A Detour From The Dickens Sewing...

Xmas came a little early, when UPS knocked on my door this evening.
My attention went from Victorian bonnets to "Oh, look Deco!", in about 10 seconds.
Thanks mom!

This is an amazing book, showcasing the designs and history of Lucien Lelong.







Now to turn my focus back to bonnets...

Dickens Fair Sewing - The Bonnet, Also In Progress

I must say with all the hand sewing this particular dress has required (mostly due to the trim style I chose), my fingers are in pain. Luckily today they felt less so, and allowed me to start on the bonnet I'll wear with it.
More photos on the way, this is one of the wire being applied to the buckram.



The hat is now built and waiting to be covered with the same fabric as the dress.
I'm hoping to use some vintage ribbon and velvet millinery flowers as trim in somewhat contrasting colors. While I'd like it to go well with the dress, I don't want it to look too blah. For lack of a better term.

Dickens Fair Sewing - My Dress

I've finished other items that need photos, but here are a few progress shots of the 1850 dress I'm currently working on. Hopefully I will finish it by next weekend.
Please excuse the poor photo quality and messy sewing area, it's been stitching mayhem for the last month and a half.

The fabric is a pale lavender/black shot taffeta. Not the greatest quality (it's a silk blend of some kind) but it's what I had plenty of in a pinch, and it has a nice body to it. I did flat line the skirt with a fine cotton.
Unlike the photos, it looks like a pretty rose grey in person.
I'll not be wearing a hoop with this, since hoops weren't generally worn until after about 1855. I'll be relying on crinoline petticoats for fullness, as ladies would have done during the first half of the 1850s. Corded petticoats were also worn, but I don't have time to make one :-}
If the neckline of the bodice seems too open for daytime, it's going to get a detachable collar, in a kind of fichu style. Something like the one in the image below (pink, top center):



Here is the bodice with the sleeves finally on. I decided to do a bell sleeve. The shoulder seam will get some hand pleated trim...


Here's a (horrible) shot with the skirt nearly complete, the bodice edge will also get piping, and the shoulder trim will get a little more treatment into what is fast becoming a signature trimming style of mine...

Past Creations...

While I wait for a good moment to take some photos of the 1850s coat and waistcoat I made for my gent, I have been digging through my archives.
Here is an 1885 gown I made a couple years ago, from the most amazing fuchsia silk faille taffeta and antique lace. My favorite part is the green/fuchsia ribbon I used for the accents. It's becoming a favorite color combination ;-)

A bit goth with the brooch and yes, that is antique choir robe lace.
I'd like to redo the front of the bodice. I'm not happy with the velvet and the wrinkling that's happening there. I think I'm just ready for a different look:





Waiting in line for beverages at Dickens Fair year before last. Please excuse the flipped up edge of my bodice and the red eye, lol: