Saturday, April 19, 2014

Periwinkle Princess

I've called this dress the Periwinkle Princess....as it sounds much prettier than "The Shower Curtain Dress," though that would have caught your attention. It is indeed, a dress made primarily out of a shower curtain, with other draperies on top and underneath.  But you'd never be able to tell! 

My inspiration was this gorgeous dress from DearGolden, on etsy. (I saw it on pinterest).

So I set out with that in mind, and found lace shower curtains, a huge periwinkle organza curtain, and some lightweight satin for the trimmings. The satin was purchased at a fabric shop. Then I drafted a bodice for her, adding a top, since sleeveless would not have been appropriate.  

Once I put the dress together, I realized the lace looked better underneath the organza, and not quite as harsh. With the lace on the outside it was rather overpowering. So underneath it stayed. Her skirts were so full I had to hand sew the bodice and skirts together-my poor sewing machine couldn't even fit the thickness!!


her shoes are vintage velvet heels, with sparkly rinestones embeded all in them. drop dead stunning.

She helped sew the sash herself too. Which was nice :-) 
Bascha and I have been on a seamed stocking hunt for a while- on the lookout not for chintzy adult hose, but for true vintage kind. We have yet to find some. So, for the ball we drew our hose on in the same fashion n which we draw them for WWII reenacting. And it worked out well.

Caroline has very long, thick hair. Not as thick as mine, but she has a lot more hair than I do! The french twist looked very elegant I think :).
That's my last dress post! Bascha will post hers soon (yay!!) So keep watching. I'm currently in the midst of making an in depth tutorial for a vintage inspired bathing suit too, so when I come back from Charleston in a few weeks you'll have something new to look at :-)

~Theresa

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

"Miss Priss" and the Redbud Dress

Ann Marie is such a fun person :). And her dress is fun to--formal, but fun enough to suit her personality. Her "Miss Priss" personality. :P 

Once upon a time there was a very sweet young lady. She was not into fripperies and frapperies (coffee? lace? lace coffee? lol), but rather lived life in it's more natural state. Finding beauty in a natural curl, a flushed pink cheek, or a simple T-shirt. One day, she met the overpowering and bossy girl named Theresa, who had a certain civil war hairstyle in mind. She was forced into submission, her hair wound upon dozens of foam rollers, her poor head bruised 'til the morning light. Is it possible that this one change in appearance altered her personality? Indeed! When she awoke she proudly announced herself, "Miss Priss" and went that day shaking her ringlets and prancing too and fro. She kept repeating "I feel like Miss Priss", and overall was more subdued. Theresa immediately regretted curling the hair, though it did look spectacular. 

Was it only hair that could make this change? Well no! Types of footwear could alter the personality as well! Shoes that were pink, purple, or "fancy" would turn the sweet young lady into "Miss Priss." And so would skirts. Skirts of a lighter shade, or skirts with any type of lining. When donned, the sweet young lady would announce herself to be "Miss Priss." And act a wee bit disdainful of the items she was wearing. 

As time rolled on, the homeschool ball coming nearer and nearer, the sweet young lady was in dire need of a dress. It was to be a "Miss Priss" dress of course, for how else does one make a ballgown? The sweet young lady scrolled through hundreds of photographs of similar dresses, before pointing out a few she thought would be ok. She wanted white (a pure reflection of innocence), with perchance a bit of pink thrown in. Sadly, the fabric shop was lacking in the pink tulle department, and purple was chosen instead.  To add to the dress, purple ribbon bows, each with a studded bead center, and a glitter ribbon sash. The hair was done off the neck (both the sweet young lady and Miss Priss HATE having hair on their necks) and a thin line of make-up was applied to the eyes in a period fashion. A pair of pumps finished off the look.  We were all expecting "Miss Priss" to wear the Redbud dress-but instead our own dear Ann Marie wore it! And laughed and danced and acted completely relaxed. Now "Miss Priss" is used as a describing word for those acting a bit stuck up-or for something all dolled up. This is indeed, a Miss Priss dress, but we're calling it the Redbud dress since Ann Marie wore it :D.
(Redbuds are a type of tree that makes purple flowers)

In my opinion I could have added another petticoat. Still swished delightfully though!

I love you Ann Marie! 


Quick stats: fabric was a super lightweight silky satin, with chiffon overlay on the bodice. No patterns used, I draped and drafted it on Caroline. Worn over 2 petticoats.
~Theresa

Ruth and Chrissy

Well, some of you may remember our post about the Civil War Picnic we had up in High Point several months ago. We had met this super talented and super fun girl named Ruth back then, and she and her sister Chrissy, came down to Charlotte to go to the ball with us!!! We were VERY excited 'bout that, and only regretted not getting to spend a lot of time with them. Hopefully next year their entire family can come and we can make a whole day of it, just hanging out and getting to know one another better. :) Ruth blogs over at Sewing Room Tales, and the pictures of Chrissy I stole from her blog, haha. :P Thanks Ruth!
Chrissy looking very cute! She was super bubbly and just full of happiness-a real pleasure to hang out with!
isn't her hair sweet?
and her make-up of course! I especially loved how they did the lipstick! bravo! :)
Ruth wore one of the cutest dresses I think I've ever seen! For one, it's a beautiful pinky colour, for two, it's tulle, for three it has a big bow on the front!!!, and for four it's on her, so duh, it's going to be cute :).  She is dating it to the late 1940's, or early 50's. Ruth did not use patterns, but rather drafted/draped it on herself. This girl has skills people!!

the bodice bow :)

she had such pretty make-up too. And the tulle clip in her hair tied everything in-ah-I loved your outfit Ruth!

I do think they enjoyed themselves, and we certainly enjoyed having them with us!! Thank you bunches girls for coming!!!!!!! (And isn't it fun to meet internet friends in real life? :D They can be awesome on the computer, but it's even better when you can interact in person :D)
~Theresa

Monday, April 14, 2014

The "Oregano" Dress

Well! I suppose I'm more of a procrastinator than I'd care to admit......:/ erm.  I was sewing so madly the last week before the ball I actually injured my foot. 

Yes. I sewed so much I came to have an inflamed nerve in the ball of my right foot. This caused my foot to swell, to the point of not even fitting in my pretty rose colored pumps I had diy-ed glitter to to undersides of. Grrr.  I was in a lot of pain as well, and I'd equate it to walking and feeling like one had a splinter in your foot.  Plus the tingly and awkward feeling caused from the swelling.  So Bascha was super sweet and lent me lace slippers (like the kind you can wear inside of a shoe...idk what they are called...???) which I'm afraid I wore out rather quickly :P, but they did look quite nice with my outfit. :) Even though my foot hurt, I just danced anyway (ouch), since I figured we had already invested so much, I couldn't just throw away the experience. I limped a good bit, and sat out a few dances, but I made it. And Ah, this story has an AMAZING ENDING. Which I will include at the bottom of this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So on to the dress :). I had bought a lovely Simplicity Pattern a while back, of which I had planned to make a WWII dress from, but hadn't really done anything with.  It was really cute, and by the time my ballgown was taking off, I thought it'd be a good chance to try out a new pattern. Yuck. Gathers, plus 6 inches of fba gathers did not look good. At all. It appeared I had pouches attached to the underside of my boobs. WEIRD. Ah, but Bascha saved the day (She and her mum came over for literally an entire day to help me sew my dress and petticoats!). She draped (go Bascha-first time draping!!) a darted bodice, which fitted in really cute with the sleeves and back, and we scrapped the waistband part. Yay! It looked really, really cute! She did an excellent job and I'm in love with the darts :). 

We did have a problem though....after she helped me put the whole dress together, I tried it on. Only to find out my poor bust was squished into a very strange shape due to the tightness of the bodice. And it was uncomfortable. I'm still not really sure what I did wrong....but I probably messed it up attaching the lining. Bascha did the nice parts, I did the in-siding out and such of the lining. (Oops. Thankfully I was able to fix it.

1947 dress pattern
I cut straight down the front of the bodice to right under the bust. Then I folded it over and stitched the edges to form neat little lapel things. I tacked those down in a few key locations, and that was done.  Then I cut out a triangle, similar to a stomacher, and gave it a sweet heart top.  This I placed under the lapel part of the bodice, and sewed down. To cover any uneven stitches and other nonsense (and just to add something pretty), I put some little "bubbled" trim (I'm not really sure the name for it, neither is Bascha) along those seam lines, forming a V. In between each "bubble" I put two crystal beads and two small strands of little gold glass beads.
I like this picture :). Bascha, you do take some nice photos!! :) I don't have a full body shot of just me alone though, so you readers will have to check out a group picture post to see my whole self.
The sash is sewed down at the back by the zipper, at the side seams, and for a few inches along the waistline on either side in the front. The ties extend nearly to the bottom of the skirt, even when tied in a bow :).

Mama did my hair, and I think it turned out really nice. I slept on the whole thing and wore it the next day, and was even able to wear the front part to church on Sunday. I kind of like the vintage vibe. For my nails I used fake nails (since my real nails broke like the day before) and "chiseled" them into a more pointed tip than 'tis the style now, and painted them red. I lost one during the ball trying to pull a petticoat down some, but Care was smart and had brought the glue with her in her purse. So I was saved much embarrassment. :P
And AH! I'm wearing a mink stole!! It's so gross. :/ 4 real, whole minks. With their poor little ankle bones and toe nails still. I almost didn't wear it, but it looked so good on the dress, and it was period, and my mom found it for $10 at the VV and yeah, so I wore it. Though I was a little disgusted. :O :P It did look pretty though!

The back. You can kind of see my fingernails in this photo too.
the skirt
bodice detailing
And before I forget to tell you, this is how the dress got it's name. :P I had shaved my legs all pretty the night before the ball. I soak my feet in a bath of Epson salts every night-it's supposed to help relieve stress and it's good for sprains and strains (aka my foot injury), and as you can imagine, freshly shaved legs and saltwater did not mix well. Painful. We have little bottles of different essential oils that we put in lotions, or on bruises and things sometimes, and since I like the smell of oregano, mama thought she would add some to my foot bath. We did not dilute it enough. Painful. VERY painful. My feet and hands literally turned red, like as if getting burned, and they stung and itched like mad. And since this dress is kind of an herb green, and this was the night my dress was finished I've thus called it the "Oregano Dress".  It's something I will remember for a long time :)
bodice front. And I'm wearing Bascha's necklace :). She lent that to me for the ball. I'm really not sure if there is a nicer person than Bascha :D Guys, she is awesome! 
And last but not least, my AMAZING STORY. So, by Sunday morning, my foot had only gotten worse. My toes had turned a blue-ish purple, the swelling was huge, and I was losing feeling in that foot. Also, if you pressed on the foot it was like a gel and would turn white in weird way- blah. It was just gross.  We had gone to fellowship at a friends home-church, and at the end of service my Dad told them about my foot and so they came over to pray for it. They have incredible faith, and prayed with much fervor, though never increasing their voices past normal volume, nor waving their arms about, or doing anything weird. Just praying out loud to Jesus in a peaceful manner. And as they prayed for my foot I'M NOT KIDDING the toes turned normal colour (this was in a matter of minutes), the swelling dissipated completely, and the pain disappeared. There was no trace of my foot ever been hurt at all and I was able to walk. If that was not a miracle I'm not even sure what you could call it, I literally watched God heal my foot before my very eyes. I've not had even the slightest trace of pain or discomfort come back since then either. It was completely healed! Praise the Lord! Also during that church service, my little brother was healed of poison ivy on his hands.  He gets it awfully bad, like has to get on steroids, eyes swell shut, legs blister and bust, it's disgusting and super painful. He had it all over his hands that Sunday, and his fingers were huge, red, and blistered. They prayed for his hands too, and we literally watched the poison ivy go away. Like his fingers got smaller, the redness went away, and the poison ivy vanished. VANISHED. I'm not kidding, I saw it happen. Thank you Jesus!!!

That's the Oregano dress, more ballgown posts coming! (Plus petticoat pictures).

~Theresa

Historical Homeschool Ball: Group Photos Part 1

Has it truly been 3 months since we last posted anything??!! I feel absolutely awful just thinking about such a large time lapse. :/ I haven't gotten around to check blogs, to post, sew, or even email much, so I apologize lovelies! Hopefully I shall be feeling more "motivated"soon, but for now, here's some posts :).

Once a year, some friends of ours throw a ball, historical themed, and for homeschoolers.  Bascha and I were able to attend last year, and this year we've gone again- with extra friends! Every ball, they try to pick a new time period, so there's always variety, and you can come from different eras. You don't have to come historically dressed, or even to the era chosen, but it is encouraged. :) The Homeschool Historical Ball this year was themed for the 1940's and 50's so we decked out accordingly.

Miss Rhonda and mama were able to take some photo's before hand, of us all together, but I did not get any photos of the actual ball. (I only took the pictures of us girls individually, 'cept of course Bascha took the ones of me). My friend Olivia did though, and she has kindly let me post a few of them here. Thanks Olivia! (Doesn't she take good pictures? :)) We will post some more once Bascha goes through her camera, as well as the individual posts of each dress. So hang in there!

what I want to know, is how on earth did ya'll keep your eyes open for this picture....you both look so cute and then I'm like squinting so tight you can hardly see my eyes! :P
us girlies :) L to R, Ann Marie, Caroline, Bascha, me, Ruth
the lighting was awful....I cringed the whole time looking at these haha. :D


Three Teen Seamstresses!
Our fellows!  Aren't they handsome? And I just love Christopher's laughing face :)
L to R: Christopher, Abe, Joel, Joshua, Stephen

Originally we planned on frilly knickers/bloomers for under our gowns, but then decided it would make a funny picture to wear neon/patterned leggings. So we did :D


                                      


                                     
The boys spinning :P
                               
My lovely grandma :D She had winged eyeliner too :)

                                                         

Abe suffered greatly from allergies (my house is like pollen central :/), but was a great sport and made it through all the pictures!
This is probably my favorite picture-there we all are, dressed and ready, and Bascha and I are just grinning at each other like "we did it!" :) 

Olivia, photo by Megan Snyder
The "X formation" dance. Photo by Olivia Carlisle
photo by Olivia Carlisle
photo by Olivia Carlisle
Bascha and Christopher (love this shot!!) photo by Olivia Carlisle.
photo by Olivia Carlisle
Olivia! :) She looked so cute! Only sad part was she had a sprained ankle...waah. But she still had fun :) photo by Olivia Carlisle.
~Theresa