Son of “Ugly Puffer”

The “completed” (read: wearable) Son of Ugly Puffer, Victorian quilted petticoat. There are some very beautiful historical quilted petticoats out there. This one will never be beautiful.

After deciding that I didn’t actually want to make 5 (6?) items for my not very historically accurate Dickens Fair costume, that I didn’t have acceptable yardage to spare for that flounce (or the desire to both hem and gather 7+ yards of fabric), I shifted to a Bumpad and Ugly Puffer, similar to what was made by American Duchess. But I didn’t have any pre-quilted fabric, as was suggested. I didn’t have any coupons for Beverly’s, wasn’t headed in the direction of JoAnn’s and ultimately couldn’t bring myself to buy the fabric online. Plus I wanted to get on with it already.

To the stash! What I already had were two huge pieces of batting and 10+ yards of raisin-colored cotton eyelet. I suddenly found myself going for a full quilted petticoat, which means no extra flounce on the tiered petticoat (yes!).

My entire plan was to sandwich those batting pieces between two pieces of fabric, quilt them just enough, stitch up the sides, hem, pleat the waist and do a split waistband. The size was dictated by the size of the batting being “long enough” and not “too much” to put in the waistband. That is to say, I didn’t really measure anything. Even the quilting lines are roughly measured / eyeballed (with moderate success).

Now, I’d never quilted anything at this point, so what was I getting myself into? In retrospect, I should have sucked it up and bought the pre-quilted fabric. I’m still quilting this damn thing.

Mistake 2, poly batting (mistake 1 was not buying pre-quilted fabric)

It took me all damn day to iron the fabric, cut things out, draw lines and quilt ONE SIDE. Oddly it took me 45 minutes to draw lines, pin and quilt the second side.

Here’s where the poly batting is really an issue. It’s too fluffed up / stiff. Particularly at the top. In the images below you can see that the lower two pics show fewer lines of quilting. The top set has more, allowing the shape to “break” vertically and more naturally. Ultimately, it really needs a ton more quilting, but at some point the quilting would stiffen the fabric… That means you want less quilting at the top, more in the bottom. Research on extant garments shows this is accurate. I think it would have been less of an issue with cotton batting, which is thinner and less stiff. With less quilting it would fall more gracefully at the top.

Only the waist is pinned right now. Top pics show quilting top to bottom every 3″. Bottom pics are from earlier, the top half is quilted in 6″ sections, the bottom at 3″.

I got as far as quilting the bottom, going around every 3″, then starting to go around at the 1 1/2″ points between. I can finish that after I do the hem and waist.

I hemmed the bottom by leveling things out and stitching on some good 1″ twill tape. It got folded up and stitched in place (I consider this a “free” line of quilting). I decided not to shape the hem for the added bumpad, meaning the hem will tilt up in the back. It will be hidden under my petticoat and skirt anyway and will be wearable without the bumpad for a different era (in that case the hem would fall level). Suddenly my Son of Ugly Puffer was looking almost wearable.

Yes, I used several random shades of purple thread. Don’t judge me.

The waist was pleated quickly and messily down to about 14″ per side and stitched to some wider twill tape. I folded it over and top stitched, creating a casing. I won’t be able to quit the top anymore, but I think it works out. Some grosgrain ribbon was threaded through the casing, one piece for the front and another for the back. This will allow me max adjustability and to access my pocket!

Pocket access!

Where are my feet? I’m going to feel huge!

Dressing Dummy. My goodness, there are a lot of ties going on.

Son of Ugly Puffer + Bum Pad = straining the top yoke of the petticoat (but pocket assess)

Project materials, all from the stash:

• 2 pieces poly quilt batting from (a donation), ~48″w x 35″h each
• 4-5 yards raisin colored cotton eyelet ($1/yard back in the day)
• ~96″ twill tape left over from another project (originally $0.25/y?)
• ~30″ wider twill tape from who knows where
• At least two full spools of thread, though I actually used about 4 different shades

Final cost = $0 (or maybe $11 originally)

Next posts:

• Who Wants to Wear a Fricking Bonnet?!
• One Fast Skirt (at least I hope so)

 

Projects for Dickens Fair 2019

In the last year, year and a half, I’ve done basically no sewing except fixing a button, then fixing several the buttons on the Lord Mayor’s doublet, then adding more tacking to the slashes on his sleeves and doing little stag thorn stitches over that.

And then people got serious about Dickens Fair. We’re going for a weekend and we’ll be paying, so we can wear what we like, instead of 1840-60-ish. I’d like to make a Gothic period 1840s dress, but what if I never go again? On the other hand, I don’t want to wear a steampunk costume (as much as I’d enjoy pulling that one out again). My compromise is to be 1860-ish in a blouse and bolero I have, a hat I’ll alter from a blank and a skirt I’ll make. Hat and skirt. Simple, right?

Thus began the trip down the rabbit hole, researching, planning, generally going off on tangents and changing the plan. I researched:

• How not to have to wear a hoopskirt
• 1840s Gothic
• How wrong are the sleeves on my bolero and do I care?
• How to fix the heels on my expensive Victorian boots because apparently no one will do it locally and I can’t find replacement heels anywhere on the interwebs
• Construction of fan bodices
• Bust padding (because apparently everyone had to pad the space near the arm hole in 1830s bodies)
• How to make corded petticoats
• Sewn in padding in the bums of early Victorian skirts (it’s a thing)
• How to hem from the floor up (where has this been all my life?)
• How bodices and skirts were attached (or not, depending)
• Full Victorian corsets with me in mind, as in not making one for someone else for once
• Period bonnets hats
• Fabric selection for 1860s skirts
• Fabric choices and skirt widths for fashionista vs. working women
• A whole slew of things related to fabric and patterns in the 1880s (unrelated, but fun – I’ll tell you later)
• My sad lack of petticoats and the non-period skirt shape I was going to end up with
• The Bumpad
• Pockets and pocket slits
• The “ugly puffer” via American Dutchess
• Period flower prints for fabric and how not / close is the pattern on those old sheets I have in the stash?
• Whether Beverly’s takes competitors coupons, because I was headed that way
• Quilting, free motion quilting, because I cheaped out and couldn’t make myself buy prequilted fabric

And so, dear folks, after thinking I was only making a skirt and considering adding a flounce to an existing petticoat, the plan / to-make list is as follows:

1. Removing the decorative gray trim from the bolero – done
2. Opening the sides of the existing petticoat for pocket slits and to make the waist size more flexible – done, but not worth show and tell
3. The bumpad – done, will post on it
4. The quilted pocket – done, will post on it
5. The ugly raisin quilted petticoat, a.k.a “son of the ugly puffer” – WIP
6. The skirt – TBA
7. The hat – TBA, blank arrived
8. Victorian fingerless gloves (mine are all rather chunky knit/crochet) – WIP. First glove is ready to get it’s two seams (because I’m cheating)
9. The spats – WIP. The base pattern is done. I can probably get away without them though the boots I plan to wear are fairly modern ankle boots. At least they are plain, have toe caps and a stacked heel.

Here’s the sad original plan, back when I thought I could get away with just making a skirt. I’d just sort of pinned the fabric up on the dummy. I’ll have to do a side by side comparison of the original plan vs. the complete costume once it’s all ready. The difference is huge.

 

1930s Beach Pajamas Pant Mockup & Fitting

Now that’s a wide pant. About 62″ around each hem.

This is a mock up for the 1930s beach pajama project, so they aren’t hemmed at the moment. I’m pleased to report that they for the client’s waist/hips nicely and the length is pretty good, though a bit long in the front. Of course she’ll need to wear the appropriate shoes for the final hem.

Wiiide leg pants, sans waistband

Frankenpattern 30s beach pajama pants

We’ve decided to do the pants in navy linen. The top (third image down, on the right) will be bi-colored in navy and the natural linen of Nick’s cowl. I’ll be looking for a period belt buckle and hopefully matching buttons for the top.

The beautiful linen used for Nick’s cowl

 

Blackened Digits this Halloween

Quick make up and setting spray test for Halloween.

• Black nails with matte top coat
• Black mehron Paradise makeup
• NYX matte finishing spray

Yes, it will be on my fingers and probably half way up my hands. We’ll see. So far the setting spray is definitely matte and not tacky now that it’s dry, except that I can feel there is something on my hand when I bend my fingers. Casually running my other hand over the made up area there is minimal to no transfer! Sweet.

Did you know they make matte top coat? New one on me.

I’ve seen people do some cool things with blackened fingers, but my version will be slap-dash, applied hurriedly between putting out all my lights and candy and the hordes of little monsters showing up demanding their due.

Creepy school girl a la Sabrina. Better keep my fingers off that white collar, just in case.

 

Sometimes Crochet Can be Badass!

I love inventive crochet and knitting. By now we’ve all seen the kids’ stocking cap with attached lumberjack beard and the very cool crocheted Viking helmets. Love them.

This mom has been tackling Halloween via crochet. First she made a full suit crochet Predator costume, which was great! As a child of the 80s her other creation holds a special place in my heart – and yeah, of course he glows! Check out Slimer!

It sort of reminds me of the inchworm costume I insisted my mom make me when I was about 5 (only cooler, sorry Mom). I’d totally be Slimer for Halloween.

Slimer! Via Crochetverse via boingboing.

Check out the rest of the story on boingboing.

Check out Crochetverse’s website here.

Happy almost Halloween!

 

Demetrius Part 1

I did make quite a few garments for this year’s Faire Season. The following one of  three costumes started in March and completed in time for our home faire in July. It was also one of the most complicated projects I’ve worked on, to date. It currently totals seven pieces, in six colors and three different different fabrics.

Meet Demetrius the Griffin

Demetrius is a friend of a guild member, who I first met at a Renaissance Faire gone Baroque Piracy, last March. I gave him one of my business cards and the emails began.

His goal was to dress as a Traveling Merchant of the Renaissance Era. He had many ideas and 3 concept drawings, which he sent copies of. Two of which are shown below.

Concept Sketch

Full Color Concept Drawing of Demetrius the Merchant

Through emails we planned the minimum pieces he needed , that I could make. One robe with vents for the wings and tail, pants, shirt, a faux shirt or dicky, a hat and a coin pouch.

We then met for measurement taking and fabric selection. The original idea was to dress him in neutral tones of brown and grey. After some discussion we broadened the color palette, to a light grey shirt, light brown or tan pants, a dark blue robe with gold linen trim, a tan hat with gold trim, and a gold coin pouch with a blue rolled hem.

In this post I will discuss 2 of these pieces, the pouch and the hat.

Coin Pouch

The simplest item to make was finished first. This was the coin pouch. Two pieces of gold heavy weight linen trimmed with a blue woolly nylon rolled hem, and  a casing stitched for the draw string.

Version One, rejected

Version 2 in progress

The hat was the second item of this project to be completed. It is a cone shaped hat From a Victorian Santa Claus Pattern, that I modified.

In the drawing the hat would sit between the ears and drape over the back of the head. The color would match the robe and be trimmed in grey faux fur. We changed it to be the same color of heavy weight Ginger colored Linen. and trimmed with a wide band of Autumn Gold heavy weight linen. The band was doubly interface to ensure it wound stand up.and the cone was lined to give it more fullness in draping.

The Hat is Finished with a Gold Colored Feather

As you can see the completed hat does not sit between the ears. We could not find a way to hold the hat in place without using bobby pins or something else that would pull out Demetrius’ fur, or require attempting to pin it to the mask, which could stap the head within, or pull out fur, in the pulling out the pin.

For now at least,  the hat sits on one ear, with a feather in the band.

 

First Captain Marvel Trailer!

Seriously, I just teared up a little watching the first trailer for Captain Marvel.

[Update: It’s not just me. This is about the 5th similar reaction I’ve read today. And I haven’t been looking for them one way or another. You should see the moviestar tweet reactions.]

After forever of not having a female led super hero film were getting one. Now don’t get me wrong, I saw Wonder Woman and overall it was pretty great. In my five-year-old’s heart I’m still wearing Wonder Woman Underoos. But Wonder Woman was missing something for me that I still want.

(I swear this post fits on this blog – I will talk about costumes.)

What’s different about Captain Marvel is the one thing that took Wonder Woman down a notch for me. Diana starts her movie as sort of an adult innocent. She’s strong, brave, skilled and self-assured in those skills, which are important things to show, but she’s sheltered, trusting, demure. She does see the negative things in the world and does change and grow, but I still left the movie with that initial impression of her. As if she couldn’t be a hero without somehow apologising a little. (To be fair, I haven’t seen the later movies she’s in yet). Of course the time period the film is set in was not known for showing women being strong. That was certainly a factor. But think about how different characters like Shuri, Okoye, Wasp and Black Widow are. They are strong, fierce and unapologetic. Now the costume part. Wonder Woman’s outfit, while iconic, is still a mini skirt and strapless top. What woman doesn’t want to wear a regular bra or sports bra with her fighting uniform? And maybe not bother to shave her legs.

Captain Marvel is strong from the get go. Determined. From child to adult, she gets knocked down and keeps getting back up. The way they put those images together for the trailer was particularly effective. And by god, she’s covered by her uniform! She’s as protected as any other superhero. It will be interesting to hear how the uniform felt while shooting. Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp costume included a corset in the internal structure. Captain Marvel’s probably does too and that’s ok (Captain America’s probably does too). But what she’s wearing is functional. She can kick ass without worrying about her undies showing or having exposed skin on her chest and still look good. She can be a hero, who just happens to be a woman. That’s what I want.

It’s a small thing, but in the trailer, when the word HER becomes A HERO, that got me.

 

Adventures in Dying 2017 Part 1

 

     A. and I have been quite remiss in posting here. For that we apologize. It’s not that we haven’t been working on projects. We have had quite a few, but remembering to sit down and type or take pictures of the project in progress…. well I at least have a hard time taking the pictures. That being said…. Let’s continue.

 

The Bright Blue Shirt

     In the last 5 years ,we Peasants have acquired new guild members, some of them have never been to a Renaissance Faire. In the past we just made costumes for them. They do not always stay. We are not horribly expensive, and we try to work with in a budget, but were not cheep either. This year, we decided to loan costume pieces so they could do a faire in costume, and decide if faire was for them.

The original color of the shirt.

     A and I have been a part of our Renaissance Guild for a long time. Our costumes have evolved over time, and as we have aged We keep the costume pieces and our shape and sizes have also. We’ve also had other members donate costumes. On a few occasions we’ve also had random faire folk contribute to our collection. Shirts, jerkins, trews, smocks, skirts, and bodices. Some of these pieces aren’t quite accurate in color, or style.

     J. is one of these new members. He had never been to a faire before, but another member had brought him in as an applicant. He was quite excited about joining, but needed a costume ASAP. (Our home faire was coming up quick.) A and I needed to put a costume together quickly. We have a very small collection of pieces for men. We found a a pair of trews, or pants. We found a jerkin or vest. The only shirt that we had that would fit him was a very bright, electric blue. This blue was so bright we didn’t think it could be achieved with natural dyes that would have been affordable for an English Peasant.

We had to change it…

     A. took the first leg of this journey, but kept me updated by text throughout the process. Some

Results of not having enough RIT Color Remover or too much water.

of these including pictures.

     Using RIT Color Remover, she tried to remove some of the color. This worked, but not as one might expect. After 15 minutes in the bath it be came a “dark ? mud? color”. 45 minutes later, it was a medium chocolate “hot Cocoa” color. She then washed it in a regular wash cycle.

     We discussed options. Run it through another cycle with the dye remover, leave it out in the sun to see what would happen, or bleaching it, as a last result. A. then decided the color was not going to get any lighter, and was going to leave it be. After washing it in a regular wash cycle, she found the color removal was inconsistent. Some of the cotton fabric was a brownish color, and other areas were still a bright blue. The polyester thread was still the same vibrant blue was originally.

10 minutes into dye removal attempt #2

     A., re-read the directions and realized she should have used 2 packets instead of the one. She decided to run it through another cycle of RIT Color Removal, this time using less water, and agitating herself instead of letting the washing machine do it. 15 minutes into the dye removal bath, she sent me a picture . It was a beautiful rust color. She left it in the bath for the recommended 30 minutes, then washed it.

     A., later sent me this photo, stating that it wasn’t as bright in

The shirt was still wet, and not as dark in person.

person, but the color was consistent. As you might see in the picture, the thread used to stitch it together was still bright blue.

     Once again we discussed options. The polyester thread was still that unnaturally, bright blue. We didn’t like it. Even if it is just the top stitching, that blue had to go.

     I went to A’s house the following weekend, to pick up the the shirt and work on other projects. We discussed the options for dying the thread. I had already had two packets of iDye Poly, one in green and one in gunmetal. We decided to go with the Gunmetal, but I couldn’t find it, when I got home.

This was not what I expected.

I went with the green.

     Polyester, being a synthetic, petroleum based fiber, requires the stove top method, as the heat needed for the dye to penetrate, cannot be reached or maintained in the washing machine.

     I armed myself with a Tamale pot filled with hot water, a wood spoon and a packet of iDye Poly green dye and prepared for a hot hour in the kitchen.

     This was supposed to be a 2 hour project, from the time the water began to boil to the washing and drying of the garment. Chemistry, however, had other plans…

     The dying part went well enough. The fabric of the shirt

First wash after Poly Dye.

got really

dark, but since the fabric was 100% cotton, I figured most of the dye would wash out. It was a dye for synthetic fibers, and the goal was to dye the top stitching threads.

     For an hour I stood in the kitchen, on a hot day, stirring the pot. When the time was up I dumped some of the liquid out of the pot and carried it out to the washing machine. I ran the shirt through a cold

At least the top stitching is green.

rinse cycle, and once again chemistry threw me a curve ball… The shirt was now a navy blue so dark it was almost a purple/black. This was not acceptable for a peasant. The color of the time period we portray, would have been too costly to produce.

     I ran is through a hot water wash cycle, hoping some of the color would bleed out. The color

lightened, but was still to dark to be worn by a peasant. The goal for dying the top stitching worked perfectly, though. Its a beautiful green.

     I went back to the washing machine, hot water and Oxi Clean. Half an hour in, I got impatient, I added a capful of bleach, and waited 2 or 3 hours more. Finally, I had a shirt I could hand over to a peasant. This “2 hour project” lasted an entire day.

Finally!! Its an acceptable color.

 

Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick Two.

Everything about this post from Witness2Fashion is so true for all custom garments.

Bonus – it’s got sewing photos and ads from the 1930s.

Source: Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick Two.

 

A Renaissance Peasant Couple Costume Wrap-Up

Sometimes it’s a little difficult to get excited about the upcoming faire season, but not when you’re sewing costumes months in advance! This month we completed basic peasant costumes for a very nice couple. They were pretty please with the outcome and looked great in their new garb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pieces we made were:

For him:

• a collared shirt in natural muslin
• a brown linen flat cap
• brown linen trews
• a dark green linen jerkin with plain epaulets

For her:

• a banded collar shirt in natural muslin that has more feminine gathering into the neckline (but reduced bulk in the body) and a ruffled cuff (making it higher class than peasant)
• a full circle, six gored skirt in chocolate brown linen
• a custom pattern bodice in (reversible) dark green and rust linen with plain epaulets and tabbed skirting

These are the basic pieces for the peasant wardrobe, though women usually wear two skirts or an ankle length shirt and one skirt. Adult women also always wore some type of head covering (only young/unmarried girls and loose women left their hair down for all to see). Other basic items include a belt, shoes/boots, a belt pouch, eating knife, and mug. That’s all you need to be an English Elizabethan peasant – and likely all you had clothing-wise.