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Brown and pink print regency dress

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Original text from 2011 with photos from 2011 and 2012:

This regency dress was made a couple sizes too big. This little munchkin has already grown a inch since I made her her Christmas nightie for this year. Right now the waist is as her natural waist, but it’ll go up as she grows into it. Seven button close the back and the waist ribbon wasn’t tacked on, so slid up a bit. It’s lined in a tan and cream floral print cotton. I’ll post pictures os the inside soon. The inside is as neat as the outside! I did not make the collared piece she’s wearing. That is a long-sleeved onesie she already had. However neckline fillers were common in the regency era, so this is a period-correct look. As you can see, it started to rain! November 27, 2011

The photos in sun were taken in Missouri on April 6, 2012. The following day it rained. I forgot her waist ribbon, but the dress is still sweet without it, and she looks so in place in a grassy meadow.

More photos are in the Facebook album for this dress.

Mia Bella

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This dress is made from a cotton with embroidered pattern and teensy stripes. It’s semi-sheer, and ties at the neckline and waist, as was common in the regency era. It was made using tiny French seams and has a 5″-deep hem. Underneath is a cotton chemise and bodiced petticoat. Together the chemise and petticoat look like a white jumper set! The chemise ties in the front and the neckline can be heightened or lowered depending on how tight it’s tied, and the bodiced petticoat ties at the neck and waist. The hairpiece is made using a silk carnation and leaf on a feather pad with a peachy pink pearl sewn to the middle of the flower. These photos were taken at the Portland Art Museum on  the last day for Titian’s “La Bella.”  Note: I can not legally sell children’s items with ribbons longer than 6″ thanks to the CSPIA, so any children’s things sold to others will have elastic in the casing and 6″-long ribbons sewn to the ends. Unfortunately this does mean any sold chemises won’t be adjustable. Since this was made for my own child, I can make it how I wish. The ribbons are sewn in the center so they can’t pull out.

More photos of this little dress are at my Facebook album for it.

Silk/Rayon Edwardian corset

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 This silk-rayon corset is closer in color the the full-length from photo. As usual, a corset on a dress form doesn’t photograph well since the form isn’t malleable and won’t apply even pressure the way a human body would. This corset is a period-correct Edwardian style. Over-bust corsets weren’t very common, but they were found. Usually corsets ended below the bust and a camisole worn beneath the corset contained the “spillage.” This started out as a replica of Rose’s corset in Titanic, until it was decided to use this brocade and skip the lace. The lines and cut is the same, but the similarity ends there.

You can see more photos in my Facebook album for this corset.

Titanic Heaven gown

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The only images of Rose in this stunning gown barely show the top half of the bodice. Thankfully, as this is the
Dinner Gown in white, plenty is known about it. Four heavily-beaded layers of silk organza (chiffon may be used) drape across the front of this gown over silk taffeta (dupioni may be used). The middle two layers continue onto the train, which slants to the right in Edwardian fashion. A detachable wrist loop enables the wearer to carry the train. Several versions of this gown are available, from unbeaded to Swarovski crystal. The fully beaded and crystal versions require about 18,000 sequins (silver or iridescent) and 23,000 crystals that are individually applied by hand. Beads are either fire-polished glass or Swarovski crystal, no plastic!

More photos are in the Facebook album for this gown.

 

Lord of the Rings: Requiem

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More photos of this gown are available in my Facebook album dedicated to this gown.

This Lord of the Rings Requiem gown (one of Arwen’s) is a custom version for a wedding. Among the changes are the type of velvet used (notice the crushed quality, though this is NOT costume panne) and a bustle.

Also while the original is two pieces, and this gown was made as two pieces, they have been tacked together to make getting into and out of it easier (try wrangling those full lower sleeves through the armhole of the overgrown when the strap is a 3/4″ piece of beaded sheer ribbon!), and to keep the straps perfectly placed. The outer gown is full-skirted with the aforementioned beaded ribbon straps that actually go around the entire neckline.

The real detail work on this gown is the under gown that is nearly knee-length for easy of movement. The under gown has a neckline of much wider beaded and sequined trim (my daughter kept trying to “help” by handing me beads), and the join between the upper and lower sleeves has the same trim. This beading and sequins are very, very dense. Beneath the trim at the neckline is matching blue flannel for comfort. The upper sleeves are a beautiful silk duping beaded with tiny cupped sequins and custom-dyed to get a wonderful color. My hands were blue for a few days afterward! The lower sleeves are a sweet rose brocade, white with shimmery silver thread. They have the film-correct top seams that are on the outside of the sleeve rather than the front. The train has three sets of hooks and eyes with the eyes on the underside of the train but the hooks on the under gown to prevent unsightly pulling that would happen if the hooks were higher up in the train itself. The middle set has an additional hook on the train so that the bride can decide if she would like a sweep train or none at all. These photos were taken during a very brief sun break before it went back to being dark and overcast. Sorry they’re not the greatest!

 

Rose’s Titanic/Edwardian corset

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This Edwardian corset is higher cut in the bust than most actually were, and extends down over the hips as most did. In the movie Titanic (technically set two years after the end of the Edwardian era, but which used an Edwardian corset for the scene between Rose and her mother), Rose’s corset was cut higher like this, and this is a replica of that. Most Edwardian corsets ended below the bust, and a tightly tucked chemise contained the breasts (actually much more comfortable than bras). This corset is made completely authentic to the era.

I made this corset using two layers of cotton drill with the 22 steel bones extending down to the top of the hips for comfort. Most seams are double-boned. A steel busk from Germany closes the front, and a full 24 feet of lacing close the back through 34 two-piece grommets. The top 12 on each side lace the main body, and the bottom 5 on each side close the bottom, which doesn’t need to be as tight as the rest. The set of grommets at the waist closer that the rest give more leverage and control to the waist. A delicate cotton lace in a pattern authentic to the early 20th century trims the top and bottom of the corset. This corset was photographed on a couple pillows, nowhere near the shape of a human body, giving the hip area a weird look. But a stiff dressform doesn’t mold, which also gives a weird look.

 

Chumash wedding gown

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I am privileged to call this bride a friend, one of several I’ve met through this little business, and to see her family grow.

This Chumash wedding gown was made to match the ceremonial ribbon shirt the groom’s mother made him. The fabric is organic cotton sateen (an amazingly wonderful fabric), and the bodice is a vintage fabric the bride found. The bride also found some wonderful button covers made from od buffalo nickels!

The skirt is two-layered with the top layer being shorter to show the ribbon edging the bottom layer.  The edges are softly squared to allow the ribbon to lay flat.

More photos of this gown are at my Facebook album dedicate to it.

To learn more about the native Chumash people, please visit: http://www.santaynezchumash.org/history.html and http://www.chumashindian.com.  Trying to sum up the culture, traditions, and beauty of any tribe in a few paragraphs would be a disservice, but those sites are wonderful!

 

 

Dolley Madison reproduction gown

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In early 2011, I was asked to make a reproduction of First Lady Dolley Madison’s favorite gown for Dr. Lynn Uzell, the official reenactress portraying Dolley Madison at Dolley’s former home in Montpelier, Vermont.  This would one one of my first entirely-hand-sewn gowns, and the first to be on television.  It was featured in the fifth and sixth episodes of the third season of the Emmy-award-winning series A Taste of History.

This gown has a somewhat interesting history to it.  It was one of Dolley’s favorites, but why?  Later in her life, when she was very poor (one of her former slaves lent her money, such was the degree of her impoverishment), and most of her belongings were sold, this one of of the very few things she kept.

When the original White House was to be burned in 1814 in an act of arson, Dolley ordered the drapes in the Oval Drawing Room to be saved, as well a the portrait of George Washington that so many of us know so well.  Historians now believe that her beloved gown was made from those drapes.

Photo from PBS.

 

More photo of my version are in my Facebook album dedicated to this gown.

I used garment-weight silk velvet (the information about the drapery-weight wasn’t widely available when I made this gown, which went on vacation with me to Missouri so I could continue to work.

Based on photos I had at the time, I replicated the same color scheme lining, as well as thread.

 

Charlotte’s Smocked Dresses

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More photos at my Facebook album for the blue dress and my Facebook album for the white dress.

 

I’ve never been much of a smocker, and still don’t have a pleating machine.  Charlotte’s smocked
dresses were pleated entirely by hand.  This little blue one has Venice lace trimming the collar and sleeves.

The white dress is a replica of an English vintage smocked dress I saw on a vintage website. The majority of the bodice is simple white-on-white with peachy-pink floral embroidery and soft green leaves. The collar and sleeve cuffs have matching embroidery and are edged with pleats. The bottom of the skirt has six rows of pit-tucking with more embroidery between them.