Additions to the Stash and a New Era

Now that I am *finally* out of school (well, the kids are out-I still have to go to work next week.  But, hey, I can get a lot of stuff done without 20 6-year-olds running around.  I plan on throwing on a Disney movie and just cleaning things out.  Should be fun.), I've really been thinking about how I'm going to spend my time.  I usually spend the majority of my summer in Ukraine, however, this year, I will only be there for about 7 days (then taking a mini-trip to Virginia with mom and sis) so I have a lot more summer than I am used to.  I have to start back at school the first week in August, so I basically have a little less than two months of time to keep myself occupied.

I have plenty of projects-the trouble is where to start!  I'm trying to prioritize them the best I can (what I want for Liendo the next few months, what am I going to wear to Neill-Cochran in September, and of course, there's Welbourne in October).  Well, I went to a school event last week at Liendo, and realized that I do not have a SINGLE cotton dress in my wardrobe beyond two wash dresses that I never wear because I usually do high class events.  Not a single cotton sheer and not a one nice cotton dress.  Nothing.  I live in Texas.  I decided this was unacceptable so the first order of business is to make a cotton sheer.  But of course, this area of my wardrobe is severely lacking in this area so it can't be just ONE cotton sheer.  Oh no, currently, I have two lengths in my stash and a semi-sheer from 6 years ago that got the gauging ripped out and the bodice is about 6" too small all the way around that I may get around to fixing.

Anyway, one of my favorite original sheer gowns is this one:

Would you believe that you can't find a white fabric printed with blue stars?  Forget sheer for a moment-it still just doesn't exist.  I can find blue with white stars, white with red and blue stars, but no white with blue stars.  Well, I wasn't giving up.  I bought 10 yards of voile from a seller in India.  Just plain voile, mind you, and a solid star stamp from Etsy.  Yep, I'm going to make the fabric myself.  I'm going to have to experiment on what inks to use (there will be a post!).  There are some other people who have experimented and I'm going to use their findings and try it myself.  It's a cotton, so it will be washed.  Therefore, I need a stamp that will not bleed or fade.  We'll see what I figure out.  Now, of course, I'm in the market for a length of blue silk for the sash, too.

I also bought a length of this:

It's a blue plaid cotton organdy.  I bought the blue and Paula bought a length of the green.

I haven't decided exactly on style yet.  I do like this idea (minus the ruffles) with the open sleeve and fichu:

The fabric itself reminds me a lot of this dress, but I'm not making an evening gown:

I also like this gown:

I guess I'll figure it out.  So those are my two sheer dress plans.  In addition to sheers, Fabric Mart also had a really good sale on silk taffeta a few weeks ago, so I picked up a couple of dress lengths.  Here's what I got:

I also have a dress length of purple shot emerald green (I'm dubbing it the 'peacock dress') from PureSilks.us:

Also from Fabric Mart, I got 1 yard each of:

I already have plans for them, and I'll write about that later.

Anyway, I also want some more veils.  I can deal with my one hat veil (I only have two hats and I usually just wear the one) but only having one bonnet veil (well, two, if you count the original but I don't wear that one) is kind of a pain.  I don't like switching them out.  So I've been wearing the same bonnet for 6 months straight so I don't have to change it around.  I've even been picking out which dresses I wear based on which bonnet I have the veil on.  I bought a half yard of point d'Espirit (the dotted cotton netting), so I can make two veils.  I could do with another plain one, but for the other one, I REALLY want this veil:

I've always loved this veil.  I come from a family of beekeepers so it is even more appropriate.  I already bought all the supplies (the beading that goes on the top of the veil has not arrived yet).

I couldn't find yellow bees and flowers without them being plastic so I stuck with gold.  I think the overall effect will work.

In other projects, I've decided to embark on a new era.  Literally.  As in, non-hoop era.  I've done other eras before when I worked at the Bell County Museum but it was all 20th century stuff which is decidedly easier than 19th century (underpinnings become easier and fewer).  I've decided to try my hand at the early bustle era, namely 1875-ish.  The reason for this expedition is really two fold.  I could, perhaps get out a little more if I had more of a variety.  Also, for the Texas Living History Association's conference every year, we are usually in historic buildings for the conference.  The association encourages people to dress out for the conference but since the majority of the buildings and rooms we spend our time in were not 1850's and 1860's, the doorways and hallways are decidedly too small for hoopskirts.  Especially when you add 20-30 people a session to a tight room.  I wanted to make something that was still pretty, still 'comfortable' (as in, close enough to the 1860's so that I could get away with using same corset, chemise, etc.), but less full around the hips.  I am not a fan AT ALL of the 1830's and 40's so those were out of the question.  I have always been a fan of the slightly trained 1870's skirts with their overskirts so hence my new era.  They are flat on the front and mostly flat against the sides, so no taking up tons of room in tiny spaces.

I decided I wanted a blue striped fabric.  I searched around before finding this on Spoonflower:

So pretty!  Unfortunately, Spoonflower has dropped their cotton/silk blend so I had to order it in straight cotton poplin.  I can always fib and say it's a cotton/silk blend.  Anyway, as I was looking at the fabric, I realized that it was Christine's Wishing Gown fabric from Phantom of the Opera-one of my favorite musicals.  Well, now I had to buy it.  It is so pretty!  I wish I could get it in silk taffeta just like the musical's dress (which, by the way, is a blue shot green silk taffeta).  But the poplin should suffice.  Poplin usually has a sheen to it, making the lie about it being part silk more believable.

Anyway, as far at styling goes, I really like this dress:

I might add a slight train towards the back, but otherwise, it is perfect.  I love the little trim details in the gold, although I might go for a silver, white, or black to go more with the print.  I might just edge everything in it, as opposed to doing the pleating to save on fabric (I bought enough to do an 1870's dress and a cotton 1860's dress, if I'm really careful about how I cut it).  Once I get the fabric in, I'll decide what color the edge it in.  I'm thinking velvet.  The musical's dress is trimmed in black velvet. I might like mine with a silver color. I'm thinking of doing a v-neck and keeping the sleeves in the original.

Because the conference to which I'll be wearing this gown is usually in several buildings (read: walking outside a lot) and in January, I decided I also needed a hat/bonnet and some form of outerwear.  I might end up putting the bee veil on it, too, just for fun.  The bonnet is my own pattern (more on it when I get it complete) and was more or less supposed to resemble this one:

I would wear it further up on my head if I were to put a veil on it.  I haven't decided how to trim it, yet.  Of course, this means I can use my 1865-1870 chantilly parasol I bought last year.  The silk is still split, but I bought some brown silk to replace it and will be doing that, soon.  I think I will cover the hat in the same silk.

So, that's headgear.  I have plenty of broochs and other jewelry that will work with a slight date change.  I'll be wearing my hair bun on top curls on bottom like so many original photographs I have seen.

Finally, outerwear.  Although it is more my era as opposed to 1870's, I really like this cloak:

I like the color, the scallops-everything about it.  AND I can use it for 1860's, too!  I might skip the embroidery for now, but it can always be added later.  I bought some burgundy wool online that I will use to make the cloak and a hood.

I also bought some cream colored silk to line the cloak with.  I still need to find some ribbon to clasp it.  I haven't decided if I want to add a hood to the cloak or wear them separately.  I have seen originals for both ways.  I might just keep them separate.

So those are my summer projects.  I'm prioritizing the sheers, veils, and the 1870's stuff.  Everything else will be 'if I get the other stuff done' projects.  In progress and Leindo posts to come.