Tiger Lily's Threads

When I last left off on this project, I had shared the history of the mourning gown in the United States and western Europe as well as the concept idea of why I was making this gown. Here is the finished result, and for the record I am really loving the Autumn sunlight cause it really makes the dress bolder in the photos (especially with an old SD450 digital camera.)  Construction To make the gown, I used the 1809 dress pattern from Period Impressions. This is a really neat and easy to follow pattern (even better with the detachable sleeves offered). But because I misplaced the long sleeves I omitted using the puffy sleeves and went for a different style (my 18th century JPR sleeve pattern). It gave the outfit a different look altogether, which I favored.   In addition to making some alterations, I also decided to simplify the decorations with just some braided trim. This would allow me to pair the dress up with other jackets or dusters with e...

Wow, what a weekend! Where do I begin? This year, Otakon 17 has been moved from Baltimore, to Washington DC. This means bigger space and more things to see and do. However when my husband and I arrived at the Washington Convention Center, we were awestruck with what we saw. The convention center was so large compared to the BCC in Baltimore, that it was like stepping inside the Tardis from Doctor Who (bigger on the inside); in addition to the WCC, Otakon also had events running in the Marriott next door! As a result, Otakon surprisingly not crowded at all this whole weekend!  The second thing about the convention that was new, were the bag inspections at the door. Given the recent incident at a convention in Phoenix ComiCon this past May, a lot of conventions have now taken security measures by conducting weapons and bag checks; as a result of how smooth the line moved from outside to the check in counters, things went by very fast. Speaking of lines going by very fa...

Previously, I was working on my first mock-up of the 1885 Curisas Victorian day jacket by  Truly Victorian. While following the pattern instructions (lining, interlining, boning, etc.) I realized that with the undergarments and corset in place, it would be a bit uncomfortable for me to wear; as a result I decided to just cut and sew the outer fabric and the lining together. The form of the jacket would fit around the corset just fine. In fact, the whole jacket came together nicely enough to get started on the real project.  As I've mentioned in my recent post, I did a lot of research on the types of prints that women wore during the late Victorian bustle era; to my understanding and what I've seen in fashion pictures on Pinterest, there was a wide selection that matched either the wearer's preference or whatever was remotely fashionable at the time. For example, there was LOTS of plaids, stripes, floral prints, etc. Sometimes the outfit was a plain solid color, but the...

Last year at Baltimore Comic Con, a friend of mine asked me if I was interested in joining her and a few friends in possibly doing a federal period variant of the Marvel Avengers. Excited, I immediately knew who I could cosplay as: Black Widow.  Background:  To give you a broad idea of customs in the 18th and 19th century, when a loved one died, the people closest to the deceased would go into a period of mourning. While we still traditionally will wear black at funerals, we'd only wear the outfit for that one day. In the time of our ancestors, they'd wear black, gray, or purple for months-sometimes years. Case in point, when Queen Victoria's husband passed away, she wore her mourning clothing all the way up until her own death. Mourning clothing was also very expensive; having all of your clothing either overdyed black or had to buy a new wardrobe of mourning clothing was very financially taxing (especially for those who were in the lower class).  Full Mourn...

Looking back at my internship last month at Margaret Hunter's Millinery Shop in Colonial Williamsburg, I recall seeing a lot of beautiful silk and decorated straw hats and bonnets. There was even this peculiar-looking bonnet called a Calash Bonnet which was modeled after a french 18th century convertible carriage with the same name. The Convertible Carriage This Summer, I decided to give one of my straw hats a makeover. I removed the red ribbon from my straw hat and replaced it by adding trim with some white tape and green bows made from fabric. I also added some paper flowers that I got from the Francaise Ball the year prior. I really love how this hat turned out. With using just fabric instead of ribbon, it gave the hat a new personality and I can wear it with most of my outfits rather than just one or two jackets.                                         

Happy 1st Day of Summer! And to celebrate the Summer Solstice, today, I'm attempting to make my very first Victorian bodice. The jacket I am working on is from the Truly Victorian patterns ( TV460 ). A little bit about Truly Victorian patterns. While this is my very first time working with this brand, I will definitely say that the instructions were very easy to follow and had illustrations so I would know which piece was supposed to go where. And just like J.P.Ryan's patterns, I liked the fact that this set of patterns were on the thick butcher's paper rather than tissue paper; Simplicity and McCalls is best known for that, and given that I have a cat who likes to "help" whenever I'm sewing, tissue paper patterns is a no-go.  Anyway, now that everything is sewn and pinned together on the mock-up, now comes the decision of whether to add real or false buttons to the front of the actual jacket, to make it long sleeved or 3/4 sleeved, and most importa...

As a side project, I've decided to visit the style of the early 1790's, just for fun. While it's very similar to the rest of my gowns I've sewn, this one is a bit different. Unlike most of my gowns, this one will have long sleeves and the second of course is the matching chintz petticoat, rather than a solid petticoat to compliment the jacket or gown.  After sewing together the petticoat using 2 yards of the CW "wavy vines" print, I remade my jacket with the same print by recycling the train from the original gown.  My old gown before the upgrade New and improved (cat not included, but encouraged)                                         Inspiration  Back View I still have a few things I want to touch up on the jacket. Case in point, I'd like to maybe add some ruffle to compliment the petticoat and perhaps sew lace around the neckline (or a ruff...