Truly Victorian natural form part 3 TV423 TV324 TV221

 Back to my Victorian natural form journey. This outfit was to be worn for the Victorian Festival fashion show but with all events cancelled it now hangs in my closet.

I used 3 different colors of silk taffeta. The main gown is Mandrake (deep eggplant), contrast is Mandragora (golden olive green) and a small accent of warm grey lavender. The first two fabrics were bought from Silk Baron and the accent fabric was from my stash.

I decided to push my skills a bit and added a back accent based on a gown at the MET, The Mrs. F.M. Carroll dress. It's lovely gown and the back of the bodice is very interesting and unusual.

TV423 Two Toned Bodice:

I already reviewed this lovely pattern so I'm just sharing some of my process on copying the back of Mrs. Carroll's dress. I would like to say I did some fancy math and sketched everything out in 100% perfect detail but.....Nope. After looking at the picture and counting how many bow shapes I was going to need I cut out the 2 back bodice pieces in muslin and started to sketch out the pieces on the back. I used iron away ink so if I made mistakes they would disappear. :-)

The interesting thing about the Carroll dress is if you zoom in you can see that some of the back bow shaped pieces aren't perfectly even. Nice to know that even such a beautiful gown has little discrepancies like that since my stuff is never perfect either.

Here is the back cut out in muslin. You can see I traced out shapes down the back. Once the shapes were traced out I laid a piece of tracing paper over the back and traced the bow shapes. I added 1/2 inch seam allowance to each bow shape. Once the pattern making part was done I cut the shapes out in fabric and lining. I also made the contrast piping. I made a practice bow and realized sewing them RST on top and bottom and trying to turn them RSOut was a problem... The centers were too narrow to pull the wider ends through. 

So what I did is I stitched just one side and then I pressed in the seam allowances on the other side and whip stitched them together.

Here is the front of the finished piece.

Here is the back, you can see my very coarse whip stitching. Coarse is ok because no one will even see it. :-)

Once all my little pieces were stitched together I laid them out on the muslin to make sure I was headed on the right path. Now it was time to cut out the back bodice pieces. I decided to just cut out the back bodice in case this all went sideways I would still have enough fabric to head in another direction. 

After sewing the center back seam I began stitching all the little pieces down leaving about 1.5 inches in the center of each piece open so I could lace the fabric tie up the center back when it was time. The rest of the bodice construction was pretty standard. I did change the neckline and drafted out a different collar, I also made the sleeves 3/4 length. At this point I tried on the bodice and I didn't like how the top two bow pieces looked. My upper back curves forward (bad posture) and those top two pieces really drew attention to my upper back curve. So I took them off and I really prefer how for me, less is more. The thing to give thought to as you are contemplating design elements is your frame size. I'm not very tall and some design elements are too much for my frame. Also I am short waisted and all that detail going down the back was a bit much. Another example, I have a short neck so when I'm making garments (even modern ones) I normally will shorten the collar stand and sometimes the collar piece itself just to make it fit my frame better. Sleeve cuffs are another one. Sometimes they are too big visually for my small wrists so I will make them smaller so they don't overwhelm me. Hopefully this makes sense. :-) 

Once the bodice was completely finished I used an extra long piece of ribbon and wound it up thru the center back openings to see how long to cut my fabric. I essentially made a narrow tube the length needed and just threaded it up through the center back. For the bottom of the fabric tube I just copied the original dress as best as I could interpret it. It looks like 3 loops, 1 knot and then three hanging streamers of fabric. That was my best guess.

There are other style details I added to the bodice that aren't part of the pattern. I just looked at fashion plates to find things I liked and then played with tracing paper and the pattern pieces. It all came together very well in the end.

TV221

Tie back underskirt is just that. I added pleated trim to mine and the top part of the skirt is actually cheap home decor cotton so I didn't waste any good silk on a part of the gown no-one would see. This skirt goes together easily and I had no issues with it.

TV324

Long draped overskirt. This is another simple make and my only dislike is how droopy it is. Even with nice crisp taffeta. I tacked some of the pleated gathers to make it drape better and overall I like the finished result. 

The eggplant colored fabric like to photograph brown but it's really not. I think the camera picks it up as closer to Aubergine which does have brown tones to it. The green is pretty spot on in color. Both fabric were bought from Silk Baron.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post. I quite like natural form and will certainly make other garments. Thanks again for tuning in to the chronicles of Mimi.

Simplicity 8578 Part Two! IKEA curtains are the BOMB!

I have already reviewed Simplicity 8758 that I made for an event last year. This year I decided just for fun to make a version from four IKEA cotton ramie curtain panels. It is one of their historic prints and the fabric looks and feel like linen.

Each panel was 2.5 yards long by about 60 something wide. I was very careful in my laying out the pattern and making sure I would have enough fabric. I was left with nothing but scraps by the end.

This time around I lengthened the gown skirt so it was longer than the petticoat by about one inch in the front and that gave me a nice small train in the back. I kept trim very minimal since this is not an evening gown. I also had the stomacher open down the center and I just pin it shut. This would be perfect for a more casual evening meal or for visiting during the day. I have no place to wear it right now but I had so much joy in making it!

My sweet little dog! His name is Pancake.

Fig Leaf Pattern 112 The 18th century Italian Gown finished!!!

Well since I have more free time these days I decided to do some hand sewing. I have had this pattern since 2019 and it's been on my hit list. I have only made one other pattern by this designer and it was a simple Regency short gown (basically rectangles). I was feeling fearless and had some lovely IKEA cotton fabric!! Well, actually a comforter cover but..... ;-)

Pattern:

Fig Leaf 112 1780s Italian Gown. Pattern is created using an extant example in the DAR collection. Fig Leaf patterns are like a fashion history lesson in a package and certainly well worth the pattern price. A lot of gowns were previously altered as fashion changed and the pattern designer includes these optional alterations, piecing etc...on the pattern itself. Another nice thing is all the instructions come in a spiral notebook format.

FYI-----The petticoat is not a part of this pattern. I used the American Duchess book for that part. I mostly machine sewed the petticoat.

Fabric:

IKEA historic print cotton comforter cover for the gown and silk taffeta (Cosmos from Silk Baron).

Alterations:

First off you will need all the proper undergarments before you begin. Chemise, stays, under petticoats and a bum pad. Fig Leaf patterns are designed to be worn over stays etc... Read the size measurements carefully and pick closest to your size. If you fall in between sizes go up.

I made two muslins before cutting out the gown. Since I fall between 18 and 20 I went with the 20. It turned out to be too big, especially in the back. I went down to 18 and the fit was much better. I had to shorten the waist length (normal for me since I'm short waisted). I also knew I was going to be pinning closed so I kept the extra bodice width offered for pinning intact. I also did a small full arm adjustment on the sleeve. I need to shorten the sleeve a bit and will do that when I make this again. The gown is originally a round gown with the center skirt being a "faux petticoat" attached to the gown. I opted to make my petticoat completely separate because I wanted a different fabric. I used the American Duchess book for petticoat instructions. That is the extent of my alterations.

Construction:

Mostly by hand. This gown is not super difficult to make and the directions are straight forward. I don't recommend this for a beginner and it does help to have some 18th century experience. The construction methods are very different than modern day stuff. 

The most challenging part was setting the sleeves. My advice is to do it in two parts. Sew the underarm area first then try on the gown and make some shitty attempts without a fitting helper to get the sleeve cap to fit YOUR personal shoulder shape. I managed to get it done but not without some frustration. Not the patterns fault, just my own personal issues. ;-)

I used the sewing machine on the underarm and the long skirt seams. Otherwise everything else is done by hand.

Final thoughts:

Great pattern! It was a challenge but worth it in the end and I would certainly make it again.