My First Lanvin--A Robe de Style: Initial Thoughts

After discovering I actually had an interest in the 1920s, one of the first books I ordered (apparently on 25 September 2007, thank you Amazon) was Lanvin by Dean Merceron, and I fell in absolute love with an acid green/yellow robe de style. I decided that one day, it would be mine.



And see? It did become mine!

I still can't get over my luck in finding this color silk. It's from Fabrics and Fabrics in the L.A. Garment District--amazing store, go there if you have the chance! I lined the bodice with cotton batiste. I'm not sure if or what the original was lined with, but this worked really well for me. As for a pattern, I started with a 1950s boat necked sundress and went from there, altering it rather drastically to match the rather unique seamlines of this dress. The skirt is four panels of taffeta, each one scalloped. It has pocket hoops sewn to the edge of the waist. These are just a scaled down version of the hoops in Corsets and Crinolines.

I have a tutorial for the triangle trim here. I wasn't going to fold about a million little triangles--I knew there had to be a way. I figured it out at work one day when I was playing with the fabric belt on my (blue and white spotty) wrap dress.

I was fortunate enough to see another version of the dress at the Musee Galliera. I spent ages in front of it, taking notes, and wishing that I could take pictures. I think "The gathers look machine squished" may be the best bit of fashion note taking ever, not that I'm biased or anything...







Another note of note was "placket--somewhat clumsy--don't stress--they all are!" A note not only about this dress, but the rather surprising lack of detail in many dresses--the one that comes first to mind was a gorgeous, tucked Vionnet dress with the center tucks going off center. I'm about as far from a perfectionist as you can get when it comes to sewing (seriously!), but it's something that would make even me twitch. Also, the machine sewn points of the Vionnet dress that I copied, well, they really should've been sewn by hand!

The dress I studied in person had quite a few differences from the green dress. This is discussed in this post, originally written in 2009.

I'm going to break this up into several posts because although this may seem something of a simple dress, I found it and its details to be really quite fascinating, so you'll just need to bear with me for a bit!

My first Lanvin--A Robe de Style: Thoughts on Proportion

I originally posted this on 16 July 2009. I think proportion is so important in costuming that I think it's an interesting post to look back on!

And I don't own these pictures, they're from two absolutely fabulous books that you should have if you have any interest in the 1920s, Lanvin by Dean Merceron and the probably hard to find Les Annees Folles by the Musee Galliera. I'm using them here merely as a teaching tool, as they provide a wonderful example!

I loved having two originals to go by on my copy of my robe de style. I've always been a fan of changing things so the proportions fit you, but having two dresses made it really clear.





There they are! I wanted them smallish so they'd all fit nicely :)

The dresses have subtle differences, though very obviously the same design. Of course they do! They were made for different clients. Or, maybe one was a prototype. Or both. Whatever the reason, there are differences.

I'll number the differences, to make it easy on myself. Randomly assigned numbers of no real importance :)

Difference one. The waist. The blue/yellow dress has a waistband, the green dress does not. That's the obvious part. When you look closely, you'll notice that the blue dress is also higher waisted, and I don't think it's just a function of the mannequins. The waistband is level all around, and the green dress dips a tiny bit in front and quite a bit on the sides.

On my dress, I decided I liked the no waistband look, but dropping the hips? It wouldn't work. I have too much hip for that. So to keep the illusion of a dropped waist, I dropped the front more and raised the sides. I had to raise the back a little higher because without that, the whole bodice pushed up and looked very frumpy. Not good.

Difference two. Neckline shape. They're pretty different actually. The blue/yellow dress is much scoopier. The green dress is sort of a sweetheart neckline.

I went with the scoopier neckline on mine. Why? Well, to be honest, that's what it looked like when I got it to fit, I liked it and didn't feel like messing with it more. Also, it seemed to go well with my shoulders.

Difference three. The skirts. The gathering is quite different. The blue/yellow is fairly gathered across the front, the green is fairly flat. Maybe it's for the same reason the blue/yellow has the higher waist? Flat fronts aren't flattering on everyone. I really wish I knew the measurements of these dresses--the blue/yellow might just be for a thinner woman.

On my dress, I went with the more gathered look. I just liked it. Also, I decided my skirt width by the hem. I wanted it full enough to look good over the pocket hoops. And when the hem was full enough, the waist was more gathered. Mine is a little fuller around the waist than the blue dress, but there's a pretty good chance I'm smaller than it. Most time periods, hems are more important than waists when it comes to measuring. You can always squish more pleats or gathers or whatever into the waist, but if your skirt isn't full enough, it looks bad :)

Difference four. Shape. I really think this might be the way they're displayed though. The green is more fitted through the waist, the blue/yellow is straighter. My modern eye finds the tighter fit more flattering, but the looser fit looks more accurate, so I went with it. I really wish I could've found a picture of a woman in this dress, but saw quite a few of similar Lanvin dresses and they fit closer to the look of the blue/yellow. So, maybe it is the display, or it is c. 1920, maybe the green one belonged to a woman not quite ready to give up her waist yet.

For my dress, I did the straighter look. Tempting as it was to make it tighter :)

Difference five--Rosettes. The blue/yellow has lace on the outside, which I think gives the whole thing a flatter, larger look. Interesting that there are two colors also. The yellow is probably pretty close to the yellow part of the shot silk, but that's just a guess.

For mine, I made a slightly smaller version of the green. Proportionately better on me!

I think those are all my thoughts. They seem like a lot! Anyway, I think proportion is just about the most important thing in a dress, and this one was so interesting--to me at least--because of it!

The 1869 Dress--Day Version

Doesn't everyone play Raving Rabbids on their Nintendo DS in costume? Today, it would be Angry Birds though...

Many years ago, when Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail first came out, I showed it to my mom, and she asked if I would be able to make the dress on the cover. Of course! I said (I may be a *little* overconfident when it comes to sewing sometimes), but I'd never be able to find the fabric. Well, not long after I was looking for something completely different at Fashion Fabrics Club, and there it was, the exact fabric for this dress. So, I ordered 16 1/2 yards, and decided that yes, I definitely could make this dress!

First, I made an evening version, seen here on my website.

Then, the day version. Not the version on the cover, but rather the version inside the book, with tons of puffings and bias and so many fun details. This might be the costume I'm proudest of--it's certainly the most detailed and complicated as far as trimming goes! Sadly, I've only worn it for a few hours. I must remedy that! I'd also like better pictures. I didn't have my dSLR then! But it's long overdue that I give this costume a home on the internet! I wore it to Costume Con in Baltimore in 2009, so a little over three years ago now.



I somehow don't have a full posed picture of the back! So unlike me!

So, the basics of the dress. I'm wearing it over my 1863 Mina Sebille corset, my Laughing Moon elliptical hoop, an over and under petticoat, chemise and drawers. Not necessarily in that order! The bodice is lined with several different colors of polished cotton. White behind the net puffings, and I think two colors of brown elsewhere. The bodice is unboned--since it's extremely thick with the netting and heavy silk faille this wast completely unneeded. Many Victorian bodices are unboned anyway, so it was correct too. The skirt is unlined, except for a hem facing.



I covered an antique parasol frame (photoset here) with raw silk and silk charmeuse based on one in the MFA, made a sheer muslin triangular shawl, and a fanchon bonnet. The bonnet is based on period examples, but completely my own invention construction wise. It involves wet buckram draped over a styrofoam head, shaped into a crescent sort of thing and trimmed to death. I quite like it :)



The dress is covered in bows. These are a little different in style than the ones on the original as I couldn't quite work those out. I described how I made these bows here.



A close up of the bow, and how I helped them stay in place on the bodice--pins. They were so thick they wanted to pop up, so I pinned them in place. Pinning is period!



Most of the construction is really straightforward. It just has a lot of trim! To make the cutouts though, first, I made the bodice normally. Then I played around with diamond cut outs of paper to see what size would look good, traced them, and cut them. Then I gathered netting to put below, and finished the raw edges by sewing bias tape over each side.



And, to end, shoes. Because these shoes are not only awesome, but I think were 99 cents on eBay. Possibly $1.99. I just love them, and could they be more perfect for this dress?

The Live Journal tag for this dress--lots of talking and talking and talking about construction!

An Early 1920s Hat--Tutorial!

In my last post, I shared the inspiration for this hat. Though, I didn't copy an original, I do hope I achieved the spirit of an early 20s hat! Once again, I was inspired by Jen Thompson's hat reshaping.

In this post, we're going to go from the hat on the left to the hat on the right!



The hat is a rather plain straw hat from Party City. Just $4.95! Not bad at all for a hat blank. I chose it for the color straw and didn't even realized the band was my favorite pink and green combination until I got home.

I covered it in silk taffeta that I had bought for the underdress of the dress I'm wearing it with, leftover raw silk from an 1870s parasol I recovered and soutache from Farmhouse Fabrics.





The first step was to completely wet the hat and find an appropriate bowl to stretch it over. I didn't have one with a suitably round base (I suppose bowls do need to sit...) so I took some wet dishtowels, stuffed them in the top of the hat until it was round, and then put the hat on my largest mixing bowl.

I then played with the shape of the brim until it curved up in front.



I let it dry, which took, oh, 20 minutes because it was 109 degrees out, and then trimmed the brim. While slightly scary, just remember--$4.95 hat blank, and maybe 15 minutes of time (not including drying) so far. Also, observe the cat toy :)

There's no real logic to shaping the hat or trimming the brim. You just have to do what you think looks good!



The trimmed hat. It's a little closer to my desired shape than my finished hat. The loose weave straw spread pretty easily. To avoid this in the future, I would sew a tight strip of fabric on the bias to hold it in place.





To cover the crown I just cut a circle of taffeta and gathered the edge. This look is fairly common in the early 20s. I thought, oh, this is loose, I don't need to line it. Wrong! Silly me, the straw shows through. By the time I realized this though, I would've had to take the whole hat apart. Not worth it!

You can see though, that I did plan for it to be quite loose. As the layers were sewn on, it tightened up a bit.



Next, I padded the brim with wool batting so straw wouldn't show through. I was very worried about this here!



Then, I cut the lining for the brim. I set the hat down and traced a circle.



Placed the circle on the brim.



Sewed the circle to the outer and inner edges.



And cut the center out. So easy this way. Any irregularities in the hat don't make a difference.



I repeated the process with the silk. The only difference was I marked the inside edge on my circle and sewed the soutache trim on before applying it.



Sewing the silk on...



The silk sewn on, waiting to be cut.

When you cut the silk, cut about 3/4 an inch away from the sewing line, then clip into this seam allowance, just like you would a curved seam.



After the silk is cut.

And here, the pictures seem to have stopped. It's very easy after this though! To finish the brim, I just sewed bias raw silk around the edge. The inside of the hat is finished with a length of twill tape sewn around the inside of the crown (I decided against a lining, which would be easy too), and I wrapped a bias band of silk around the crown as decoration.

And that's it!

An Early 1920s Hat--Inspiration

A new dress needs a new hat, right? For my early 20s Lanvin dress, I wanted to be sure to have the right style, so for inspiration, I used the absolutely wonderful Illustrated Milliner magazine available on Google Books. It's a trade magazine, and as such, most of the hats in there are very much beyond my ability, but I was able to get a sense of the early 20s look, and figure out what I could do to achieve it.



One style that I was not only drawn to, but seemed possible to copy, was the upturned decorated brim.

I decided that reshaping and covering an existing straw hat would be the easiest thing to do. This is the second hat that I've reshaped, after seeing Jen Thompson reshape her suffragette hat. It's much less involved than actually blocking a hat, and you can make a rather decent hat! The first one I reshaped--for my suffragette dress--is on my journal. And for fun, here's another of Jen's hats, using the same base that I used.



And also, I think I found my dream job--in charge of the Velvet and Ribbon Department? Yes, please!

The next post will show how to go from this:



to this:

The Lily Pad Lanvin Dress

A trip to the Huntington before Costume College? Of course I needed a new dress! A group of friends and I decided to visit in 1920s--a perfect era, as it was wearing a costume and not wearing a costume at the same time. 20s dresses are quite conveniently the size of everyday clothes.

While looking through the Met, I fell in love with this Lanvin dress. I think she may be my favorite 20s designer, as this is the second dress of hers I've made, and I have two more scheduled and even have the materials for those!



I decided on a different color scheme for my dress. I wanted something a little lighter and more summery. I found the perfect shade of green Swiss muslin at Farmhouse Fabrics and I dyed white Swiss muslin cream. Instead of a contrasting color--everything I could think of with the green either seemed too 1970s or too sweet (even for me!)--so I decided to use more green as the accent color. I did use a little pink in the rosette to tie in my pink parasol and custom pink shoes from Step One Dance Shoes.

And that camera I have? It does have pictures on it! Or, I hope. I've been completely horrible and haven't brought the film in to be developed yet.



I'm wearing the dress over a green silk taffeta slip made from the same taffeta that's trimming my hat, my peach silk tap pants, and besides stockings and garters, that's it! I find it very nice having the correct figure for the 20s! I did wonder if I should wear anything else, but a sheer dress with more than one set of straps showing sounded unattractive. I fortunately found this dress in a 1920 Photoplay which clearly shows a sheer dress with nothing but a slip beneath.



I was horrible, and took very few construction pictures as I was making this. In fact, I think I only took one of the neckline and a series of the rosette of doom. I'll describe what I did though. It is straightforward! The bodice is two pieces, a front and back, sewn with French seams on the right side and shoulders. The left side was sewn with a normal seam, a placket with snaps set into it after the skirt was attached and then the remainder of the seam was turned in as a mock French seam. The sleeves were sewn with French seams, and set in with, once again, French seams. So really, the whole dress is sewn twice! The skirt is two rectangles of fabric, and the trim is a straight of grain tube of green fabric with ribbon sewn on top to imitate a tunic. I at first thought there might be a tunic on the original, but the folds of the skirt were too perfectly aligned, so I believe it's just faked with trim. The skirt is sewn on normally, gathered and then right sides to right sides. There are four tiny tucks in the bottom of the bodice, easily visible in the original, which surprisingly do quite a bit of shaping.



For the green around the neck and sleeves, I bound the edges with green bias, then cut a collar piece and extension for the sleeve out of green and basted them in. I really wish I had taken pictures of this! I then sewed cream ribbon over the join. I think this is how the original was done though, and it provided a really nice finish, so I decided to do it even though I was just using one color. The lace insert is simplified on mine. I whipstitched Maline lace from Farmhouse fabrics together for the triangular insert, then sewed ribbon to more Maline lace, gathered it, and sewed it to the neckline.



The rosette, which ended up giving the dress its name, was rather straightforward. Here are my marked pieces for the parts. I sewed the layers together, cut them, turned them right side out, and placed them on the circle base--made of two layers of silk taffeta sewn together and turned right side out--and sewed them down. I think the pictures are rather self-explanatory!



The rosette is then basted to the dress, and can be easily removed if the dress needs to be washed.

For accesories, I have my pink parasol, and a yet to be made post about my early 1920s inspired hat.

For more pictures of the day, including Aubry, Megan, and Sara's lovely dresses, the photoset is here!