Other projects I particularly enjoyed making or researching. If you should wish to see all projects, please use the tags list.
The many 1790s costumes and the 1890s work have their own separate pages.
The Vernet Project: Merveilleuses and Incroyables
Sabine of Kleidung um 1800 and a large group of costumers across parts of the world challenged each other to recreate some of Carle Vernet's wild fashion plates from an 1814 compilation. If you search Google with the terms above, you'll find them. The 2015 project had a Facebook page, but I can no longer seem to access it.
After oodles of research I made an embroidered dress, but missing the snazzy, silly poofed bust and sleeves of the original plate. The year was a hard one and I hadn't the energy. In fact, costuming was laid aside for two years. I'd like to take the high waist in more, but otherwise the dress is a true pleasure to wear.
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| Vernet's plate 29 |
Edwardian Costumes and History-bounding
The Edwardian/early 19-teens eras were the first I attempted in costuming. No corset? No problem; nerve I had in plenty. In any case, I did hit on a wearable hairstyle with the help of a hair receiver and some rats, some really pretty skirts that I wore for 21st century life, back in the aughts when history-bounding didn't have a name. That white linen dress, it was a duck, but I doubt I could do up its 20-plus hooks and eyes anymore. Wonder if I can add a back panel and hide the fact with tucks?
The 1870 Bustle Steampunk Dress
Well, it was only steampunk for a party. I was a stewardess with a bustle and train big enough to block an airplane walkway. Otherwise, it was a dress that combined a Truly Victorian bodice and skirt with an overskirt drafted from Peterson's Magazine, along with trim from the same model, and a removable fichu-collar from Der Bazar. Much of the construction was copied from two different antique dresses in my collection, one from the 1850s and the other from the late 1860s.
The dress had its ups and downs, and as a first foray after years in the 1790s, there was a lot to learn. Call it a fun essay. It fit well when I wasn't putting it on as a costume; can you believe it? In the two wearings it had, I was in such a hurry that I put my corset on upside down. You can imagine what that did. That and I didn't bone the bodice because my antique dresses weren't, and I didn't use bust pads, or hook the bodice and skirt together. As a result, the bodice looked a mess and the overskirt migrated. Arghh! I still hope to wear it again, but it will need refitting in the bodice.
The posts are worth reading for the insights into the insides of actual extant dresses and the patterns found in the period magazines. Just ignore the wearings ;}
The Dolly Varden Dress Craze
This was a research-only project. A sudden fad for 18th century brightly patterned dresses and accessories resulted in a marketing frenzy, songs and lots of satire, gentle or otherwise.
I'm still hoping someone will take up the baton and make an 1972 Dolly Varden in all its loud floral polonaise-y glory.
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