1876 Girl's Coat Part 5...

All the trim is attached to the body of the coat.  I'm stitching the lining to the shell and then need to press the finished product.  I still need to add trim to the cuffs, but I'm not sure what I want yet.  I need to stitch the collar to the neck of the coat and also finish the connecting piece for the waist of the tail.  This isn't finished and will easily take a few more days.  But to get an idea, here's a photo.

1876 Girl's Coat Part 4...

The shell and lining are finally finished.  I need to remember never to piece things when I'm tired.  I had to pick out and restitch a few pieces that I stitched in backwards due to fatigue.  But it's all pieced.

My man suggested the dark green velvet for the trim.  I could not figure out what I wanted to use and he suggested the velvet.  That, or scraps from the burgundy velvet we have for his Santa suit.  I agree with him, the green is better.
Now I have to cut trim and the sailor collar.  After that, I need to attach the lining to the shell and pleat the skirt.  It's coming along nicely.  While I'm doing this, I should consider what kind of buttons.  After the use of wool and cotton velvet, for an 1870s coat, I refuse to use plastic buttons.  So it's either metal, or cloth covered for this piece.

1876 Girl's Coat Part 3...

The mockup fit my daughter.  I added a little length at her request so the coat will go to about mid-thigh.  Now most of the wool has been cut and most of the linen.  I need to dig up a piece big enough for the front and skirt.  Then I'm good.  When the coat is together, I will cut out the sailor collar.  I'm not sure what kind of trim I want to use yet.  The shell is a black herringbone wool.  I had big enough scraps left over from my man's frock coat.  I now have a few smaller scraps that I can make something for me baby.  Clothes for three, out of 6 yards and I still have about 8 yards left for something else.

Now to take a break from cutting and enjoy some sewing and some more "Blake's 7".

1876 Girl's Coat...

Somehow, when I scaled up all the pieces of the coat, I messed up one.  The back piece was too small.  So I had to eyeball it and cut a larger piece.  Now I'm restitching the mockup and hoping it will fit.  If I can get it all done tonight and it fits her in the morning, I will finally cut the wool and linen for the real coat.  When I cut the wool and linen, I will take photos to document it.

As a side, I am also making my man some regular collar shirts.  He is taller than average and has trouble finding shirts long enough.  The mockup of that, was WAY too short.  So I need to resize that as well.

1876 Girl's Coat...

I was looking through some old "Peterson's Magazine" issues I have.  Then I found a few more on-line.  I'm partial to fashions of the 1870s and saw a cute coat for young girls in an 1876 issue.  I plan to make it for my daughter.  I made a mini mockup to see how it would look.  Now I'm cutting the pattern fabric to see if I scaled it up enough for my daughter.  Hopefully she will be able to try it on tomorrow.  Then I have a nice black herringbone wool to make the coat from.  This will be a Christmas gift.  My son also wants a suit with knickers from an 1888 issue.  I will work on that soon.

Regency Ball 3...

Due to a time crunch, I did not take more photos during construction.  At the 11th hour, a package came with the uniform I ordered for my man.  So I did not worry about finishing his clothing.  At this point, his waistcoat and frock coat need buttons and I need to stiffen the frock coat collar better.  These will be done in time for Christmas.

I finished my dress in time for the Ball.  The Ball itself was magical and I was floating the whole night.

Regency Ball 2...

I stayed up late last night and made quite a bit of progress on the Waistcoat.  The shell is complete, as well as the pocket.  I did not fully understand the pocket instructions in the pattern and probably didn't make it quite right.  For now however, it seems to work.  Today I hope to complete the waistcoat.  I have to add the lining/interlining combo and the collar.  Then it should be mostly finished and I can move on to the frockcoat mock-up.  I'm not sure what buttons to use just yet.  Hmmm... I should probably pre-wash the wool for that, as it takes a while to air-dry.  Here's a photo of the waistcoat so far.  It looks better on my fella than on the floor.

Here is a photo of the almost finished undershirt.  The collar and hem need to be finished.

*SIGH*  I just read up a bit.  It seems the waistcoats generally have self-fabric buttons.  It looks like I'll be sewing a few buttons today as well.  Not my favorite, but I've done them before and will survive.

Regency Ball

Hmmm... considering my last post was just over a year ago; I am certainly not the most active blogger.  But I have a new project to post about.  My fella and I are attending a Regency Ball later this month and need appropriate clothing.  His intended garb, from the skin out, is as follows...
White linen shirt
White linen under trousers
Red silk double-breasted waistcoat with black linen lining
Brown Trousers
Black Frockcoat

The linen shirt is almost finished.  I did not take pictures of the process, but will add a photo of the finished product, later.  The only part lacking is the collar.  The collar from the pattern was a little too small for him.  Then I need to hem the bottom and it's finished.

I made a mock-up of the waistcoat and it fit like a charm.  So tonight I cut the silk and linen fabrics.  I will take photos of the pieces shortly and post them.  Then on to the sewing.  I'm using Reconstructing History patterns for my fella's clothes and will state which pattern for each piece I post.

As for my outfit, I'm going with a reconstruction of a dress from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion.  The mock-up I made following a 1-1 scale (1 grid in the book equaled one, 1 inch grid on my grid fabric) made a bodice just a tad too small.  It fits my 6 year old daughter.  Which lets me know I can whip her up a dress no problem and I already have the pattern. :-)  I need to scale up the pattern and will do that shortly.  I have a thin, gauzy cotton for the dress.  While I would love to embroider it before the Ball, there is not enough time.  So the future holds tambour work for me.  I am also taking my old American Revolution underdress and adjusting it to be used as a Regency underdress.

The hardest part has been the shoes.  We might have to fudge it due to lack of time.  But for the future at least, we were informed of a wonderful site that does custom historical shoes.  Harr Shoes, here in Germany.  We've taken measurements and this week we'll see if shoes will be possible by the 24th.  Now on to sewing.