Challenge #20: Outerwear #1 Vicki's Pelisse

  

Fabric: Wool/Poly blend - Lining is cotton
Pattern: Sense and Sensibility Spencer/Pelisse
Year: Regency (Roughly 1800-1820ish)
Notions: two brown coat hooks
How historically accurate is it? Pretty good, period pattern, fabric looks period, a mixture of machine and hand sewing.
Hours to complete:Several, I did this over the course of two weeks.  Vicki has scoliosis (her left shoulder is 4 cm higher than her right) so it took a lot of fitting and adjusting and taking things apart (even with a mock-up)!
First worn: For the Tall Ships in October
Total cost: > $30 (I have a couple of yards of wool and cotton left over).

Draping

I prefer to drape on a person, because no matter how close a dress form may be it isn't exactly the same.  And dammit, if I'm going to work on something for someone else - they should be willing to show up and participate. ESPECIALLY if I'm doing it for free.

and - its a cool blog.

Read here:http://stay-ingalive.blogspot.com/

Adventures in 18th Century costuming

I have just finished Victoria's 18th Century corset. Why did I make Victoria an 18th Century corset? Because in a rare bit of mother-daughter bonding she told me that she wanted one of those fancy dresses from the Colonial/American Revolution era. So after some research (which did require some arm-twisting) I was able to determine that she REALLY wanted an a la englaise.

So as with all good costuming, the underwear comes first. My good friend Hannah was over one day and was able to draft a pattern for a corset. The photo contains the finished product. Along with the pocket hoops that *only* took 5 hours from idea to completion made by Hannah as a gift for Victoria. Victoria's only job is to add a hook and a bar to the waist band of the hoops.

Alteration notes have been taken on the corset - it needs to be longer and smaller in the shoulders. As it stands now the corset closes and the back. Because of her scoliosis, the front doesn't look just right - to help with that I may add an inch to the top of the left side. This will make the corset look odd on paper, but should help with coverage in her front.