(Click to enlarge)Hey folks,
I haven't vanished, but my sewing projects of late have been time-consumingly ambitious and from about 100 years earlier than the 1930s-1960s styles usually shown on this page... but what the hey? Here's a couple variations on Simplicity 4400, which is intended for Civil War re-enactment, but which I used for working at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco this last holiday season. The upper-class dress, which is being worn over a corset and a set of hoops, I call the Thistle Dress. I used the pattern for the skirt (the shiny, green striped silk) and the bodice (which is a shiny indigo-purple cotton). For this one, I did include those odd little "bust pads" that the pattern calls for, to fill in the space in the armpit-chest area, and to conceal the ridge of the top of my corset. I invented the over-skirt using four identical wedge-shaped panels, which join to create the diamond "windows" and allow the green stripes to show through. This dress being a great excuse for many tassels, I hung one at the top of each diamond and from more places on the bottom of the over-skirt. I used the pattern again for the shiny green under-sleeves, but altered the puffed over-sleeve from the pattern into a more Victorian London bell shape (from which I hung tassel fringe). The thistle leaves on the front of the bodice are appliqued using Wonder Under and an outline stitch, with some ribbon embroidery for the blooms and some leaf details. The Fair folk gave it a positive reception overall, though one friend remarked with disappointment that there weren't nearly enough tassels. ;)
The tarty, lower-class dress, also being worn over a corset, is the result of marking a square neckline on the muslin I made of the bodice pattern. The resulting top needed only some darting at the shoulders to fit correctly. You can't see because of the shawl, but the sleeves are similar bell-shapes to the other dress, also covered in tassel fringe, but with no under-sleeves. The skirt was made from tiering strips of trimmed fabric like bed-skirt ruffles. And my hat? Bits and bobs of ribbon sewn to a covered shoulder pad. Seriously. Quite obnoxiously Victorian indeed.
Next time, a 1940s inspired Vogue Coat....
Cheers!