1860's Wool Dress

For my upcoming event at Minooka this past month I decided to make myself a cotton/wool blend dress. I added red velvet trim which I think really made the dress "pop". I got my inspiration from originals and CDVs. Its the same basic pattern for my other dresses I've made in the past however this dress is darted (woo hoo) rather then gathered in the bodice. All the trim is hand stitched, except for the trim on the skirt because lets be honest that's just too much trim to hand stitch! The dress only took me three weeks although I still have a couple more adjustments to make. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Even better is that I had most of the material on hand and didn't have to spend much at all on this project. It helped keep me nice and warm this past weekend so as far as I'm concerned it did its job. I know I'll get a lot more use out of this next spring too.

1876 Combinations

I love the idea behind this, its a chemise and drawers all in one! So i tried first to make them on my own and then after 4 hours i bought the pattern. So this project and all other patterns are now put on hold for at least a week while i'm moving.

until later my friends.
-dear clementine-

Brown Dress Completed

The dress is officially done! I put the trim on it this past Sunday and its ready to wear. I really do love the green paired with the brown. My belt will be a light blue which always looks good with brown. My biggest concern while doing a brown dress is making it not look drab. While at Greenfield Village all 4 years i had a brown dress with black trim, who would do such a thing? Black doesn't bring out any good quality in brown so why should the two ever be put together. If I can I would like to get a bright pink ribbon/belt to match the pink that is in the fabric but until then my light blue silk ribbon will have to do.

on to finish my ballgown.

-from dear clementine

Ballgown & Apron

I can't believe it but last night was the FIRST time i've tried my ballgown on since i made the cotton bodice lining.....and guess what IT FITS! I'm so excited and I'm so happy with how it came out. I'm working on putting little fabric flowers on the bertha but after i'm done with that it gets officially attached (its just pinned in the picture) and then i'm good to go! I also finished my brown cotton day dress all i need to do is the sleeves and attach the bodice to the skirt (easy) then i'm done. So since december i've made two dresses and last year that was the amount of time it took me to make one dress.

A couple things I would do differently next time:
incase the boning ( i just pray it never breaks cause if that happens i'm screwed)
line the over sleeves (make sleeve hole bigger)

umm thats all i can think of for now
another picture of the dress. This is another project I finished. I made a pinner apron with this lovely green fabric i got at The Dressmaker's Shop in Leslie, MI. I decided to pleate the fabric because I've started hating gauging because the thread always seems to break on me. I want an apron that i can wash and not worry about it falling apart.....needless to say i've regauged my current apron that fell apart and am praying it wont do that to me again or pleated it will be!

Anyways i'm happy with this one, plus i love the color.

Ball Gown: almost done!

So I'm just a little ways away from being done with my ballgown that i've been working on. The only thing left for me to do is to attach my tiny white poofed sleeves to the sleeve covers. One night I was looking at my pillow and decided to try to see the creation all together. So i put my corset on my pillow, stood that up on the couch and dressed it and voila!
I did just finish the eyelets just last night which is a total of 19 little buggers. The skirt is pleated and DONE.

thank god.

one dress down.....two more to go.

Introducing: Cordelia Thimble

Hello, period clothing enthusiasts! It's Charming Cordelia Thimble and I'm so delighted to be part of Threadbare.

Right now I'm working on an early 1860s wrapper, a garment similar to a housedress or robe that women wore as they were getting ready in the morning or during pregnancy. The wrapper is cut loosely with ties to accommodate an expanding silhouette. More on the construction to follow in my next post.

I've chosen a burgundy paisley cotton chintz with blue and greenish gold. The wrapper will have a V-neckline and pagoda sleeves.

I'm so excited to share its progress with you! Photos to come soon.

Charming Cordelia

Silk Civil War Parasol

from dear Clementine

I purchased a plain black parasol from the Minooka reenactment I went to with the idea that I would recover it. I didn't like the look of the black because it looked so synthetic. So Becky and I got together this past weekend on a parasol recovering mission.

First I outlined one triangle from the top of my parasol. Next i cut out six panels from that pattern. I pined each together using the outside of my parasol as a guide, pinning each panel to the parasol so i could make sure it was nice and tight. After doing this I sewed it and fitted it, adjusting it as needed. I cut the excess with pinking sheers. For the lining i did the same as above making it a little smaller and folded the ends over the top and sewing all around. The additions on the top are six long rectangles that were folded around 2 in and ironed then loosly stitched on the top. I would recommend planning on cutting extra for the ends so you can wrap (at least the lining) around the edges to cover all the existing fabric.

I just finished my parasol yesterday and i'm really happy how it came out. I recovered the top in gold silk with trim and the inside is lined with a creame silk. I plan to cut down the handle because its a bit too long.
Photo of the bottom you can see how i let the top gold silk hang over like i've seen in many originals.



Top of parasol.


I truly feel i need to add that i bought Fiskars Pinking Sheers for this project and I would NEVER buy that brand of scissors again. They didn't cut well in fact they had a tendency to shred the fabric...............i ended up returning them.