Winter Wear - A hooded cape limited workshop at Costume College

How many of you love historical outerwear? You dream of Victorian skating parties in the depths of winter or winter sleigh rides in the light falling snow. An 18th century carriage ride to a Twelfth Night in Williamsburg, with a wool blanket to warm your frosty toes and a down-filled muff in your lap to warm your hands in...

18th Century portrait

Mmmmmm...
I don't know about you, but I get SO excited when I see historical fashion plates of a lovely pair of ladies in beautiful silk pelisses or hooded capes and mantles, or a Victorian woman at a skating party with a fitted mantle and matching fur-trimmed muff! I dream of warm woolen cloaks with large fur muffs and linen-lined silk fashion hooded capes trimmed in warm fluffy marabou.

18th Century print

[And if you live in a warm climate, don't despair, you can still wear a lightweight fashion cape made of breathable fibers (think silk, linen or cotton), and you can even leave off the hood and just make a cape or pelisse!]

I'm so excited to share what I have learned about outerwear of the 18th and 19th centuries! About two weeks ago, I taught a class at Costume College in L.A. called 'Winter Wear - Hooded Cape workshop' - as you can imagine, we were making 18th (or 19th) century hooded capes!

Here is the inspiration that started it all for me!

18th century extant pink
silk hooded cape & muff by
The Digital Museum

I had a full limited class of 10 students, and we had 2 1/2 hours to make progress on our capes. I started the class with a short history of capes and outerwear from the mid 18th through late 19th centuries, illustrating how the shapes changed (and yet in some cases changed very little) through the years. Here is a link to my Pinterest board for capes & outerwear for a more visual history of outerwear in portraits, fashion plates and extant garments. This is a subject that I'm continuing to learn about as I continue to research outerwear from the early 18th century through the turn of the century.

Here's my (shortened) version
of the extant cape & muff!

After the brief cape history, everyone got their pattern kits and pattern instructions and laid out their fabric to cut out the cape and cape lining, and then the hood and hood lining. The students brought a variety of fabric, from a velvet, to a herringbone wool, to a silk satin, to taffetas, and much more: it was quite exciting to see all the options and styles that everyone chose!

I helped a few students slightly modify the pattern to make one longer and one shorter, to help others with squeezing the pattern out of less fabric, how to make it reversible, whether to add additional lining for warmth or take away lining for warmer climates and more. I brought along 2 hooded cape examples, my pink silk and my blue green wool, as well as my black mourning cape, along with a rusty red hooded cape in progress, in order to show how to put the cape and hood together, how to pleat the neckline, how to pleat the hood, how to add the bias binding, and more.

Rusty red 'hooded cape in progress' as
class example - really helped with teaching
the class!

I'm super happy that I brought the hooded cape in progress example, as well as two slightly different hooded cape examples, as I was able to use those to illustrate how it should come together, where to lengthen/shorten, and more.

Here are a few pictures of the CoCo class below, hard at work:

Winter Wear - Costume College class

Students hard at work on their hooded capes!

We didn't get as far as I would have thought in 2 1/2 hours, so if I teach this again, I would make the class a little longer: overall the feedback I received from my awesome students was very positive, they said they learned a lot and enjoyed the class! If you're one of my students and you're reading this, again please reach out with any questions: you all had such pretty fabric and plans and I can't wait to see all the finished products!

Two of my students finished their hooded capes already, Joy and Kailey Frye, a mother and daughter pair - Kailey is 14 (the same age as my niece, Jenny, who finished a cape as her first ever sewing project earlier this summer!).

Finished student's hooded capes
by Joy and Kailey Frye

My niece, Jenny, sewing her first ever
project: a cape! 

I really enjoyed teaching this limited workshop class at Costume College, and would definitely do it again!

A bit of background, I draped and drafted my hooded cape pattern a few years ago by researching the shapes from a few historical sources, and then drawing and re-drawing the shape and making various muslin mock-ups, until I was happy with the shape and fit. I have made a few hooded (and even one sans hood) capes, which can be found on my Costume Portfolio page under 'Outerwear.'

If you are interested in giving one of these hooded capes a try or missed getting into my limited class, my hooded cape pattern is now available for purchase in my etsy store, TheLadyDetalle!
Use coupon code: 'COCO16PEB' to get 20% off your purchase through 9/30! 

Hooded cape pattern by TheLadyDetalle

And this is my next outerwear project: drape a version of an 18th century pelisse similar to this!

Making a Regency gown from a sari

I finally started on my Regency gown made from a sari/saree today: I'm using the La Mode Bagatelle cross over dress pattern. I have everything cut out and I have the skirt mostly together: I just need to work on the bottom of the skirt, add some trim around the entire bottom. Also put the entire bodice together.

Progress on the sari Regency!

The fabric is a vintage orange silk sari with heavy gold metallic thread from India, bought through an Etsy seller - totally reasonable price. I am cutting up the more ornamental part to add along the bottom the whole way around the dress (rather than just making it part of the very front of the dress).

Cutting up the sari trim from the most
decorated part of the sari

The front is strips of the gold metallic design that were all along the sari edge: I did some piecing to get enough to add the three widths to the middle front.

Because the sari is 44' wide and about 5 3/4 yards long, and I'm cutting up all the design elements to use, I'm literally going to end up with a little pile of orange silk scraps at the end. Was hoping for enough left to get a reticule, but it's not looking good at this point. ;)

This gown is for the candlelight dinner at my 10th Annual Pumpkin Tea at the beginning of Nov. I need to get my dress done so I can tackle Mat's Regency coat, and then I have two events in October I'm trying to make things for.

'Bees, Bees, Bees' - Napoleonic Open Court Robe and Gown

TADA!!  My new Napoleonic open robe & court gown ensemble titled 'Bees, Bees, Bees'

"Bees, Bees, Bees" a Napoleonic silk bee
open robe & court gown by TheLadyDetalle

'Bees, Bees, Bees' made from red burgundy with embroidered gold Napoleonic bees silk brocade, cream silk taffeta embroidered with tiny red & cream flowers, golden bee pin on belt & gold bee hair pins (gift from my friend Angela), vintage cotton gloves, vintage fan, tiara from Ali Express (found by my friend Kat), feathers and hair by me, jewelry by Dames a la Mode, with hidden American Duchess cream 'Hartfield' Regency boots! First worn at the Saturday night Gala of Costume College 2016! This was a dream to wear, it flowed, it was fun, and it made me feel very regal and queenly! 

Here's a bit about the construction: I had been searching for the right Napoleonic bee fabric for an open robe for years: I was aiming for either gold with black bees, or royal blue or deep purple with gold bees, but burgundy with gold bees in a lovely luxurious silk brocade was what I could find on Ebay finally that was marginally affordable (after a few years of looking, er, but still more than I like to pay by far), so red & gold bees it was for the court robe! 

Burgundy & gold Napoleonic
bees silk brocade

Cream embroidered silk taffeta
w/ tiny red & cream flowers

Regency court robe in progress

Once I had the bee fabric for the court robe, I went to my stash to figure out what to pair it with for the gown underneath, and came up with a 4 yard piece of embroidered silk taffeta (cream with tiny red & cream embroidered flowers in the middle photo above) I picked this fabric up in the L.A. Fashion District a few years ago, originally intended for a Regency ball gown. I loved the combination of the two fabrics, so went with it! 

For the Regency court open robe, I used Butterick #4890 (upon my friend Kat's advice and with inspiration from this gorgeous version she made last year!) and also a modified early Butterick/Simplicity pattern for the court gown. 

I used this extant garment and this extant garment and fashion plate for inspiration. Also here's a link to my Pinterest board for Napoleonic bees and also for court wear, where I did a lot of research on the styles of the period. Many original court trains were often longer than my train, and I just didn't want to waste my super narrow 30" width fabric on TOO long of a train, since I wanted to use less fabric and use the remaining yardage for a spencer, muff, reticule and bonnet (if I'm lucky!). So I made it the length of the pattern, which still used 9 total yards of bee fabric!

The finished outfit - I love the way the
sun glistens off the open robe train!

A tiara from Ali Express (found by my
friend Kat), and gold bee pins gifted 
from my friend Angela in my hair!

The open robe court train from the back!

Having a bit of fun during photo time - I
loved the belt that went with the open robe

Close up of the front belt and bee pin
(pin gifted by my friend Angela)

So this court outfit had its first wearing at Costume College 2016 last Saturday: it was super fun to wear and move around in. I felt very regal with my long train, tiara and luxurious fabric. This is my first ensemble that included any silk brocade, and wow, did I love this fabric. I truly felt as if I could have graced the royal courts of the day in this outfit (er, I 'felt' I could, but in reality, I'm too much of an independent modern woman to have pulled that off, LOL): I'm looking forward to wearing again sometime in future!

A Regency court ensemble by TheLadyDetalle

Costume College Preview

I had a wonderful and amazing time at Costume College! The Gala was definitely an evening to remember, with so many gorgeous and amazing outfits by all the talented costumers who attended!
 I plan to blog about CoCo here shortly (including how my Winter Wear Hooded Cape workshop went, and post photos my outfits with construction info).

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a preview of my Gala gown, a Regency open court robe and gown of the Napoleonic era entitled, 'Bees, Bees, Bees':

'Bees, Bees, Bees' Napoleonic court robe
and gown by TheLadyDetalle

I'll post more on CoCo soon! Here is a link with a few more pics on FB!

Triangles, triangles, triangles

I wanted to share some of my earlier CoCo sewing progress. I did some bodice fixes (so it would lay flatter) and I'm adding black triangle trim to my early 19th century Regency cross over mustard yellow cotton gown.

The idea and inspiration for the triangle trim comes from here, here and here.
Here is the gown at the START (see how the bodice is a bit 'poufy' in the lower bust area? I wanted to fix that to lay properly over a pair of Regency stays):

Mustard yellow cotton Regency gown

For the trim, I created a channel trim by ironing in two sides (to form a channel), then fold one side down on itself, and then the other, iron down, and then cut off the lower edges with just a bit remaining, and voila, triangle to add! I made each triangle meticulously, and then tuck each into the binding trim (which I hand picked recently). Sew down the binding again to hold in the triangle, and then sew up and down each side of the triangle to finish.

A few in progress pics:

Detail of black triangle trim

Adding triangle to the skirt

I added triangles all the way around the skirt, then to the neckline and the sleeves, and now it's done and ready for CoCo!

Here's a picture of the FINISHED outfit:

Mustard cotton Cross over Regency gown
w/ mustard silk fichu

I'm really looking forward to the second wearing of this dress with my mustard silk fichu at CoCo!

Cream quilted silk petticoat - Late February 'Tucks & Pleating' challenge

Here's the finished challenge, a cream quilted silk petticoat lined in cream silk dupioni, pictured here with my pink 18th century statys (posted quite late, but finished in March):

Cream quilted silk petticoat

Historical Sew Monthly FEBRUARY challenge:

http://thedreamstress.com/the-historical-sew-monthly-2016/

The Challenge: Tucks & Pleating - make a garment that features tucks and pleating for the shape or decoration

Material: cream quilted silk and cream silk dupioni for lining

Pattern: JP Ryan petticoat instructions from memory, so half made up ;)

Year: late 18th century

Notions: Silk satin ribbon for ties

How historically accurate is it? Pretty close. The side seams and insides were done by machine as was the quilted silk. The hem waistband, ties, pocket openings and anything visible were hand sewn.

Hours to complete: Probably about 5-6 hours

First worn: Not yet worn: made for CoCo 2016.

Total cost: Both from stash. Quilted silk was bought with a 50% coupon at G Street Fabrics last year, and the cream silk dupioni was bought on online sale. 

Costume College Gala - Bees, Bees, Bees

For Costume College's Gala event, I'm doing early 19th century court attire: an open robe and gown, I'm fondly terming 'Bees, bees, bees'!

Here's the fabric:

Silk brocade w/ Napoleonic Bees

I am making a Regency court robe (open robe) and a Regency court gown. I decided to follow Kat's advise and use Butterick #4890 to make the court robe (she made a gorgeous version of this at the end of last year for the Regency Baltimore Harbor weekend), and then I plan to use the La Mode Bagatelle gown pattern as a base to make the Regency court gown. I found a gorgeous silk bee fabric recently online that I'm using for the court robe, it was listed as silk shantung, but it's silk brocade: it ravels like crazy but it's very luxurious, I feel very spoiled and I'm loving working with it. It was way more than I ever pay for silk (I like super deals) especially for a non-wide 30" yard! But...it's really hard to find great silk Napoleonic bee fabric on super deal, so I just couldn't resist when I found this lovely Napoleonic bee burgundy silk brocade with gold bees: YUM!

I also have 4 yards of a gorgeous embroidered silk taffeta I picked up in the Fashion District about 5 years ago: cream with tiny red & cream flowers, that I am using for the court gown itself. It was always intended for a Regency so it's being used for its original purpose (win win!).

Fabric for the Regency court gown

I had a few days off recently so I was able to a decent bit of sewing in: so far I have the bee court robe all together, minus the final belt and the little gold trim I am planning for the edges. I have the court gown fabric laid out, but I don't have quite enough for my La Mode Bagatelle pattern pieces (I'm about a half yard short), so I'm going to have to be creative and figure out how to get it out of the fabric I have: a coordinating hidden back panel (but if I do, I can't really wear the court gown without the court robe), or add a different hem, another fabric for the top or just a bunch of piecing. Once I figure out what I want to do, I'll be full steam ahead on the court gown!

So far this is the progress on the bee court robe:

"Bees, bees, bees" Regency court robe

As soon as I figure out how best to do this, I'll start cutting out the court gown and sewing it together: it's so exciting to be so far along with my Gala outfit so early, which takes the stress off a bit and makes it more fun: I'll try to post a few in-progress pics. Eek, lots to do:

Here's a bit more about the idea formation:
I've been wanting to make a Regency court outfit, gown or robe with bee fabric ever since I began costuming. I have been on the lookout for great fabric for the last few years for this project, and occasionally pick up a bit of silk bee fabric at a sale price, but generally it's hard to find and expensive: so while I have acquired some and even made a bee muff a few years ago (and have some other bee fabric on hand to make up at some point, it wasn't quite what I was looking for, for this project though), until I recently found the PERFECT bee fabric for this plan, so I decided it was time to get this early 19th century court outfit going finally.

I'm going for something similar to this or this:

Here's a link to my Pinterest board for Napoleonic bees and also for court wear:

I'm an 'inspired by' rather than an exact copy costumer: the train on the original is too long for my super narrow fabric (there just wasn't enough of it: I COULD have gone a little longer and wider, but Kat made up the Butterick trained open robe already and it's gorgeous, so I knew I didn't need to go longer, plus now with the yards I have remaining, I should be able to get a spencer, muff, reticule & bonnet out of it hopefully! We'll see what I can get with careful cutting and piecing ;)).

I cut the fabric out for the open robe very carefully, and I'm going to try to get a spencer, bonnet, reticule (and maybe muff) out of the remaining yardage: I going to line it with mustard yellow silk taffeta. If I can get these done for CoCo, I will wear them with my yellow cross over gown.

I find it inspiring how often ideas can be YEARS in the making, but then they finally come together one day!