Return to Downton Abbey (Season 3!)

Warning – spoilers below the jump.

I would be remiss if i didn’t mention last Sunday’s first season 3 episode of Downton Abbey. The whole cast is back for more drama, a wedding,

 

The 1912 Project Begins

The 1912 Project is about to start with 400 Test Sewers! We’ve been broken up into groups and patterns should be coming our way any day now. The official blog for the project can be found here. We will be starting with patterns from the April 1912 issue, as this is the closest to the sinking of the Titanic, then going back and working our way through the entire year.

What I really want to show you are some of the illustrations from La Mode Illustree 1912, issue #3:

The three items show are:

1. Ladies Taffeta Dress (#0158) – blue taffeta trimmed in satin bias binding of the same color with plastron and under cuffs of pleated white tulle.
2. Ladies Coat (#0168) –  gray velvet with white stripes with black velvet cuffs and lapels.
3. Ladies Jacket (#0169) – a ladies wool coat with silk lining and velvet cuffs. I want this! I love the large lapels and the way the lining shows. This looks like it would lend itself well to having a hood, though I doubt the original did.

I can’t wait to see what pattern comes to the rogues first! And oh just look at those glorious hats!

 

The Golden Age of Piracy – Costumes to the Period

cc copyright Rogues of Thread

I love a good pirate costume as much as  the next person. You can be a sexy pirate, a rugged pirate, a cross dressing pirate (and I’m really talking about the ladies here. Please men, be nice to us and don’t don corsets and bad rouge. Hairy cleavage is not attractive.) , a fairy pirate (well, I’ve seen it anyway), a steampunk pirate, a Disni-fied pirate, etc. I’ve been a pirate wench (a la small additions to a Ren Faire costume), a scantily clad pirate, a corseted pirate and even a Middle Eastern pirate and my favorite, the traditional long vest (called a weskit) and pirate coat. If you want to be a classic pirate, consider avoiding a corset.

When we in Western culture think pirate, we usually think of the Golden Age of Piracy. This was roughly 1650 – 1730 (at least according to Wikipedia), the time of Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, Henry Morgan and other well known pirates. This is the time portrayed in one of my favorite pirate films, Yellowbeard, which if you haven’t seen it, is a fun Monty Python romp and not to be taken too seriously, and of course, the 4 Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and Treasure Island (the movie and novel).

What did a real pirate look like?

 

The Coats Multiplied

Our creation of two full pirate costumes sparked more interest in pirate coats. We set out to improve the pattern and adapt it for women. The female version has shoulder to hem seams for shape and fit, as well as a straighter, more modern sleeve that retains the original look.

 

All images by The Rogues of Thread (bythebodkin.wordpress.com) and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, unless specifically attributed elsewhere.

 

There will be Piracy

In 2005 we decided that our captain was looking a bit un-captain like, a bit lacking in that classic pirate look. As was our first mate. So we set about to surprise them and surprise them we did. We created two full pirate costumes for the unsuspecting pair, wrapped them up in muslin and ribbon wrappings and presented the gifts. Their shock was gratifying, but seeing our captain, Winston Waters, still looking the well dressed pirate is more than thanks enough. This was our first costume collaboration!

 

 

All images by The Rogues of Thread (bythebodkin.wordpress.com) and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, unless specifically attributed elsewhere.

 

Marooned Pirate Coat

We have been asked to make 5 of these coats, from the original, in wildly different sizes. The original coat is in less than perfect shape and was in desperate need of a bath.

Historically speaking the coat resembles a “buff coat,” a French Carignan-Sallieres Regiment. Ensign (1665), an English Foot Guard Musketeer (1660), an English Coldstream Guard officer (Tangier, 1669), and an Austrian Artillery Gunner (1671), though none exactly. According to the owner of the coat, it is was based on a coat from the horrible (in every way but possibly costuming and sets) Cutthroat Island film. *shudders*