Bustles, bustles, and more bustles!

Before I started working on the wishing dress I never realized just how much I love bustle dresses from the 1870's and 80's. They're shape is just so different from any other era and they're so pretty!

Now that I have the proper underpinnings for a dress from this era I've been thinking that after I make the wishing gown I will make another bustle dress, but more historically accurate.

Here's a little history on the rise and fall of the bustle.

The bustle started to appear in woman's fashion in the last few years of the 1860's. The bustle continued to grow larger while the skirts grew smaller and the cage crinolines went out of style. In the early part of the 1870's the skirts were still quite large, flat in the front but still fairly full in the sides. But as time went on they started to get smaller while the back increased in size.

Originally the bustles were high up, but as the years went by it lowered until it finally disappeared in the middle of the decade. For the next several years it was fashionable to have a very slim figure, known as the natural form, which had a long straight bodice and the back was also long and straight.

The bustle returned in the 1880's. The skirts were much smaller and not as full on the sides, but the bustle had returned. They grew larger as the years went by and were quite large in the late 1880's before the bustle went out of fashion again by the early 1890's.

Here's some gorgeous bustle dress inspiration ranging from the early 1870's to the 1880's.

ca. 1885

ca. 1875

mourning dress - ca. 1872-74

ca. 1885-88

1887 Wedding Ensemble. Made of Wool.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is having as good a time as I am! 

2014 Costume Recap & 2015 Costume Bucket List

Well, 2014 is almost over (I know, crazy right?) so I thought I'd do something I haven't done before. A year in review of all my costuming progress I've made this year and plans for 2015. Now, since I don't really have any specific events next year I'll probably just post a few items on my costume bucket list that I may decide to do. But I don't know what I'll actually get done.

2014 Accomplishments

The only costumes I completed 100% this year is my 1940's outfit and my 1870's undergarments.

  

Completed Costumes

I worked on and mostly completed my Obi Wan inspired Jedi outfit for May the 4th and my Rose Tyler Idiot's lantern costume. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of my Jedi outfit yet.

In Progress costumes I started this year

I started the year off with the goal of finally making Padme's Packing Gown and made some progress, but never got past the mock up stages. I've sort of put that one back on the shelf for now, but maybe I'll get around to it next year. I've learned so much about pretty much everything this year that I know I'll be able to do a better job now than I would have been able to at the beginning of this year.

And last but not least, Christine Daae's Wishing Dress from The Phantom of the Opera. I've got the undergarments done and am currently working on the wig. I'll be starting on the mock ups for the skirt and the bodice as soon as that's finished.

This costume has me so excited because I love it so much, but also because it's helping me get into another side of costuming that I've wanted to go to since I started sewing. Historical Sewing. The only downer is that I don't have anywhere that I'll be able to wear the dress, but hopefully that will change between now and when it's finished.

This year I have learned so much about sewing and costumes and have been able to see a huge difference in my skills just between the last 12 months. I still have a long ways to go and a lot more to learn, but I'm so glad I am where I am today. It's taken a lot of hard work, a lot of research, a lot of frustration, and a lot of patience. But that's how all the good things are in life, right?

On with my goals for 2015!

I'm super excited to be participating in The Historical Sew Monthly challenge next year for the first time! The challenge use to be every two weeks, but this year she changed it to once a month, which is perfect for me!

I've wanted to do this challenge for a long time but never did it because I haven't done any historical sewing in the past. But I decided to get a little out side of my comfort zone and give it a go in 2015! So we'll see how it goes.

My friend Michaela is also doing it for the first time, so I'll have someone to go through it with. :D

As for more specific goals... 

1. In January I will finally be 18 which means I'll be able to finally join the Rebel Legion! YAY! My plan has been that I would finish the Packing Gown and use that as my entry, but seeing as I never got past the mock up I have to figure something else out. I've bee thinking about this for weeks and still haven't decided on what to do. I'll probably just finish my Jedi outfit, which mostly just needs a tone of snaps sew on, and to make the belt (which I have all the supplies for but just haven't got around to actually making yet). Other wise I think i might do Mara Jade, my favorite character from the EU.

I don't think it would take too long since I would buy most of it from the store, but it would just be kind of expensive because of the wig and the leather. But this is definitely a costume I want to make soon.

2. Finish the Wishing Dress. I'll definitely be working hard on this for the next several months.

3. Belle from Once Upon a Time. I have been in love with Belle's blue dress from OUAT since before I started watching the show. It's so simple and yet so pretty!

4. Elphaba's Defying Gravity dress from Wicked. I really love Wicked, and I really love Elphaba. I really like all of her costumes (especially her Act II dress) but would like to make her dress she wears when she and Glinda go to the Emerald city. It's very simple but is a fantastic costume!

For anyone who just has no idea who Elphaba is, she's the green one on the right.

5. One of Anna or Elsa's Dresses from Frozen. Okay, I've wanted to make one of their dresses since before the movie came out. I still haven't decided on which one I would make first, but maybe I'll get around to making one of them this year.

And on the historical side...

1. I would really like to make some more clothing from the 1930's and 40's. Those are my two favorite era's from the twentieth century and I would get to wear them to events at the Historic Flight Foundation.

2. I'm thinking about joining the my local Civil War Reenactment group this year. My only hesitation is that I'm the only one in my family that's interested and I don't know anyone here that's into reenacting. So I'd kinda be on my own and I don't think it would be as much fun.

But if I do end up joining I would need to make myself and 1860's day dress along with the proper underpinnings.

3. I really love the dresses from the Medieval and Renaissance era's. I'd love to make a simple kirtle (sorry if my terminology is wrong, I haven't done a lot of research on these era's) sometime this year.

And last but not least, possibly the most important costume of the year will be my Masquerade dress for my graduation party next year. I'm planning on having a Phantom of the Opera themed masquerade for my graduation and will be designing my own dress. As of the moment I have absolutely no idea what so ever as to what it will look like.

Well, that's about it. Everything I did this year and possibilities for next year. I would absolutely love to be able to make and wear all of the costume listed above, but who knows what will actually get done. Costuming is a very unpredictable thing. ;)

Victorian Undergarments

I (mostly) finished my Victorian under garments. YAY! I'll probably need another petticoat and I still need to get some longer ribbons for my chemise and 2nd petticoat drawstrings. But I'm off to a good start!

So the last few weeks I've been working on a second petticoat for over my Truly Victorian bustle. I drafted my own pattern based on Truly Victorian 107, which surprisingly turned out really good since I pretty much drafted the whole thing with math (which I'm not very good at).

The chemise and drawers were drafted with a tutorial from The Sewing Academy. I ended up putting a drawstring neckline thought so I could adjust it for the Wishing Dress neckline.

I also finished my first corset! I drafted it with this tutorial. Over all I think it turned out pretty good for my first completed corset. The back has a bit of space but I think that's because I laced it myself. I could definitely get it tighter if someone else was doing the lacing.