Get A Wiggle On

I began this garment thinking I could sprint to kinkos, grab a decent copy, cut it out and boom! Have this lovely gown that would only need minor fixing. Ha! Hahaha. No. First of all, it took at least an hour working with a Kinko/Fed Ex working to find what size to blow this up to. THEN they informed me it would be about 22.00. WHAT? And that was just for a portion of the grid, not even the full set itself! I declined, but did pay the few bucks for a slightly bigger version. Then, I went to Walmart and got this grid thingy used mainly for quilts. With my roll of transfer paper and an urn of markers I counted, measured and copied my way to the pattern. Not half bad if I do say so myself. This wasnt even as difficult or as time consuming as one would think. It was kind of enjoyable, in the way that adult coloring books and sudoku are. After getting the basics down I determined to make a mock up in a linen fabric I had and work from there.    Miraculou...

The Challenge: January :  Firsts & Lasts  – Create either the first item in a new ensemble, or one last piece to put the final fillip on an outfit. Material: Cotton novelty fabric from Joanns, thrift shop raw linen, plain cotton Pattern:  Simplicity 8162 stays and chemise Year: 1800s  Notions: thread, bias tape, eyelets, zip ties, lace hem tape, lace, ribbon; grosgrain ribbon; How historically accurate is it? Like, linen is fairly accurate, hand sewn 50% of the stays so maybe 20%? The eyelets are definitely not even remotely accurate. Neither is the machine sewing, or the zip ties. Hours to complete: Two weeks, working idly on it while doing other things... maybe 20 hours total? First worn: not yet Total cost:  20 bucks for boning, notions and bias table, thread and fabric from stash.  Firstly, this is what I like to call, my 'working' muslin. I dont like sewing muslins so what I do is sew a version for someone else to give ...

So, petticoats are a must. They add that extra umph to a full outfit, hiding the bones in your hoopskirt (Oh! What a faux pas!) and smoothing the bumps in your humps when you dare to wear a bustle. Picture borrowed from here