18th century jacket finished

I finished the jacket a few weeks ago but I haven't had time to take any pictures until now. I am pleased with the silhouette and outer view of the jacket but, as always when making something yourself, if I would redo it I would do some changes in the construction. The instructions for the pattern where slightly over my skill level but the hard challenges are the ones you learn from. The problems that I faced were the interfacing, how to gather the skirts at the sides and the placement of the sleeves. I used Korps maroon homespun wool fabric, Cotton from an old bed sheet, black velvet ribbon from my local fabric shop and metal buttons painted gold which I took from an old failed project. I did a lot of hand sewing on this project mostly because I enjoy the calmness of it but  the pattern required a lot even if you chose to sew it on a sewing machine. Some more period inspired pictures might come up in the near future.

I left out the buttons which were to hold the pleats together

I should have left out the ribbon on the back of the skirts since they bent the fabric and removed some of the nice flow

I am satisfied with the fabric and my work but I hope to accomplish even better coats in the future.

Purple prom dress update

The prom dress sewing is going sloooow and I hope that I can sew some on the Easter spring. I have sewn the interlining, boning channels and some of the fashion fabric for the bodice. Now I will fix the edges of the boning, sew the fashion fabric, hem and then ad sleeves and detail.

The current state of the dress, quite sad and naked.

The inspiration flower for the colour.

Happy Easter!

A Tulle petticoat tutorial

My sister wanted a puffy petticoat to cosplay and dress up in, so I got the mission to make her one. Tulle is an interesting fabric, it's stiff and quite easy to work with.

The petticoat consists of tiers in layers, there is one tier at the top of the garment and by the hem it's six tiers. The first tier is the shortest and the second tiers for the second layer should be two times the length of the first layer and the tiers of the third layer should be two times the second layer. So you should have one ribbon about two meters, two ribbons about four meters and six ribbons about eight meters. It is easiest to start from the bottom. There will sit one layer on the waistband then two in the top layer who will each hold three tiers.

A cluster of tulle

1. I cut the tulle in 15 cm wide ribbons
2. Sew all of the side seams off the ribbons before you connect them and them you should have nine "rings" (these ones are not for mortal men doomed to die but for dresses who need support)

Three ribbons ruffled together

3. Ruffle together three of the longest ribbons.

the three ribbons sewn to one of the middle layers

4. Sew the ruffle on to one off the middle layers 

Do step three and four with the remaining three longest and middle one.

The middle layers ruffled together

5. Ruffle the middle layers together.

The two middle layers sewn to the top layer.

6. Sew the middle layers to the top one

Finished petticoat

7. Sew the top layers to an elastic waistband.

8. Wear and tear with joy.

A skirt over the petticoat

By playing with the width of the ribbons and number of layer your petticoat can differ considerably.

A purple prom dress

A friend of mine is going to attend the schools annual prom this year but she doesn't have anything to wear and I need to practice my sewing skills, so naturally I'll sew her a prom dress! She was as happy with the solution as I was, she will wear it for the prom and then I will probably sell it online so it is a win win.

The sketch, the sleeves and sash will be in chiffon and I was thinking circle sleeves or something similar

The fabrics, black one will become the lining and the pinker one will be my outer material

The outer fabrics again in a different light

 The dress is inspired by the film version of Hermione's prom dress. My deadline is the beginning of may but I'm not worried.

A blue prom dress

In June 2016 there will be a prom to celebrate the end of me and my friends finished eduction as silence majors and what kind of crafter would I be if I didn't sew my own gown? I Was thinking something blue, draped and flowy with a train and this is the first pleating test. 

 Some of the inspiration gowns,

Grace Kelly in to catch a thief, LOVE the colour!

 I haven't bought the fabric or all the patterns I'm going to need yet but I will soon.

Tulle skirt

Tulle is a rather cheap fabric and you can never have enough skirts so I had to make a tulle skirt for spring and forthcoming 50's events.

Wonderful tulle! It looks so pretty

The fabric is folded in half and gathered, way too puffy for me

The finished skirt, four circle cut layers with an elastic waistband.

A circle underskirt but it will definitely be used as an everyday skirt.

The tulle skirt over the grey underskirt, Just enough volume without looking like a costume

 I definitely enjoyed making this, it took me approximately two hours with the cost of  € 21.

Suffragette jacket

A suffragette jacket for costumes, I might do the skirt too.

The pattern

The pretty fabric

Buttons!