My Adventure in the Big Apple...
My husband took me to New York City at the beginning of June so that I could shop for fabric in the Garment District. Although I ended up having to cut the trip a day short, I still got a whole day and a few hours of the evening before in which fabric purchasing occurred! I think I ended up buying 7 different pieces of fabric, plus some ribbons and some feathers.
One of the most important, and completely unseen, parts of Victorian dresses is the interlining in the bodices. It gives the bodice some structure (which it needs, given that it's very fitted and has a lot of stress points that would wear out quickly without it!). So I picked up 10 yards of white 100% cotton denim, because I find it to be really great for interlining bodices to give them the strength they need to hold up well if I wear them more than once!
I really enjoy recreating fashion plates. I am beginning one right now (that is going to be an entry all it's own, or I'll never finish telling what I got in NYC!), but after it's done, the next one that I am planning on doing is this dress, in the white and pink version:
While in NYC, I found a beautiful Egyptian cotton with this cool woven design that will work perfectly for the skirt and bertha, and I grabbed 5 yards of it, and I also found a lovely flower-shaped eyelet material that is going to be perfect for the sleeves, so I picked up two yards of that, as well. I got 6 beautiful, white, fluffy feathers for the hat. I'll need about 2 yards of solid pink cotton, and about 2 yards of solid white cotton, plus approximately 22 aglets for the tails of each pink bow. I think I've got a wide lace in my lace stash that will work, but if not, I'll just have to pick some of that up, too, plus about a yard of 1 inch wide lace to go at the front and back neckline. This will be a fun, SUPER GIRLY dress to make. Expect an entry or three on this project, when it comes up in the rotation!
I also have a striped 1880s ensemble in the works right now (also expect future entries on that project!), and the last thing I was looking for was a pretty white cotton for the faux shirt front of the bodice, which I found at Mood Fabrics. It's got a simple white on white chevron pattern to it that I think is going to be smashing!!!
I have owned the Truly Victorian pattern TV560 1880s Late Bustle Coat for years, and was just waiting for the perfect fabrics to fall into my lap. Two years ago, while visiting my Mom, she gave me this really pretty piece of Raspberry pink linen that I thought would make a lovely outer fabric for it, and then while in NYC I found an awesome Apple Green Silk to line it with (my friend Lisa calls it "Arsenic green" and said it was a totally Victorian color).
I've been looking for a really beautiful piece of periwinkle linen for a few years, just because I really wanted to make a pretty dress out of it, so I asked at every store for periwinkle linen that was more on the blue side than the purple side, and of course Mood Fabrics had something that I fell in love with!!! I bought 10 yards. Plus I picked up 2 yards of a blue grosgrain for whatever this future project ends up being.
My husband found this gorgeous piece of wool that he really liked and wants me to make a waistcoat for him, and also some crazy skull buttons that he thought were neat. He also found 3 rather large buttons that were shaped like horns - pretty cool, but I'm not sure yet what he wants me to use them for, but at some point there will surely be something!
Back to my fashion plate recreation list, this is the project that I'm working on right now (entries pending):
I am making it with a pink plaid cotton, and in place of the darker blue you see in the picture, I am using a dark moss green cotton. The pale blue sash in the picture is going to be a pale green piece of cotton (that one has 5% Lycra in it, so I'm losing whatever historical accuracy I might have accidentally had, but the color was too perfect to pass up). I had the pink plaid cotton, the dark green cotton, the pale green cotton/Lycra, and this really neat bead trim that matches the pale green fabric, all stock-piled to make this - the only things I needed to have all supplies on hand was a single white feather and some flowers for the hat, a dark green ribbon for the 4 lines of trim on the tail of the sash, and a little bit of lace for the cuffs.
So, to round out the trip to NYC, I got 2 yards of pink grosgrain for the waistline, 15 yards of a 1/4" wide satin ribbon that is just the right color green for the trim on the tail of the sash, and a yard of really beautiful white lace for the cuffs, all on the plaid dress. I also picked up 10 yards of cream colored grosgrain for the waistlines on the next few bodices. It's just a staple, much like the white denim that I bought, and will probably cover the next 10 bodices that I make!
All in all it was a successful trip, and is happily fueling the big projects that I'm working on this year!
