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Rate the Dress: Sparkly Ballgowns ca. 1820

Rate the Dress for last week was a ’20s frock in avante garde red and lilac. The colours were a little too out-there for some of you, and there was a bit of discussion about whether you liked the totally different backs to fronts (though it did win points for thinking through the ‘glass beads imprinting into your thighs all evening if you have to sit down really aren’t that fun’ thing and leaving them off). Thanks to the unmatched front to back, and the not-to-everyones taste colour scheme, the dress managed a respectable but not stellar 8.4 out of 10.

I seem to be stuck on red and sparkles, though this week’s dress features metal embroidery rather than beading, and is mainly white with a soft, muted, coral red accent – much more restrained than last week.

Woman’s Ball Gown, England, circa 1820, Cotton plain weave with metallic thread embroidery and silk ribbons with metallic passementerie and tassels, LACMA, M.2007.211.734

Like last week’s frock, this dress looks both forward and backward. The lowered waistline, stiff, ornamented hem, and cone shaped skirt are typical of the 1820s, but the light cotton dress fabric with its metallic embroidery (almost certainly a product of India) is much more typical of earlier, softer Regency frocks. It’s almost as if the wearer of this dress had done what we seamstresses still do: hoarded a precious fabric in wait of the ‘perfect’ frock, and then had it made up in a hurry when she realised that it was shortly going to be entirely demode!

Woman’s Ball Gown, England, circa 1820, Cotton plain weave with metallic thread embroidery and silk ribbons with metallic passementerie and tassels, LACMA, M.2007.211.734

The bar shaped passementerie trim on the bodice also nods to the military inspired trims that appeared on women’s pelisses during the Napoleonic wars. On this dress it has been softened and modified to cleverly create the illusion of a narrowing bodice, as fashions moved towards a mid-century nipped waist.

Woman’s Ball Gown, England, circa 1820, Cotton plain weave with metallic thread embroidery and silk ribbons with metallic passementerie and tassels, LACMA, M.2007.211.734

What do you think of this creation and its mix of fabrics and styles?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

The 2014 Sewing Year in Review

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I started going through my posts from last year, in order to write a year in review post, and what did I find? My draft 2013 year in review post, never finished, and never published. Eeep!

What’s a good blogger to do? Re-write it an recycle it for 2014 of course!

Top five favourites for 2014:

Stockings. The Nana stockings most of all, but they all make me quite happy! And the stocking pattern/tutorial will be published next Wed/Thur!
The Vionnet chiton dress for ‘When I Was a Bird’. These dresses are so fun to make, fun to wear, and effortlessly elegant. And obviously, I’m pretty pleased over the Threads article about them!
The Inspired Edwardian Swimsuit. I am just SO chuffed that I made an Edwardian swimsuit, and so pleased by how it looks on! I can’t wait to do a proper photoshoot with it.
The Ballerina Moment dress, because, Grandma’s fabric & pattern + ballerina moment = happiness!
The Amazon Queen Pair of Bodies. I’m just amazed at how much I actually like these, despite my initial misgivings about Elizabethan!

Plus, there is the Henrietta Maria in Paradise dress (how can you not like something that reminds you of a tropical holiday?), and the Hepburn in Hakatere trousers (love ’em), the Joy Gives us Wings dress (love it), the 1913 paisley skirt & 1910s checked shirt (love them both!), the Wild Swans shift (OK, it’s really just the photoshoot that makes me love it so much, but that counts too, right?), unders, . Overall, it was just a really good year for sewing!

Top (bottom?) five least favourites from 2014:

The Regency Wrap Corset a la Paresseuse. So disappointing that this is so uncomfortable on me. Bloody scoliosis.
The Swiss Waist. Yet another item that I put a ton of work into, made beautifully, and just didn’t get quite right.
The Regency chemise, only because it turns out it doesn’t fit under either of my Regency frocks! Grrrrrr…..
The 1860s Maybe Mourning bonnet, just because I think it is frumpy on me.
The Mariana Victoria skirt. OK, it’s a favourite as an abstract, not intended for anything garment, but I strongly suspect it is too narrow for a 1720s robe de coer, so there may be a panicked ‘Ummm…readers….I’m going to change horses in mid-stream…” post about it in my future.

Five things I’m super proud of myself for:

Threads! Getting published in Threads is making me extremely happy at the moment.
Patterns: I’ve gotten a ton of patterns fully drafted, sized and tested. Now to conquer the website/business side of things.
Sewing for me & historically: I’ve done a ton of both this year, and that does make me quite pleased.
Teaching: Teaching has been great – nothing beats the feeling of running into someone who first took Absolute Beginners Sewing with you 7 months ago in a fabulous outfit that they made themselves!
House: We have a house! Finding one was a huge amount of work, and we love our house so much!

Five Two things I’m a bit disappointed about:

Stress: This year was just very stressful, and I hope 2015 won’t be.
Patterns: I’m still not wear I wanted to be with patterns – it all takes so much longer than I want it to.
Ummm… That’s kind of it. Which is really good! But the patterns one is big. :-/

Five goals for 2015:

Patterns. Patterns. Patterns.
Big, massive, top secret, may not happen but can’t jinx it by talking about it project.
House stuff. Especially curtains. We are NOT going to have another year of black curtains, especially since I already have the fabric.
To not buy any shop-new clothes except bras and socks. Not even unders, I can make my own.
Historical PHDs done. I’ve got quite a few of them stashed up, and they are all beautiful, but need finishing. So that’s the goal!

What did you accomplish last year that you are really pleased about? What goals do you have for this year?

I’ve been published in Threads!

Published by The Dreamstress

Almost 20 years ago, just after I learned to sew, I discovered Threads Magazine.

The local library had a subscription, and while you weren’t allowed to check them out, I was hooked. The articles on fabrics, garment construction, and sewing techniques were amazing. Whenever I was in town and had a little time, I would sit in the corner of the Kaunakakai Public Library, perusing the back issues and absorbing information.

Thanks to Threads, I learned the basics of pattern drafting, how to set sleeves perfectly, how to take a pattern from an existing garment, and masses of beautiful sewing techniques and finishes. By the time I went to university, I was good enough to be hired by a costume shop (where, admittedly, I learned a HUGE amount more, because there is no substitute for hands-on learning from experts).

When I went to buy a comprehensive modern sewing book a few years back, I instantly picked up the Threads Sewing Guide. Then I questioned myself: am I just being a fangirl? I spread out every sewing book available in Borders on the floor, and went through the different techniques and topics: zips, welt pockets and buttonholes, fabric types, twin needles…

The Threads Sewing Guide won hands down for most comprehensive, with the best tutorials, layouts, and photos.

It has pride of place on my sewing bookshelf as the only modern general sewing guide I own, and is my instant first point of call for any modern technique. Online sewing blogger tutorials are all very well, but I know Threads has tested and tested anything they put out (and, to be quite frank, I recognise a fair amount of sewing blogger tutorials out there as re-hashes of Threads articles). If it isn’t in the book, I try Threads online.

Then, nine months ago I got an email from an editor at Threads. Would I like to write an article for them on my take on the Vionnet chiton dress? Would I!

My version of Vionnet's 'Chiton' dress thedreamstress.com

Definite massive fangirl moment!

So, this quarter you can buy issue #177 of Threads and learn how to make a 1920s panel dress inspired by Madeline Vionnet, written by yours truly! (with tons of editing and beautiful sewing and layout fabulousity by Threads of course!)

I may not have accomplished everything I wanted to this year, but boy is this making me feel accomplished! It’s one of those things that it didn’t even occur to me to aspire to.

Time to break out the ~~champagne~~ cherries!