A (better) stomacher.

My printed cotton is positively lovely, but it is very lightweight and tends to get a bit mushy and stretchy (especially when I'm warm). This is very apparent over my front-lacing stays, as seen in this photo from the first time I wore it:

Very wrinkly and buckling.

This could also have been because the stomacher above isn't finished; I'd only attached the fashion fabric to the linen on the top and bottom and not the sides (ran out of time at 2 am). Plus, the linen I was using was just crappy stuff from Joann's that I'd bought to make a practice workbag. But, I decided it would be best to do two layers for strength, and I needed to be in the gown for a photo shoot on Friday anyway, so Thursday I ripped out the stitches and cut a second piece of linen.

The fashion fabric pinned to the layers of linen.

I cut the second piece of linen smaller all around, so when I folded the fashion fabric and outer layer of linen inward to sew together, it would be nestled between them. The fashion fabric already felt like it couldn't stretch and warp as much just when it was pinned, and as I sewed it together I found this to be true.

The three layers together, before cutting the second piece smaller.

I used the same stitch on the stomacher as I did when hemming my sleeves; I believe it's the overhand stitch (could also be the underhand, ha!). It was rather easy, I just had to be careful and ease any bubbles in.

The back stitches and the front.

It came out really well, and when I pinned the stomacher to my stays on Friday, I was very happy with how it laid very nicely over the lacing! Now if only I could get my gown on correctly every single time ...

100%.

That's me. In my gown. At the North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. It is complete, and I am in love with it.

Maybe I'm more mathematical than I thought.

I'm pleating my printed cotton petticoat right now, and it's kind of awesome! I found it a bit difficult to do on the skirt panels for my gown, but with a flat, very straight-forward piece of fabric, it's really rather easy to do.

That may change when I have to do them backwards on the back panel, though!

I had to piece together the petticoat as my fabric was only about 46 inches wide. This makes it more accurate and authentic, as looms back in the 18thc. were much, much smaller then modern ones. 60 inches of fabric may make it really easy, but maybe consider buying smaller pieces of fabric or chopping up the larger fabrics to make it accurate!

The center front box pleat.
I made it about 4 inches.

The seam where I had to
piece together the petticoat.

These are my photographs. Please do not take or use them without permission.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

My apologies to my readers for my absence yesterday! It was a day filled with driving, sewing, and working on my printed cotton gown. I wanted to blog about it last night, but I fear that a second glass of wine did me in (oops).

The end is nigh for my first 18thc. creation! It is so amazing to think how close I am to completing it (and sort of freaking out because I don't want it to end!), when in the beginning I was a panicked mess and truly thought I would never finish. Mind you, this gown is the first thing I've ever created--yeah, you heard that right, I've never sewn. Really, truly, never sewn from start to finish. Hemming, sewing holes? Who hasn't done that? I had no idea the stitches I was doing, I just knew to thread the needle and go. And now, I know many different names of stitches, and the gown is almost done!

Currently, the gown has the skirt panels pleated and basted, and they are basted to the bodice on both sides, and ... the sleeves are on! They have been backstitched into the armscye and when I get together with Hallie next weekend, they will be completed (holy crap!). I have instructions on how to piece together my petticoat--the printed cotton is only about 46" wide, so there will be a few panels--as well as how to make a petticoat with wider fabric, which I will be ordering. I'm also making a practice linen workbag to hold all of my sewing notions and tools, and after that will move on to making a silk one. For the historic crafts day I'll be borrowing a cap and neck handkerchief, but plan on making those as soon as I can. I will probably need to borrow an apron, too. There's lots to do but I still have time.

The following weekend is a colonial faire and muster that I'll be attending with a friend, but after that I will have about a month until another event, so I figure my cap, apron, and handkerchief can wait until then. There is no shame in borrowing what you need but don't have!

Photos of the gown to come soon, as well as my bit of research on embroidery!

Lastly--I'm suddenly up to 8 readers! Hi there, and thanks for following my journey!

Ready, set, SLEEVES! Part 2

The sleeve has been cut out of the fashion fabric and is ready to be put together.

Ready, set, SLEEVES! Part 1

A few days ago, I finally got around to redoing the sleeves for my first ever 18th century gown. I'm now 99% done with them; all that's left is to hem them (and add cuffs, but that's an embellishment, so I'm not counting them). I'm going to wait to do that, though, until after they are attached to the bodice. They are still a bit big on me, but I'm actually okay with that, because then I'll have room to move with poof-y shift sleeves in them.

Below the jump is part 1 of the process with the left sleeve. This is fairly picture heavy and a bit long, so my apologies (and why I split it up)!

All in the sleeves.

For a beginner, setting sleeves into the armscye of a gown is tricky business. Or, so I've been told, as the gown I'm currently working on has no sleeves attached. This is due to my lack of confidence as a new sewer, the fact that I have to have every stitch perfectly in its place (hi, I'm a neurotic perfectionist, nice to meet you), I'm more of a tortoise than a hare in my work, and that I panicked--a lot--over the course of a weekend gown workshop. Had I not sat up until 12:30/1 am, frantically texting friends that had a clue about what I was doing and searching the internet for help, and instead just sewed, well, my gown would have been a heckuva lot closer to complete than it is now. Coupling that with the fact that I was going on vacation a few days after the workshop and probably wouldn't touch the gown until after I got back, not much has been done to it. But this is good news, because now I can document the steps completed and those that are forthcoming, both in the name of research and so that in the future, I will know what the heck I'm doing.