victorian ball dresses

[mlsdesigns]

just got back from another practice for the victorian ball that's on the 10th of november, we tried to learn the lancers again, but boy is it hard! and the woman teaching us doesn't really know it either, so we're making it up as we go along, and getting it very wrong :) but at least the ball should be fun :) she's going to keep up the practices after the event, due to popular demand, yay!
i've actually made some progress on my dress! (sky blue taffeta (synthetic unfortunately) with a slight slub, made very plane with a lace trimmed pleated bertha and net undersleeves, hopefully) i did my mockup yesterday, and mummy helped me do a fitting, so now tomorrow i can turn it into something pretty, and there will be photos! (although not of me in the mockup, we forgot, sorry)
also, i've ripped up a dress i made in college to make it fit mummy, so at some point i'll fix that up for her, and take more pics. it fits round, but was made for a much, much smaller girl, so i've destroyed the neckline so i can raise it a good few inches, and i'm letting out the sleeves a lot. luckily i have some fabric left, and it has a separate bertha which i can remove and put on much further up. the only thing i need to buy for either dress i think is some netting for undersleeves and tuckers.
(this is a secret, but if by any strange turn of fate i have any time left i'm going to make a blue velvet dolman to go with my pale blue ball gown, because now i have hunnisette's books on outerwear, i have a pattern!!!! then mummy can wear my pink cloak, her dress is oyster coloured satin.)
any advice on my skirt? other skirts i've made i've lined with plain cotton fabric, but that was skirts for theatre and a wool day dress, were ball gown skirts lined? the lining always make the waistband so thick. (by lining i mean sewing the two fabrics as one, as a backing) if i don't back it is there any way i can turn a hem without the stitches showing? or do you settle with a blind hem stitch?

Comments

[koshka-the-cat.livejournal.com]

I've never bothered lining an 1860s skirt. On all but the sheer dress, I've used hem facings and a largish running stitch to attach the facing--a small stitch on the outside, large in the inside. It really doesn't show when you're wearing it. There's just so much skirt that it doesn't make a difference!

The ball should be so much fun. I love balls. Looking forward to the pictures!

[mlsdesigns.livejournal.com]

thank you! you use a facing, not a hem? i think i'll try that this time :) how deep do you make your facing?
the ball will be wonderful, even if it's the worst of it's kind i'll love it because it's my first proper ball, it's my coming out ball :p
but now i know i should be in bed, if you're on line!

[koshka-the-cat.livejournal.com]

I'm online at all sorts of bizarre hours, though 3:30 in the afternoon isn't so bizarre. I'm hard to tell time by!

I think my hem facings are usually somewhere in the eight to ten inch range. Smaller if I'm facing a shaped skirt, and then I use about a 4 inch bias strip. Once I faced a skirt with shaped panels, and I don't want to do that again. It wasn't hard, just annoying!

Because my 1840 dress is semi-sheer, you can see the hem facing. I say in the notes that I used a 12" hem facing, but it doesn't look that large. Anyway, here's the link.

I had my coming out ball (hee!) last year, and it was lovely. I've been to two others since, and another one in about a month. They're so much fun!

[mlsdesigns.livejournal.com]

thank you, sorry i missed this earlier!
i'm really looking forward to the ball now :) but i'm having trouble with my dress :( i need something for my undersleeves, and want net, either silk or cotton. my only option really is mail order. is net always the same do you think? the undersleeves on your mourning ball gown are pretty similar to the ones i want, i think we have the same book :) i've found silk net at £38, does that sound right?
sorry to pick your brains again!

[mlsdesigns.livejournal.com]

picking your brains again! mummy suggested i settle for chiffon this time and remake them when i have time to get in to london, do you think silk chiffon would work?
this is such a pain :( i came home early from work and got practically nothing done, due to worrying about the sleeves and having the puppy whimpering for play time all day. gah, i need a break, i'm all jittery, sorry.

[jennil.livejournal.com]

Because I have time on my hands, I figure, why not go bother you for pictures from your trip? Or at least pictures of your AG purchases. Or even just a telling of what all you came away from AGP with? Because I'm sure you have nothing better to do than amuse me, right? LOL! ;P

I can't wait to see all these things you're making - I'm sure it's all going to be so awesome!

[mlsdesigns.livejournal.com]

hee hee! i'm afraid i hardly have any pics at all of our trip :( and none of our trip to AG, or should i say trips? since we went there every day!
as far as pics of my stuffs, i can't help much either, because they are all packed away for the move, we now have our official completion date, the 23rd of november! so as long as we can manage to sign the contracts and get the money to them, we'll have a lovely new house, and will be settled before christmas!!!
i can tell you what i got though! look at my most recent post for long babbling!!