And so it begins... Trek

My family is LDS ( Later day Saints).  One of the things we like to do as Mormons is to remember our past and look to the future.  One one way of doing that is to go on trek.  My family this summer all 5 of us will travel together to do a four day trek.  I hope this will be a very binding experience for my family.  The start of that is to sew clothes for my family to were during those four days.  Two outfits per-person  for my family that means 8 dresses, 4 aprons, 4 bonnets, 8 pantaloons... 2 shirts for my husband ( he will buy his pants I think).  So this is the start of that project  I could make blouses and skirts but that is harder to me to carry more items so I will make dresses. 

I found some of the fabric at walmart the striped one the cream with tan flowers and the white with blue flowers.  Not were I usually shop for fabric but it was 2.50 and on clearance and a very light weight cotton so I think it will work well especially since this is only for four days did not want this to be terribly expensive.  The rest came from my stash of fabric the plaid i used for little woman and I will be using it again using the same pattern I used in little woman.  In fact all 8 dresses will be the same pattern in the exact same size  as me and all my daughters pretty much wear the same size dress these days which will make this go faster.  One of my daughters the youngest has actually passed me in height recently so this will not last long that we can do this.

If you want to see the dresses pattern  all fancy for plays follow these links below.  But for trek I will make them much more simple with less layers so my daughters and I do not over heat.
from Little woman
Amy's blue  dress 

Jo's red dress

Meg's blue dress

I also made a brown one for beth and two gray ones for beth but not sure I ever made a post on them and a gray  black white one for jo but never posted about them.

Beth's Gray dress with pink trim and Amy's blue dress with apron

Beth's Brown dress with 100 year old lace  Amy's blue dress Jo's  red dress

Amy's first dress with red trim and Beth's brown dress

Jo's dress black white gray with red flowers this was the actresses favorite dress of the play

Beth's dress with White trim Meg's Blue dress

The first dress all the sister's in little woman wore for act one all the same dress pattern just embellished differently to make them look different.  Amy's red and gray dress Meg's blue dress Jo's red military dress and Beth's brown dress

So this is a pattern I have made at least 7 times already  i think actually 8 times and will make 8 more times I can pretty much make it in my sleep these days.

Black and white Skirt and Amy dress

I have been wanting to make some skirts like this for  a while for every day use and for dress up and for costumes this was an experiment.  Since I am backing off a little on costumes for the school this year.  I thought I might make a few costumes for my family.   This one is for my family.  It feels funny calling this a costume because for me this would be a normal skirt I would wear to church or any wear else.  That is not to say I would not wear it as a costume too I would.


The corset I did not make it is one I bought at Hot Topic.  Yes I shop at Hot Topic it is one of my families favorite stores.  That sometimes surprises people.

The mannequin has a smaller waist than i do so it does not quiet fit right but I think next time I will make the waist 4 inches narrower.  The fabric is gathered in the back of the skirt to form a pseudo bustle.  I still have tons of upholstery fabric and trim so this is one way I can use it up and do something with it.  I used some of my fringe trim to line the hem of the skirt.

I think the left over fabric from the Amy dress would be great like this.

In case you do not know what the Amy dress is go here and here. I never actually showed it finished on my blog so for those who were curious as to how it came out here you go .

My middle daughter and myself did the collar work together the sleeve lace is 100 year old curtain fabric I still have lots of both fabrics in this dress.  I even used some of the fabric  a few years ago for another costume for my middle daughter when she went to a dance as the Mad hatters daughter that costume also got worn in the Wizard of Oz play by my youngest daughter when she played a munch-kin.  Costumes in our house almost have a life of their own as does fabric.  If you look at the bottom photo for Amy's costume she has quiet the bustle I had to make this black and white skirt not as large and not as complicated but fun all the same

You know that old saying that women like to use does this dress make my bum look big in this case yes would be the answer but it would be more like does it look big enough yet.  Interesting what use to be normal fashion is now costume fashion.

The picture to the right is my middle daughter wearing the other costume that used some of the same fabric as Amy's costume this is the daughter that helped me with the neckline lace of Amy's dress.  The shirt she is wearing is also from Little Women but in the play the guys wore this shirt.  To us it is just a good pirate like shirt.

The pictures below are my youngest daughter during tech rehearsals For the Wizard of Oz from this school years play this last October.

Pirates ... Shakespeare ... Comic-Con

My husband and middle daughter went to fanx-comic-con this last week in this post are a few of the outfits they wore.  The first day they both went as Pirates.

It was an easy thing to do.  The Rust colored tunic you see my daughter wearing is a new piece I made a few days ago for the Shakespeare play this year.  She is just breaking it in a few weeks early.  It is a tunic I made for  some of the peasant characters to wear in a Mid Summer Night's dream.

I have actually made four new tunics, four new skirts, three new shirts , three new aprons, 3 new hats, and 3 new shawls so.... and so on in the last week for this years play.  I have made most of these to accommodate the peasants in the play.  We wanted new costumes for that group this year.  I wanted to use solid colors so they would stand out against the brocade of those who are the nobles and merchant class.  I will post more about those costumes later.

The black over skirt she is wearing I made three years back for the play "The Merchant of Venice".  I also made the corset she is wearing four years ago for the play "Much Ado About Nothing".  My husband borrowed some costumes pieces  hat, head scarf, jacket, boots)from a friend and wore some of ours with his outfit.  I made the shirt and vest last year for "Little Woman".  I never posted all the shirts I made or the vests.   I need to get around to that.  The  borrowed items are from a long time family friend who does a ton of costuming for the BYU folk dance team.   But these are their personal costumes and do not belong to BYU.

The glass pearl necklace my daughter is wearing she and I made on the 16th out of three strings of glass pearls that use to belong to my Vavo but were broken and damaged so we re-stung them and made them into one necklace that was a lace choker.  My daughter is so happy to get to wear those beads made her day.

Day two still a pirate theme for the two:

The first day they took off their costumes real soon after getting there like less than an hour.  So they decided to actually wear them on day two my daughter changed hers a little adding a bigger hat and a cape.  The cape is one I made for  the character "Jo" in "Little Woman".  My husband switched to a more pirate like shirt.  Day one was sunny day two overcast thus the color changes in the costumes.
On the second day of comic con there was to be a costume contest.  Sadness my husband and daughter were supposed to be in the costume contest at comic con but they had to turn down the request from the staff members.  Because my daughter had to be at a school choir performance that night by 6:30 and the contest would not start until 5 and that was cutting it too close with the long drive home. It would have been fun to see if one of my costumes could have won. Oh well at least I know they were good enough to be asked to participate in it. They said lots of people stopped them to take photos with them and of them glad they had fun my daughter has had such a rough year health wise this was her reward for when she had 2 report cards in a row with straight A's while going in and out of the hospital. They got the tickets back in February so they did not know there would be a conflict with a school choir performance.

On the last day my husband continued to be  a pirate we have other costumes I think he just liked this one.  My daughter went as the dark fairy cobweb.  She left her wings at home as she was worried with the crowds on the last day they would be mangled.  Now they are home and exhausted from three days of fun.

touches of irish crochet

 

My oldest,and middle daughters and myself are collaborating on this piece.  They crocheted most of the pieces.  I did the grapes and the cord around the edge.  This is part of Amy's last costume and part of my middle daughters master project on Annie Sullivan for school.  The opening on the neck was too low so this is how we are solving that.

little women play

Amy underconstruction

 

This is I think the last dress Amy wears in the play ( I still have a few others to make for her).  This one is still under construction.  This is the bodice piece it will have a skirt that uses this embroidered fabric and it will also have a flounce on the skirt in coral orange same fabric I used on Meg's last dress that I showed.   It will also have a sort of gathered ruched bustle but not a true bustle.  This dress has caused me issues in making it the patten did not come out as the manufacturer designed it to ie to big in the waist.

Thus you see the tape measure around the waist me figuring out what it would look like either belted or gathered to take in the extra fabric that I DO NOT LIKE AT ALL.  I have added 3 inches to the bodice area in height at the bosom to make it more modest and I may add a ruffle or a pleated area there still as it is still not to wear i want it for a modest dress.

I am in the process of adding puff sleeves the pattern had no sleeves.  By the time I am done constructing this dress it will look nothing like the original pattern which sort of makes me happy as I did not like lots of it and am modifying all those parts to my liking.  The bead trim you see I did not hand bead could of but did not.  Found it thrift shopping for 50 cents a few weeks back and instantly thought of this dress.  There will be a bright colored flounce right below the waist so I think it will stand out nicely.

2nd peplum for Jo

The 2nd peplum jacket  I am showing is the very last outfit Jo wears in the play.  It is spring time so soft feminine colors.  This is also when Mr. Bear proposes to her.  So I wanted it to have a hint of girlishness with eyelet and pink skirt.
The petticoat that is attached also has eyelet lace on it .  There is a wide  cream gross-grain bow that goes around the seam at the middle area of the skirt but not shown in photo as I had not attached it yet.  It is a simple detail but it finished the skirt nicely.  This skirt is real full in the lower back. But it is fitted in the hips showing style changes that where happening in fashion.


This jacket is also fully linen but in black sateen.  Once again I used antique mother of pearl buttons for the closures.

1 of 2 peplums for Jo

I have made two peplum jackets for the character Jo in the play with matching skirts these are for the final two scenes of the play.

The second to last one is the brown one  it is more of a fall winter scene and I wanted the dress to carry that color them with it.

  Since this is Jo I am still keeping her clothes leaning towards mens styling with hints of soft lace here and there.  To show her character is softening some but still wants to do mens jobs.

The fabric for the jacket was a remnant I  found junking about a year ago that I really liked but it was too narrow for most patter pieces as it was only a foot and 1/2 wide but about 3 yards long.  which was perfect for this jacket all the pieces fit in that space.

The full skirt is made from fine linen fabric I was given about 13 years ago that I was never quiet sure what I wanted to do with it.  The skirt does have an attached petticoat and the jacket is fully lined with a orange  sateen and the jacket has antique mother of pearl buttons. 

Meg's dress

This is the dress Meg is wearing right before she gets married in the play. The fabric is actually an ugly brown color that looked dirty and such to me. So what did I do, yep you guessed it this is the backside of the fabric which is very pretty compared to the front color.  This coral fabric is the same fabric I used on Aunt March's hat.  The roses on this dress are the last I have of this color so I used them  all up there are 5 not on the dress in this photo but they will be before the play.  The eyelet lace you see is from a table cloth I found junking as is the cream fabric for that matter.  Which I added to the dress as that part was not part of the pattern and it had such a low neck line it was immodest for the actress to wear. The fringe trim on this dress is more of that trim my friend gave me.  The scarf you see is actually a shoulder wrap to go with this dress.

Beth's sontag sweater

 

This has been my carry around with me project for the  last few weeks.  It is a Sontag a type of sweater shawl worn during civil war colonial days.  This one is for the character Beth in the play I started making it for Marme but changed my mind to Beth.  It is all hand knit with 100%wool.

 It has ties and buttons to hold it closed and on.  Keeping the torso and shoulders warm but allowing for ease of movement in the arms.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bosom-friend-or-sontag-circa-1860