18th Century Under-Petticoat

Yet another addition to the 18th century pool... This is an under-petticoat worn over the bumroll. Here ya go!


Ingredients:
2, 72''wide White Curtains purchased at a thrift store
Thread
something for ties

Cost:
$3

Time to prepare:
2 hours


I chose to use curtains because they are already hemmed and I happened to come across a pair of lightweight, cream ones. This petticoat has 2 ties, to be tied on each side of the hips.

First I measured from my waist to how long I wanted my petticoat to be, about 37'' for me. I then measured from the bottom (already hemmed) part up to the disired length. You cut the whole bottom off of it from there. You need to do this twice to get a nice full petticoat. The width of the curtains were 72'' so my petticoat's circumference is 144''.

From there I took the sides and pinned them overlapping eachother, zigzag stitching from the bottom all but 6'' at the top (on both sides), to keep the petticoat smooth.

For both the front and back, the fabric needs to be gathered to the centermost part of each tie, leaving enough on each end to tie to the other portion. Sew that down and finish with whatever method you see fit. I just surged the tie to the fabric and was done with it.


Again, this is another AMAZINGLY THRIFTY thing to do that took no time at all! :) It makes me so happy

Bumroll

So, right now I have this crazy itch for 18th century stuff... so I'm busting out things left and right and having fun doing it. :)

note: A bumroll is another undergarment used in the 18th century. It was used to give the illusion that a woman had larger hips and rear, a sign of fertility (so they say).

Here's my bumroll and how I made it:

Ingredients:
1 Old Pillow case
21 plastic bags
Thread

Cost:
$0

Time to prepare:
45 min.

I got my idea from this site on how to measure it. It says to take a measurement of your hips, and take away 4 inches. This measurement (28 inches in my case) is what the inner oval shall be. From there I modified because the lady who makes this is 5'11'' compared to my 5'2'', and I would have looked ridiculous on me. At the very back of mine, I measured 5'' from the center oval. On the sides, 3'1/2''. Then you just connect the dots to make the crescent shape


then you cut it out:


then sew it together according to the directions on the site and stuff with your plastic grocery bags:



sew up the opening and add ties:


TAAAADAAAAA!!!!! bumroll.


This was totally easy and thrifty and I like it :)

Finished Grey Dress

This is my finished "Nun Dress", as my brother calls it. I don't think it cost me more than $12, which is quite an accomplishment I think. :)



I made the collar and undersleeves from a cheesecloth of all things! I got them both done in about 2 hours. I'm excited to start making new bodices for this dress, I think that it will be a very nice and practical dress for whatever I may need it for :D

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Here it is without the under sleeves:


And here's me with my mommy!

18th Century Stays

I have always wanted an 18th century Stays(as they were not called corsets until the 1800's) and on Friday, I just decided I was going to make'em.

Ingredients:
13 eighteen-inch Heavy Duty Cable ties
52ish fourteen-inch zip ties (regular strength)
1 1/2 yards of canvas material (for me)
1 1/4 pkg of double fold bias tape
thread

Estimated Time:
took me 15ish hours (over 3 days time)

Cost:
$21

I started with this handy dandy site called the Custom Corset Pattern Generator. This site is for Elizabethan corsets, but I had a plan: The basic shape of the Elizabethan stays and the stays from the 1700's are pretty much the same. I put my waist measurement as 2'' smaller than I am, from 25'' waist to 23'' and used the pattern generator for the basics of my pattern and customized my pattern further by looking after this diagram that I found somewhere on the internet. The bone channels were derived from this picture to give a more "18th Century Look". I also added straps, tabs around the bottom, and a rounded bustline to the generated pattern to make it more like the pic.

(if this is your photo and would not like me to use it, tell me, and I'll get rid of it)

My pattern ended up looking like this:


The blue lines are for the heavy duty zip ties, while the red lines are for the regular ones

After cutting out my fabric I sewed the necessary channels for the bones (as indicated above). This didn't take too long, as you're sewing straight lines. But, the hard part came when the ties were ready to be put in... In order to guarantee that the cut cable ties won't pierce through your corset while you're wearing it, they need to be dulled after they're cut. This is most easily accomplished by burning the ends. BUT this stinks something terrible, so by all means do it outside!
After I finished with that horrible ordeal, I inserted them where they are supposed to be.

So my stays were pretty much done by that point, only the bias tape, straps, and eyelets needed to be finished. I sewed the straps on by machine, but the rest I did by hand. It took a long time but I'm glad I did it.

I now have to repair one of the bones from the back of the stays b/c as you can see it popped out of place:






I'm very happy with how this turned out... and fortunate to have had these sites for help:
ElizabethanCostume.net
18th Century Stays
Mara Riley
La Mode Historique

If ya got any questions... just Holler!

Tea House

I just wanted to get this out here for you all to see.....

If you like loose-leaf tea or need any tea supplies, this is the place to go. The owner is my aunt, who started her business not too long ago. She offers tons of organic teas and herbs, all of which she knows the health benefits that come with each tea. I'm very impressed with how wonderful the teas are.... My mom and I have been drinking loose leaf teas for as long as I can remember and in all of our years, we've not encountered such wonderful teas anywhere else!

My aunt was previously a nurse and decided she was going to start a tea business where she can help people with tea, rather than masking problems with prescription drugs. She's extremely knowledgeable of what herbs and teas will do for certain problems and will do custom blends for anyone who needs it. I don't want to sound like an add, but her stuff is exceptional. YOU SHOULD CHECK IT OUT! CLICK HERE

Summer Sewing Continued

The Progress of my Civil War dress....




The Dress:
This dress is supposed to be late 1850's-early 1860's looking. The fabric is a very sheer and breathable cotton that I purchased for $.75 a yard at Wal-Mart. It's a very pretty grey that you can see different shades in the threading. It's worn over a self-rigged 4 bone hoop bought from ebay.com. (i'll have another post about rigging one of these hoops later). The bodice has front closure of hooks&eyes and will be fastened to the skirt with hooks&eyes attached on the waistband. I've not decided yet whether I'm gonna add trim to it yet or not?

This dress is not to be an "authentic reproduction", of which period techniques are the only that are used. I am just after "the look" using what I have to make it. I've based my dress off of tons of pics I've snagged on the internet. So far this dress has only cost me about $8 in materials (hooks and eyes, fabric, thread, bias tape, etc) and around a week of time.





Bodice:
So, since drafting my pattern I've managed to put together the bodice (well for the most part). It's proven very interesting. My original pattern I made was for only one dart on each side of the bodice. BUT... after looking over many pics I've snagged over the internet, I noticed that I only have a picture of 1 dress that has that type of construction. All of the pictures I have looked at have 2 or more darts per side. So that had to be changed



I've never drafted a pattern, or even made a dress before. Soooooo, this is quite an adventure. My first problem I ran into, was my form is slightly smaller than I really am. >:{ (disgruntled face)... So, it looks great on the clone, but is quite snug when I put it on. Another one, is although I cut the pieces out with over an inch of seam allowance, it's miraculously just barely fitting together with the rest of the pieces. AHH! At the moment I'm trying to make it all fit together without having to make another bodice altogether by adding an extra inch to the middle front seam. I think it will work. But I'll keep you posted.


Skirt:
The skirt I did not draft myself, I modified a discontinued Butterick pattern (no. 6694)that was dradfully inaccurate. I added 4 inches to pieces 17 and 19. After I had sewn all the pieces together I added a number of pleats to make it much more accurate. I have one box pleat in the back to try to create a bustle effect with directional pleats leading to the front. I've yet to hem it, but I plan to use iron-on hem tape, so no seams will be seen. I reinforced the waistband with a random piece of 1-inch thick bias tape. The waistband is going to have a hook&eye closure and opening disguised by a pleat.





*My review of the pattern*
Great for someone as tall as I am (5'2''), but anyone who is taller than that would have to add more length to it, and anyone who's waist is more than 24 inches will have to add more than just 4 inches to pieces 17 and 19, if the same amount of pleats are desired. All in all, the pattern worked well with what I was doing with it. :)

The overall look of this dress is pretty good. It looks like it could definitely be in a picture... and that's what I'm going for. If you have a suggestion or comment I'm happy to hear it! ex) sleeves, trims, other style bodices etc

SUGGEST AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!