Bodice Progress

Here it is as of yesterday evening.

The seams still needed clipping to smooth them out, and a little boning.

I'm taking it with us so I can at least hand sew on the button loops and some of the buttons.

The sleeves are cut out, minus the extra frill, but ready to go on when we get home tomorrow evening. I went with the narrower bell sleeve popular during the early 1850s, that has the slits from the cuff to about the inner bend of the arm.

I also found an antique collar the same ivory as the silk that will work wonderfully at the neck.

Cross your fingers I can finish it by the weekend! The skirt will need to wait until next week, but I have a few skirts that will work for now.

Just a little update,,,

I'm chugging along on the 1850s bodice for Dickens.
The fabric I'm using is an ivory silk taffeta, and is a dream to work with. I've missed using this fabric, it's been a while!
Before you get worried about ivory silk at Dickens fair; not to worry. I'm careful, and I have a shawl.  I can also drape it across me in a bohemian manner while at tea, if I need to ;-)

I'm using the Simplicity mid 1850s pattern #9761 as a guide, but will be doing something else for the sleeves and front.
I may even round out the points of the peplum in front and in back.
As far as commercial patterns go, this one is going together fairly easily, I just wish I'd taken some photos yesterday. I'll post some here when I'm further along on it.

I'm having the hardest time deciding on what sleeve style to do, as there were so many lovely options during the 1850s. I'd love to get away from the typical pagoda style I see everywhere, but still need something that isn't too time consuming.
The bodice front will have faux revers, and little covered buttons all down the front. I'm hoping to use some of the burgundy stripe in the fabric I'll use for the skirt to cover the buttons with. That way I'll have a nice pop of color on top, and it won't look too bridal.
I have some beautiful net lace trim on the way, too, for both the bodice and somewhere on/in the sleeves.

But yes, sleeves.
What style?! The good part is that the sleeves that come with the pattern can easily be tweaked to create any of the following, so at least I have a template that fits the bodice armscye already. The less futzing, the better!
Here are a few concepts rattling around my head as options:

 The tiered sleeves on the gal in blue.

And this plate again, either one of these would be great; puffed or with multiple little cap sleeves.

 And this green dress is just 'effing amazing. Again; puffed sleeves seem to be all the rage, and visually make the waist smaller by contrast.

With the puffed sleeve option, it all depends on how it will look on my frame, so I'll definitely do a quick mock-up first. With the large skirt it could either look fine and balance out, or make me look like a Stay-Puft marshmallow girl.

XOXO

A Few Frou Frou Fotos

Here are a couple of shots of the new costume from the show this past Sunday night.

I want to add boning to the dress so I can wear it strapless, and I'll likely add a corset too, at some point. Yes, more rhinestones. I want the pink areas like the neckline COVERED in fuchsia Swarovski.

The buttons are nearly there, but need to have faux button holes put behind them (?).

The detachable skirt also needs one more ruffle at the bottom edge.

Many thanks to Jeff Spirer for the photos!

Update On The Silk Snafu: Victory!

In a previous post, I had mentioned some strife regarding a certain purveyor of silk taffetas. They seem to be somewhat popular with part of the costuming crowd. Yet there are still a few people out there that have either given them a full thumbs down, or just been annoyed at their lack of customer service and consistency.
Example; what arrived on their doorstep was not the fabric they ordered, and a long drawn out battle ensues.

Well I'm happy to say my issue was resolved. Unfortunately I did not get any of the silk I wanted out of it, but I did finally get a refund thanks to Paypal's customer protection team.
Prepare to be gobsmacked by the following exchange between myself and the seller, when they finally did communicate with me about the issue. And this was only after Paypal jabbed them in the ribs:

- From the seller (after I had repeatedly asked for a refund they are still trying to sell me stuff):
"hi,
we have a fantastic satin weave dupion in same color sending you an image would you be intrested
let me know you received image
thx
*******

 - My reply (I was at my wits end):

"No. That will not work. I don't want your fabric, I want my money back. You do not have what I purchased in stock, but took my money anyway.
I have sent you multiple emails and even a Paypal dispute to get a refund of my money.
I am now escalating this to a full claim via Paypal."

~Nicole *****

- From the seller (who lied and actually did accept my money via a Paypal withdrawal):
"but dear nicole
i do not have your money
paypal took it from you immediately
so how can i refund what i do not have
  thx"

- My reply (I was thinking to myself; call me 'dear' again, and I will fly to India to personally rip your head off):

"You accepted the Payapal payment, and you can reverse it. It's not hard to do.
It's all there on Paypal showing that you or someone in your company completed the sale. The money is not in my bank, nor is it in my Paypal account. YOU have it and Paypal has the proof. I have now filed a claim.
~Nicole"

After that, total radio silence for another 3 days. Paypal started bugging them and they were caught in their lie.
I imagine their paypal account had to be frozen for a few days because of it. Good.
Anyways, I received my refund finally.
If I ever do buy from them again, I'll do it via their Ebay page. That is the route I took for previous purchases, and all went smoothly because Ebay will tear you a new one if you screw over a buyer.

And Onward!

The new burlesque costume was a success! Although the act itself was a bit edited from its original choreography, since my poor love came down with the hell flu.
I made him sit this one out, not only because
A) he had the flu and I didn't want him to get worse, but
B) I also didn't want him passing out on stage!

Of course, I still need to make some additions and adjustments to a few things on the ensemble and as always...there will be even more rhinestones added.
I will hopefully have at least a few shots of it from Sunday night's debut performance to post soon.

One of the ostrich plumes I hand dyed for my costume's headpiece.

This was taken before I added the fuchsia Swarovski crystals along the spine of each plume.

And with that, I can now take another deep breath and dive into my sewing for Dickens Fair.
I have a feeling this will be a bit less stressful, since there is far less engineering involved with my planned dress(es) compared to making a burlesque costume.
I already have the new hoop crinoline, and a new corset on the way from Dark Garden, so those are already taken care of and will save time spent on futzing with the items that aren't as fun to construct.
I actually have an ensemble or two to wear, but they are showing their age and they have become rather uncomfortable. The corset I built for underneath the main dress has seen better days, but it's the only one the dress fits over. So, I must make a few new items.

I would also like a new bonnet this year. I will either need to make the time to build one myself, or I will try to find something at the fair that is historically appropriate. There are a lot of lovely hats and bonnets sold at Dickens, but the selection tends to veer into the modern crafty or 'historically inspired' territory. While these creations are absolutely gorgeous, many of the materials and modern trims used wouldn't have been seen during the time period I am portraying.
I also bought a pattern for a proper ladies mantel for outerwear while on the "London streets" of the fair. Fumbling with a pashmina or large scarf became really tiresome last year, since the ones I own are not the larger true pashmina shawls of the time period. Hopefully I can just use some fabric I already have in my stash for that one. I may need to snag more cotton velveteen from somewhere.

And yes, the Sisi fur and velvet dress will be completed by the final weekend of fair.
I promise.
meanwhile here's another pretty, from the 18th century, to distract you:

A Bit Of Light In The Darkness

After digging through my stash of silks, I ran across a lovely ivory/lavender/rose stripe silk taffeta I've had or years. The ivory stripe has a satin finish and a light ribbed texture. I also had to bite the bullet and buy some Ivory silk taffeta from Renaissance Fabrics, so I can make a complimenting bodice. I only have 5 yards of the stripe for the skirt.
I hope to finish both that and my Sisi velvet ensemble before the end of Dickens fair.

 I might use a cotton broadcloth for the skirt base, and do the silk in 2 tiers with the stripes going horizontal.

Also, I love my new 1850s hoop crinoline from Kay! It's the perfect bell shape and doesn't have that annoying "lampshade" look that so many modern (bridal) hoop petticoats do.

***WARNING***
For those seeking a good deal on silk taffeta fabrics, you may want to be wary when dealing with B.R. Exports. Better known as puresilks.us. The hilarious thing, is the stripe silk shown above is actually from this same seller, but from their Ebay store ages ago. They still carry this weave (supposedly), and while I would love more, after my recent experience with them, I don't want to roll those dice.
While I am always careful about where I order online goods, I had done some research on these folks and heard current reviews that varied from fantastic, to slightly annoying. Well, I decided to place an order last week for 10 yards of that light royal blue silk taffeta from their website.
They were super quick (less than 24 hours) to contact me and said they no longer had the fabric I ordered in stock, and offered other similar options (other colors/dupion textures, etc). Right away I replied that the other options were not going to work for my project, and could I please have a refund of my money.
Keep in mind I used Paypal for this transaction, thank gods.

Even though they didn't have the fabric in stock, they accepted my payment right away.
They have yet to reverse/refund it, and after a week of little to no communication from them, I filed a Paypal claim to get my money back.
Granted they are in India, but if they were so quick to contact me initially about my order, why should it take so many extra business days for them to even discuss a refund of my payment.
I heard from them finally yesterday morning before I finally escalated the dispute to a claim, and they continued their attempt at selling me fabrics I did not want! Then they had the balls to say that they didn't have my money!
Well, Paypal shows the transaction as complete and in their hands under their company name. 
When I pay for something via Paypal, it comes from my bank account and goes into a balance toward the purchase. When the seller accepts payment for a purchase, it takes the funds from my Paypal account into the sellers Paypal balance, where they can then withdraw it to wherever they want. Either way, they have my money. It shows that they took it, and it's not sitting in limbo. 
I will keep you all updated as to how this unfolds. XOXO