Actually it's more of a continuation of one big project. The chemise and corset were made to go with a gown that I have FINALLY started working on. I found some beautiful kingfisher blue wool flannel at my local fabric store......can I just say that I love a good coupon! The gown will be here-after known as the kingfisher gown because of the blue fabric and the gold/orange/rust colored fabric that I am using for the the forepart and sleeves. I've had this gown bouncing around in my brain all year and I am so excited to be making it a reality.
The gown is going to be a low necked Elizabethan gown from the Margo Anderson pattern line. To date I have sort of finished the over skirt, the waistband needs to be re-done as the pattern called for construction methods that resulted in the waistband being ridiculously thick and bulky. Need to figure out how to reduce that bulk so that I don't begin to resemble an Umpa Loompa while wearing it. It's the curse of being short. *insert shoulder shrug here* I cheated a little by using a skirt I made last year as an underskirt and I am currently attaching the forepart to that skirt. I'm a big fan of not making more work for myself if I don't have to.
Project pictures will be coming soon, I have to admit that I get so wrapped up in the work that I forget to take pictures until I'm done. One of my goals is to document what happens in between the start and finish. Wish me luck, I think this is one of the more challenging projects I have done in a while!
8/10/10
7/20/10
Pictures, finally!
Finally got around to posting my chemise and corset photos as promised. The quality isn't the best, but at least you can see how they turned out. The last picture is a detail of the embroidery on the cuff and cuff ruffle. The same pattern was used on the collar as well. Hope you like!
7/2/10
From Chemise to corset!
I am finished with the chemise now, it turned out beautiful despite all the hang-ups I had during construction. Haven't had a chance to take pictures yet, but I promise some are coming.
I started the corset project last weekend and so far I am very pleased. The construction hasn't taken very long, but working with the pattern proved to be an adventure. The pattern requires ALOT of alteration to custom fit to your body. In this case I was combining two separate sizes, on two different pieces into one pattern. I took it slow, re-drawing the different lines several times to get what I THINK is the right fit. I may have mentioned this before, but I have some health issues that make wearing most corsetry very painful. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this corset does not extend very far over the belly, but maybe that is because I have a short waist and a long torso. I just tried the corset on over my chemise and am pleased to announce that IT FITS! Hurray! I don't think it even needs to have boning removed. It seems that the extra time I put in to altering the pattern has paid off. My past experience with corsetry has been with the civil war-era version and the fit of a 16th century corset is completely different. There is very little compression past the bust area, in fact, the boning seems to hold the garment away from the lower body in a way I was not expecting. After wearing CW corsetry, this corset is sooo much easier to wear. I can take a deep breath, expanding my abdomen with no discomfort or restriction. The boning pattern does not allow for the hourglass shape that we think of when picturing a corset, it actually creates a smooth, flat line from bust to waist, without the inward curve we are used to seeing.
I am ridiculously happy with this corset! As long as I do not allow whoever is lacing me to pull it too tight I think I may be able to wear this garment with very little discomfort. Anyone who has had to deal with this issue knows this is a big deal.
Pictures of the chemise and the corset will be coming after I do the finish work on the corset......and figure out how to get more than one photo to post at a time. I can conquer corsetry but the ins and outs of posting pictures on a blog defeats me. Go figure!
I started the corset project last weekend and so far I am very pleased. The construction hasn't taken very long, but working with the pattern proved to be an adventure. The pattern requires ALOT of alteration to custom fit to your body. In this case I was combining two separate sizes, on two different pieces into one pattern. I took it slow, re-drawing the different lines several times to get what I THINK is the right fit. I may have mentioned this before, but I have some health issues that make wearing most corsetry very painful. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this corset does not extend very far over the belly, but maybe that is because I have a short waist and a long torso. I just tried the corset on over my chemise and am pleased to announce that IT FITS! Hurray! I don't think it even needs to have boning removed. It seems that the extra time I put in to altering the pattern has paid off. My past experience with corsetry has been with the civil war-era version and the fit of a 16th century corset is completely different. There is very little compression past the bust area, in fact, the boning seems to hold the garment away from the lower body in a way I was not expecting. After wearing CW corsetry, this corset is sooo much easier to wear. I can take a deep breath, expanding my abdomen with no discomfort or restriction. The boning pattern does not allow for the hourglass shape that we think of when picturing a corset, it actually creates a smooth, flat line from bust to waist, without the inward curve we are used to seeing.
I am ridiculously happy with this corset! As long as I do not allow whoever is lacing me to pull it too tight I think I may be able to wear this garment with very little discomfort. Anyone who has had to deal with this issue knows this is a big deal.
Pictures of the chemise and the corset will be coming after I do the finish work on the corset......and figure out how to get more than one photo to post at a time. I can conquer corsetry but the ins and outs of posting pictures on a blog defeats me. Go figure!
6/17/10
Update!
I am nearly done my chemise now. After a few construction hang-ups the chemise is now fully assembled. I have a few seams to finish and it needs hemming, but I'm nearly there. Will be posting pictures when it is complete. The entire garment is hand-sewn and hand finished, with blackwork embroidery on the collar and cuffs. I used some very narrow generic ribbon onto which I threaded some small metal beads.....I noticed on a lot of portraits that the ties on partlets and chemises seemed to be very delicate and almost decorative rather than functional.......I added the beads as an aesthetic feature and then realised that they add a good weight to the ties that makes a bow hold better.
The aforementioned construction hangups were a result of my own gaffs....starting to attach a cuff and then noticing that it is on backwards, beginning to assemble a cuff before applying the interfacing and belatedly realising that I had marked the wrong side of a sleeve and having to erase and re-transfer all the marks to the appropriate side. Most of these could have been avoided if I remembered my own rule of stopping to breathe before moving on to the next step. One problem I have that is a constant for me is sleeve setting. This has always been difficult for me, but I ran into one problem that with this patten that made the sleeve setting even more difficult. When I went to attach the sleeves I realised that the marks on the body were completely wrong for the sleeves, nothing I did made them work. If I matched the dots, the shoulder was too big for the opening....if I matched the shoulder the bottom of the chemise was over two inches off. I gave in to a moment of pure frustration and then set it by starting at the bottom of the garment and working my way up, inserting the sleeve as I went. When the gathers were pulled and everything was pinned the sleeve set almost perfectly with very little adjustment. The second sleeve was more difficult ( maybe because I was tired) and after fussing with it for a while I decided that it was in as good as I could get it. I will find out tomorrow if it worked when I hang it on my dress form. I notice that I have very little patience as I near the end of any chemise/shirt project. I think it's because they do take sooo long when done by hand, if there is one item I would have no problem doing certain seams on a machine, its a chemise.
All problems aside I think the finished product will look pretty good, if not technically perfect. The embroidery turned out lovely although I do wish I could have used something other than dnc floss. The pattern I used is beautiful and perfect for a ladies chemise....I honestly think it may be my favorite one yet, both aesthetically and for ease. Once I hit my stride with this pattern it almost worked itself.....of course I always transfer the pattern to the fabric before working it, I'm all about making life easier. The wrist ruffles turned out nice after what felt like endless narrow hems and a small line of black stitching done at the very edge. From a few impromptu fittings in the construction process it seems to fit very well.....but the proof is in the pudding and I won't know for sure until tomorrow when I turn it right side out and try it on. Everything going according to plan I should be able to finish it by the beginning of next week!
The aforementioned construction hangups were a result of my own gaffs....starting to attach a cuff and then noticing that it is on backwards, beginning to assemble a cuff before applying the interfacing and belatedly realising that I had marked the wrong side of a sleeve and having to erase and re-transfer all the marks to the appropriate side. Most of these could have been avoided if I remembered my own rule of stopping to breathe before moving on to the next step. One problem I have that is a constant for me is sleeve setting. This has always been difficult for me, but I ran into one problem that with this patten that made the sleeve setting even more difficult. When I went to attach the sleeves I realised that the marks on the body were completely wrong for the sleeves, nothing I did made them work. If I matched the dots, the shoulder was too big for the opening....if I matched the shoulder the bottom of the chemise was over two inches off. I gave in to a moment of pure frustration and then set it by starting at the bottom of the garment and working my way up, inserting the sleeve as I went. When the gathers were pulled and everything was pinned the sleeve set almost perfectly with very little adjustment. The second sleeve was more difficult ( maybe because I was tired) and after fussing with it for a while I decided that it was in as good as I could get it. I will find out tomorrow if it worked when I hang it on my dress form. I notice that I have very little patience as I near the end of any chemise/shirt project. I think it's because they do take sooo long when done by hand, if there is one item I would have no problem doing certain seams on a machine, its a chemise.
All problems aside I think the finished product will look pretty good, if not technically perfect. The embroidery turned out lovely although I do wish I could have used something other than dnc floss. The pattern I used is beautiful and perfect for a ladies chemise....I honestly think it may be my favorite one yet, both aesthetically and for ease. Once I hit my stride with this pattern it almost worked itself.....of course I always transfer the pattern to the fabric before working it, I'm all about making life easier. The wrist ruffles turned out nice after what felt like endless narrow hems and a small line of black stitching done at the very edge. From a few impromptu fittings in the construction process it seems to fit very well.....but the proof is in the pudding and I won't know for sure until tomorrow when I turn it right side out and try it on. Everything going according to plan I should be able to finish it by the beginning of next week!
6/7/10
Lesson Learned
I learned a valuable lesson this past week. I have started work on my chemise( I will refer to a shift, smock or similar undergarment as a chemise for easier reading) and was trucking along wonderfully. The collar was fully embroidered and ready to be assembled by Friday. I decided to check the fit, even though I thought I had cut it to my measurements. Good thing I did, because the collar was several eighth's of an inch TO SMALL! SO, all that embroidery work went down the drain and I had to start over from scratch. This time I made sure it was going fit BEFORE I embroidered the new collar. The sad part is that I know this, I just got a little carried away by how smoothly everything was going that I didn't think to test the fit first. So much for keeping up the momentum. Ce la vie! I'm back on track now with the new collar, it only took me the weekend to redo everything. Have to pick up some decent interfacing and I can get to work assembling and attaching the collar to the body. I am hoping that the new collar size will work with the body size without too much adjustment. This is a new pattern for me so I am glad that I am the test dummy and not doing this for a friend! I found a beautiful embroidery pattern...I think from the blackwork archives (need to check that!) and will be posting some pictures at a later date of the completed chemise. The act of posting pictures and I are still not good friends yet!
5/26/10
New Pattern
I should be getting my Margo Anderson's undergarments pattern today! I am so excited to get started on this summer's projects! I've already started looking at blackwork patterns for the shift. When I'm not in the mood, or creative place, to draft my own patterns I love to look at the Blackwork Archives and see what grabs me. I usually decide by doing a quick version of a few different patterns to see what I like and if I will like it better in blue or red. I usually end up sticking with black because it goes with EVERYTHING and I don't have to worry about the embroidery working with different pieces. Since blackwork is one of my guilty pleasures (if I don't stop myself I tend to get carried away), picking one pattern or even two for one piece can be difficult, so I try to get that out of the way before I even start the project.
I get ridiculously excited when I am preparing to start a new project. I usually sketch out a few versions of what I want to do, in case I can't find my first choice of fabric or color and then go crazy until I can actually start working. In the past I haven't worried too much about undergarments, but this project calls for the 'right' undergarments before I even start on the outer garment. This project will include my altered version of a corset( pair of bodies), as mentioned in a previous post, to accommodate the health problems I have. So, in future posts I'm hoping to track my progress through this very long project. In addition I may be doing a project for a friend that I will also try to post on.
Wish me luck!!
I get ridiculously excited when I am preparing to start a new project. I usually sketch out a few versions of what I want to do, in case I can't find my first choice of fabric or color and then go crazy until I can actually start working. In the past I haven't worried too much about undergarments, but this project calls for the 'right' undergarments before I even start on the outer garment. This project will include my altered version of a corset( pair of bodies), as mentioned in a previous post, to accommodate the health problems I have. So, in future posts I'm hoping to track my progress through this very long project. In addition I may be doing a project for a friend that I will also try to post on.
Wish me luck!!
5/22/10
First Corset Musings
Here is a run-down of my first corset project that I completed in the summer of '09 for a good friend, it was mostly an experiment. I used a Simplicity costume pattern and I followed it's directions to the "T". The biggest thing I would change was the use of soft plastic boning. The corset itself turned out ok, but the plastic boning was too flexible to give my friend the needed support. The style of the corset is more suited to the Tudor period than to the Elizabethan period it was intended for. All things being equal, it didn't turn out that bad. I did hand sew the entire project and for a experiment it didn't turn out that bad.
Please excuse the quality of the picture there could have been some better lighting there.
5/20/10
Welcome!
This is my first attempt at blogging, so please have patience as I get the hang of this! As soon as I have figured out how to get pictures to post I will be posting pictures of my most recent projects. I just finished an 18th century embroidered pocket and will hopefully be soon embarking on my first Margo Anderson Patterns ensemble.......starting with a chemise and corset, otherwise known as pair of bodies. My corset will be something of an experiment, even though I will be using a pattern. For those of you who have ever worn a corset of any period you will know that while they are for the most part quite comfortable and do wonders for your posture there are some instances when wearing a corset is extremely painful. I developed endometriosis and IBS several years ago and the abdominal swelling that goes with those conditions makes wearing a corset almost impossible. So I am going to attempt to put together a corset that gives me the shape and bust support required for the Elizabethan period, but allows me to be comfortable. I will be using a pattern, but altering certain features to get the result I need. Stay tuned for more on this experiment this summer.
In the meantime I will work hard to get some pictures up and get the hang of this!
In the meantime I will work hard to get some pictures up and get the hang of this!
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