Belle Dress: Starting

A childhood dream comes true. I'm going to dress up as Belle! From Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
I'm going to change the dress somewhat to suit my own style.

Plans

This will be somewhat what I intend. A base skirt with an shiny pleated overskirt.

The patterns I'm going to use will be from Truly Victorian.

For the skirt I'm using TV240 1860's Ball Gown Skirt. This skirt has a underskirt with a box-pleated ruffle. I will make this underskirt with a chiffon layer for the prettiness and an cotton base layer for the modesty. Sheer fabric's are pretty, but I don't want to show everyone my butt.  The overskirt is Organza which is flatlined with the cotton to create a small color difference between the chiffon.

The bodice will be a TV442 1860's Ballgown Bodice. This bodice has the off shoulder look and the Bertha (the neckline/sleeve frubble thingie). I will probally modify the Bertha a bit, since I don't like how it looks in the back. I will use a damask jaquard for the base and the organza for the Bertha.

Current progress

I've already started on the skirt. The cotton underskirt and the chiffon underskirt are sewed. When the overskirt is finished (which is partly finished).  I can pleat the layers to the waistband.
I just need to trim the overskirt, but my trims haven't arrived yet, so I'm forced to take a little break, before I can finish the overskirt.

Victorian Winter Dress: Finished

My dear readers,

I've been neglecting this blog. I've updated my facebook Click here to see it and neglected this blog. Please forgive me. I will try to remember to also post progress on this blog.

I've finished the Victorian Winter Dress. Here's a picture of the finished dress.

Some pictures of the skirt:
Back and a detail shot.

I haven't made any detail shots of the bodice yet, since I ran out of time with the bodice and only finished it the night before the event.

The next project will be Disney's Belle.

Victorian Winter Dress: First Steps

So, a lot happened in anticipation for sewing this dress. I made the Victorian Undergarments, bought a new sewing machine and a ruffler foot. I've got to say that after the first day of sewing on the skirt I'm happy with the equipment I bought.

The machine works well with the thick velvet and effortlessly switches between the thick (pleated) fabric and the silk trims.
I've used my Serger (Lock machine) for underlining the skirt and finishing other raw edges, since the dupion silk frays when handling it.

The ruffler foot works wonders for the trims I'm making. I did break like 2 needles and made some test pleats before I got the hang of it.

Although I can't show you pictures of the front piece I've sewn today, since it won't hang right yet, I've made a picture to show you the fabrics I'll be using.

On the left is the main fabric. I'm not sure it's velvet, but it's more a suede kind of fabric. Really soft and beautiful and on the right the Dupion silk which is pleated with the ruffler foot.

Victorian Undergarments: Some hustle with a bustle!

So.... after making the basic bustle in about a days work (without counting the cutting of the fabric and tracing of the pattern) it took me a little longer to make the ruffled overlay. It is optional, but since I like poofiness I added it. Boy did I regret that at some times. 

Even when gathering by using my machine it was a lot of work. The gathering wasn't even the worse. It was the hemming of the ruffles! When I got my own ironing board it helped a lot since I didn't have to move the fabric that much. 

The pattern that I used: Truly Victorian TV TV101(found here) was again really clear in it's instructions. Although I had to figure out how much ruffles where needed on the overlay by myself. The instructions aren't clear about that. You need to cut the pieces 9 times and they have to go in 6 different layers, but there isn't a recommended way described.

On with the pictures: 

 

 Do you see the poofiness! It's awesome!

Victorian Undergarments: Corset finished

Although the corset didn't turn out perfect I did learn a lot I can use for the future.
The Truly Victorian pattern is really easy to understand and with some additional tips I've gotten through the years it worked well enough.

I did make the boning channels a little too tight at some points, since I didn't use boning tape as a guide. However with a little help I could get the boning through without trouble.

I do know that I'll need to have a machine with a zipper foot next time, since I did have to leave some more room between the edge and the boning, since my machine wouldn't work well to sew directly to the bones.

But onto the pictures!

As you can see the bias isn't exactly even, but I don't care.

The backside. Not fully laced on the mannequin, but enough to get the shape.

 A close up for the fabric. It has a nice pattern, but it was difficult to capture on picture.

 A boob shut to see the bias and again you can see the pattern on the fabric.

Victorian Undergarments: Surprise corset!

So after sewing the chemise and drawers I wanted to start on a bustle to go under my petticoats.
So I grabbed a bought victorianish corset I had and dressed myself in the chemise, drawers and corset. However I quickly found out why I haven't worn that corset that much. It's too high and big and gives me the dreaded Corset Ridge.

So since I already had the pattern and fabric for a corset, since I tended to do one later. I decided that it was necessary to make a corset. I can't go out with a beautiful bustle dress with a badly fitting corset now, could I?

 So after tracing and alterating the pattern, following the clear instructions by Truly Victorian, I made a fitting corset of canvas. The pattern is wonderful as it also gives a way to fit a mock corset without having to bone and lace it. I had to alter a small thing, which was easily done.

Tonight I intended to simply sew in the busk and do the rest later. A couple of hours later I have a near complete corset where I just have to sew the boning channels, add the bones and finish with bias.

I made pictures, but somehow they aren't recognized. I will update this post later with pictures.

Also check my Facebook Page for short updates through the projects: https://www.facebook.com/chaosroyalcreations

Edit for pictures:

Victorian Undergarments: Drawers complete

So after finishing the chemise I started on the matching drawers.

The pattern I used, Truly Victorian TV102, is really clear. The drawers are a little more complex than the chemise and have therefore more instructions, but these are clear.

So after a few days work I was ready to attach the waistband only to found out I had 2 left legs in the literal sense. So after a little seamripping I quickly made the right leg... pun intended.

For both the chemise and the drawers I used cotton with cotton trim.

The front is partly closed. Only the first 10 inches or so are sewn together. The rest is open for an easy access to your bum. 

 The back side. You can see that the backside is open and tied with the ribbon. For the picture I pushed the parts a little away to show the open, but it quickly falls closed again. I doubt you'll see my butt if I would only wear the undergarments. 

 

Detail of the legband and trim. I debated early on if I wanted to make the leg band of lace or some embroidered cotton. However since probally nobody is going to see it and I do have a deadline I didn't do that. Perhaps one day I'll make some fancy drawers with embroidery and frills.