Sandy Powell, a queen among costumers!

Costume College 2014 - GO!

The Shoes

Purses and Fans

Pile of Costumes ( I took 8)

Hats and Toppers and Tiara!

After the sewing mania, revising, adding, subtracting:  I settled on 8 costumes to take with me.  My next post will start with the Gala Court Gown.  Then I will keep working my way through them all.   I thought I would post the accessories first since that was the theme this year.
I made a vow that I would not be sewing until the last minute, not pull any all nighters and be packed ahead and not scrambling at the last minute.  Wonder of wonders, I was able to do it.  I put in my last stitches a week before leaving and spent the last week cleaning up from neglected chores while working and packing.
We were ready on time and left the morning of July 25th and drove to Los Banos where we stopped for the night.  It was a reasonably decent Best Western there with a Hot Tub that we needed by then.  We ate dinner that night at Pea Soup Anderson's.  All the years I have passed that placed when I lived in California and I never ate there.  Well the soup was good and their salads huge and yummy, funky decor, loud obnoxious music.  We discovered that this is now the norm in California, the idea of pleasant soft music you can converse over is obsolete apparently, everywhere we went there was loud, headache inducing music, that you had to shout over.  I guess since most people there just sit at table and text message, it doesn't matter.  Rude!
I think next time we will plan to stop at Harris ranch, it is only a little further, about another half hour and so much nicer, although more expensive.  Since I was doing all the driving, I didn't want to try to make it all the way to the LA area in one day.  The next day we started out early and drove on to LA, we had hoped to get there around 11:00am and have time to see the heritage square museum/park.  But what should have been a 3.5-4 hour drive turned into a 9 hour one, as soon as we got over the Mountains, right where the freeway crosses over that heads to Pasadena, we were in stop and go all the way.  As soon as I realized that we needed to skip the park, I got flustered, I couldn't find a way to get off the freeway and find the directions for the hotel and so I called them, the young woman who answered didn't know how to direct me so she gave me bad directions from looking it up wrong in the computer and we ended up going off on the 101 to
Ventura and by the time we made enough calls to get back on track we had gone a total of 120 miles out of our way.  We finally made it to the hotel and checked in, threw our stuff in the room, rinsed off, and headed out to the park and ride for the Hollywood Bowl.  When we got to the location for that, we couldn't see anything that looked like what we wanted.  We ended up calling our hotel, who called a near by restaurant and between the two we got parked and on the bus, where a lovely local young woman took us under her wing and made sure we didn't get lost again the rest of the night.
Gloria Estevan was amazing.  The concert was fantastic and I couldn't believe how huge the place was, I really felt country bumpkin!  I thought there would be a few fireworks, and they had one of the best displays I've ever seen, the setting is fabulous and our seats were great.  I bought the CD during intermission and I recommend it, "The Standards."  She sings some of the oldies but goodies!  Mom had a good time too since there were songs she liked as well as some of Gloria's big hits.  More trip saga and costume goodness to follow dear ones, so stay tuned!

Vintage Luggage for Costume College 2014

Since the theme for Costume College this year is accessorize, I thought it would be fun to have vintage luggage to take with me.  I had looked at some older stuff from the Amelia Earhart line, however, I stumbled onto some pieces that matched an old suitcase I all ready had.  When I graduated from high school my Aunt had bought me a cute plaid suitcase that had a vintage vibe of the 50's, in 1977.  The ad for the luggage on ebay dated the pieces from the 1950's, but since their construction and materials are exactly the same as mine, I doubt it.  I didn't argue with the seller since it was very cheap and I knew what I was getting.  I was tickled to be able to find stuff to match.  The plaid was the same, however, the vinyl parts were black instead of green as my original piece.  Here is my trusty old grasshopper case:

It took me back and forth from the US to Europe, round and about for years and was still in great shape to be used by my children for their first trips.  I cleaned it inside and out and restored the vinyl with a good cleaner and it looks pretty good.  

I had also been given a red hat case my mom had owned from the 1950's that I cleaned up as it is in great shape as well.  So it will spark up the plaid collection and be great for hats and hair pieces that are going with me.  

The larger grasshopper and the tote on the right were one ebay purchase and the large garment bag another.  I think the garment bag might be slightly older as it has some differences in construction and the fabric has similarities but more color.  The thing I love about it is that it is long enough to take some serious costume dresses and quite wide.  The seller of the garment bag didn't claim any age for it, however, it might be from the 50's or 60's.  All the pieces, (except the red bag), were made by the Atlantic company.  I am having fun buying, and getting ready to use them all.  I had wanted to get more pieces from the collection when I was younger but never had the chance.  By the time I was able to buy nice luggage, times had changed and I have a lovely matched tapestry set, as well as some modern multi-directional four wheeled pieces.  Naturally none of these pieces have wheels, shoulder straps or any modern fittings, they are however, well made, commodious, and cute.  Since I am driving to LA and can use the hotel cart for moving them, they will work well for Costume College.  

Demode Court Ensembles Project

I haven't forgotten I signed on for the 2014 Court Ensembles project.  I have been thinking and planning and all is  now coming together.  I have all my materials, trims and accessories, have pawed through patterns and determined what to use, or not.  Now I have a week off to work on it and get a great start with plenty of time to finish up before I go.  Here is the link to the project if you are interested in finding out more.http://demodecouture.com/wordpress/wp-contents/uploads/2013/08/icon-300x300.jpg


So my gown, you know how sometimes when you first see an historical gown and LAAAAA!  Music plays and you know you have to make it, well that is what happened when I saw this gown from Christie's web site.  It was originally made for (possibly), Sarah Otway-Cave, 3rd Baroness of Braye who may have worn it for mourning when her husband died in 1815.

Looking at the pictures posted I like most aspects of the gown, but I think the Baroness may have been a bit more showy of a gal then myself.  I may reduce the number of places the trim is applied as the bodice was simply loaded front and back and trim in 3 places on the sleeve?  Perhaps I may reduce it somewhat.  

I also can't quite tell if there is sequins or beads at the center of the appliqued silver braid flowers, but it appears there might be.  I think it would be fun to put pearl beads in the center.  So for the gown I have black velvet, gold Venetian lace for the outer trim and silver braid for the couching.  You can tell when you blow up the photos that the gown separates in the front at the middle, which makes sense as in another view you see that the trim is to the right and left of center, although the under skirt did not survive with the gown.  I have some pearl white satin that I will make into a petticoat and use with this, when you walk you will get peeps of pearl white, therefore, my decision to put pearls at the center of the flowers to tie the two together. 

I all ready have some sweet embroidered gold slippers to wear and will be trying my hand at a Cameo Tiara as well.  

See you at the Gala!

Long Pause for a new sewing room

So I thought I would have kept up better with my blog, however, I took a pause to help my youngest daughter move out and convert the room she was in to my lovely new sewing room.  You'll have to wait until late August to see pictures, because I won't finish the curtains until then.  I got all done but that and I took a break to finish my sewing for Costume College.  I have finished several things and will post some sneak peaks soon.  I am on a sewing stay-cation right now and working on my Court gown, more to follow.

CoCo 2014 Ready, Set...

OK, I know I haven't posted for a year, however, I loathe reading or writing excuses, so I am just going to start back up.  Here is what I have collected so far for costume college.  I am so excited to be going.  At first it seemed that a whole group of us were going to go, then I and my daughter, and now it is just me!  That will be an adventure.  I have interesting times when I do things by myself and meet some pretty interesting folk that I might have missed if I were with a group.  I need to post pictures of the vintage luggage I have been collecting for this trip, I intend to arrive in style!  I will wait until it is all cleaned up and ready to go, before I take pictures.  This grand pile on the table is only the start, there will be more to come.  Some of this is for costumed events and some just pretty vintage stuff to wear out and about or to dinner in the evening.  Behind it all is my lovely Black velvet, you can't see much of it, but look for more information when I start posting about my court dress project.  There are lovely fabrics, fun cottons with cherries, (watch for a cherries hat!), silks with butterflies, houndstooth wool, navy shantung,  seaside colors in linen, and some wonderful cream, gold and brown scored from the clearance tables.  Some is from my stash and some new purchases.  There are things I made this past year that may go and new items to spruce them up.  It will be fun.  I thought about joining the Historical fortnightly, however, I have enough deadlines in my workaday world, I don't need them in my sewing world.  Just getting done in time for CoCo will be deadline enough.  I will try to post my progress and be a better blogger.  So feast your eyes on the fabric goodness and I am off to cut some linen! 

Happiest of New Sewing Year 2014!



A Peacock in a Pear Tree

I thought I'd give a peek at some of the lovely things my family gave me for Christmas.  Some are here for fun and others pertain to costuming.  I was very happy to have "Fashion," from the Kyoto Costume Institute.  This is a new edition done in 2012 for Barnes and Noble.  The Photos are excellent and a full half of the book is time frames I work in, and the other half is fun too.  This is going to come in handy for my new year planning. 

I hope to go huckleberrying this year so a cookbook about huckleberries and a pie bird will be most handy. 

A pretty selection of machine embroidery thread for my best purchase of 2012 my Singer Futura 400XL. 

A darling lantern that will look lovely in any setting, period or not. 

The cute ornament is a plastic crystal with glitter frosted fake mistletoe on top.  We have tons of mistletoe on the oaks here about, however, I rarely bring it in the house as real mistletoe is so plain and it can be bug filled.  So I will enjoy this far prettier ornament.  It also came with a note that a rotary cutting machine is on it's way.  Yeah!  Now I can thing about getting that bias and piping machine.  Cutting strips and making piping is tedious but so essential to post 1800 sewing, particularly the 1830's and 1840's, one of my favorite time frames. 

A beautiful Shawl in peacock colors from my eldest daughter and a peacock pin from my youngest.  These clever girls didn't even plan to coordinate, they just have good taste!  The shawl and pin have inspired my main new year project.  Just a hint here, more to come on that subject! 

I received many lovely things and got to spend time with those I love, life can't offer better, I believe. 

 

The Ghost of Christmas Past

I have been ill for quite some time, and I won't bore you with details, as I found it incredibly boring to experience, so I know you don't want to hear.  I am going to put up some photos of the Christmas decorating I did get done before I got worse, then I will follow with some costume stuff and other posts. 



 

 

Here is my white themed tree.  I wanted a small treed this year and went with white for the first time ever as I thought it would look well against my pale spruce walls.  I chose only white, clear glass and gold from my stock of Christmas decorations for it.  Don't you think the little white cherubs beneath look sweet?  I found the prettiest new ornaments in Seattle when visiting my daughter at this lovely shop.  You have to get close to see they are snowflakes, they added an iridescent sparkle to the little tree.



 

On my shelves I went with my "North Pole Village" and a Santa collection.  I was hoping for a Victorian ephemera look.  Another new thing this year, was to frame some old Christmas cards in some simple white frames I got at Ikea last summer for the purpose.

Here is my needlepoint nativity that I bring out each year.  It is one of my favorite needleworks from a kit.  I scatter nativity scenes about the house, since that is what Christmas is all about.  I love my new bell jar and think the gold and snow frosted trees with the white figures went well with my white theme tree.

 


 Last of all are pictures of my lovely Matryoshka doll that I bought in Sitka, Alaska on my wonderful trip this year. ( Post to come of that.)  I had the luck to be there in September at the end of the season and was able to get her for half price, as I would never have been able to afford such a finely painted one otherwise.  I loved having her near my wonderful dry flower arrangement that I got in Pikes Market from Seattle.  I had quite the time making the ten hour drive home with luggage and passengers and what not and not getting the flowers crushed.  It made it very well in the box I had brought for the purpose.  Then there are a couple vignettes from my bedroom decor, you might even get a peek at my sweet daughters one Christmas when they were small. 

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

Can this Pet be saved?

No, this is not about an animal!  I was going to Costume College for the first time in 2009 and the theme was court of Marie Antoinette.  I needed to whip up a few items to wear and as usual when in a hurry, things don't turn out the way you planned.  I had this amazing fabric about four years before on clearance in a small shop in Springfield, Oregon and it was just shy of 4yards.  I didn't have a clear plan in mind, however, I think stripey Pets were in the back of my mind.  A few years after, I had purchased the Rocking Horse Farms Pet en l'air pattern and so I made it up.  I had hoped to find a black on black stripe to use as a petticoat with it, but couldn't locate any in time.  I loved the pink fabric of the petticoat in the first picture, but it didn't go so well with the Pet.  I had no idea what CoCo was like and didn't know how good the costumes should be.  I didn't even know how much costume was worn, and the gal I emailed during the registration process said a lot didn't even wear costume, so I only brought a couple things and didn't worry too much about making them nice.  Well, as those of you who have been there know, that isn't a good plan.  If I go again, I will know better.  So here is the Pet in it it's first incarnation:

I didn't like the way the bows pulled the bottom together and it didn't lie right over the small hip pad with hoop.  I really have to explore how to get a pannier look for the large woman that doesn't make me look like a frigate in full sail.

I added a stomacher with gold fabric covered buttons:

 

 

 

I needed to improve the drape of the pleats in the back, they were stitched down but still didn't have the right look.  I added lacing strips in the back to adjust the fit and ultimately they improved to the lie of the whole jacket.

 

So now the look is greatly improved with a petticoat of the perfect fabric.  I finally found it last year in Seattle at that fabric store that begins with a J.  I am much happier with it now and it looks much better on.  The darling stripey fabric deserved a second try.

I really love the box pleated ruffle at the hem.  I had thought about adding a little touch of gold at the hem or elsewhere.  I really don't like the idea of doo-dadding up the skirt.  So perhaps a touch at the sleeve, a ruffled cuff of gold peaking out.  Or some type of fichu that adds a little golden touch. 

 

So as to the pattern.  It was fairly easy to work with, the sizing seemed to run true. I used the Queen size 24-26.  It is designed to fit a bust up to 48", however, it is loose so fits larger busts.  The addition of the stomacher added greatly to the circumference, so the back lacing was needed to tame it.  It also improved the fit.  I might use the pattern again.  I did get satisfactory results without too much extra adjustment.  I think I might be even happier if I

draped my own. 

23 Skidoo Shoes

http://www.american-duchess.com/

 

 

That clever girl has done it again, fabulous shoes, and a darling photo shoot to launch them.  I must admit, I am seriously contemplating getting the all white and dying with some Navy color.  You see, several years back I went to Costume College in LA and bought bags, and bags, and bags, and....of fabric on the bus field trip to the garment/fashion district.  The local girls were laughing at me.  Well, how often do they think an Oregon girl is gonna get down there?  I had to buy a lot, you all understand, don't you?  So any way, I bought some pretty navy shantung fabric and in the vendors room, I purchased several of Decades of Style's 20's pattens in the vendor room.  The designer of these patterns, is a lovely gal, tall and svelte, and drafts patterns beautifully!  So now I should get some shoes to make it all work, shouldn't I?  So family take note, in case you are wondering what I would like for oh, Christmas, Birthday, Ground Hog Day, Any Day!  Pretty much anything in the Duchess's shop!



Curtain-along

I am going to join in the fun I have been reading on several of the costume blogs I follow; and join the curtain-along.  I was at Lowe's today and bought one of each colorway.  I have a striped black on black petticoat, and my quilted yellow petticoat which would be darling with a caraco jacket in black.  I will either make other jackets or petticoats out of the other two colors, I haven't decided yet.  It will be a bit before I can start on the projects.  I need to get moving on an outfit for the San Francisco Dickens Fair.  I suddenly found out day before yesterday, that I am going for the first weekend in December.  So look for posts about Victorian dress soon.  If you want to join in the fun, see Jen Thompson's blog:
 http://www.festiveattyre.com/

Frugal Finds

When I was a child, I abhorred thrift shops.  The odor made me want to toss cookies and there was such a stigma to shopping there, at least in the middle class California neighborhood I grew up in.  There was no cachet to second hand clothes, no vintage shops, it was all about new.  I even loathed hand me down clothes from friends of the family.  My poor mom would sometimes try to tempt me with high quality items from the children of friends of hers, she could rarely get me to wear them.  Hand-me-down was more common then, clothes were not quite at the throw away state they have now achieved.  Other than film and photo, how are people to know what we wore in the last couple decades as there will be few extant pieces left?  I shudder to think what they will look like in 50-150 years.  So even though I just shared my childhood prejudices, I have to say that I loved to dress up in my aunt's old clothes and gaze at outfits from the past that belonged to grannies, great aunties and such.  I wish I had some of those bouffant 50's petticoats and beaded sweater sets that I trashed playing in during my childhood in the 60's. 

Flash forward to now, it is a completely different picture.  I adore thrift store shopping.  Don't get me wrong, I still don't like the smell, but better thrift shops don't have such a musty-moldy scent.  Lo and behold, it is now cool to buy in thrift shops.  Second hand buys come with labels like "retro" and "vintage" and we ooh and ahh over people's clever buys. 

We have several local places, my favorite the the St Vincent de Paul.  I have found the most amazing stuff there.  I go on a regular basis to poke around.  Now each year in the fall they have their collectible sale weekend, each year I miss it because of work or out of town, and each year I swear I will go next year.  Based on the goodies I find in the store after that weekend, it must be great!  Well this year was no exception, I had to work and forgot it was time, however, the Monday following I was off work and drove to my mechanic's shop which is right after the store.  I saw the notice and thought, "darn, I missed it again."  Well, I had a little time so I went in and Score! 

I found three items I love in the china section.  One was a teapot in Price's "Cottage Ware."  For $9.  I think I paid more than that for the one I bought when I lived in England some 30 years ago.  That one has a broken lid, courtesy of many moves in my early years.  I had tried to repair it, very inexpertly I might add.  Well now I have an intact replacement.  I might just swap this one's lid with my original and then think of something else to do with the extra.  The next was a super cute English China milk jug for $9.  Have I mentioned that I have a positive weakness for china?  I especially love:  Tea pots, Tea cups, and Pitchers.  So to complete my happiness I found a tea cup for my collection.  A delicate white with silver trim, featuring white roses with a blush of pink, from Edelstein in Bavaria, Germany.  Here is a picture so you can enjoy them with me.

Then I found a mink fur capelet in excellent condition.  I believe style wise it probably dates from the early 60's, certainly no earlier than the late 50's.  I don't remember seeing women wear these in the late 60's or 70's.  Of course, by then it was very un "PC" to wear furs.  I remember coming out of the San Francisco Opera house around 1969-1970 with my mom and there was a lady in a sable fur coat.  An animal right activist was screaming at her and one of the things the activist screamed was, "how do you think the animal feels who's coat your wearing?"  To which Sable Coat Lady replied, "Why Darling, they don't feel a thing, they are absolutely dead."  She put a slight drawl into the word darling.  Sable Lady had a point, it was a pretty silly thing for activist lady to say.  I absolutely decline to go into the ethics of wearing furs, suffice it to say, once we have made a garment out of an animal, we best use it well and so I buy and recycle furs.  Often I will recut and salvage damaged pieces but this one will remain intact.  The fur is still silky soft and there is no damage anywhere.  The tag inside reads "The Harris Company" which I read on line was a well known maker of coats from Minnesota.  There is no sign of wear or stain, the fur is not hardened or suffering in any way.  It must have been stored properly.  I have got to make some padded hangers for this and the mint condition mink stole I bought last year, and muslin bags.  I don't need to worry about storage as my walk-in closet in my bedroom for some reason is always cool, even on 100+ degree days.  The capelet is design to fit over the shoulders with a little cut out on each side in from for your arms.  The shawl collar comes down to bottom edge in front creating little pockets that you can put your hands in to stay warm and keep it on your shoulders.  A simple, clever, lovely design. 

I need a couple dresses worthy of these furs.  I have been collecting the vintage patterns the big 5 have been re-issuing lately.  What style do you think with this fur?

Quilted Petticoat in an afternoon

Planning for an event this spring, I wanted to have something warm.  We were going to a rendezvous near Mount Shasta in California and I knew some days could be chilly.  I have long wanted a quilted petticoat and plan to make one the old-fashioned way some day.  I actually love quilting.  I find it restful.  Naturally I didn't have time for that this spring, so I decided to cheat.  I found a pretty twin size quilt in pale yellow at TJ Max for about $29.  I bought some bias binding in yellow and tootled on home from town to get started.  The quilting was acceptable for the period, tulip shapes and leaves.  I cut off the border from all sides as I didn't like the way that would look in the petticoat, it really would have screamed bed spread.  That still left a goodly portion and I liked the way there was cording in the edge at the top and bottom after the border was cut off, I felt it would weight the hem nicely.  So I cut a section out of the middle and then used the two remaining rectangles.  I flipped one piece around so that their patterns were running in the same direction and joined their sides together leaving an 8" section unsewn at the top for pocket slits.  After joining both sides, I flat felled the seams with twill tape so that no raw edges would be exposed with batting spilling out.  I bound the edge of the pocket slit with narrow double fold bias tape and the hem with wide double fold.  I wanted to control the bulk somewhat so I pleated down the waist leaving the center front flat for about 8".  To get the pleats to lie well, I topstitched them down about 3".  Then I bound the waist with wide double fold bias leaving it open at the ends for a casing.  I can then run a tape through the casing to tie the skirt on.  I prefer to run it through the front half of the waist and then bring each side through the back casing and around again to the front so I only have to tie once.  I find that is the best for me and feels comfortable and stays snug all day.  I find the tie twice skirts not so comfortable.  Either way is correct to period so I guess it is a personal choice and I am sure there were many other ways as well.  Here are photos showing some of the construction:

 

Here is a close view of some of the quilting design

 

 

 

 I was quite pleased with the resultant petticoat.  I was a little nervous that I might look like a walking bed.  When one is generously proportioned, one must be careful not to resemble furniture! 

 

I had some lovely fabric in my stash that I had picked up a while back in Portland.  I do most of my fabric shopping there.  We have nothing here locally but that store that starts with a J and there isn't much selection there.  My family have learned to plan a day without me when we are in Portland so that I can fabric shop in peace.  Some times my girls enjoy a fabric day, but even they don't have the longevity required for serious fabric shopping.  Only my little Amy understands, she is as much a fabraholic as I.  Amy is my oldest daughter's best friend, they have been together since grasshopper days.  We sewed all together when they were younger and I taught her some, she went on to be a design major at Oregon State and I am very proud of her.  Which is not to say I am not proud of my own two girls, I will brag endlessly about them I am sure in days to come.  Sufficient unto the day, as they say, is the brag thereof. 

 

Well, enough of this digression.  In my stash I had a lovely Indienne print in yellows, rusts and such that would compliment the pale yellow nicely.  I had recently purchased Period Impressions 1760-1770 Jacket patten and was dying to try it.  I cut size 28 which put it in the 3X size range.  I did find a flaw in the drafting of my pattern where the jacket front does not properly meet the jacket back at the neckline.  This was easily corrected by adding a slight curve out and extending the shoulder area somewhat.  I found this when I made my muslin, at first I thought you should ease the two together, however, they cannot do so and the neckline ends up wrong.  The pattern needed to be corrected.  If someone knows who makes these maybe you can let them know that the Queen pattern is not right.  I could only find vendors who sell the patterns, not who designs them on line.  I wish at the price you pay for these patterns they could be more careful.  The jacket went together easily, however, you need to correct the bottom edge after assembly, the pieces do lay properly when they are trimmed to an even curve.  I fastened the front with hooks and eyes, but wanted to add more for security's sake and interest.  I find that busty gals seem to have hooks and eyes part ways easily in the wearing.  If you have some tips for avoiding this problem, I'd love to hear them.  I have tried several, reversing the direction every other hook and such, nothing seems to work unless you have an additional fastening.  So I use the hooks and eyes now to take the main stress of closing and a light addition on top to help the hooks stay fastened, such as ties or lacing.  I did a decorative cross lacing on the front of this jacket, using a jewelry bail for pendants, to lace through-

I have been pleased over all with the results from this pattern and would make the jacket again.  They do have a couple of their other patterns in this size, I hope they will extend the range on more of their patterns.  In a couple afternoons, I had a comfortable and pretty new outfit.

 

 



 

 So what does a girl do with all the free time she ends up having by making things so easily?  Why add a hat to the ensemble, ofcourse!  I reworked a cheap hat from the dollar store to have a low crown and used the braid I took out to cover a wire in the brim so I could get a nice shape and put on some ribbon trim.

So go forth my children and quilt (kinda) yourself a petticoat in an afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uniquely Me or Not?

When the time came that I could finally purchase a dressmaker's form, I researched and thought the best for my purposes was the uniquely you.  I just fit the parameters for their largest size.  When it came, I really should have sent it back.  One foot of the stand was not threaded so I couldn't use it properly.  The upper torso was within the size I needed but the lower half was not.  I thought I could work with it and did some padding on the lower half and worked out the sizing for the upper half by fitting the cover.  It never was quite right.  The upper half kept coming out too large and the lower was too small.  I looked and looked to see if anything might work better.  One plus size form by Dritz would fit my measurements, however, I felt I would probably have ended up in a similar circumstance.  Just getting the right girth is not enough, it has to roll where I do and curve as I do.  I did make a duct tape double years ago and didn't like working with it.  Too many problems to go into now.  Here I am a couple years down the road from purchasing my UY, and it mostly has just taken up space in my sewing room.  I looked at fabulous fit's kit and thought about getting it, but felt is was silly to spend that much making something work which cost enough that it ought to have been right from the start.  So I guess so far it had been uniquely not me!

Well today I thought I needed to get a grip on the situation.  Sadly I now am a little larger than a couple years ago, but at least the upper torso is closer to my size.  So I sat down with some high density foam squares and a little polyester stuffing and set about making it work.  I operated on the idea that if a company could make little foam additives for forms, I could make bigger ones.  With scissors and bread knife, I hacked away and made the rolls on my sides, the bumps on my hips and the tummy.  I used a little hot glue to hold things in place and one of my old bras to get the breasts right.  Now it was starting to get closer to my size and shape.  It seems crazy to me that they make these forms in such straight lines.  People, especially women are rarely flat and straight! 

Now I had the under-structure close to size, I made it a little larger than me so that things would compress as the form is originally intended to do, I started reworking the cover.  The upper torso needed only a little adjustment, but I needed to add a wedge into the lower portion.  I did the several bastings, try ons and re-stitching, to get it right and then completed the final stitching just inside the last bast line.  After all the manipulation her hem was a bit raggedy, so I thought I would bind it with bias tape.  The only thing I had wide enough was some left over red blanket binding.  I figured, what the heck, why not perk her up.  So I put a line of red bias tape around her waist for marking purposes and topped her off with a red bow!  I wrestled the cover back on and tugged it in place and Voila!  Margueritte is born!  I feel that any girl who is all about fashion and hangs around mostly only wearing a few ribbons and a bow, must be french! 

So then came the moment of truth, I measured her and we matched, our rolls were similar and when I put my clothes on her, they fit!  Pretty close to the way they do on me!  I found an old stand for a large floor fan and she fits well onto that.  So finally after two years and a lot of thought and work, I have Margueritte-Uniquely Me? Yes!!

Manufacturers please take note:  there are a lot of us out there plus size!  Why on earth can you not make us a dress form?  It really isn't all that difficult is it?  There must be something out there or how do they design for plus size stores?  Also, put some curves on these things, I mean really, most folks, even if not over weight, have tummys and such. 

So now I have a form I can use for initial fitting.  I doubt that it is so close I can fit solely to the form, final fitting will still have to be on me.  I can also adjust her to my height for hemming easily, and since her lower torso now bumps out in front and back as I do, the garment will hang similar to the way it does on me.  I can also get a good idea of how I will look in the completed outfit.  This is important since some looks are really bad in large sizes.

Margueritte will be modeling some completed work in my next couple of posts.

A Needle In My Hand

I PRAY that, risen from the dead, 
I may in glory stand— 
A crown, perhaps, upon my head, 
But a needle in my hand. 

I 've never learned to sing or play,          
So let no harp be mine; 
From birth unto my dying day, 
Plain sewing 's been my line. 

Therefore, accustomed to the end 
To plying useful stitches,   
I 'll be content if asked to mend 
The little angels' breeches.

Eugene Field. 1850–1895

 I remember seeing the first stanza of this poem about 30 years ago, and I have loved it ever since.  I intend to write about many things, however, my main focus will be on sewing and embroidery.  I especially love costuming and do many time frames depending on which group I am playing with at the moment.  As I have grown older and wider, (I wish I could have put wiser instead there!)  I have found that there is not much out there in the way of help for the large size costumer, despite the fact that such a large percentage of us are in the plus range.  So I will be exploring what are the best period and vintage looks for plus size gals.   Which patterns I have the best experiences with and which draft up in size best. 

I will post past costumes and current projects as the days go along.  I sometimes slope/drape my own patterns and have been frustrated trying to find patterns that fit, especially since I am in the 3X size range and short as well.  I find that most patterns that claim they are in plus sizes only go as far as an American fashion size 18 = pattern size 20.  Betzina and Rowley have been designing some wonderful plus patterns that actually go to a fashion size 6X for the big pattern companies and I have made some things I truly love from their patterns.

I have been sewing for decades, had a costume business for several years, studied design, tailoring and embroidery once upon a time, long, long ago. In the practical world I have worked for almost 3 decades as a registered nurse; while raising two girls as a single mom.

As I thought and thought what to call my blog, many things crossed my mind.  I had some high brow french terms, titles specific to certain time periods and places, tricky plays on words to do with stitchery and none seemed to fit.  I didn't want to be locked to time or mood, but roam all my wide interests.  At rock bottom who I am is an American Country Girl, and proud of it.  So most of all I wanted this in my blog.  Then one day I was taking down pictures to paint and redecorate and I held my framed sampler in my hand.  It was a design purchased by my mom for me when I was about 8 years old and she taught me how to stitch it.  I have kept it ever since and it was my first true embroidery.  Samplers are known to many cultures, however, this is a type of stitchery that Americans made their own.  So my blog title comes from my sampler, made so many years ago.  I will leave it to my readers to agree or not as time goes on if I really do "Know my Stitches."