Take a Deep Breath...

... and wanted to let y'all know that they were rocking this look LONG before you were even born.

Let's be clear - there is nothing truly "new" under the sun. In the medieval era they dressed up like Romans for holidays, and I am sure the Romans dressed up like someone else too.

But damn, Ulm Festzug 1898 looks like it was one HELL of a party!



They clearly got the "laying around on the ground like a pimp while the ladies serve you wine" memo...


HEY! How did Stephen Jacobson get in this shot (second standing from the left is a *dead ringer* for him)?!?


"Look ma! A parade!"






And guess what... this wasn't even the *first year* of this event. Nope. Observe the 1877 program booklet kiddies!




And Ulm wasn't the only city to hold them!



PS: It looks like they are still throwin' this shindig, even today... :D

PPS: And that 'jousting' they host at the end of the parade. Yeah. Not on horses.

Yes, that is a dude in a dress. Get over it. Apparently it is a 'thing' at these events. They are JOUSTING IN BOATS for goodness sake...

Link sharing for those who would like to know where I get my ideas for the tassels and cords I am working on for the Cloak Project:

Tassels:

There are dozens of sites out there on how to do these. My current favorite is from Racaire on her website here. When it comes to methods for finishing tassels (ie. making them purty) there are a number of options including Turks Head knots, embroidery, and beading.

Some lovely inspirations from later in the period...


Cords:

My preferred method for cord making is fingerlooping. There are other versions for making cord available out there (such as lucet cording), but I prefer the variations in design and durability of cut cords much more with the fingerlooped method. Also, I have questions about the historical accuracy of lucet cording in this period...

 I am planning on doing a pattern called 'lace bend rounde', and will vary between 6 and 8 bowes (the number of loops being worked, which varies the diameter of the final product). The plan is for the cords to be red and white, with some tipped in black tassels (to help match up on the larger tassels that will be affixed to the tails of the hood). The cording will also be used to close the neck of the cloak, although I will be using ties rather than the supposed loop-and-hook closure seen in this extant piece:


Stephan Prauns coat (1544-1591) - co Lady Petronilla via Flicker. GMN.

Materials:

As is my wont, I will be using DMC embroidery floss for these items. It's cheap, easy to get, and has served me well. If I decide that the larger hood tassels need bigger threading, I will use the wool yarn I have at hand. Any 'shaped heads' for the tassels will either be formed over a wooden base (beads and buttons) or over a stuffed cloth form. 

The cloak body and hood are all stitched and ready for banding. Woo hoo! As I discovered when making up the full circle of this design, the back does tend to drape into lovely folds under the hoods body all on it's own. These are not as small and precise as the folds in the inspiration image, but the only way I can imagine getting those with regularity would be to tape the cloaks body to train the pleats (as I did with hubby's Waffenrock). However, in taping the garment that way I feel that the cloaks practical use becomes more limited (you can't flare the whole garment out to cover yourself with while sleeping on the march, for example).

So we've decided to not tape at this time. We may revisit that decision later, and I feel comfortable doing so since I am convinced there is more than enough fabric in the full circle to pull this look off without any sort of insertion panels.

Original Image


Cloak/Hood - Pre-Banding


The red ribbon is only there as a placeholder; the final tie(s) will be fingerlooped, as will the attachment points at he shoulders. I will note that the top of the hood is probably wider than it needs to be, making the gaping between the attachment points more pronounced than it 'should be'. As you can see when the garment is sitting on my husband, and then looking at the inspiration image, the double thickness of the hood also exaggerates this difference....



However, with the hood up it is clear that the design works perfectly for use, and in fact tucking the 'tails' back under the first gap between the points that hold the hood to the shoulders will secure the overall shape of the hood nicely!



Some set up shots for cloak trim designs. I think this will be lovely, and time consuming...

Collar, Back


Collar Front


Cloak Front, Bottom Corners

Ignore the bits where the trim crosses off the edge, we are going with overall Trim Design #3, so this is just a layout with uncut trim. ;)

Hood, Center Back


Hood, Tails - WITH TASSELS

These are the tassels from the Roadkill Showgirl, only used here as a size/style consideration.

And just so I don't ever forget how far the trim is from the edge of the garment, and from itself (for the second row):


S couple of shots from me sewing in the car on our trip this weekend. It's actually a very comfortable set up once everything is wedged in place, and I even managed to get my trim pinning done (on the hood, not the cloak which would have been a BEAST to manage in a small space)

The Set Up


Pattern Layout - Hood Trim (going for a basket weave on the cross overs, so order is a bit critical)


In Progress


Lastly, this is what I've gotten done so far. Not going to lie, I was totally tempted to call in sick and just keep stitching with Edwardian Farm on the Youtube and a cup of coffee at my elbow...


All the edges 'run off the ends' for now, until the alternating trim bits get applied and then all the ends will get finished. Only trim #5 still left to place on this side, then the other side to be done. :)

Progress!

The cloak has been lined, and the lining has been prick stitched all the way around the hem so that the fashion fabric 'rolls' to the inside of the garment by a 1/2 inch all the way around. I love the way that hand done top stitching looks... W00t!

Since the fashion fabric wool has more 'stretch' to its weave than the lining fabric (which could probably stop a bullet) does, I ended up with a bit of extra exterior fabric at the center front on both sides. This means I have a lovely little 'facing' at the center front, which I actually adore. Thank goodness for happy accidents.

Next step, set the collar in (hopefully tonight) and then YARDS AND YARDS OF TRIM OMG. *chuckle*

Not going to lie, I am loving all the handsewing - it is an addiction of mine.

Also loving a chance to catch up on all the BBC 'farm' shows (through Victorian, in the midst of Edwardian, and catching Tudor Monastery as it comes available). I want to grow up to be Ruth someday... and not just because she is always making fancy underthings for darling Peter... ;)

Proof!:


Pudding!:


Things I would change if I did this again:

1) Better weight of fashion fabric. I love this wool, but the looseness of the weave has lead to stabilization nightmares. ie. This is the SECOND lining that this cloak as been put through, and there is a reason I chose a THICK liner the second time around. The first liner was a bit of 'woolish' scrap that I had no other use for and it fought both me and the fashion fabric every step of the way. A more stable fashion fabric would have avoided this issue (in fact, a heavier fashion fabric and I may have avoided lining altogether...).

2) Having reviewed the JA PoF patterns - the body of the cloak would have been cut as an ellipse rather than as a circle. Thankfully the bit over the shoulders is not significantly shorter than the front and back of the body. :) 

So, a little progress post for the Landsknecht cloak project...

The pattern, she is finished! The final adjustments included making the hood slightly less wide (nape-of-neck to forehead measure), and shortening the 'tails' of the hood a bit. I had to do a tiny amount of piecing for the wool liner, but in the end all of that was limited to the CB edge of the garment and should be nearly invisible.

Next step was ordering my black twill tape (for trim) which I found for about $20 for 100 yards online. I am *pretty* sure that should be enough to cover the necessary ground - it is certainly going to be keeping me occupied with hand sewing for the foreseeable future. *chuckle* The plan is to create a trim pattern similar to this:


Albrecht Durer, Two Mucisians

So while I await the arrival of my trimming material, I got to work on my collar for the garment. I had planned on pad stitching two layers of felt to light canvas base, to use as the inner 'guts' of the short standing collar. Then I realized that none-of-these-stitches-are-going-to-show-and-this-is-a-perfect-excuse-to-use-some-of-the-stitch-cams-that-came-with-my-awesome-vintage-Elna-Carina!

Because I got a 'new' sewing machine a couple weeks back....*

Don't remind my ol' Kenmore that I am cheating on her. :(

Seriously though, I am in love with my Swiss beauty.

Aaaaany. After I had cut my stiffener pieces (*the light canvas layer has no seam allowance along the top edge and the felt layers have no seam allowance at all) I stitched both felt layers to their canvas counterparts, leaving the canvas seam allowances unobstructed by the felt layers. Then I sewed the canvas together into the collar form, and basted the entire thing to my lining layer of the collar around the outside edge - using a blind hem stitch along the top edge so that the stiffener layer is *just* caught to the inner woolen layer at that point - avoiding unseemly top stitching in the finished lining of the collar.

Here is the result:


The Carina, (aka "Roswitha") in situ


Close up of the fake pad stitching - but the effect is the same as on the collar I did by hand last time...

I am hoping to have more images of the cloak coming together throughout the course of the week. The *goal* is to have the item done (or at least wearable) by next weekend for an event we are attending with friends. :D

*ladykalessia is a goddess...a temptress goddess with an penchant for luring her minions into the outer darkness (inner light) of vintage machine addiction. I am currently lusting after her green Husqvarna Viking...

So the lovely sstormwatch came by to work on some fittings last night and did me the excellent service of ensuring I didn’t lose my mind in Mock-Up Hell on my cloak project. I had started out with the basic de Alcega cloak pattern that I have posted in this project before. Just in case you (somehow) missed it:



Based on this I had come up with a lay out that looked like this for my mini-cloak:



The problem? Well, let’s just say that the de Alcega ‘cloak’ actually seems to be scaled on the size of a ‘cape’. And a short cape at that. Given that my inspiration image is clearly knee length, this meant that my layout was going to have to change.

I had planned on just whacking out some basic shapes in muslin and then ‘messing with them’ until they worked. Not only would this have been massively inefficient (in both my time and in materials) but the chances were good I would have made some pretty annoying mistakes right from the jump that would have sent me into a downward spiral of compensatory drinking and sewing machine cursing.

Let's just say it's happened before...

So how did she save me, you ask? She asked if I had graph paper. And of course, like any self-respecting geek raised on D&D, I did.

So, using my basic measurements and the mini-cloak mock-up as a guide, we developed the following.


Note: I would have totally centered the neck hole on the body of this cloak and been miserable when it hung longer in the front than the back. Saved. Me. I tell you…

I used an online calculator to figure the diameter of the circle for my neck opening, and then added this number to my overall cloak length X2 in order to get the diameter of the final circle shape. This was 98” overall.

Yeah, no way the de Alcega based layout was going to work. Mostly.*

The neck is off-set for the center point of the circle so that 2/3rds of the space is to the ‘front’ of the cloak (4” of the 6” diameter neck circle), and “2 is the ‘back’ of the cloak. This is because our necks sit forward on our body by about these same proportions (2/3rds to 1/3^rd).

So once I had the basic ‘circle’ figured out, I drew a representative example of the width of my fabric, which was folded widthwise, and folded the tiny pattern of the cloak body to a quarter circle for an example cut chart. This let me see what my ‘waste’ fabric would be and what I could fit into that space for other cloak bits.

Then I drafted up the hood pattern, based on the following measurements:

Middle of shoulder blades, over the top of head, to forehead = 24”
Middle shoulder blade to middle, plus some “wiggle and draping”/2 = 14”
Base of ‘trapezoid’ of main hood shape in mini-mock up is approx. twice the size of the shoulder to shoulder measure, making this = 28”

Pythagoras helped with the length of the angled side…  = 27”

Based on the mini-mock up, the ‘tail’ of the hood sections is basically the same length as the angled side of the trapezoid shape of the main hood body = 27” (or 54” overall).



Please note, in the final shape the line without a measurement in this diagram will NOT be straight, it will be tapered into the long side of the trapezoid shape long before it reaches the mid-line of the hood (as it does in both the original art and the mini-mock up). When I am working in muslin, I go for the ‘more is better until you cut if off’ method. This allows me the maximum of material play with in determining the final/best shape for the ‘tail’ pieces on the hood.

So, with the grid hood in hand, I played with some lay out options in the ‘waste’ sections of my cut diagram. Sadly, none of them were perfect, but in the end I did find a means to using a majority of the waste fabric efficiently. If I was willing to piece the be-Jesus out of the hood (still an option) I could probably get the whole thing in; but I am not interested in a whole mess of seams in an area that I’d like to keep as water tight as possible, call me crazy. ;)


The circle and hood laid out on my 'test grid' version of the mock up fabric. Please note, the fabric is folded widthwise, not lenghtwise. Each square in this = 4".

Then it was time to cut fabric, but we appeared to be experiencing a greyhound infestation.


A more adorable pest I have yet to meet. With the possible exception of my cats. Who I think Nigel is taking lessons from.

Piecing in practice


Piecing in action


Next steps, putting it all together and making up a collar. Then messing about with taping for drape.  Once I have test fired the patterns in real life I will use the graph method to devise my final cut chart based on my actual fabric widths (think of this as a trial run on the concept).

The important thing I have to keep in mind is that my final version needs to allow for TWO WHOLE SETS of the hood – since it will be both lined and covered in the same wool fabric (if it is lined at all, which is still up for debate depending on how much fabric I have in my stash…).



*Still theorizing on how a narrower fabric and additional piecing may end up with me going back to a version that is closer to the de Alcega in the end. We shall see.

So what did we accomplish as a group?


The Whole Canvas


claughter713, her adorbs daughter V, and our dearest K


harmanhay, our gentleman S (as Alphonse Mucha), and beloved T


mmcnealy, the fabulous M, and amazing C


ladykalessia and myself


My niece C, my sister K, and myself - the fact that my family got to do this with me is PRICELESS to my soul

What can I say? This group of women is amazing. And I mean that in every sense of the word.

We all sew in here, right? That means you all know how it is with us – our own projects always come in dead last when it comes to prioritization on a timeline. Same story here.  Now that my niece and sister were solidly on their way to finished dresses, I had to start my own.

And I was stumped.

Let me clarify; I knew how I wanted to put the dress together and how to get it done. The problems were:

1)      I had *too many* ways that I could proceed – nothing like choices to slow you down;
2)      I was pretty sure the best way involved a whole lot of things I have never done before…

As with all projects, I spent a lot of this time pondering my stash of freshly purchased fabric. I am actually very proud of my selections, especially in light of the All Purple, All The Time palette from my inspiration image. I managed to find a range that looked good together and got pretty close to the original colors/textures of the piece. Woo hoo!



The Palette (from L to R): Main Dress, Narrow Sash, Shawl

Then I spent another few days messing about with my accessory pieces. I started with the ‘fabric pauldron’ support structure you see on the left shoulder of the inspiration image. My sneaking suspicion is that Alphonse added this bit as an artistic whimsy (“Her shoulder would look so much better with a huge flying buttress of material…”), but since it was in the piece I had to try and make it work in my real-world dress.

Flying Fortress of Fabric

I started my process by strapping Eloise (my dressmakers dummy[i], a gift from claughter713) into my intended support garment. I knew I was probably going to end up draping the dress in the long run (although I feared the results) so I traced the shape of the Merry Widow onto Eloise’s form; this way I would be able to determine if my draping was going to cover the undergarment, even if the undergarment wasn’t on the form at the time of the draping. BTW - This was done with one of my favorite sewing accessory EVAH…


Click On The Pic To Get Your Own - I am not the only one who loves them.


Eloise - Chalked And Ready To Go

First, I made a paper mockup of the general shape I thought would work for the pauldron which I pinned to Eloise’s shoulder, making sure to overlap the line of the undergarment[ii] . This also gave me a chance to check the 'angle' of the pauldron's wear - not too sharp or droopy a line from my own shoulder.



I checked the result from all angles, trimmed and shaped it a bit, and then cut two layers of my craft felt[iii] base, and an additional 'edging piece' of the same felt that matched the outer curve of the pauldron. Using my machine I sewed all the layers together along all edges, on the outer edge I sewed a number of channels, spaced approx. 3/8 of an inch apart. Between this stitching and placing a section of featherweight boning in the outermost channel, I achieved the level of firmness in the shape that I needed.


Weirdest fabric boomerang ever...


I then cut a cover from my fashion fabric using the same paper pattern and covered the whole shape, handsewing the final seam. Now I could work on placing my dress fabric over a support structure that looked (essentially) like another bit of draped fabric.

Easy Smeeshesy Items

Next up were the sash and the shawl. The making of both is pretty easy, so let’s skip on to the next project.



The Medallion Belt

Early on in the project (like, back in April) claughter713 and I scoured the interwebz looking for a source offering oval belt buckle blanks for a price that was almost reasonable. What we discovered was that a wholesale license was going to be needed in order to get the quantity necessary for less than an arm-and-a-leg. Then I remembered, I *know* a costuming couple with a wholesale license – Better Yet! – they make custom belts!

I called A&B of Legendary Costume Works, they confirmed that they had the necessary blank on hand and were willing to give them to me. Hooray! Best of all, they hand delivered them at the headdress workshop.

Bonus!

Now I had the materials on hand, but they required both modification and painting in order to work the belt configuration I had in mind. So after I removed the original ‘mounting hardware’ on the backside of each, they got four holes drilled in them[iv] and a coat of paint (or two) inside and out and then mounted them on (yet more purple) rawhide cord.



I tried them on Eloise and was pleased as punch with the results. But now I had no more ‘distraction work’ to do and needed to get on to the final project…

THE DRESS

Seriously y’all, if I spend as much time sewing projects as I do *thinking about* how I can sew them, I would have an entire wardrobe full of gear.[v]  I knew that the dress could be done in a variety of waysm and this was what I had been considering:

Plan A: Fully draped dress mounted to a fitted underlayer with no actually ‘patterning’ in sight;
Plan B: Fully patterned dress with some level of decorative draping over the top;
Plan C: A combination of the above (with about 12 variations possible dancing through my head at any given time).

So I hemmed[vi] and hawed, I did test drapes and cried at how they looked. I searched the internet for resources on how other people had made their Mucha creations, and found none. I leaned heavily on the trust that my fellow LSCaCS members were getting along with their projects, and they looked great (so mine could hid in the background if necessary).   Then I realized I needed to just pull the trigger on Plan C if I was going to be wearing ANYTHING[vii] to Gala.

So I started with an underlayer. Using Eloise as my base, I draped a pattern for a basic strapless bodice with a dropped waist. I bit my lip as I made my mock-up and then had my niece help me with a final fitting.

And what do you know? It. Totally. Worked.[viii]


With a bit of tweaking, the wrinkles seen here didn't end up in the final pattern


Making the mock up

Once the basic bodice was cut using the same pattern as above for the fashion fabric and lining, I got to play with featherweight boning for the first time. I literally applied in the Exact Same Manner And Location as shown on the product packaging.



Of course, what I failed to note was that the resulting bodice promptly rolled itself into a tube.



Apparently, plastic boning should be heat treated to get it to lay down flat and behave *before* you add it to your project. Since I had failed to do this utterly, I simply pinned the whole bodice to Eloise and then steamed it into submission with my iron.

This also works, by the way.  ;)


Finished Bodice - I cannot lie, this result made me very happy. :D

Once the bodice was complete and pinned securely in place (no back closure yet, since Eloise is just a *schosh* bigger than me – even when dialed down to her smallest size) I attached the fabric paudron and simply began draping.

The big head ache here was that my fabric, which I had purchased 8 yards of, was really *chunks* of yardage. What was left on the bolt when I purchased consisted of 2-3 pieces of 1.25-1.5 yards and another few longer bits. I loved the fabric so much that I had convinced myself that this would be OK to work with. Now that I was actually doing so, I wasn’t as sure.

I started with the shortest bits first, ensuring they were long enough to drape from the center front of the bodice and still hit the floor. They were. Then I worked my way around to the back of the dress, adding fabric and playing with the shaping of the draped bits as I went.[ix] This tutorial was very handy in calming my nerves and giving me a direction to go in.

Despite my initial misgivings, I was pleased as punch with the results! Eventually...


From L to R: First attempt - which resulted in a stiff drink. Second attempt - More Pins! = Success!

Next, handsewing. Lots and lots of handsewing. I made my way all the way around the bodice, removing pins and tacking the fabric in place. The biggest concern was not sewing all the way through the bodice and into Eloise – which I managed to only do twice!


I could never do this much sewing without Netflix, praise be to the internet gods!

This handsewing included one bit of machine work which was installing the hook-and-eye tape at the center-back of the bodice. The closure was largely covered by the draped fabric that gathered at the back of the gown in a manner not unlike an 18^th C sack-back gown (only much more free form).  That portion which was visible was then covered by the drapery that had been swagged and attached to the pauldron at the dresses shoulder being tucked in once the dress was hook-and-eyed closed.

At this point, all that was left to do was the hemming. Given that the dress was entirely draped, I had a lot more fabric at the hemline than you would normally encounter.  After checking to make sure that Eloise was as close to my height as possible[x] I placed her on my sewing table and then simply chalked a rough hemline into place. This allowed me to play with the shaping of the train a bit before any cutting was done, and the added height helped ensure my back wasn’t in agony.


Draping from the back - Eloise ready to help me hem
(the bit draped up over her neck is the tail of the fabric pauldron draping, placed up and out of the way)

I had intended to use the same method of facing the hemline that was employed on my niece and sister’s dresses; but in the end it wasn’t practical to attempt to create pieces that matched the cut of my draped-and-pieced hem. Thankfully, the ‘inside’ of the dress fabric was beautiful and I didn’t care if it showed (and I had taken the time to French my long seams), so I just used my chiffon hem finish and called it a day.

As soon as the dress was finished, I nervously tried it on over my Merry Widow and discovered that a) It Fit! B) It covered the undergarment completely. C) I loved it…


Why yes, that *is* my inspiration image on my phone cover...also, that dog is not dead - no matter what he'd like you to think

So ends the saga of my portion of the Mucha Maiden’s project. I had an amazing time, learned a ton of new sewing techniques, and generally discovered that I can survive outside of my 16^th C comfort zone.

Which of course means there are a TON of new projects to consider…

*grin*

So now we had fabulous headdresses that were beautiful and drew comments from every random stranger we passed by[i]: clearly the pressure was on to produce gowns to match.  And that was when my sewing reality hit me like a ton of bricks.

See, my sister and my niece were coming out to CoCo with me for the first time. Having never been before, and having not been ‘in the sewing game’ for a while (in my sisters case) or as a costumer before (my niece), I realized that they were going to need a bit of help getting their Mucha dresses together.

Like, from the ground up help.

Fabric procurement, pattern drafting, mock ups, assembly, final fit – the whole rodeo.

So I wasn’t working on one Gala dress, I was working on three.

*head desk*

OK, let’s be honest here: I love this stuff! Three different gowns that are all based on artists sketches which only bear the most passing resemblance to how *actual* gowns fit and *actual* fabric flows? Sign. Me. Up. But holy hell, this was for my family members and my normal ‘mess around until the last minute and then blow it all out at once’ would never work (not just because of the volume to be done, but because I needed their Actual Physical Forms present for a lot of draping and fitting work).

That mean procrastination was not going to be my friend.

So we got right to work.  The inspiration images had already been selected:

Nieces Dress


Sisters Dress


We bought our fabric at Stone Mountain & Daughter and at JoAnne’s. I beat my fiber snob fairy into submission.[ii] The selection was cheeringly wide, and cheap, and made me feel better about not forcing everyone into silk. We bought satins, and textured poly, and the Demon Chiffon. We bought WAY more than we needed (I had no idea how much all this drapery was going to take). My sister and niece were champs about my guesswork, but I suspect they will have new curtains to match their gala gowns at some point…[iii]

The principles we used in selecting fabric here was much the same as those used in the headdress construction workshop. We knew the colors we wanted, but we tried to ensure that we used a VARIETY of textures and fabric weights. This helps to add depth to the finished pieces.

The next step was for me to put my brain hat on and try to figure out HOW to put these dresses together. Let’s be clear. Alphonse Mucha did not paint many women in dresses. Mostly he painted them in sheets and curtains. I mean that literally. Sheets and curtains.



Yes, that is a boob. It's art people...get a room. ;)

A number of the ladies in our project actually *did* this, literally took bed linens and uncut yardage and made their dresses from it. And, might I add, to great effect! I am still really hoping that ladykalessia will do a write up on her dress and the technique she used to make it because – ladies and jellyspoons – this little number is GENIUS.


Photo Credit: American Duchess - CoCo 2013

But oh no…not me.  When I looked at the inspiration images for these dresses I saw structure in the fit of the bodices and the drape of the skirts.[iv]

So I had the girls come over and we did some duct tape pattern making. For those of you who don’t know this process, a mini-tutorial on using this technique for a basic bodice is here.

Of course, unlike my prior uses of this technique, I realized that I could actually use *darts*[v] to fit my bodice patterns in this period[vi]/application.

Also of course, I have no idea how to use a dart to save my life.


A Rough Translation From The Duct Tape Base


The Mock Up - Don't Judge


The Bodice - Prior to Skirt & Trim Application: This Is When I Knew The Darts Had Won

Again, thank god my family is forgiving.

The darts aren't horrible, but I realize now that I could have put them UNDER THE BREAST to better effect. *sigh* I got this right in my sister's bodice, and thank god my niece has a naturally beautiful figure that helps to make up for my errors in pattern making!

Once we had the basic bodices down, it was time for the skirts. Based on the fashion plates of the time, I used the fabulous tutorial available here to make a basic, trained skirt form.

Seriously folks, if you have to make an Edwardian skirt from scratch, Use. This. Tool.  It was dead simple and that is coming some someone who has *never* drafted a pattern from measure before.


Hard to See, But I Swear There Is A Pattern On That Paper


My Cat Begging For Death and the Implement Of His Potential Destruction


Success! - the Muslin Proof on Eloise

The original idea was to use this pattern for my niece’s garment only. But upon looking more closely at my sister’s inspiration piece, I realized that with the addition on a ‘false apron’ to one section of the skirt, I could achieve as similar ‘wrapped and tucked’ effect[vii].  I had my sister wear the muslin mock-up we had created and simply pinned and drafted the apron bit from another section of muslin.[viii] Perfect!

Now we had both bodices and both skirts patterned and a plan of action. Over the next few weekends, we met repeatedly to put the garments together; the work order went something like this.

Nieces Dress[ix]:
·         Cut and line bodice in blue satin
·         Get ready to cut trained skirt from off-white satin
·         Realize that satin is so thin a moth could fly through it without damage
·         Gnash teeth
·         Realize we can line satin skirt with cotton muslin already completed during patterning phase
·         Have a celebratory drink
·         Actually cut off-white satin for skirt, as well as additional facing sections to create lined dress as per the instructions here (see 'Step 3': again, DEAD SIMPLE – except for the part my niece had to do with all the hands sewing… )
·         Cut cream chiffon for skirt cover
·         Realize that love3angle is completely correct and that chiffon is the DEVIL
·         Have a bracing drink
·         Cut the trained section of the skirt pattern after having ‘expanded’ the overall size of the patter piece by three times, this included expanding the overall curve of the train so the chiffon over layer would be evenly expanded over the whole hem
·         Consider cutting each of the other skirt pieces individually
·         Finish the bottle that you are drinking
·         Decide that the remainder of the skirt can be constructed of a rectangle composed of the remaining SEVEN YARDS of chiffon
·         Attach ‘trained’ chiffon section to large chiffon rectangle
·         Use a gather stitch and an army of pins to attach the gathered waist of the chiffon to the lined satin
·         Baste the two together
·         Hem all nine yards of chiffon using this technique (Bless You Pinterest!)
·         Open new bottle, start chilling the third...
·         Add skirt to bodice, ensuring a split in the back waist for getting the dress on - with a proper modesty panel
·         Add hook and eye tape for closure
·         Drape, pattern and add a dropped sleeve/strap to one side of the bodice in the same blue statin as the body proper
·         Trim the neckline of bodice and top of the sleeve/strap with a constructed ‘ruffle’ of various textures of fabric hand cut, stitched and trimmed to a variety of heights[x]
·         Construct and add ‘chained arm decorations’ to alternate arm
·         Dip dye ornamental scarf in orange

I know that my niece didn’t get a chance to add the additional embroidery and metal blingy bits to the bodice of the dress and that the 'chained arm decorations' abandoned ship not long before we hit the Red Carpet, but I hope she goes back and adds these all later because it will take a beautiful dress to gorgeous!

Sister’s Dress:
·         Cut and line bodice in white – to be used as a base layer for attaching the skirt to and draping the burgundy material onto
·         Cut trained skirt and false apron from gold satin (hem with facing in the same manner as the skirt above)
·         Thank the gods that you don’t have to line this one too…
·         Attach skirt to base bodice layer
·         Add hook and eye tape for closure
·         Cut and assemble sash from burgundy satin[xi]
·         Drape and hand sew burgundy layer over under bodice, leaving the shoulders free in white fabric (see footnote, as above)
·         Cut and assemble false ruffle/drapery from a variety of textures in white fabric[xii] and affix to neckline of the base bodice layer

What did we achieve?

Lessons learned?

You know, sometimes draping and pinning really *is* the way to go.

Start sooner.

In our next installment we will explore the insanity that was the real draping and handsewing nightmare: my own gala dress. See, all this time working on the gowns above was really just a means for me to avoid having to make a decision about my own clothing…

So, taking up where my prior entry left of; how did we make those Mucha things anyway?

We started with the headdresses.

This seems simple enough, until you try to find flowers the size of the ones in the inspiration images, or at least my inspiration image:



Poppies. That. Huge. Cannot. Be. Had. Anywhere.

After poking around online I had found sources for all my floral needs except these enormous beasts. A few places had 5” poppies, but they were asking $20+/flower and 5” was still too small. Great. Now I sound like a flora size queen.  *chuckle* I was up in the Bay visiting friends on another sewing related adventure when I found myself at Beverly’s Craft & Floral. I was delighted to find that they had All The Flowers there that I needed – except my damn poppies. That was when T stepped in and pointed something out:

“Why don’t you just buy some of these red peonies and modify them?”



Well…duh!

So that evening we gutted the central section of one of our peonies with the help of a sharp pair of embroidery scissors. These flowers are constructed with a small plastic ‘basket’ that holds the central section of petals closed around the stamen of the flower; we found that if you cut this basket off and remove the petal sections it contains, you end up with a nice, open flower with a bright yellow stamen center. After applying black fabric paint to the ‘new’ central petals[i]– and perhaps also to the center-facing portions of the next layer out – you end up with a HUGE poppy.



Now make a bunch, because you will need them.

The whole group met up the last weekend in June at the fabulous Sewing Circle Retreat[ii]. What did we take with us? Here is the general list:

·         Fabric flowers & greenery (procured at Michael's Craft & Floral, Beverly Fabrics, etc.)[iii]
·         Floral tape & wire (I personally recommend the fabric/tape covered floral wire)
·         Wire cutters
·         Glue gun & glue
·         Any 'bits and bobs' you are adding to your headdress for bling (sparkly bits, ribbon, etc)
·         WIGS[iv]
·         Head forms – because being able to *see* the darn thing being worn makes all the difference, and you don’t want to drip hot glue on your own head…

Things to keep in mind when you are making your headdress:

·         Ensure that you have enough ‘range’ in your materials palette to provide for variety in both color (different types of greenery, for example), size (big focal point pieces – like poppies! – plus smaller interest pieces make a more interesting looking result), and effect (drapey bits that hang down, stiff bits that stick up, etc.).  Worst case scenario, you have enough left over for another headdress!

·         If you aren’t sure if it is big enough yet, it probably isn’t. Seriously. Aim for just shy of this and you will be there…

·         This is a 3D piece of art, make sure you fill in any gaps and that it looks good from all angles. Place the headdress on a head/wig form and check it out from behind, in front, on top. Fill in as needed.

·         There is a stage in every headdress where you are sure it is a disaster, just keep working on it and adding bits – you will eventually hit a critical mass point where it becomes FABULOUS

·         If you are making yours based on a piece of art, keep that image handy and check back in often.

The ‘Construction’ Steps:

Start by making a ring of your floral wire that is slightly bigger than you want your finished piece; the extra space will be filled out by flower and tape bulk as you build.

When your ring is the right size, bend the wire where the two ends meet into a pair of ‘hooks’. These will hook around each other (and possibly be bent around each other to form a permanent ring) and allow you to open and close the ring base of your headdress as/if needed during construction.

Using your floral tape, begin by making a small bundle of interesting floral and greenery bits. Think the size of an overgrown boutonniere. You will probably be cutting flowers and bits of green off of larger bundles, but be sure to leave enough ‘stem’ to wrap around as you gather them together. Keep the principle of variety in mind here – color and types of bits.

When you have a tiny bouquet that you like, make another. Having two or three of these under your belt makes the idea of facing a whole headdress a lot easier.

Now.  Starting at either the center front or a focal point location on your headdress design[v], place the tiny bouquet on your floral wire ring and tape it in place with your floral tape. This should be done as securely as possible; while trying to avoid using so much tape that you end up with a wad. Don’t worry – this will become easier as you work along. Also, if the thing won’t stay you always have more floral wire and hot glue[vi] if need be.

Add more tiny bouquets to the ring.

Occasionally throw in a larger flower (size variation) or drapey/pokey bit (effect variation).

When you have gotten all the way around the ring (or covered the portion your headdress requires), place it on your head/wig form and check it for holes. Can you see the wire anywhere? Obvious bits of floral tape showing?

Grab your glue gun and some spare floral bits (smaller sizes work well here) and greenery (left over leaf bits from your flower bunches are perfect for this). This is best done on a wig/head form because Second Degree Burns Hurt.

Fill in the holes.

This is also a chance to add any ‘blingy bits’ – jewelry bits, sea shells, crystals, small birds, bones, etc.  These can either be glued in place or added by stringing them with bits of floral wire and affixing them that way.

Check for holes again and repeat above as necessary.

Now, try on your headdress over your styled wig. Does it still fit? Too loose? Too tight? Adjust it at the ‘hooked ends’ of the ring and add/subtract flora as needed to accommodate.

Once the headdress is sized you can either permanently twist the ends of your ring together to cover with floral tape and more flora; or you can leave the hooks in place, allowing you to adjust the size. This second option is better for folks who may have to open their ring in order to get it around wig bits or hats in future.

Eventually you will find yourself with something like this:



And now, some general Oh My God This Was So Much Fun shots:


J, wearing one of the original White Picnic headdresses that started this whole thing off...


A & B Rock The Mucha Look