Regency Cinderella Or Challenge #5

I finally present my entrance for Challenge #5: Peasants and Pioneers for the Historical Sew Fortnightly! Midterms, presentations, and rehearsals interfered with the post coming sooner. ;)

(Slightly blurry, Camera was being annoying)

What I am wearing:

• Muslin Shift with 3/4 length sleeves and a ribbon drawstring. It is my historically-inaccurate-but-I-needed-a-colonial-shift shift. 
• Regency Era Short Stays from Simplicity 4052. Made of two layers of muslin with reed boning and cotton laces. 
• A strapped petticoat, pieced with the remains of the muslin I possess. The straps are grosgrain ribbon because I have no more muslin. 
• The drop front Regency Era gown. Made of old sheets which no longer fit the bed. There are also cotton tapes to fasten it. Sheets are 60% cotton, 40% polyester (never again for sheets...) Pattern started as Simplicity 4055.
• Cotton flannel high waisted apron. Has one grossly inaccurate plastic button in the center back...
• Also I have my cotton knit red stockings, and my navy shoes (also not accurate but they work with this, sorta)
• And the attempt at a turban. It's just a long strip of brown flannel. I had to pin it in place so it's over my muslin caul. 

Dress from Behind

I'm actually pretty happy with this. I made it in about two weeks with the materials I had on hand. All I bought was the cotton ties for the stays, and the cotton tape for the dress. Which means this dress cost less than $5. From what I can tell, it appears I used the wrong bodice back...the evening one in place of the day one. Either that or I need to make a chemisette, which I would have but I ran out of fabric. So I will eventually.

Here are the facts as per the challenge:

Challenge #5: Peasants and Pioneers

Fabric: Dress was two pillow cases and a top sheet of old twin bed sheets (cotton/polyester). Apron was a small portion of the cotton flannel bottom sheet of a twin set. Undergarments are cotton muslin. 

Pattern: Started as Simplicity 4055. Adapted from there. Used the Drop Front Dress Instructions from Sense and Sensibility, I think. I kinda made it up along the way. 

Year: Early 1800s. I personally prefer to think roughly 1820s in my head. I wanted it to look old fashioned. 

Notions: Cotton tape, eyelets, cotton cord, thread

How Historically Accurate is It? It looks historically accurate, I couldn't swear to any of it. Regency is not my time period. Although it's accurate to the challenge, sheets are reused fabric which would have been pioneer-y

Hours to Complete: About 3 hours on the apron, 4 on the short stays, 2 on the strapped petticoat, and 48 or so on the dress, I think

Total Cost: about $5. All I bought was the tape and cord. I had the rest. 

To me, this is a Cinderella dress. Here Cinderella is, working fast to clean out the fireplace, waiting for her prince. Mind you I would have done it without the fairy godmother and then rescued the prince myself...

On other notes, my faire garb is coming along, and I will soon be cutting out my linen! Until then, smile!

Cheers!

Merlina

A Lovely New Book and The Damsel Gown

I bought a book! I know, in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal, but it is to me! This is not a textbook for my degree! I know *gasp*! AND it's a sewing book. Yay! (insert happy dance)

I bought The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcom-Davies from Amazon. (And the title of the book is linked to their website, totally drool worthy!)

The pretty book:

(http://www.amazon.com/The-Tudor-Tailor-Reconstructing-Sixteenth-Century/dp/0896762556/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362332744&sr=8-1&keywords=the+tudor+tailor) 

Needless to say it is an absolutely gorgeous book and I love it already! I have officially decided to love the era more than hate it right now. Late Elizabethan Nobles still scare me and some of the fashions are a bit particular to my tastes. Anyway! It makes the Damsel Dress so much easier! As well as the Tudor Sew-A-Long I am plotting for the summer. But I digress. 

Thanks to this book, I have spent the day plotting my gown. I feel quite proud of myself. I'm even price hunting! Which is really useful. If only I could discover if underpetticoats were lined....

Oh and there will be pics of the Regency servant attire soon. It's almost done and hands down one of the easiest historical outfits I've done! And probably the fastest!

Cheers!

Merlina

Historical Sew Forthnightly

I give up! I tried to be so organized, I planned, I thought things out! I had a simple and concise list of projects for the year. Well that went to hell way to easily. I have made none from the list and have already given in to insentient adding to the List. Fine! We shall try to think of an amended list and then understand how we lost the path in the first place. (Perhaps simply because I dislike doing what is expected)

There are several things at fault in these circumstances. First, I joined the Historical Sewing Fortnightly, hosted by Leimomi Oakes at The Dreamtress.

Click and be brought to the information! Tis better than me summarizing

Which in itself sounds like a really cool idea. Chances to sew things for fun and specific purposes. But the projects only last two weeks, and us nutcases, specifically me, can get a bit carried away with what we are planning. So far I had kind of a cop out. I thought I could finish this snood I started but then I got pissy and went against the plan (and decided I wanted silk). So I only finished the gold braid - which will eventually grace the new snood, as soon as I get silk. 

The next challenge is Peasants and Pioneers. I have a project that technically one third of the way through. I stepped out of my comfort zone and did Regency. So far I have short stays and a petticoat with shoulder straps. I've also cut out the lining for the dress bodice and have the rest of the dress planned. And I am doing all of it with stuff I have in my stash! (Except for the tapes and the cord for lacing.)

So far:

Short Stays over Colonial Shift

I know, not the world's greatest shot. This is what happens when Lover is at rehearsal and you really want costume pics. I made the stays out of muslin and reed boning. Based off the Simplicity Pattern 4052. I didn't have the directions so I made it up as I went. I didn't make a new shift due to the time restraint and the overall lack of suitable fabric. I don't have any pics of the petticoat yet. The gown planned to go over is a green drop front dress made of aged fabric (old sheets), and a heavier brown apron. It's a work dress and I promise there will be pics. 

Next post shall cover more of the new distractions and hopefully more project pics and obviously plotting.

Cheers, 

Merlina