To Fatten a Horse

Our school is currently undergoing some changes and our department will be moving to another location next year, so there is much to go through in our stash of materials and work equipment to see what gets to come along and what will be gotten rid of. As it happens, I received one of our old ironing aids. I don't think they're called horses in English, but in Finnish they are. It's sort of like a very big tailor's ham, and here's how it started out:

Pretty worn and not really that useful a shape. The top was way too flat and the cover had holes in it so I thought my new equestrian companion required some fattening up and a new blanket to cover her. I didn't have any oats and she didn't have a muzzle so I had to perform a bit of plastic surgery instead of waiting for nature to take its course.

I took some of this fusible felt-like material and cut the shapes I wanted out of it. Here they are stacked from largest to smallest to get a better look at what the end result should be, but I used them in reverse order to smooth out the edges of the layers. It took 17 layers and about a meter of the material to get my preferred shape.

Here's how it looked all fused. I started with the smallest layer, measured where it should go on the horse and started fusing it with a hot iron and lots of steam. I lay the next layer on top, made sure I aligned it properly and steamed it thoroughly. I did a few layers at a time and let it cool down a little in between to make sure it all stayed down and I wouldn't have any loose bits between the layers. I love how smooth it turned out, even better than I'd hoped.

Next I took some wool we had also had lying around in the school's stash, lay a piece over the horse and ironed it to shape. I traced the edges of the horse with chalk, cut the shape out (with seam allowance) and sewed two strips of the same fabric around the edges to form channels for some tape to hold the cover firm. It didn't quite conform to the curve in the middle, so I added another tie on the underside to hold the "waist" of the pear shape tight.

And here's the finished horsey. The fabric reminds me of my grandpa's hats, but it's smooth and firm, and curved like a lady's body now. I'm sure the small trouble it took will pay for itself in my next project already, the corset for my 1880's gown. And with this addition I'm very happy with my ironing equipment. With the horse, a sleeve board I also bought from the school and my newly repaired Trevil Domina iron, I'm pretty much set. If only I had the room for an ironing board with suction...

Here's what I've been up to lately...

I had quite an amazing stroke of luck in finding a traineeship at a movie's costuming department. For the last close to three months, I've been sewing 17th century garments for the Girl King, a movie directed by Mika Kaurismäki and filmed right here in Turku. It's an international production between Finland, Sweden, Canada and Germany. I'm under a non-disclosure agreement so I'm afraid I can't share too many details and especially no photos, but here's a segment that was aired in yesterday's news. Our part starts around 18:30 but I'm afraid there aren't English subtitles. To be honest, I don't even know if the video can be watched outside Finland.

Christina, the name sake of the movie was a Swedish queen who was raised as a boy and grew up to be quite an interesting person. It's been an amazing ride getting to know the 17th century and I've learned more than I ever could've imagined in such a short time. It's slowly drawing to a close, though, as after next week it's time to return to normality and turn my brain forward by about 250 years: I'll be starting my final project at the school, an 1880's bustle gown.

Mad about millinery

Well, the school's started, even if it hardly felt like it in the first couple of weeks and we're slowly getting started with our projects for the beginning of the year. The Victorian dress project is at a stand still and may stay that way for a while, but that doesn't mean I haven been keeping busy. I finished my first wedding project, a lace bolero and alterations of a ready-to-wear gown and have been working on another commission as well. Here's what I've been doing now and then  to calm my nerves for a couple of weeks now:

I started my first wire frame hat project :). It's slightly influenced by the great hats of the Edwardian and late rococo eras, but not a reproduction of anything in particular. I couldn't bring myself to wait for an order of millinery wire to arrive from abroad, so I just made it out of regular wire, following instructions from millinery handbooks from early 20th century.

The frame is pretty basic, an oval crown with a round brim. I turned one side of the brim up and the other one down to add a bit of interest to the shape. The crown and the brim are made in one piece with three wires around the crown and another three for the brim.

Here's the crown covered in ivory tulle and the rest of it draped to give an idea of what the brim would look like covered. Since this picture was taken, I've already sewn the tulle in place a bit more neatly. I wanted this hat to have a kind of an etherial look and I think the tulle works quite nicely for that.

Here's a peek at the lace I'm planning to use to cover at least part of the brim. This was also the initial inspiration for the project as I was trying to think of ways to use this lace without it looking too bridal.

I'll also be trimming the hat with some wide black and ivory satin ribbon, a transparent ribbon (that's used to stiffen curtains and looks kind of like crinoline but isn't), black and white ostrich plumes and a bunch of white fabric roses. As this won't be a modest everyday-wear hat in any case, I'm going for an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of look with the trims.

Book worming

I started last week with a visit to the city library in hopes of finding some of the books that were recommended on a historical sewing blog. Either the American Dutchess or Historical Sewing, I'm not entirely sure, but they're both wonderful resources. Anyway, I toted home about 8 kilograms worth of costuming knowledge.

Ateljeepukujen eleganssia - A touch of Elegance: the Art of Couture Clothing by Tanja Rovio

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Costume in Detail by Nancy Bradfield

Costume in Detail is a wonderful source book with drawings of dresses from the period 1730-1930.

A Touch of Elegance details the history of couture dresses in Finland from mid-19th century to 1970s.

Fashion Trims by Louise Turner

This one was kind of a let down. Most of the techniques were something I already knew or could have figured out easily on my own.

Two books on hats: Muodikkaita päähineitä (Design & Make Fashion Hats) by Karen Henriksen

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Hattu - koriste ja tunnusmerkki (Hat, a decoration and a symbol, only available in Finnish) by Marja-Liisa Ripatti

Henriksen's book contains step by step instructions on how to make 14 kinds of hats. The styles didn't really capture my interest but the techniques will probably come in handy. It's kind of a shame the most interesting styles are only seen in pictures without instructions on how to achieve something similar.

The other hat book contains the history of hat making in Finland. I have to say I'm quite unimpressed with most of the styles pictured. If I do decide to pursue further aspirations in millinery, I'll probably turn to Lynn McMasters and other online sources instead of the library.

Underwear- Fashion in Detail by Eleri Lynn,

The Corset - A Cultural History by Valerie Steele

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The Basics of Corset Building by Linda Sparks

Lynn's book shows beautiful detail shots from the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum. My only problem with this one is that there's mostly only one photo per garment and most of the time I want to see more! The line drawings are quite helpful, though.

I haven't really read Steele's book yet but it seems to hold quite true to the title, a cultural history. Here pictured is a modern corset by Thierry Mugler.

Another picture from the same book. Most of the illustrations consist of period advertisements of corsets.

 

Sparks' book also holds true to the title. The instructions are clear and quite basic. I don't think I learned very much from reading through this one, but for someone who's never constructed a corset, it's probably a great help.

Over the last couple of days, I also discovered Original pre-1929 Historical Pattern Collection on Tumblr, which holds great many authentic patterns. Most of them don't have any instructions as those weren't needed in eras when everyone already knew how to construct a garment, but  most of them will still give a general idea of how to get started on a historical garment project.

Have any of you got any great literary aids or online sources to share?

Rosy shorts and some newly found treasures

Here are a couple of outfit pictures with one of my more recent sewing projects: a pair of pin-up inspired shorts.

Shirt: second hand
Shorts: yours truly
Tights: Transparenze, sold by Kisu Korsi & Stockmann
Shoes: Mekka/Tapas

I fell in love with this rose printed stretch cotton the minute I saw it. It was a little too sturdy for a skirt (to my liking) and a little too loud to my taste for a jacket and we'd just finished drafting our basic trouser block at school, so shorts it was. I love the high waisted styles of the 50s and the sailor flaps with two rows of buttons so this pair kind of designed itself. The fabric was quite costly at 26€/m, but I only needed about 60cm for these.

I wore this today for a day out visiting fabric stores to scout for potential materials for a bespoke piece, and to a second-hand store (Kontti). They were having a 50% off sale on all clothing items, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any that I liked. I never seem to do at that particular store. But I did have quite a bit of luck with other items:

The peacock feather fan with a wooden handle was a real bargain at 2€ :). Even if I were to strip it and use the feathers for other projects (which I won't!) it would've been worth at least 5 times that. It's even two sided with 46 eyes in total. The belt I bought mostly for the buckle. I really like the look of gun metal and jet, even if the belt itself is kind of an unflattering length on me. I might just re-use the buckle somewhere else.

The bag almost made me squeel aloud when I spotted it :). I used to have this bag in a bit larger size and it was my favourite for a really long time. I'd probably still use it if its handles hadn't broken from carrying too much stuff in it. It's made of wonderfully soft velvet with faux leather handles and decoration. One of the beads on the decoration has fallen off but I'll just pry one off my old bag and glue on it and it'll be good as new. I never had the heart to throw the old one away even though it's broken beyond repair...

I also found a nice old umbrella with a crooked handle for a couple of euros that I might strip of the fabric and use the frame to make myself another parasol later on. One of the fabric stores also still had a couple rolls of the cheap muslin that I've been using (it's kind of hard to find cotton for under 3€ here). So all in all, I had a really good day today :).

Rocogoth

I just realized I hadn't posted any pictures from the masquerade ball and our finished costumes. It was truly a  day and a night to remember, and I dearly hope that it will become an annual tradition in one way or another. Since other bloggers have covered the event earlier and better than I have, I don't think I'll babble on any longer. Here were Lady Caterina Auditore and Lord Melchioré Auditore from Monteriggioni:

The bodice is imitation dupion silk and organza for the sleeve ruffles, 100% polyester, that is, except for the red silk scraps that I used for decoration on the neckline and left hip. I flat-lined it with cotton muslin and wore it over my victorian ribbon underbust corset. The fit isn't quite rococo without the proper underpinnings, but with the budget restrictions I had, I went for the overall feel of the style rather than historical accuracy. There'll hopefully be time for that later. The skirt is supported by a tulle skirt and small hip pads that I made from muslin and pillow stuffing.

I added two rows of pleated satin ribbon trim and a chinese braid around the neckline, bodice hem and the sleeves. The two bunches of trim on the neckline and hip consisted of black coque feathers, bits of silk, some cut out lace and red seed beads. I wore my hair up in a 18th century poof style with real roses and 3 sets of 2 ostrich spads sewn together in the stems to give them a little more body. It's a shame I couldn't get the feathers fastened well enough to stop them from turning all over the place. And the thing about having 20 cm of hair poof between my head and the feathers, I didn't even notice they weren't the right way when we took these photos. The mask was also made by me, loosely following this tutorial and applied to the face using eye lash glue.

 My prince wore brown breeches with gold buttons, a white cotton shirt with huge sleeves, a black and gold brocade vest and a lacy neck ruffle. His mask was made using a cheap Spiderman mask ask a base and some creative painting and glueing of chinese braid, feathers and lace. These were close to being the first menswear pieces I've ever made and I'm quite proud of how he looked :). I used existing patterns which I altered to be more period accurate and for a better fit.

For more pictures from the event, visit Shadow Selves, Enchantment of Satin or Through the Looking Glass.


It was great getting to make something historically inspired again and I have to say I've got a pretty severe case of new gown fever at the moment... I've spent the past couple of days cleaning the apartment and reading through costuming blogs trying to do some research for a new project. Dozens upon dozens of posts later and I'm quite set on starting to make me a 1870s or 1880s bustle gown ensemble. I just listed the different pieces that I'd like to make for it and came up with a total of 10 :D. But before I get more in over my head, I think I'll start tomorrow with a trip to the library to get some literary references. After that, the first pieces will most likely be a lobster tail bustle and a mid-bust corset when I can afford to buy the materials for that.

What makes me giddy ^^

People usually don't share my enthusiasm over news on developing therapies or procedures that seek to extend the human life span far beyond natural, and I don't particularly excel at explaining why I find the idea of (near) eternal life so intriguing. Mostly it comes down to the fact that there is so much to see and figure out that I find it appalling that my time to experience it might be cut short at any time.

Like this little creature for example. Just an hour ago I didn't even know anything like it existed on the planet. He's a glaucus atlanticus and look at him! Totally looks like a real life pokémon :). And it's called a blue dragon! Even if it only grows to about 3cm in length... There is so much for the world to show me and teach me, 80, even 90 years, of which I've already spent over a quarter, seem very, very, lamentably short.

Here's one of the quotes from The Doctor that's really stuck with me and kind of explains how I feel about life, except, I don't have a TARDIS to take me to all those places:

I'm not running away, but this is one corner, of one country, on one continent, on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that's a corner of a universe, that is forever growing and shrinking, and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things, I am running to them before they flare and fade forever. But it's alright our lives won't stay the same, they can't. One day, soon maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while...