Regency Taffeta | A Completed Costume

This was a fun project that came to be through the mighty powers of procrastination. During Summer last year I had the fun task of making several costumes for Endgame (LCC 2018), and while I should have been working on mockups, I was instead starting an entirely new project. A Regency era dress.

I had all the materials on hand, and I needed to work with something prettier than bleached muslin. So creating an entire dress is exactly what you should do when you have pressing deadlines, right? Right.

The dress itself came together in about two days, and that includes hand stitched details on the seams to make it look as if it were sewn by hand when it was, in fact, not. Well, except for the hand stitched details.

The beading, however, took much longer.

I don't have an exact, or even an approximate, number for just how long the beading took since I didn't work on it consistently over the several months of making this dress.

Anyhow, once the dress was finished I pulled together a photoshoot with some very talented friends and this is the result. I'm quite happy with both the dress and the lovely photos.

Photos by Morgan Elise Photography

Model - Lizzy Poling

Dress by Tiana Blanchard

In which I learn to Floss...

... My corset, anyways.

A few months ago I started up a dance night with a group of friends, and several of them have been trying to convince me that I need to learn to floss, which I steadfastly refuse to do. Then last week I wasn't feeling well, and instead of laying around doing nothing I decided to take that time to finally floss my corset.

When I finished, I shared pictures online toting that I had learned to "floss". Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny. But here's the end result.

This is my 1880's corset made from the Truly Victorian pattern. It's the most comfortable, though not the most technically well made, corset I've made yet. And now now it's the prettiest corset I've made.

For anyone who doesn't know, flossing is used to hold the bones in place from moving around in the boning channels. Plus it's an extra way to add some decoration to your corset. I played around with a few different styles with the help of some tutorials I found on Pinterest. There's a surprising amount on flossing info out there.

Making Eliza's Dress from Hamilton

As promised in my last post, today's post is all about the making of Eliza. For Halloween this year I decided to go as Eliza Schuyler from Hamilton. This was a really fun costume to make and wear, and it's become my favorite cosplay I've made.

During the making process I failed at taking progress pictures like I usually try to do, so this post will have a lot of written information instead of visual. However I did post a fair amount on my Instagram stories. They're featured on my profile if you want to check them out. I'll be using a few of them in today's post to help explain my process.

The Bodice
The pattern was self drafted, using a combination of draping and drafting techniques. The bodice was fairly easy to figure out since it's a pretty accurate 18th century shape, although the back has princess seams which are definitely a modern cut. But overall it stays pretty true to the 1770's.

The trick to the bodice was all in the structure. I used a medium weight canvas and muslin for the lining and structure layer. I boned the princess seams and the center back silk layer for the faux lacing (more on that soon), and the front had straight up and down boning.

It actually took a lot less boning than I was originally expecting. The only thing I would do differently here is use a heavier weight canvas and move the center front boning a little closer together and further down the point at the front. Otherwise I'm very happy with how smooth the bodice turned out.

The back of the bodice has a long row of faux lacing. If you look closely at the stage costumes, you'll notice that the back has what appears to be lacing, but underneath is actually a zipper. I contemplated just putting a zipper in the back since with my long hair no one would even see the back, but I opted for accuracy and hand sewed almost 30 eyelets.

The lining and the top fabric are stitched together everywhere except for the center back, where they're left separate. I folded the edge of the silk under to create a boning channel and put a separating zipper in the lining.

The front of the bodice has a row of buttons, again they don't function. I covered the buttons myself with a kit, which was actually really fun! I stitched button holes but didn't cut them open, and I stitched the buttons on top.

The neckline has a small lace stitched around the neckline, and there's a wider lace in the sleeves. It's all just basted in, so it's easy to remove if it ever needs to be replaced.

The Sleeves

The sleeves were another challenge. I wanted to make sure I could move and replicate the famous "work" pose. In my first mockup attempt I made a normal sleeve and could barely bring my arm up level with my chest, let alone straight up.

So after a lot of research and a couple of trials, I finally found something that worked. I found a great article, which you can read here, on how to shape a sleeve for maximum movement. It took a few attempts, but eventually I got the pattern figured out and it fit beautifully!

The Skirt
The skirt was the most difficult thing to figure out even though it's relatively simple. When I started planning I had no idea how much fabric I would need. The 18th century skirts I've made in the past only used a few yards of material, but it was clear that there was a lot more fabric in the stage skirts when they twirl.

After asking around on some Facebook groups, I realized that the minimum circumference I would need is 5 yards. And after making this, I would use 8-10 yards if I ever remake this dress.

The trick in getting the right look is all in the pleating. I'll do my best to explain, but it's one of those things that's hard to tell instead of show. The pleats have to really small but have a lot of overlap (or underlap?) You only want to see maybe 1/2 an inch, but the pleat should be 2-3 inches deep. But you want to make the first few, in the front, more shallow, to keep the front flat.

Again, this is an area I would do differently should I ever make this dress again. I didn't make my pleats small enough or overlap enough (this is where the extra fabric was needed), particularly on the back. I didn't keep the pleats small enough in the front, so there's more material and it lays differently than the original dress. It's a little detail that most people probably don't even notice, but it stands out a lot to me.

There was no real shape to the skirt, it was just one big rectangular piece. Because my fabric was 60" wide, I cut the hem down to floor length before I started pleating. Once I had the pleats pinned over my bum pad and petticoat, I used a skirt leveling technique I learned from the book Period Costume for the Stage and Screen. After that I used a 1 inch hem allowance and hand stitched it.

Basically you tie a piece of string (I used elastic. I'm still not sure if that was a good idea or not) about the waist where the waistband will be. Then you raise the skirt, in this case just the front, until the hem is even, and you cut the excess above the string/elastic and voila! You have an even, straight hem.

When working with a straight edge for a hem, you never want to trim the bottom. You want to level it from the top and cut that part instead of the hem. I speak from experience.

The Accessories

The accessories for this costume were really minimal, and I didn't even get the right colors. XD I already had a pair of black Kensington's from American Duchess, so I wore those. And because it was Halloween, I wore my favorite stockings. I wore these with the last couple of historical Halloween costumes, so it's becoming a tradition.

Eliza+The Halloween Party

I can't believe Halloween has already come and gone. This year my family hosted a huge party with all of our friends and we had a lot of fun dressing up, dancing, eating good food, and hanging out. 

I dressed up as Eliza from Hamilton. I didn't do a good job of documenting the making of process over the last month and a half, but I'm going to write up a blog post all about it soon.

This is probably my favorite Cosplay that I've made, and it was so comfortable to wear! I decided to make it accurate to the stage costume instead of going the historical rout. I have a crinoline petticoat and a bumpad underneath for skirt support, and the back has a zipper (though it has faux lacing to look like it's laced up).

The shoes are American Duchess Kensingon's, which I purchased last year but didn't have an opportunity to wear until this year. I also wore my favorite Halloween socks, which is becoming a tradition for me. The shoes and stockings should be cream to be accurate to the Broadway costume, but I couldn't justify buying a new pair of shoes at the time, so I went with the pair that I already had.

I tried to take photo's through the night, but I only got a few. We had so many creative and fun costumes this year!

Lobsters and Petticoat's

I haven't had a ton of time for sewing lately, even though I have about a million things I need to be working on right now. But I did manage to squeeze in a new lobster bustle and crinoline petticoat last month!

Being that Halloween is just around the corner, and I'm the crazy costumer that I am, I started thinking about my Halloween costume early in August. I had decided on a costume that I've wanted to make for a long time now, but unfortunately I don't have the funds to do it properly at the moment.

The costume was Christine Daae's wedding dress from the stage version of Phantom of the Opera. It's always been a favorite of mine, but unfortunately will have to wait until a better time when I can do it right.

Anyways, that was what got me going on these foundations. While I was playing around with that idea and researching materials, I started with the undergarments. I knew I needed a larger bustle than the half bustle petticoat I made a few years back for my 1870's ensemble, and because it was a stage costume and I didn't need to be particularly historically accurate in material's, I decided I should make a crinoline petticoat.

This was something I've been meaning to do for a while, but just never got around to because I really don't like working with tulle of any kind.

And this crinoline lived up to my expectations. It was a beast to work with. Partially because I was making up the pattern as I went, when I really should have sat down and crunched some numbers before sewing, but I'm just gonna blame it on the crinoline. Fine? Fine.

In the end, the petticoat turned out quite nicely. It's made up of two layers and is stitched onto a bask with an elastic waistband. I actually added another small ruffle along the bottom edge of the top layer to help keep the shape around the hem, but I haven't gotten any pictures of it at that point yet.

Please ignore my hideous carpet. We just moved and haven't had a chance to update the floor in my sewing room yet.

The lobster bustle came together quite easily, and is taken directly out of Period Costume for the Stage and Screen. I think I will end up making another one that's just a little bit biggest, particularly on the bottom half, but otherwise I really like it! It isn't quite done, it still needs a ruffle along the bottom edge, but it's wearable.

Sadly since my costume plan's have changed the bustle won't be used, but I'll may still use the petticoat. But more on that in another post!

The Grey Gown Photoshoot

I got together with a friend this week and had a little photoshoot. The goal was the get photo's in one of my vintage dresses but we finished quicker than we anticipated and decided to photograph a few additional dresses as well.

Luckily my friend and model, Elie, fit into everything I put her into, which gave me the idea of having her wear one of my dresses that hasn't had a proper photoshoot. It's the Grey Gown, which I made last year and only have photo's of on my dress form.

I'm in love with how these photo's came out and I'm so happy to finally have some good photo's of this ensemble! I love the soft linen and the simplicity of the outfit.

We had a visit from one of our cat's while we were shooting.

If you want to read more about the making of this dress, go here.

I'll share photo's of the other dresses we photographed in another post soon.

1940's Nautical Blouse - Making Wearing History 4001

Funny story. I bought Wearing History's Sailor Playsuit pattern, material, and notions two years ago. And they sat in my stash until about a month ago when I finally decided to make it.

After finally deciding to print out the pattern (I opted for the e-pattern, which was part of my procrastinating. I always have a difficult time getting them to print at the proper scale) and got to sewing. It came together rather quickly, and I'm in love!

I love vintage nautical fashions so I've wanted to make this for pretty much forever, I just never quite got around to it until now. But I'm obsessed and there will definitely be more nautical fashions in my future sewing.

The pattern itself is great and fit me perfectly without any modifications. I can't say much for the instructions though. I used the written instructions as more of a guideline and found them confusing, but I knew what I was doing for the most part and was able to work my way through with only referencing it throughout to make sure I was on the right track.

I made the shorts that goes with it too, but I don't have any photo's of those yet, but after moving in a few weeks I want to get some good photo's wearing the whole thing. I'm also planning on making the skirt soon as well.