Ugh ... that bodice!

I love that EvaDress reproduction patterns exist, but have also found that they do not always fit very well and are not always drafted well. I worked on the mock-up of the 1869 bodice this weekend and found this to be very true! 

I had some kitty helpers when I was cutting the pattern! I have found that giving them the pattern scraps when I am cutting helps to keep them occupied.

First attempt. The darts looked way too far away from CF to me (and confirmed that with my wonderful bustle dress gals). The darts were also super skinny and very low, well below the point of the bust. In this image I had them pinned in the marked locations but raised the tops to the bust.

The back also looked really awful and clearly isn't meant to be worn over a bustle. The bodice looks worn tucked into the skirts in the images, but it's hard to tell. I also have never made a bodice that didn't have side back seams. The wonderful Jennifer from Historical Sewing told me they often had "mock" side back seams in 1860s bodices and side back seams were used for fitting later in the 1870s and 1880s.

Here is round two - much better! I kept one dart where it was and moved the outer one closer to the CF. 

For the back, I pinned in some mock side back seams. Jennifer also suggested that I slash up to the waist so the back can spread over the bustle. I will add in fabric to those areas to keep the option open of wearing it on the outside of a skirt over the bustle.

My fabric is due to arrive tomorrow or Wednesday (I am NEVER ordering from Fabric Fashion Club again - they took 9 days just to ship my order then another week of transit time, grrr.....).

I can already tell that bias binding all the scallops is going to be a MAJOR headache, and I think I will have to do it entirely by hand so it will look nice. Sigh. Good thing I have my Lifetime movies for hand sewing! I noticed the pattern instructions say to use contrasting bias, so I think I will use my check fabric for binding on the revers, and black binding on the check skirt scallops.

TV108 Grand Bustle

For my 1869 dress I needed a new bustle because it's an earlier time period than my imperial tournure. The TV108 Grand Bustle says suitable for 1869 to 1875, and it has the shape I want for the gown.

I made it from white kona cotton and used my trusty roll of twill tape for the bone casings. It took a very long time to press, hem, gather, and pin all the ruffles, but it's so floofy and worth it!

I still need to tack down the waistband and finish closing the casings now that the bones are inserted, plus put on a closure. The only problem I had with it is that my bottom ruffle extended into the lower bone casing. I think it's because I didn't hem the upper edges of my ruffles since they're not visible, so each ruffle was a bit longer than it should have been. I ended up cutting that bottom ruffle at the side seam and hemming it so that I could sew on the final casing. I bought the pre-made pack of boning from TV which was awesome because there's a lot of boning there and they were already cut to length and tipped.

Leia is now FINISHED!

I finished my - don't know what to call them - boot toppers? Leg warmers? I am happy with how they came out, although I would have liked a deeper point at the top, so I might adjust that. I couldn't find boots or stockings with pointed tops, so bought some spandex and figured I can at least have the illusion of the pointed tops. Surprisingly the hardest part was doing those little chains under the rivets - hard to work with nails.

I also submitted my cosplay to the costume contest, and am waiting to hear if I was accepted to compete or not.

Time for another EvaDress challenge!

I hit upon EvaDress when I was looking for ideas for the Edwardian Ball I attended 2 years ago. She had this amazing Victorian bat costume that I recreated. She gets vintage patterns and makes reprints for sale, covering 1800s through 1950s. She does an online sewing challenge via a FB group a few times per year. The current challenge is to pick ANY pattern on the site regardless of decade. I had a hard time choosing as there are so many great ones, but I had my eye on this 1869 gown for a while and decided to go with it, even though I think it will be really challenging. Here's the gown:

The original is done is brown wool crepe with black silk taffeta scalloped trim, and there are 110 (!) buttons sewn into all the scallops. I'm still having trouble finding bulk buttons that (a) don't look cheap and (b) aren't crazy expensive since I need so many. I decided to go with this fabric, which is a wool/rayon blend.

I have a ton of black taffeta leftover from the aforementioned bat dress, so will use that for the trim. I am going to do the revers on the front and sleeves in the black also. 

I will be using TV108 for the bustle, as my lobster-tail bustle is more 1880s than 1860s. I got some plain white cotton and ordered the hoop wire kit for it. I can use the corset from my butterfly gown, so this is the only new foundation garment needed.

Leia is finished! (OK, nearly)

I am pretty much done with Leia. I bought some white spandex to try and make stocking tops to mimic the pointy stockings she is wearing, but if that doesn't work out then I am going with white thigh-highs and gogo boots.

I was thinking of hook and eye tape and fake buttons on the blouse, but because I wanted a lapped front the hook and eye tape wasn't working well, so I ended up making 18 (!) buttonholes. I have had a lot of trouble with my machine messing up automatic buttonholes, but figured out what was going wrong. I did 15 before having an issue, then figured out the little lever arm that stops the buttonhole was slipping into the wrong position. Phew, now I will have smooth sailing with buttonholes.

I tried looking for a belt with no luck, so ended up making one from some belt strapping I bought on Amazon, plus a buckle and D-ring I got on Etsy. I think it came out great! The pouches were done with a Harlots and Angels pattern and I bought a rebel alliance pin to put on one of them. The brooch is a rebel alliance necklace I found on Etsy. I took off the chain and glued a pin hook to the back, then attached an earring I also got on Etsy to make up the rest of it. I also added some of the lace from my corset onto the sleeve puffs.

The gun went through two iterations, as I wasn't happy with the first one. It's a cheap plastic Leia pistol I got on Amazon. For the first try I glued on some gears/wire before painting, and it looked bad and I lost all the detail. Since it was cheap I got another one, painted it first, then flued on gears/wire. I finished it up with some clear coat. I'm much happier with this version.