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.