I need a new sewing machine. I paid $99 for mine ages ago, and it’s temperamental on a good day. I believe there is something wrong with the tension mechanism, since it doesn’t seem to adjust.
I had an idea for a flopsy garden hat for the walk in the park, as opposed to a rigid [...]
Archive for the ‘1874 Purple Polonaise’ Category
Comments on the Completed Polonaise
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise on May 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Purple Polonaise Photos
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise, Historical Costume Photos, tagged Bustle, Bustle photos, Lilac Festival, Rochester, Victorian, Victorian bustle, Victorian Fashion, Victorian photos, Victorian Polonaise on May 15, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Here are the beautiful photos from Highland Park. One could not ask for a better backdrop than the voluptuously, lacy lilacs.
I tied a sash around the waist, which was unnecessary. But I thought it jaunty, and have lost a few pounds unintentionally from when I did the bodice fitting. I never tight lace for fittings, [...]
Polonaise has sleeves, almost
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise, tagged Victorian, Victorian Costuming, Victorian Costume, Victorian Costume Pictures, Victorian Costume P on May 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The underskirt is 99% finished. Hah! All that remains are some extra hooks for closure. The back portion of the underskirt I trimmed differently then the front portion, which was common for the period. I was rather sick of rigid, straight up and down pleats, so I took a long piece of doubled over 16.5″ [...]
Central Panel finalized (and Garden Gnome)
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise, tagged Bodice, Bustle, Gnome, Polonaise, Victorian Costuming, Victorian Polonaise on May 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Not much action here as far as the dress goes. Lots of stuff to do. Time sensitive. Responsibilities.
But I have made the center panel. It’s not crazy exciting, but there’s a reason for that. I think the polonaise is way exciting by its own. One could have gone all out with the center bodice panel, [...]
Polonaise comes together
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise on April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As mentioned in the previous post, the top panel is already attached. So the order of business for today was the assembly and insertion of the side panels and train. On the left is a photo of the train with the side panels attached. Isn’t it lovely how the lines on the plaid on the [...]
Pouf sewn to bodice
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise on April 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Back to the polonaise after a break. The bodice was just killing me. The front bottom angle was asymmetric, sharper on one side, more curved on the other.
It was such a stupid mistake, and since the boning was sewn in, I was faced with either leaving it or, potentially, cutting the whole side open to [...]
Polonaise and Underskirt so far
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise on April 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here is the underskirt to date. The bottom hem is trimmed with 8 inch wide pleats. They shift and shake beautifully when worn. Only half of the hem is trimmed so far.
The Polonaise is still armless, frontless, sashless, and bowless.
Sneak Peak at the Polonaise Train
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise, tagged Bustle, Costuming, Historical Costuming, Victorian Costume, Victorian Costuming on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Polonaise is far from finished. But the components are slowly taking form. It will be so satisfying when I can breathlessly sew them all together. That’s the easy part.
The picture is not so good. But, what is shown in the photo is polonaise back train with it’s fronts turned back with little tassels, the [...]
Side Panels and then Some
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise on March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today, I got a lot of work done on the dress. Most of it is not fun to look at, except my side panels and the new plan for the back of the polonaise.
Now that I am rich in fabric, I can make the back of the polonaise consit in basically three layers. The base [...]
The Plan
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise, tagged Bustle, Costuming, Victorian, Victorian Costume on March 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here are drawings of what I plan to do. The drawings were quickly done, but they get the point across. It will look like a purple plaid frothy puff with lots of bows! What would be better for spring?
I wrestled for a while with my plans for the seaming. The plaid poses some curious problems, [...]
More Underskirt
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise, tagged Bustle, Victorian, Victorian Costuming on March 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I made some small progress on the underskirt today.
The train is gathered and sewn into the cotton tape. The idea is that more cotton tape will be used to do more rigging in the future. But I decided that I wanted to cover the rigging with a darted panel. So the darted panel was sewn [...]
Underskirt for Purple Polonaise
Posted in 1874 Purple Polonaise, tagged Bustle, Costuming, Victorian, Victorian Costuming, Costume, Victorian Costume, Polonaise on March 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I started cutting into the gown fabric today after making the pattern pieces and a mock up of muslin. I will document here how to construct a dress. I couldn’t work on it too intensely today, so everything is all basic.
Here is a shot of the front panel pinned to the dummy. Understand, this is [...]
