Dickens Ponderings - Continued....with pics*

Met: Gown 1840-45

Out of all the gowns, this one most closely resembles a dress I already have.  What can I say?  I love the checks, and gathers at the waist, and the nice, boufty, comfy sleeves!  Nice and simple, not too stuffy!  I might have some appropriate fabric in my stash, but would certainly need to check and make sure!  The good thing is, that if I decide nothing in the stash would work, it shouldn't take too much out of the budget to procure suitable fabric.

Met: Gown 1840

Oh. My. Goodness.  I L-O-V-E this dress.  Everything about it.  The jewel-tone color!  The sheen of the satin!  The cross front!  The sleeves!  The only satin I have in my stash is cream-colored, and I would certainly want to do this dress out of a nice, heavy satin.  No other fabric would do it justice, right??  (That right there may strike it from the list of possibilities!

Met: Gown 1841-45

A simple fan-front may fit the bill - although I'd certainly need to jazz it up with accessories.  I have some fabric that I could probably use from the stash for a similar gown.  (I think I've seen fan fronts in a plaid/stripe before too....that honestly would be my first choice, I think!)

Met: Gown 1841-43

This one is also kind of fan-front-ish, but mostly put it on the list because I adore the lace collar, and the muted plaid!

Met: Gown 1850

And last, but certainly not least, a dress from further out of period than I probably ought to do, but, oh how I do want pagoda sleeves!  Delicious, swoopy, awesome pagoda sleeves......nom!

*Clicking on the caption will redirect you to the source image on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website

Costume Ponderings RE: Dickens

I just found out the other day that my sis and I got into Dickens this year - and what am I to do?!  I don't have anything appropriate (that will fit)!  Without resorting to a crash diet, the options are:

1. See if I can alter either the Cranford or Tea & Skate dress to fit (Boo!)
2. Make a whole new dress (Hurrah!)

While I've *cough* outgrew the dresses, I think it would be a relatively simple thing to alter the underthings to fit properly.  I'm pretty sure that it's not as scary as it sounds to make a whole new dress.

The other hurdle (at least for me!) is that there are absolutely no guidelines on time period, at all.  And I very much care.  (The rules appear so far to be "no tennis shoes, no jeans, and skirts for women.....broad strokes much?)

In the handout for vendors, there is a page of 'hat ideas' - and each and every illustration is NOT from even a remotely Victorian time period.  (Seriously.  There is a 16th c ish man and woman, a couple of 18th c ladies, and a .....I don't know what the other one is supposed to be, but it looks early 'teens to me!)

As soon as the Wonderland costumes are taken care of, I think it's time to tackle the Great Dickens Beast!

Alice in Wonderland Tea - Melia's Dress

Sis and I started in on her Tea gown in earnest last night, and got amazingly far!  The plans (as they are wont to do) got bigger the more we looked at stash options (we're both still very much on a from the stash kick!), the more ideas came together to make a whole new outfit.....mostly because I happen to have this red silk, and an awesome patterned and textured red and black organza fabric that has been waiting patiently for the perfect project......

Can you guess who she is going to be??  :D

Doing a whole new outfit is less scary than it sounds, as we've already figured out the patterns that we're using, have already gone through all the fitting hullaballoo, and all the underthings are done and ready for wear.  Last night we got as far as cutting out nearly all of the bodice, and the entire skirt is sewn together (it just needs waistband and hem!)

Tale of the Cunning Hat - Continued

So...I nearly finished up my Mock I version of the Jayne Cobb hat.....and I decided to try the bulkier yarn I had already purchased, on the off chance it looked more Ma-Cobby-looking, despite my lack of correctly sized needles.  HURRAH!  I ended up liking the outcome much better - but the sizing could do to be somewhere in the middle!  I used 64 stitches around, where I could probably do to have 68.  Using this same weight of yarn and needle, I would probably say that 64=M 68=L 72=XL.

If you look at this specific image, you can see that the outer part of the ear-flapadoodles are knit, and the inside are purl (the underside of the flap by his right ear) - I think that's called stockinette?  Anyway, it took me a minute to figure out what stitch would  do the distinctive curl at the ends!  I did a few rows straight down, and then decreased at either end of the knit side, and then used the end to tie off two strands that I ran through the edges of the flappy parts.

This hat is due by 6:30 am tomorrow, so I'll probably let this one go as is, but continue the perfection of the Jayne Cobb Hat for a certain brother.....  :)

“How’s it sit? Pretty cunning, don’tchya think?”