Corsetry and dressmaking

Lordy, I just don't know how I manage to fill up my time so!!  Things on my table already for this year which I will be telling you about in due course ...

Corset making -  I am furiously sewing up show pieces for my new website.  The new designs have to be tested on a real person to ensure fit, proportion and line - the difficult part of this is finding a person with very 'average' measurements so that my fitting can be refined and further designs draped in a way that I know will fit real people.

flossing detail of a longline silk overbust corset with external bone casing

Dressmaking - I'm signed up to teach basic dressmaking over a 7 week evening course starting in May at the local sewing shop.   Working from home means I don't get out much and this chosen work means that even if I did get out, there aren't that many interested in what I do.  So teaching enthusiastic newbies the basics of dressmaking is good.  I've been asked to think of other courses in the line of lingerie and corsetry which could be held here so all is very exciting on that front.

Commissions - A friend from Edinburgh has seen a dress in a vintage shop that she wants me to copy.  She would have bought the original dress but it didn't fit - she is breast feeding, and will be for a while -  so not only does she need extra room up there, but she needs the dress to be altered when she stops.  The shop keeper was more than happy to let her take pics of details to send to me for replication so I am very happy to do this.

Details of the vintage dress

It's a beautiful dress.  Black wool crepe shift with cap sleeves, boatneck and a silk frill at the bottom with some beading and fringing details.  All of the materials we have bought - silk and wool crepe - are fair trade/organic/recyled/ethical which makes this project all the more lovely.  I've been concentrating on corsetry so much over the last year that I haven't made a dress for an age and this one is a lovely little commission -  a simple, classic, elegant design.  Ofcourse made with modern materials and with my own design details included it wont be an EXACT copy but one that will be utterly personal to my friend and hopefully treasured for a very long time.  Perhaps even in 70 years time, it will be admired in a shop window as a lovely vintage piece in it's own right.  We can dream eh?

I also have a ton of silk underwear projects to get through, some for my friend with the dress (above) and some for my mother in law - it's all compatible with my new line that I'll be showcasing over at my other website.

And as if that isn't enough (and it really isn't all), I really have to make some dresses for myself.  My weight has been fluctuating over the last 2 years but I've finally got a grip on the reasons for this and what to do about it!  Basically, as you get older, you can't eat chocolate and other 'rubbish' .. so it's new diet, new year, new wardrobe, new career ... I can't wait for 2012 to happen!

Pencil Skirts

I've been making pencil skirts with different features.  Both are high waisted because I find these comfortable - and they happen to be fashionable now.  Both are winter skirts - heavyweight and lined, both are boot and shoe friendly.

This one is made from greenish cord with 6 panels, pockets and a top bodice section.

This one is made from a wool mix fabric with an attached belt which makes the figure look super curvy.  The buckle came from a charity shop belt which I bought for 50p.  

Charity shops - fabulous source for notions which are expensive new.

This skirt used a new lining technique which can be found in issue 150 of Threads if you have it.

I'll be demonstrating in the near future,  how to make both of these skirt patterns expanding on 

THIS TUTORIAL

Dress foundations - Badgley Mishka

Here's the inside story on the red dress.  Try to stay with me while I tell you about the number of parts it is made of:  

First, there were the outer fabric pieces - bodice front, sides, back, skirt front and back, midriff front and back, and facing - 11 pieces.

Then there were all the corresponding lining pieces - another 10.

Then  the bodice stay which goes between the outer dress fabric and the lining.  That was INGENIOUS! - 5 pieces.

Then the foundation - I made this from 5 sections of coutil, and 5 sections of lining, but the pattern required 10 lining sections (2x5) plus 5 interfacing sections - 15 pieces but I saved 5.

And as if that isn't enough, there was the midriff interfacing - another 3 pieces.

44 bits altogether according to the original pattern!

Although I pre-shrunk my silk by steaming thoroughly, it still shrunk while I was pressing each section after sewing.  Very annoying, but not drastic.

After cutting all the parts out - and then sectioning them off into piles to be worked on in order, I thread traced all the pleats on the outer dress with silk thread because I didn't want to risk permanently marking the silk with chalk or carbon.  I then tacked the pleats into place  so that they wouldn't move during construction.

The absolute ingenious part of this dress was the bodice stay.  When trying on the toile, I was quite concerned at how the pleats would fall apart at the bust area - they refused to stay in place without pins in strategic places.  I wondered how to get round this without compromising the perfect fit.  I needn't have worried - the bodice stay fixed it.  It was made of interfacing (I used polycotton as it is sturdy yet light,  but if I'd had some, I would have used silk organza), and was a 'flat' unpleated version of the bodice, staystitced to the wrong side of the bodice on all sides to keep the pleats from being interfered with from beneath the dress.

The foundation was not there to support any bodily parts, it was there to support the dress (it was therefore necessary for me to wear a strapless bra) and was made of coutil which is a very tightly woven, strong (yet light) corsetry fabric.  I sewed the peices together as per the instructions - note the dart at the bust to give shape - then made boning chanels by pressing the seam allowances to one side and stitching them down.  I therefore have a 'nice' side to go against the lining of the dress, and a not so nice side which is lined at a later stage to hide the rough edges...

So here we have the inside of the finished dress.  You have layers as follows from the outside in:  

Outer dress fabric

Bodice stay

Lining

Foundation (lined)

Facing

Its a lot of layers, and alot of pieces, but the construction as I have said is genius - those pleats did not budge when worn!

The foundation I was sceptical about from the start because it is so short - it stops at the waist.  I guess if I had used the suggested sew through boning between layers of lining and interfacing, and perhaps had gone for the 'straighter' shape of the pattern - I took the waist in a little - or lengthened the foundation,  the dress would have been much more comfortable, but I did not want to change the pattern because I wanted to see if and how it worked.  

(I made a longer foundation in last years dress, and it worked perfectly - see here and here)

Overall, I am thrilled with this dress!  I am not sure I would make this particular style again, but I will most definitely use the construction techniques I've learned here to get really polished and professional results in the future. 

The Black and Red Party Dress - finished!

Well .. I finished the dress, and nearly finished myself off in the process!  I was still sewing the finishing touches 2 hours before the "do" it was made for, but the results worked quite well, and here I am wearing it - on the left.  

It is, I think, the most uncomfortable dress in the entire universe  - hence the pained expression  but the look, according to my friends, was "very Jessica Rabbit".  Or perhaps that was a kind way of saying "oh my god! you've put on a ton of weight since last year!"

The reason it was uncomfortable is because the boned foundation inside the dress finishes at the waist.  It therefore digs right in where the waist springs out to the hip.  If I was to make this again, or if I was to give anyone a tip about making it, it would be to make the foundation longer.  

The dress was made of red and black shot silk which was an ideal fabric for the style of dress - it showed the beautiful pleating up magnificently with all the colours changing in the folds of the fabric and the evening light.  The pic shows the effect quite well.

I did change the pattern a little in that I used stiff coutil for the foundation rather than the two or three layers of lining and interfacing given in the instructions, and I made the coutil foundation in the same way I would make a corset by using the seam allowances pressed to one side as bone channels.

All said and done, despite the ridiculous number of pattern pieces (even though I omitted a good few!), the time it took to put together due to said number of bits, and the fact that Vogue patterns do not agree with my shape one little bit and therefore required lots of alteration, I LOVED the method of construction of this dress.  The inside of it (pics to follow), looks very polished and professional, and it is much easier to put on than a dress with separately closing foundation.

Unfortunately, since that night which was 2 weeks ago, I've been struck down with the vile flu bug that's been going around the UK.  Today was my first day 'up and about'.  I couldn't get out before Christmas to do my last minute shopping so I had to make a pressie for Mr Marmalade.  More on that next time!

Badgley Mishka pattern

So! Here's my new sewing room, with new machine, and ....

... new view ...

And here's my new project, with my new fabric ....

And compared to this time last year, I am a brand new size.  I think it might be something to do with the fudge making frenzy I had back in April ... or perhaps it's just middle age spread (I'm plumping for the former - pardon the pun) .. but I am a whole 4 inches bigger this Christmas, than last.

This is a red silk with black pin dots.  It's quite heavy without the 'rustly' factor that dupion has, and with a nice drape.  Perfect for the pleats on this dress.  The lining is a soft peachskin type silk.  I have two parties to wear it to!

I was inspired to make this dress by the very talented Erica Bunker who made it earlier this year and it looked so fabulous on her, that I thought i'd give it a try and have been holding the idea in my mind ever since I read about it on her blog.  I also - as mentioned before - like the fact that it has a foundation because not many dress patterns have one.  I'm interested to see how this method works.

SO ... from the sizing chart given by Vogue, I figured I'd be a size 14.  I thought i'd try a new way of doing things, by folding and pining the pattern to see if the dimensions matched mine.  They didnt, and not being familiar with this type of cut - there appears to be no 'curves' but I am assuming they are hidden somewhere in the pattern.  I thought i'd better make a toile after all, because I need to know where it can be altered and where I can put curves (if necessary) where there are none.

I could see from doing this paper excersise however, that I liked the way the dress was moulded and the fall of the pleats and the skirt.  

OK... So I thought i'd washed my bundle of polycotton that I use for toiles - it's a devil material which shrinks by alot at the  mere sight of a hot iron, never mind a whiff of steam, so I got on with cutting the pattern this morning, sewed it all together and tried it on ... it was too big, by a LONG WAY, and to cut an even LONGER and more tedious story short, the facts of the matter are:

Pattern too big

Fabric too small - it shrunk by approx 0.5cm on each piece

Dress way to big on the bust but fits from the waist down.

I figured the only way to get round the problem without having to start all over again from scratch  was to resort to the measuring tape.  This is where knowing how to cut patterns comes into it's own.  Commercial patterns are an unknown quantity, but knowing where it is safe to take seams in and out, in general pattern construction, helps.   I took the side seams in by 2cm on each side (1cm each seam) down to the waist,  to make the width of each piece match my measurements.  PHEW! It fits like a glove.  

Now I've got to work out what size the foundation should be, though I am toying with the idea of drafting a new foundation, and inserting it according to the instructions given in the pattern.

Another corsetted dress pattern

Did you know that currently there's 50% off Vogue patterns?  Not sure how long the offer will last but I've got mine ...  Get them at Jaycotts if you're in the UK or Europe or direct from Vogue Patterns if you're in the US.  I am posting this without pattern reference numbers, but aim to correct this later today!

I'll be making this one first - I need a party dress in time for 17 December!  I have some lovely red and black pindot silk to make it from.  I bought this because it has a foundation.  I've made dress foundations before, but you can never learn too many new things when it comes to sewing and I want to know how Badgley Mischka does hers.. I bought this for technical know how ... I might never wear it, but I need to know how to make it!

The V&A free dress pattern

It's been very busy here at The House of Marmalade this summer.  Too much to do, and too little time as usual, but one of the things I have done, and enjoyed immensly, is visit the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to see the Grace Kelly Wardrobe Collection.  Have you been?  Are you in London?  It finishes on 12 September, and I thoroughly recommend a veiwing or two if you can.  Unfortunately, camera's were not allowed, and so I can't give you a complete run down of the display beyond the image of my pre-tour cup of tea and Programme.

However, as the Museum have decorated their shop in a vintage style with patterns from their very famous "free couture" pattern which is downloadable from their website, I thought that this would be a good opportunity to re-post my workings on that very pattern - even though I still don't actually have a finished dress to show you.  (The V&A have plenty though all made up,  ready to go and complete with petticoat, if you don't fancy making one yourself). 

You can download the pattern  HERE.  It is adapted for modern sizes 10-14, was created especially for the V&A Golden Age of Couture Exhibition Website, and is based on the dress pictured here, a 1953 ready to wear dress by Horrockses Fashion. It has a close fitting lined bodice with waist seam and flared skirt with pockets.

Ready to wear couture styles in the 50's were relatively expensive and favoured by members of the Royal Family, 'working women' would save up to buy them for special occassions, like going away on honeymoon (perhaps this explains the ridiculously high price tag in the shop!).

I found that the pattern I printed, didn't fit, and so I re-drew it to my measurements from scratch as an excercise to explore the techniques used when it was originally designed and cut.  So here is the lowdown according to The House of Marmalade:

First step is to print out the pattern onto A4 sheets of paper, align the special corresponding marks, and secure with tape.


I then cut out each pattern peice and pinned them to  Madge the Material Girl who was adjusted to my measurments as closely as possible.

Looks good doesn't it?

Now Madge, give us a twirl!

.... Houston, we have a problem! .... can you see?

Not only is the armhole far too big, but the back sections of the pattern are a) back to front, b) too big by a long way (I mean a very very long way, not just the usual discrepancy between dress form and body) and c) the instructions don't make much sense...

So.. back to the drawing board - I find it easier to start from scratch so that I know what's what.  You will need to create your own block if you do it this way.

First thing to work out after drawing a new block, is where exactly the darts are? The front bodice is made up of only 3 sections with only 2 miniscule bust darts in the top middle section, under the bust. The rest - and there must be more to acheive the perfectly contoured shape, are hidden. I knew that there must be closed darts involved, but in order for darts to be closed, other darts must be made - and then either closed again or hidden in seams. Think of shuffling orange segments when one is missing - another always takes it's place. Where are they?


I won't bore you with the details of the very circuitous cutting and pasting (think Blue Peter) route which led me to the conclusion that what we have here, is infact, a French Dart.

A French dart combines shoulder and waist darts and I could have avoided hours of snipping and sellotaping by following three simple steps

1) Close the shoulder dart of the block forming a wide dart under the bust
2) cut the sleeve, neck and waist portions along the chosen lines of the pattern
3) close the waist dart and trace each piece with the darts closed (except the two bust darts which must be left). The darts then become integrated within the cut, and all you will see in the finished dress, are beautiful smooth pieces of fabric.

Having taken the long route round, I understand the shortcuts much better than I would have done, but to finish off, these experimental pattern peices now have to be traced back onto paper, in order to be traced again as pattern peices.  The top arm is traced as is with the dart folded out (closed).  The bust section is traced with the dart intact, and the bottom middriff section is traced while the dart is folded out (closed).  You wont see the traced closed darts in the final cut.

Next step is then to trace those peices off, add seam allowances, transfer to fabric and sew together!

The only reason I haven't sewn this myself is because as yet, I haven't been able to find some suitable fabric, however, since my recent shopping trip to London, I may well use the lovely black polyester with white flower pattern for this dress.  I think it would suit.

Wench Costume - Part II

It is done! - well, actually, it was done last week.... and here it is!

A dress, a cape, an apron, a corsetty bodice, a hat, and a scarf ...

The apron took longer than expected because I decided to hem it invisibly ... well in 1460, they wouldn't have perfectly machined top stitching and I guess in those days, your everyday wench didn't have time to sit around perfecting her stitches by hand ... so a new technique (for me) was learned from here.

Then there was the bodice .. It was just as easy to make it reversible.  I am quite pleased with the result.   It is bound with machine from one side, but slip stitched by hand the other side.

The lacing is made from the same fabric as the dress - dyed calico.  The bodice took the most amount of time.  It is very lightly boned with straight metal bones. 

The cloak is made from 100% wool.  It's very heavy but very simple.  I didn't have too much time to spend on it, so it was made - from blank paper to finish - in a day.  Again, I thought that visible stitching would make it look too tailored for a 1460 wench, so there was more handstitching.  I neatend the edges with twill tape and bias binding to avoid bulk at the hems.  However, tailored or not, this is a very posh wench cloak - the fabric comes from a  Jaeger end of roll apparently! (I know!).

 

The actress is very pleased.  It fits her like a glove!  She particularly likes the new improved hat (see the last wench post for the RSC version - I mean! They really didn't have elastic in 1460, that much I know).  Anyway .. here she is in my very messy (under reconstruction) garden - by next year, I am hoping it will look more like Mrs Silverpebble's garden... Well I can dream!

And if you happen to be in Edinburgh over the next few weeks, you can see this all in action at The Vault, from 7-30 August.  The play is a 50 minute one woman show entitled "Now is the Winter" which is described as follows:

Shakespeare dramatized the only Richard III he could at the time. Elizabeth I, whose grandfather Henry VII had defeated Richard at Bosworth, was on the throne and every contemporary account of Richard presented an ambitious, usurping and deformed fiend who murdered his own nephews, the Princes in the Tower. Many have since challenged this view, suggesting a man who, amongst other traits, inspired great loyalty. This striking new one-woman show tells the story of a devoted servant in Richard's household and uses Shakespeare's own text to take a very different look at this enigmatic historical figure.

I am quite amazed that I managed to do this job in the small amount of time given - I mean - I am quite amazed that I managed to do the job at all nevermind the small amount of time given !!  But I am pleased with the result and my confidence is bolstered by the fact that it was all perfect beyond my own expectation, and the clients were pleased enough to mention "working together again".  The experience has made me realise that we really can achieve amazing things, and the only way to do this is to continually challenge and push ourselves to do things we don't imagine that we might be able to do or perhaps cant be bothered, through lack of confidence, to try.  This job was way beyond my comfort zone, but I didn't want to let my teacher down because she thought I could do it .. and so I tried, and I did it!  More on this lesson later ... 

Altering a vintage dress

Long time readers of this blog will remember that back in November 2008 (!!!!), Miss T, my lovely next door neighbour, very kindly gave me a bag of clothes which had belonged to her grandma, Gertie, who had just turned 100!     As you can see, this dress, although it dates I would imagine, from the 70's era, is in very good condition - almost new infact!  

The dress is unlined, with just a facing at the top which makes it a lovely cool summer style dress.

Unfortunately, before I realised that this dress would probably fit me, I was clearing out my stash, making things tidy and chopping up old clothes so that the resulting fabric pieces would fit neatly into a folded pile ..... and so I cut through the shoulders of this dress and then decided to try it on ... doh!

..  Naturally, thanks to the laws of sod, it was a perfect fit and considering that Gertie was at least 90 the last time she wore this dress - more than twice my age - she must have been in pretty good shape!  I decided to try to salvage the dress in order to wear this summer because I love the fabric which is quite a heavy weave cotton - perhaps with a bit of linen mixed in, and the style is perfect for me - I'm not a flouncy frilly type of girl and this straight a-line style suits me.

So, here is the dress with frills off, and ready for a bit of 'modernisation'.

I mended the shoulders with some white linen bias binding, and after taking in the side seams by a centimetre each side to compensate for the lack of sleeve, I also bound the sleeve edges with the same binding.

In my stash I found some vintage stretch lace in a lurid colour of green - very 70's!  

3 yards was just enough to finish the new hemline, and put a little ruffle around the neck..

Et Voila!  One new old dress, finished with vintage trim.

It was much more difficult to take a picture of me in it with my phone!

Making retro bra cups for a dress

I have been obsessing over curves still because following my last bra making experiment, my cups were decidedly flat.  Something was wrong .. it all looked ok on paper, and the calculations were correct, but instead of this:

I got this ... 

Which as you can see, is not quite my intended outcome!

The answer, I discovered, after several 'lucid dreams' - do you dream about conundrums and find the answers?  I often do.  Anyway, the answer is in dart distribution.  Doh! Why didn't I think of it before?

Dart distribution is the key.  You put bigger darts where there are bigger curves.  Simples.  Standard measurements can be applied - this I knew.  The standard boob radius (ie: from nipple to ribcage) for a standard pattern size 12, is 8cm.  Did you know that?  

And so armed with this knowledge, and my trusty pattern cutting book by Winifred Aldrich, I set to work on cutting a party dress, with a 'bra' top - I need practical applications to work with sometimes, and I also needed a party dress!  Instead of following the instructions in the book to the letter, I increased the width of the dart from bust to waist, and narrowed the side darts - so the reduction to the waist is the same but the distribution is different.  The instructions in the book don't say this, but they do dictate that you should double the shoulder dart.

This I did .. It worked ... but still a bit baggy at the top line.  I increased the shoulder dart by a further 1.5cm.   These darts then need to be closed on paper, thereby forming side darts.  These side darts create the curve when the two parts are sewn together in a straight line.  After testing a further muslim, and then applying my 'design' to final fabric cups, I ended up with this...

Which i'm pretty damned pleased with.  The top of the bra is quilted as you can see, and the bottom part is re-inforced with some sturdy sew-in interfacing.  During all my cup consternations, I'd ordered myself a new book which confirmed that what I had done, was correct - don't you love it when that happens?   I have been glued to this book for other reasons, not only does it have instructions on how to cut all styles of bra, swimwear, corsets (with cups), bustiers, basques and knickers,  it also has a whole host of other tips and tricks which are not included in my other pattern book but which apply to skirts, dresses and trousers.

.. and the whole ensemble - in creation still - looks like this:

Ignore those pink straps - they are the bra I used to pad out Madge to the correct proportions for my figure.  There will be a halter strap added to the dress,  although with the quilting on the 'bra' it could probably stand up to being topless.

I have now got to work out how to bone the dress as the fabric which is a polyester satin, is very 'slippy' - it needs support, but I don't want to add a whole corsolette into it.  Any ideas?  I have made the lining in one piece but I may have to change it.

Unfortunately, the dress wasn't ready for the party, but I have plenty of time to finish it for the next appropriate event which is August.  Check it out, Vintage at Goodwood!