Victorian Steampunk

Well as promised here is a bit more information and a lot more pictures of my dress. The name came from Susan Briscoe. It's what she said when she blogged about it and it was all I could think of when I needed a name urgently for a quilt show. It often happens that someone else will name my work for me. Some pieces know their name before I even start them, but others like this wait until someone tells me what it is. Lets start with the notes I made when I was first thinking about this project.

For the evening wear I fancy a victorian outfit. It's simple and I know the drill. I think I can get the patterns flat enough to make it pretty simple to quilt as well.

3rd Feb 2010

I've been giving this some more thought. I think I will aim for a heavily quilted, heavily boned bodice. A fan back skirt and a butterfly bustle/train.

What if I make the train of two layers of organza quilted together? The quilting should show well, the train would be light and it won't be too hot. I have to model this in August under hot lights.

After some investigation I think I have a short list of patterns. I don't think I can face a bustle if I have to make a quick change. So instead I will go for something later. Having had a good look on the Truly Victorian web site that's quite handy. The bodice I want to work from is from this later period and won't fit over a bustle either.

I want a nice front panel to play with but still have some fullness. I love TV294, it's easy to make and comfortable to wear but the drapes break up my quilting space. TV297 is nice too, and has a flat front
panel, but I can't work on the sides much with that one. I think the simple walking skirt TV291 is probably my best bet. Plain and simple, just ready for me to play with it.

So that was my cunning plan and it seemed reasonable. Even better these were all patterns I already owned, and I could lay my hands on them at once. I did and put them in a safe place ready to use. I got on and ordered the parts I would need for the outfit from Vena Cava. When those arrived I did try to put them in the same safe place as the patterns.... yes you guessed it, they had vanished.

It wasn't ideal but at least I could get more and I know Truly Victorian are pretty good at getting things shipped promptly. I placed the order and started work on the fabric for the train. I had a fair idea how each of the patterns would work and I knew that my goal was to make as many of the pieces up as possible while keeping them flat. If I can reduce the number of seams I increase the quilting space. That meant I was pretty sure I could just make one huge piece for the train then pleat it into shape when the pattern arrived. I decided to make the train the maximum width I could fit on the frame and a bit over 10' long. I settled on three layers of organza, so the train would meet the definition of a quilt, "three layers held together with stitch'. The outer layers are silver and the middle, wadding, is black.

Of course the organza wasn't very wide, only 45" so I needed to join it to get the full width of the train. On the other hand I really didn't want to see a seam in it. What to do? Something crazy of course. I decided to just overlap it slightly and hope for the best. I knew it would be structural after quilting but I wasn't sure how it would behave on the frame. Put simply, it didntt behave at all. It wriggled and slipped, and was a huge pain. It didn't seem to matter how many pins I put in it, it still shifted. I just had to fight it all the way to keep my three layers together. maybe I should have tried 505 spray, but I have a feeling that would have just stuck to the machine as well and made matters even worse.

I started quilting from the end of the train. I used black thread and put in a feather with curved ends, largely guessing the shape I would end up cutting the train. I steadily added more feathers, changing the thread ever so often to lighter shades of grey. The pleated area of the train is quilted with my curls in a thread that almost matches the organza. A lot of people who have seen it thought it was just a textured fabric, but no. It's plain flat organza and a lot of quilting. The train alone would be about the size of a kingsize bed quilt. It turns out that quilting organza isn't too much of a problem apart from the slipping. It's something I will probably do again but perhaps not such a large piece.

By now the patterns had arrived. Of course as soon as they did I found the originals, and I can't see how I missed them before still it means I have to make a lot more mistakes to get stuck right and that is always good. The bodice and skirt are made from cotton sateen, with Dream Orient as the wadding. The wadding was a very lucky find from Asding. It has a lovely drape and is very light. I did change my mind about which patterns to use. I decided that the skirt needed to give the train some support, so I needed to have more fabric in the back. I felt that TV297 would do the job without having too many panels, or hiding my quilting or needing a bustle. I also decided to extend the back hemline. I would normally have worn petticoats with this type of outfit, but knowing I had to make a fairly quick change that wasn't an option so the skirt had to do all the work itself.

I loaded the longarm with the lining of the skirt and the wadding then rough cut the large bottom panels of the skirt from cotton sateen. Before cutting the sateen I joined the two pattern pieces together anc cut them as one piece. It wasn't as efficient and it didn't give such good grain lines, but it gave more quilting space.I made sure they were quite a bit oversize to allow for the quilting drawing them in. I quilted one then traced the design onto washaway stabiliser so I could copy it onto the other panel. The upper panels of the skirt I made in a similar way as with the lower panels I removed what seams I could before quilting, but with them I used a smaller allover pattern that didn't need any marking.

The front panel was cut not only from sateen but also from organza. This I cut even more oversize to have plenty to pin into place. This worked well as it did indeed slide well on top  of the sateen. The quilting design I drew onto washaway stabiliser before trying to quilt it because I wanted it to be mostly symeterical. I think the stabiliser also helped hold the organza steady.

The bodice I decided to just quilt yardage for. There were too many seams to do anything really clever (simply) and I was thinking I would have to play with the fit too. The only exception was the center front panel which is made in the same way as the one on the skirt. The fun really started when I tested the bodice pattern. I had one that I have used before so I tried that as the starting point for this one. It wasn't the shape I wanted but that was easy to change if it fitted. Fortunately I made up a test. I put on the sample and was initially very please. It was looking good. Until I moved my arms, one comedy hulk moment as all the seams in the back gave way. OK so I have put on some weight, time for a new pattern.

I remeasured and made a new test. Well I didn't burst the seams this time but it still didn't fit. The new one was too big in front and tight at the back (and I had already added more to the back than the front). Third time lucky. I used the original front with a recut back, putting all the extra material over my shoulders and upper back, perfect (if a little scary, this is what quilting does for you).

Having six cats and a lot of delicate fabric I headed out to my motorhome to build the ensemble. It seemed easier that way. So all the construction was done with the Singer 99, a hand cranked sewing machine. To be honest I think it made things easier if slower. It's the first time I have sewn in that many metal bones without breaking a single needle. Of course it is also more authentic to the outfit, though it's one of the few things that is. As I wouldn't have time to get into a corset for the fashion show I knew the bodice had to do it's best to do that job too, but still be quick to put on and not have visible lacing. I settled for two lines of hooks and eyes, one on each side of the center front panel. I could have just used one set, but then that side of the bodice would have sat differently and the fastening would have been more obvious. It was twice the work both in construction and dressing but I think it was worth the effort. The silver designs on the back of the bodice are premade panels that were added after the rest of the construction.

For the show I wore the outfit with a top hat (yes I know, not period) a cane and a brooch to hold the neck of the bodice closed. The cane was more than just a prop. To try and look a little more elegant I was wearing rather high heels, which I don't do often, and so I am not very good at it. The cane greatly reduces the chance of me tripping over my own feet :) The hat was largely to give me a quick way to get my hair up, again knowing how much I had to change in a very short time, I was looking for any short cut I could find.

I think that is about everything. If you do have any questions feel free to leave a comment asking. There is a DVD including footage of the fashion show being given away with British Patchwork and Quilting this month. You have to send off for it but it should give you a feel for all the items in the show. There is also footage on there of the dueling longarms, something not to be missed.

Phoenix - the leather duster coat

I've finally got time to write up some thing about the summers mystery projects. I was invited to take part in the first fashion show at the festival of quilts this year and I accepted the challenge. It became definate in January when I was asked to make items for four categories. Daywear, acessory,evening wear and fantasy.

Two of the categories came to me very quickly and the daywear was one of them. I had a hide waiting for me to make a coat and I knew what I wanted on it. I just had to find the time to make it, and this was the perfect excuse. It had become work rather than luxury. I have a lot of projects like this filed im my head just waiting for their chance. Now at the time I said I would make some notes on the design process, and I did. I was going to edit them but actually they give you a pretty good idea of what normally goes on im my head when I am planning a project so here they are as I wrote them down.

My daywear project is going to be a coat. It's something I have wanted to make for a while. I would love to teach it as a course and make a pattern from it so it seems a really sensible (if anything about this can be called sensible) project.

I've been thinking about it a while and I will be using Folkwear pattern 137, Australian Drovers Coat. I've already made one and I love it. I also remebered it as being quite boxy so it should be easy to modify.

I want to use the phoenix from my quilt Phoenix Rising on the back of the coat, and add flames around the bottom. I want to add some flame dyded velvet to it in places, maybe the collar, cuffs and fastening band. I'm thinking of quilting smoke and flames to fill up the back and maybe adding flames on the front opening and cuffs.

One of the features I really like about this coat is the cape. Unfortunately I think it will cover up too much of the back to be able the fit the phoenix in. Maybe I can just use half a cape? Maybe I can get one wing tip over the other shoulder.

I can't decide about the pockets. I hate impractical clothing. I love huge pockets, but will they fit with the design? Maybe they will belnd in. Maybe I can quilt flames onto the pocket that hang off it and then quilt them down to the coat?

3rd Feb 2010

Well as it is official I've had a look at the pattern. It's even better than I remembered the body is two big rectangles give or take. However I am going to be making the coat longer and losing the back opening. Is it going to be too tight to walk in? Can I keep the opening? This would require the phoenix to miss the bottom of the center back. Alternatively I am thinking I might be able to add some more hemline by cutting and spreading the pattern, but I am not sure how that will hang. Would having more fullness make it hard to see the design? Does it matter?

I've also been giving some thought to what I will make this out of. It is going to be quilted. If I do quilted clothing, it's going to be proper, end of story, but how. I am guessing I can use silk wadding as it is very light, but it won't add much loft either which is a shame. I could go for wool which doesn't drape as well but would give better definition which I would like. On the other hand the original phoenix is pretty flat so maybe the silk would be better. Especially as I am considering quilting the lining too.

If I am going to quilt the coat should I make it a size bigger? My coat is fairly snug and I would hate this not to fit when I am finished. I do have a second copy of the pattern so it wouldn't be a big deal to make it bigger.

The lining I have now, it is more of the cotton satteen that I will be using for the phoenix and the flames. I am pretty sure I have plenty now. If I get stuck I will use black sateen inside the sleeves where it doesn't show.

The outer is the really tricky bit. I could go for sateen. I can get it readily, it quilts well and will show the loft of the wadding nicely. It will also make quite a fragile coat. I could use wool coating. If I do this I might as well go for a thin cotton wadding as what ever I use there won't be any loft to show, but it would be warm and durable. It also sews up really well. Now the really mad idea I had on the way home tonight was to make it in leather. I know a huge risk. I can't unpick and I can't quilt as densely as I might like. It won't show much loft from the wadding either. On the other hand I want a leather duster. It will be a practical coat after the show and it would be something really different and remarkable. Would it be more likely to impress? If I go with the leather option I am even more worried about the drape. Leather is relatively stiff and if I get the shape wrong it will be very wrong. Oh and of course it won't be cheap :) I do have a cow just waiting to be used though so I won't have to spend anything if I get it right. Also if I go with the leather should I look for some coloured leather to make the half cape in too? Will 505 stick things to leather?

Well as you can see things changed, they always do in my projects. I decided to leave off the velvet, it just isn't practical for me. It would have looked a mess in no time. I did manage to keep the cape, which I love although the center back slit did have to go. When I looked closer at the pattern this is one of the options offered so it wasn't a problem to not have it. I did make a larger size than usual to make sure it would fit and there would be walking space.

The outside is leather and it turned out I could remove the centre back seam so the main body is one piece. That took most of a hide on it's own. I needed a second hide for the sleeves and the cape. The coat is lined throughout with the hand dyed cotton, yes I even had enough for the sleeves and the insides of the pockets.

I did go through a phase where the coat was going to be a wholecloth. It seemed that it would be more durable that way. The problem was putting in enough stitching to convey the colour properly. I wasn't sure I could get the detail I wanted without damaging the leather too much so I went back to the applique plan.

For the wadding I ended up using a silk/bamboo blend from Asding. After a long and informative conversation this looked like a really good option for garments. It is, I loved working with it and it drapes well. I was thrilled that the compare did read out what the wadding was and where it had come from. It is called Quilters Dream Orient, check it out.

For the show I wore my military style boots with jeans and a black shirt. I wanted things to be very plain so they wouldn't detract from the coat. To keep my hair out of the way I went for the leather hat I have for drag racing, it seemed to suit the coat pretty well. Finaly the outfit was completed by Hal, my stick. This was made for me by the husband of one of my students and it was lovely to have a chance to show him off. He is modeled after one of their ferrets, hence the name.

Finally here is the coat hanging on the wall in the exhibition after the show. It is looking for more venues to be shown in so if you think you know of a show it should go to please let me know.

If there are things you would like to know about this coat that I haven't covered (this post is already quite long enough) leave a comment and I will try and answer them. Yes, 505 does hold things to leather quite nicely. Also if you want to see more details, click on the photos, they are quite large when you open them full size.

Sewing World article about fashion designer from International eveing

One of the British entries in the fashion show was a team from a fashion school, who's name I can't find, please feel free to tell me. There were two models and several really interesting garments. One that I especially liked is this dress. Today I decided to take a quick look through all the sewing, knitting and crochet magazines just to see if there was anything interesting and boy was there. There is a whole article about this dress in the September issue of Sewing World, including how to make one.

The dress was designed by a new designer, Sarah Poulter who has just started her own bridal business based in Leicester. It is actually a rag rug, yes really, that has been very cleverly crafted to make this wonderful dress. She has liked it in duchess satin so you can't feel the hessian backing to the rug work. It's a good article with lovely pictures (there is a hat to go with the dress) but for me the instructions for making the dress are really the icing on the cake. Am I likely to make one? No, but I love knowing how it's done and it's given me some ideas for using the stiffness of quilting effectively in garments. Usually I would say quilting detracts from a garment but Sarah had taken something even more stiff and made something wonderful from it. Very inspiring work and I hope she will have a lot of success in the future.

The models in these pictures are Bex(dress) and Lucy(jacket) also with the same school. They kindly trained us in how to walk on the catwalk before the show, but still put us to shame with their performance. You really can tell how at home they were even from the still photographs. They were great to work with and kindly didn't point out our lack of skill.

Can you guess what it is yet?

 

Things are really motoring today and I am having fun, I just couldn't resist charing this picture. Besides you're supposed to take regular breaks right?

Why do to do lists only ever grow?

No matter how much I get done my todo list grows. It's just that I keep thinking of more things that need doing. I can see I am making progress but it's slow and there are lots of small annoying jobs that need doing as well. I have to admit a fair number of them are likely to get done at my hotel on the Thursday night. I can clean boots there and sew on hooks and eyes. Infact sewing on the fittings at the last minute is just plain sensibke. I change shape often enough that even doing it that late in the process things still may not fit by the time of the show. Despite my eveil list of things left I can see progress is good and in general I am feeling pretty happy about the show. It is getting very frustrating not having any pictures I can post though.

It's getting exciting now.

I've been making some progress on theis fashion show lark. I've got my evening wear to a point where I can see how it will look and I am so excited. I think it looks good. I've still got the structure in the lining of the top to do and some structural work for one of the other garments in the set, but at least I know it works.

The items for the fantasy category and coming along well too. I've got a base layer that works and a lot og the quilting done. There is going to be a lot of binding to do though, and I srtill need to test the fastenings. I'm sure I have some buckles somewhere which I need to find too.

I've got everything ready for the other categories I just have to get the work done. I feel so much more inclined to work on this now I've got at least one thing I can thing I can really see. I hope I will be able to find other shows to put this stuff in and in some cases other places to wear them.

Slow progress, but progress at least

Thursday turned out to be a non sewing day. Delivering quilts to Greenwich took a lot longer than I expected even without the side trip for more leather on the way home. Then it was straight up to Watford to see The Hamsters. It was a good concert and I got to meet up with a couple of people I used to work with. One of whom I hadn't seen in far too long. It was a good night, but for some reason left me utterly exhausted on Friday. Porta loos are not complex and I shouldn't have to read the instuructions multiple times to grasp how they work.

I got a little quilting done but no where near as much as I was hoping. My longarm thought this was the ideal time to start causing trouble. I don't agree. I've spent a lot of time fussing over it now and it's sort of working. It will do for what I need right now, but not for leather. So today I knew I was playing catch up and of course the machine still didn't want to help out. It's great when it behaves, but when it has a strop like this it is quite a pain. I've also been having problems with bearding. This is when the wadding comes through the outer layers of your project. In this case I am working with black cotton sateen. It's the same fabric I've used many times before without problems but today I just couldn't get it right. It has given me the oportunity to really play with my wadding and test the theory that changing which side of the wadding faces up will fix the problem. It doesn't make any difference for me. I tried two bamboo blends, two 80/20 cotton poly blends and a cotton wadding. They all bearded about the same amount and behaved exactly the same both ways up. I also tried adding an extra layer of fabric under the sateen. That did help a little. However what made a larger difference was changing the thread. Some colours of thread made the problem a lot worse, some masked it but still pulled wadding through. Having tried 3 dark grey and a black I settled on the best dark grey. I wanted black but I didn't want the bearding. Interestingly all the threads were the same brand the only difference would be dye and processing batch. Could some dyes be more prone to pulling through wadding? Could it be a humidity factor as the black thread is one I have used successfully on this combination in the past? When I have more time I will play with this some more. I would love to get to the bottom of the problem.

So with all that I have now completed the quilting I was hoping to have had done by lunch time and I have started on the cutting out. I need to make decisions before I finish the cutting out and I don't think I should be doing that this late in the day so I will leave that for tomorrow. At least I have moved forward albeit more slowly than I would have liked.

Oh one last thought. Comment moderation has stayed on because I am finding more than half the coments coming though are spam. What's more it's getting more sophisticated with something that does relate to the post then the advertising,  I'm sorry that means comments take longer to appear but I think it does beat the alternative and as it appears humans are doing it manually there is no point using the validation letters to try and weed it out. What I find really frustrating is it must work for them to keep trying it, so people must be following the links and actually buying stuff. Why would anyone do that?

Consequences

I've been working on my bodice patterns the last two days. Given my weight always fluctuates wildly I knew I would have to leave this as late as I could to be fairly sure of a good fit, and yes I was expecting some fitting issues. I started by making up a test garment of a pattern I've used before and is customised to my shape. It wasn't too bad except for the hulk feature at the back and shoulders and upper arms. OK I would have to start over.

Taking my measurements told I am now bigger in the back than I have ever been. Whups. So I redrew the pattern and tested the revised version. Hmm, now it's way too big in the waist and bust?! Just before I went for the third attempt a thought hit me. Could it be I have only bulked up in the shoulders and upper arms? Well I now understand why tailors just grab seams and rip them. At this stage it saves a lot of time and works fine. I quickly extracted the front of the first bodice and attached it to the new (huge) back. Bingo, it fits. I can only assume all this heavy lifting and hand guided quilting has had an effect. When a leg of mutton sleeve is tight you know things are going strange. Still I have a solution now here's hoping I can stay roughly the same size for nearly a month. Any bets?