As I have a way of embarking on different projects that tend to never be absolutely finished, I thought that making some kind of dress diary to show the hoped for progress might work as enough motivation to see this project through till the very end.
I'm not a seamstress by any means, but a number of years back I fell in love with the beauty of corsets and dresses from the past - those things are very expensive to buy so my idea was to learn to make them myself and so I did. Trial and error is always the best of teachers :o)
The pattern for this dress is originally from 1769 France and published in Les arts et les métiers. I'm using a copy of the original pattern published by The Swedish National Museum in 1979.
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I got started with the vest that goes along with the dress. To begin with I made a mock-up using an old, very lime-green sheet, always a good idea before cutting into the more expensive fabric to be used. As I hadn't yet gotten the fabric I couldn't even be tempted ;o)
Pieces cut and pinned together, they seemed to be fitting really well and I considered myself very lucky indeed!
  
So the fabric arrived, I washed and dried it....
and today I finally got the pleasure of cutting into to it.
For whatever the reason, some pictures refuse to upload turned the right way (and this is where I begin to wonder how much more sewing I could have done if not fiddling with posting pictures and worrying about a pop up telling me this draft can not be saved, doing so every couple of minutes, ah well ;)
Next...
As lining I used the old sheet, pinned the layers together, sewed them, turned, pressed and pressed the pieces some more. The iron is by the way one of my best friends.
And this is as far as today and yesterday has taken me. Pieces all fitted together and I will be spending the rest of the evening hand stitching the lining closed in the back and side seams. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday evening, at least I'm not pulling my nose hairs! ;-)
Will put a hook and eye closure in the front, but before that I will have to start the actual dress and that I plan on doing tomorrow!
Tally-ho!
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Amazing! Can't wait to see it!
ReplyDelete<3
Thank you so much Angel, my hope is you won't have to wait all that long either <3
DeleteThis is brilliant, Anna! It is fascinating to see some of what goes into this kind of work. A rare insight into a rare talent :o)
ReplyDeleteThank you honey, you're way too kind! Now I better see to it that the finished dress lives up to your words :o)
DeleteI love those old fashions. The dresses of the period. They were so ornate. True works of art in my opinion. Very cool to see you get to grips with this Anna. Look forward to seeing the fruits of your efforts. I'm sure it will look stunning.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much about the old period clothing that been lost. The feel wearing it, the look, the way they were made and the whole air surrounding them. I think it was a good idea to make a post and keep me focused on finishing it. It might even lead to finish some of the 'nearly finished' pieces of clothing I have so I can post pictures of those too =)
DeleteYou're right, they were works of art and I love trying to make something the way it was once made. With this dress I have the machine for help but the totally hand sewn garments are the best!
Thank you very much for your comment, Eddy! Before too long you will see how stunning it will be, promise!