Oh no! It appears there was a glitch in Shopify this morning, and some of you who were trying to take advantage of the Scroop Patterns sale mistakenly got a message that the sale code had expired.
This is wrong!
The sale is definitely still on for another 9 hours! I’ve re-checked and re-set everything, so it’s all running smoothly again. So…
When I started teaching costume construction at Toi Whakaari: the New Zealand Drama School last year, I decided I should do some of the projects that the costuming students do as part of their coursework, so I knew how the garments were taught and constructed in the course. It was also a good way to familiarise myself with ‘my’ industrial machine.
Every costume shop has its own ‘house rules’, and, while there are general method groupings, there are literally an infinite number of ways to make any specific costume item.
Every year the first year costumers build a theatrical version of a historical style from the foundations out: boned undergarment, petticoat and skirt supports, dress, accessories, hat. Last year the theme was 1780s, this year the students are doing 1570s Elizabethan.
I chose to make the 1760s stays the students make some years, as they have elements common to a lot of the different eras of boned bodices.
Since we’re teaching costuming for stage & film, not historical costuming, they are machine sewn and use modern materials.
And…it still took me a year to finish them.
Basically I just got stuck getting the fit right, and faffed about with that for 11 months…
Pictured: Fitssues.
But they are (finally) done!
They are made from two layers of cotton duck (midweight twill weave), with a decorative layer of vintage embroidered cotton (from my grandmother) at centre front.
They are boned with German plastic whalebone.
All the boning channels and seam stitching were done on an industrial machine.
They have metal grommets, and use X cross lacing, instead of spiral lacing (I’m not going to lie, this part really stresses me!).
They are bound with cotton twill tape.
While the body of the stays were machine sewn, I did the binding by hand, because I enjoy hand sewing, the students do theirs by hand, and I did much of the binding while on the road and away from sewing machines at the annual Toi Whakaari trip to Manutuke Marae.
I also did reinforced the top of each tab with hand-sewing, rather than by machine.
The binding only took me a couple of days of concerted sewing. And then they were finally done!
I’ve got two more pairs of 18th century stays on my sewing schedule for this year: one totally handsewn and historically accurate, and one a combination of hand and machine sewing. And I’m DETERMINED that neither will take me more than two weeks!
So many historical costumers are sewing 1830s, and I want to be sewing 1830s, but I can’t start any new projects until my already started ones are finished, so I’m consoling myself by finding interesting Romantic-era fashions – like this week’s Rate the Dress
What an interesting reaction to last week’s Rate the Dress! Ratings ranging from 10-2, and everything in between (except 7). It was described as being suitable for a “surreal pseudovictorianish comical dystopia” or perfect for “a posh British lady going to Australia for the first time.” (which is interesting, because it rather reminds me of the better costumes in the generally terribly costumed 2018 ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ TV series).
And “unfortunate”…
The Total: 7 out of 10
It finally gets that 7!
This week: An 1830s evening gown
This 1830s evening gown comes in classical white, with sleeves that Anne would envy (albeit a half century early), a flourish of embroidered greenery around the hem, a perky bow in the centre of the bodice, and layers of sheer at sleeve and hem.
The closer you get to the dress, the more interesting the details are: the flowers/grass heads are three dimensional, and even appear to have floating stamen things (perhaps made from feathers?).
On some sections of the skirt are also strings of faux pearls running between the feathering lines framing the join of the sheer hem overlay. On other sections they are missing, most likely lost with time.
What do you think of this simple but complicated frock?
Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10
A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment. Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting. It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste.
(as usual, nothing more complicated than a .5. I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment, so I can find it! And 0 is not on a scale of 1 to 10. Thanks in advance!)
