MP Goes All Crafty- The "Advent" Robe Francaise Edition

Happy 2022 to all! And deepest apologies for being absent here on the interwebs for so long. I have been around - just super busy, with one thing or another, and that's kept me away from my computer for a while. To cap it all off, I had my first ever Christmas holiday break away from home with the family, which was both deeply fun and super weird to try for the first time!

Anyway - I have finally all but finished the burgundy chintz Robe Francaise (bar a little more trim on the overgown) - and I couldn't resist trying it all on in early December just to see how it looked. The colours were a teeny bit 'Christmassy' anyway, with the red, blue and white, and I do love the silhouette...

I hadn't made all the little accessories this gown needs at this point - ie, no lacy sleeve ruffles - and I still need a lace tucker for my stomacher to be properly, 18th century attired, but I was incredibly please with how it all came together with my powdered and styled wig and pinner cap - and this was just a quick try on! If I was wearing it to an event, I'd work harder to blend my own hair into the front to soften that hard 'wig line' .

It was also surprisingly easy to move in - even negotiating stairs wasn't too bad, which considering the trailing train could have been a recipe for disaster! And I LOVED the way the skirts fan out when you sit down. I felt very regal!

I, er, couldn't resist the opportunity to take a couple of silly ones. These are probably my '18th Naval Officers? Local women in your area want YOU!' dating profile pictures... XD

Haunted Mansion Tightrope Walker -Part 2, Pattern & Construction

Elizabeth Swann Project:  Peach Gown Progress!

Hello again, friends! 

Welp, this is an incredibly weird feeling. Back when I started the Elizabeth Swann Project in early March 2020, I never thought I’d actually finish my insane goal of making all the pretty dresses in the first movie - but it’s done. And it’s a very surreal feeling staring at my wardrobe hoard. 

Well, not DONE, per se. Strictly speaking, there should be a golden taffeta petticoat with a quilted hem to match this gown. But the brocade petticoat from the gold gown looked really good with this when making the over-gown - to the point I decided to re-use it  - and it looks pretty nice as an ensemble!

Here we have the bodice half-way done, over my stays. One of the things that meant this was an easier job than the gold or plum gown was the trim - super simple level of trimming here - minimal braid around the waistline, neckline and sleeve edges. No frills or ruchings or pleated trim. the 18-20 decorative buttons were time-consuming but not terrible to sew.

The straw hat was another re-do. I simply retrimmed an old plain straw hat I had from my re-enacting days with some spare lace and re-arranged the artificial flowers. I’m still waiting on the ribbon for the ties.

Beneath the Surface:The Foundations

lurks a wonderful, ridonkulous piece of late 18th century foundation wear - the 1780s split rump. I’ve had my eye on this insane piece of underwear for a while now, because it gives the wonderful rounded curve of the overgown when you put on your petticoats. Here’s a fuzzy picture of mine.

I bought mine, very reasonably, from a wonderful UK Etsy seller called Perfect Little Parcel. Any UK-based historical costumers should definitely check her out - she makes really nice foundation garments! 

I mean, look at it here in the  American Duchess Dressmaking book:

I hesitate to use the words ‘dummy thicc’ , but - this is 18th century ass celebration at its finest, and it just gives a GREAT silhouette once all the petticoats and gown is over it. 

The Shoes

I was tempted to order the American Duchess Ivory Kensingtons, but my UK supplier doesn’t stock them right now - and post Brexit ordering direct got a LOT more complicated. So, I improvised with some modern suede 18th century-(ish) shaped shoes, some glue and some rayon binding in approximately the right colour. They still need either buckles or a nice rosette, I think - especially on that right shoe where the ends of the binding show. But they’re comfy and they have the right look.

I’m honestly a little bit sad to finish up the project, it was so enjoyable! I learned a lot, and it’s kept me going through the lockdown blues. Having something to plan and research and work on has been really fun, even when I’ve cut things out wrong or driven pins into my fingers by accident. I now have a hell of a dress-up wardrobe to make use of.

Just the Victorian UFOs (Unfinished Projects)  to work on now, I guess... and only 2 of them to go.

Many thanks for enjoying the Elizabeth Swann journey with me, everyone! As soon as the sun re-appears I’ll try for a photoshoot of me actually in the costume.

Maya, 1700s Mode: Remodel of a Felicity “Meet” Gown!

Hello again! We only have one dress to look at on the historical-mini-gown extravaganza today - but this was a really interesting one for me!

Now, back when I first discovered what I’d missed out on as a British child with American Girl, my absolute first love was Felicity and her original Rose Garden ‘Meet’ dress. You know, this one:

Seriously, 8 year old would have sold her kidneys, baby sister, and possibly her SOUL for Felicity and all her historical goodies. That was just how little M-P rolled. And that chintz is a lovely 18th century print! But I was just a few years too late to that party.

But then my mum caught the AG bug and started collecting. In her wanderings, she found a reasonably priced Felicity clothes bundle! The seller photo was fuzzy, but worth a punt - she bid, and won it...

Only then we found out the dresses in it were... messy . Some just needed a wash, but there was an ugly brown stain across the back of the ‘meet’ dress that hadn’t shown up in the Ebay pictures- and all the washing and careful treatment in the world wasn’t going to make it salvageable for any AG doll! 

But I’d coveted the lovely look of that gown and that fabric for YEARS. I couldn’t just let her throw the meet dress away...What to do?

But then I looked at the  smaller, slimmer frame of my A Girl for All Time dolls... and my brain went “zing”!

If it’s too damaged for Felicity - how about reworking it for someone else? There was enough fabric in there if I was careful and did some piecing....

 This was before the AGAT company released Elinor the historical redhead, so alas, there was no pseudo-Felicity. 

(Sorry Elinor, you’d have been almost perfect as a Felicity!)

But I’d recently bought Maya, and I wasn’t really feeling her dungarees much... 

Historical makeover for you, my girl!

So, well.... THIS happened...

I had enough in the meet dress that I got bold enough to play around, and made Felicity’s dress into an honest-to-goodness open robe for Maya, in the style of Felicity’s Christmas Dress!  (you may notice she’s “borrowed” Felicity’s lappet nightcap for this photoshoot)

I’m not going to lie - this was hard; harder even than making actual stuff for me, because I got so nervous about making mistakes with the tiny amount of fabric I had. There wasn’t extra if I cut it wrong! But luckily for me it worked out. And I had the bonus “historical” experience of having to rework an existing item of clothing without wasting fabric, something many seamstresses in the past had to do with what was available in their closets!

 I had to piece the bottom petticoat beneath - that’s mostly plain white cotton with a tiny strip of the “Meet” fabric sewn in to make it look like a full underskirt.  I made a stiff stomacher for her out of cardboard (full disclosure: I cut a triangle out of a kleenex box! ) and covered it with a scrap of the fabric, giving it a little centre bow out of rose pink silk for compliment the flower print in her frock. 

I took in the sleeves and saved the little strips of fabric I took out of them to make the robings (the green ribbon-edged pieces on the sides of the gown bodice) They went very nicely together. There’s some hidden snaps under the robings for getting in/out of the gown, and it suited Maya like a dream!  

It also, weirdly, gave me the confidence for doing it large scale with my green robe anglaise. I’d long wanted to improve it, but I didn’t have the confidence to start. Practicing on a smaller model showed me I could do it if I was careful and planned it out. 

And, just for fun - Maya looks to be having no end of fun taking tea with Matilda and Beatrice (another doll I should introduce sometime...)

Matilda, 1830s Mode: Mini-Gown Extravaganza Part 2

Hello again, folks! More Romantic era doll costumes here as promised! There weren’t quite as many as I remembered - I began to branch out into other time periods around this time as I found more patterns, but I got a lot of use out of the Pemberley Threads patterns. 

Let’s kick things off with an autumnal scene! (my taking SHAMELESS advantage of the American Girl Samantha Gazebo before my mother sold it on, basically) and strewing plastic pumpkins and fake autumn leaves everywhere. Also present, Felicity’s nightcap masquerading as an 1830s day bonnet. 

The brown cotton day dress was my first attempt at the ‘Molly’ pattern, and I made the sleeves a little too tight; it was a strain to get them over the wrists! Plus, the neckline was a little gappy from what I remember. I took a pattern from American Girl Addy’s knitted heartwarmer to make a little tie-around muslin fichu for Matilda to disguise my bad sewing (accessories, folks - don’t underestimjate their power!) and with the scraps left over from her blue nightgown managed to eke out a teeny little doll apron. Matilda looks ready to help with the harvest festival - and I was pretty relieved some of my early mistakes didn’t show...

The little collar here was actual experimentation, as opposed to ‘argh, I made mistakes! HIDE THE EVIDENCE!’

I’ve long really loved the look of the mini capes and pelerines the 1830s are famed for,  so I took inspiration from fashion plates like the one below and made a little matching cape in the same dress fabric to set it off. The fancy buckle is a cheap plastic ‘bridal’ buckle you can buy at any craft shop for floral arrangements/wedding decoration. They’re just the right size for a doll sash./// 

This final 1830s dress is the simplest - but it’s also the one I’m most proud of, because I’d practiced enough with the pattern so I could put it together really well. And I was incredibly lucky with the fabric - it was a fine shot blue/pink cotton by a patchwork/quilting designer called Kaffe Fassett, and it looks beautiful under light - it has this iridescent sheen that just makes it wonderful.

I didn’t bother with trims or lace for this one - I let the fabric speak for itself in its simplicity, and just added a violet sash to pick out the soft pink lurking in the weave. And Matilda photographed so well in it!

Even in a more subdued light, it’s still a wonderful bluebell colour with a hint of violet/purple in the depths....

The Historic Mini-Gown Extravaganza! Matilda,1830s Mode

Hello again folks! Building on my ‘A Girl for All Time’ fanpost from last time, just thought I’d share a few pictures of some of the little dresses and accessories I’ve made over the years!

First off, my very first A Girl for All Time Doll purchase: Matilda.

Matilda was the first doll in the range - and for a long time she was the only one you could get your hands on, as the the later version sold out so fast! These days it tends to be the other way around, and she’s only available through scouring the second-hand dolls on Ebay.

Now, I love Matilda, because she has this lovely, still little “listening” expression on her face!  She’s not vacuous-looking or conventionally gorgeous - she’s got a quiet dignity about her that I just adore. Thought I’ve never really thought of her as being Tudor, even though that’s the way she’s marketed. She reminds me of a young Queen Victoria more: or maybe Jane Eyre or Beth from Little Women...

And as there were some lovely 1830s patterns released from PemberleyThreads... well... this happened:

She just looked so 1830s it was almost unreal! So, in a twinkling, Matilda the young Tudor lady-in-waiting time-travelled forward a couple of hundred years to become Miss Matilda, an elegant young lady from the Romantic era...

This was the very first gown I made her, out of some IKEA cotton voile curtain scraps! I wanted to recreate the airy, diaphanous look of the muslin gowns of the period. I accentuated it with some delicate crochet lace at the hem and neckline, and lightly tacked on some little blue paper flowers at the bodice for decoration.  I used the PemberleyThreads ‘Victoria’ Pattern’ which was a dream to sew up.

After that, I created a little grey plaid cotton long-sleeved dress for daywear. Here Matilda is definitely channelling the delicate Beth ‘I must keep to the house until spring comes, due to my delicate health!’ look. I added bias binding ‘ribbons’ to her shoulders in the same colour as her sash to make the gown just a little less plain.

Here she’s showing off her Shakespeare collection, which was a great find on EBay , as they were perfectly sized for her! These are just cheap miniature novelty gift-shop items from Stratford-Upon-Avon, but they look great as books for dolls - or even just as props in a scene or background photo.

(The keen-eyed American Girl fan will recognise Rebecca’s shawl and Felicity’s backdrop in the picture here My mother was an avid AG collector for a while and I freely piggybacked her collection for the benefit of my 16 inch dolls, as they fit into it just as well...)

And here we have a little historical dressing gown I made for Matilda out of blue-plaid cotton - scraps left over from an old re-enactment apron. This is actually the Pemberly Threads Clara Nightgown pattern - just worn back-to-front without the back sewn up to form a loose dressing robe - a quick sewing hack, but it turned out well and made a mighty fine dressing gown for Matilda to wear over her nightgown (her own, as well as the little nightcap)

Well, that’s all the pictures Tumblr will let me post this time round! Stay tuned for 1830s mode part 2...

M-P Goes All Crafty - The Green Gown Update

I’ve been shamefully lazy posting pictures of my progress since my last announcement of the green gown rework, but  Good News: I’ve definitely made more progress since then to share with you guys!

Step 1: Remodelling the Bodice

I was a big historical cheat when it came to working the bodice, and serged my lining to my fabric so it would lie right. But honestly? Don’t care. I am absolutely *hearteyes* with my serger, and I’m going to ensure no modern stitching shows, so we’re good. This was my first experiment with the green taffeta ruched trim, and it turned out so great! I used the American Duchess Robe Francaise 8578 pattern for the trimming side of things, and added a touch of this really delicious moss green organza ruffling to edge my ruching!

Step 2: Sleeves and Closings and Trimmings, Oh My!

I took it a step further here! The bodice finally closes with hook and eyes (sewn on in period-correct fashion. My older version used hook and eye tape that wasn’t sewn on very well and eh... it showed, I’ve also added some self-trimming in the same fabric as the bodice, coupled with the organza trim ( It almost looks like lettuce or seasweed!) and some really BEAUTIFUL vintage Czech glass buttons that matched my lettuce-y trim.  I also used the American Duchess dress book to try out making a matching ruffled choker to match my dress. There’s lots of little accessory projects as well as dresses, so plenty of fun quick crafty things to make! (also pictured: cheap ribbon costume necklace from Ebay I was trying out with the pink ribbon bow as an alternate look) Sleeves were still just pinned on, but it;s starting to look like a finished garment!

Step 3: Silk Petticoats, Yay!

The bodice is finally finished, complete with sleeves and ruffled swiss cotton engageantes! We can finally hide the tatty cotton underskirt and pockets! I used the same olive green taffeta as the ruching on the bodice, made up using the shaped waist petticoat from the American Duchess francaise pattern again.. It needs ties, hemming and some more ruffled trim, but it’s delightfully fluffy!

Step 4: Overskirt Ahoy!

I LOVE THIS PART. When it all starts to come together! I’ve added the same matching trim on the overskirt, it’s all sewn down, and I’ve begun pleating and tacking ready to attach the overskirt to the bodice. I’ve also finished off the ruffled choker with a little snippet of Rococo floral trim I purchased ages ago, which just finishes it off - and I managed to find a cheap collet style necklace on Ebay (£16! an absolute steal, considering the repro ones usually go for about £50-60)

The shoes are a pair of vaguely 18th century brown suede court shoes with a couple of sparkly bridal buckle shoe clips attached. I have a pair of American Duchess Kensingtons, but I still need to poke holes in those for my buckles, so - sparkly but theatrical shoes it is!

My to do list is just a little more trim on the petticoat and finishing touches - and then voila, green gown rework done! It does looks a lot better than my first attempt, so just goes to show - you do improve as you learn! :)

Gold Gown Grand Finale! AKA the self-indulgent Photoshoot!

Well gang, after procrastinating for so long on the sleeves, I finally did it! I finished the gold gown!

(Full disclosure: normally sleeve insertion and I don’t have a good relationship I seem to always catch parts of the bodice/dress in it, and then there’s a lot of muffled shrieking and seam ripping involved) So, life being what it is, of COURSE they went in easily on the first go. After putting it off for what, three weeks? So, here, enjoy! Below the cut lurks a very silly set of photos involving me prancing around my back garden in full Elizabeth Swann get-up...

Stay-ing Alive: Undergarments Completed!

Hello again! And apologies for such a long delay in between this and my last sewing post in “Sew-Isolation.” It’s taken me a while to finish my latest project, but I made it to the finish line today - and boy was it a good feeling finally putting the last few stitches in! I have a love-hate relationship with this particular item of clothing, which is:

The Stays:

I used Butterick 4254 view D (the front lacing 18th Century stays in the bottom right-hand corner) because I’ve found it to be a comfortable pattern that fits my body type. I have quite a long body, so other patterns can often sit more like Regency corsets than proper stays on me - but this one I’ve tried and tested.

here’s an in-progress shot of my stays (exactly half-done, haha) and pictures with some beautiful early 18th century narrow hoops I purchased from the wonderful Nehelenia Patterns over on Etsy!

Now for the love-hate part.

I love the look and fit of the museum stays and professionally,beautifully made stays you can often see on the Internet. They look gorgeous, and well-made ones are surprisingly comfortable and supportive for the larger-boobed historical lady. But OMFG stays are the very devil to make. they make you pay with sweat and blood and a lot of creative swearing! ( or they do when you’re not very good at making them, anyway)

Those boning channels! Arrrrghhhhh. Which is why this update took so darn long! I also handsewed all the eyelets, which I think added up to about ...44 overall? But I managed to use actual reed boning rather than cheap plastic rigilene, and that was a real revelation - reed is flexible, but easy to cut and both period appropriate and very, very “green” and sustainable - I found it MUCH easier than the first few times I tried making corsets with cheap rigilene. And I’m very happy with the finished result, so... win?

Oh, I do love the silhouette of stays! That curved seam *chef kiss* looks pretty, even with my lumpy sewing!

Next time I check in, I’ll be making actual garments and starting on the Gold Gown!

Long time, no posts, my Tumblr friends! Apologies for being gone AWOL so long!  With spring turning up the heat here in the UK, I’ve been getting ready for a couple of comic-cons and so I’ve been chaining myself to my sewing machine recently. Not only am I making a Super Secret Surprise Costume for myself, I also took on a little something for my younger sister.

We’d bought the TIm Burton Alice in Wonderland fancy dress costume for her that you see on Ebay, but... oooh boy, were we disappointed. The picture made it look great...

As you can see. (Not sure about the rave boots, Alice, but  hey, it’s Wonderland after all)

But when it arrived, it was a saggy nylon nightmare! It had no floof, the cheapest possible poly-acetate lining for the fabric, and a velcro closing that was already coming unstitched.  It was super disappointing for my sister, and it showed.

But being insanely dedicated to my sewing, I looked at the film costume a couple of times and decided this wouldn’t be too hard to replicate. So I armed myself with some sky-blue taffeta, and a few metres of lace and got to work.

I frankensteined this, as there was no pattern I could find that fitted exactly. The bodice was a mash-up of the puffed sleeve pieces from a Regency gown, and this Simplicity pattern:

The skirt urffle and buttoned bodice was very similar, I just had to alter the sleeves and lower the neckline a little. I cheated with the buttons up the front and gave it a zipper at the back.

I also finally bought myself an overlocker for this project, and let me tell you, it is like owning a fleet of magical fairies who help finish your seams for you. No more rolled hems! I was cackling like a maniac as I whizzed away on my new infernal machine.

Because I’m a terrible completist, I also bought a black and white striped ruffled cotton petticoat, to recreate the one Alice wore in the movie. Add to that a pair of blue striped socks and these very cute Bordello shoes:

And you have a full on cosplay!

My sister seemed to like it too when she got to try on, if her photos are anything to go by...

M-P Dresses up as Drizella!

Welp, just to prove I’m not dead (which is one and the same when I haven’t published any craft project posts ina while - here, have a “green dress in action” photoset! My cousins 12th birthday party had a Disney Villain theme, so I sewed some outrageous lace on to a camisole to get the ‘cartoon 18th century look!’ and coupling it with a huge green bow went as Drizella from Cinderella!

(note - I went Fancy Dress rather than historically accruate - no stays or bumrolls/petticoats with this one. Mostly because my aunt’s house is small, and no-one wants to brush small children/valuable ornaments/ treasured photos off available surfaces. )

Also pictured in the background - the little sister, in her costume as Vanessa (the attractive Ursula disguise) from the Little Mermaid!

Brb, off to 1775...

I’m off to the Sedgefield Living History festival from now until Sunday. Until then, please feel free to enjoy my “capsule wardrobe” pictures...

Part 2: my latest stuff! Includes as well my usual 18th century stuff: Regency, a random 18th century soldiers shirt I was asked to make on commission (God, never again!) the pale blue satin *fancy dress* I made a stomacher and trimmed up for a Tumblr friend, and my latest, an 1860s gown for a Dickens Christmas event! (Another ‘never again’ project - I nearly die through stress any time someone asks me to make things for them)

Part 1: A sewing hobby in summary. I thought I’d be able to fit most of my sewing in one photo post, but it. Turns out I’ve been busier than I thought over the past two years! Just for @thebrassglass to see so she doesn’t have to trail through my tags for hours on end. Part 1, Part 2 to follow...

The Massive Costume Photobomb Post!

Welp, it’s been too long since I’ve bombarded the interwebs with my silly costume pictures. Last time I did, I managed to show the regency gown I was making for my friend in progress, but never posted a finished picture! How shockingly remiss am I? SHOCKING, I say.

So here, without further to do, is my friend Jessy, trying on her gown for the very first time…

She looks pretty happy! That is honestly the best thing I’ve always found about making things for people - just that look of delight. (like I said - I have a disgusting Fairy Godmother complex, I’m sure)

The only pity was, with all that making costumes for other people, at the end of the day I left it a bit late to make my own! Everything apart from the purple bonnet I’m wearing is a costume rental from my theatre contacts.

It was also horribly humid that day, despite being overcast and getting fits of rain. Still, we managed to find time to enjoy ourselves! We went to the Swiss Gardens in Shuttleworth, Bedfordshire, for their day of Jane Austen themed amusements and Regency dancing.

Here’s me pretending I’m on the grand tour in Italy… (or possibly France, with the imperial Eagle behind me? That’s the boyfriend looking on in amusement)

Jessy and her own gentleman-caller, posing in his new breeches!

An action shot I had to get of the blue dress!

And finally, some sneaky ‘promenade’ photos Jessy managed to get of myself and the bf wandering about.

Poser picture is poserful.

and… Dancing, in the tent! You can just see me there at the end…

A little something I drew ages and ages ago - way before @calamity-bean ‘s amazing ‘How to Draw Burn Gorman’ Tutorial! At the time, it didn’t quite look like him - almost, but not quite. And I was too worried about messing it up if I went any further , so it sat lonely and abandoned on my lunch break sketchbook. But then came along the tutorial of awesome,and I finally figured out that insane jawline and cute-as-a-button mouth. All-praise @calamity-bean!