Oh, gods above, another sewing project

[msmcknittington]

Yesterday afternoon, Mom and I went to the thrift store and I found a yard of brown, sage green and steel blue/gray wool plaid for . . . fifty cents! It's nice stuff -- soft, a little stretchy, a little fuzzy. I think, having spent entirely too much time watching Mad Men, that it's from the late 50s/early 60s. My initial thought, having watched way too much Mad Men and loving seeing Joan rocking all her early 60s clothes, that I'd make myself a little curvy, retro skirt out of it, but then a voice in my ear breathed, "Victorian."

_{Also, my god, what was I thinking, curvy retro skirt in plaid? I'd need a pretty aggressive girdle just to avoid looking like I'd gained 90 pounds all in my hips.}

So, I threw the fabric on my dress form and got pinning, to mock something up and think about it.

Here are the images I looked at: 1880 walking dress with shawl collar (left), 1877 house or street dress with faux revers/collar, 1885 wine-colored dress with faux revers.

As a side note, it always amuses me how much of sewing something involves draping the fabric on myself or on my dress dummy or over a chair and going, "Hmm." If I could hmm my way into a dress, I'd have roughly a million.

The fabric is not cut in any way, whatsoever. It's just draped on the form and pinned. In some of the pictures, that red strip down the middle is the selvage.

Click on the pictures to embiggen them.

What I started with:




The brown for the "skirt" is what I have left of the brown satin from the bridesmaid dresses that isn't in scraps. I just popped it under there to get an idea of a skirt. I have enough for a skirt drape, but not an entire skirt.

My first attempt, based on the 1877 house or street dress with faux revers/collar and the 1885 bustle dress.



The white stuff at the neck is some lace I shoved in there to simulate the look of a neck/chemisette ruffle.

I do like the look of the revers (or whatever they're called!), but maybe not in the brown satin. I'd have to actually cut them to shape and interface them to make them look right, and at least cut them to get an idea of the shape.

So, I started looking for more images, and got to the one with the shawl collar. I had the velvet in my room (which my cat had been sleeping on, unbeknown to me), and taking a cue from the red selvage, played with it.



Hmm. Cute, yes?


How about with some cruddy old synthetic lace at the neck?



YES! CUTE!

How about I pin a velvet aviator cap to the dressform for the shawl collar and drape the velvet as a skirt?



Hmm, interesting. I think I like it. But I'm not sure about the color.

Button choices. Sorry it's blurry -- buttons are really difficult to photograph clearly.



The left column, from the top: silver in the shape of sombrero kinda-sorta, plastic "gold" that has a "topaz" dot of enamel in the center, gold metal with black enamel. Right column, from top: gold metal with purple enamel and a gold flower-thing in the middle, bronze-y button with gold scrolls and what appears to be a Maltese cross in the center, bronze-y button with floral scrolls.

The other option is fabric buttons in whatever color the contrasting fabric is in.

They were pulled from my possible Elizabethan buttons stash, so they're not very Victorian.



Conclusions: It's definitely going to be Natural Form, and I might treat it as a mock-up for the unfinished pink/green burgundy gown. It's also definitely going to be a walking dress, rather than an evening/dinner gown or something fancy. Soooo, I might end up buying some cotton for the skirt, just because I'd have difficulty using velvet for a walking dress. It doesn't do dirt well.

I'm pretty much set on a shawl collar, which I think is pretty charming, but I also like the huge bow on this fashion plate. (I also think the print, which appears to be either roosters, bats or squirrels, to be adorable.) It's possible to have exchangeable collars, but I'm not sure I want that work.

And that dress on the right of the bow dress plate would work perfectly for some yellow/black changeable (synthetic) taffeta I have. And my endless supply of black velvet. But, no! I can only make one dress at a time.

Questions:

1) Should I go with the burgundy velvet for the skirt and collar? I have another four or five yards of it, so I'm not worried about having enough for the flower embroidered bustle dress bodice (which I still want to make). Or should I buy more brown satin and go with that? Or blue to bring out the blue in the plaid? There's some for an affordable price at Fashion Fabrics Club, but ordering from them is always a crapshoot. Also, I'd like to use the cash kicking it in my PayPal account to order, so I'd probably have to order from eBay or Etsy. Another possibility is to use the burgundy velvet for the collar/cuffs and get a pretty cotton to coordinate with the plaid. A PRINT!

This is Victorian, people. If it appalls my modern sensibilities, I'm probably on the right track.

I don't think I have another question, really, other than to ask for your opinions.

Comments

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

You didn't actually ask, but for buttons, I'd go with the one on the very bottom of the right hand column. I like how warm the metal is.

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

And to answer a question you did ask. I am overly fond of the walking dress with the shawl collar, in the burgundy velvet. I can see a draped overskirt, perhaps, to make it a bit more refined steampunk than classical Natural Form.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

*nods* I love those buttons. I originally bought them to attach sleeves to a Venetian at the shoulder, but the fabric was too busy and they got lost.

The burgundy velvet is growing on me, a lot. Mostly because if I use it, I won't have to buy anything but lining fabric. And maybe not even that, if I can find that sheet I lost.

I'm not sure what to do for a skirt yet. I should probably drape the pattern for the other bustle dress I want to make, rip off the yardage for that bodice from the velvet, and then use the rest for this skirt.

I also need to think about steampunking this. I was thinking via accessories -- ridiculous hat -- or by making a different (horrible print!) skirt.

Ohmigod, I'm so ramble-y tonight. Sorry to think out loud at you, Kate!

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

It's okay-- my husband is playing a video game and all I'm doing is being irrationally angry over the lack of decent LJ layouts.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

But wait, there's more!

I think the way I have the skirt draped, with it up over the hip, destroys the slim-hipped Natural Form silhouette. I'm hippy enough as it is; I don't need to emphasize that with drapery. The only problem is that I kind of hate that deflated pannier look that is so popular in Natural Form skirt drapery.

Something like this isn't bad, though. Maybe just one "tier" of skirt, and then something crazy for the underskirt. Or something like this? It's Second Bustle, though.

Hmmm, hmmm.

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

*ponders*

See, this is why I like the later reform fashions more. Mix and match. And not fussy.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Simplicity? Have you lost your mind!? ;)

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

Let me tell you something. I tried one of those damned Simplicity patterns. Hobble skirt, my Aunt Fanny's ass. The thing looked like a mailing tube. It was awful.