A Pocket And A Petticoat

I have finished two more costuming projects!  I'm on a roll for this month.  :)  First is my embroidered pocket:

I finally learned how to do French Knots!  

And second (although actually finished first :p) is my new brick-red petticoat:

Pay no attention to my messy room - or the cat.  

My HSF UFO: The CAC

I could have chosen any number of half-started ventures for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Un-Finished Object Challenge, as I have several such projects lying around.  I went with the Curtain-Along cloak, which had been sitting folded in a box for months.

This photo makes me feel rich.  :)  

I already had the outer cloak cut out and sewn together, but for the sake of tidiness I had folded it up and put it back in the plastic pouch that the curtain panel originally came in.  In the meantime I gathered more fabric.  The red wool in the top left corner of the box is now the cloak lining, and the black and red velvets on the bottom will be made into a couple of muffs eventually.  I like to organize my fabric by project in these nice flat boxes I get from work.  Up until Saturday, this was as far as I had gotten on the cloak.

Red Plaid Curtain Plan Revised

I was quite discouraged in my last post when I discovered that the gorgeous red plaid curtain set I had bought on clearance was half as much yardage as I had originally calculated.  I had wanted to make a big, Christmasy 1860s crinoline gown, which calls for eight yards of fabric.

Tartan Plaid Silk Taffeta Dress, c. 1871

This meant I would need four total sets of curtains.  I have one.  However, inspiration returned when I was browsing my blogroll, and found The Dreamstress' recent post about her plaid 1880s skirt.  Suddenly I realized that my red plaid would match a deep red taffeta dress that I bought off the sale rack in the bridal store where I work:

Which I bought specifically because the pleated trim around the hem reminded me of a Victorian bustle-era skirt!

The dress had been languishing in my closet for months, because I had been unable to find matching taffeta to make a draped overskirt.  Originally I had planned to pair the dress (as a skirt) with a frilly, creamy, gauzy blouse.  However, I should have enough plaid fabric to make an overskirt and matching jacket!

First I had to revamp the taffeta dress a bit.  I removed the zipper and lining, and let out all the seams as much as possible, since I want to use the full length of the dress (it was ankle-length on me) for my new floor-length skirt.  Fortunately it was a couple sizes too big for me already, so I was able to get enough girth for my hips to fit where the waist was supposed to be.

Then I put it on my dress form inside out and pinned in the top to fit to my waist.

I sewed up the seams, tried it on, pressed it and put it back on the dress form, right side out this time.  Then I draped my curtain fabric over it, just to get the effect of the plaid with the taffeta.

I think it'll be beautiful!  Now I just need to find a pattern to use.  Any suggestions?

Window Shopping

Well, boo.  I went to two different Meijers today, and neither had the gold embroidered clearance curtains I want.  :(  The first one did have the same style in three other colors, but they weren't on sale.

So I could make the gown in Bone, Brick, or Chocolate, for $70.

They also had several clearance curtains in a lovely jacquard that I thought might work for a someday Elizabethan gown, but I wasn't inspired enough to buy any.

The second store had even less selection, but I did end up finding one of the 5-piece window sets that caught my eye the first time I went window shopping.  I absolutely love this deep red and gold plaid:

So I bought one.

Now, my original calculations led me to believe that two of these sets would yield enough yardage to get a good Civil War era gown, because I was reading the description incorrectly.  I thought that each curtain panel was going to be 60x84", when in fact the attached valance is the only part that's 60" wide.

Each panel is only 28" wide, which means that I would need twice as many sets as I thought, and this Meijer only had one.  Boo.

They did have four sets of the same plaid in a pretty tan color, but that one didn't excite me as much.  And now I'm not sure what to do with this one.  It's not very 18th Century, otherwise I'd make a caraco jacket or something.  And the pattern is much too large to be suitable for a doll gown.

I think the moral of this story is that I need to stop buying curtains.  :p

Ugh, Math

So... I can't get this French court gown idea out of my head.  Something like this would be what I'm aiming for:

Robe a la francaise [French or Austrian]  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have this gorgeous gold embroidered faux silk, which is basically begging to be made into something extravagant.

Problem is, it's a curtain panel I bought on clearance, and it was the only one left at that particular store.  There are other stores I can check to find more, but first I need to know exactly how many curtains it'll take to make this beauty.  Hence the math.

Curtains and More Curtains

I was in Meijer again on Saturday, and decided to check if the curtains I had found last week were still there.  I quickly discovered that the entire curtain aisle had been re-arranged, and guess why?  They're joining the Curtain-Along, too!

It might be hard to tell on my crappy cell phone pic, but those are the famous Waverly indienne-print curtains in the bottom left corner!  So I guess the reason all those other curtains were marked down last week was because they were making room for the new Waverly line.  Their price is the same as Lowe's, though.  I'll keep my eye on them and see if they ever go on sale, at which point I might snatch up a red one for a caraco jacket...  We'll see.

In the meantime, I did end up finding some clearance curtains to tide me over...

Starting on my Curtain-Along Cloak

I cut out my cloak today!

Curtain-Along, here I come!

Flirting with Curtains

It's curtains for you!  

So I was shopping at Meijer today (Meijer is kind of like the Walmart of Michigan, even though we have Walmart here, too...), and I somehow found myself in the curtain aisle... and I think I'm in trouble.  :p  See, ever since I became aware of the 18th Century Curtain-Along using the Indienne print curtains available at Lowe's, I've been looking at curtains in a whole new light...