Decadence (1909 evening gown)

This particular dress was created for the event in Pszczyna last May. We were invited there for two days as part of the anniversary event held by the Museum- firstly entertaining visitors with dance lessons and period games during Saturday workshops and picnic and on Sunday afternoon we sat comfortably in the Mirror Hall playing cards and generally having a lot of fun in a very, very glamourous environment. 

That's one of the moments, when you simply have to stop and acknowledge how awesome your life is. 

I wore the dress again next weekend - during the "Night at the Museum" event held, again, in Pszczyna Castle. Probably I'll wear it for the third time (unless I'll go crazy again and decide to make something new) next month, as with Krynolina ladies we're going to the Wroclaw Opera House to see Carmen!

I really need some sparkly bracelets to wear with this dress.

Talking about the dress itself - is made of some weird cotton almost-satin (which is really, really tough to sew by hand especially with 2+ layers to sew through- and as you can probably figure by the look, the whole drapery is attached to cotton understructure by hand. Ouch.), silk dupioni, a lot of mettalic silver trim and even more glass and metal beads. Brooch, borrowed from Ms.Nelly is a temporary solution as I ran out of time at first and later I really loved the look. Dress has two layers - cotton underlayer with boned sleveless bodice (and with second cotton skirt with small train attached to it) Whole outer skirt has also an interlining made of cotton - all of that makes it a bit heavy, but not uncomfortable.

Smirk comes with the feathers. Beading along the silver trim is still a (expensive) work in progress.

The one thing I'm really not crazy about are sleeves. I don't really like their shape, but as I didn't and still don't have any better idea what to do with them, I let them be. Dress closes with a lot of snaps, as I really don't like hooks and eyes and prefere to avoid them as often as I can. Photo below gives a good look at the pintucks I did on the silk dupioni side of the bodice:

Bodice clearly needs adjusting a little bit, because it streched out along the neckline as you can see. 3% of lycra be damned... Hair by Ms.Nelly.

Podsumowując:

Tkanina: Kremowa satyna bawełniana, różowy jedwab dupioni, kilometry bawełny na podszewki

Wykrój: mój własny, luźno inspirowany suknią wieczorową opisaną w Costume in Detail

Rok: 1908-1909
Dodatki: nici, metaliczna ozdobna taśma, metalowe i szklane koraliki, opaski kablowe do usztywnienia stanika

Poprawność historyczna: 85%. Sylwetka jest ok, satyna już zdecydowanie mniej mimo że wygląda jak trzeba

Czas szycia: Sama suknia ok. 20h, zdobienia jednak są nadal nieskończone.

Założona po raz pierwszy: 15.05.16r. 

Całkowity koszt: Nie mam pojęcia, straciłam rachubę - nie mniej niż 150zł, biorąc pod uwagę sam koszt taśmy i koralików

In summary, the HSM way:

Fabric: Cotton satin, silk dupioni, meters and meters of plain cotton

Pattern: my own, very loosely based on 1908 dress from Costume in Detail
Notions: tread, metallic trim, metal and glass beads, zip ties for boning, snaps 

Year: 1908-1909

How historically accurate is it?: 85%. Silhouette is right, but the satin isn't really right despite looking the part.

Hours to complete: Around 20h for the dress. Beading is still not finished.

First worn: 15.05.16

Total cost: I'm not sure how much I spent in total - 40$ at least.

No matter how hard you try, looking on point in the middle of the night is clearly not really an option.

All of the photos were taken in the interiors of Pszczyna Castle.

HSM #12 - Special Occasion - 1810s evening bodice

Photo courtesy od Mme Chnantberry - Kostiumologia i Krawiectwo Artystyczne.

"Make something for a special event or a specific occasion, or that would have been worn to special event or specific occasion historically" - I didn't plan to make anything for this challenge really. Between work, university stuff and personal matters happening at once at the end of the year as always I knew I won't really have time to do anything "worthy" of a special occasion. 

Photo courtesy od Mme Chantberry

That being said, in the last days of November I got an invitation for a ball in Slavkow castle from my friends and last minute project happened after all. All of the materials came from my stash - gorgoeus taffeta was a gift from a dear friend (everybody knows I'm obsessed with all the shades of red, sigh) and I bought sequins several years ago for my embroidered regency gown. 

Photo courtesy od Mme Chantberry

The ball itself was lovely - from the gorgeous interiors of the castle itself to amazing people (I honestly met there some of the nicest people I ever encountered in my life). It was so nice to dance again, too! The only downsite was the lenght of it - it was shamefully short! But despite that it was worthy to travel all that way to get there. If any of you is considering a trip for that ball next year - I highly recommend to take a risk. Even that awfull kitchy mirror (it shows amazing craftsmanship and mad skills of it's maker, obviously) you can see below alone it's worth going all the way there.

Front

And back

Podsumowując:

Wyzwanie: #12 - Specjalna okazja

Tkanina: Bordowa tafta jedwabna

Wykrój: mój własny

Rok: ok. 1812
Dodatki: jedwabne nici, haftki, złote cekiny

Poprawność historyczna: 90%. Jest uszyty całkowicie ręcznie, ale cekiny nie są metalowe choć powinny.

Czas szycia: Niewiele. 6-7 godzin.

Założona po raz pierwszy: 02.12.16r. 

Całkowity koszt: Tafta była prezentem, a cekiny pochodziły ze starych zapasów. Więc zasadniczo koszty były zerowe.

In summary:

The Challenge: #12 - Special Occasion
What is it?: Sleeveless evening bodice from 1810s

Fabric: Silk taffeta

Pattern: my own
Notions: silk thread, hooks and eyes, gold sequins

Year: 1812ish

How historically accurate is it?: 90%. It was done entirely by hand, but sequins sadly aren't metal as they should.

Hours to complete: Not a lot - around 6-7h 

First worn: 02.12.16

Total cost: Taffeta was a gift and spangles came from stash... So nothing really.