Dress diary of a Fitted English Gown - part 2

[janestarz]

Part 1 can be found here.

Due to circumstances, this part took me longer to finish than expected. But the third mock-up, which is a wearable costume part in itself, is now done. The other good news is that I won't have to finish the actual fitted gown by the end of February. My deadline is now the end of April, allowing for other sewing projects to take precedence.

All that good news is balanced out by some bad news, but I'll get to that later. Follow me behind the cut and sing it with me: Plaid Is Rad!

The fabric I had in mind for my third mock-up had several perks and several drawbacks. Of course, when making a gown in wool lined with linen, you should make a test version out of fabrics that behave similarly. Lucky for me, I still had a plaid wool lying around that I once bought at the market. Steelweaver and Twilightbanana also had bought this, and were happy to report it was indeed a good wool, there was hardly any polyester in it so it would age like wool does -- and it was not fit for pants. (Oy.)

First though, I had to figure out how to continue. As you might remember from my previous post, the pattern is from the Tudor Tailor but due to fitting, I ended up with a curved center-front seam. This in itself is not so strange, nor is it unusual for the period, but it did present me with a rather unique problem: what should be the straight grain?
I came up with a simple way of seeing what would look best.



After making this image, I realised not only which option would be better but also where the stretch of the fabric would be at. Now my plaid was not so coarse as the above image, but I decided to be safe, rather than sorry and opted for the second option, leaving the straight of the grain at the waistline, and having the more bias-slanted pieces over the top of the bust. (You don't want stretching happening at the waistline, but it might come in handy over the bust.)

You might also recall there was a nasty ridge at the back neck. I guessed this was because the angle of the shoulder was a bit steep towards the neckline, making for an angle the fabric does not want to lie in. Just to be safe, I did alter the shoulder as well, as you can see here:



This would be the first test for my sleeves, and I had drafted a very simple, straight and straight-forward sleeve pattern as I am taught in school. I measured the armscye and then measured the sleeve head, adding room to the pattern (pushing the under arm seam outwards) to match this measurement. Of course I also wanted some pleating going on at the sleevehead, so I added extra room in the sleevehead as well. (Aahh...can you guess what's going to happen? Stay tuned!)



Here's my fabrics!



The plaid is really quite tiny and the slight maroon/pink threads make it a warm brown. I'm lining it with a crisp linen that will be hell to iron, so I won't have to.



I also add a bit of room at the center front so I can make buttonholes. This is where the fabric will overlap at the front, so I just make it a straight edge, 2cm wide overall down the curved center front seam until the waistline seam.
I also measure the pockets (optional, page 102) and create a linen pattern piece for it from a scrap.



Turns out the fabric has a right and a wrong side. I pay attention to this from this point forward, because it really looks bad if the skirts are more fuzzy than the bodice.




All paper pattern pieces are stored into a plastic holder with a copy of the line drawing from the book to remind me what it is. Then it's time to set up the serger. Normally, I just knot the new thread to the old, but of course I forget this. *mumble mumble*



I play around some more with the timer on my camera. Look at me wearing pink and working hard! I can pull off a pose like this within two seconds, apparantly.
To make sure the center back is really straight, I follow the lines of the plaid. It will look really horrible if it's not utterly straight. Yes, this includes taking off some of the seam allowance, but I have some to spare. Also, it's a mock-up. Why do I even care?



I certainly have my work cut out for me, but first I have to press the fold out of my plaid.



Sewing. I have very little to say about this step, except that my bobbin throws a wobbler. I cut off the offending bit and re-thread it. No more problems from then on. It could just be a bad bit of thread.
(No, no, no more ominous warnings. The bobbin behaves. Honest!)



I check to see if my hand will actually fit into the pocket and decide that this will do. I already sew the seam around it... (insert ominous warning here)




Time for pleating. First I lay out the center back panel, with the edge that needs the sewing, away from me. After the move the drawing table is downstairs, while my atelier is upstairs, so my ironing board gets abused for all the pinning I can't do in my lap. I swear I might get used to that garish grass green colour some day...

I have cut the back skirts three times as wide as they should be, as per the instructions. Now I just need to pleat them to the back bodice. I decide to use rather wide pleats of 10 cm. Maybe I was just lazy, or perhaps the explanation "it seemed like a good idea at the time" will do. In any case, several pins later I have a piece ready for the machine and I can sew these together. The book states that first the skirts have to be attached to the front and back pieces, before sewing the side seam. This makes sure the back skirts don't extend past it.



And I've got a nice pleated backside ready for attaching to the front!



At this point I realise I can't really sew the pockets into the side seam unless I tear out part of my stitching, so here's mr. Seamripper for his cameo performance. Give him a big hand!



The pockets are inserted into the side seam by first sewing them onto the front skirt, and then onto the back skirt at the same height, before sewing the rest of the side seam. If you do this properly, the pockets will not be visible once you've pressed the seam. It's a really nifty trick. Now I just need to figure out how they attached the velvet trim around it (see the book, it's really a nifty concept!). But I won't do this in the mock-up, so we might get around to that particular piece of fiddly sewing in the final version.



After the shoulder and side seam have been sewn, I can't help but try everything on. My, those pleats are really big, and they don't do wonders for my figure...



It's now Tuesday evening (one week before I am writing this post) and the next day I am accompanying my father for his hospital visit. This includes a one-hour train trip and a few hours in the hospital, so I prepare the sleeves. According to the instructions, the seam allowances have to be turned under for the sleeve head and the armscye and the sleeves are attached with some whip-stitching. This is a method I had never before tested, so I am curious to see how it will pan out.
Instead of turning the sleeve head seam-allowance under, I press the underarm seam open for both lining and outside, and sew them right-sides together. Much more simple!



While turning them right-side out, the sleeve makes a really weird shape, but once the lining is inside the plaid exterior sleeve, it looks normal again.



I make sure the back lining bodice is pressed, with steam and fog as a reward. While I assemble the lining I notice that the back skirts look a bit weird as they hang on the mannequin.



There is an extra crease in the skirt, and this is because I assumed that the back skirts needed to be gored (for extra flair and width at the hem) if you want to pleat them. The three back skirt pieces are therefor all trapezoid-shaped. When you pleat this onto the bodice, there will be additional fabric at the seams where the back skirt pieces meet, and this is where this extra crease or fold comes from.



I decide I don't like this! While assembling the back lining pieces, I pin straight down and ignore the extra width. Instead of three trapezoid pieces, I should have created one square piece that has its seams alongside the grain. The outer two pieces of the skirt should have one gored side, and one side straight on the grain. You would make your back skirt piece wider along the straight of the grain. If you cut it in three pieces, don't be tempted to gore all pieces. Lesson duly learned.
If I take this extra room at the hem out of the lining, I should do this also with the plaid part of the coat, so I pin it while it's on the doll and follow the straight lines of the plaid.



I run out of thread and am forced to buy a different brand to keep using the same colour.



Once both parts of the coat are assembled, I put everything on the mannequin. I always put the lining on first, so it's slightly smaller than the outer layer. I also check to make sure they're right sides togheter.



The neck needs to be a bit lower, so I draw that in with chalk before sewing everything.



More sewing ensued. I clip my corners for easier turning.



After turning, it looks rather chaotic when I first put it on the mannequin, but some pins soon enough help to keep everything in check.



Can't help myself. Must have sneak peek!




Time for turning under the armscye seam allowance. There's no tricks to avoid it here, so I fold the seam allowances under like a good girl, and pin them. I could do the sewing by machine, but I don't want my stitching to show. Because it's wool so it's a little thicker you might just see the indentation of stitches, if not the actual stitches, so I just whipstitch around it, by hand, while watching Col. O'Neill take on hostile Jaffa.

After the armscyes are ready, I pack up the coat, the two sleeves (a girl can hope to finish it, right?) and my sewing necessities into a bag. I didn't bring my camera so there's not really any pictures of me setting the sleeves in the train and the hospital. (Phone has to be off in hospitals. I'm old-fashioned that way.)

As you might recall, the sleeveheads have been drafted larger than the armscye in the hope to create some room for pleating. The drawings in the Tudor Tailor have some indication of puffy sleeveheads in any case. I pin everything down before handsewing the sleeves to the bodice, but even though I take care to take the most room at the top, the sleeve fits into the armscye. Granted, there is a lot of ease, but there isn't really any need for pleating!
Once the sleeve is set it reminds me of the sleeves on a man's suit: they first go up a wee bit, before coming down towards the wrist. I am not sure how much ease you can get into an armscye, but apparantly, it's enough to thwart my evil plan for pleats!



Buttons!
Today I finally managed to drag my butt back into the atelier. Granted, last week I did some improvements to it: I put up a different lamp so I can take better pictures and taped some fabric over the windows to help insulate the room. Still, I can hardly get the temperature up above 17°C (if that) so it's a battle of wills on a good day. The 'curtains' help, though.



I measure the buttons and topstitch all around the front opening and the collar.



Then I sew the buttonholes. At the top of the bodice, the curved center-front seam makes the buttonholes no longer stay perpendicular to the plaid. I keep them at a right angle from center-front. In theory, you could stay true to the grain and follow the plaid -- it doesn't matter in functionality -- but while wearing the garment you'd notice the buttonholes angle over the bust while they perfectly follow the plaid. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!



I mark the button placement while wearing the coat pinned shut over my longsleeve. I then sew the buttons while watching a bit of "Ancient Aliens".

Finally, the coat is in a wearable state, so I dress up in my camicia and gown that are supposed to fit underneath this Fitted Gown. Although this plaid mockup is not the final product, it is still very much a wearable garment and I intend to finish the hem at some point (honest!).



However, please note my look of massive underwhelmment as I see my reflection. This fit and the big pleats in the back do nothing to flatter my figure.. and I do have one under that plaid, I swear!



You can see I've not even hemmed the sleeves yet, and in this last and final picture I am showing you that I can probably take another 2 centimeters out of the side seam if I wanted to.

As far as I could tell, there are several fitting issues in these final pictures.

Because of the dress with large skirts underneath, if I add a wee bit of ease in the waistline, the entire coat will take advantage of it and consider the waistline a part of unchartered territory, to be ignored, etc. In other words: Either I fit the waistline more snugly around the gown, or suffer to have none at all.

The shoulder of the gown is a centimeter too wide, and the fabric cannot support this style without a shoulderpad or further stiffening.

The collar could do with further stiffening.

The sleeves are a bit tight around the camicia, which might be a problem for a camicia without cuffs.

I am even considering, because of the huge amount of fabric (4½ meters) in the skirt to make a shorter version of the coat. In stead of making it a floor-length fitted English Gown, which has issues at the waist because of the huge bulky skirts immediately below the waist, I could make a shorter jacket or waistcoat with gores below the waist (like this). I doubt that will be warm enough in November.

Let's just tell it flat out as it is: the entire gown could do with a much, much more snugly fitting line, except perhaps at the bust. What do you think? Is this still fix-able?


Cross-posted to dressdiaries

Comments

[musemistress.livejournal.com]

It does have issues with that waistline fit. I'm not sure if this would be an even possible idea, but would a touch of boning help? Forcing it to shape in as it's dragging itself down due to the shear weight of fabric in those pleats, maybe boning on the sides might pull it in a bit despite the weight and reduce the drag just enough.

It's been years since I've sewed anything due to leaving larp behind, but a friend of mine once made sure a leather bodice he made for me wouldn't roll up or get dragged into a straight shape by the weight hanging from it by putting some boning under the bust and on the sides. Would darts coming down from the shoulder to meet on the waist 2cm out on each side of the buttons be too non-period? it might bring in the tummy more and accentuate the assets while defining a waist beneath the snug layers.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Boning will not bring in the waist more, it will just hang loose like the gown does now. In corsets, boning has the function of not allowing a tight garment to roll up or squish itself into the narrowest point of your body. It helps to stretch the fabric vertically. The garment must have the shaping by itself.
This gown does not have the shaping yet, so boning is not the issue here. It's just too wide.

Thanks for thinking along though! How are things down under?

[musemistress.livejournal.com]

Hot and muggy, but all good. I'm trying to motivate myself to sew something for Nicky for a convention coming up in 4 months, as well as myself (little Steampunk Link and me dressed as Steampunk Zelda) so I've been coming back to LJ to check some creative groups I'm been a member of for many years to see if they have any ideas. I also need to reteach myself HOW to sew as it's stupid to be a half-arsed job and I have a full soft cowskin sitting in the back room gathering dust.

As for it being wide. I suppose you'll need to shape it in then. Are darts still a consideration or would that ruin the look?

[steelweaver.livejournal.com]

I actually sorta like it. Needs taking in at the waist and you'll want the waistline to hit just above your kirtle's, or it won't want to fit over it. Otherwise, you just gets squished skirts, looking like love handles :)

These skirts will never make your butt/hips look small, because they weren't intended to. They're there to keep you warm, fit over the rest and contrast with the tight(ish) bodice. I like the CF/split skirt, could use a few more pleats on the hips (personal taste) and maybe slightly smaller pleats at the back. As a wearable mock up, I'd call it a success: you know what to change and you can wear it, too. Anything else is gravy.

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

De taille mag inderdaad smaller, voor mijn gevoel zou hij aan de achterkant ook hoger mogen. Het lijkt alsof de taille van de jas lager is dan de taille van je jurk (maar dat kan ook vertekenen op de foto). Ik weet niet of het historisch verantwoord is, maar je zou ook platte plooien kunnen kiezen i.p.v. stolp plooien. Die liggen platter (en dus minder bulkig)