1914 Afternoon Dress Diary
I began making this dress in Jennie Chancey’s online class in July of 2003. I made good progress on the underdress, including some machine embroidery for the bodice. But that all took a lot of time, plus I was having a hard time figuring out exactly what I wanted to do with the lace insertion for the actual dress. I had found some great laces and Swiss embroideries on Martha Pullen’s site. I finally got an idea of how I wanted it to go together. I was also waiting for this special “Stitch & Ditch Heirloom” stabilizer from Thread Pro. Of course, by then the class had ended and I was doing other projects, so this one got pushed back.
I wanted to get going again early this year (2005), but I was having this little weight problem and the underdress no longer fit. I was also in a major sewing slump, also because of weight issues and other things going on in my life. I have finally slimmed down some, calmed down, and think it will work now.
Picture of the underdress bodice:
Close-up of the embroidery:
August 15, 2005
I
am so happy to report that I started sewing again. I was in such a slump. But I
went to a corset-making class on Sunday afternoon and I was inspired to begin
again. Last night I participated in
a tea-lady conference call with the National Director of my tea chapter, the Ladies
Tea Guild. The talk was so inspiring, and I got motivated to sew again and
make more historic costumes! So yesterday, I got out the lace and Swiss
embroidery that I will insert into the bodice of my 1914 Afternoon Dress. I had
been putting it off because of the slump, but also because I was nervous I'd
mess up. Whiner! So I went ahead and did the first 15" section. It looked
lovely until I realized I had sewn the lace on the wrong side of the Swiss
embroidery panel! Ack! I wasn't all that upset - just rolled my eyes in disgust.
And then I thought, "I should have just started this months ago, I made a
mistake anyway, may as well get it over with!" So now it's going along
swimmingly, except that I ran out of lace and had to order more late last night.
But now I'm not afraid.
August 18, 2005
I
went the other day to a Joann's Fabric Store in Chicago, which is moving and
having a huge sale. I found some fabulous deals. Four Civil War patterns
for only $2 apiece, fabric at 40% off. I
got acetate for satin pillowcases and CW fabric for two gowns.
My lace came today! That was quick. I got it from http://store.marthapullen.com. She has delightful things there. Thankfully I knew exactly what I needed and didn't browse, or I would have spent even more money that I shouldn't.
August 22, 2005
I did more lace today. I want to try this new Titanic era corset pattern. The trouble is - I'll have to adapt it. It's an old pattern I found in a book called Corsets & Crinolines. It's a 1911 corset, but the trouble is that it is an underbust corset. I don't like those. So I have to extend it up and put curves in. For the pattern, I had to go to Kinkos and have them enlarge it. In the book it is just this tiny little drawing from old books that are 1/4 size. So I copied the pictures and cut them into separate pieces. The Kinkos man helped me out - fortunately they can go up 400% - and I was able to make them the right size. Only one was cut off a bit. This saves hours, since the only other way to enlarge is to hand-draw or use a projector, which I don't have.
The corset pattern enlarged:
August 24, 2005
I tried the corset pattern. I need to enlarge it some more. Obviously the original pattern was for a smaller person. I do hope this will all work out. I could get a custom Titanic corset pattern from Corsets Jardinière. If I can't make this work, I guess I'll have to try that. (11/7/05 Note: I did try to order from Corsets Jardinière, and she ripped me off! DO NOT order from Corsets Jardinière!) I finished the lace panels for the bodice! So I can finally cut out the dress and stitch them on.
Finished panels:
August 26, 2005
It
looks like we will be taking an overnight trip to downstate to deliver Julie’s
computer to her at college. I want
to be sure to have some handsewing to bring along.
I figure, if I can get the bodice done up to the neckline, I can sew the
neckline bias strip while at the hotel. I
also ordered a Butterick chemise pattern that Lynda from the board used for her
Titanic chemise. Maybe I can get
that done and sew the trim on during the trip.
August
27, 2005
I
cut out the bodice last night while watching TV, as well as joining the lace for
the front yoke. I had to make the
yoke on a larger than 90 degree angle so it slopes up to the shoulders.
That was sort of hard. It
would have been much easier if it were a straight 90-degree angle.
The yoke laid out on the bodice front:
August
28, 2005
Today
I started stitching the panels to the fabric, using the decorative heirloom
stitch with the wing needle. I was
very nervous using this technique, because one mistake means the undoing of
hours of prep work. I had book club
today, so I couldn’t do much this morning after church.
One near-disaster when I began – I had just stitched a button to the
bottom of my dress that had popped off. I
had dropped the feed-dogs of the machine for that, then forgot to put them back
up. I started doing the stitching
with the wing needle, and it wasn’t doing the pattern! Then I realized what was up.
I could have ruined the whole bodice front. The wing needle is a huge needle that pokes these little
holes in fabric while stitching them, allowing the fabric to be joined with this
really neat stitch. But the holes
are big, especially in the light fabric. Eeek!
Thankfully all is well and I was able to cover over the holes with the
proper stitch.
Here is a photo of the lace panel being stitched to the bodice front (Note, I am using an edging presser foot, which really helps keep things straight. I lined up the edge with the edge of the lace, then moved the needle over so that it would sew the lace edge in the correct place):
Close-up of the finished lace (I have the bodice laying on a gold bedspread so that the lace can be seen clearly):
August
29, 2005
We
are leaving this morning to go downstate. I
finished the bodice up to the neckline. It
is all pinned with the bias strip, ready for me to hand sew.
The chemise pattern came, but there is no time to do anything with it
now. We also made pillowcases this
weekend, so we could bring some to Julie. Kristin
made her very first pillowcase all by herself, with me just advising her as she
went along. But she did all the
threading, bobbin-winding, presser foot changing, and so forth by herself.
I will also bring my knitting along.
It’s a CW shawl that I started a year ago.
My knitting class actually begins tonight, but I can’t go.
August
30, 2005
We
got back safe and sound. I did sew
the neckline on the trip, and knitted a bit too.
Today I worked on the sleeves and got them done, including binding the
seam with bias tape from Joann’s to hide the seam in the sheer fabric.
I stitched the skirt and the placket and made the little tuck guide that
Jennie had taught us about in the class.
August
31, 2005
I
tried on my underdress with the corset last night before bed and it fits –
just barely! I could lace tighter,
but then I would not be comfortable, and we will be downtown Thursday for about
4 hours. I have to finish the
sleeves, make tucks in the skirt, attach bodice and skirt to the waistband, hem
the skirt and underdress, and make the sash.
All that by 12:00 Thursday! It’s
now almost 2:00 p.m. the day before. Can
I do this? Barring disaster, I
think so!
Later:
It’s 1:20 a.m. The dress is just
about done! The tucks are in and
the bodice and skirt are attached. I
have made the sash in pink. The
only things I have left are all the hooks and eyes (10 all together for dress
and sash, and one skirt hook for the waistband), the two hems (the underdress
will be machine hemmed), and the seam binding for the armholes (which may wait
until after the event to be done). I
think I’ll do a bit more tonight since I’m tired and should go to bed.
I
made two gaffes. One was on the
placement of the sleeves at the armhole, but it is tiny and it’s not a big
deal at all. The other is a big
deal, but not visible. For some
nutty reason I folded up the cuff and whip stitched it before making the sleeve
seam – duh! So there is a French
seam showing inside the dress on the cuff (normally that would be hidden inside
the cuff). But when the dress is
on, no one sees it, so phew! But it was annoying that I did such a dumb mistake.
But almost all of my projects have at least one largish mistake.
I think it is God’s way of keeping me humble.
September
2, 2005
We
went to the tea yesterday, and I wore the dress!
I ended up staying up until 3:00 a.m. the night before.
I decided I would sleep better if I had the hooks and eyes sewn on and
the sash done, leaving the hems to be done Thursday morning. I was actually able to sew the hooks and eyes on using the
machine, carefully zigzagging with 0 stitch length.
I had to hand finish the reinforcement under the hook since that is
impossible on the machine. I did that Thursday morning.
I
tried on the underdress and dress to get the correct length with my shoes.
I machine stitched the underdress since it doesn’t show, but wanted to
handstitch the dress hem. I was
stitching away until 12:00 noon, and then realized I had to get dressed.
So I machine basted the rest of the hem, hoping no one would see.
After I got dressed I saw that the front hem was the one that was machine
basted. I was disappointed since I
thought it was the back where it would be less obvious.
But then I realized I could finish the hem while wearing it, in the car
on the way down! (By the way, my sister
was driving, in case you wondered how I manged that!) Which I did,
almost finishing it, but then I felt car-sick and had to stop.
But it was mostly done, and no one did see the small machine basted area.
The
tea was wonderful. We went to the
Art Institute first to look at the Thorne Miniature rooms.
Two of the other ladies were dressed vintage.
They were both in 50’s dress and looked fabulous.
We all got a lot of comments. Then
we went to tea at Russian Tea Time. It
was just splendid and I loved sitting there in my new dress.
I
do plan on re-doing the sleeves. I
don’t like the two mistakes I made, plus the sleeves are a little too long and
a little too tight. And I never did
get the time seam-bind the armhole seams to avoid raveling.
If I am careful, I can rip out the present sleeves and re-sew a new set.
I also wonder if buttonholes would have been a better choice.
There is a little bit of pulling away of the overlap from the hooks.
I don’t know how to alleviate that.
I was afraid to do buttonholes since I had done so much work and put
forth so much effort on the lace insertions.
I am notorious for buttonhole mishaps.
But
in general, I am very happy with the dress.
My first lingerie dress!
