Gibson Girl Dress Diary
This is my first dress diary, so please have patience with me. I've seen many dress diaries that are set up in reverse chronological order; no offense to any of you who might do that, but it drives me crazy. Therefore, this dress diary is organized in chronological order. Those of you who have just found the site can catch up from the beginning, and those of you who are returning to see my progress, just scroll down.
February
29, 2004I worked on my slip for a little while last night. I had actually gotten ALL of my grading done and was quite proud of myself, so instead of starting to work on a paper I have due this week, I gave myself a treat and spent a little while sewing.
It is a Simplicity pattern, so it is going together pretty well so far. The only trick has been fitting, since Simplicity doesn't exactly fit patterns to the historical shape. I cut my pattern a couple sizes smaller than recommended and then did a fitting once I'd gotten all the seams together. (I didn't want to have to pull any of the stitching out, so I used French seams, fitting the garment very carefully once I had gotten the first half of all of the seams done.) I should have measured the length before I cut out the pattern, but I was being lazy and I figured, "It's only muslin," so the slip right now has about five extra inches at the bottom. (I'm only 5'3" and I think these patterns are made for someone whose got at least 5 inches on me, so even with heels I always have to cut some length off.) There was a bit of a complicated part in the pattern directions for the front closure, so, figuring that their technique probably wasn't period accurate anyway, I made my own modifications; I stitched the front facing all the way down the center front on both sides. Then, I sewed the two together from the sew line down to the bottom of the skirt. I pressed the seam so that on the open part, the right overlaps the left, and then top stitched the lower seam allowance into place. All I have left to do now is to finish the neck and armscye edges, attach the ruffle, hem, sew buttonholes, and attach buttons. (Gosh, when I put it like that, it seems like a lot.)
I probably won't be working on this again for a couple more weeks; my quarter is coming to an end at school, so I'm swamped with papers, journals, and a final.
March 12, 2004
Well, I haven't done
any more work on the dress, but
I did receive the boots I ordered. They are perfect...at least,
given my financial constraints. I got them on eBay, slightly
used, for only $25 dollars after shipping and insurance. They are
modern boots with a Victorian look: lace up with a moderate, tapering
heel (not clunky). The only thing that kind of gives them away is
that instead of lacing all the way up, they have hooks at the top; it
shouldn't matter though, since I don't intend to walk around with my
skirt and petticoat hitched up. The boots are cream colored
leather, so they will go perfectly with my Gibson Girl outfit.
The best of it is that when I tried on the boots last night, they fit
perfectly and were so comfortable.I'm waffling again on the fabric for the blouse. As much as I'd love to use the antique eyelet panel, I'm not sure I want to struggle with matching it to another fabric for the rest of the blouse. I am also beginning to see the value of a front closing blouse; if I put the buttons in front, this will be one of the few period costumes that I can actually get into all on my own. At any rate, I have a while to decide since I still have to finish the slip and make the skirt before I start on the blouse.
March 29, 2004
Okay, so I caved in and decided to make a new corset. I'm using Past Patterns 106, an Edwardian "s-curve" corset, but I'm already having some issues with it. The first thing I noticed was that the number of required bones listed on the envelope are different from the number listed in the directions; on top of this problem, there is no difference in the number of bones per size--a size eight requires the same number of bones as an 18--which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. My next issue about the bones is that the pattern does not mention anything about using spiral boning--am I really supposed to use spring steel for everything? The diagrams make it look like spring steel should work all the way around, but I had always heard that these types of corsets required spiral steel, so I just don't know.
I'll have to let you know later about how the sizing runs. I cut out a fourteen for my first muslin because I want to have plenty of room to squish (and to lose weight, hopefully), but I haven't put it together and fit it yet, so we'll just have to wait and see.
April 19, 2004
Sorry it has been so long since I've updated, but I've just been focusing
on getting the sewing done. I guess I should begin with an update on
the corset, which is finished. I ended up doing the boning exactly as
the pattern called for, but I looked at a lot of period images and examples
before making up my mind. It turns out that the piecing of the pattern
really does create a lot of the "look" and the boning just adds the necessary
support. The only mistake I made was in ignoring the patterns advice
to cut all bones to twelve inches. I was really concerned about the
corset bunching up over the hips if the boning did not extend down over that
area--now I have bones that dig into my legs when I sit. I think what
I will do is go back and cut the front bones down about an inch or so and
stitch them into place, leaving the side and back bones long to prevent bunching.
Other than that, the corset has proven to be quite comfortable, but, of course,
I haven't worn it for an extended period time. I let you know next week
if I have changed my mind.It turns out that I could probably have cut a size bigger (that would just be one size smaller than my off-the-rack size). Based on my initial reading of the seam finishing directions, I assumed that the seams would only take half an inch, when they actually ended up taking about three quarters of an inch; that's a huge difference when we are talking twelve pieces. So, instead of nearly closing at some points, I've got a more than generous gap. The good news is that the gap is pretty consistent from top to bottom. (I think it helped that I added about a quarter of an inch to each side of each gusset. Of course, this is the major draw back of this pattern--it does not make any accommodations for different bust sizes. Even after increasing the size of the gusset, I have to be careful that I don't lace the top of the corset too tightly, or I end up spilling out of the top--not a pretty look.)
After finishing the corset, I was able to return my attentions to the slip, which didn't quite fit the same anymore. I had to take in the waist and let out the bust, but this was fairly simple as I made all of the modifications to the front side seams. At the last minute, I decided to go with hooks and eyes in front instead of buttons; I figured that this would probably be better in case I wear a fairly sheer blouse. Attaching the flounce was no big deal, however, I would highly recommend hemming the slip to your preferred length FIRST, then mark where to attach the flounce. (I would have absolutely kicked myself if I'd had to trim two inches off of both layers.) It also helps to finish both edges of the flounce before attaching it (which it probably says in the instructions, but by this time I was no longer reading the instructions. One change I made to the pattern was the way I finished the neck and armscye edges; the directions have you do something really strange, ironing the folds out of bias tape and pressing it in half. It just seemed silly and unnecessary to me, so I did it the way you are supposed to use bias tape. Opening the tape, I sewed it right sides together to the neck and arm edges on the fold closest to the edge of the tape. Once it was sewn in place, I turned it to the inside, pressed it down, and then topstitched the further edge into place. Eventually, I'd like to go back and add lace to the neck and armscye edges, and perhaps trim the flounce, but the slip will do as is for the event next weekend.
The next thing I worked on was my parasol. I started by taking the original
cover off of the parasol and picking apart one of the panels to use as a pattern.
From this pattern, I put together a muslin; good thing it was a muslin because
it didn't even come close to fitting. Scrapping that idea (literally),
I drafted my own pattern using the instructions I received at the parasol
recovering workshop I attended. The next muslin was better, but still
a bit tight across the stretchers. I widened my pattern just at that
point, tapering the line up to the top point and down to the bottom edge,
since I was pretty happy with the fit in those places. One more muslin
determined that I had the perfect cover. I then proceeded to cut out
my fashion fabric (a beautiful dark pink/lavender silk shantung), lining fabric
(creme china silk), and netting overlay (I'm sure that there is a better term
than my vulgar "netting" that I'm not aware of--I'm really not talking about
that course cheap stuff you get at the fabric store). I flat lined the
netting to the right side of the shantung and then assembled the pieces.
The finished cover fits perfectly (albeit a bit more snugly than the muslin
had) and looks beautiful. The only thing I could possibly wish to change
is the fact that one of the ribs is a bit bent right where the support connects.
I've tried to straighten it, but have given up--I can never get it perfectly
straight, and am concerned that even if I did, the pressure of the fabric
on the rib will just bend it back down again. The only things left to
do to finish the parasol are to make the lining, attach the lining, and add
a bit of trim.I've actually gotten a start on the skirt and blouse too. Since I can't find the batiste I was going to use for the blouse, I decided to use the same shantung that I used for the parasol cover. It will give a much crisper look, but I believe that is still period. I've also decided to just do pin tucks on the lower part of the sleeve in order to gather it into the cuff. A few caveats I've noticed about the pattern so far: it is too short, so I've lengthened the pieces a bit at the bottom, just to make sure that it stays tucked in; it seems to run a bit large, I mean, I know it is supposed to blouse, but it shouldn't look like a sack--but I'll let you know more about that once I get it assembled; the collar is far too short.
The skirt also has some issues. I'm still making it out of the lavender linen, which I've discovered also has quite a bit of cotton in it (that makes it a bit softer than I'd like, but also makes it far easier to get the wrinkles out). I followed some of the advice I found on the GBACG pattern review, widening the waistband to help keep the shirtwaist tucked in. After very careful measurements, I realized that the largest size offered was still going to be too small. I had read reviews where people recommended adding to the center and back panels, as those might become disproportionately small, but Mom was concerned that doing that might affect the drape of the skirt, so I stuck with just adding to the side seams. (We'll see how it turns out.) I also decided not to do the lace overlay on the hem trim. I saw a picture of a period skirt that had a woven trim down the seams of a similar skirt, so I bought some trim to do that and decided that to do both the woven trim down the seams and the netting on the hem trim would be overkill.
So, my current status is that the skirt and blouse are cut out, but still need to be assembled, and the parasol needs to be finished. I still have a whole week left to finish it in...no problem. Right?
April 24, 2004
The skirt ended up being so easy to put together, especially considering that I now have a working serger again. (Man, I love that thing! It is really worth the money in how much time it saves me. I'm all about the period look through modern means.) The one thing that I should have done by hand though was the self fabric hem trim. The directions have you top stitch it into place, but it really would have looked better if I had hidden the stitches and stitched the finished edge by hand. I guess it depends on the look you are going for; I can see the top stitch approach working if you are going for the sporty or tailor-made look with flatfelled seams and such, where a lot more top stitching will show, but for the more feminine look I was trying to achieve, the top stitching just looked out of place.
One rather important tip about the skirt is that you need to fit it very carefully. It truly is an Edwardian style, fitted at both the waist and the hips, which can be tricky if you don't have the same hip-to-waist ratio as the pattern. Also, the pattern doesn't give you a whole lot of directions for the skirt closure; the only directions I found were on the pattern piece itself, which has placement markings for snaps. Now, I don't know if snaps are period, but I definitely think you'll have better luck with hooks and eyes. I used a large hook and eye for the waist and six smaller ones for the rest of the opening, which worked out very well. (I've noticed recently that the small hooks and eyes that you find at the fabric store actually have a little catch now, so they don't just come undone at random. I'm now contemplating going back and changing the hooks on all of my costumes and clothing.)
As I mentioned before, the only trim I added to the skirt was the floral woven trim on the seams. I ended up not having enough to do all of the seams, so I just did the side-front and side seams. I really like it. I'm also glad that I widened the waistband. Not only did it do a very good job of holding my shirtwaist in place, but it also made up for the fact that I didn't have a belt. With the wide waistband, it didn't look like I needed a belt, although it still would have been a nice touch. One thing I did notice about the waistband, though, is that it really could have used some interfacing. I left it out figuring that I would not need the stability since I was wearing a corset. I realized later that the interfacing would have helped prevent the slight stretching I noticed after wearing the skirt for a long period of time.
Now, I have a few more issues with the blouse. The basic assembly was easy enough. All the seams matched and the directions were decent enough. My first issue with it was caused by my fabric choice. The pleats in the back cross the grain of the fabric; with many fabrics this would not be a problem--with careful ironing, the pleats would lay flat--but the fabric I was using just had too much body. The result is that, although I was able to iron out wrinkles, there is no way that the pleats will lie perfectly flat.
My next issue was with the waist tie. There is no pattern for it, and the directions are sparse. I ended up skipping this step for now. Fortunately, I have enough fabric to go back and add this element, but it would have been nice to know about it beforehand.
My final issue was with the sleeves. I used pin tucks to gather in the fullness at the cuff, and was very pleased with the results. (If you do this, though, I'd recommend cutting the sleeve edge straight rather than curved. The curve is designed to give your sleeve a very pretty drape, which is NOT the look you are going for if you use the pin tucks.) However, when I went to attach my nicely pleated, finished sleeves to the armscye, I realized that the pattern called for the sleeve seam to sit in front. I have never seen any period examples of this, nor have I ever seen a modern garment like this. Where that got the idea to place the sleeve seam there is entirely beyond me. At this point, it would have been impossible for me to place the seam to correctly match the side seam, since the side seam of the blouse actually falls more towards the back. I did manage to place the seam under the arm at least, without having too much of a negative affect on the sleeve head. If I make this pattern again (and that's a big if), I'll cut the sleeve pattern so that the seam matches the side seam.
It also turns out that I was entirely correct about the sizing. If made up according to the recommended size, the garment will be extremely full. The fashion plates that I've seen for this time period do not have this type of blouse excessively large; it is supposed to be a practical style. On the other hand, pigeon-front blouses, which were rather full, tended to have a yolk and have the fullness concentrated at the center front. But again, I would recommend considering the look you are going for and the fabric you are using; a stiff fabric will not look well if the blouse is much larger than you, while a soft, lightweight fabric will drape nicely.
All said, I will definitely be using this skirt pattern again, but will definitely not use the blouse.
April 26, 2004
I forgot to mention in my last post that I did get the parasol completed as well. I was a little frustrated with the lining though. Fortunately, I only have myself to blame for this, since I'm the one who made the pattern! I don't know if my mistake was in the cutting or in the sewing, but at some point I must have gotten a bit sloppy, because from the center to the stretchers the fabric is very taut while by the time you get down to the tips it sags. It was also a bit too long, which made it look really bad. I ended up leaving the lining attached while I hemmed it by hand, taking up some of the excess fullness as I went. I'm a bit happier with it now and everyone seemed to like it at the event.
The Gibson Girl event was beautiful. The tour of the house was lovely and informative, but the real treat was in being able to take pictures everywhere in the house while sitting on whatever furniture we liked. We also took some pictures in the garden that should turn out very well.
Everyone looked stunning. A few were fortunate enough to have vintage gowns; they were absolutely inspiring and drool-worthy. The few children that were there were adorable; I didn't manage to get any pictures of them, but I think Kendra did, at least I know she got a few of a little boy in the cutest sailor outfit I've ever seen. Many people also had marvelous picnic spreads, with beautiful table cloths, china, colorful fruit and flowers--now that's my kind of picnic. I can see that I need to start thinking beyond the costume in the future.
I do still have some work to do on this outfit, which will need to be done before I wear it again; namely, the sleeve needs some modification at the cuff, where my sewing just got sloppy. Eventually, I'd also like to add another blouse (hopefully once I find the errant batiste), and I really do want to make the coat that I couldn't get to this time. But for now, it's on to the next costume...
April 30, 2004
I also forgot to comment on the comfort level of the corset. In a workshop once, I was told that s-curve corsets are very uncomfortable and bad for your back; the suggestion of the workshop instructor was to not bother making or wearing this type of corset. While I don't want to contradict the instructor (since she really did, in all honesty, know a lot more than me about period undergarments), I must say that this corset was perfectly comfortable, even after wearing it for nearly eight hours. I had no back pain while I was wearing it nor after I took it off (which is what happens when I wear my Renaissance corset). This is particularly significant when you consider the fact that the entire week before the event I had been suffering from serious lower back pain; if this corset didn't cause me discomfort while the muscles in my back were still a bit tender, I doubt that it will ever be uncomfortable.
I did do a few things that may have helped avoid unncessary back pain. First, I used two laces, as described by the pattern: one from bust to waist and the other from waist to hips. I noticed during one of my test runs that some discomfort was encountered if the tension on the two different laces were uneven, causing movement and pressure on the back. Tightening the offending lace (usually the top one) corrected the problem. (One thing that caused me concern here was that when I took the corset off after wearing it for an extended period of time, the center back bones looked like they curved sideways toward the lacing. They immediately went back to normal, so I don't know if this was just an optical illusion or if the bones really had been pressured into curving inward at the waist where they were laced tighter. If the lacing really is creating this effect, it might be worth it to put spiral bones in at the center back channels.)
Second, I let the corset do the work. When you look at period fashion plates and illustrations, it really does look like the woman is thrusting out her bust and hips; if you do this, you'll end up in pain because you are forcing your back into an unnatural position. This corset doesn't actually change your back position (although you do still want to practice good posture); it simply compresses in different areas--middle and upper back, lower stomach--while allowing the natural curves of your bust and bum to remain in their natural positions. Okay, it does push the bust line up a bit, but there is no compression whatsoever. (It really was amazing to me. I was able to lace the bottom portion of the corset tight enough to have a flat stomach without compressing the back of the corset at all. This effect probably could have been hightened if I had added gussets to the back hips.) The end result is that the corset really does create the shape without the wearer having to alter her posture and damage her spine.
For my hair, I followed the directions on this site in order to acheive a Gibson Girl look with my natural (thin) locks. I purchased the rats with a slight variation from that suggested; rather than two ten inch rats, I purchased two eight and one six inch. I also found that it was easier to begin with the back hair, that way gravity helped keep the ends out of my way while I worked on the front pieces and prevented the rat from trying to slip back. Because my hair is so fine and smooth, I had slept with two french braids in my hair; this gave it body to actually cover the rats and helped my hair pins actually hold on to the hair. I absolutely loved the end result.
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