May: Specific to a Time [of Day or Year]

May's challenge originally gave me pause, since making some form of evening wear was the obvious path to take, but I didn't want to spend money on silk right after completing a challenge with silk. It didn't take long to figure out an alternate plan though! Instead of focusing on a time of day, I instead thought about the times of year, and here in the tidewater part of Virginia, summer immediately springs to mind. For those of you who haven't visited south-eastern Virginia in the summer (or spring or fall or sometimes winter), it is very warm and extremely humid. I'm almost always cold, so I like the heat, but the humidity can be pretty rough some days.

This problem isn't new at all. In the 18th century the weather was much the same, and people in colonial Virginia were looking for ways to cope. We have a great letter written by a traveler in the 1730's, telling friends back in England what to expect from a Virginia summer: "In summertime even the gentry go many in white Holland [linen] waistcoats and drawers and a thin cap on their heads and thread stockings. The ladies stright-laced in thin silk or linen. In winter [they dress] mostly as in England and affect London dress and ways." For a Virginia society that was often considered to be 'more English than anyone in England', 18th century Virginians were willing to deviate from their standard dress to be comfortable in the heat, and they did so in a way that stood out to those who visited them.

White linen is by far the easiest way to stay cool in the summer; it's breathable, doesn't trap the heat, and can cover your skin to prevent sunburn. So, I made a new linen gown to wear this summer! It's an unlined round gown, which means that there is only one layer and no extra petticoats required, for maximum coolness in the summer. I've worn it to work a few times already, and I can attest that it is indeed very comfortable on days when it's over 90 degrees out. Happy beginning of the summer season everyone!

Day 29: Ensemble

I had big plans for this post, but unfortunately a couple of things derailed it. Primarily, getting sick and not having anyone to help take photos were the biggest factors, but the rainstorm today and the fact that my outfit is mostly silk certainly didn't help either!

If you remember a few days ago, when I posted about my UFO, I said that I was hoping to get it done in the near future - the near future is now! The original gown, from Snowshill Manor, was made of white silk, but for an outfit perfect for both travel and autumn I thought that brown silk would work better (and be far more practical).

In addition to the fact that the entire outfit is made of brown silk - petticoat, stomacher, and jacket - there are many things you can add on to this outfit to make it a true ensemble, and this gown is specifically 'accessorizable' since both travel and changing weather require lots of accessories! In the photo, I've paired it with a brown felt hat that I might add trim to in the future. However, I could also also wear my calash with it, a market bonnet, a different brown calash (I have some scrap silk I'm contemplating using for that), or a hood. Additionally, I can wear a cape or a mantle with this gown, and mitts or a muff for especially cold weather. It can also be worn with or without hoops.

Essentially, I'm hoping that this outfit will be my most versatile one yet, and that there will be lots of ensemble possibilities here! As soon as the skies clear and I start to feel better I'll hunt down some friends and edit this post with some new pictures of all the different ways you can make an ensemble out of one 18th century outfit. Until then, happy sewing!

Day 27: Future Projects

Just the other week I was lamenting that I hardly had anything [18th century] to sew... now I have the opposite problem!

There was a fabric sale with some incredible deals the other week, and I am now prepared to make a new jacket, a caraco with matching petticoat, and two full gowns (although I might make one of those gowns into a second caraco with matching petticoat).

Aren't they all so pretty?! I think my favorite is the one in the top center, but the bottom one will be absolutely perfect for a caraco. The total price for all four new outfits will be around $50, or less than $15 each!

I also have a couple of Regency projects on the docket, although those won't happen as quickly since I can only work on them in the evenings. Keep your eyes peeled for a new set of short stays, a wool spencer, and a gown modeled after the one in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion though!

This fabric is from Verna's, which I love to visit with my Mom when I go back to PA - there's so many great finds in there!

The description of the original fabric for this gown is very similar to the fabric I already have (above), so clearly this is a good choice for a new Regency gown!

Finally, I have a few cold weather projects that I can sew, just as soon as the weather cools off and autumn begins. I have some wool that I found at a thrift store (for $3! For three yards!) to sew a petticoat with, and my parents got me some lovely sky blue wool and cinnamon brown Virginia cloth from Burnley and Trowbridge last Christmas that I'll be turning into something fun come fall. Lastly, I bought a little bit of faux fur trim a few years ago and stitched it together, but I am yet to turn it into the muff it was meant to be - hopefully that project will be completed in time for the snow!

I love the look of fur, but I could never support killing animals just for their coats, so faux fur is one of the very few modern concessions I will make in my 18th century costuming. (To quote one of my favorite movies, Christmas in Connecticut, "No one needs a mink coat except for the mink!" I do, however, need a faux fur muff, and a faux fur trimmed mantle, and...)

In addition to all of my future sewing projects, I am also hoping to undertake some more blogging projects. I haven't made any official decisions, but I have some cool prompts in the works, and some more challenges to keep me blogging through the rest of the year - so stay tuned!

Day 26: Media

As anyone who has ever tried to watch a costume drama with me knows, I am very picky about historical eras portrayed in the media. However, I do have a few movies that I absolutely adore the costume design in - feel free to comment and let me know what you think I should watch next! I love costume eye-candy!

Anna Karenina is a beautifully done movie, and although the costumes are a bit out of my era (1877) I could still watch it all day long. The plot is pretty depressing, but the clothing and filming is gorgeous! It's no wonder that the movie (and costume designer Jacqueline Durran) received five nominations for costuming awards, and won four.

The movie is super sad, but the cinematography alone makes up for it. If you liked the scenery and film techniques in Grand Budapest Hotel, you'll love them in this movie

The Duchess is another one of my favorite costumed movies. This one is in my era, and has already inspired a giant hat that I made in a millinery class in college (well, the movie as well as the painting of the original Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana). This movie (and costume designer Michael O'Connor) won five awards for the costuming, and there are so many outfits that I would like to sew!

I really like how the neckerchief/fichu works with the gown here. This is one of the few times I felt like a neckerchief completed an outfit, instead of simply adding on to an outfit.

This outfit was my all-time favorite. It's only a matter of time before I sew something like this...

However, as much as I love those two movies, my all-time favorite costume drama is Marie Antoinette. The clothes are so pretty, and the color scheme is to die for! Of course there are a few costumes that aren't quite accurate (as is the case in every costume drama ever), but I really love how well the movie conveys the extravagance of life at Versailles as well as the lead up to the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette was by no means an innocent character, but it is interesting to see the background she came from and some of the things that drove her choices. Plus, the use of modern music does a great job giving contemporary audiences a sense of the era in a different way than is normal. Milena Canonero did a great job with the costumes, and definitely deserved the three awards she got for Best Costume Design!

I might make a gown very similar to this one soon!

My favorite outfit in the entire movie is the light blue gown with the red belt. I would love to make it some day, because there isn't a single thing about the dress that I don't like! However, I could also say that about almost any gown Marie Antoinette wears in the movie, so...

Day 23: Made for Yourself

I love that I get to sew at my job, but every now and then I need a little bit of inspiration. So, when I was almost out of fabric and projects at the end of July, I started flipping through some of my costuming books and decided to make something a little different than my normal fitted gowns - a chemise a la reine!

I've sewn the one featured in Norah Waugh's The Cut of Women's Clothes, with just a few slight modifications. Essentially, a chemise a la reine is made of three tubes with gathering and shoulder straps, so it's not a complicated pattern, but there is a LOT of sewing involved! The gown has a circumference of 134 inches, and so sewing gathering channels along it and hemming it was quite the endeavor.

No sleeves yet, but progress on the gathering channels!

However, once I put some ribbon through the casings, the gown really started looking like what I was hoping for! I shortened the shoulder straps a little bit (although I might have cut them a bit long in the first place) and put the sleeves on, and voila!

The finished gown, it's so floofy!

Now I just need an excuse to wear this, other than around the house... That's why I'm showing off this project today, with the prompt Made for Yourself - even though this gown is accurate to the era we interpret at work, it doesn't really fit with what I do every day, so I probably won't be wearing it as part of my job. Still, the light cotton muslin is so comfy for summer wear, so I'm content to just wear it at home for now!

I don't have a wig or the ideal head wear for this at my apartment right now, so my market bonnet is a temporary stand-in

Day 21: UFO

For those of you who are unaware, in the sewing community the term 'UFO' usually refers to "UnFinished Object(s)". Although today also would have been a good day for a space theme, seeing as we had a solar eclipse!

I'm usually not one to have many UFOs lying about, because I'm usually sewing something with a deadline in mind, and I like to sew in my free time. However, I currently have two UFOs in my sewing [bed]room. The first is a set of regency short stays that I can't sew while I'm immersed in the 18th century, and the second is a gown I'm replicating.

The front of the gown - sorry it's a little wrinkled!

The back of the bodice - I just have to hem a few edges!

While I'm not certain how soon I'll finish the short stays, I'm planning on finishing the gown pretty soon. I just have to finish a few edges and sew a stomacher and petticoat, and I'm ready to go!

The front detail (which also needs to be hemmed)

The sleeves, which are finished, and which I absolutely love!

The gown itself comes from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion, and is taken from the quilted white gown from Snowshill Manor. However, since I wanted something that would show a little less dirt, I decided to make the gown in a brown silk that I found on sale. It will still be warm in the autumn and winter, but I won't have to worry as much about leaving the house in it! However, I am considering eventually sewing another one out of pre-quilted white cotton, so that it will be quilted and white, but a little bit easier to clean.

My drafted pattern pieces, as well as the gown I'm copying

I started this project last summer, drafting the pattern from the book, and I cut out the fabric in the fall. Hopefully I'll have it finished with a post on the completed gown soon!

A throwback to the window seat in my last dorm with the flowers I loved, and the day when I actually put needle to fabric and started sewing this gown!

Day 12: Garment

            Most of the things that I sew are garments, so there’s a lot that fits into this category for me. I decided to post about my caraco, because I just finished it last month and I haven’t shown it off yet.

            Much like my calash, this project was also started last summer. I cut out the pattern pieces, and then had to move back into a dorm and promptly lost my will to do anything the second I discovered that my room for the next year was completely lacking an overhead light and was in a constant state of shadow. So, the fabric sat untouched, and the pattern got wrinkled in a tote while I finished my senior year of college. However, upon graduating and moving into an apartment that was much more habitable, I pulled out all of my sewing projects and got back to work!

            The gown itself was very straightforward and easy. I used the J.P. Ryan pattern, with only a little bit of piecing on the skirt to accommodate the guestimated amount of fabric I had bought the previous May during a sale.

            The ruffles on the cuffs were where I really enjoyed myself though. The fabric of the gown was a printed cotton chintz, but I made the ruffles out of linen, because I just had to. I always forget how much I love to work with linen until I’m sewing it, and this was no exception.

            Because I sewed this gown at work, I don’t have any pictures of the process, and because the pattern was of the best quality I don’t have anything out of the ordinary to say regarding the construction of the caraco. I’ll close on this note: I sewed this garment at work, and so a lot of visitors asked me what I was working on. That usually resulted in me trying to compare different garments to modern clothes, and uttering the phrase, “A caraco is like church clothes or an outfit you would wear to work.” That’s a very rough and inexact description, but it seemed to help most people understand. Unfortunately, you just can’t get into the intersectionality of clothing styles, textiles, and social class in a two-minute interaction!

Here's the look from the side - please excuse the weird flaring from the base of my stays, they're too big and my new ones are still being worked on!

            If you want to make one of these for yourself I highly recommend it. J.P. Ryan’s pattern is fantastic, and it’s enjoyable to sew. Also, how cute is that ruching band?? And, if you want any tips, advice, or simply want to talk about your latest project, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send me an email! 


*This post should have been published on Saturday, August 12th. However, I was returning from vacation and still needed to take some photographs before I could show it to the world!

Day 7: Made for Someone Else

I finally had the opportunity to sew gowns for two young girls!

For a few years now I have told everyone with children back in my hometown that I would sew their children colonial outfits if they ever came to visit Colonial Williamsburg. That finally came to fruition at the end of June, when I received a text message telling me I would have visitors by the end of the week! I quickly got the sizes for the two girls, and then immediately went shopping. I found two great printed cottons in colors that I knew the girls would love, and patterns that were extremely close to some seen on extant garments from the period.

I used the Mill Farm Child's Gown pattern as my base, although I made a few very slight alterations. The gowns came together very quickly - I used my sewing machine, but both dresses from start to finish took less than a total of 4 hours!

It was great to see how happy my young friends were with their new dresses once they arrived in town, and they told me they had so much fun exploring Colonial Williamsburg dressed like the wonderful young ladies that they are.

So, as a reminder to any of my friends with young children: I will gladly sew 18th century clothing for any youngsters who are coming into town! (And for those only young at heart, I'll sew for you too, just let me know when!)

As always, if you have any questions about any projects, want more clarification or tutorials, are interested in commissioning an outfit/accessories, or simply want to talk sewing with me, please feel free to comment below, or send me an email!

Day 6: Book Recommendation

            I have a lot of costuming books, and especially historical costuming books. So, choosing a favorite is pretty difficult. However, Fitting and Properstands out to me, being one of my first costuming books, as well as the first book I drafted a pattern from.

            My parents got it for me as a reward for finishing an extra online class ahead of schedule, as well as buying me my first pair of 18^th century shoes. I’ve sewn a gown, mitts, shortgown, and a calash so far from the patterns in the book, and it couldn’t have been easier to follow!

            In a similar vein to The Cut of Women’s Clothes, the book places traced patterns on a grid, so they’re easy to reproduce exactly as they exist in real life, but they can also be sized up or down to fit each individual. The book also provides the thread count for the materials, instructions for the construction, photos of the original garments, and a written history of both the generic idea of the type of garment as well as the extant piece itself.

            I highly recommend this book, especially for those costumers who are just entering the historical costuming world, or anyone who is learning how to draft patterns. And, even if you don’t make anything from it, it’s still a wonderful book to flip through and learn from!

A Zone Front Gown for My 21st Birthday!

Turning 21 is a big deal. If you're normal, you're excited to drink. If you're me, you're excited to drink... historically accurate beverages. So, for my twenty-first birthday my parents got me a bottle of Thomas Jefferson wine, and I sewed another brand-new dress.

However, I have the best parents in the world, so in addition to the wine, they also gave me the best present I could have dreamed of getting - a surprise party in an 18th Century house! If you know me, you are fully aware that I like planning, and schedules, and everything that is the opposite of surprises. However, thanks to months of planning on behalf of my parents, and a truly awesome amount of secret activities from my roommates, I thoroughly enjoyed my 21st birthday.

After a full day of history in Colonial Williamsburg, including an audience with George Wythe, dancing at the Raleigh Tavern, and getting to see James Madison, my parents took me back to their hotel to decide where to go to dinner. As we walked in, my dad realized that he had 'lost his key' and said we had to go back to look for it - he thought that it fell out of his pocket in the Tucker House. So, we got back in the van, and after numerous protests on my behalf that the house was already closed for the evening, we walked through the front door, which was miraculously still unlocked. At that point, all of my friends jumped out from where they had been hiding to yell, "Surprise!" I was shocked, and even more so when I discovered that my parents had arranged for a catered dinner in the house as well. It was such an incredible night, and I am so grateful to have so many people in my life who love me so much.

But, you're probably wondering about the dress. Over the summer, I became taken with the 1780's, and especially with zone-front gowns (also sometimes referred to as robes a la turque). So, I decided that for my birthday, I would make one on my own! However, there aren't really any patterns for zone-front gowns. Most of the gowns achieved their cut-away style through the use of a fuller stomacher and sloping sides, although some just used angled trims. I figured that it couldn't be too hard to adapt another pattern to meet these requirements, so I started sketching.

My planning page for my birthday projects.

My planning page for the dress and the trim.

For Christmas, my parents got me the J.P. Ryan 'Robe à l'Anglaise' pattern, which I had been super excited to try for a while. I transferred the pattern to brown paper so that I could play with it a bit, and then started to sew. A few years ago my mom and I had bought some silk taffeta for $2 a yard during a Jo-Ann Fabrics sale, and so I used that for my gown. I went with a light green lining, and used the dark green for the outside. The stomacher and petticoat were also made of the light green, and I was very excited to have another pretty petticoat.

My two fabrics, as well as the pattern, original pieces, and the borrowed sleeves.

Tigger is always a big help to me while I sew, he ensures that my pattern and instructions don't fly away!

I had pretty much everything else that I needed for the gown, with the exception of a false rump. So, I did some research, and started attempting to replicate an extant bum roll. The proportions were fine, but I quickly discovered that my instincts regarding how much to stuff it were way off. I ended up only using about a third of the stuffing I thought I needed, but I am fairly happy with the end result.

This is the false rump, made out of the same material as my white petticoat - not completely accurate, but sturdy and unseen.

A mirror shot of me modeling the rump at college.

So, after getting things in order with the false rump, I felt like I was able to start effectively working on the gown. I was really excited to put the pleats in the back. I wasn't able to drape it on myself, but I used my dressform (which might have been nicer, since I could pin into it). This went very well for me, and I am excited to sew a linen or cotton gown with pleats now too!

In process pleating - the pattern recommended doing it on an ironing board, and it was very helpful.

Finished pinning the pleats...

Pinned on the right side and ready to be sewn in place.

After fitting the back, I traced where I wanted the sides of the gown to slope away revealing the stomacher, and then cut out the front pieces.

The lining ready to be altered.

Marking where to cut and where the stomacher will attach.

The cut lining, as well as sleeves and shoulder pieces.

When it came to the sleeves, I modified the sleeves from my riding habit to fit the dress - my riding habit sleeves are officially my new favorite sleeves to sew. After that, it was just a matter of stitching it all together, and adding the pleated skirt.

My favorite things - pleats! This is from the petticoat I whipped up.

I then recruited the help of my mom, and later my roommates to assist me in fitting the stomacher and figuring out where to secure it to the rest of the bodice. I sewed one side to the gown, and the other side attached with hooks and eyes. I also added a hook at the center middle, and then closed up the bottoms of the bodice. Finally, I whipped up a petticoat, and my wonderful friend Fiona helped me pin up the hem.

I sewed some of the dress while I was wearing it - I feel like this is a new level of being a seamstress.

Finally, I whipped up a shift out of some excellent linen that I bought, as well as a quick market bonnet out of some fantastic silk - but I'll post about those later.

A view from the back, emphasizing the false rump.

It was an incredible birthday, and I am so blessed to have been able to spend such a special day in my favorite place in the world, surrounded by so many people who love me.

The traditional "Twirling Behind the Wythe House" photo.

In the arch behind the Wythe House.

This one is from the photo shoot we did in the Tucker House! My friend Kirsten takes excellent photos..

The Weavers, our wonderful family friends, helped me get new shoes for my birthday!

Look how pretty they are! They are American Duchess Dunmores, with buckles from Colonial Williamsburg. They fit perfectly, and they are so comfy, even after 12 hours of wearing them! No blisters or pain here!

I love the prints in the Tucker House, and Kirsten did a great job setting up this shot.

This photo was fun - we were taking pictures in the chair, but it seemed like it still needed something, so I grabbed the adorable sheep that's always in the refreshment room, and it made for a great picture.

Another fun shot, I liked playing around with the decorations in the house.

Finally, this is how I do most of my planning. Tigger supervises me very closely as I mark up patterns and instructions.

Final thoughts: The J.P. Ryan pattern is wonderful! I absolutely love it!

                         I will be adding pinked trim to this dress sometime very soon - the trim is cut out, it just needs to be gathered and attached.