Quick Update Post

I’ll have a picture of the second set of panniers soon, they’re almost photographable!

Other Noelle has nearly finished her stays, and they are gorgeous!

We went to JoAnns today, and I found this lovely celery green brocade – the picture does not do it justice!  Guess how much it was?!  No really, guess.

You’re wrong.  It was $3.50/yd.  BWAHAHAHA.  Score!

Also, Other Noelle and I have come up with a logo for our joint project.  Conveniently enough, both our last names start with “P”; so the monogram is “Double Noelle Project/P-for-last-name”

Back to panniers

I set aside the infuriating stays for a moment to focus on getting the second set of panniers done.  The linen is not as stiff in this pair, and I’m using a slightly different design – it will be interesting to see what the differences are.

When doing things like hoops, it’s invaluable to have multiple sheets of transfer paper, and a good tracing wheel.  (My favorite is the needle-point wheel)

And while I was looking for a good link for the tracing wheel above, look what I found!  This handy tool, called quirkily enough, a “Roll-A-Pattern”.  I’m thinking this handy thing might have to come and live in my stash some day!

Panniers–confessions

I recently found a new (to me) blog of note, “All Things Vintage Rouge”.  Yesterday, Lulu posted about some completely fabulous aluminum tubing panniers she found at the Berkeley Rep warehouse sale.  (of which I’m insanely jealous of.  That’s the ‘confession’ bit of the title)

They give an absolutely fabulous shape, and appear to be very rugged.  I had assumed that because they came from a costuming shop and looked so odd, they were the figment of a costume designers’ imagination.  How very wrong was I?!

Today while browsing for more information on panniers, I found these bad boys on Costumer’s Manifesto.

The image comes from Maurice Leloir's “Histoire du Costume”, a sketchy source to be sure  – however, I know there are extant ‘skeletal’ panniers out there, though I’m not certain any of them are made of tubing or have the articulation shown in the diagram above. 

(Fig. 17. – Baskets of steel hinges.  (Musee de Cluny).  After M. Leloir.  1:  profile – 2:  perspective. – 3:  folded view – 4:  folded and held under the arms.)

Apparently, these are the panniers that the Leloir sketch are based upon, however, I’ve not been able to find more detailed information about them.  I am guessing that they do indeed fold as shown in the drawing, and the ‘bones’ are indeed tubular metal.

Pannier dating from 1750
Inv. Cluny 7874
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs

I’m not terribly sure that these three pictures are representing three different sets of panniers, or if they are different pictures of the same item*.

It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but they look similar enough to Leloir’s diagram, but it’s entirely possible that these panniers are also articulated.  I’ve yet to find any further information on them, but hopefully I will be able to find out where they came from and if they do indeed fold up like the diagram shows.

 

*I’m having a horrible time trying to find the original source of these pictures, – If anyone knows, please message me!!  My Google skillz are failing me.  I found the first picture here, and the other two here.

Panniers Complete

I need to name these panniers – they have the destructive force of a full-blown hurricane!

I faked the angled bones with extra-long zip ties, and will probably need to switch them out with stronger boning when I get my hands on some, and there still is not boning in the very bottom casing, but for all intents and purposes, they’re done!

I also tried on my pair of bodies – they’re a bit snug, but if push comes to shove, will work. This is probably the most dangerous costuming-related picture I’ve ever taken. The only mirror big enough to show the (mostly) full width of the panniers was in my bathroom, and the side of the tub is quite high – I was quite the sight trying to scramble to the top of the tub and crouch just enough to be able to take the picture! I still need to mess around with the gathers – I thought everything was all perfect; but then I see in this picture that the line is certainly not smooth. Grrrr.

Things don’t look that different from the last picture I took, but I assure you, I’ve done a lot today. I finished the waist attachments, added all the internal infrastructure, and re-did the angled boning.

I’m not 100% that I like the change, but I was having difficulty getting things to lie correctly, so I took a proverbial page out of the “Truly Victorian” bustle construction book, and moved the bones to the inside, catching the boning in small loops, rather than fed through an entire casing. This makes the bones easier to remove, and also seems to be holding up the corners of the panniers better.

I may end up re-doing the waist – I’m not terribly happy with the way it’s puckering at the hip, but I think it matters what it looks like underneath a skirt rather than what it looks like all on it’s own.

This whole experience has certainly underscored my distinct dislike of making underpinnings. (Even though I know how very important they are!) I’m just not as comfortable with the process, I suppose!

I’ve taken a shortcut or two in the process of constructing these panniers – I’ve used zip ties for the shorter, angled bones; and I’ve used masking tape instead of real boning tips. I have some on order, and will hopefully remember to switch out the ugly masking tape for real tips. (Even though I’ve never had trouble with the masking-tape shortcut…it makes me nervous since I’ve not done a whole lot of costuming that has involved reinforced and hooped underthings.)

And for other-Noelle: I’ve used my dad’s old wire cutters for years now – on everything from hoop boning/wire, zip ties, and corset boning. So, no, you don’t need ‘special’ boning cutters, but I bet it can’t hurt to have them on hand.

Panniers–Casings Complete

I’ve finished all the casings for the panniers, and I feverishly stuffed a couple of the casings with boning I had on hand.  I’ve over-stuffed the casings and they’re straining in an odd manner and I certainly need to spend some serious time getting everything balanced correctly.  But that time is not now!

Still to do:

-Buy and insert remaining boning

-Finish waist tape

-Balance hoops

Panniers–First ‘Official’ Post for the Double-No-L Project

I’m going to be doing panniers somewhat like the ones I saw at  LACMA earlier this year. 

I’m making mine out of tannish-brown linen, with casings made of cream twill tape.  The original is made of plain weave linen and uses cane in the hoops.  I have cane I can use for the hoops, but I may end up using steel instead – that’s a decision I’m going to make sometime down the road; after all the casings are done and I can make Bertha try them on for me.

These bad boys are HUGE!  They are so huge, in fact, that they do not fit on my table, and I can’t get the whole thing in frame, even while standing on a chair!

As you can see, I’ve constructed the ‘skirt’ portion, and I’ve been able to attach two casings before my shoulder (and other obligations not sewing-related) won out.  I’m not terribly convinced that I have this pattern all figured out, but I won’t know for until I get closer to the top and can mess about with the waist and gathering and whatnot.  I won’t be too terribly disappointed if I have to start over (other than the time wasted) since everything came out of my stash.

I originally was going to put the casings on the inside, but now I’m not so sure – I strangely like the contrast!  (Not that it’s going to matter a whole lot, I mean, it is underwear after all.

Another decision I will need to make is whether to do two bones at the corners as in the LACMA example, or one angled casing, like the one described in “Corsets and Crinolines.  I’ll most likely go with two, since I’m not sure how much strength my potential hoop boning will have. 

I have two more enormous horizontal casings to do before I make any foolish decisions, however.  For this, I am thankful.

And with that, I am heading off to bed!