Fabric addiction & new petticoat

Um... I need to stop buying fabric.

I only buy fabric from thrift stores, but still, it adds up. And there's no point in Buying Fabric With A Purpose (to make costumes) if I'm not actually DOING anything with it (yet).

But then, I find things like my most recent weekend finds:

$1.99 - for 7 yds of poly-cotton fabric from Goodwill. I can use this for mockups and practicing new things. For instance, yesterday I used it to practice making a chemise, which I've never done before. I've bought yardage from Saver's in the past and used it to learn how to make men's shirts.

$.50 - for three panels of red cotton velveteen from Salvation Army. I'll measure them when I get home. I'll save one to make a corset to go with the Christmas ren fest costume I've been planning (I found 4-5 yards of a red and green plaid at Saver's about a year ago and have been saving it for this).

(I haven't washed the fabric yet in this pic.)

$2.50 - for 6 yds of what I think is silk damask! I can't remember the yardage, and it's not a full width (only one of the selvedges is intact). It measures about 26 inches wide. It was hemmed using some kind of glue, but the glue is old enough to have lost its "grip" so I can unfold the hemmed edges easily. I haven't washed this yet either. I don't know what I'll do with it. It's so beautiful. I may have to just sell it and let someone more talented use it.

Pictures will follow later for the following:

$2.99 - for a long poly-cotton voile curtain that I'm going to use for a chemise for my friend's costume.

$1.99 - for 3 yds of retro fabric in perfect condition.

$6.02 - for 4 yd white linen curtain swag to use in a chemise for myself, a queen-sized 100% cotton sheet to use for a petticoat, and a vintage embroidered tablecloth from the Goodwill Outlet where everything is sold by the pound.

In fact, maybe I'll post pictures of everything in my stash. I spent only a fraction of the cost on the yardage and household linens that I will be turning into costume pieces that I would have spent buying from Joanne's, but I still feel kind of overwhelmed by it all. :-)

Oh, I almost forgot! I finished my friend's petticoat last night.

LOOK WHAT I MADE!

Me modeling the petticoat. I need to lose weight. :-(

Detail of fabric and hem.

I'm going to steal the Dreamstress's format for reporting on projects for her Historical Sew Fortnightly, even though I'm not participating in it (yet). It's a wonderful way to summarize projects.

The Challenge: Make a petticoat for my friend's Ren fest costume
Fabric: A cotton-something synthetic blend curtain from Goodwill
Pattern: 18th-century style petticoat
Notions: White thread, grey double-fold bias tape/quilt binding for waistband and hem, cotton twill tape for waist ties 
How historically accurate is it? The pattern is very historically accurate, but the fabric is not. I think the hem depth is accurate (I can't remember where I read hems of 18th century skirts were rarely more than 1-inch deep). I think using bias tape to enclose the raw edge of the hem might have been done sometimes, but I don't know. I think the waistband finishing isn't very accurate, but the waist ties are. 
Hours to complete: I didn't keep track, but will try to from now on. I think about 4-5 hours? Took longer than usual because of having to pick out the seams and learn how to do a French seam 
First worn: TBD 
Total cost: $4.99 for the fabric, $1.50 for 1st package of quilt binding, $1.79 for 2nd package of quilt binding, I already had the thread and the cotton twill tape. So $8.96 total (including tax).


This petticoat is about 90 inches circumference. I'm so happy with it now, but it was so frustrating to work on because I had to tear out all the seams, the edges were very easy to fray, the fabric is thick so I had to use a French seam on the sides, which looks sloppy, and I had to use bias tape quilt binding on the hem because it was too thick to hem normally with those massive side seams. BUT--that fabric makes a beautiful petticoat, the bias tape on the hem is a nice touch, and the thick side seams helps the petticoat to stand out more.

Now I wish I'd bought more of these curtains to use in the future. Maybe I'll be making a run to Goodwill after work. :-) If only I knew how well these would sell. But I think, if they're cheap enough, they'll probably sell okay.

Pirate Wedding - Skirt 4 BUSTLING

Man, there's a lot of stuff to do in the last few weekends before a wedding. Fortunately, that gave me time to mull over my overskirt and toss around bustling ideas in my head. It's almost done! I've worked it out!

What I finally ended up doing was:

1) sewed twill tape inside of the waist to stabilize the fabric.
2) sort of folded the fabric up to shorten it and laid it flat against the waist and sewed it in place.
3) pinched enough fabric on both sides to draw it to the back as a sort of bustle.
4) put a safety pin in place where I will sew ribbons to tie the bustle back.

I think it'll look good! It's longer in the front than I wanted, but I actually don't think it will look disproportionate, especially when I have the corset on. You can see the hem of my petticoat showing underneath the underskirt. I will need to buy some lace to trim it with so it doesn't look so weird.

I was also fretting about the small panel of goldish fabric on the overskirt, and how it looks so different from the more ivory colored fabric. And then I realized... JUST TURN THE SKIRT AROUND SO THAT THE GOLD FABRIC IS IN THE BACK AND COVERED BY THE BUSTLE.

So I just need to sew on the bustle ribbons and then a couple of hooks on the waistband. I should really learn how to install a zipper but my progress on this project has slowed down so much that I can't be bothered with that right now. The opening is on the side but tying back the sides into a bustle hides the opening, which is convenient. I also should put a proper waistband on, but the twill tape will do for now, and the corset will hide the unfinished edges.

I've finished my corset completely... The last part was putting the grommets in for the straps, which I have done!

Last thing to do is make the chemise. Which I really hope I can get done because after my wedding next weekend I will only have two weeks until my sister's wedding, and one of those weeks will be my honeymoon project of putting in a 144-sq ft garden in my backyard with my soon-to-be husband. So likely no sewing that week.

WAIT I just checked the calendar and I will have THREE weeks until my sister's wedding. No problem!

Pirate Wedding - Skirt 3 - DONE

When I tackled the valance pinning again, I realized if I pinned the end of the valance so that it was flush with the one it was supposed to join up with...

And then folded back the excess so that it was even all along...

And then sewed down along the overlap, pulled the flap back and trimmed the overlap...

 and then rejoined the flap with the piece it was supposed to meet with... That it would WORK!!

Here it is!! Now I have to get working on the overskirt, which should be pretty easy. Cut a hole in the middle of the round tablecloth, stick a hook and eye in it to fasten, then it's ready to wear.

I didn't have it on the waistband yet when the pictures were taken, so it has slipped some in the back. It really does look better than this.YOU'LL SEE WHEN IT'S ALL PUT TOGETHER!!!!!


Look how lovely the overskirt fabric (i.e. round tablecloth) looks with the underskirt. I LOVE red and brown together!

Pirate Wedding - Skirt 3 - I GOT LUCKY

Update on Skirt 3. The valance I found to sew onto the skirt to overlap the decorative part of the bed skirt wasn't enough to cover the whole skirt. I knew it wouldn't be, the skirt has like 3 1/2 yards of fabric. The valance is about 60" long. But I thought that once the skirt was gathered it would be enough to cover the front, and then my overskirt would hide the back. Nope.

So I got another valance from the thrift store ($1.99). This one is 55" long. It was kind of a cream color, but the same kind of undulating hem trimmed with fringe. I thought for sure this would do the trick. Nope. There is still a yard of fabric that needs to be covered.

I could take out the extra yard of fabric, but I really wanted the full skirts. I think a lot of costumes look sort of meh if the skirts aren't full enough. Or, I could search the Internet to find a duplicate of one of the two valances already attached to the skirt. I tried, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Or I could try another thrift store and see if I could find another valance that was ivory or cream and trimmed with fringe, sew that on, and hope it didn't look too stupid to have three different fabrics overlying the skirt. Two, okay. Three, probably not.

So I trudged back to Goodwill hoping I could find another similar valance. I looked twice through their racks. Then I looked one... more... time, and a package on the top of the racks caught my eye. It was a valance. Cream colored. Trimmed with fringe. For $3.99. Good enough.

I couldn't believe it when I compared it to the valances already on the skirt. It is the PERFECT MATCH of one of them. That NEVER HAPPENS!!!!

I'm going to go finish my skirt now!

Pirate Wedding - Skirt 3 - Underskirt

For my pirate skirt 2.0, I went to the Goodwill just down the street. I found a lovely brown bedskirt ($8.99) with "microstripes" of red & gold shades. The fabric content is a silk/polyester blend. Score!

I also found a fringed ivory valance ($2.99) that I thought I could attach to the bedskirt above the brown silk fabric to look sort of like an overskirt. Then I found a  cotton/polyester blend red & gold brocade round tablecloth ($4.99 or $6.99, can't remember) that I think might make the perfect overskirt, because it will have the coverage without the bulk and there are instructions online for how to turn a round tablecloth into a circle skirt.

The tablecloth matches the bedskirt so nicely!

Right now, I want to say something about using household linens as costuming materials.

I used to work as a living history interpreter. I did it for less than a year, it was all new and exciting to me to get paid to play dress up and pretend to be a pioneer. The lady that made my costumes is enormously talented. I was very fortunate that I didn't have to pay for any of it. My employer paid for my costuming expenses.

Here in Texas, all the old Indian Wars forts have living history days throughout the year. Lots of people attend--volunteer interpreters, paid staff, and regular people that just like to dress up in old-timey clothing and walk around feeling special and different once in a while. Kind of like Renaissance festivals. Some costumes are amazing, some are awful.

The big names in historical costuming would laugh/sneer at the costumes that were obviously awful. I was one of them. I remember hearing one of the historical gurus say something about how she read on a blog or forum of some sort that someone was giving instructions about how to make a skirt out of sheets or something like that. And you could hear the major CONCERN in her voice, like "this has to be stopped!"

There was one lady who they singled out. Her outfit was, frankly, the worst thing I've ever seen. I've seen Halloween costumes at Walmart that looked better. Her skirt wasn't full enough to accommodate her hoopskirt, it was made out of cheap "faux" satin fabric like what cheap negligees are made of. Very overweight, and no corset. And one of the costuming gurus told her he wanted to take her picture and I don't remember what he said, but she immediately responded, "What, so you can make fun of me?" And he said no, something I can't remember, but she let him take her picture. And he was taking her picture precisely so that he could use her as an example of how NOT to do living history clothing. He was also taking her picture to make fun of her.

Okay, as I've said. I laughed along with the rest of them. It's easy to do that when you're not having to pay for your own gorgeously, authentically recreated historical clothing.

That job didn't last long, I moved onto other things, and 7 years later found myself buying a lovely medieval-style dress to wear to a Renaissance festival with my sister. I loved the experience so much that I decided to start making my own costumes, even though I have zero experience in sewing clothes, because there was so much stuff that I wanted and I couldn't afford to buy all of it. And that is when it hit home.

Fabric is expensive! It's so much cheaper to get your costuming materials from thrift store bedding and household linens than by the yard at the fabric store.

Now, granted, there were a lot of bad costumes I saw at the ren fest. Stuff that would have looked nice if... (...if they hadn't used broadcloth, if the skirt had been fuller, if the skirt had had a petticoat, if the bodice had been in proportion with the person's figure). The point of it all was that people were having FUN.

I have high standards and try to accommodate them the best I can within my means. I can't afford silk or cotton damask, brocades, or velvet by the yard. But I have a creative mind and a good eye, and so I figure that if I find something at the thrift store linens section that looks more "period appropriate" than poly-cotton broadcloth, I should be able to make a decent looking costume out of it. Which is so incredibly wonderful for someone like me who is on a limited budget and whose latest obsession is making costumes.

In the end, FABRIC IS FABRIC. Does it really matter whether it's been used to make curtains or a kirtle?

So... Eff you, snobby, elitist living history interpreters. Including my past self. Time to have fun. Time to be creative. Time to say, "You know what? I've always wanted to go to the ren fest in costume. I'm going to do it!" And do what it takes to get you there. Who cares what anyone else thinks.