Sewing - dress pattern

[NurseErin]

You ladies look beautiful!

How do you manage with those hoops? I'd be knocking stuff over, flattening small children, hiding animals ~ all unintentionally.

Well. Mostly unintentionally.

There were some serious hoop accidents lol! When making the first dress I tried on the hoops and such at my friends house. I walked from a den to the living room and it was really hard to move through the hall... little did I know I took their vacuum with me while I was walking. I lifted up the hoop and there it was. We laughe so hard I about died. I had no clue it was in there!

 

[NurseErin]

There were some serious hoop accidents lol! When making the first dress I tried on the hoops and such at my friends house. I walked from a den to the living room and it was really hard to move through the hall... little did I know I took their vacuum with me while I was walking. I lifted up the hoop and there it was. We laughed so hard I about died. I had no clue it was in there!

 

[donna]

Enjoy the sewing threads so much.

Beautiful dresses.

 

[AshleyMel]

Oh my goodness, those dresses are just stunning! I am so over my head! Hubby is not going to be happy with my fabric bill!


But this,

"BTW, hair needs to be parted in middle--that's important! No bangs ("fringe") in this era--came in in the 1870s."

Lordy, I didn't even think! I have the frizziest, most craziest hair in the world. Can I used lots of hair product??? Goodness! Even more stress!

 

[Yulie]

Some of the ladies at the reenactment were carrying umbrellas and bags and had lovely hair accessories. I'm hoping to have something finished in time for the September UDC Division meeting as well. We shall see! Wow! What an undertaking this is!

Best of luck in your endeavors. I highly recommend researching the material culture: umbrella, bonnets, hats, jewelry, bags of all sorts, shoes, etc. Also fabric. There is enough out there on-line that will give you a basic idea about mid-century fabric -- some of it coming from documented quilts.

Also, Buyer Beware. I assume that you wouldn't buy an appliance or a car without doing your research. Same with anything you purchase regarding reproduction Civil War era items. Weigh the worth of an item: that $150 parasol that is an exact reproduction of an original, might be better than that the $35 parasol made out of polyester fabric. I admit that I am a snob and, in my opinion, most of what's being sold lately is pure garbage. I started out in the early 1980s and realize that there are high and low cycles regarding the items that you can purchase. I think we are currently at a low cycle as many of the high-grade craftspeople and vendors are retiring. HOWEVER, there are still a small selection of vendors and craftspeople remaining. Research. Research. Research. Look at original items. Find those museums that have historical clothing and material culture on display. A well researched person is not often subjected to negative experiences. You have so much more resources than I had when I started out. Start out right and you'll do okay. Over a time, you'll find your favorite and know what to avoid. I have my favorite fabric store (four hours away), my favorite pattern company, my favorite bonnet making supplier, etc. I'm sure through mentorship and your research, you'll find your own.

Best Regards,
-Yulie

 

[LoriAnn]

Let's just say I'm fluffy I have about fifty more to go... I still have a lot of sewing to do. This time I made my corset 3 sizes to small so I could shrink into it lol I hate making corsets with a passion!

If you lose 50 lbs, you'll disappear! As my father likes to say, we'll have to stuff your pockets with rocks for windy days.

Fluffy can be kinda nice. Wait...I need my eyebrow smiley for this...hang on.

(Here he is!)

 

[NurseErin]

If you lose 50 lbs, you'll disappear! As my father likes to say, we'll have to stuff your pockets with rocks for windy days.

Fluffy can be kinda nice. Wait...I need my eyebrow smiley for this...hang on.

(Here he is!)

If I wear a hoop I may just fly away lol I'm just working on getting healthy. And the best news is that as I shrink I get more sewing experience

 

[NurseErin]

Off topic from dresses but I finished my third corset today! it looks better on my then my dress form... I like pink if you can't tell!

 

[LoriAnn]

Off topic from dresses but I finished my third corset today! it looks better on my then my dress form... I like pink if you can't tell!

Wonderful! I bet it looks lovely on you.

I'm a pink fan too. I heard pink is supposed to be the "in" color for Spring this year. I'm not sure if that's been influenced by the recent political hoopla or what, but as far as I'm concerned, pink is always in.

Your corset looks like it requires some serious, specialized sewing.

 

[NurseErin]

Wonderful! I bet it looks lovely on you.

I'm a pink fan too. I heard pink is supposed to be the "in" color for Spring this year. I'm not sure if that's been influenced by the recent political hoopla or what, but as far as I'm concerned, pink is always in.

Your corset looks like it requires some serious, specialized sewing.

It was okay just a pain in the side (hahaha literally) to make. I've made two others by making my own pattern. They turned out ok but this is by far the best one yet! Here's a picture of the second one. It's much less shapely and works towards the look of the time but it wasn't quite there yet... the sad part is is that this one will never see a reenactment as I can lace it shut without even being squished. I could probably wiggle out of it lol Every time I make one I learn something new!

 

[AshleyMel]

Wonderful work!

 

[AshleyMel]

Oh, I was with another quilting group today and one of the ladies was with DAR and she was very interested when I told her about my sewing projects so here's to hoping I can pick her brain about patterns and fabrics as well!

 

[LoriAnn]

It was okay just a pain in the side (hahaha literally) to make. I've made two others by making my own pattern. They turned out ok but this is by far the best one yet! Here's a picture of the second one. It's much less shapely and works towards the look of the time but it wasn't quite there yet... the sad part is is that this one will never see a reenactment as I can lace it shut without even being squished. I could probably wiggle out of it lol Every time I make one I learn something new!

This one is beautiful too! I'm impressed.

I'm also giggling at the idea of you wiggling out of your corset. *big sneeze* "Whoops!"

I agree about learning something new with each project. I was just talking about this a couple of days ago ~ how I know I need practice, so I try to think of a practice project, but then I want to do a really good job on it, so I stall because I feel I don't have the skill yet and must pick just the RIGHT project...and of course, that means nothing gets done.

I'm learning you just gotta jump in.

 

[NurseErin]

This one is beautiful too! I'm impressed.

I'm also giggling at the idea of you wiggling out of your corset. *big sneeze* "Whoops!"

I agree about learning something new with each project. I was just talking about this a couple of days ago ~ how I know I need practice, so I try to think of a practice project, but then I want to do a really good job on it, so I stall because I feel I don't have the skill yet and must pick just the RIGHT project...and of course, that means nothing gets done.

I'm learning you just gotta jump in.

Yep just jump in and find a way to hide mistakes or fix them aprons work wonders!

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Ah! Something I can help with! ( I just tried not ending that sentence with a preposition and it just sounds pompous " Something with which I can help ". Hmmmm. ) In fact will bump Donna's thread because it's just easier. All else sewing - they'd have held a meeting and kicked me out of 1861.

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/tribute-to-the-apron.117422/

 

[18thVirginia]

I'm with you, JPK, if it means sewing for myself. Have made quilts, done lots of pillows, but clothes for myself, no way. Spent a lot of time making a quilted jacket once and found that when wearing it I could only think about how much time I'd spent working on it and the number of times I'd had to rip out the binding.

 

[LoriAnn]

I'm going to share a couple of links to new-ish online sewing communities. Ravelry, the one for yarn enthusiasts, has been so helpful, I thought perhaps some of you who sew might like to know about these. (I just found them and joined, so I can't offer up any type of review yet. Only that I have benefited a great deal from my participation on Ravelry and hope the sewing community manages to create a very similar site.)

Textillia

The Fold Line

Once I get familiar with these sites, I will come back to this thread and offer up a mini-review. After a quick look, it seems that Textillia is shooting for Ravelry-esque excellence, which is fantastic! (In fact, there's a spot to put your Ravelry user name in your profile.)

This means there's a fair chance this site will eventually attract a whole sub-community of those interested in reproduction sewing, including those who make a living in this area. It could be an excellent vehicle for both learning and advertising. (Ravelry has over 7 million registered users. I just checked ~ 3489 are online as I type this. )
https://thefoldline.com/

 

[AshleyMel]

Oh thanks for the links LoriAnn! I haven't been able to work on anything much lately! I did, however; purchase some fabric that I hope will be used to make a wrapper dress. I found it on clearance and it is 100% cotton so I hope to start something soon!

 

[LoriAnn]

Oh thanks for the links LoriAnn! I haven't been able to work on anything much lately! I did, however; purchase some fabric that I hope will be used to make a wrapper dress. I found it on clearance and it is 100% cotton so I hope to start something soon!

And thank you for teaching me what a wrapper dress is ~ I had to go look that up.

 

[LoriAnn]

And in keeping with our discussion in the other thread ~ the one about having fabric, and then acquiring more fabric, yet not quite sewing all that fabric in a timely manner ~ I acquired this fabric last night:

Polka Dots!!

In my defense, I have 3 knitted shawls that will go with this. Possibly 4. I could, if I really put my mind to it, sew up this dress within a week of getting the fabric. Maybe.



I was going to joke about this not being a period correct pattern, but then I checked, and darn if they didn't enjoy polka dots as much as I do.

(I know she doesn't look like she's enjoying them, but deep down...she is.)

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