Bunny- sitting 2

Second bunny-sitting  garment.

Having fallen out of love with the purple velvet I spent this week trying some of the planned amendments out on a second Gwendoline spencer. (Gwendoline is the mannequin)

I had taken a piece of midweight plain fabric as an emergency travel stash on the bunny-sitting mission, quite textured, parentage unknown, loose weave. This was flexible enough for most things but prone to stretch and fray when bullied.

 

The old gwen pattern was redrawn  on paper, sliced and sellotaped back together to give the base shapes. It needed a tighter back with more visible seams, the shoulder further down, the back seam closer to the centre line to give more of the diamond shape to the back panel, the fit on the shoulder was suspect as well.

 

 The adjustments are moving in the right direction – the seams are further back and more shapely, the sleeve is more fitted and the front dart gives a sleeker fit. The back seems to big again and hangs quite boxily, not as smartly as the front.

 

Some extra fitting was needed ( helped by Bob the cat), the length of the shoulder had to be reduced to pull the sleeve head up onto the point of the shoulder and then the back was made narrower with a centre seam and a separate side back piece made.  The back seam is tapered so it is no longer hanging on the grain, this fabric will distort but I didn't have enough with me to cut a new piece. It will have to be declared another design feature not a half resolved problem.

    The result was nicely unfussy and clean. And then I went and had another look at the Met Museum's collection.( metmuseum, images and details)   What is it about the decorated pelisse? I like plain, I don't own anything with a flounce or frill, but these guys are entrancing. Don't look at the back, that is over the top in a majorly dramatic way, but the front – relying on the difference in texture rather than colour to create ornament is rather lovely. The style of the braiding is military-ish, influenced by the frogging and decoration on a hussar's jacket which was so popular at the time. The lines exaggerate the tight waist and wide shoulders, things I am trying not to do on Gwen, but still wanted to have a go. I tried buying but colour matching was a problem, the bought was too clean and bright, too perfect. So back to the crochet hook, one advantage of having a selection of vintage yarn.  Making the braid and then applying it has doubled the construction time but the cats enjoyed it! The pattern is from the Met example but modified, the central panel is lost and the number of twists  reduced, but the double crochet chain is not too far away from the ladder style braiding used. While the colour is not the same as the ground the contrast is quite mild and not too intrusive. The back is entirely made up. Just take a look at the Met link and you will see why.

The quietness of the fabric colour and the defined shapes work well on Gwendoline, she seems more in keeping with the clothing this time, the seaming gives a reason for the wide shoulders but nothing can be done for her posture.

As after thoughts go this has been quite a good one, the shapes and fit are better. If this is good base then experimenting further will be made much easier. Looking again at some of the extant pieces more extreme armholes are a possibilty. On some the sleeve is set incredibly far back, leaving a very narrow centre back panel. And of course the fullness and style of the sleeve and collar are to be played with as well. I still like the outer wear best for some reason, seeing as the dress and spencer have evolved from the same pattern  this seems strange and illogical.  Lots to do. Should I top stitch around the neck line to stop the facing rolling outwards? Back to saying  Ummm........ 

The bunny - sitting dress.

The unbearable smugness of being.

Actually made it, and  to deadline, the inside is as neat as the outside, all hand sewn! - a simple day dress of fine poplin, back closure with hooks and eyes plus top button, gathers to the front bodice with drawstring fitting, plain sleeves gathered to the shoulder. Bodice lined with fine white cotton (left over sheeting!)

Just one or two flies in the ointment: not having black thread to attach the top button, not sure about the trim for the hem. I have enjoyed working with the fabric, it is light, quite densely woven and behaves like a gentleman. It makes working the purple velvet for the spencer an act of misguided inspiration. How it didn't bend or flex, the pain of the bulky seams are only slowly fading from the memory. Or perhaps not. I haven't started sorting that one out as you will see.

Working this fabric to fit Gwendoline has been easier, I cut quite generously and each stage it was fitted, adjusted and then marked up. Gwen was lacking in the giving of feedback so marking her  where each seam lay and gather should be as well as on the fabric helped considerably. I give thanks and praise to the disappearing marker pen. The sewing is still improving, doing more edge stitching has encouraged more even and accurate stitches, the blood and tears don't show but if I am to get close to the extant garments, practice is still needed.

The dress was again to complement one of the spencers, not a stand alone piece, so embellishment is not essential, the bodice will be covered. I like the idea of the hem trim but it doesn't work well with the spencer, starts looking like a nightie. It shortens the proportions rather than lengthening.

One of the original questions was whether Gwen could look like a Regency girl. Conclusion has to be – no. She has a long low waist, no real definition to the boobs and wide shoulders. While these are very human problems we have recourse to substantial underwear but poor Gwen has no squidgy bits. It is most obvious with the spencer – the extra emphasis on the shoulders makes her totally top heavy, more like a bouncer- sorry, door attendant,- than a svelte youthful lady. The slope from bust to waist is too gentle. The Empire line emphasises the difference between bust and ribcage, hers just isn't there. The narrow hips and shapely bum look great but don't help to balance the shoulders.

Things to try, a bum pad to lift out the back of the skirt, more A line shaping rather than straight column from the waist and maybe lengthen the skirt to give her lower half more bulk. Also stick to light weight fabric for the spencers. The pattern pieces were the same for both garments but the results are very different. The shoulder seam on the spencer is too high and interferes with the shoulder line but worked sweetly on the dress. The back seams also need adjusting, I might try moving the side seam back or creating a side back panel. The narrower back might help to draw attention to the centre rather than the breadth. Also should pad the sleeves out before photo-ing - they do look very stringy.

One of the great things about this week away from home has been exploring a new area with a fabric head on. New selections, new ideas, new possibilities. I have succumbed a little, some two tone acetate that I might try to pretend is silk and have a go at one of the really fancy pelisses. One problem is not having brought a lot of kit or supplies with me, so repeat excursions to the city centre haberdasheries on the bike have been required. While I try not to hold grudges, the dress has cost about 15 miles and counting. (but also had some lovely squishy fresh dates from the market stall next to the haberdash) Must admit the rabbits have not taken much interest in the project and the cats.... well, one has shown far too much, usually when after more food. Guess which?

So to sum up -

Better finishing, more accurate, working with my own pattern drafts, quicker, less hovering around.

Adjustments to pattern pieces just this side of optional, tiny bits to resolve, pity poor Gwendoline, more care with fabric choices.

Task list – hem, (bank holiday weekend – bound to be dodgy film on- no problem) wash, tidy and press. Admire! Find little scissors.

'Gwendoline's moment of fame'

5 minute test piece.

'Gwendoline's moment of fame', or 'Remember not to use curtain weight fabric for small things'.

Gwendoline is a reduced scale Stockman body. She has a very definite, rather idiosyncratic shape but is generally most obliging, so I have tried to make for her this week. First steps were the basic block – making a set of general pattern pieces to fit. Not as difficult as I expected – I'm used to drafting with different shaped pieces, but having marked on Gwen where I thought the seams should be it behaved well. To test these pieces out I decided for some strange reason to make a spencer out of velvety curtaining off cuts, purple again. The spencer was to be high waisted, have over long and rumpled sleeves with high puffy top pieces, a stand collar, front darts, edge to edge centre front and centre back gathering at the waistband. Great, a nice simple garment!

Was it the 'Just So' stories - How the elephant got a long nose? Kipling?

Sleeves first – undersleeves topped with lining (the last of the vile berry stuff) to cut down the bulk was phase one. Phase two, making the sleeve caps, using the same pattern piece but spreading it wider worked quite well, added a band to stabilise the gather at the bottom of these. Phase three, lining, cut to the desired sleeve length. Assembly was quite straightforward – made up each, stay stitched the gathered sleeve caps to the under sleeve and then to the lining. Not quite sure what to do about the bulky seam at the top- can't clip it too close as the velvet unravels like fury. All went swimmingly, bodice went together easily and actually fitted. Collar looked good – then inserting the lining. Oops. Cut the pieces quite generously, didn't sew the darts in and yet it doesn't fit. Too small? The back seems too narrow? The bulk of the sleeve head seam has pulled the shoulder line and made the bodice tighter- but not by much. The length is short as well.  The velvet doesn't seem to have stretched. Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.

At the moment it has a bodged second attempt in– similar problems but less dramatic - and will have to wait 'til next week be sorted out. ( week away rabbit sitting). New lining sewn in situ, hopefully just the back. Pah.

No, take the whole lining out and redo properly. Reattach the waist band and finish it off nicely dear. No excuses. PAH!

Never did like purple that much.

curious (nice word)

Also to entertain me next week I'm planning a dress for Gwen, she is not a good shape for this, the bust line is a long way from the neck, and is too smooth in profile, but we shall see if she can look Regency. Bodice pieces are being drafted, High waist, draw string waistband and neck (probably just gathered) and straight skirt. Not lined. This will be a simple garment, honest. Not lined. Except maybe the bodice. To sleeve or not to sleeve? 

Decisions about fabric to be made. Gwen is a deceptive little soul, she takes much more fabric than you think so choice is limited, do I use the green printed left over and not mind if it goes wrong or the nice purpose bought poplin and be determined and careful. Do I trust my skills and ingenuity or acknowledge the inaccuracies and bodge-it-ness? The green will be very tight to cut, no mistakes allowed, and be quite, umm, striking with the purple. Very Victorian. The poplin is lovely to handle, delicate sprig pattern, relatively expensive for a trial piece, but would look good. Double umm. Just checked – don't have any thread to match the green!

   The paintings are copied from a reproduction credited to the Mansell Collection but I have not been able to track it down - googling Mansell collection takes me to Nigel Mansell and all I can think about is the moustache. Not quite right for a delicate little regency dress, an interesting trim perhaps! Any ideas?

Jane Eyre or Jane Austen?

 Been watching both while doing this - the extended line of the shoulder is Eyre-y  and the skirt is something inbetween ( is based on a 1820s piece) . Still think the back is best - much more Austeny.
 As a quick make this has given a lot, it has been much more like the fast construction experiments I've done at the start of each major piece and not suffered from the laboured, well, labour. Not a piece I would hold up for close inspection especially on the inside but ..... at the moment, it will do.

raised the waist - much happier.

The adjustments worked quite sweetly, the bodice is shorter, raising the waistline, and the new proportions work better. The neckline is lower and wider without the wide band – again it gives a more balanced look to the bodice and just looks more finished.

Did have a bit of a crisis with it - survived being chucked in the washing machine perfectly well but there was PVA glue on the peg – hot water and panic later it all came out quite well. The hem decoration was a bit of a 'get out of jail card' to cover any marks, but I quite like the idea – it is very not me at all. Of course this is a later Regency shape with more volume in the skirt - who likes the easier task anyway?

the gritting of teeth worked

 So I'm having a go at crocheting a trim- I think this is do or die – it will be done, more gritted teeth, it will be done. Which is why I'm sat in the garden listening to Margery Allingham on an audio book doing anything other than crochet.

I would also like to add a chemisette with high frill to complete the neck line but haven't found a fabric I would like to work with yet. Another future task I think.
A temporary compromise would be a crochet thingy - not quite collar, frill or ruff. The neck line does look better with some  contrast and definition.

hem trim - took forever.

Again delaying tactics back fire, as the crochet might look good at the waist, around the neck or especially over the sleeve head. This is beyond gritted teeth – I feel a shopping therapy trip coming on. The point of the dress' existence is to show off the purple spencer so decoration on the bodice is without value! Saved. (does look good on the sleeve head though, back to Vandyke points.?...).
 So the little dress is done - ish. Would like to try a chemisette and this is a fairly good excuse. Another row on the collar thing would be good. And a trim and tidy round then it's properly done. Don't regret the extra work making the trimming - it serves its purpose and lifts the plain dullness of the calico.

Do have a sore patch on my finger from doing the crocheting. Hurrah, something to moan about!

last thought - what length should the skirt really be? Dancing and walking were shorter than full length but by how much? Should there be feet sticking out the bottom or is it merely toes?

new task.

Tidy house - everything has a home! Well nearly, have to get up to the loft with the excess mannequins, and one two other pieces are fighting back but closer to being tidy than usual.

In honour of this sad state of affairs  I have set about being busy and making new mess.


Started this yesterday evening as a quick make.

the back works best as usual!

Stitching again! And yes, it is a dress.  Not a full blown project. Just a dress. The proportions of the purple spencer have bothered me, perhaps what it needs is a context, to be part of an outfit rather than a quite extreme separate. 

Three ideas of Regency dress - I was thinking of the first as classic Jane Austen (been watching Pride and Prejudice again), uber high waist, straight skirt; but time-wise the second is a little late -1830s, the waist line is lower, the shoulders wider. The fashion plate - Ackermann's Repository 1825- is about it - high waist but not extreme, flaring skirtline. They are very similar once you get below the ornament but the differences are quite telling. That's fashion for you.

 

Based on the same pattern pieces as the purple spencer ( summary of the posts on the first of the pages tabs), changes were made to the bodice piece – the 3 darts have been extended to create decorative tucks giving the central focal point, as on the 1825 dress, obviously the opening is now centre back and has to extend into the skirt if I'm to get it onto the body. The skirt is the same pattern for the pink and dotty but scaled up, again without the centre front opening. Sleeves are taken from same pattern for the spencer's sleeve caps but gathered over the head and at the cuff. The skirt is tacked on at present – it needs to be lifted on the left and resewn to the waist. It wouldn't hurt if the bodice was shortened by about a centimetre as it looks more like the 1830s example. It does not look right without a sash or waistband.

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It's worked in calico which again it has its own ideas, the bound edges have come out neat but quite clumsy in scale, redo or decorate and pretend it was a design feature?

Even though it is tighter at the waist than the spencer there isn't the distinctive triangular shape of the 1820s, yet. The idea of a drawstring in the waist to help with this is very nice but would it bunch up the fabric rather than gather it elegantly?

Just put the 2 together – what a difference! Worth the trouble.

 

 Ornament for the dress? - should be rows of something at the hem - hate the idea of flounces or lace but might have to grin and bear it.  Have been experimenting with crochet edging just to give texture but not sure.