Happy Holidays everyone!  Well, many things have gotten done and yet other things did not.  So, firstly, the corded petticoat?  Well, it is still on the sewing table half done.  If anyone of you ever desire to make one these fabulous petticoats don't try to do it 3 weeks before you need it unless you have 24 hours a day to work on white-on-white and don't mind going blind.  Considering my petticoat only has about 20 rows of cording so far, a friend of mine has made one with triple to four times more than that!  Yet when the petticoats are done and starched they are fabulous to wear but...  

The second thing is I was going to make my dress from a patterned cotton  http://lachatelainechocolat.blogspot.com/2010/10/victorian-for-dickens-faire.html  Well, oddly enough, I can't find the blasted fabric!  I had taken the sample pictures last summer but when decided to get started on the dress, I couldn't find it.  My friend Catherine (of starched corded petticoat fame - yes, she is the friend I spoke of above) helped me ransack my house and we still didn't find the fabric.  But! And perhaps it was meant to be, Catherine grabbed out of a stash box a midnight blue taffeta with a minute corded stripe pattern and said, "This is what you should use for your Dicken's dress!"  So, dear readers, I did.  

I made the taffeta into an 1840's, fitted bodice, buttoned down the front with little lapels and cuffs in a contrasting embroidered burgundy silk taffeta. The skirt is cartridge pleated onto a narrow waistband and then attached to the skirt.   It is very 'riding habit' like.  I like a tailored dress style - not really a ruffle and lace gal.   

The chemisette I wore with it was from my Regency dress so I didn't have to make that.  The top-hat is actually a Ralph Lauren hat from the 1980's go figure but it worked well with gown.

Both photos by Steph Selmayr

The pictures are a wee bit dark only because the venue is suppose to be Dicken's London at night during the holiday season.

 

I also made a muff to go with it as I didn't want to carry a purse, so the muff was made to have a pocket for my 'junk'.

 

 This is my photo of the muff as well as another image (above) of the gown.

So, dear readers, that was my Dicken's dress adventure.  I have not designed and constructed a Victorian in a while.  I used one of the McCall's patterns to start and altered away to make it the way I needed it.  Although I had a different design in mind as usual my gowns evolve as I build them.

 

I don't do a lot of Victorian events anymore but I would still like to make the cotton day dress if I ever find that fabric.  Alas, if I don't, I have other day dress fabrics in the stash!  

Cheers!

 

Corded petticoat under way...

So, in a lapse of sanity - given that I have a Victorian dress to make before Dec 3rd, I decided to make a corded petticoat.  I think that is the correct term.  Anyway, it is a good thing I called a good friend who made one with additional starched petticoats.  I was about to create linear rows of channels to thread cord through...thank you Catherine - she saved me.  What she recommended is to spiral the cording.  If you don't do this, the petticoat will collapse at the seam where all the cord ends would meet!  Yikes. No, no, no!  No collapsing.

I did one non-period thing to my petticoat.  I started with a horsehair row at the hem.  I sewed 1/2 inch modern plastic horsehair braid and serpentine stitched it between the layers.  Here is the start of my 'wee' project:

Not the best photo but you can see the serpentine stitched first row at top.

I tried to sew the spiraling rows without pinning but it created problems with the bobbin side layer bunching and creating undulating poofs.  As I am sewing on the underside of the petticoat that made the outer layer look really horrible - the part everyone will see! (Well actually no, they won't but I will see it.)   So, after a few rip-outs and a few choice and select words I have now consistently pinned each spiral before I sew it.  This slowed down the process but the petticoat is looking much better on the outside.

The corded hem will be about 9 inches deep.  I will still need to wear a starched or netted petticoat over this to get the 38-40's bell shape without the dreaded hoop wire.

Will keep you posted as I move along. This weekend I plan to get the muslin done for the dress bodice so I can start moving on that.  Where is that 24 hour plus clock!

Victorian for Dicken's Faire

I am seriously contemplating attending the Dicken's Christmas Faire this December at the Cow Palace in South San Francisco.  I am not fond of mid-Victorian dresses.  I like the earlier 1838-44 styles and then my tastes jump to 1878-1898.  Alas, the faire hovers around the late forties and into the early 60's.  So, I hate wearing a hoop, I don't mind petticoats so 1838-42 it is.  Design.

Something along these lines.  Simple.  I love the sleeves.  The bonnets - which I usually don't like to wear (give me a jaunty hat any day) I can do this as it frames my face which is oval and long.

 

 Fabric.  I bought a repro-cotton that I like...

Probably will trim with ivory and pick up the teal for pipping if I don't use self-fabric for pipping.    Now, the trick will be to make this without a corset. Why?  I don't have time to make one.  The one I have is too big - lost weight in the upper story..hint, hint.  So, boning the hell out of this dress may be the ticket.  Ah! And there is a set of petticoats to make as well.  So, it is October 19th, I plan to attend Dicken'e early December, so I have about a month and a half and the holidays are approaching.  Yikes!  So, I will keep you all posted.!

Gatsby Summer Picnic - farewell to Summer - did we have a summer?

Hello!  Though California experienced one of the craziest summers of cold(ish) weather, the Art Deco Society of California still helped us all say goodbye to summer Sept 12th, 2010.  The Annual Gatsby Summer Picnic at the Dunsmuir Estate in Oakland, was a success!  The weather was fine and everyone was in good spirits even though economy blues we are all experiencing is scarily similar to the 1930's.

Now of course I had a dress I could have worn.  In fact, I pulled it out to press it and wear it.  This is it above from a previous Gatsby Picnic.  It is actually a vintage piece I picked up ages ago and the only one I have left that still fits!  But!  Once again, I had the urge to make something new.  What is the old saying - you have a sewing machine, why not?  Is that an old saying?  Anyway, I knew I had a back up if a).  I didn't get to the new one or b).  I did and it didn't work out.

So, I had some lace fabric in a coral pink and a champagne colored lining material in my stash and started throwing something together the Wednesday before the picnic.  Did I make it?  Yep, I did.  It is so simple in its design so that helped.

The car in the back ground is one of the cars that Joseph Kennedy used as Ambassador to England.  A friend of mine owns it now and it is fully restored.    Anyway, the dress is simple and it worked out really well for me as it was warm that day.  I finger waved the front of my hair and curled the back in two rows of horizontal curls - I was wearing more bobbie pins that I would probably have given a hedgehog a run for her money.

I wrote this post a while ago, uh way back mid September and here it is mid October.  Geeze!  How did that happen?  Anyway, dear readers I am back and hope to post more often.  Keep in touch. 

Traveling on the Queen Mary a la 1930's

Dear readers, I have been very neglectful in keeping up my posts.  As an assistant principal at a high school I have been working around the clock to get the school year up and running.  In between that time I was preparing for two end-of-summer events.  Ergo, no time to post.  So, here I am begging your pardon and try to catch you up on all my doings.


Over the Labor Day Weekend, I attended the 6th annual Queen Mary Festival put on by the Los Angeles Art Deco Society.  The event is a 3 day whorl wind of lectures, dancing, parties, food, you name it.  The majority of the participants come with suitcases (some vintage ones) of vintage or reproduction clothing of the 1920's through the late 40's.  You stay on the ship as well.  My travel partner and I stayed in one of the cabins that still looks like it did in 1933 when the ship first sailed - right down to the plumbing.  :)

So, I actually was able to pull several dresses and outfits from my 'vintage' wardrobe.  But!  I had a real urge to make at least one new dress.  I did it, too, in a week.  I really wanted something new to wear to the Friday night reception - I came up with a late 40's early 50's looking cocktail dress in a silver-blue grey dupioni. 

This is the dress after I finished it.

This is a detail of the right shoulder.  I actually used a Butterick Retro Pattern that was  a 1960's dress but only used it for the asymetrical neckline.

On the deck of the QM for the reception at the Veranda Bar.  That is Long Beach, CA in the background where her gracious majesty is permanently docked.

Just a head shot with hair style and all.

On Sunday I wore the 1946 New England dress from a past posting.  Here it is within the context of the QM  Royal Lounge:

In any case, it was a fun event and will think about going back next year for the 7th annual festival.  Now, I have a year to plan a completely late 30's wardrobe.  Lordy!

If you google the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles I am sure you will get more info and pictures to look at from the event.  I believe the organization is also on FaceBook.

So that was event number one.  Stay tuned for event #2.  Gatsby Summer Picnic.

Why I haven't been posting....

So sad but true - life is happening.  I work in the educational field and this year we started school August 16th.  Yes, 3 weeks before the Labor Day holiday.  Good thing?  Summer 2011 begins Memorial Weekend, but that doesn't help us right now.  So, I have been snowed under with getting the school year up and running.  With that said, I beg your pardon for the silence and no updates.  I hope by the middle of September to have plenty to post.  Please dear readers, keep checking in - who knows I may get a minute to breath and post something.  Blessings and many best wishes as summer winds down and autumn approaches.  Cheers.

Margaretta Achworth's Pan Roasted Chicken

I have been using my vacation to play around with creative endeavors that include cooking.  I have Margaretta Achworth's Georgian Cookery Book, edited by Alice and Frank Prochaska.  Great book!  The Prochaska's discovered the recipes that Mrs. Achworth collected and used in her house hold in the mid to late 18th century.  I have tried a recipe called Pot Roasted Chicken or Guinea Fowl.  I used a Cornish Game hen - small bird to try the recipe.

The recipe called for using the following spices, salt, pepper, sage, mace, nutmeg, and cloves.  Bay leaf, garlic cloves, lemon rind and bacon is also used to flavor the meat.  The spices were rubbed under the skin as well as over the top of the skin.  The cloves of garlic were suppose to be wrapped with bay leaf and sage leaves.  I didn't have sage leaves so used powdered sage as part of the rub. The bay leaf I inserted in a slit in the clove of garlic.  The garlic went into the  cavity of the hen.

I didn't have mace and my cloves were whole.  So, I crushed the cloves in a mortar with peppercorns and the other spices. I cut into strips bacon and lemon rind and stuffed that under the skin.

The fragrance of browning the hen in the butter (1/4 cup) was so fabulous.

After browning the hen, I then added the wine which was something I had in the refrigerator.  I used a fruity, white wine - about a cup and half.

Turning the hen till brown on all sides, the steam was fragrant with the different spices - whoa, it was pretty mouth watering - I had to put oven/stove top casserole into the oven at 350 F covered ( the recipe called for 300F) - I took the chance of speeding up the cooking.  So, in about an hour the hen was ready.

The recipe called for 1.5 hours but that was for a larger hen.  Anyway, the meat was tender and moist and totally fragrant.  The cooking liquid in the pan could be skimmed of its fat and used to make a gravy - I didn't do it tonight. 

In anycase, I have used this book before for period recipes for events.  The editors essentially took a woman's work and picked out recipes that they were able to make using modern methods and using as 'period' ingredients as possible.  This is a definite book to add to your library if you are into period cooking.  It is English but I have seen Colonial and French recipes similar to this so it can be used as a basic recipe. 

Here is the information about the book (I don't know if it it still in print): Copyright 1987.  Printed in Britain.  ISBN 185145 124 2 hardback, ISBN 1 85145 227 2 Paperback. The publisher was Pavilion Books Limited.  I think I got this when I was in England or Colonial Williamsburg ages ago - alas I can't remember.


Oh, I also tried another recipe prior to this:  Lemon Brandy and it turned out really good!  Same book. 

So simple, too!  Lemon rind with as much pith removed soaked in brandy for 2 days.  You make a syrup of water and sugar and add it to the brandy and lemon rind.  Let it sit for 2 days or so.  Then decant in a sterilized bottle.  Supposedly you can heat it and add it to a 'punch'.  This is a nice aperitifs or post-dinner digestive.  Bon appetite!