Robe a la Francaise, but extra wide.

I've made a Robe a la Francaise once before. However I didn't really wore it that much. The bodice was too big, the panniers I made broke on the first day and I never did any research. Just bought a pattern that I liked, with fabric that I liked the colour of. With bad lining and even worse thread tension.

Since my love for Rococo fashion hasn't abated I'm going to try again. However I'm going to mix the normal Robe a la Francaise (left) with a Robe de Cour (right). I love the big hips of the Robe de Cour, but the back pleats of the Robe a la Francaise is to die for!

 

For the stays I'm using J.P. Ryan's stays. The fully boned, strapless pattern.

For the panniers I will use (after a failed experiment) Simplicity's 3635.

For the petticoat I will use the pattern from Simplicity's 3637

However. Since the rest of the dress is not that great I will use J.P. Ryan's Robe a la Francaise pattern. 

Belle: Skirt finished. Bodice progress

Skirt

I finished the skirt last week. It has 4 layers of fabric.
The basis is a cotton layer, covered with an identical chiffon layer.
The overskirt is cotton flatlined with organza and trimmed with polyester.

 Above: Detail shot of all the layers with the pleats.

Above: Overview of the complete dress. It's a little crooked since the crinoline was crooked. Only saw it when uploading the pictures. Also the test bodice which I altered on 1 side, by cutting off the shoulder. Didn't like it. So I'm not going to do that.

Bodice

I started on the bodice. Right now I only need to put in the grommets and sew on the bertha. I decided not to do the bertha as it should be on the pattern, but do it my own way. Which is shown on below picture. 

Above: Picture when I was testing the bertha I wanted to do. Still no lining or any finishing. It was just to test the bertha.

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.