Titanic Dinner gown

All silk, crystal, all hand-beaded. 🙂 Seven packs of 3mm crystal beads at 2,400 per pack. I had 142 beads left. Four packs of 4mm crystal beads at 2,400 per pack. I had 67 beads left. One pack of 6mm crystal beads at 600 per pack. I could actually have used a few more, but substituted the 4mm. None left. One pack of sequins at apps. 25,000 per pack, and I wasn’t even about to count how many are left. Maybe a third were left. Add in about 15 yards of various silks, one spool of thread at 1000 meters, most another spool at 500 meters, part of another 1000m-spool… Oh my god, this gown was finally finished. It tops the last Heaven gown I made years ago. That one only had 23,000 beads. Heh. Only.

Of course, more photos are in this gown’s Facebook album.

  

Titanic pink coat

This coat is made from fine pink wool lined with a silk blend as pure silk shatters over time. The design on the collar and cuffs are sewn using two thinnesses of a fine, beautiful soutache braid, with the edging being sewn on using a cord that looks like a single strand of soutache (think of those popsicles that have two pieces that you break form the middle, with soutache being the full popsicle and the cord looking like one half), and French knots between them for the dots. The buttons are covered with sewn soutache.  All of it just like the original, except for the lining.This coat was photographed over a silk swim dress I made while outside fighting the wind during a try brief rain-break. The gown is available separately.

You can see more finished photos in this Facebook album, and some progress photos in this one.

Silk/Rayon Edwardian corset

 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.

Rose’s Titanic/Edwardian corset

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.

 

Edwardian infant Easter gown

“Retro”post from 2008:

This infant gown is based on pictures of a baby gown sent to me as inspiration.  The heirloom detailing is absolutely charming, the many yards of Swiss entredeux and insertion laces realy add to the antique feeling of this gown, as does the cotton and a couple of the laces being real vintage materials (the laces look nearly identical to the ones on the original!).  Before the addition of the gold ribbon through the beading laces and the floral pieces under the ruching on the front, this gown was very carefully tea-dyed to this soft vanilla color.  A couple of the laces didn’t take quite a much color, but this further lends to the antique feel.

The sleeves are each gathered with two gold ribbons, and the mauvey-pink flowers, green leaves, and gold bows backing them were each hand-made.  Each of the gold bows has 42 loops, which is only of significance to fans of Douglas Adams, but is a fun fact about this dress.

The back closes with five small mother-of-pearl buttons.

This gown was surprisingly time-consuming thanks to all the insertion laces, entredeux, ruching, and other detailing.