Sonntag, 18. Mai 2014

Robe de style: some construction details

I still have to get myself used to taking pictures during construction. I only have a few in-progress-pictures, but I took some of the details of the finished dress.

For the pattern, at first I tried to adapt some of the freely available ones (to be exact, this one and this one) but couldn't quite figure out how to get rid of the darts. So I made my own pattern. Usually I try to avoid this, but it turned out fine. After weeks of fiddling with the muslin I came up with this:


I also had a pattern piece for the little triangle that belongs in the neckline, but it went missing.
I uploaded the pattern in maximum size, so if you'd like to use it just click the picture and a large version should appear. The cutting mat has an inch grid.




This is the dress on my dress form. I only included these pictures for the sake of completeness, it really looks a lot nicer when on a person.




The fastening. I totally copied this from Katherine from The Fashionable Past. She mentioned that the snaps tend to come undone, so I added some hooks and eyes. However, my snaps still came undone, but I blame the cheap snaps I used. I will eventually change them to black ones anyway, and make sure they are top quality.



Detail of the neckline inset and the sari border. There are small pencil marks on the outside of the inset, because I sewed it in the wrong way around and then was in too much of a hurry to change it. Whoops. :P


The dress inside out. This picture illustrates quite well how I assembled the whole thing. I cut the bodice pieces from dress fabric and lining fabric, basted them together, then finished the edges with facings. Then I sewed in the neckline triangle by hand, and then sewed on the trim, also by hand. The stitches of the trim show on the inside, which I could have avoided but I had to do it quickly. Well. I don't mind that much, there are so many extant dresses around that look terrible on the inside. I will just classify it as period. :)
After I finished the bodice, I attached the ruffled skirt. I sewed it only to the dress fabric of the bodice, and then folded the lining over the seam and sewed it down with whipstitches.
By the way, I used four widths of fabric for the skirt. My fabric was 110cm wide.
After the skirt was done,  I added the pocket hoops. I sewed them only on the seam allowances of the skirt seam, so the stitches don't show outside.





Different views of the pocket hoops. They could probably be a bit bigger. They only make a subtle difference, but I guess that's enough. In case you are planning a robe de style and brooding over the size of the hoops as I did: I made mine exactly after the pocket hoops in Corsets & Crinolines by Nora Waugh, but only half wide. The length is the same as in the book.



I tried to take detailed pictures of the embroidered trim, but I obviously lack the necessary photographing skills. I hope you can at least make out some details. There is bullion embroidery on it, which I love. It makes it look antique and precious, doesn't it?


3 Kommentare:

  1. I love it! Your pocket hoops are subtle, but really look 1920s and are just enough to get that Robe de Style feeling. Beautiful trim!

    Best,
    Quinn

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    1. Wow, thank you so much Quinn! Your comment means a lot to me, you are one of my favourite costumers out there! :)

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  2. Anonym2/17/2015

    Wahnsinnig schön!!! Wundere mich, dass mir das Kleid bislang nicht auf den Bildern von der Boheme Sauvage aufgefallen ist, bist Du dem Fotografen davongelaufen?
    Das Problem mit dem Bortenbild rührt nicht von mangelnden fotografischen Fähigkeiten her (die Bilder sind insgesamt sehr gut!!), sondern liegt wahrscheinlich daran, dass Du kein Makroobjektiv hast und deswegen nicht nah genug ran kommst. Hab leider auch noch keines, sonst hätte ich Dir angeboten, das nächste mal die Nahbilder zu machen.
    Liebe Grüße
    Frl. Notter

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