Gallery:

January 2009
Celebrating Edgar Allen Poe's birthday in Baltimore once again!

January 2008
Celebrating Edgar Allen Poe's birthday in Baltimore in style!

Jan 2008
Some close-ups.

Thanks to Loren & Aubry for the use of your photos!

Dress Diary:

Jan 1 2008

As most of you know I'm accompanying several LJ friends to Edgar Allen Poe's home in Baltimore to celebrate his birthday. In costume of course.

The only snag in the plan is that I don't have anything remotely 1830s-1850s, so a new costume is in order. I blame watching North & South and drooling over the recently auctioned Tasha Tudor collection but the 1840s suddenly seem almost pretty. It's never seemed attractive before this year. In fact I swore I would never make an 1840s dress, which just goes to show that you should never say never in costuming!

I decided that to avoid the cupcake look (which this era tends to favor on me) I needed to keep the lines as simple and uncluttered as possible. Simple also fits my deadline. I drew my inspiration from the above gowns (found via Demode's archive).

I was tickled when I found the exact pattern for the style in good old Hunnisett. *hugs book* It even has the option for the collar, which I'm not sure I'll do or not but it's nice to know it's there as an option. :>

The fabric is a medium weight gray stripe of questionable fiber content. It's been in the stash so long I don't even remember which state it was bought in. It may have even come from Wal-Mart's bargain table, I really don't remember. There is a good amount of it so I shouldn't have to scrimp on the skirt or trimmings - yay. I love the idea of using the stripe as a design element on my rather plain gown, should help it look more interesting. Some striped piping or ruffles would be fun, although I'm not sure I'll have time to mess with such details. The event is on the 20th of this month after all.

All this will be worn under my (yet unmade) bustle chemise, Frederick's reboned corset, & my old civil war ruffled petticoat. (I'll have to re-pleat the waistband on that I think.) To finish off I want a simple lace collar, brooch, lace mitts and shawl. All of which I have (I'm hoping there is a lace collar in the stash, if not I can piece one. Hey I might even have enough of my Liberty of London lace to do it umm..). I'm not even going to attempt a bonnet, not with my tight deadline so I'll have to go without, unless anyone has one I can barrow. *bats eyelashes*

Jan 3
So far the Poe dress is not going well. I've tried twice to print out the enlarged pattern and it won't print but 3 pages - the rest are blank. I have no idea what the issue is and really I'm just not in the mood for this.

I think I'll go crochet. *sigh*

edited to add:
Maybe I should just break down and buy the TV pattern. I like the Hunnisett better though...

Jan 4

I finally got the pattern to print late last night . I had to do it on Dad's computer/printer but I got it done. Stupid computer.

The first toile was *eh*. It needed a fair amount of work, which was disheartening, but I really liked the shape of the pieces and how they looked on me. The way the front panels looked with the stripes was just what I wanted.

I thought again about ditching what I wanted for another pattern but then thought "I CAN DO THIS" and went back into my room determined to beat the wretched project into submission. (Take that you costume!) Then I realized that part of my problem might be that I hadn't added seam allowances before I cut out the toile. Duh!

So I've re cut the toile, tweaking it here and there per some of the issues I noted with the first and adding proper seam allowances. I'm just taking a break now before sewing it together. We are supposed to go out for BBQ to celebrate the Jayhawks victory over VA Tech (yay!) anytime now so maybe I'll just leave it there for now.

Not much to show for my sewing day but really toiles are a pain and my attitude is much better now so progress has been made.

Jan 4
Umm... the toile with all the seam allowances looks better at the bottom and in the back but it's HUGE in front. Like DDD big.

*sigh* I am just not going to be able to do this on myself, I need my dress form. It's going to take a little engineering first to work with her though because, as you know, Narcissa is broken. I really wish I had $400 to blow on a new professional dress form; it would make my life so much easier. I may have to break down and get another cheapie though. Like my cheapie irons that I just plan on replacing every two years or so. Narcissa did last almost 5 years...

Moo.

Well I'm quitting for the evening anyway. I won't get a chance to work on this again until Sunday, if then. Real life getting in the way of costuming... I mean the nerve.

Jan 6

First off pics of the DDD Poe toile. The pic doesn't even show how big it was - so sad!

Once I got Narcissa all padded out and as close to my shape as she gets, I took the front of the first toile and the rest of the back toile and started draping it on her. I had to slash at the waist area a lot as well as mess with the bust seams. It also seemed way too long, so I shortened it to where I thought my waist was.

After transferring my changes unto new pieces I sewed them together for toile #4. SO. Much. Better. That's all I have to say.

Still a bit more toiling to go though. No shortcuts on this project! Over all I need ease and some reshaping of the neckline so the sleeves sit right. (1840s should sit right on the shoulder, correct?) I got a little zealous on the front waistline so that needs to come down a bit, although the back looks pretty good to me. I don't know why I shaped the back to a point in back, once I tried it on I remembered I wanted it round in the back. Oh well, easy to snip!

I'm obviously going to need a chemisette to fill in the neckline for this event although I rather like the look of the faux neckerchief in Hunnisett. I wonder if really it's period though. Or if I really care at this point. :> The amount of research I've put into this project is really scandalous - why start now? :>

Jan 11
I am sick. Don't these viruses floating around know I have a costume to work on!! I felt relatively better today so I spent a little time surfing the net

My Poe Research consisted of trying to figure out what to do with the neckline of my dress. I like it as is but it's a little low for a Victorian day dress so I was thinking a chemisette or neckerchief or something. Although in looking through fashion plates at the University of Washington and the NY Public Library I noticed that earlier in the 40s a lower neckline during the day seemed acceptable. At least I assume so, they are wearing bonnets... perhaps it's just wishful thinking...

August 1841 Grahams magazine

Jan 16

I got back to work on the Poe last night. sadievale came over last night and we sewed together. It was nice to have a costuming buddy to get me going and keep me laughing; I was really not in the mood to work last night.

I can't believe I have to have this dress finished in a few days, I'm so far behind and so not in the mood, but I don't have a back-up plan. I'm afraid to push myself too hard for fear of getting sick once again though. My immune system is so run down at the moment. Still I plow ahead, not knowing what else to do...

The real point of this post is to whine and say that I HATE sleeves. The first sleeve toile has been a disaster. Yes, I really hate sleeves. *sigh*

Jan 16

Is it possible, can I actually be finished with the toileing? Yes I think so. The sleeve isn't perfect but it will do. I took off my toile and corset before remembering the camera so no pics, sorry about that.

I did a full mockup of the bodice pattern, with a lining, to double check the fit and think through how I was going to construct it. It was a bit time consuming but I'm glad I did it, everything looks good and I know about how long it will take to put together. I think I'll take a break to attend to some e-mailing and then go cut out the bodice.

Hey I may actually get this done in time yet!

Jan 17
Everything is cut out and just in time for a lunch break. Well, almost everything. I wanted bias ruffles on the skirt and sleeves but I'm going to get it in wearable condition first before I worry about frivolous decorations.

It's been snowing all morning, so pretty! It's supposed to turn to a winter mix tonight. I'm so glad I don't have to go anywhere today. :P

Jan 17

Things have been going slower than I wanted but progress has definitely been made today. The bodice is 90% done, with the sleeves hemmed and the inside seams all whip stitched neatly down and everything. I just have to add the hooks and eyes and finish off the waist line and I'm done.

It took longer than I had anticipated mostly due to my rather slippery fabric. Thank God for basting spray that's all I have to say! I both lined and interlined the bodice with black cotton sateen. My obsession to match the stripes as much as possible sucked up some time too. I knew I didn't have the time/patience to get super picky but I did try to match up the stripes nicely in the very front at least. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself...

I'm pleased with the results, except that this fabric is way shiny and will never photograph well. The sleeves don't look like much on Narcissa either, but on me they are rather nice bell sleeves. Nicer with trim of course...

On to the skirt!

Jan 19

Thanks for all your kind words and encouragement to my last post! My evil plan of using stripes so no one will notice how simple and lame my frock is is working!! *evil laugh*

Aubry's here - yay! She missed her connection so I had to go to Charlottesville to pick her up but we had a nice trip back and got to stop at Whole Foods for dinner - yum!

My dress is progressing. I started work on the cartridge pleats yesterday morning. I folded back about an 1" at the top of my skirt and then remembered that I had the long point in front. So I changed the top fold, making it "4 at the very middle. Hopefully that will help the hemming.

I ran the three gathering stitches by hand, making them larger in the very back. I put in and ripped out the very front three times before I figured out how I wanted to do it so I was only about 1/3 of the way done when Aubry called needing a ride. So, fortified with some of her yummy French pastries, we spent the evening bundled up on my bed sewing, giggling and listening to jazz. I finished the cartridge pleats and she her eyelets and we called it a night.

So today I have to sort out under petticoats (surely there is something in the stash that will do!) and accessories, hem the skirt and sew on the hooks and eyes. No bias ruffles which makes me sad but it looks just fine with out them. Just a bit more late '40s severe than I was going for. Ah well, I'm just grateful that despite not feeling well and other setbacks I have something to wear and I won't be up all night tonight to have done it. Perhaps ruffles next time I wear it!

Jan 19
Today has been nice. I spent the morning sewing on my hooks & eyes and then Aubry marked my hem for me. We then we headed downtown for luncheon at Pinkadilly and a tour of the James Monroe museum, which after living here for 6 years I had never been to. It was small but interesting, including a cockade Monroe brought back from Paris (he was the American ambassador during the French Revolution). So fun!

After dinner I broke down and actually worked on my dress. Aubry kept me company while I sewed the hem (by machine, so lazy!) and rag curled my hair. It's only midnight and I'm off to bed - yay!

Jan 21

The Poe event was Fabulous! Actually the whole weekend was lovely. My favorite part of the evening was when Mr. Poe himself talked about creating his work The Raven before giving a moving and brilliant rendition his famous poem. We then ended the evening with a toast to Mr. Poe.

To be honest I wasn't terribly familiar with Poe or his work before I signed up for this event, not being much of a Victorian literature or poetry fan, so I got to hear the Raven for the very first time that night. Surely that is the only way to hear it, recited in a true Victorian style. Sitting in the front row, bedecked in my "Nicholas Nickleby clothes" and Loren's fabulous bonnet (which I so wanted to steal!) it was so easy to lose myself in the moment and feel like I'd gone back in time. At the end it was a little jarring to turn around and find the hall full of people in modern clothes!

Ahh yes, my dress. I couldn't be more pleased with the way it came out. I felt like quite the super star in it. I have a few tweaks I need to see to (like those slipping shoulders *grrr*) but really I'm in shock it came out so well, what with being sick and out of my element and all.

Links to more talk and pics from the day:
the rest of my pics
Loren's entry
Maggie's entry
Isabella's entry

Jan 2009
January = Poe's birthday and thanks to a date being settled on and news that darling Aubry is coming down for the event I am once again ready to embark on Victoriana.

I love the dress I made last year but it needs some tweaking. The shoulders have an annoying habit of not wanting to stay up. I blame my lack of on-the-shoulder-sleeve fitting skills. I spent a chunk of the day researching and pondering all sorts of options - a chemisette to tack the shoulders to, a bertha of some kind to raise the neckline, a tucker with a drawstring to help keep everything in place. I think for now I'm going to try the easy and extremely un-period method of elastic at the shoulder (per Hunnisett). If that doesn't work I'll go for the tucker.

The fun part of this tweak involve the trimming I didn't have time to do last year. RUFFLES. Normally I'm not a huge ruffle girl but when I found the above fashion plate with rows of bias ruffles playing off a striped skirt I fell in love. I'm sure I will want to stick myself in the eye with a fork at some point (ahh the hemming - help me!) but it's going to look so neat when I'm done. I'll also add rows of bias ruffles to the sleeves like the original pattern. Yay!

Jan 9 2009

RUFFLES!!! *runs to reserved padded cell*

I started work on my bias ruffles tonight. Mostly played around with strips of fabric on my frock to try and figure out the proportions of width and placement. What can I say - I'm a visual person! :>

Jan 10 2009
Jenny's tip of the day:

A gathering foot won't work on bias ruffles so don't bother to spend time trying to figure out how the thing works.

*rolls eyes*

Jan 10 2009

Work begins in earnest! Oh my gosh, I'd forgotten how slippery this rayon was. I am so insane to be doing this - and on the bias no less. I wish the contrast of diagonal stripes didn't look so cool.

I thought the sleeves would be a good place to start so I began with just one strip, to work out how I would sew them and how full each ruffle should be. Testing, testing... I decided to cheat a little on the hemming by zig-zaging the edges, folding a narrow hem and stitching. The top of the ruffles I likewise finished the edge with a zig-zag, that is it. The top ruffles I'll cover with ribbon but the rest I will leave as is... I think. I've stitched them down with a wide zig-zag so they look fine. I'm trying to decide if I want to be anal about it. At the moment I'm thinking not.

So some ribbon and the sleeves are done - yay! I really like the way they look. The skirt really needs ruffles now to balance it. Why oh why did I have to make my skirt so full! *sob* But it must be done! *sighs dramatically*

The nice thing about these ruffles are they are pretty brainless. No fitting – yay! Just r-e-a-l-l-y monotonous. And finicky.

Jan 16 2009

I am sick. Moo. I don't want to be sick.

I also don't want to sit around and do nothing (despite the fact that nothing is really what I have energy for) so I'm making ruffles. Last night I cut out over 800 inches worth of bias strips for the Poe skirt. The skirt will have a total of 6 rows of ruffles, each row needs to be about 313" long. So I still have a way to go but enough of laying out slippery fabric, tonight I am ruffl-ing. At least it's a brainless exercise.

In happy news:
1. We had a wood fire going all day so the house smells lovely (it's freezing out!)
2. Mom made the best turkey & rice soup ever for dinner
3. I bought Edgar Allen Poe-stage stamps today while I was at the post office.

I couldn't resist. :P

Jan 19 2009
I'm starting to feel better - yay!

I took a break from the endless ruffles today (I have two rows finished, I'm only doing one more until Oct!!) and worked on the bodice. The real reason to mess with the bodice is to come up with a solution for those shoulders that won't stay on. I was going to go with the cheater elastic idea but then i remembered how cold I was last year.

So I went back to the collar/bertha idea. I found several versions of this concept in my books so I decided to go with a "V" sort of thing. I liked the idea of more stripey fun so I cut two strips on the bias (I'm getting pretty good with all this practice!). My original idea was to gather the bertha at the front and sides. That was not cute so on to plan "B".

Trim down the size a bit and go for no gathers. I like it better but really I don't know if I like it. What to you think? Does it need something else, a ruffle or lace or something. *ponders*

Yes and kitty cuteness - Nefret was keeping me company yesterday. "I wanna help mommy!"

Jan 28 2009

I think I have a cunning plan for the bertha... I think it works. I was playing around with accessories and remembered this fur capelet my Nana gave me last year. It was her one piece of nice fur and she thought I could use it for something - so sweet!

Anyway I tried it on with the dress while S was here on Sunday and it occurred to me that it would make my life much simular to use the collar as a faux bertha. It would hold up the sleeves and keep me warm (very cozy!). My only concern is the color. It takes my fabric away from the dark gray gothic feel. Umm...

Mom and Dad are in Florida (have been since Thursday) so no one to help me in and out of the dress and tell me my ideas are not crazy. Dude, I couldn't ever live alone, this really sucks!

Jan 30 2009
Aubry arrived last night and as usual I was still sewing! This afternoon we went to tea at Pinkadilly with Mom and Stephanie which was fun. The rest of the day (except for the Ikea-trip-that-never-was) was spent sewing. I finished up my Poe bertha (which would have never happened without Aubry's help - thanks Luv!) and Aubry worked on her stomacher.

I decided in the end that I didn't like the fur. The color really bothered me and because it didn't come closer to the center front the proportion was off. So after ripping out the old lining, relining it and sewing it to dress, I ripped the fur collar off and used it as a pattern base for a new bertha. Oh well.

Aubry took the base and draped the pattern on me. She did a fabulous job! I then sewed up the bertha and trimmed it with some velvet ribbon. I have some lace that still needs attached but I'm going to ask Stephanie to stitch it on for me the morning while I do her hair. A fair barter I think! :>

Feb 3 2009
What a lovely weekend! I had such a good time with girliegirl32786. We giggled, sewed, ate, snarked, schemed and barely slept - it was a typical visit really. :> On Saturday we made great time to Baltimore and met up with several friends for tea at Brighton's. The atmosphere was really lovely and the food was quite tasty. The sandwiches won a A++ in presentation - I only wished there were more!

After tea we went to the Poe celebration (nice and early this time). The program was, again, excellent. John Astin was amazing. He was a man in a three piece black suit on a stage with a table and chair reading selected works and letters. Yet as he read (with one of the nicest, sexist voices ever) I felt chills and even had tears running down my face at one point (I need to remember a hankie next time). The talent and power of his voice was amazing. His choice of selections and the way he wove them together was fabulous as well. You could tell he was really passionate about the subject, it really was magical. And he read my two favorite Poe pieces too, The Raven and Search for El Dorado, which made me very happy.

The evening ended with the toast to Poe and a soprano singing Amazing Grace and Auld Lang Syne. It was a nice uplifting way to end the evening. Afterwards we hung out and took pics while we waited for John Astin's autograph line to die down. After getting our signatures and pics most of us headed to an Irish pub for a snack. More fun was had (Poe cake anyone?) as we continued to scheme about costume plans and events for the year.

We got back to Fredericksburg about 2:30am. What a day! You will find my pics here.