JAFA Progress entry #5

After quite some time, and some very sore fingers, I have finally finished my Georgian undergarments; well aside from petticoats. So far I have my stays...

I used the JP ryan strapless stays pattern to make them, and really it is perfect for me. Normally, because I am rather high waisted, I have to adjust all my patterns to fit, but this one fit to perfection. It even gives me a fantastic period bustline. As you can see, they are bright orange dupion silk (I saw the orange fabric and could not resist in getting it). The are completely boned with both plastic boning and cable ties. Actually, I found a perfect place to get cable ties. Jaycar at Aspley sell ones in heaps of different sizes and lengths, so I was able to get ones that were long enough for the back panels. I did change the lacing at the back so that it is cross instead of spiral, as I have found that spiral will slip on me and ends up loosening in places after a few hours.And yes, it is lined with cupcake fabric.

The next layer is my false rump. This is to help pad out the back of my dress to give it the correct 1780s shape. I made the pattern up by going on a few drawings in 'Costume in Detail'. The fabric is left over from one of my vintage dresses and is 100% cotton, and it is stuffed with some left-over wadding.

Lastly, are my pockets. Also made from left-over fabric (it does come in handy some times) it is from my 1830s ballgown. I thought it appropriate that it was already embroidered so that they would be pretty. They are lined with red cotton voile and bound in pink silk (another leftover). I also used up some of my remaining grosgrain ribbon as the waist tie.

Supa plans

Amidst the planning for the Jane Austen Festival and making a few Regency and Georgian dresses, I am still cognisant of that fact that I will be attending Supanova again this year, and it falls on the weekend before JAFA. Originally I had all my costumes planned and organised, but then again, I am a woman. I am still going to wear my Tia Dalma costume because I adore it, and I will be re-wearing something from last year on the Friday night, but my plans for my third costume have fallen through.

Instead of making a Battlestar Galactica uniform, I have decided to go with the White Queen from Tim Burton's Alice (to come out in March). I had bought the accessories for the BSG costume, however I only got 2.5metres of fabric and was worried about squishing a jacket and pants out. I will instead put the fabric towards work clothing (it only cost me $5 a metre).

But now, this means that I have to plan out my fabric purchases. Thankfully the style (probably what draws me) is very Georgian inspired. Basically meaning that the stays, pockets, false rump and petticoats that I am currently making for JAFA are the perfect Foundations for the White Queen. It saves me a bit of work in that all I have to make is a skirt, overskirt and bodice. Granted the lot of it is trimmed to hell and very sparkly, but I think I should be able to do it justice. Stay tuned for updates on my progress...

JAFA Progress entry #4

I managed to get away from work early today, which was nice for a Friday. So I came home and got stuck right into it, and whipped up two new chemises. I realised a while ago that as I will be at JAFA for 3 evenings and 4 days that I would need more than just the one chemise that I already had. I cut two out at once, so I was able to make them up pretty quickly. The one with the blue ribbon even has a pretty trim on the hem for a change. I think two more chemises should be enough. But back to it.

JAFA Progress entry #3

Yay! I feel so accomplished today. A great big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. In other words, I have finnished another of my dresses for the Jane Austen Festival. This time, it is an evening gown, and again I am going to be mean and just show the up close detail picture (It's the back). I even hand sewed the eyelets. Please never again. But I did make a cute little matching reticule out of the left over silk.

So, as the tally goes, I now have three completed gowns ready; 1 day and 2 evening. Which leaves me with 2 more day gowns and 2 evening gowns. Two of which are Georgian and may take a little longer to make, especially considering that I have to make the foundation garments as well as mocking up the patterns before I go cut the fabric.

JAFA Progress entry #2

And the madness continues. I haven't finnished anything else as of yet, but I have made quite a bit more progress. My next gown is waiting on mass amounts of handsewing before I can finish it, and I am up to the dreaded binding on my Georgian stays.

I did manage to sit down this morning and draw up some patterns for my next couple of gowns. I even drew up and cut out a new set of pockets and a false rump for my two 1780s gowns. Hmmm, back to it.

JAFA Progress entry #1

In the rush up to the Jane Austen Festival, I have this week off to get started on making everything. Of course, I have been sidetracked again sewing birthday gifts for my family, but that is another post entirely.

But I have managed to finally get my first new gown finished. I'm going to be really nasty and not post any full photos of my outfits until I am wearing them at the festival, however to prove that I am actually done, here is a sneak peek of my gown. It is actually a complete robe that will be worn over my plain white voile gown along with my white bonnet. Now, onto the next project...

Monday back at work

Now that we are officially in the new year, I feel like I need to get a start on my upcoming projects. Namely, the Jane Austen Festival and Supanova. Both in April. As supanova comes first, I would really like to get my costumes complete for it first. As you know, I will re-wear my Tia Dalma costume one day, and I intend to re-wear for the Friday evening. My new project for it is a set of the Duty Blue Uniform from Battlestar Galactica (the current one for those who remember the 70s version). It is pretty simple and I have all the fabric for this already (apart from buttons), I just need to draft up the patterns (I am butchering a couple to get the desired look) and get cracking. I did actually cut out one of the undershirts yesterday, so I should be able to get it whipped up in next to no time.

First and Foremost though, I have a couple of projects that need to be done by mid February. I am making a new regency jacket and vest for my Dad's Birthday and I am making a lolita winter coat to take to Japan in February. The coat is all cut out, I am just waiting on the fur fabric to arrive so that I can get stuck into whipping it up. It's a good thing that I have next week off on leave. I hope to make much progress.

C Party

I feel like I have not accomplished much of anything sewing-wise lately, but then I remember that I have put a full costume together in just on a week. Last night, I attended my cousin's birthday party (she is also a costumer like myself) so of course we had to dress up. The theme was the letter 'C'. She dressed up as Cinderella.


At first I was thinking of something along the lines of a vintage cigarette girl. But then, it came to me that I should do something that I would wear to supanova, so that it would be less work in the long run. I have always wanted to do Tia Dalma (Calypso) from the 2nd and 3rd Pirates of the Carribean movies, and what more of a perfect opportunity. I am very pleased with how it all turned out and am really happy that I have had a costume wearing run through before a whole day at supanova, and I don't need to change anything. Phew!

The first thing I worked on for this costume was the stays. They are made from the JP Ryan strapless stays pattern. I was a little worried that I would not have enough boning to complete them, but after a trip to Bunnings, I tested working with cable ties. I was surprised at how well they worked out, though I did add a couple pieces of my heavy plastic boning at the center front and back for strength. It was great that I was able to do a complete run through of the pattern before making a full historical set, and great to find out that the pattern is perfectly sized for me.

I then worked on putting the skirts and the belt together. The best thing is that I did not have to hem the skirts because the fraying is perfect for the character. It took a heap of beads to fill the belt out, but I am pleased with the results. The hardest thing to find were the decorations for the stays. I hunted around a lot of places to find a string bag to use as the netting. There were $6 ones that were tiny, but I managed to find a decent sized one for $3.50 at a health food shop. But my most favourite partis the wig that I picked up on ebay.

There are actually two versions of this costume. The one I have made and another one that has an extra gown / robe over the top. I was thinking that I would make the extra robe for supanova, but I am just so pleased with this, that I am not going to bother. It will save me some time and it means I don't have to spend the extra money for the fabric of the overdress. A happy note in my book.


The part I am most proud of is that I was completely done with a whole day to spare. And then my brother says that he needs a costume. Originally he was going to dress as a cardboard car, but we were giggling about Dogma (Kevin Smith film) and he said Cardinal Glick and I said Buddy Christ. From there, he goes on about how now he would like to dress as Christ. So after a quick trip to the fabric store yesterday morning, I came home and whipped up his costume. Thankfully it was very quick. It is just a white robe underneath and two pieces of fabric (4m each) sewn together and draped around him, with the help of some safety pins. It's good enough for my satisfaction, and I am quite proud that I was able to put it together in only 4 hours.