Greetings folks! It seems my costuming inspiration has come back with a vengeance. After much lurking and dithering, I'm going to be making two Victorian (or early Edwardian?) outfits in preparation for CostumeCon 26, but need a little help with details.
Ageless Patterns for inspirations and then Truly Victorian and Laughing Moon were posited as good starting patterns for me (I don't think the person recommending realized I owned/had access to several of Fran's books). I've been going through my book and the local library's selection, as well as several online sites trying to see what general silhouettes appeal most to me, and it looks like from about 1887 to 1899, and a couple of pieces from 1905 are the ones I'll be trying to focus on, with more of the walking/day type skirts, not the evening gowns. I'm not experienced at drafting up yet, so this will be a good learning experience, no matter what outfits I choose. Plus of course trying to get a decent idea of color combinations and trim/decorative styles for that time period. My sister-in-law will be letting me rifle through her Truly Victorian and Laughing Moon undergarment and basic skirt/bodice patterns, which will help me see better as my computer doesn't show them well. The three primary types of silhouettes I seem to come up with are as follows, with questions at the end. A: http://www.agelesspatterns.com/images/1008.GIF B: http://www.agelesspatterns.com/images/1488.GIF C: http://www.vintagevictorian.com/images/Del_3_94d.jpg A: 1887 Braided Cloth Gown w/Bell Skirt: This gown was made of bluet-blue cloth with a vest of dark blue velvet and braiding in dark blue soutache. The waist is a belted blouse, cut low on the velvet vest, with the fronts connected by a clasp. Design for soutache braid included. B: 1899 Gown Trimmed w/Persian Lamb: The pattern for this terra cotta colored cloth gown trimmed with embroidery and Persian lamb consists of bodice, outer skirt, underskirt and pattern for embroidery. C: I like this piece as well, it looks very similar to 5 of the ones in the 1890's Dover book I've got checked out, or one that's pictured in R. Turner Wilcox's "The Mode in Costume" out of peacock green with black accents and a violet satin waist and belt. Query 1: On dress A, isn't a Bell Skirt more 1890's? I like the thought of playing with the detailing like this, but am confused at what the back would look like. Is anyone familiar with this particular pattern who can clear it up for me? Also, what is meant by a velvet vest under the waist? Is that simply a sleeved garment under the blouse, or something else? Query 2: Where could I get an idea of what types of trimmings were used so that I can better visualize them? I do okay with only written descriptions, but examples I can see work much better. I have some long lengths of white gimp, a colored fringe and a white gimp/netted tassel combination that I think would look nice on a hem or edging, but that's without any knowledge, and I'd rather have something that doesn't look like an inspired costume. Query 3: Fabrics/colors. I've got a tropical weight bright jade/peacock green wool (almost 20 yards, it was at a thrift store), lots of lightweight black wool (off cuts from a garment store averaging about 2 yards each), 10 yards of an icy greyed lavender faux shot silk, 10 yards of a black orchid grosgrain type fabric and 10 yards of a medium rose linen weave, plus lots of white, black, green and purple bits of velvets, satins, laces and wools that I could pull out for accents. They are all plain fabrics, as is most of my hoard, but I tend to prefer to err that way, than with patterns. Would any of these work? Sorry for the rambling, I stayed up a bit too late reading and playing with images for this last night and am paying for it at work today. Thank you for your time! JonnaLyhn Wolfcat who will also be doing two 1940's outfits-one suit and one evening gown, I have EVIL friends! ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
