Planning the Lilac Striped Maternity Dress

With my new-found motivation to sew again, I find myself ready to think about sewing my maternity dress out of the lovely FFC Hydrangea Striped Lawn (the same one that Sarah Meister made up into her lovely saque and petticoat).

 

I think Lilac Striped Lawn is a more appropriate name for color, though. ;)  Whatever you want to call it, it's a LOVELY fabric!

I want to make an adjustable dress, like Elizabeth talks about in her most recent blog post, "Great Expectations".

Here is what I'm planning at this point:

• A half-high lining
• Slight v-neck
• A drawstring waistband (as mentioned in "Great Expectations" and seen on this dress)
• I should have plenty of fabric to do a horizontal self-fabric band (or two?) on the skirt plus other self-fabric trimming
• Gauged skirt
• These sleeves

 I have a Sewing Academy post with questions and (hopefully, soon) feedback.  I'd love to hear your thoughts, either here in the comments, on The Sewing Academy thread or any other way of contacting me ;)

Spring 2012 Sewing List

Here is my current sewing list:

Completed from last list and from this Spring:
Finish Toile - I finished this in July 2011! Yay! :) I ended having my sister wrap me in saran wrap and then a layer of duct tape for a start--it worked WONDERS! I finally have a good base!
Wool bodice/dress - Done and I am SO happy with it! :)
Semi-sheer dress - Done and just in time to wear on Sunday for our July event!
N's Blue tunic - DONE!
Move buttons on N's pants - DONE!
Tucked Petticoat for E - DONE!
Corded underdress for E - DONE!
E's purple plaid dress - DONE!
E's pinafore - DONE!

Currently on the table/Upcoming:
Timely Tresses Eliza Coretta Bonnet from kit: Form is done and covered in the silk.  Bavolet is attached.  Needs to be decorated and lined.
N's orange plaid tunic - Skirt is done.  Do bodice. 
N's Hat - Red wool mechanic's cap with leather brim (hopefully!).  Worked on up-sizing the old pattern. 
E's pink dress - Skirt is done other than pleating/gathering.  Do bodice.
E's corded sunbonnet - have to downsize my sunbonnet pattern.
Repair seam in E's tucked drawers
Put markings in kid's underclothes to differentiate sizes! - This will make it SO much easier!
Fix escaping bones on gestational corset - I've decided I really don't like using Joann's sateen for corsets for this very reason.  VERY inconvenient and sometimes painful!
Hydrangea Lawn Semi-sheer Maternity Dress - Since I'm going to be pregnant most of the summer, I decided it would be nice not to HAVE to wear my wrapper--as comfy as it is, it does get boring after you've worn it ALL summer! Not to mention that it will be warmer than I'll want it to be.  I'd really like to get this done before our next event, since I doubt I'll be as blessed as I was for our first event and still be able to fit in my blue semi-sheer! That uterus just keeps climbing up! ;)
Work on hair style with rats - I'd like to get some of the faux tortoiseshell pins, too.  Maybe when I (hopefully) order Nathaniel's leather brim, I'll get some from Timely Tresses.

Before Baby #3 (Late August):
Cap for Baby #3

After Baby #3 (Late August): 
Corset - I got pregnant, just to avoid this project! ;) ;) Just kidding! But I AM glad I don't have to face this for a while.  It's just so stinking hard to fit yourself!!
Bone back point on wool dress
Tuck in cage waistband - with the combination of losing weight (not that I'm losing weight at this point ;)) and the muslin stretching, I need to take a tuck or two in the waistband to make it smaller.
Re-pleat Green cotton print dress skirt - Fortunately, this is the only dress that needs re-pleating after I made my cage! My mom may end up borrowing it for a while, anyway.

Someday:
New collars and other white accessories
Start saving for a parasol
Silk Cravat for Tim
Fancy petticoat - Because let's face it, I just need a fancy petticoat to go under my sheer dress and my wrapper! My inspiration image.  Unfortunately, this has been put on hold since I ran out of fabric :P

A Rainy Day Equals a Long-Overdue Post!

Good Afternoon!

I realize that I have not posted in a (very LONG) while.  There have been a few reasons for that.  The main one being that until just recently, it was all I could do to even face sewing!! I was just NOT interested in sewing--a TRUE rarity for the spring months for me! I think a LOT of it had to do with discouragement with our current events that we do.  ALL of our usual events are either brand new (i.e. small and just getting off the ground), have totally changed hands (no idea what to really expect), or are significantly changing (not usually for the better, in my opinion).  The authenticity of the events we do leave MUCH to be desired in a progressive reenactor like myself and I was just plain frustrated and discouraged.  Fortunately, and providentially ('cause BOY did I need motivation!!), a fellow Sewing Academy member and her family ended up camping next to our units camp!! It amazes me how if they (or us) had been camped anywhere else we might never have met! Anyway, her presence at this newly-changed (for the better, fortunately!) event encouraged me to persevere and even brought back the Sewing Bug! :) It's so encouraging to see children dressed appropriately! And when they're nice children that my children can play with, it's even better! Unfortunately, that will probably be the only event that we get to see them at this year, but I will just have to look forward to next year! ;)

Pre-event sewing projects included pretty much totally revamping my two kids' wardrobes (BOY did they grow!).  I was hoping to get another year out of Elsa's Pink Yoked Dress, but alas, her torso grew WAY too much to even limp it through a few events! She still weighs the same (last I checked) as she did last October, but she is MUCH taller! So a new dress (two, eventually) was an order.  She also needed a new petticoat and stayed underdress (drawers were okay!).  I made a pinafore for her, as well, since she only has one dress completed.  She desperately needs a corded bonnet, too.  Nathaniel needed new tunics (I won't complain since he got 2 years out of the old ones) and a hat.  Fortunately, I was able to extend his pants one more season (so that will be 3 years with those!!!) by moving the buttons! :) His hat and second tunic are still "in process".

Unfortunately, I don't have too many pictures of their completed stuff, but I do have a couple I can share from the event:

Poor guy lost a battle with a toy truck in modern times!

I'll be posting an updated sewing needs list and I'll hopefully get some pictures of Elsa's underthings to share, as well. :)

Blue Semi-Sheer

I realized that I never did a post solely for my blue semi-sheer dress.  So without further ado, here it is!


In the design process, the dress went through many changes! I finally settled on an open coat sleeve and a plan gathered front bodice with waistband. 

Before any trim

I used this dress as inspiration for the trimming.  The trim is just a small frill down the center front around the neck and then on the sleeve edges.  The neck started out as a jewel neck and then ended up being a V-neck that is basted back to form the V.

For the first event, I wore a regular rounded collar with it, but I didn't like the way it looked (I don't think it was long enough), so for the next event I made a white lawn frill to go inside the neckline.  I ended up just using the selvedge edge and sewing it to a muslin bias band.  

The fabric is super light and floaty! Truly dreamy! Sadly, it is now late fall and I won't have another opportunity to wear it until at least March (more likely May-July), but, I can't wait to wear this again!

Chemise and A Big Project...

 

 I finished my chemise that I started back when the power went out for 5 1/2 days! I used 100% cotton muslin and it's sewn 100% by hand.  I used Kay Gnagey's Simplicity pattern 2890.  It went together really well and I'm very pleased with how it came out.

I am currently working on what's-turning-into-a-big project: an article/pamphlet/book for new lady reenactors.  I will be posting it on here as a free resource that you all will be able to print and hand out or read online.  It's turning out to be a lengthy piece of literature, so hang in there, I think it will be worth it ;)

Brown Plaid Wool Dress

Well! It is finally finished (almost ;)--still have to baste the bodice and skirt together and add some boning to the back point)!! I wore it to an event this past weekend (boy was I glad I had it done, because it was COLDDDD!! I was very thankful for my paletote, too).

I bought the wool when it was on sale back when Fabric.com had their big fabric sale.  I found out I was pregnant right after I got the fabric, so it was set aside to marinate until I resumed "normal" measurements. ;)

 I completed the skirt probably a year ago, and didn't touch it for a long time because of more relevant projects.  Let's face it, a wool dress (even if it is tropical weight) compared to a nice semi-sheer lawn will lose when it's 90 degrees and sunny out ;)  However, the beginning of September rolled around (and along with it, cooler and rainy weather) and I got thinking that I would need to get going on my wool bodice if I was going to have it done by our next event (October 1 & 2).  So I started researching and planning on what I wanted to do.  I searched off and on for 3 weeks for inspiration by looking at CDV's, pictures of original dresses and fashion plates from the 1860s.  I just could NOT find anything that jumped out at me.  Good sleeves are very important to me and I really just wanted a sleeve that popped out at me.  I also wanted a sleeve cap, since I'd never done one before and I like the way they look. 

Inspiration Image

The bodice is lined in premium bleached muslin and the sleeves and caps are lined in brown Egyptian cotton.  I didn't have enough of either to do both.

 In my original planning, I was thinking of doing a yoked dress, but during the process of looking for a sleeve and mulling it all over, I decided that I wanted to go with a pointed bodice.  I searched for pointed bodice threads on The Sewing Academy and as I was reading through, I came to a picture that another member had posted.   Ironically, it was from a site that I had already been poring over! I don't know how I missed it, but I did! Because I'm always second-guessing myself, I put it to a vote on FB whether I should do one point or two--and it got unanimously voted for two (I was leaning towards two, anyway).  I also decided to do a back point.

I need to bone the back point, apparently ;)

 

 I really am so pleased with how it came out! I probably will evenutally trim it like the inspiration image, but I have to ruminate on what color to trim it with ;) 

Now a good, well deserved rest and then on to my Winter Sewing Projects (list forthcoming).

Weather Change

Well, apparently, with Fall-ish weather my desire to blog comes back :) I, of course, have a lot that I can blog about since we've done a few events since my last post plus all of my little sewing projects! :).

We did an event at the end of July.  It was the first time that we'd done this event and it turned out to be a nice little event.  The grounds have a lot of potential and the organizers seem to be very open to suggestion and change for the better.  It's on a nice big farm with a mill and water wheel.

The Mill (with blue-belly infantry inside)

 

Buck came out again!

Elsa helped me work on my blue semi-sheer dress ;)

 I was able to wear my semi-sheer dress for the first time on Sunday.  Since then, I've put trim on the bodice and made a frill for inside the collar (post coming soon).

Elsa slept through the battle on Sunday!

More pictures from this event on Facebook

 Upcoming post topics will be an updated sewing list, another event post, details of new semi-sheer, new chemise, and whatever else I can think up and remember!