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Pretty things to lift the mood

Published by The Dreamstress

Last Friday I had the perfect day planned out, and nothing went according to plan and I didn’t get anything accomplished and I was getting very grumpy.

Then I went to the op-shop.  And my day got lots better.

So much fun vintage prettiness!

Op-shop prettiness makes everything better: it doesn’t blow your budget, and you can’t plan what you buy, so it has the delightful surprise discovery factor.  Perfect mood fixer.

This is what I got:

Vintage cotton threads in a delicious range of colours.  50cents each!

Mmmm….yummy.

I love the colour names, they are so evocative, though some of them are very much a product of their time, and are not at all acceptable now.

Lt. Kingfisher and Scarlet Glow

Orchid, flame and…uh…well…I can’t even type that.  

Two ridiculously pink and frilly 1960s negligee

All that lace and frills!

This one also has a sash that ties it.

The 18th century inspired sleeve ruffles are hilarious

On a more tasteful, or at least better made, note, I found this hand-tatted wool blouse.

I’m not sure of the date for this. 1960s maybe?

The yarn is incredibly fine, and the handwork is amazing.  I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to make the blouse.

Aren’t the candy floss colours gorgeous!

Moving away from textiles, I found a sweet little trinket dish.  I’m using it to hold my short bobby pins.

It has laurel wreaths. Of course I love it!

Finally, and best of all, I happened upon this utterly gorgeous marcasite and cameo necklace.

Look at her Roman nose!

I love marcasite, I love cameos, and I love, love, love this necklace!  I’ve worn it all weekend, and gotten so many comments on it.

Yep, I’m happy now.

Kiwi-isms: Throwing a wobbly

Published by The Dreamstress

I thought it would be fun to translate, and illustrate, some of my favourite kiwi-isms

Throw a wobbly (also, Chuck a wobbly)

1. To have a meltdown, temper tantrum, hissy fit, etc.

When Kitty found out that the florist had brought carnations instead of roses she threw a wobbly and refused to walk down the aisle

P.S. Don’t you love Toulmouche’s painting?  How he caught the delustred satin of the grey dress, the duchesse satin of the brides frock, the rust-coloured velvet (it’s an 1860s version of Maria Josepha’s dress!), and the apricot taffeta.

My favourite is the littlest bridesmaid, who seems to be saying “whatever, have your wobbly, I’m just going to play dress up with your wreath”.  I suspect she is the bride’s little sister!

The 1866 Crinoline in action

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve realised that while I make lots of undergarments, some of them very pretty, I don’t often show models in just their undergarments, so I don’t get good photographs of the undergarments on real people.

Last Saturday solved a bit of that.

One undergarments I was especially pleased to get images of in action was the 1866 crinoline.

Mme Denise Poiret wore it, and looked fabulously 1860s and not at all Poiret-y.

Gorgeous! I'm lovin the fake hair tumble - very 1860s!

The one inaccuracy with this wearing is that I put the corset over the crinoline for aesthetic impact.  Audiences like to to see corsets in the full.

The whole corset and the flat front of the skirt

I fixed some of the issues that I was having with this crinoline for this wearing by slipping an extra set of very strong wire boning into the extra channels that I had providentially included in the crinoline when I originally made it.

The two narrow inner channels are the extra channels that I filled with wire

The extra wires keep the crinoline from warping under the weight of the back ruffles, and help create a back-heavy shape, but also make the whole petticoat quite a bit heavier, which is a pity.

Proper ate 1860s back-heavy shape.

Despite the improvements, the crinoline still has some problems, and I’m wondering if they are fixable, or if they are inherent to the pattern, or if I cut the pattern wrong.  The thing that irks me most is the pull lines from the back of the petticoat around to the front.

Grrr. The pull lines don't show with a skirt over it, but they still really bug me!

I’m also not sure about the ruffles down the back.  I used circular cut ruffles because it seemed like a good idea at the time (e.g. I was overthinking this crinoline), but in retrospect, I don’t think they are at all historically accurate, and I don’t think they hang right.

The circle cut ruffles are just messy and uneven.

At least I’m still in love with the bottom box-pleated ruffle.

Mmmmmm...box pleats

I’m not going to re-make it though.  It isn’t that often that I need a late 1860s crinoline, this one looks and works pretty well, and there are so many other things to make!