The Costume Maven

Making an entire garment by hand as a first project after I completed this last semester is definitely ambitious. I have the utmost respect for the men and women who made clothing by hand and those who still make a living making clothes for others. It takes lots of time and after a few hours there is not really a comfortable position to sit in and still do the work. As I stated in previous posts, I am learning new things by taking the time to do this by hand. I am learning how to work with linen which is a very slippery fabric! When I queried the Elizabethan Costuming group on Facebook, they quickly responded with many helpful suggestion for dealing with linen and keeping it still so that it could be cut straight. I am trying to work up to using the cut thread method. Something within me just cannot quite wrap my mind around cutting a thread in my fabric and drawing it out to make a straight line. I understand the process, I just need to practice it. I did end up pining the linen t...

After I went to bed last night, I admit to being plagued by a few doubts on how my smock was going to turn out. Creating a pattern on your own, even with some direction in mind, can be a little daunting. What added to my doubts was that I have very little linen to work with. If I make a mistake, I will have to order some more and then wait to work on my project. So in order to give myself a little confidence boost, I decided some additional samples were in order. Test samples also appeal to my engineering brain so I made them with pleasure. The first thing I wanted to do was to try out a worked bar tack at the bottom of the neck slit for my high necked smock. Elizabethans used these to reinforce the neck slit against tearing. As anyone who has torn open a bag of chips part way and then later has had the bag continue to rip open from the wear of hands reaching inside to grab chips, knows that the interior of a crack is a weak spot. Tailors and seamstresses in the Renaissance were awar...

I am starting a new smock to wear as the undergarments for a new Elizabethan outfit. I started with the Tudor Tailor 's pattern for the smock. I read through the directions and realized that I was going to need to make a muslin of the smock so that I could make sure it would fit. The Tudor Tailor pattern is drawn for a size 12-14. Here is a quick sketch of what I ended up doing. A mockup is needed for this garment if you are not really close to the measurements of TT. Here is a list of steps that I took to get a pretty awesome fitting garment. Measure your chest, waist, hips, the largest part of your bicep while you are flexing, the length of your arm from shoulder point to your wrist, neck, wrist, and the distance between your shoulders. Write all of these measurements down. I always say I'm going to do this... and I don't always. It's a good habit, I should do it more. Get a cheap fabric like cotton muslin, some rulers, some washable markers, and scissor...

I recently have been in a bit of funk trying to find the perfect dress for my wedding. I feel as if I looked through a million different websites, reviews, etc but just could not find a dress that felt like it was me. Needless to say this left me feeling pretty depressed and anxious about the whole situation. As a seamstress in the back of my mind, there is always this little voice that says "ummm, Rachel, you *could* make your own wedding dress." It is a crazy voice that seems to think that I have nothing but time on my hands even though I am an Engineering student and just bought a new house. So of course when I first heard this little niggling whisper, I beat it back because I know that I don't have the time. Then as I got more and more discouraged that voice kept getting louder and more insistent that I really should make my own dress. Next I started doubting whether I was really capable of making my own wedding dress, if I had the skills, the time, the knowledge....

Here is the finished blue bustle from Laughing Moon Mercantile pattern #112 view E. My very lovely model is shown here wearing it. The pattern went together fairly easily and quickly. I did need to make a few adjustments and changes. I selected the pattern by my hip size since I wanted a slightly larger bustle. This choice led to the necessary change of making the lacing panel smaller because it laced completely closed without even creating the desired bending of the hoop wire. The following photo shows the tucks I made for fitting prior to cutting that amount from the side seams. Another adjustment I made was to use a self-fabric waistband instead of using grosgrain ribbon. I preferred having a matching waistband. The pattern called for use of safety buckles as the closure on the waistband. I used a flat metal fashion belt buckle I found instead because it had a smaller profile than the safety buckles I could find. Due to the profile of the safety buckle, I was concerned it ...

I just finished cutting out the pattern for my bustle. I am using the Laughing Moon Mercantile pattern #112 Hoops and Bustles pattern, View E. I am making the bustle as part of a steampunk outfit that I have planned. The bustle will also be able to be worn with a bustle Victorian costume in the future. I am using a blue sateen cotton for the bustle. The fabric is from my stash and I decided to use it even though I originally bought this fabric for a different costume that has not come to fruition yet. I will take some pictures and post as I actually get some progress made. Hopefully that will be soon as I plan on wearing this costume to the SF Dickens Fair.

A wise person once said that in order to tell a story, you start at the beginning, keep going until you get to the end, and then you stop. Pretty good piece of advice to keep in mind as I start my first blog post. When I was young, I learned to sew by watching my mother and my grandmother. For many years I only used those skills to replace missing buttons or fix torn seams. Then I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and was taken to my first Renaissance Faire as part of a guild. I had such a great time that I knew I had to make my own historic costume. I ended up making something new almost every faire for the past 2 or 3 years now. I have become a costume addict! I love making costumes, planning new costumes, and the hunt for that absolutely perfect fabric. It is true that whoever dies with the biggest fabric stash wins. Several friends convinced me to write a blog about my costuming experience and I finally took the plunge. I look forward to sharing my experience with costume of ...