Slow Progress

The good news is, I've been commissioned for some work at a well-acclaimed local theatre!  Yay!  The bad news is, this means I haven't been able to work very much on my Elizabethan gown.   I'm super excited about my work at the theatre, because I'm learning some new skills and have two exciting historical tailoring projects;  a 1927 ladies' wool plaid suit, which I completed last week, and a 1810 yellow 'Spencer' cropped jacket and matching dress, which I'm working on now.  Although I won't post pictures of my commissioned work here, you will eventually be able to see these projects in my official portfolio at samanthareckford.carbonmade.com.

Although work was slow these past few weeks, it didn't stop completely!  

First things first, I drafted a pattern for the gown bodice, and had a sitting over my corset.  The tricky thing here is that my mannequin doesn't wear the corset very well (lack of squishy bosom) so I need to fit it on myself, which isn't the most convenient.  Once my sister gets home from college, I am going to force her to be a fit model, as she is almost my same size.  

Once I corrected the bodice pattern, I cut if from both a nice dense cotton twill and the dyed blue fashion fabric.  I sewed boning channels into the twill, and cut the steel bones to match.  I hadn't planned for the bodice to be supportive without a corset, just nice and smooth, but it's turning out pretty hefty.  Hooray?  

My fabric is big and my table is small!  To cut out the skirt piece, I rolled it Torah-style onto two tubes.  This fabric continues to be confounding, looking completely different under diverse lighting conditions. 

Sewing a strip of baby flannel onto the top edge of the skirt, to support the cartridge pleats.

I sewed my gold trim onto the bodice pieces before flat-lining them to the twill, so that the stitches would be sandwiched between the layers.  I also wanted to get the trim on early so that it could finish nicely into the cording and I don't have to worry about fraying.

Once everything was trimmed and lined, I sewed my seams together and drafted some straps, which will mostly be covered by my sleeve puffs.  

The bodice back, with cording in the seams.  This is more theatrical than historical, but Lord have mercy, I love how it looks.  

This... almost looks like a garment?  Needs more piping.  I'm pausing on the bodice to get the skirt going, because I want to fit them together before finishing any hems.