That sewing post
Mar. 12th, 2009 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhienellethI promised a sewing entry a couple of days ago, and then never followed through. Sorry. I seem to be still kind of struggling with the whole diet induced, life induced ennui thing. It is getting better. I think. I mean, I'm posting, right? And I even read my f-list this morning.
AND, I have my doctor's appointment today, in two hours! The one where she tells me what I get to add back into my diet. This particular hell is almost over! (I admit it - I bought a bag of Cadbury's mini chocolate eggs and hid them in a drawer, so they'll be waiting for me once I'm cleared for chocolate again, which will probably still be a little while.)
I finally finished (yay!) the underdress for my Regencygown daydress - it is super adorable! A friend and I are going to make duct tape dress forms of each other one of these weekends, and then I'll be able to post pics of sewing projects much easier.
In the meantime, I know what my next project will be. I'm going to make a skirt for myself. Not a costume, a skirt. Of course, being me, it isn't just a normal pencil skirt, or spring skirt, or whatever. I wanted something different. Something you can't just walk into a store and buy, otherwise, what's the point? But still very pretty. Maybe something that could go well with one of my corsets. So. I'm going to make a Victorian-esque skirt that will be beautiful and unique, and which I could wear to things like weddings or other special events.
So, let's start with what a real Victorian skirt looked like. First of all, it depends greatly on the decade. "Victorian" covers a pretty wide span - from a purely fashion standpoint, it began in the 1860's and extended to about 1900. It was named after the reigning English Queen of the time, Queen Victoria. A lot of things happened to effect fashion leading up to and during that time, among them the not-insignificant invention of the sewing machine. When most of us hear the words "Victorian" and "fashion" in the same sentence, we think of the bustle gown. That flat front, bustled back look that emphasized a flat tummy and big rear end. The shape of the skirts and size of the bustle fluctuated throughout the era, and I personally would never want to wear something (other than as a costume for a few brief hours) that required extra padding over on my derriere.
However, that said, some of the fashion sensibilities of the era have survived to modern times - almost every wedding dress has a train that bustles in the back when you don't want it to drag on the ground. And at least one style of modern gown is called a "bustle gown", as it gathers up the fabric to create an all over bustled look:
But I don't want something like that - too formal, still requires an underskirt, and everyone would mistake it for a bridesmaid gown because of the popularity of the style, currently. So I did some looking around, and found several examples of Victorian based, modern skirts - mostly on goth sites. I did NOT like any of them. Talk about cheap looking junk! - and there was at least one that thought it was worth over $250 just for being "bustled", and trust me, it wasn't worth even half that, not even handmade (which I'm 90% certain it wasn't.) I won't post pics here, as that would probably be considered bad form to mock someone else's product. Suffice to say, I had almost given up on finding examples that were modern but also Victorian inspired, well made, and beautiful. And then I found this:
A friend of mine actually bought it after I sent her the link, so it's no longer available. That's okay, not my colors, and I'm short enough almost any full length skirt like that is going to be waaaaay too long for me. Also, I wouldn't make mine exactly like that, but I like the idea of it - the straight front, with the beautifully 'bustled' back, no underskirt necessary. Very nice. I already know how I would design mine, how I'll do the waist, and the ruffle I'm going to add to the bottom.
I've been making my own circle skirts without a pattern for some time, but this is the first time I'll actually be attempting to make my own pattern for something more complex. We'll see how it goes. But the picture in my head is beautiful, and would be appropriate for any number of things, from wearing to, say, a wedding, to dressing up in steampunk for your favorite Con. And I know I could make it for almost any size, and for a pretty affordable price. So, if you're goth or in the market for a Victorian inspired skirt, wait and see how this works out, then talk to me before you go wasting your money on something awful.
AND, I have my doctor's appointment today, in two hours! The one where she tells me what I get to add back into my diet. This particular hell is almost over! (I admit it - I bought a bag of Cadbury's mini chocolate eggs and hid them in a drawer, so they'll be waiting for me once I'm cleared for chocolate again, which will probably still be a little while.)
I finally finished (yay!) the underdress for my Regency
In the meantime, I know what my next project will be. I'm going to make a skirt for myself. Not a costume, a skirt. Of course, being me, it isn't just a normal pencil skirt, or spring skirt, or whatever. I wanted something different. Something you can't just walk into a store and buy, otherwise, what's the point? But still very pretty. Maybe something that could go well with one of my corsets. So. I'm going to make a Victorian-esque skirt that will be beautiful and unique, and which I could wear to things like weddings or other special events.
So, let's start with what a real Victorian skirt looked like. First of all, it depends greatly on the decade. "Victorian" covers a pretty wide span - from a purely fashion standpoint, it began in the 1860's and extended to about 1900. It was named after the reigning English Queen of the time, Queen Victoria. A lot of things happened to effect fashion leading up to and during that time, among them the not-insignificant invention of the sewing machine. When most of us hear the words "Victorian" and "fashion" in the same sentence, we think of the bustle gown. That flat front, bustled back look that emphasized a flat tummy and big rear end. The shape of the skirts and size of the bustle fluctuated throughout the era, and I personally would never want to wear something (other than as a costume for a few brief hours) that required extra padding over on my derriere.
However, that said, some of the fashion sensibilities of the era have survived to modern times - almost every wedding dress has a train that bustles in the back when you don't want it to drag on the ground. And at least one style of modern gown is called a "bustle gown", as it gathers up the fabric to create an all over bustled look:
But I don't want something like that - too formal, still requires an underskirt, and everyone would mistake it for a bridesmaid gown because of the popularity of the style, currently. So I did some looking around, and found several examples of Victorian based, modern skirts - mostly on goth sites. I did NOT like any of them. Talk about cheap looking junk! - and there was at least one that thought it was worth over $250 just for being "bustled", and trust me, it wasn't worth even half that, not even handmade (which I'm 90% certain it wasn't.) I won't post pics here, as that would probably be considered bad form to mock someone else's product. Suffice to say, I had almost given up on finding examples that were modern but also Victorian inspired, well made, and beautiful. And then I found this:
A friend of mine actually bought it after I sent her the link, so it's no longer available. That's okay, not my colors, and I'm short enough almost any full length skirt like that is going to be waaaaay too long for me. Also, I wouldn't make mine exactly like that, but I like the idea of it - the straight front, with the beautifully 'bustled' back, no underskirt necessary. Very nice. I already know how I would design mine, how I'll do the waist, and the ruffle I'm going to add to the bottom.
I've been making my own circle skirts without a pattern for some time, but this is the first time I'll actually be attempting to make my own pattern for something more complex. We'll see how it goes. But the picture in my head is beautiful, and would be appropriate for any number of things, from wearing to, say, a wedding, to dressing up in steampunk for your favorite Con. And I know I could make it for almost any size, and for a pretty affordable price. So, if you're goth or in the market for a Victorian inspired skirt, wait and see how this works out, then talk to me before you go wasting your money on something awful.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-12 05:10 pm (UTC)I'm really excited to see how yours turns out... sounds like it will be a fun challenge but also worth it to make something that will suit you.
Definitely keep us updated on how it goes! :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-12 08:34 pm (UTC)I will definitely keep everyone updated!