New 1885 bustle

I had to make a new bustle for my victorian stuff, because I gave my old one to a friend. I used the Mantua Maker pattern again and tried to fix some issues the old bustle had, but it only resulted in more issues. Oh well. It still does what it's supposed to do. I probably won't use the pattern again though. I'm not sure how accurate it really is, the pattern pieces look odd and the whole thing feels wrong somehow. But then I'm by no means an expert. Anyway, it works and that's the important thing.

This is also my item for the first challenge of the Historical Sew Monthly 2015, yay! :)

The Challenge: No. 1: Foundations

Fabric: sturdy charcoal cotton

Pattern: The Mantua-Maker 1880s Bustle

Year: ca 1885

Notions: black poly thread, steel boning, tape

How historically accurate is it? Fabric type and colour are pretty accurate, it's machine sewn but that's alright for the 1880s. As mentioned above I'm not sure about the pattern though.

Hours to complete: I never track these things. 6-8 hours, I guess.

First worn: to a Victorian LARP on Jan 24th 2015

Total cost: no idea, everything came from stash.

A study in dusky pink

I made a corset. It has several issues, but hey. I made a corset! :)
When I started it (ahem, that was maybe three years ago), proper research wasn't that much of a priority yet. So for some reason I decided to use totally unsuitable fabric as interlining. I guess this is the main reason for the crazy horizontal creasing, another being the pattern which I probably should have modified more. I used the Laughing Moon Dore pattern.
The corset is made of cotton satin for the outer layer, fine linen for the lining, and some weirdly thick but too soft cotton for the interlining.
I already wore the corset for a full day. Unfortunately it doesn't only look imperfect, it's also chafing my waist after a few hours. :( It's a pity because initially it feels very comfortable.

Anyway. I made a corset. :)
I also took pictures:

The front. Don't you think it looks a bit like it was made for really droopy boobs? I have no idea why the pattern does that, and why I didn't notice it when making the muslin. It's extra funny because the upper edge is a bit too tight around the bust. 

On plus side, I found a perfectly matching lace ribbon in my stash. 

The back. I didn't have proper corset lace, so I put some white ribbon from stash into black tea dye. Strangely enough, it didn't come out yellow-ish like you would expect from tea dye, but light pink. Another perfect colour match.

Me wearing it. Really brings out the horizontal creases. (I took this picture before I added the lace ribbon).
Of course there's also the much feared problem of gaping above and below the busk.

I'm pretty sure the chafing in the waist results from the unsuitable interlining fabric, which should be a lot stiffer.
I still love the colour of the outer fabric and for a short time it is really comfortable to wear. I'll probably not use the pattern again, but instead try the Truly Victorian corset pattern for my next one. As always, I learned a lot while making this corset, and I'm looking forward to make the next one!

1883 winter bustle dress - planning

This year I made the resolution to return to my roots and make at least one bustle dress. Bustle dresses are my costuming roots because I totally fell in love with them after I saw Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula movie. I had to have one, and after a quick research revealed that there was absolutely no way I could afford having one made, I decided it would be time to start learning how to sew. That was in 2004 (hey, that's 10 years ago! Anniversary! Whee!).
I didn't dive right into the subject but started with some easy stuff like skirts and bags, and stayed there for a while. My fascination for victorian fashion was rekindled a few years later when I went to Budapest, visited the Hungarian National Gallery and came across this painting of a lady dressed in a purple gown:

"Lilaruhás nő" (Woman in a purple dress) by Szinyei Merse Pál, 1874 

I love this dress so much I named this blog after it. :)

Anyway, because life in general and motivational problems in particular tend to get in the way of my sewing plans, I still didn't make a bustle dress until 2009, when I needed something to wear for my first historical ball. I literally had no idea what I was doing, and of course the gown was a mess and my mom had to sew me into the bodice so it would stay shut.

Mom in a surprisingly beautiful rental dress and I :) .
The velvet part of my dress looks black but it's actually a rich shade of royal blue.

I know it looks fine on the picture, but believe me, you wouldn't want to know how the bodice looked on closer inspection. Not to mention that it is actually far too small, and that I wanted a lot more trim on the dress.
I disassembled the bodice right after the ball, and to my shame I have to admit that to this day I still haven't put it together again. That's another plan for this year, but there will be a separate blogpost.

Back to what this is actually about: plans for a new bustle dress. It's not going to be the purple dress, because I must use some of these ridiculous amounts of fabric I own before I can justify buying any new, and at the moment I couldn't afford it anyway.

So I decided to tackle another dress I've been admiring for some time, and I already have suitable fabric for it in my stash. It's the left one from this fashion plate from Illustrirte Frauen-Zeitung Nr. 22 from November 16th, 1883.

Image from http://www.laetacara.pytalhost.de/

I just love the combination of dark blue shades with white or cream (see my bustle ball gown). On the fashion plate it looks as there are even some  grey and green hues in the blue. I was very lucky to find a suitably coloured wool mix fabric at a bargain price a few years ago, which was such a good deal I actually bought the whole bolt.

Fabric and possible fur trim

It has woven stripes, which in my opinion makes it even better, although the stripes are not that conspicuous when not photographed with flash.
Below is some fake fur I might use for the fur trims. I'm still not sure if it looks too fake or if it is fine, but I decided not to worry about it prematurely.

Fake or fine?

I'll start with Truly Victorian patterns 261 (underskirt) and 460 (bodice) and work my way from there.

Costume recap - The Escher Naise

Okay, I have nothing new to show yet, so I'll just start with some of my old projects before it gets boring here.

One of my all time favourite gowns is my victorian polonaise (dubbed "Escher Naise" by my friend Mme. Eleanor Vivian, because the pattern looks a bit like it formed in the head of M.C. Escher).
I made it for the WGT 2010 (gothic festival in Leipzig, Germany), so I didn't bother to use only historically accurate fabric. Besides, it was only my second try at victorian clothing, and I don't want to use expensive silk or wool when I'm not yet sure what I'm doing.So the fabric is some mixed fiber (I think it was actually intended for furniture), the edges are bound with velvet and the sleeves are decorated with two layers of fine black lace. The front closes with hooks and eyes. The skirt is made from ordinary black cotton and has a broad ruffle at the hem, decorated with velvet ribbon.
I used the well-known Truly Victorian pattern, but altered the sleeves so they would look a bit like 18th century sleeves. The pattern went together very well, but I'll probably not use it again, at least not as it is - you see it too often these days, and somehow it's funny meeting people at events that basically wear the same dress as you do. (Yes I know, different fabric and styling and all, but it's just weird when you can tell exactly which pattern a dress was made of from 100 metres away.)

 Anyway, I'm very pleased with how it came out. It fits like a glove, and I'm especially proud of the exact pattern matching in the front. 

Enough of the talking, on to the pictures! 

With lovely Mme. Eleanor Vivian on the left - all the stripes on her dress match exactly at the seams!

Here you can see the pattern better. Picture and editing by Alexander Löbel (thanks again!!).

Again with Eleanor Vivian - picture and editing by the wonderful Alwa Petroni / Graubild

The dress also passed the picnic test! :D (I actually don't have weird super-long legs - I just took off my boots *lol* )

This is how it looks on my dress form at home. The light is terrible and I couldn't close it all the way down, but at least you can see the whole dress.

The drapery from the side...

... and from the back.

And this is the shellfish I wore underneath.

"If you try to park your beer glass on my behind, I'll kill you!"