My sister's dress

Ok, well, its coming along. I've got the bodice attached to the skirts, and the sleeves are put together. But, I cannot attach the bodice to the sleeves because I totally thought I had bought the flat-trim lace, but NOPE. I must've either forgotten or mislaid it. Both are possible. LOL.

In the meantime, here it is, without sleeves, trim, or hem. Its a modification of Butterick pattern 4571. I love this pattern! Its so versatile!

This time, I've widened the skirts to make it more flowing, removed the eyelets from the back and am doing a fold-over hook'n'eye closure, instead. (This will allow my fairly well-endowed sister to wear a bra with the dress.)

You'll remember the bodice, alone, which I finished about a week ago:

This is the true color of the fabric (kelly green). I'm not sure what happened on that first picture, up above. The color got all whacky.

At any rate, I'm currently on ebay bidding on flat, lace trim, so that I can attach the sleeves to the bodice. Then, it'll just be the trim, bottom hem, and hook'n'eyes on the back for closure. The hand-stitching will not be short, so I expect to be working on this project for another week or so (since, you know, its impossible to give up my day job!).

If you're interested, check this out:

Storm Complete

Thought I'd share a photo of my niece in her outfit, at her final fitting. You know, you just cannot do something justice without hanging it on the body its meant for! So, here is my niece looking at herself in the tri-mirror in their bathroom, dressed.

You will notice the waist is loose. That's because I had it pinned to attach the clasp. The bodice fit perfectly! Was so delighted!

I'm thinking she was looking pretty pleased with herself as well!

Fitted my sister's bodice, also, need to take in and modify. It was initially supposed to be laced, but I think I'll do eyelets instead, so that there is overlap. And, I've modified the skirt to make it fuller.

And, off we go!!

If you're interested, check this out:

My niece's outfit FINISHED

Ok, its finally done! The bunched skirt was a challenge. The pattern calls for plastic o'rings, but I just couldn't make that work with the historical concept, so I made a few modifications:

1. I used ribbons to bussle it up, rather than o'rings. 9 ribbons are placed on the outside of the underskirt and the inside of the top skirt.

2. I couldn't justify a zipper, either. Plus, my niece has a tiny 25" waist and more ample hips, so I added a finished back open seam with eyelets and pink ribbon lacing to match the top.

Here's the finished project:

You can see the the underskirt is navy blue satin to match the bodice. The overskirt is a turquoise. Both are bridal weight satin from a steal deal on ebay! ($2/yd)

And, here is the finished set:

So pleased with the result! Now, it just needs the clasp on the back of the skirt (I'm using a stainless steel frog closure), but it must be checked for exact fit. With the back to back blizzards we've had in the Mid-Atlantic, and my previous strep throat, I haven't been able to have my niece over for her final fitting, but I'm expecting that to happen this weekend! So excited!

Now, its on to my newest project. Sneak peek:

It will be something very similar to this for my sister. Butterick pattern 4571. (You'll remember this from the modifications I did to this pattern for my daughter's dress not long ago.)

Except, this will be in kelly green and ivory bridal weight satin for my sister, with white lacing ribbon up the back in 24 eyelets. Antique lace trim will finish it out. 

So far, I've only got the bodice lined and together. Here it is:

You can see how absolutely beautiful the color is! More, as it comes together.

My niece's outfit

While I'm still hot in the glory of the creation of my gold brocade, I'm diligently working on my 16 year-old niece's rennaisance outfit for next year. It is based on Simplicity Pattern 3809:

My niece, Storm, wants outfit B with the bunched skirt and short-sleeved blouse.

So far, I've completed the blouse out of natural cottton muslin, with spice and natural hem tape, and blue 1/4" double-fold bias tape to make the elastic bindings, rather than to cut and buttonhole the muslin (not a good fabric for this) to insert a drawstring.

 

Here's the completed blouse. You can see I used the spice hem tape on the neckline and the natural on the sleeves. Close-up of the sleeve:

Wow! Was all that gathering a pain in the butt -- especially trying to get the elastic all even. Word to the wise: when using muslin, leave a good seam allowance or roll and use french seams. It separates easily!

The bodice is reversible (it wasn't on the pattern, but I made it that way, so that she'd have some choices). Its bridal-weight, navy-blue satin (which I got for a STEAL on ebay -- $2/yard + minimal shipping) on one side and pink gingham on the other. I used bias tape to join the back and front (and, to hide the seams) so it has the appearance of being seamless:

You can see the bias tape along the unfinished bottom (where I turned it after joining the lining to the front).

And, here's the pink gingham lining. It has four pieces of covered metal boning (front and sides) to keep everything where it needs to be -- ha ha. And, its laced with pink ribbon.

Now, its on to the skirt and underskirt. I got a little way-laid with the strep throat that I'm currently battling, and some disruption in my hubby's family. But, I'm VERY excited to see it come to fruition. I should be able (providing my antibiotics work quickly) have the whole outfit ready for the first fitting by this weekend! YAY

If you're interested in sewing, check out:

The Gold Brocade

With the obvious exception of my children, this is undoubtedly the most beautiful thing I've ever made...

It is 18 yards of beautiful gold brocade with a tiny white embroidered leaf pattern.

There are 12 stainless steel frog closures on the front and sleeves.

The bodice is fully lined with white, 100% cotton muslin. The sleeves extend nearly to the bottom hem of the dress.

Its so heavy, that I now realize why wealthy women of the rennaisance age needed ladies in waiting to assist them in dressing! You simply cannot put this one on by yourself!

I found a steal deal on the gold brocade on ebay. The 18 yards cost me about $45 US. WOW!

I got the stainless steel frogs on clearance at Hancock Fabrics for about $1 US for a pack of 8.

It is McCalls Pattern 4997:

The only thing remaining to be done to the dress is to add the weights at the end of each sleeve; however, I've yet to find anything that I like enough to put on my dress. I'm thinking that a trip to the antiques store may yield some antique fishing weights that would be lovely.

I'm so absolutely tickled with this one that it appears on the right of my main screen. I'm growing my hair out some just to wear it in fashion!

Love to hear your thoughts! On a strange note, I haven't felt this level of satisfaction with anything I've done in a LONG time. Its quite wonderful.

For more Mccall's Patterns, check this out:

The Fairy Dress

This is the fairy dress...iridescent pink satin with a burgundy chiffon overlay.

Detached sleeves...

It still requires the flowers and ribbon trim, which I just havent found the right one, yet. Also needs a slight adjustment of the elastic on the waste of the underskirt for a more appropriate fit. Feel like I look FAT in this one...

Variation of Simplicity pattern 3632. Be cautious with the seams. Chiffon and satin are a pain to work with -- french seams work best (sewn, rolled, sewn again, trimmed close).

But, this was a fairly easy pattern to put together, other than the difficult materials. I'm thinking I'm going to redo the underskirt to be double layers of chiffon to give a more flowing, slight look to it. The slip doesn't quite match up perfectly with the overlay. Gonna work on that one.

If you like this, check out more simplicity patterns at:

Kate's Dress

Finally! My daughter's rennaissance dress is finished! This is white satin and gold lame with braided gold cord, basic muslin lining, and interfacing for the laces.

Its a variation on Butterick pattern 4571, with my own changes --

1. I made the skirt a broader A-line

2. I angled the bottom of the skirt (near the hem) with a dramatic slant to give the 'angel-wing' appearance that it currently has

3. I raised the waist a few inches (to the natural waist)

4. I rounded the waist out to eliminate the deep 'v' in the front where the skirt meets the bodice

5. I interfaced the sleeves to give them a heavier drape and more substance

Here it is, pre-sleeves, hem, and trim...

Post sleeves, pre-hem and trim...

On the hanger before the final fitting...

And, with my final modification -- ribbons to bussle it up and save that pretty hem in the dirt when needed.

WOW! Was this one an experience. An incredible amount of hand-stitched detail with the trim and slip-stitching to close up all the lined areas. Thank goodness, it came out beautifully. The back is set in eyelets and laced with ribbon. The dress, size wise, is very forgiving in the bust, waist, and hip area because of the eyelets. The arms, however, need to be spot-on for size in order to make it work.

For more Butterick patterns, check out: