TwilaTee, On a Mission to Costume the World

Something is afoot, So where's the Circle K?

2012-04-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all! how are you? I hope well! I've been absent, but quite busy. I have things to share with you, and I hope you enjoy it all. :)

I've been working on a Rockabilly and Lolita fashion line. I'm testing out the first three designs on Etsy. Please do take a peek, and buy if you choose. Give me some feedback. Tell me what you would like to change, fabric you would rather see, or designs you'd rather have. All that information is extremely relevant and important to me. Thank you so very much for helping me out! :)

All art Candy Rudolf

Bespoke... Dips in Time

Eventually... next month I'll be adding vintage bathing suits. Also the first of the EGL (lolita) stuffs.

I've made a Snow White Cosplay. Claire Hummel has done, and is doing, a series of artwork, all historically accurate Disney princesses. When I saw them, I had to get my greedy grubby hands on Snows gown. I mean... I REALLY wanted it. :) so I made it!

I finished the dress last weekend and sent Claire Hummel some pictures. She in turn posted them on her tumblr. :) SQUEEEEE!! All this is Quite EXCITING!

Everyone that in turn commented and reposted and liked my gown, Thank You all so very much. I sometimes forget how BIG, and yet how SMALL the world is. It's so amazing that the thread I play with in my little studio could touch so many people. I am overwhelmed, and grateful, and humbled. I seriously love you guys. :)

Please visit Claire's Tumblr. Shoomlah
I did do a Dress Diary entry about this gown on LiveJournal. You need to be a member of that comm to view it... Although I can repost that entry here.... hmmmm I wonder if I could just use the HTML??

And with that, I now have a DeviantART I'll be using it as my portfolio.... seems like all the hip kids are doing it. :) I'll add a link back to this blog so my tutorials and free patterns will be accessible from there. I'm looking to get my web footprint more cohesive.

Apron Pattern and Tutorial Part 1

2011-12-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

As a Christmas gift for my family and friends, I made aprons to give out at a Christmas baking party that I had at my home. I thought it might also be nice to give a tutorial and a free pattern for the apron to my blog followers. They are super easy to construct and make quick and cute gifts.

With all my heart I hope that your Christmas holiday is filled with joy and happiness, and that next year will be prosperous. Merry Christmas! :)

To make this apron you will need:

1 1/4 yards of 45' novelty cotton print or quilting cotton print.

If you want your waistband tie to be the wider width you will need the 1 1/2 yards.

The above picture shows the apron's cutting layout. The only time you'll need scissors to cut in this project is for the apron bib... the pattern for it is below... all of the straps, ruffles and skirt are torn on the straight of grain across the bolt, from salvage to salvage. It's important to ask the store to tear your fabric or to give you and extra 3 inches or so, because as you can see in my layout picture this fabric wasn't torn on the grain from the bolt, and because of that I'm missing 2" or so at the top right. I should have been able to get 4 half straps and 3 full straps from 1 1/4 yards of fabric

Cut List:

2 apron bibs... either Arch or Heart shaped

4 half straps... 2 of these are for the neck strap and 2 will be used for the bib ruffle. These are torn 3" wide across the bolt from salvage to the bib

3 full bolt width straps... 2 of these are for the waistband tie and 1 is for the bib ruffle. These are torn 3" wide across the bolt from salvage to salvage. If you want to have the wider waistband tie, tear the 2 waistband ties at 4.5"

1 skirt... You don't really have to tear this out. Whatever is the remaining fabric will be your skirt.

I think the heart shaped bib front looks shorter than the Arch... they should be the same length. (I've no idea how that happened.)

Next entry will be all the steps of construction! I am now headed to my 3rd Christmas Party!

Finished things

2011-10-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy... and really shouldn't be taking the time out to edit these pictures and such... but I've been putting this off for too long. It really needs to be posted.

Regency Fairy

First off is the Regency Fairy. I took a million photos, that have been lost. I let my son borrow my camera, and I think the pictures from faire are no more. It's a good thing my friend took pictures! lol! So I did a bit of pilfering and photoshop-ing and now have these pictures to share:

I bought a bottle of bubbles. I like the picture to the right, as you can see my new bracelets.

With wings.... you can see my sandals. I found a painting of a regency lady wearing some very similar to these. I was glad to have worn them, it was rather warm that day!

Without the wings.. you can see how the wings are tied to my stays with ribbon. I am glad I decided to do this. Although my stays are a bit visible, the weight of the wings was better carried by doing this. My friend had a neck ache the next day because she only tied the wings around her shoulders.

The dress pattern is: Period Impressions #464
My stays: Past Patterns #38
I'm NOT wearing a petticoat... soooo skanky.
My chemise: Shift I shortened the sleeves

The Second of Three Victorians

This is my Blue Bonnet.... the pattern is: The Clara Christine

I made the pattern for this dress... but mostly it's from... Patterns of Fashion 1 and 2

and would you look at that 2 posts to this blog in one day!

Early Victorian

2011-10-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

This post contains a free pattern!! very exciting. :)

So... Early Victorian.... in my mind this spans the time when the young queen took over, and some smarty pants figured out that if you put steel wire in a corded petticoat instead of rope, chicks would dig it. So 1840 ish to 1850 ish. :)

If any paragraph that I have written would clue you in that I'm NOT a reenactor but am a costumer... I'm not sure I could write a more blasphemous one. :) for reals.

But this is actually really accurate. Hand to god. I swear. During this time period... Early Victorian. women liked big skirts... :) but it was hard to get skirts super big. So methods were devised. I guess this started with the romantic era 1825-1830 ish?... but corded petticoats (if not heavy and hot) solved the bigger skirt problem, a little bit. Corded petticoats and heavily starched petticoats (heavily starched in so heavy a starch that the skirts could stand on their own) used together would hold a skirt out pretty well. I didn't mention petticoats made of horsehair or crin... crin is french for hair??... and yes, that would be a crinoline. :) (dropping knowledge like a bomb)

I'm not sure when this particular pattern was published... I'm assuming sometime late in this era. But this corded petticoat calls for 3 rows of reed. Yah... reed, that grows... in like a river... and you can make wicker chairs out of it. Yah. REED.

So this corded petticoat is super BIG. and for the most part is strong, and can support a heavy starched petticoat, and dress.

Did you know... I wrote this post super long ago, and was going to edit it, and add something. I don't remember what it was... I think a tutorial on double piping. Well, it's been too long and if I haven't written that tutorial yet, I might as well post this without it. At least the pattern is there. :)

Regency Fairy... A wing Tutorial

2011-08-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Katherine and I are in the sad position of being a pair of historical costumers in a landscape full of cos-players and fantasy costumers. To be honest though we have both costumed characters from movies, but for the most part, it's all about historical technique and construction.

She and I go to the Ren Faire most years. We try to make costumes relevant to the time period. We had planned on making rural Flemish gowns this year.. But wool?!?! Multiple layers?!? At 100'? Oh no. I just can't.

So Katherine and I were joking
around and came up with the idea of wearing light and airy Regency Gowns to Faire, but because it's Faire (not the most historically accurate event) wearing fairy wings had real appeal.

Being the big nerd that I am, I did a search for Regency Fairies and found this book..

It's a lovely little book, full of Regency Faries. I used the pictures in this book as a starting point for my wings.

As luck and serendipity would have it my friend MirthFairy is very knowledgeable in the construction of fairy wings. She even started her own fairy guild at the Ren Faire! She agreed to give Katherine and I, a crash course in wing making. It was very fun and educational... Plus I set out a pretty Tea. :)

No... I don't bake. Pic-link :)

With the information I learned and the magic of google I hitched a plan, and surprise surprise it was rather successful!

Like I said, I wanted my wings to have a realistic insect like look...
I found on etsy, and eBay... artist making printed wings on transparency film, for ball jointed dolls. They have dragonfly, cicada, and moth like veins through the wings. I was worried though that if I printed wings in a human size and tried to mount the printed transparency on iridescent cellophane the ink would smear... messy. So I decided cut work would do, even if it's not as realistic.

HOW TO MAKE CUT WORK FAIRY WINGS

You will need:

a self healing cutting mat
exacto knife
Hammer and a board to hammer on
steam iron
small box to spray adhesive
A needle tool... Or a thin screwdriver.

spray paint (black) for metal
spray adhesive
black shower curtain liner
clear cellophane
iridescent cellophane
galvanized wire

First thing you'll do is draw your pattern... Or copy mine. :) you might want to copy 2 as a guide for placing your cut work.

Sorry about the glare...
I drew mine on old Christmas wrapping paper.

Next you'll need to bend your wire frame.

Then smash the center section with a hammer... Best part of this project! HULK SMASH!

Paint the frame... Do this outside so you don't asphyxiate yourself. :( .... Hang it out on the line so it will dry... And eat lunch now. :)

Now layer your wing diagram over 2 layers of shower curtain

Now cut out the wing

The cut wings will look kinda like this

Set up your adhesive station

And spray!!! But don't go crazy breathing is good... And its wicked sticky.

Your going to apply this cut shape to a layer of clear cellophane... This is kinda tricky. I'm good at this kind of tedious arranging... But if you aren't I suggest that you print out a pattern of the original drawing and use it as a guide. You can use a needle tool or a small screwdriver to manipulate the cut work.... it's infinitely better than your fingers! :)

Next you'll spray the correct wire wing section with adhesive also spray the cut work/clear cellophane assembly with adhesive withe the cut work side up...and apply the cut work side to the wire wing. Cut another section of clear cellophane and encase the wire wing. Turn on your iron... And using a TEFLON COVER!!!! I don't think it's possible to do this project without this... If you don't have one experiment with your iron on different settings to see what sealing and god forbid MELTING effects you will achieve... Otherwise use a heat embossing tool.

Once you have all the cut work applied use your iron or heat embossing tool and shrink the cellophane to the wire frame.

Now... I wanted my wings to have an iridescent effect... You don't have to do this part if you don't want to....

Spray the wing

Apply the iridescent

Iron... I messed about with steam for texture.

Trim off the extra cellophane.

Now the middle wire section is a mess... So cover it up with some fabric, and bows... And maybe a big ol silk rose. :) mine ties on with ribbon... Mine came from The Ribbon Store... Do go there!

All done!

I maybe might wear this dress... or make another... we will see! :)

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The first of three Victorians

2011-08-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

I like that title... sounds like a historical romance novel. :) But in this context it's just as it sounds. I need three victorian dresses... and I've just made one.

I need a gown for the Victorian Grand Ball, a day dress for a reenactment, and a tennis dress for a contest.

Actually the day dress is practically done... it just needs:
closures
trim
skirt attached
but that's a blog for another day.

To be honest, the ball gown was going to be a MUCH different dress. I was planning on making a dress from one of my favorite Tissot paintings. I have everything to make it... but the weather got hot, and I started thinking that dancing in long sleeves might be a new kind of hell... and opted out. Also, I found a dress on ebay that is so very lovely in it's simplicity, I just had to try my hand at it.

Isn't it lovely? I love how the watered silk makes the statement. I wore off white and gold to last years ball, and only white reads "wedding" to me... although I'm not so sure it did the victorians. Regardless... I couldn't find moire in white. In fact the only watered silk I could find were so expensive I was a bit shocked. I'm a budget costumer. I very rarely go over $20 a yard, and do my best to keep projects under $100. So I was about to give it all up and try to alter the Tissot idea so that the skirt was the same, but with a ball gown bodice, when I found a vintage length of rayon moire... 5 yards! $30. Although I'm a on a budget, fabric content is kinda a big deal to me. So a dilemma. I bought it... because a $30 dress?? and also, buying vintage fabric is good for the environment. Not really sure how... but yah, environment. Plus, it's red. :)

My finished dress:

It's a pretty dress... and I like it very much. I've ordered some ribbon to add to the shoulders in long bows... and a ribbon for lacing, both in red.

Next post I'll give you the pattern for the corded petticoat underneath. Also a tutorial for making double, and single piping, and some examples of early victorian ball gowns.

A Strawberry Recticule

2011-06-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

This post is for a friend of mine that requested this pattern. It's not historically accurate, it's just freaking cute. There are historical hand bags shaped like fruit though, but this pattern is of my own design and uses modern patterning and sewing techniques.

to make this little bag you will need:
14" x the bolt length of red or pink silk taffeta.
20" x the bolt length of green silk taffeta.
black seed beads
a cord for the draw string
36" of ribbon for handles... I used my green silk to back my trim... just to make it stronger
perhaps a tassel to finish off the bottom of the bag.

this is the finished bag:

The only "tutorial" I'm going to give for this project is to remind you about gussets... the construction isn't difficult but it's important if you want a clean finished project is to START and STOP sewing on the X's... otherwise the bag just won't go together well...

I didn't mark 5 things on the pattern...

1. The center line... it runs down the center of the bag pattern piece from tip to tip
2. the placement of the straps... they go inside the bag at the center line about 1/2 underneath drawstring casing.
3. the placement of the eyelet holes for the drawstring... you will place 1 eyelet hole 1/4" on either side of the center line, in the center of the drawstring casing
4. The fact that the lining and the outside fabric DON'T MATCH UP!! They are offset by half... match the edge of the outside fabric to the center line of the lining... you can see this in the picture above.
5. The placement for the seed beads are marked with X's on the pattern.

and without further ado... Here's the pattern! :D

again just like the last pattern... it's in inches... 1 inch squared.

Regency Drawn Bonnet... Pattern and Tutorial #3

2011-06-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

At this point in your project you should have...

all pieces cut
the tip sewn to it's lining and gaged to 14 7/8
Crown/Brim hemmed and all 13 cording channels done

The Crown/Brim pattern is marked with a broken line along it's center. The center front, and center back are marked with an X. It's a good idea to fold and press your linen along this line so that when you draw up your cords the center remains straight and the bonnet doesn't become twisted. You can also use your favorite method of marking your fabric (pen, chalk, thread tack.) As your drawing up your cords you can use a straight edge to maintain the center line.

Now we draw the cording through the channels.

I used an upholstery needle to do the job. I bought a set of old stock 12" double points on eBay. You could use this tool, or a tapestry needle, a ball pointed bodkin, or a Fast Turn or Quick turn tool.

It's a simple matter of threading your tool with your crochet cotton and pulling the yarn through it's channel. Do all the channels. Secure one end of the yarn first with a knot and then with either hand sewing, or back tack multiple times on your machine. Now adjust the cords lengths. I gave you the list of cord lengths last post, but here is the list again:

14 7/8
15 3/4
17 7/8
18
19 3/8
20 5/8
21 1/4
22 1/4
23 7/8
24 5/8
26 7/8
28 1/2
29 5/8

Once again, just to emphasize, make sure that you maintain the center line and that the cords length is evenly divided between the left and right sides of the center line.

Once you have got all your cords measured secure the end with a knot and a back tack on the machine or by hand.

Now we attach the tip to the Crown/Brim.

The tip has been gaged or cartridge pleated to 14 7/8". As you notice this is the same length as the first cord (neck edge). The center of the tip should be marked with an X... or a pin, the C.B of the Crown/Brim is marked with an X. The X on the Crown/Brim C.B is on the cord, NOT on the fabrics edge. This is because the fabrics edge is in fact a ruffle. You will be sewing the gaged tip to the Crown/Brim along the first cord.

Next we will gather the tips neck edge. Mark the center of the tips neck edge (this will be the placement of ties C.B seam) The neck edges total length is 3 1/2"

Next gather the last 3 cords on the Crown/Brim to 1"(these are the longest cords, the face edge cords)... obviously do this on both sides. :D. Sorry, no picture.

Now you'll attach the tie.

Use a 1/2 seam allowance to attach the tie. With right sides together, match the ties C.B seam to the tips C.B. at X.

Now with your 1/8 rolled hem foot roll both sides of the ties edges that WON'T be attached to the bonnet... you should over lap the rolled hem and the 1/2" seam allowance a bit (and inch or so on either side??) so that the ties edge doesn't come unraveled there. This area will take the most strain because this is the place that the tie will be tied and untied every time you put the bonnet on.

Rolled hem foot tip:

Finger press the first fold in your fabric (about an inch in length), place your material under your foot and lower your needle into the pre-rolled section, raise the foot and pull the pre folded edge into your rolled hem foot. Make sure the pressure is set high on the pressure foot dial... this is so that your fabric doesn't slip around inside of the foot and make your rolled hem larger than you wanted. Or worse yet unevenly hemmed, or the fabric coming completely out of the foot and not making a hem at all.

The last thing to do is to finish off the tie.

The tie does double duty as closure and neck edge facing. All of the raw edges from the Crown/Brim, tip, and tie are folded up neatly into the tie. Just fold over the seam allowance and place the folded edge to to the line of stitching that attached the tie to the bonnet. Use a hand whip stitch to attach the tie to the inside of the bonnet.

I added extra ties to my bonnet... I use them for my victorian bonnets and it really helps to keep the bonnet in place. Use a thin cord for the extra tie. The cord tie holds the bonnet in place and lets the real tie look pretty tied loosely.

The last thing you'll do is starch the bonnet. Use liquid starch and press the bonnet's Brim/Crown flat. The stiffer the bonnets brim the better!

So, that's that! You made a completely ridiculous bonnet! :D good times!

Regency Drawn Bonnet... Pattern and Tutorial Part 2

2011-06-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Once you have all pieces cut, the construction is simple enough... if not tedious.

First, you will need the tip. Sorry (my bad) I didn't label my pattern pieces. The tip is the circular piece that is cut on the fold. You'll need that cut of linen and of some kind of sheer, stiff material. I used silk organza, but organdy would work. Using a 1/2" seam allowance sew together the tip and lining together along it's outside edge. Leave the straight edge... this is the neck edge... unsewn.

Trim off the seam allowance and turn the tip right side out, using the neck edge (the straight edge) as your access point.

If your good at whip gathers you don't need to do this, but if your like me and have a hard time keeping your whip gathers consistent and estimating the amount of fabric each stitch needs along the fabrics length, you might want to do like me and cartridge pleat instead. The outside (rounded) edge of the tip needs to be condensed into 14 7/8". If you'd like to learn about whip gathering check out Katherine's Dress Site. She's got a tutorial in there somewhere. :) Alternatively here is a tutorial on Cartridge Pleating... it's also called gaging.

The pin there is marking the center of the tip.

Now on to the tedious task of making the cording channels and running the cording. It's not hard... just time consuming, and monotonous.

I did all of this on my sewing machine... because I'm a costumer, NOT a reenactor. If your wanting a highly researched and documented project, your reading the wrong journal. I've invested quite a bit of money in my machines and I'm going to use them, and I'm not even a little bit sorry about that. My methods get the "look" and the "feel" of the costume... but aren't museum pieces. If I can get the look I'm after with the machine I will use it. If I can't I'll do it by hand. I try to do you all a solid though by saying "this could be done by hand using (blah blah blah) method." So yah, as always... grain of salt girls.

If your freaking CRAZY you can make the channels by hand. You can also do the UBER TINY rolled hems by hand as well. **blink blink** the channels are done by placing the cording down as you go, you would fold the fabric over your cord and using a running stitch sew through two layers of fabric thus creating a channel.

To prepare the Brim/Crown first roll hem the neck edge and the face edge. Use a very small rolled hem. I've given 1/4 of an inch for seam allowance this is just enough for an 1/8 rolled hem. If you don't have a tiny rolled hem foot... cut your brim out with extra seam allowance so that the hem doesn't eat up too much fabric.

The Brim/Crown is marked with 13 cording channels. To make the cording channels fold the Brim/Crown along the line and sew using 1/8 seam allowance. This will make a 1/4 channel. Make 1/4 channels on each of the 13 cording channels marked on the Brim/Crown pattern.

You can see how I marked my channels in this picture... I laid the linen over my pattern and marked my channels with pencil.

Ok... my family is begging me to do fun family stuff... they want to make a garden. So next time will be inserting the cording, attaching Tip to Brim/Crown, and attaching the tie.

Before I forget though, because I know many of you have made this kind of thing before, here is the list of the cording lengths. I'm starting at the neck edge (shortest length) and working out to the face edge. (longest length)

14 7/8
15 3/4
17 7/8
18
19 3/8
20 5/8
21 1/4
22 1/4
23 7/8
24 5/8
26 7/8
28 1/2
29 5/8

Until next time my sweets. :)

Regency Drawn Bonnet... Pattern and Tutorial

2011-06-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry that's its taken me so long to start this tutorial. Better late than never I guess. :)

I'm not the best at photoshop, sorry if the pattern is blotchy. I simply scanned my pellon pattern multiple times and saved them as one big image. The pellon is printed with 1x1 squares. (no idea what that means in metric!) You can either print it on a transparency and scale it up that way, or if your good, print it out and tape it together with your printer, or you can do the tried and true, "draw by grid" like we learned in school. :)

This is my pattern:

To make this bonnet you will need:

finely woven linen about 3/4 of a yard
a remnant of silk organza, or fine cotton organdy about 15 x 15 inches square
a hank of peaches and creme crochet cotton
a bodkin, tapestry needle or upholstery needle, or a long piece of craft wire 24" folded in half. (this is the tool you will need to pull the crochet cotton cording through it's channels.
a 1/8" rolled hem foot... you can of course do this by hand.

I don't include a pattern piece for the tie. So in explanation, the tie is a 4" wide length of linen fabric, 80" long... it's two 40 1/2" pieces with a seam at the center back (1/2" seam allow). The center front edges have been turned under in such a way that the edge is pointed.

Where the bonnet is attached to the hat... 9 1/4 on either side of the C.B seam (18 1/2" total) the tie is folded in half with a 1/2 seam allowance attaching the tie to the hat. The total width of the tie will be 1.5". The remaining length of fabric 21 1/2" will have it's raw edges finished with an 1/8 rolled hem foot. You should over lap the rolled hem into the area that is attached to the hat.

I'm going to leave off there.... time to pick the kiddo up from school! This is enough to get you started though. Those of you who've made projects like this before don't need the rest and those that haven't can at least get everything cut out before our next installment... hopefully tomorrow! :)

A Corded Bonnet from "Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion"

2011-05-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

I have a terrible love of books. It's a bit obsessive really. I got myself a kindle so that my fictions books wouldn't drown me... death by paperback, that's a bad way to go out. But I still buy "flesh and blood" fashion books. One of the more (if not MOST) fabulous fashion books I have acquired lately has been "Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion"

Watch out... there is nudity. Regardless, the fashions in this book are so fabulous all is forgiven.

I've earmarked several gowns and whatnot to be copied. The first of the whatnots is a corded bonnet.

What I feel is the most interesting thing about this hat is that it's completely make-able. There's no material used in this project that is unattainable, the pattern is simple, but the overall affect is intricate, and quintessentially regency. The ruff doesn't hurt in the sillness factor... OMG. She looks like one of those fancy dancy chickens that Martha Stewart blah blah blahs about. yah... That stupid ruff is going to get made.

I can't be the only costumer that thinks these things about historical costume.

Anyway...

I've made several hats in my jaunts in Historical Costuming... What I've noticed about Pre-Victorian bonnets is that the patterns have 2 and 3 pattern pieces... Brim/Crown, Tip, or Brim, Crown, Tip. There's off-shoots of this idea, but for the most part, this corded bonnet is a Capot (the tip is soft) and it's a 2 pattern piece design. The design is cunning though, because the Brim/Crown flares out toward the face opening like a trumpet but only used one pattern piece to do this. Later in that century 1840's & 50's this design would become the cottage bonnet (it lost it's outward trumpet like flare) and a bit earlier, in the 1820's-30's the brim would remain flared, but the crown would elongate the tip would be hard... this would be called a Stovepipe and a Poke bonnet and would use 3 pattern pieces to achieve that flared shape.

I made the Stovepipe the Cottage and the Capote... the Poke is not mine.

Pattern List:

Stovepipe

Cottage

The Capote is my pattern... I made a tutorial... uh, somewhere on the interwebs... :)

Poke

Tomorrow, I'll post a tutorial, and the pattern for my corded bonnet... but for now here is the finish project! :)

A Polonaise from 1780

2011-04-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

I just finished a 1780's polonaise. It's very loosely based off of this one, from the V&A:

I like how the skirt is pulled up over the outside of the skirt. Also how there is trim along the skirts hem. I like the pinked ruffle on this petticoat from the Met.

I found some lovely silk and linen blend in L.A's garment district the last time I was there. It's embriodered in a tambor-ish style. I also found some not very slubby dupioni silk to make the petticoat. I had 20 yards of embriodered lace trim to use along the skirts hem and to trim the bodice. So it was easy enough to make this little polonaise. I used J.P. Ryan's anglaise pattern.

Here is the finished dress:

The bodice closes with pins.

To make this pinked and flounce petticoat I made myself a jig, used pinking shears to do the cutting and brushed the raw edges with Fray Block.

Pin-up Shopping

2011-04-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

So if you'd like to buy one of the petticoats that I've been showing you all to make.... :)

The owner there is an old friend of mine. I'll be doing alterations, custom builds, and helping the owner get together her own fashion line.

Kinda exciting!

1950's Petticoat... Chapter 3

2011-04-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

Gathering the Waist
Skirt Sections

At this point in the game we should have 3 skirt sections ready for waist gathering. Just like all the gathering in this project... do this in the method that you prefer. I'm using a long straight stitch and tight needle tension. When your done the skirts waist length should be the same as your waistband, i.e. 10-12" longer than your real waist measurement. So just to reiterate, 3 skirt sections, 3 separately gathered waist, at a measurement that is 10-12" longer than your waist

Waistband

Cut your waistband 10-12" longer than your actual waist measurement and 3" wide. You can use whatever fabric you like. I chose a matte swimwear knit... but it's your petticoat! do as you choose! You will also need to cut a 1" wide piece of elastic 2" shorter than your waist measurement.

Sew your elastics ends together into a continuous loop.
Sew your waistband ends together into a continuous loop.

Fold the waistband in half horizontally, inserting the waistband inside the fold. Using a scant 1/4" seam allowance make a casing for the elastic. Move the excess waistband fabric around the elastic loop as you go. Be sure not to catch any elastic in the seam

At this point all of the waistband extra fabric will be pushed to one part of the elastic loop. Push around the extra fabric on the elastic and evenly distribute the excess. Now using a 1/2" seam allowance just barely catch the elastic in the seam. As your sewing you should stretch the elastic so that you have a smooth surface.

Your completed waistband should look something like this.

Attach the Waistband to the Skirt

Find all the center seams on the skirt yokes, and pin them together.

Find the center seam on your waistband and pin it to the seam on the skirt yokes. This will be the petticoats center back. As usual with fitting a gathered piece to an ungathered piece, find and match the back centers, center fronts, and the side centers and work all of the excess fabric evenly throughout the waistband. The most tricky part of this is making sure that all the layers of tricot are even and that your not leaving a bit of the skirt out. You could of course sew all three layers of tricot together, and gather them all together, but I've found that you get more volume if the layers are gathered seperately. You could also sew each layer to the waistband seperately. But, why? If you are careful, and pin heavily and watch carefully as you sew, you'll catch all the layers and your petticoat will be awesome! :) You'll use a 1/2" Seam allowance to attach the waistband to the skirts... just follow the same stitching that secures the elastic inside it's casing.

The last thing you'll do is to try the petticoat on. Make sure it fit's right before you finish off the raw edge where the waistband and skirts are attached with a serger.

It's a nice fluffy petticoat... if you would like an even fluffier one add more layers! :) Shorten the skirt by shortening the lengths of the yokes and main ruffle.

Have fun Sewing! :)

** edited to add...
If you'd like a shorter petticoat, For every inch shorter subtract 1/2" from the yokes and 1" from the main ruffle. So if you'd like a 15" petticoat, subtract 3" from the yoke and 6" from the main ruffle.**

Petticoat; part 2

2011-04-05T10:10:00.001-07:00

Ruffle Assembly

So at this point you've got every thing cut... Yes?

We've got:
3 yokes
6 main ruffles
And 24 edge ruffles.

If you use a rotary cutter this will go pretty quick. But if you don't, mark your lines with some tailors chalk (wax) to make the cutting easier.

Ruffling without a fancy foot

Tricot is kinda like sewing air. This can be good and it can be frustrating. If you play with the stitch length, needle tension, and for some way odd reason sew speed, it will gather. I suggest to you to do a test. These instructions are meant for a ruffle to be reduced by half (an 8" fabric into a 4" ruffle). Have a go. If it's not working for you, there are tons of other ways to gather fabric. You can zig zag over a cord, pull a thread of long stitching, use a gathering, or ruffle foot... Etc.

Start Sewing!
Edge Ruffles
Once you've got your gathering method figured out, start by gathering all of the edge ruffles. By the end you'll have a satisfactory little cloud of puff.

Yokes and Main Ruffle Assembly

Next sew into tubes all three yokes. And sew together the six main ruffles into three tubes using two main ruffle pieces a tube. So three yokes and three main ruffles.

Finishing Main Ruffle

Next sew the edge ruffles to the main ruffle using a 1/4" seam allowance.

When you come to an end of an edge ruffle just place another on top and keep going. If you did your ruffle test right you'll use 4 edge ruffles per side. When you've finished one side turn the main ruffle around and sew edge ruffles to the other side. When done it should look like this:

Now gather up the center of the main ruffle. I did this in two sections. Going from seam to seam on the front main ruffle section, and seam to seam on the back main ruffle section. Leave lots and lots of thread. This is so you can pull the thread to make the gathering tighter, and have plenty thread to let out if the ruffle is too tight. By having two sections to pull from your giving yourself tons of wiggle room.

It should be said the the main ruffle gets folded an half and is actually two ruffles in one.

That pictures upside down BTW.

Attach Main Ruffle to the Yoke
Ok, now your going to sew the main ruffle to the yoke, using 1/2 seam allowance.

This bit is drama.

The best advice I can give is to mark the yokes center front, by folding the yoke in half. Pin one of the main ruffles seams on the seam of the yoke and the other main ruffle seam on the center mark you've just made. Play with your main ruffles gathers until the main ruffle fits on the yoke. Pin it in place and sew the main ruffle to the yoke.

I'm trying to show the seam allowance there... 1/2" on the yoke, and your just sewing right down where the gathering threads are.

This is the finished ruffle assembly. Your going to make 3 of these.

Ok.. Next blog post will be attaching the ruffle assemblies to a waistband. Good times!

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Grand Ideas... 1950's style.

2011-04-02T16:38:00.001-07:00

(This is part 1 of my Petticoat Tutorial)

I had a grand idea last autumn, (when I had more time) that it would be really fun to, make a fluffy fifties dress, go down to the old "Welcome to Vegas" sign and have my picture taken with Elvis. For many reasons this sounds fun to me. First, because if your a costumer from Vegas this should be a big ole "Well Duh." second because it would look good on my Steamer of the Bride site, third because making a merry widow sounds fun, and last but not least, "Yay!! Elvis!".

The plan, as it now stands, is to make a fifties dress with a petticoat and a longline/corset/bra/merrywidow type thing.

I'm using patterns for the bra and dress. The petticoat is my wacky idea though.

If you really think about it, making this bra and petticoat is pretty silly, for they are easily bought. In the petticoats case, bought for less than it costs to make. My instructions will make a longer wearing and much fuller petticoat though. So grain of salt girls... You are forewarned.

I've started on my petticoat already. I'm using THE BEST FABRIC FOR PETTICOATS... (This of course is for the silly fluffy lolita, rock-a-billy, costume type petticoats.) that being tricot.

Tricot comes in many different colors is lightweight, doesn't need to be hemmed, is washable, holds it's volume, and is fluffier than my hair on a humid day. It comes on a 108" bolt. This is really important to keep in mind as the instructions I'm about to give just won't work with a narrower fabric.

This will make a 21" length petticoat... If you want a shorter petti, mess around with the numbers to get you where you need to be. Lolita petticoats are several inches shorter, between 15" and 20". I've used this same formula to make 6" tutu's. You get the idea.

Ha!! Check out my awesome graphic!!

Ok... Really sad.
What this is saying is:
Total length = 21"
Waistband = 1"
Yoke = 10"
Main ruffle = 8.5"
Edge ruffle = 1.5"

Cut List
Waist band, this is cut from whatever you want to use, (something more substantial than the tricot) I'll be using a swimwear knit... 10-12" larger than your waist and 3" wide. You will also need 1" wide elastic cut 2" smaller than your waist. (this piece includes 1/2" seam allowance.

Yoke = three 11" long tricot x the full bolt width (this piece includes 1/2" seam allowance)

Main ruffle = six 17" long tricot x the full bolt width (this piece includes 1/4" seam allowance)

Edge ruffles = twenty four 3" long tricot x the full bolt width

This petticoat requires 6 yards of tricot

Here are some sources for tricot fabric:
Sew Sassy
Lace and Fabric
Waverly Baby

I am in no way connected to these sites, nor do I have previous experience with them. As with all online shopping, shop at your own risk.

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