Downton Progress!

Last weekend and my Monday and Tuesday have been busy busy busy! I cut the bodice fabrics for the 1910s Tea Gown, basted, crazily decided to do the whole thing by hand (just needle and thread, no machines)and all this happened while I rewatched Downton Abbey and American Horror story.

Baste baste baste!

I'm especially proud of the sleeves. I overcasted the side of the bodice by hand.

A closer look at the lace. The solid black fabric is the Italian Satin I bought on the whim with no clear idea what to do with it. So glad I finally found a use for it.

Then tomorrow, I'm going to be marking and cutting all those skirts and overskirts.


The next part of my progress is this:

My husband and I on our wedding day, April 15, 2005

I bought the dress from David's Bridal. It was on a sale rack with the other bridesmaid gowns, the last piece of that style and wonderfully marked down. It was the only champagne colored, historically inspired and slim dress in the whole jumble of stark white strapless voluminous A-lines. It had an overskirt, yo. Then I tried it on and it fit PERFECTLY. 


While the silhouette of the dress was gorgeous, it lacked in embellishment. So off I went to Joanns and Hobby Lobby to find beads that matched the sparse beading that was already on the dress. I only had two weeks to embellish my wedding dress. (Yeah, two weeks. That's another long story) So off my inept self went. I was able to bead only what was needed, but nothing beyond that. It took me forever, I have never sewn or beaded anything before. Then I got married and put the dress away. I only had a small amount of regret for not being able to finish the embroidery and beading.


Seven years and loads of sewing and beading experience later, I decided to pick it up again. 

This is the dress before I beaded anything on it. Photo taken in late March, 2005

My Work In Progress. I really would like to fill the whole bodice with pretty pretty silver beads.
Photo taken today, January 31, 2012.

 I am quite happy with how it turned out. I had no set pattern to follow and it was so much fun to do. I cannot wait to finish both these dresses.


I am thinking of beading the black 1910s Tea Gown with black beads and crystals. What do you think?

Dressing Downton, Sewing Downton

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I fell head over heels in love with Downton Abbey. I watched it for the clothes at first, then got sucked in by the drama less than two second later. To celebrate my obsession with this show, I have decided to sew up some Edwardian pieces (also, garments that can be styled as such) I am so excited!


To prepare for all this sewing, I downloaded several patterns from Sense and Sensibility Patterns. I spent the better part of the weekend printing everything out and taping the first pattern I'm going to work on. I decided to work on the 1910s Tea Gown Pattern first. I am going to do it in black fabrics: black lace, black italian satin, black chiffon etc. Kind of fitting since Downtown Abbey started with a tragedy and a memorial (I also have mostly black fabric in my large stash that I have to get rid of before I justify buying any more fabric *cough*)

And of course, I have been collecting pots of inspiration from different places. The possibilities for embellishment and construction are endless. Here's hoping I come up with something fairly cohesive that is also fairly historically accurate.

NOTE: I was on a right-click-save binge, so all the images (except the one from Sense and Sensibility Patterns) are of semi-unknown origin. If you want credit for these pictures or want me to take them down, let me know, 'kay?

I shall call you HIPPIEDOOM!

Image from www.panilisnewska.com

I bought 4.8 meters of Lecien's "My Folklore" quilting cotton on a whim a couple of weeks ago and I knew I had to make some kind of maxi dress with it. The fabric is a strange brownish eggplant with a blue and yellow flower motif and a really sweet looking border. I was also set on trying my hand at making a Gunne Sax-esque dress I've been drooling over at Etsy for the past couple of days.

Image from etsy.com

Image from etsy.com

Image from etsy.com

Image from etsy.com

The whole dress is self-drafted, but heavily based on the Weisn Dirndl from Burdastyle. I love the princess armhole, the pleated looking skirt and the slightly puffed sleeves.

I made the princess armhole bodice from my basic sloper and added sleeves. I eliminated the button down at the front and put a zipper at the back. I embellished the front bodice with cotton lace, bias piping and bias tape before I sewed the pieces together. The bodice I drafted was a little too short, so I added a "belt" so the waistline would sit right at my waist instead of above it (I felt that a too-high waist made my own waist look bigger). I also pleated the skirt, rather than gather it.

And after about three days of sewing (about an hour a day, it was so hot in my sewing room),  voila!

HIPPIEDOOM!

I love this dress, the skirt has great swish and I feel pretty wearing it. The bodice fits me perfectly and my waist looks smaller than usual. Wearing it reminds me of my younger days as a Goth (though I am still a Goth, I'm hardly what you would call "young") when I used to wear long skirts even in tropical weather. This is definitely a wear-again for me, but now that I'm older, I'll wait for cooler weather.

Lyra, all of nineteen years old in 1999.

A New Dress for Mom

I got this very retro fabric from a very popular fabric store in Manila for CHEAP (less about USD1.75) It looks slightly canvas-y but it's very soft, unlike real canvas. I got about three yards without a real plan for it (I just fell in love with the cute geometric tree print)


Then last Saturday, I was inspired and made this:

I don't plan to do anything fancy to it. It has an exposed metal zipper which I installed by hand because I was in the mood for pain. I still need to install the facing and finish the hem. I'm quite happy with it. It fits my mom and I perfectly and REALLY sucks all those loose bits in, since the fabric is sturdy like canvas, but soft and smooth but not shiny like fine cotton broadcloth or high quality quilting cotton. That's me modelling the unfinished dress, but I'm hoping that my mom would be willing to model this for me when I've got everything installed (facings and waist stay) and all the loose threads snipped.

Update

As much as I wanted to update my portfolio and make pieces for the Project Runway audition, I had to go to the hospital and stay there for a week because of a liver infection. I was brought to the emergency room with a gigantic belly ache, vomiting and just feeling terrible. They quickly hooked me up to an IV and told me that I would be confined to a room while they run tests. They also found a stone in my gall bladder through ultrasound and it all sounded scary to me.


These past few weeks were an eye opener for sure. I need to improve every way. I need to not only try to improve my sewing and pattern making skills, I also need to get healthy. I have been neglecting my health and this experience inspires me to never set foot in a hospital unless it's a routine checkup. I need to live longer. I have a small boy I love and he is everything. That reason alone is compelling enough.

I Am Torn

Image via Google Images

Project Runway Philippines is gonna be holding auditions soon and I am still kinda on the fence about auditioning. There are reasons why I REALLY should and there are also reasons why I REALLY shouldn't. So what do I do???

Sew Retro: Sewing A Bombshell Dress

Picture stolen from http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/

I recently enrolled in an online sewing class called Sew Retro taught by Gertie of Gertie's New Blog For Better Sewing. I have to say I am really enjoying it. The class teaches you to make the BurdaStyle Bustier Dress with the weird looking bath lily front drape omitted. I find the process of making a dress from start to finish seriously fascinating and I can't wait till I get done taping my pattern together so I can start my own Bombshell dress. Gertie guides you through taping up your pattern, making a muslin, fitting the bodice using draping techniques and sewing the actual garment. She is engaging and she really knows her stuff. I like her teaching style, it's casual. Like you're old friends and she's right there next to you, patiently explaining the importance of hand basting. The class is just a goldmine of information, resulting in a lot of of A-HA! moments for me, for sure. I won't give much away, suffice to say I learned so much from those 15 videos and I'm eager to learn more. I hope she makes more classes!

BurdaStyle's Bustier Dress.

Anyway, you can take the class over at Craftsy. I think they're having a 50% off special.