18th Century Summer Ensemble

Sometimes, there have to be advantages to working in the textile industry. This week, as they were cleaning out old samples at my work, I snatched this IKEA Duvet cover and pillowcase set for just 5$.

IKEA Duvet cover

As a general rule, it is not really my style for home décor, but the print immediately struck me as perfect for a summery 18th century number. The duvet cover is about 150 cm wide by 200cm long (60” x 80”) with both sides printed: plenty of material for a skirt and jacket with short basque.

Alvine Örter Duvet cover and pillowcases

 

Since this product is still sold in store apparently, and for only 19.99$, I could also get a second set to expand my choice of patterns for this dress. 25$ for  metres of material would still be a good deal. We'll see.

I am now looking at pictures of similar dresses to inspire me.

Gown
Britain (gown) & India (fabric), 1795-1800, Hand-painted cotton 

V&A

Dress (robe à l'anglaise)c. 1785 (fabric: 1760s)-England 
Material: White china silk with polychrome painting in plant motif; "compères" front; boned at center back; matching petticoat. 
©The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Taishi Hirokawa

Calico Jacket and Petticoat by Rockin' the Rococo

18th Century Gown, A Colonial Lady's Clothing: A Glossary of Terms

Keira Knightley as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, The Duchess (2008)

Costume design by Michael O'Connor 

Picture from The Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes - The Duchess - Flowered Gown

This is another project for 2013. I do not plan on making any period maternity wear for this year, and besides, I am only halfway through this pregnancy and I am constantly exhausted (the fabric for my Titanic “Sink” dress has been waiting for me to cut it for 3 weeks – I don’t think this project is happening anytime soon). But planning for costumes is half the fun, so why should I deny myself this pleasure?

Audrey Parker's coming back

Of all TV show types, I prefer SciFi. So lately, I’ve been watching the 4 seasons of The 4400 (it is frustration that this show was cancelled – I could have watched more seasons). There are very few costumes in this series other than in the first episode, when we see people in their original timelines, before they are taken, but in season 4, one episode struck my costumer’s chord: Audrey Parker come and gone (2007).

The character of Audrey Parker is an old woman who can astral project herself wherever she wishes. Her astral self is a younger version or herself, from her glory days of traveling the world and hanging out with the crème de la crème, in the 50’s.

And I love her look.

I am really thinking of making this (after my pregnancy that is, and when I no longer have to constantly breastfeed). Maybe for Christmas 2013. In the meantime, here is my little research on this costume.

Dress

The dress has a front and back “V” neckline, short sleeves, and a typically 50’s poufy skirt held up by a crinoline. The neckline and waist are decorated with a sequined band. The perfect pattern for this dress is (in my opinion) Vogue 2903 (from 1957).

Vogue 2903

The neckline of view B is perfect, and I can adjust the sleeve’s length to something I feel comfortable with (I prefer short sleeves to reach just above my elbow). Material to use would be red satin for the dress, and sequined ribbon for the neckline and belt.

Crinoline Petticoat

A crinoline is key for this era’s look and this type of dress. The crinoline worn by Laura Mennell, who plays the young Audrey Parker, is black. I am still looking for the perfect pattern or tutorial to make a period crinoline, but it does not look too complicated. Vixen Vintage has a great post on how to choose an appropriate petticoat, which you can find here.

Shoes

I’m not sure rounded toe shoes are period, and those heels don’t look too high, but I think I could get away with a pair of black fashion flats. That is, if I still can’t wear high heels by then; otherwise, I have a pair of black pointed sling backs which look very much like the one’s in the Vogue pattern’s illustration.

Bolero

This bolero looks like it is made of some sort of knit fabric. As I do not knit, I would either make it from knit velour, or use this ThreadBanger tutorial to make one from a thrifted black sweater.

Gloves

If you notice in some of the pictures, she is wearing short gloves which I believe are lace. Generally, those can be found around Prom time in fashion accessories’ stores like Ardène or Claires.

Jewellery

At first I thought that the astral projected Audrey wore the diamond necklace we see in the beginning, but it seems her jewellery is darker and made of a series of tear drop dangles. I looked through the differed sets offered on my favourite costume jewellery e-store, yoNEED – I have a set from there that has the perfect shape, but it is yellow crystals and gold, and I would look more for something silver and black or red. Unfortunately, they no longer carry this model. Instead, I found a vintage hematite necklace on eBay that would be perfect.

As for earrings, I have some tear drop black paste earrings that might do.

Hair

If I was going to use this outfit for Cosplay, I would need a dark brown wig to get the proper look. If it is just for my 1950’s pleasure, I can stay a blond. I was never really good with hairstyles, but this looks a bit like a pageboy hairdo (correct me if I’m wrong). I found a great tutorial on YouTube on how to achieve a look similar to the one in the picture. 

So there you have it: all my research and thoughts on this costume. Like I said, I am not about to start making it, but I do like to go through the exercise of planning – it keeps me sane. For now, I will just file it to my wishlist.

The purple toddler T-tunic that keeps on fitting

Remember this?

Purple & Black Herringbone Toddler T-Tunic

This is the T-tunic I had cut for my daughter in May 2010, when she was 14 months old, in preparations for Spring Crown Tourney. As the story goes, I only finished it last year for BIA. For this year's BIA (which was March 3 - I'm a little late in posting this), I decided to try it on her again and see if it still fitted. The neck was too small to go over her head (it was already tight a year ago) but the rest still fitted, so all I had to do was split open the neckline to make it a keyhole, finish it with bias tape, et voilà! And of course, I did all this the morning of the event, before she woke up.

Child's play

(Someone had brought home made sand bag and ring toss games made with plywood painted like codices. I believe it was Ursion de Gui from Bois Ardent, but I'm not sure. Either way, it was AWESOME to have something to kee the kids busy, so thank you, whoever you are.)

She even wanted to wear the little viking hat I had made her last year. The t-tunic is worn as an over tunic over a long sleeve white tee (the one I had bought too big for the same event last year) and black leggings. It is belted with the tablet woven band I made her while I waited for her to be born. Medieval shoes for kids get to be expensive, so she wore her fancy black patent leather Mary Jane shoes (bought for the Holidays at Value Village for 3.99$) and her Ni Hao Kai Lan socks which she just adores.

The cutest little garden gnom

That is actually what someone said upon seeing her with her hat on.

Dancing Queen

I stood her up on the stage where the thrones were to take a couple pictures, and since she's been to a few of my dance shows, she decided that if she was on a stage she had to dance.

Little Princess

What can I say: she is 3 and loves princesses. In fact, when I told her there was going to be a real princess there (Her Highness Princess Avelina, princess of the East and Crown Princess of Tir Mara), she asked me if it was going to be Snow White. She wasn't too disappointed though, because someone introduced her to Her Highness who gave her many largesses (chocolate coins).

Mother & Daughter

Hugging!

I have to say it was a good day. Everyone loved her and we had a blast. Now I wish I could go to more events, if only time and budget allowed. I am hoping to make it to Border Spat in May, and maybe make me some new garb by then.

Queen of Hearts concept

Back in August of last year, when I was still floating on cloud nine after a great Masquerade with my daughter, and wondering what to make for Montreal ComicCon for my daughter and I, I decided some cartoon character (with less detail to their costumes) would be ideal. I have never been a great fan of the Queen of hearts, but I thought my daughter would look adorable as Alice in a light blue dress and white apron, so that is what I began planning for. While searching for photos to inspire me, I found this one of Terri Hatcher as the Queen of Hearts.

Terri Hatcher as the Queen of Hearts

This got me thinking that I did not necessarily have to go down the Disney road and do a perfect reproduction of the 1951 movie’s Character, but that I could in fact get creative and do a completely original concept.

Queen of Hearts, Alice in Wonderland (1951)

As we all know, I lost my job and the convention did not happen for me, but I still worked on a few concepts that I would like to share with you.

All of these concepts share the same gold and black chevron skirt and parti-coloured red and black open and trained overskirt trimmed with white fur, as well as a mini gold crown with four red heart-shaped gems around its circumference.

Concept 1

It consists of a parti-coloured red and black sweet heart bustier, laced in the back, with opposite parti-coloured open bolero jacket with white fur cuffs and white standing collar.

Concept 2

It consists of a parti-coloured red and black sweet heart bustier, laced in the back, with opposite parti-coloured bolero jacket with triple opposite colour frog closure at front and finger loops at each cuff. The white standing collar is separate from the jacket and is integrated with the necklace.

Concept 3

It consists of a parti-coloured red and black sweet heart long sleeved bodice, laced in the back, with detachable white standing collar, puff-and-slash sleeves and pleated and starched white cuffs.

Concept 4

It consists of a parti-coloured red and black sweet heart bustier, laced in the back, with opposite parti-coloured bolero jacket with metallic colour frog closure at front, at the under bust level, white standing collar, puff-and-slash sleeves and finger loops at each cuff

Fabrics I would wish to use are Dupioni silk for the skirt, satin for the collar, and velvet for everything black and red, though I could also use satin or Dupioni silk for the corseted bodice for more of a contrast with the bolero jacket.

In the hair department, I had looked at these two wig options:

Wig option 1

Wig option 2

The black curly wig I would use for some sort of an up-do, but I also like the more vampiric look of the second wig.

To be honest, my favourite concept in number 4. I like the bolero jacket over the laced bustier, and I also like the puff-and-slash sleeves. I really hope I can make it one of these days. And of course, I will have Alice with me.

Best Costume Design Nominations - 84th Academy Awards

Tomorrow night is the 84th Academy Awards. The Oscars is the one awards ceremony I watch religiously every year. Of course, being a costumeholic, my favourite category is Best Costume Design! Here are this year’s nominees to look out for.

Anonymous (2011)

Anonymous is set in the Elizabethan court and tells the story of Lord Oxford, the true author of the Shakespearean plays. Costumes by Lisy Christl.

The Artist (2011)

Also receiving 9 other nominations, The Artist is a silent, black and white movie set between 1927 and 1932. A popular silent movie actor, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) feels left behind by the new talking films, personified by a new upcoming actress, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo). Costumes by Mark Bridges.

P.S. I love Jean Dujardin. He has also played Brice DeNice, Lucky Luke and Hubert Bonnisseur de la Bath, agent OSS 117. I wish him the best of luck!

Hugo (2011)

Set in a somewhat steampunk 1930’s, Hugo is about an orphan living in the walls of a train station, an automaton his father left him, a girl named Isabelle, and her cranky old godfather, Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès (who, if you don’t already know, really lived and was one of the first to use cinema to tell fantastical stories with special effects and all). Costumes by Sandy Powell.

Jane Eyre (2011)

Yet another on screen version of this Charlotte Brontë story. If by any chance you still do not know what it is about, the eponymous character is an orphan who is abused by her aunt and cousins in her childhood, is then sent to a girls school where more abuse follows, becomes a governess but falls in love with her employer and runs away when on their wedding day, she discovers he is already wed, lives with a nice but strict family and is in the end reunited with her love. Costumes by Michael O'Connor.

W.E. (2011)

W.E. is about a 1998 New Yorker obsessed with what she believes is the ultimate love story, the one that captivated the world in 1936, King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Through research, she discovers it was not as perfect as she imagined. Costumes by Arianne Phillips.

So which movie are you rooting for? To be honest, I am not that excited about the nominees this year. Too much despair, not enough fantasy. I did see Jane Eyre and liked some of those Romantic era dresses, but I guess my vote goes to The Artist: the concept is original in our time, and like I said, I love Jean Dujardin.