A New Project!

My next project is for a lovely young lady named Jenna.  Jenna will be singing in her school's Madrigal Choir for the next 4 years and needs a dress to wear to the Texas Renaissance Festival on November 10th and another dress to wear to the Dickens on the Strand festival in Galveston the first weekend in December.  I had a meeting with she and her mom yesterday to get a feel for what she liked and she chose the gorgeous Simplicity Pattern #4940:

This pattern is a design by Andrea Schewe to imitate the gowns worn by the Elvish maiden Arwen (Liv Tyler) and Eowyn the Shieldmaiden in the Lord of the Rings films.  The end product that Jenna chose will be similar to this gown from "Return of the King":

Jenna's dress will have the sleeves pictured on the light green gown above.  The Renaissance Faire in Texas is usually very hot up until about late November (and the way it's been going this year, who knows how long until Fall...January maybe??), so she chose a dark red drapery silk for the gown and sleeves, a cream drapery silk for the sleeve lining, and gold trim for the neckline, shoulders and sleeves.  It will be fully flat-lined with cotton muslin to protect the underside of the silk skirt from the dust and mud of the Renfest, and protect the inside of the silk bodice area from sweat.  I will give her a wrist loop on the inside of the back of the skirt so that she can carry her skirt and prevent any unfortunate tears from folks stepping on the back of her gown!

This is going to be an enjoyable project...I have not made any replica gowns yet, and I am interested to see how this particular gown will look in silk.  I'll have to check Pattern Review for any pitfalls associated with this pattern.   Come back soon to see pictures of the progress!

Hiatus Already

So it seems my 1950's Dream Angel dress was postponed before I could even get started.  We have been on the job search now for a couple of months with some (though not concrete) success.  Lots of interviews, but no offers.
We are in a period of transition, trying to figure out if we're going to keep living in the house or sell it and move over to my parents' (empty) place.  So that means that my sewing room is being packed and transferred to storage until further notice.  I did get a few pictures of the muslin mock-up for the bodice, but the drape was giving me fits and the next step was to re-cut it.  Here are a couple of photos to show the beginning stages:

Basic strapless sweetheart bodice with Princess seams

Flattering low-cut back

Right back drape before left side is added

Right front drape before left side is added

This bodice will have a period-appropriate invisible side zip

Pinned drape that doesn't meet for zip closure

 As you can see, I've got some issues with the drape.  It's too bulky all around.  My next step is to re-cut it while keeping the basic bodice (which fits the dressform beautifully).  The under-bodice will be lightly boned to help it keep it's shape (and not fall down!) as well as have some type of millinery wire along the top of the bustline, also to help keep it in that wonderful sweetheart shape.

I thought to myself before that perhaps I would work on some smaller projects in the meantime, such as Victorian handbags or something that would be easy to cut and put together, but OH YEAH, my sewing table is in storage.  Also, my cutting table.  Also, my sewing machine.

Something definite needs to happen soon, though, I'm getting itchy to work on something!

Great Expectations

Dear Blogosphere,

Welcome! and thank you for reading this, if indeed you are. I am Abby and I am a professional costumer. This blog serves the purpose of chronicling my costuming and designing adventures. About a year ago, I subscribed to the popular website patternreview.com and began to review patterns I had sewn. Sharing my experiences and photos got me hooked, but I wanted to share more of my costume construction process than Pattern Review is prepared to handle, so here we are.

A little bit about me: In 2003, I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatrical Design and Production from Baylor University. My concentration was Scenic Design, but I have worked in every aspect of theatre production before and since. I have worked at various civic and professional theatres doing everything from scenic carpentry and scenic painting to costume design and lighting technician. In 2007 I began working full time in a costume production house in Houston and fell in love with costuming. More specifically, I fell in love with costume history and have become obsessed with recreating historical clothing with all of the accurate details. While working there, I was able to really hone my sewing skills and get some experience with other interesting costuming activities like making period headpieces, shoes and jewelry, and looking at pretty, pretty costume pictures.

At the end of 2010, I had decided to quit working full time and drop down to extreeeeemely part-time at the costume shop so that I could stay home with our son, who was (at the time) due to be born in February (he's now almost 3 months old!) and do some sewing for fun. However, at the end of December, my husband got laid off from his job, so now it looks like sewing might be a necessity rather than a hobby (Going back to full time at the shop really isn't an option, unfortunately, since I didn't make enough there to pay for child-care during work hours).

At any rate, I'll be doing more of it and will share my adventures here! My first project is for a sewing contest on Pattern Review called "Knock it Off!" where I am charged with reproducing a garment I have seen somewhere. I will be attempting a 1950's evening dress from a vintage Kotex ad. I will start working on it after the first of May per the contest rules and also due to the fact that my commissioned job for a set of Medieval costumes from Annunciation Orthodox School is due on Thursday the 28th. I've been sewing my little fingers to the bone over the last couple of days to get all of the last-minute things finished up.

I can't wait to get started on the new project!

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you soon!

First post coming soon....