Dreamy Edwardian Dresses | Project Inspiration

I've started a new project, and while I'm in the beginning stages of draping/drafting up patterns (AKA the visually boring stuff), I thought I'd share some pretty inspiration for the project.

The project is an early Edwardian era lawn dress. I found a great deal on a pretty pink lawn, which is being shipped and will hopefully arrive soon. I made an S-bend corset last year, and this era of fashion has always been a dream era of mine. It's so soft and feminine and I'm so excited (and maybe just a little nervous) to be diving into it!


This first dress is the main inspiration for my project and what I'm basing my dress off of for the most part (though I'm not trying to duplicate it exactly).

This dress is part of The Met's collection. The gown was designed by Jacques Doucet and is made of cotton and silk.

Below is part of the description from their website:

"Possibly worn by one of New York's finest, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Wilson, this afternoon dress is a perfect example of couture during this period. The sheer pink fabric, accented with lace and black and pink ribbon trim, is a dress to be displayed at garden parties and the races. Doucet added interest to his work with his use of unusual trims, illustrating his inventiveness and artistic taste."

Dress c. 1903 via the Met

I came across this image of the dress and a portrait that is, at the very least, very similar to the gown. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information on the painting.

If you look closely it doesn't actually appear to be the same dress. The ruffles around the bottom half of the skirt are striaght, where as on the dress it's almost a scallop edge. And the front bodice appears slightly different. It could be that the artist interpreted the dress differently, or it's a completely different dress. Still, I thought it was interesting and wanted to include the comparison.

Since I'm draping my own pattern this gown has been extremely helpful for me to see the lines of the bodice and to get an idea of how it closes. 

Dress c. 1900-1914 via The Museum at FIT

Dress c. 1900-1914 via The Museum at FIT

And a few dreamy Edwardian fashion plates for inspiration, because they're just so pretty.

Want some more pretty Edwardian inspiration? Check out my Pinterest Board!

1914 Corset Beginnings+Inspiration

My sister and I recently started watching Downton Abbey together (this is my second time going through the series and her first time), and I've completely fallen in love with the clothing from the later war years. It's both elegant and practical at the same time, which really appeals to me.

I've been slowly coming around to the idea of working in this era, and watching Downton Abbey was the the final straw to break me. This weekend I started working on a new corset for the era.

The pattern I'm using is from Bridges of the Body, and it's been a great pattern. I had some difficulty with getting it to the right scale (as I do every time I try to scale up a pattern), but I was able to get it close enough and made a few adjustments once I had it printed out.

The mock-up came together quickly and surprisingly easily. My first attempt I was completely over thinking it and tried changing some of the dimensions because the original on the pattern were just slightly smaller than my usual corseted measurements, but that only ruined the lines and ended up being too big anyways. I ended up adding seam allowance to the original pattern and it fit perfectly, despite being printed slightly smaller than it was supposed to be. Go figure.

Corsets from this era are, to me at least, a little weird. The silhouette of the period was so long and slender, with far less emphasis on the bust and bum than was popular in the early 1900's. The corsets from this era usually sit with a low bust and extend past the hips and are *so* long. But it's slowly growing on me.

In case you're unfamiliar with the era, I thought I'd leave you off with some pretty 1910's inspiration. You can check out my Pinterest board for more WWI era goodies too.

Corset C. 1914 Via Bridges of the Body

Corset C. 1912-14 from the Kent State University Museum

Catalog C. 1916. I'm in love with each of these outfits

1841 Dress Inspiration | The Marie-Louise Gown

Since making my first 1840's dress over a year ago, I have been dying to make another. I'm naturally more drawn to the simpler, "every day" wear, if you will, and I'm stepping outside my comfort zone by working on something more elegant.

I came across this beautiful portrait of Queen Marie-Louise of Belgium from 1841, and I fell in love. Not only does it capture the very essence of 1840's fashion with just a hint of the 1830's in the hair, it's also red and I recently got it into my head that I want to make a red dress (for no reason in particular).

Today I'm sharing my inspiration and the beginning of my research for the gown.

Painting of Queen Marie-Louise of Belgium c. 1841

The painting itself was painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in 1841. Winterhalter was a well known artist of the 19th century, and painted portraits for royalty all over the world. Perhaps his most famous portrait is of Empress Sisi of Austria.

It looks to me as if the dress is made of velvet, however I've decided to make it from a faux silk I got a good deal on from Bankok Thai Silks. I would use 100% silk fabric, but unfortunately my budget isn't quite there at the moment.

The dress has the typical shape of the period with a full pleated skirt, pointed bodice, and pleated bertha with puffed sleeves. It's accessorized with a lace tucker, jewelery, and a lace shawl and headpiece.

Painting of Queen Marie-Louise of Belgium c. 1841

I'm planning on doing more of an interpretation of the gown rather than an exact replica, so I may play around with the accessories and hair a little.

As for patterns, I'm drafting everything myself using patterns from Patterns of Fashion I and Period Costume for the Stage and Screen as references. I've found a couple of patterns in each that I think will work perfectly.

I'll be posting more about this dress soon.

Costume Spotlight | 1898 Jacques Doucet Ballgown

This week's Costume Spotlight is an original 1898 ballgown by Jacques Doucet. Doucet was a French fashion designer in the 19th century and early 20th century. His designs were known for making elegant gowns using translucent fabrics and pastel colors.

This particular dress is from 1898-1902 and is made of silk, metal, and linen. The cut of the dress is typical of the era, with a narrow waist, small bustle, and flared skirt with a slight train in the back.

via Met Museum

via Met Museum

via Met Museum

From the Met Museum, "the material used is of the finest quality, extremely delicate and dramatically embroidered. The cut of the bodice is quite seductive, enhancing the silhouette." 

What do you think?

Rate between 1-10 in the comments and let me know your thoughts.

Halloween Costume's for Historical Costumers

With Halloween only a few days away, it's time to pull out the costumes. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because it's an excuse to dress up, and eat way too much candy (but don't tell anyone I said that).

Each year I usually try to make a special costume for Halloween, but this year I didn't have the time to start on anything early enough and I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do. I started thinking up costume idea's that would fit with some of my historical clothing that I hadn't worn yet or very often, because I love wearing period clothing and will come up with any excuse to wear it.

I came up with a few idea's that aren't too specific and can work with a variety of period clothing, which I thought I'd share in case someone out there needs some inspiration.


18th century:

• Marie Antoinette, 1770's-90's
• Eliza Schuyler (Historical or not), 1770's-1810's
• Clair Fraser (Outlander), 1740's
• Elizabeth Swan (Pirates of the Caribbean), 1720-50's
• Lizzie Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), 1790's-1810's

19th Century:

• Cosette (Les Miserables), 1830's
• Jane Eyre, 1830's or 40's
• Margaret Hale (North & South), 1850's
• Christine Daae (The Phantom of the Opera), early 1870's

My Halloween Costume in 2016 - Jane Eyre

20th Century:

• Dolly (Hello, Dolly!), early 1890's-1900's
• Elizabeth Thatcher (When Calls the Heart), 1910's
• Anne (Anne of Green Gables), 1900's
• Nancy Drew, 1920's-60's
• Amelia Earhart, 1920's-30's aviator

Then of course, there's always Victorian "Fancy Dress" costumes, if you have the time to put into it. I love seeing Victorian costumes because they're so unique and usually quite silly.

Victorian bat costume illustration from the 1892 book "Masquerade and Carnival Their Customs and Costumes" by E. Butterick

I'll be sharing my own historical Halloween costume in my Monday post, but for now I have to keep it a secret until after I wear it at a party on Sunday.

What are you dressing up as for Halloween? Do you like to wear historical costumes for Halloween? Let me know in the comments!

1940's Swing Dress Inspiration

Vintage Aircraft Weekend is quickly approaching , which means its time for a new dress! This is my big event of the year, with a dinner dance on Friday night, and the airshow the next day; it's a great weekend.

I love dressing up and every year I tell myself I should make a dress, but somehow I never end up actually making one and end up wearing something either authentic vintage or vintage inspired. But not this year. I'm determined to actually make my dress this year even though my schedule has been crazier than ever. But it's 1940's, it should be simple enough, right?

While I'm busy scrambling around sewing, I thought I'd share some of my inspiration for the dress I'm making this year.

Before I decided on doing a 1940's swing dress, I threw around several different idea's and era's. I really love the elegant beauty of the 1930's and the full skirts of the 50's, so I was open to any of those era's as well. For a while I was throwing around the idea of a 1950's cotton lawn dress after I found the perfect pink lawn online. But I decided I really wanted to do a 40's swing dress since I usually ended up doing 50's.

Late 30's, early 40's Fashion.

1940's Day Wear

Early 1940's Fashion

c. 1942 Via

I cam across the below picture and I loved the bow neckline but I knew it would be too time consuming to draft up a pattern. But I loved the dress so much, so I kept it in mind.

c. 1942 via

Then I came across Katherine's dress on Mode de Lis and fell in love with the similar design to the one above, and I realized she had used a Simplicity pattern that I've had in my stash for several years now.

Katherine's dress

Like Katherine, I'm using Simplicity pattern 1587 for the bodice and drafting my own skirt pattern. I'll be sure to write more about that in a future post. But for now, it's time to get sewing!

Making an 18th Century Inspired Dress Part 1 | Drafting the Bodice

Last month I had the inspiration to make something of my own design in an 18th century style. Like everyone else, I love the costumes from Outlander designed by Terry Dresbach, even though I've never watched the show. I particularly love Claire's outfit with the plaid skirt and embroidered stomacher, which I believe is from season 1. One of my favorite part of the Terry Dresbach's designs is the use of texture and all of the beautiful fabrics, so when I found a wonderful gray linen I knew I had to make something 18th century/Outlander inspired.

I did a couple of sketches before I came up with something I liked. I wanted something simple and not necessarily historical accurate, but with a historical feel, which I feel I accomplished.

As you can see, the dress changed a little bit between the sketch and the finished product. I didn't necessarily want a bodice that laces up like in my sketch, but I didn't know what I wanted to do until later in the process.

I want to walk through my process for drafting the pattern, as it's a step that a lot of people seem to skip over, but is a very important part, and that's what today's post will be focusing on.

The first step in making this was to draft up my pattern. I based my bodice very loosely off of a pattern from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction C. 1660-1860. The patterned I used as a reference is an "Undress" jacket. 

For this costume I decided to use two 18th century petticoat's over top of an 18th century bum roll to get the right silhouette. It's important that you have the proper under garments on your dress form when you're drafting so that your pattern will lay properly with all the layers. I didn't bother put my stays (18th century corset) on the dress form because my dress form is solid and they wouldn't do anything.

This method of drafting is done directly on the dress form by pinning ribbon onto the dress form where the seams will be on the garment. You only have to draft on one half of the dress form since the pattern will be the same on both sides.

I'd like to note that the front lines of my bodice is a little bit more defined and sharp than it is in the finished bodice. I was going for a different shape when I started and didn't change that line until after I finished drafting the pattern.

Once I had my seam lines tapped, it was time to start drafting the muslin. This pattern consist of 2 bodice pieces, so I cut out two separate pieces of muslin a few inches wider than the widest part on the dress form and a few inches longer.

The front panel -  I pinned it straight down the middle to hold the muslin block in place. I smoothed it out the best I could around the arm and over the side back, pinning it tight just past the side seam tape marking. There was a bit of excess fabric around the bust, which I pinned into a bust dart which I would remove on the pattern.

After everything was laying smoothly I proceeded to mark over the ribbon seam line with my sewing pen. Once all the line's were marked I removed the muslin from my sewing form (but left my bust dart pinned) and traced a half inch seam allowance around every seam and cut it along that line.

The back panel - The back was done in relatively the same way, except before I started I drew a straight line 1 inch away from the back edge in pencil (this should have been done on my front panel, but I was rushing and forgot), which served as my center back line. Even though the back was two separate pieces with a seam in the center back, I needed this as a guideline to lay my muslin on straight.

Once my muslin block was pinned along the center back, I smoothed out the rest of the block to lay flat against the dress form. Once there were no wrinkles I traced over the ribbon markings, removed it from the sewing form, added a half inch seam allowance, and cut it out.

I pinned the pieces together at the seams to see how everything was fitting. Overall it fit well with the exception of the neckline *sigh* and the back neckline where it met at the front shoulder piece. I made a few adjustments to fix these things, leveled the bottom edge hem, and traced it onto paper, creating my pattern.

In the end, my pattern ended up looking something like this. The pattern I used for my sleeve's is the same pattern I used for my 1770's Polonaise, which you can read about here.

I'm still learning the art of pattern draping/drafting, but I hope this was helpful.

More posts about the making of this dress will be coming soon, so be sure to check back!

What's your favorite method for drafting patterns? Let me know in the comments!

My Story

For the majority of my life I didn't know what I wanted to do. I've always been drawn towards film and in more recent years towards theatre, but I was never one of those kids that from the age of 3 knew exactly what I wanted to do. It seems like the majority of people you talk to or read about online knew since they were a toddler exactly what they wanted to do. And for someone who never had a clue, it was a bit worrying to be graduation high school with no idea of where they want their life to go. So if you can relate, know that you're not alone.

I've been doing some re-branding with my costuming on the web lately, and while I was updating my blog I had the idea to add a page titled "My Story" with... Well, my story. After I finished it I thought it would make a good blog post, hence this post.

So, how exactly did I get into costuming? Let me tell you a little (er, long-ish) story...

Growing up I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do for a career. When I was 6 I wanted to work as Snow White at Disneyland and when I was older I wanted to be Indiana Jones... Er, an archaeologist. But I decided that archaeology wasn't exciting enough in the real world and continued life without having a clue, or really caring much.

Me with my hero, Snow White, at Disneyland in 2001

Life continued and I started making short films with my sisters and brother, which eventually lead to making a few with friends, which lead to, well, no where actually. I was drawn towards the costumes, especially when we made a film about a princess's coronation in a fantasy land. There was fancy dresses, a murderous plot, and terrible acting. This video remains safely hidden on YouTube where no one can ever see it. Thank goodness.

You would think I would start to get a clue around this time that I was drawn to costumes. But no. I knew I was interested in film making in general, but that was it.

Then in 2010 (or maybe 2011, or was it 2009? I honestly don't remember) I saw a friend's costumes that she had put together at a homeschool fair and I had a total "ah-HA!" moment. I remember thinking to myself  "that's what I want to do. I want to make costumes!"

At the time I had absolutely no sewing experience, so I asked my mom to teach me. She pulled out the old sewing machine, which was probably from the 70's from the yellow plastic and ancient looking design. My mom taught me what she knew, which was only the sewing basics and I started making all kinds of small projects - bags, pillows, and clothes for my stuffed animals.

Eventually I became bored with these trivial projects and I decided that I wanted to make a dress. I decided a nightgown would be the perfect first "real" project for me, so my mom and I went to the fabric store together and picked out a Simplicity pattern, which should have been simple enough, but would soon drive us nuts. I never finished the nightgown and there were several moments when I wanted to run away screaming because the pattern just didn't make sense. I still don't like working with commercial patterns to this day and it's largely because of this project (thanks Simplicity).

Well, fast forward three pillows, six bags, and a whole stuffed animal wardrobe to May 1st 2012 when I decided I wanted to celebrate May the 4th (Be with You) - AKA Star Wars Day - by making a costume. I had found a lovely tutorial/walk through someone made for Leia's senatorial gown from A New Hope and decided to give it a shot.

My mom and I made a quick mock up (my first mock up - yay!) out of some old tan sheets and went shopping the next day for materials. We searched all over for a suitable fabric, but since neither of us had any clue about fabric types and had a budget the size of a grain of sand we ended up buying some  white sheets. For our first real project and making it in 3 days, it actually turned out fairly good. All things considered. I mean, it was easily recognizable as Leia. So that counts as a win, right?

And that, my friends, was my first ever costume. I continued sewing and continued creating my own patterns vs. using a purchased pattern. I learned mostly just from trial and error for those first few years but as I progressed I started researching and reading more, both books and blogs to try and build my skill even further.

My 2nd project, Danielle de Barbarac from Ever After

As I continued, costuming soon became something more than just a little hobby. I spend the majority of my time sewing, researching, thinking, dreaming... Okay, you get the point.

Then in last year I was asked by a group of film makers known as Rogue Zohu (who happen to be the same film makers I made the princess/coronation/murder short I mentioned before with years ago. Needless to say, they improved much between then and 2016) to be Wardrobe Assistant for their short film Save Lives. Apologize. I quickly said yes. There may or may not have been some excited squeals that day.

That project is one of my best memories and favorites because it was that weekend when I discovered that costuming was what I wanted to do with my life. For the first day of filming I was in charge of dressing 20+ extra's, which consisted of elementary aged children, in 70's clothing. It was chaotic, exhausting, a little stressful (thank goodness for our amazing AD! I would have been lost without her), but mostly fun. Okay, all fun.

After that first day of shooting and on the way back to our home for the weekend (we were staying at a friends house for the shoot) I just knew that that was what I wanted to do. There was no doubt. Since then I've been digging further into costuming.

And that's my story.

Now when people ask me what I want to do with my life I can finally give them an answer. Though I'm past the age when people ask that the most (right after you finish High School and "should" be getting ready for college and your future career), but I still have to dodge the question of "are you in college?" #homeschoolerproblems

How about you? Have you always known what you wanted to do? Or are you like me and have/had no idea?

Costume Review | Beauty and the Beast (2014)

Last week my sister and I watched Beauty and the Beast (2014), which is a French production of the classic story we all know and love thanks to Disney. I didn't know much about this adaptation going in except that I had seen several of the costumes on Pinterest and I was interested to see it since the new Disney live action version is coming out soon (which I have been less than thrilled by costume wise from what we have seen in trailers so far).

[Semi]Brief Synopsis:
The story appears to be set in the 1810's through the 1820's and is set in a strongly historically based but still fantasy world. It's is about a once wealthy family that has now appears to have lost all of their money on a ship that sunk in the middle of the ocean which forces them to move out of their high society house in the city to a plain country cottage.

Bell's father discovers the Beast's castle on his way home from the local tavern and on his way out he picks a rose. The beast attacks him then and basically tells him that in exchange for the rose he demands a life. He goes home and Belle decides that since she is the outcast of the family/has no future she should go.

So she goes and becomes the beasts prisoner. He provides her with a new dress every day and he has a very strict schedule of when to eat so she can't run off (or something like that). She has no interest in him and actually fears him. Oh, and there's a pool of magical water in her bedroom that heals wounds. Fun right?

At night Belle has dreams (thanks to the magically water it seems) of her running up to a mirror/portal thing which shows her the beasts past. He was practically Gaston in all but name (actually, I don't know what his name was in the film so maybe he was Gaston) and had a beautiful wife/girlfriend/fiance/I don't really know what because they never said. But they were in love.

Eventually, Belle makes a deal with Beastie that she can have one last day with her family in exchange for a dance. He accepts, they dance (this was probably my favorite scene in the whole film), he asks if she could ever love him, she screams in his face, he leaves. Er, it happened sort of like that anyways.

Point is, she got to go back home to her family, stuff happens, and she returns in time to save Beastie, who has just been shot. She and her brothers (they're so useful!) carry him into the magical water in her bedroom where he transforms back into human form because Belle somehow changed her mind and admitted that she loved him. I have no idea at what point she turned from hating him to loving him, but there you go.


Anyways, that's my "brief" synopsis. A lot happened in this film considering how slow it felt. My overall thoughts are that this film is visually stunning, but story wise, it moves rather slow and was really confusing. But every shot in the film looked like it came out of a magazine. I mean, just look at this!

Now, onto the actual point of this post, the costumes.I'm just going to be reviewing Belle's dresses because they were the main event costume wise and this post is going to be long enough with just her dresses.


The costumes for this film were designed by Costume Designer Pierre-Yves Gayraud. All of the costumes that Belle wears have a heavy Tudor influence, which I love, while the costumes of Belle's sisters and the rest of her family seem to be inspired more by the 1810's-1820's.

Belle's first ballgown she get's from Beastie is this cream silk/brocade gown. While it's definitly a work of art, I really didn't care for it. The sleeves are kinda weird, fabulous but weird, the skirt gathering looks like honeycomb to me and the neckline looks strange with the structure of the bodice of the lower half. I was glad that this one only got a little bit of screen time. But I really do like the fabric choice and her crown.

Next, is her emerald green, quilted velvet gown. Just look at it. It's stunning, isn't it? I love the Tudor influences on the bodice and the jewels, but my favorite part of this dress (besides the color) are the sleeves. Aren't they beautiful? Also, her hair fascinates me. I'm so glad they actually did something with her hair in this film because too many movies have their historical/fantasy fashions with the hair down in modern curls, which completely ruins the look and takes you out of the setting. I appreciate that they were able to do something kind of wacky, but subtle. It's enough to realize that this is a fantasy world while not drawing to much attention to it.

This next dress is my favorite. It's an aqua blue silk dress with these wonderful fluffy sleeves and the bodice is covered in a lace cutout in a matching color. I love the accessories on this costume: the collar and matching headband. I think my favorite part of this dress though is the color.

Now, I have to say that this next dress has me really impressed with the color. If you've ever tired to photograph something red, they know that it's really, really hard to do. But somehow they managed to make a giant red dress and still film it.  I am thoroughly impressed.

As for the design of the dress itself, this one was the last dress she wears in the movie and during the climax of the film. My sister really loved it, but I liked her earlier two dresses better. The only real reason for this is because I like softer colors and the bright red was a bit harsh, but design wise I really liked it. The skirt has a flowy top layer of what looks like chiffon, and the sleeves are relatively simple compared to her previous dresses. As for that giant necklace, I'm not a big fan. I feel like it's too big and weighs her down, especially with her hair in the pulled back style that it is in. If feels a bit out of balance.

My rating for this film as a whole is only 3 out of 5 stars, but for costumes I give it 4.5 and a full 5 stars to the art department. I love how the costume designer was able to create costumes that fit into a completely fantasy world but still manage to ground the costumes with familiar shapes and designs from history.

Have you seen this version of Beauty and the Beast? What's your favorite adaptation of Beauty and the Beast?

1930's Aviation Outfit | The Inspiration

Why hello there, it's been a while hasn't it? I've been busy this month but sadly I haven't had anything that was really blogable and so I haven't been able to post... All year. Sorry, I had to make the joke. It's still close enough to the new year that I can do that on occasion.

Anyways...

I've begun work on a new project that I'm really excited about, a 1930's aviation outfit. I've always had a fascination with jodhpurs, mainly from seeing them in Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and I think they're rather fabulous. And this will be the perfect outfit to wear at Historic Flight events because 1) it'll be vintage. And 2) because it'll be warm. The majority of airshows I attend are cold and windy, so I usually shy away from wearing vintage because that usually means skirts. Skirts+cold+wind=a disaster. So this is a great solution.

My original inspiration came from this picture of Elinor Smith on Pinterest.

I did a bit more research and found that not only was this a common style for aviation but also for other sports such as horseback riding, golf, hiking, etc. from the 1920's through the 1940's.

At the moment the only thing I'm making is the pants, and I'm hoping to find a vintage top and scarf or tie and I'm planning on buying the rest. I purchased Butterick pattern B6433 and have just started the mockup for the pants. I'm really excited for this project and can't wait to have more to share.