sewing experimentation

[vampyresheep]

Although I don't appear to have gotten much done this weekend, what I have done has been fairly satisfactory.

Been battling with making a mock-up which fits correctly for my Butterick B4929 jacket.  After my Vogue waistcoat fitted so well with minimal alterations, i went into this one with false hope - the first mock-up wasn't even close to fitting correctly!
Finally after taking the waist and hips out a tad, taking nearly an inch off the shoulder seams (plus adding shoulder pads) and taking in the princess seams at the armhole, i finally have a mock-up that fits and actually looks quite flattering - hoping that it will look even better in the finished fabric!
I then played around with altering the sleeve, taking the basic pattern and folding it in half.  I tapered out the lower seam to a bell shape and slashed the upper seam and just tacked it in 6" intervals.  Very pleased with how this has worked out; for the final item I will edge the sleeve and upper seam with bias binding in a contrast colour.

a couple of photos (of course this will look a lot prettier when not made out of sheeting fabric!)
   

Sunday, i was feeling too groggy to be cutting out fabric, so I got on with my other project, creating a fishtail underskirt for my Military Victorian suit.
I had already made a fishtail skirt using this pattern, intentionally using a very lightweight fabric for comfort.  However once i'd put the overskirt on it, I felt that it all looked a bit shapeless and needed some "oomph" around the bottom hem.
After thinking of lots of different options, i went for the simplest one, making an underskirt out of cotton fabric, which flares out at the bottom and to which I'd intended to add lots of netting for body.
However, once I added a ring of poly boning around the hem and tried it on for size, turns out that the result is exactly what I needed!
 

The underskirt now drapes beautifully over the hoop and has even given the overskirt some shape (it was looking a bit baggy before).  I'm still worried about whether it is too lightweight though, hope that it doesn't ride up when walking around outdoors; however I think the netting might look a bit too bulky underneath.

I have also been rather naughty this weekend and made a bit of an impulse purchase on Ebay.  I am blaming morbidfrog  for this, as I found the item when responding to her facebook request for help! ;-)
However, i've been thinking of a striped outfit for a while and this looked a bargain, so yesterday evening I ended up in a bidding war, whilst in the pub, using my ebay app on my phone!  Paid a bit more than I hoped but not over my planned limit and have 10 meters of this:


I'm thinking it would look lovely as a polonaise but I also have a hankering to attempt a Baroque/Marie Antoinette style gown, so it could be my outfit for Gala Nocturna next year!

Comments

[morbidfrog.livejournal.com]

i was looking at some colour stripe too this weekend...luckily not green

[vampyresheep.livejournal.com]

I seem to have a lot of green at the moment! But I've been trying to find some striped fabric, which was NOT cotton, nor of the usual colour combinations (ie not black/white or black/red), so this was a must-get. :-)
Hoping now that its not someone I know that bid against me and pushed the price up. Rob was joking last night that it was probably you!

[morbidfrog.livejournal.com]

no been busy looking for my blue brocade one but jane says she has some at her work or knows where to get it from. so she will let me know more when she returned from holiday. You have to see jenny amazing strippey outfit on saturday , stunning (will sort photos tonight

[ghost-ofa-rose.livejournal.com]

YAY! Great succes with the hoopskirt. It does look good. I admit, I have made almost the same thing a few years ago and it works perfectly. I did add a layer of netting to soften the hoop. It doesn't look bulky imo, but I did only use one layer.

Ooooh, love the fabric! Love stripes :D! It would be perfect for a robe a l'anglaise.

[vampyresheep.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about a stripey outfit for a while and would love to make a robe a l'anglaise or similar. Thinking it would look fantastic with a lighter mint green as the underskirt (my goodness, I am getting scarily colourful these days!)

I am hoping that Gala Nocturna has a suitable theme next year for me to make a suitable outfit. Otherwise, I tend not to get the chance to wear much other than Victorian era clothes.

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

If you go for an Anglaise the JP Ryan Pattern is excellent, and straightforward. I even have one, and I think I am about your size, if you want to trace it.

Don't even consider using Deconstructing History. Not if you value you sanity.

Is Rob chomper99's brother?

[vampyresheep.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have seen the JP Ryan pattern and was wondering if that one is any good, as I like the variation in styles in that pattern. Think this will be an autumn project, once I've got Leipzig and the Asylum outfits sorted.

Yes, Rob is chomper99's brother, I thought I recognised you from somewhere!

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

Small world. Tiny! I have known Gary and Emma since forever!

And a couple of my favourite icons come from pics taken at one of those balls.

Anyway sing out if you want to borrow the pattern and trace it off. We could meet up somewhere to exchange it, and have coffee and talk frocks. I'm also available for weekend stitch and bitch. (Did I mention we were looking for a fourth mad sewist of the apocalypse?)

I've also got the jackets which make up beautifully!

[vampyresheep.livejournal.com]

heh, Emma did mention about her mad seamstress friends :-) so I thought it might have been you.

May well take you up on your offer after Leipzig - 79 days to go and so much to make for then, think I may have been over-ambitious as usual!

Realisation has dawned on me, that to make an 18thC Gown, I am going to have to battle my way through constructing another set of stays. A nice big project for the autumn, Rob is going to be delighted. :-)