Late 19th century necktie made from ordinary silk tie

So I happened to stumble over a bunch of really low-priced silk ties with patterns that would suit late 19th century. And because I have a male character up my sleeve that I'm playing every now and then (usually when I know there's gonna be a lack of gentlemen at a ball), I bought one of each pattern. As I said, they came at an irresistably excellent price...

Just the shape doesn't suit at all... So what's there to do but unpick them and give them a new shape! Usually you can make a necktie and a bowtie from one ordinary tie. Here's how to:

Unpick the hand-stitched back-seam all along. Cut away all loops and hindrances and take out the inlet. You'll end up with something like this, an outer shell with pieces of lining attached, and the thicker inner fabric:

You'll notice that the outer shell of a tie never comes in one piece but in two or three joined together. Unpick the seam closest to the slim end so you get a larger, broad and a shorter, slender piece.

The borad piece is going to become your necktie, the slim piece will be used for the bowtie.

Update to come, currently busy with baroque...

Attempts in victorian hatting

There is one fashion problem especially in Victorian liveroleplays: a lady would never leave the house without a hat. And with your outfits improving you will want more sophisticated headdresses, matching your dresses, instead of one decorated straw hat for all purposes. I have so far tried four different patterns.

Of course I started with the most difficult one: a top-hat. The shape was entirely modelled on a mould. The inner layer consists of stiff interface joined with paper glue as it remains flexible when dry and doesn't smell. It's not the best solution, though, as it takes long to bind with the fabric. The cover was made from brocade matching the dress, sewn and then glued and stitched over the basic shape. I prefer a combination of glueing and sewing to just hot-glueing everything. It allows for much finer work and looks better. I'm a nerd when it comes to details...

The second type of hat I tried was a nice little hat to sit over the forehead so you can wear your hair taken up at the back - which usually gives you trouble fitting a hat on top. This has become my favourite shape now, as it can be decorated and modified to fit the dress: wider brim, higher top, folded up like a tricorn, loaded with flowers, plain with ruffles, anything goes. When using the pattern, keep in mind to add about a centimetre seam allowance at the inner side of the brim and at the top of the crown when you cut your material for the basic shape, and to add seam allowance to all adges when cutting the outer fabric. For the outer fabric, crown and top are cut once from fabric matching the dress and once from thin, matching fabric for the lining. Glue the brim to the crown, close it at the back, then glue on the top and cut off excess material (it never fits perfectly). The brim is cut twice from dress fabric and joined at the outer seam. Top and crown piece are joined, both go over your basic hat and are glued in place, then joined along the crown where the hatband will cover the seam. The lining is glued in in some places and joined with the outer fabric. Add hatband, decoration and a few small loops for hairpins, or just use a hatpin to keep your dainty little headdress in place.

Here are the example pictures of my blue velvet hat.

Only the inlay is glued, the fabric is sewn, in many places by hand. I usually use buckram or cardboard. Do abstain from using hot-glue anywhere on your hat, even for the decoration - you will never be able to change anything or correct mistakes. These days, hot-glue is used for almost everything instead of using the proper methods. I used book glue (which remains flexible when dry) to join the fabric layer and the cardboard and shaped the brim by letting it dry pinned up.

 

The lining was finished by hand.

The three sides had their shape already by glueing the fabric in, but after attaching the hatband and the decoration, they were fixed to the crown with a few stitches.

 The plume easily gets its shape from an ordinary curling iron. First, get the quill in shape to sit nicely on the hat, then curl the ends.

This is the finished specimen: A tricorn, covered in blue velvet (same fabric as the dress), lined with blue art silk and decorated with a shaped plume and some golden flower-berry-thingy.

The third and fourth pattern are the easiest ones, they're almost flat and are basically just a platform for your decoration - ruffles, lace, flowers, bows, and plenty of them. Cut the shape from cardboard or any other stiff material and overlap the slit about a centimetre or two to get a 3D-shape. Cut your fabric a bit bigger than the basic shape plus seam allowance, join it with the lining (which should be smaller than the basic shape) but leave a slit big enough to slip in your hat. Glue in some places (through the slit) so your fabric follows the shape of the hat-base. You can also help with a few stitches in places that will afterwards be covered by the decoration. Close the slit and decorate. Also here, either use a hatpin or sew two or three small loops for hairpins.

Pattern to come...

1880s dress of blue velvet - day dress and evening bodice

The blue velvet skirt may look familiar - it's the one from my egyptian style dress. I still had so much of this blue velvet left that I decided to make another high-necked bodice and, playing pattern-teris once more, even squeezed in an evening bodice to go with the skirt. Always nice not having to change the entire outfit when a lady is busy plotting and solving mysteries!

Again the pattern of the day bodice follows the one I have already used several times - only this time I think I didn't add enough fabric for the button line, so the bodice fits very snugly, no chance of wearing it over a blouse as a jacket. Well, or maybe just a very thin blouse :D The buttons are, again, rather small and of a pale golden colour. The standing collar is only half the hight of the egyptian one's and closes with an additional hook and eye. It was the best solution for following the high-necked fashion of the 1880s and still show some lace underneath. And I'm still musing over additional decoration...

The pattern of the evening bodice is the one I had altered for the embroidered ballgown, the neckline this time being a little higher as there won't be any bertha and even for an evening gown it would have seemed too naked. That's also the reason why I added small sleeves roughly based on the pattern I used for the puffed sleeves of my white regency ballgown. The decoration will be black lace and beading once I find the time to go shopping.

The hat follows my new favourite pattern that I created in an hour of boredom because I couldn't find any decent pattern online.

1880s ballgown of embroidered silk

This is kind of a "Scarlet"-dress in three ways: firstly, the main fabric actually was a curtain that, secondly, is Irish because I bought it in a little second-hand store near Dublin, and is, thirdly, scarlet ;) Not that I'd particularly like that pigheaded priss, so it'll rather be my Ireland-gown.

I miraculously found matching fabric for underskirt, lining and decoration immediately - that's good because a week ago I was given the date of our upcoming victorian ball, which is not far into January. So I hastily put aside the umpteen-thousand marguerites for February baroque and whisked that dress through the sewing machine. This is what the internet offered as inspiration:

As an option I even found perfectly matching trim in my neverending store!

Dark blue 1630s dress

Actually it was the second one I ever made, right after the red one. Dunno why I never mentioned it here. It's already served its purpose very well several times.

Here I went from the original design (that I wasn't too content with) to the design that's closer to the actual look of 1630s dresses. I altered the pattern to this trusty one that closes with hooks and eyes below the bust and has the typical flaps round the high waist. Only here I hadn't discovered yet that actually the skirt should be attached to the bodice beneath said flaps, so the skirt is still separate which has the disadvantage that if the flaps happen to move in a gust of wind or so, one can see the white chemise beneath. Plus worn as a winter version (as the skirt doesn't drag too much) with long gloves and a high-necked blouse, this area around the waist still becomes the least insulated part.

The sleeves are a little longer and fuller this time, and I found really nice, broad lace that has the perfect look. Ignore the limp curls - it was raining when we arrived at the park for our picknick, and curls don't go well with rain :P

© Iam NOther

And here the winter version with longer undersleeves, gloves, and hat. You can't see much of the costume here but I'm so proud of this pic because at last there's one in which I look really good! :D

Baroque jewelry

Thankfully they used a lot of pearls back then, which are cheap and easy to come by if you content yourself with fake ones. And as I also tend to randomly buy all things that look baroque, I have a nice selection of jewelry parts that I can choose from when I design something. Here's an overview of pieces I put together either for my baroque jewelry-case or for sale in my webshop. Maybe you'll find something inspiring for your projects ;)

This is a design you often see in baroque pictures - those short necklaces made of large pearls with a medallion.

The white crystal set was made for the silver-grey renaissance dress (aka "winter dress"). I admit that I'm not 100% sure of this design's authenticity, but it certainly looked good ;) A similar set was made in blue with a medallion and matching earrings.

Cabochon jewelry

Pretty simple once you've gathered all the ingredients, like frame, glass, glue, and pictures. The glass covers come in flat and convex. If you're using convex covers, only choose landscapes, flowers or anything neutral as your motif. Portraits only go well (i.e. undistorted) with flat glass, and you don't want your fiancé at twice his breadth on your necklace ;)

The trickiest thing is to avoid bubbles of air when you glue the images to the glass. I find it easiest to put a generous dollop of glue on the flat side of the cabochon, press the picture onto the glue and wiggle it very gently until it has spread the glue all over the glass and lies down flat. Dry on a flat surface (some hours will be enough, I just leave mine overnight), cut away the excess paper and glue to the metal frame.

The simplest way of wearing them would be to attach them to a piece of satin ribbon or a slender metal chain, or you can attach them to any pearl or bead necklace, lace ruff (expecially for rococo), or whatever you fancy.
 

 For a rose quartz version I also added a matching pendant, the beads are rose quartz and crystal.

A very nice thing is a two-faced version. Take two pieces of the same foundation style and very diligently glue them back to back with some jewellery glue so they're absolutely apposite. For the front picture, proceed as above, with a rounded cabochon and a nice picture. For the reverse side that is to remain hidden when worn, use a flat cabochon so the pendant won't turn but remain nice and tidy with the flat side down and the convex side up and you can keep your secret lover's picture nicely hidden ;) If you're in a hurry and there are no flat cabochons at hand, it also works well with a piece of clear plastic cut into shape to cover the picture.