Independence Day! The culmination of several projects

This post initially was going to be about HSF #13 - Lace and Lacing, but at the last minute I decided not to use lace to create sleeve engageantes or a fichu and instead use crushed voile, so my project no longer applied to that challenge.  Oh well.

The good news is that I was able to finish (mostly - for wearing once at least) the fichu (still needs hemming - that'll be my "White" challenge entry) and the engageantes - and trim a hat - in time for the Fourth of July.  Definitely was productive over my vacation: I even cut and pinned the rest of the 1865 evening bodice (more on that in a separate post).

I had also purchased a pair of American Duchess' historically clocked stockings (white with black) to go with the Kensingtons I'd gotten last year.  So, with the addition of the finished sleeves, a hat, and a fichu, my 1775 ensemble was pretty much complete (minus shoe buckles; I'll make those later - I have some ideas for making them using a wider florist's wire (so the wire itself is easy to work with yet holds its shape) and "forging" the twisted-together pieces together using flat pliers... not a good description, but you'll see later).

Without further ado... the full ensemble (hairstyle is NOT accurate to 1775; it was hot and I didn't want to fuss with it and then have it collapse in the humidity as it tends to do for anything fancy):

And, of course, no costume ensemble is complete without a cat's seal of approval (aka, cat fuzz over everything)... or showing off the shoes and stockings :-)  I'll have to take the stockings in a little, because I have small feet, but otherwise they are a dream to wear - even on a 90-degree day.

Here's the "making-of" part about the engageants, fichu, hat, and "padding" (not used/worn in the pictures)...


I was originally going to use an embroidered cotton curtain valance (from the '60s; below), but then decided it was too pretty to cut the embroidery in half.  I'll use it on the Edwardian gown that I'm planning on making sometime in the near future instead (one more item for the ever-growing list), which will be a combination of the lace tea gown that Rose wears in Titanic and the Laurel dress that (as many have said) is probably the most popularly reproduced gown around.

I'm not sure how historically accurate these shapes are, but the effect looks similar to simpler engageantes I've seen in portraits from the time period... and my method of affixing them to the sleeves is unlikely to be period.  As you can see, I took a length of ribbon, sewed the fabric into a tube around it (third picture below) and then scrunched up (very technical term, that) the fabric as I shortened and tied the ribbon around my arm.  Eventually I'll make some loops on the insides of whatever sleeves I want to wear them with that I'll string the ribbon through, but I'm too lazy to tack the engageantes to the sleeves every time I want to switch a dress.

Right side out / inside out:

The fichu was a lot easier, though I'm going to slim it down a bit because the voile is VERY puffy and I think I used way too much fabric.  I'm probably going to open up the center so it's no longer a slit but instead more like a keyhole.

And the straw hat... a $20-ish purchase on eBay from 1762-wench.  The hat is quite well made, nice and flexible, and solidly sewn together.  The blue ribbon around the crown and for the ties is a single long (1.5-yd?) piece, which for the crown trim I folded in half and then let it be full width for the rest.  I first pinned it around the brim and then sewed that down using simple stitches.  I think it came out rather well, actually.

With the ribbon looped and placed on:

Ribbon pinned on:

I also made some "padding" to make the skirt stand out properly in the back (and sides, depending on which roll I used), but I need to make a few changes to both rolls (the small one and larger one) before I take pictures using them.  But here's some "making-of" pictures anyways.  The fabric was approximately a yard (remnant) of red quilted cotton; I also used polyfill (so not accurate) and a ribbon as a waistband.

Fabric for larger (tube) on left / smaller (rectangle) on right:

Smaller rectangle (back skirt support only), inside out:

Larger tube for 3/4 skirt support, inside out:

So, that's that... much belated, and my next post will be on the 1865 evening gown progress - hopefully before the end of the month!