| wow, that was quick |
[17 Dec 2007|07:57am] |
Sorry for the Atonement overdose. I can't stop thinking of the dress.
Faviana has come up with a prom dress copy of the Atonent green dress. It'll be available in January 2008.
Yeah, well, nice and shiny. Now go see exhibit photos of the real thing at Costumer's Guide.
|
|
| atonement dress video |
[15 Dec 2007|11:58pm] |
Atonement received seven Golden Globe nominations including Best Drama and Best Actress in Drama.
Msn.com has a short video of the Atonement green dress. They mention, too, how fragile the dress is.
|
|
| green dress from Atonement |
[13 Dec 2007|12:51pm] |
Just google 'atonement green dress' and you'll know what is the movie gown of the year. I loved the film and I'm currently reading the book.
One article I found even said that in time, the dress from Atonement may become as classic as the black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's. Well, that is a lot said. I personally see a connection to the jump dress mania at the time when Titanic was released (ten years later, I'm still struggling with my version). I'm sure commercial patterns and prom dress copies of the green gown will emerge in no time.
I'd certainly like to make this one, but I have my other projects to finish. That didn't prevent me from putting together a research page. It's not complete as there are many secrets to this dress. I'm especially puzzled with the drapery at the back. Costumer's Guide informed that the dress is currently exhibited in ArcLight Cinema in Sherman Oaks, CA. I would love to see photos!
|
|
| disappearance and comeback |
[02 Dec 2007|12:34pm] |
Duh, it's been over a year now. I've been away from LJ and partly away from sewing as well. Life is just too busy nowadays. Anyway, I've been reading my friends page and visiting, of course, the excellent Costumer's Guide, so I'm not totally out of all that is going on in the costuming scene;)
In the past couple of years, my interest has been floating away from historical costuming towards more modern eras, the 1950-60's couture in particular. That is mostly because I like to wear the things I make but as I don't attend any conventions or belong to any re-enactment group, I don't have the motivation to make an elaborate 18th century gown.
That said, I'm contemplating making some historical (by which I mean pre-1930 clothing) costumes in the future.
Right now I've set myself the task to finish the UFOs I have at hand before getting into any new ones. Hereby I present the list of unfinished projects:
[yes, I know I should post pictures, too]
1. Little Black Dress from Sabrina
This is actually a remake of a dress I've already worn once. In the early 2005 I had just read Claire Shaeffer's excellent book Couture Construction Techniques and eagerly wanted to try my skills at creating a haute couture dress. The outcome was, well not so haute but I had to start somewhere, right? I've wanted to fix some parts of the dress ever since and last spring I finally took it apart. Now I'm putting it back together though there won't be much of the original construction left when I'm finished.
2. Marchesa Ivory Silk Gazar Top
A knock-off of Marchesa's lovely tiered top from S/S 2007 collection. In fact this is a remake too. There were (again) just too many things I needed to fix in the version 1.0.
3. Patou Red Wool Jacket
A jacket after a Vogue Paris Original pattern. I wanted to try my hand at tailoring. The jacket needs to have its sleeves put on.
4. Fabiani Yellow Wool Jersey Dress
Made using vintage Vogue Couturier Pattern. I'm grinding my teeth to actually finish this thing since I made a bad choice of fabric. The wool jersey I ordered was all too flimsy for the design.
5. Titanic Jump Dress
Yes! My biggest and the most unfinished project ever! This one is waiting for the perfect fabric for the overskirt/train, some beading, to be put all together and an event to actually wear it.
To finish these I've decided to sew at least few hours once a week. That's not much but it's more than I have done the past six months.
Also, I will try to update this journal at least once a week, if not more than a few rows of the progress/non-progress I've made.
I will update my interests list to reflect my current projects. I won't feel hurt if you want to remove me from your friends list. That said, I'm planning to make this journal or parts of it friends only in the future.
(If you look back my entries you may notice there are some projects that might be included in the list above; the Breakfast at Tiffany's coat and Sabrina Ball gown to name a few. The B@T coat is going to be started all over again with new fabric and Sabrina Gown might evolve into something less complicated. I just don't see myself doing all that embroidery.)
|
|
| the rest of the UK photos |
[07 Nov 2006|07:38pm] |
I've finally uploaded the rest of the costume photos from my UK trip (scroll down for the new stuff). The new photos are from the Museum of London and the Bath Museum of Costume. Here are some better quality highlights:
  
 
|
|
| muslin for B@T coat |
[08 Oct 2006|04:42pm] |
Here's the muslin for the Tiffany's coat.
   
The last image shows what's going on under the arm. That was the hardest part to figure out. Some photos suggest that there may be a waistline seam in the back piece but in my version the back is all one piece. I've also updated the research page with an image of the pattern shapes (not to scale).
* * *
The fabric I'm going to use is cashmere wool blend from Trim Fabric. It is actually reversible red/gray which I probably paid extra for but I'm happy with it anyway. It is not orange or nubby as the original fabric but it is thick, surprisingly lightweight, feels luxurious and has at least some texture.
I've never sewn with cashmere before and I don't want to ruin the fabric so I went looking for advice at the forums at patternreview.com.
( sewing with cashmere )
|
|
| Natalie Portman Poses in Givenchy |
[07 Oct 2006|09:36am] |
Ok, that's it. The long black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's just moved up on my to-do list.
Natalie Portman will be modeling the Givenchy creation in the November issue of Harper's Bazaar. The dress, one of three versions made for the 1961 movie, will be sold December 5 at Christie's auction house in London. Proceeds from the sale benefit City of Joy, a charity for underprivileged people in India, a cause close to Hepburn's heart.
I'm glad they finally found someone who actually fits in the dress. It hurt my eyes to see the press photos where one of Christie's employers modeled the gown - it looked like the seams were about to explode any minute. Though the original must be really tiny - even Natalie said she was nervous she wouldn't fit in it.
|
|
| gorgeous movie outerwear |
[05 Oct 2006|12:28pm] |
 Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Givenchy coat you've heard me go on about as long as this journal has existed.
Trivia: Ohrbach's, a low-priced clothing chain did a knock-off of this coat among their many copies of European haute couture.
|
 Gwyneth Paltrow in View from the Top
Coat in yellow wool gabardine. It's obviously a high quality designer coat - but by whom?
Trivia: In the movie, the coat is first seen in the pages of a fashion magazine. The text beside the image reads: "Put on this Designer raincoat and you'll immediately recognize the quality and close attention paid to detail. The exterior is crafted in a sleek micro twill and features a pointed collar, button tabs at the cuffs, button placket and a tied belt."
|
 Anne Hathaway in Devil Wears Prada
Green vintage coat with leopard cuffs and collar. This is the first time I've seen leopard print used in an attractive way. The cut is great, too, I love the way the darts shape the bust. One of a kind so you can't find this in stores even if you could afford it.
Trivia: Anne Hathaway loved the coat so much her boyfriend bought it for her as a gift.
|
* * *
A note on my sewing: I've finished a muslin for the Tiffany's coat. Pictures coming up.
|
|
| web page updates |
[05 Sep 2006|08:53pm] |
I've uploaded an updated version of the Titanic Jump dress research page - though it's still not finished. Sorry it took so long! I've also made some progress with the gown itself: I sewed the beaded bodice parts together. All the seams are backed with black plain weave tape to prevent stretching. Now I'm contemplating whether I should interface all the bodice edges with the tape or if it will show under the beading.
I've also added a research page for the Breakfast at Tiffany's coat. I'm planning to start making a muslin for it soon, I have the pattern pieces pretty much drafted already. For the outer shell I ordered some red cashmere wool blend which arrived today. I'm planning to underline it with cotton batiste and use red silk charmeuse for lining - but more of all that later.
|
|
| the ultimate 18th century costume movie fabric |
[26 Aug 2006|07:27am] |
Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont are two of my favourite costume films. They're both based on the same novel and released in 1989, though Dangerous Liaisons got most of the media attention at that time. A while ago I noted that they used the same fabric for Cecile de Volanges' dresses in both films. The first two caps are from Valmont, the next two from Dangerous Liaisons.
 
 
Now the same silk has surfaced again - in the upcoming Marie Antoinette film!
So, unless they used an old costume (possibly remodeled the dress from Dangerous), the strawberry fabric would still be available somewhere! Then, I found this:
http://www.durantextiles.com/bildspel/pages/58.htm
It's the same silk again, this time featured on the website of Duran Textiles, a Swedish company that manufactures 18th century reproduction fabrics. I emailed the lady at Duran and asked about it. She was kind enough to tell me that the silk is made by Rubelli in Venice and the design is called "Fragole". The stays and the dress in the picture were made to order for the Rubelli showroom in Milan.
I couldn't find the fabric on the Rubelli website but instead, I found this in the news section:
http://www.rubelli.com/INTERnet/sito_v4/pagina.php?cod=news_2005_longhi
http://www.rubelli.com/INTERnet/documenti/immagini_maxi/news_2005_longhi_1.jpg
The closeup reveals that the fabric is embroidered, not printed as I initially thought. Edit: as ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) heileen pointed out, it's probably brocade, not embroidered.
Several retailers for Rubelli collections are listed on the website, though a quick search didn't give any online sources. Well, there was one Russian site that gave the fabric width = 135 cm and price: 362. I couldn't figure out if "362" was euros, dollars or what. It certainly can't be Rubles (362 RUB = 13,5 USD)! Rubelli fabrics are available here in Helsinki at some shops that supply interior textiles, maybe I'll go and see if they have a sample of the strawberry silk.
I just love this kind of fabric detective work!
|
|
| back again |
[15 Aug 2006|10:29am] |
I've been away from livejournal but not away from sewing. In fact, I've been sewing for most of the summer. I made two dresses for myself to wear for the summer weddings and started working on a red wool dress and jacket for winter. In addition, I've been obsessing over the previously mentioned Givenchy coat Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I want it so much! I also feel I should make the iconic black evening dress from the same movie just in case I get the chance to wear is somewhere. Some new reference photos of the dress surfaced this summer as the dress was exhibited in Museo del Traje in Madrid and will be auctioned in Christie's in London on 5 December. Anyone have $100.000 to spare?
That said, I haven't made any progress on the jump dress. I have all the materials I need to finish the dress so I guess I'd better start working if I ever hope to finish it. BTW, I ordered silk tulle (that was probably used for the original jump dress overskirt) for another project a couple of weeks ago and even though it drapes beautifully and *is* silk, I feel that the soft nylon tulle that I used is a really good substitute - and for a fraction of the price. So I'm going to stop whining on that and move on.
Next I need to finish the inside corselette that will support the weight of the beaded overskirts so I can finally sew together the dress. Then I need to put together the vest, dye the point d'esprit for the train and start beading it. That will be the last beaded part of the costume. Whew!
Though I haven't been updating I've been reading my friends page. So many beautiful costumes are in the making! I'm especially following padawansguide's jump dress progress - she's done amazing job so far and is planning to finish her costume by Dragon*Con!
|
|
| bodice beading finished |
[06 Apr 2006|02:03pm] |
Yay, I surprised myself and finished the beading. The panels are pinned on dressform, nothing is sewn together yet.
   
I noticed there are slight colour differences between the red beads. The ones on the bodice panels are darker than the ones on the shoulder panels. I'm not worried about this, though. The beads' silver lining always darkens when exposed to air and moisture. The ones on the shoulder panels are basically just out of the plastic bag while the bodice was finished several months ago. I'm sure all the beads will end up the same colour. I thought this would be useful to know if you're matching your beads with a certain colour.
|
|
| more beads and some embroidery |
[04 Apr 2006|06:42pm] |
The jump dress bodice beading is close to completion. I'm hoping to finish it this week.
 
After the bodice is put together, I'll start working on the underdress redo (new silk dress + lace blouse). I've been thinking a lot about the construction of the underdress. The beaded hem medallions and the fringe weight over 1 kg so the dress needs something else to support them than just the lace top and the waistband (which isn't actually a waistband but a grosgrain stay at the raised waistline, so it doesn't provide any support). The lace bodice is backed with nude coloured cotton tulle that now takes most of the strain but I'm not comfortable with just the tulle. I'm probably going to add a boned waistline stay that extends to the empire waistline so that the red silk and the beaded tulle tiers hang from it. I wonder how they solved this problem with the original in the film. Kate did wear a corset but that wouldn't help in this case would it?
Beading takes most of my costuming time but I've managed to make some progress on the Sabrina ball gown, too. I've finished the embroidery prototype (1st pic) and started embroidering the skirt piece (2nd pic). The third photo shows the humble beginnings of the gown pinned onto dress form. It's really useful to have this kind of project at hand because unlike the beading I can take it with me when I'm leaving the house.
  
|
|
| beading update |
[22 Mar 2006|05:55pm] |
There are many new people on my "friend of" list, partially because padawansguide is starting her jump dress project and I've gotten lots of traffic through her site and livejournal. Now that I know someone's watching I feel complelled to update - in a good way, of course. So, I've just finished sewing the small black beads to the shoulder panels.
 
I also realised that I haven't posted any proper pictures of the beaded hemline. These two photos taken when the underdress was basted toghether give a slightly better view of the circles and the trim.
 
And finally, if you're interested in reading about the unused Titanic swim dress, I've put together a small study page.
|
|
| jump dress in obsessive detail |
[20 Mar 2006|12:57pm] |
I've uploaded the first version of my Titanic Jump dress research. It's far from completed yet, and mostly stuff that really isn't about the construction but ramblings about the different versions of the dress etc. Maybe some of you other jump dress enthusiasts out there will find this information interesting!
I'd like to state here that I have never seen the dress in person nor do I have any inside information. I did email the collectors that own one of the jump dresses, and though they were nice enough to answer my email, the dress was safely packed away and they were unable to provide any extra information. So my research is based on photos, watching the DVD, other people's observations and researching garments from this era.
|
|
| beading the shoulder panels |
[11 Mar 2006|02:17pm] |
It's been really busy the past month, and I haven't been able to sew at all. Now things are slowing down and I've managed to make some beading progress. Here's the proof:
It's a picture of the shoulder panels in the beading frame. Click the thumbnail for full-size image with some text trying to explain how the panels attach to the rest of the bodice.
My research of this dress is still going on. After getting the Titanic 4-disc special edition DVD, I've figured out many new things of all the costumes, like that the dinner dress has three georgette frills inside the hem or that the tea/lunch dress shoulder panels are lined with green chiffon, not the same satin as the rest of the gown. If you're into Titanic costuming, I really recommend getting the new release. Not only does it have some interesting extras (including a cut scene where Rose gives some heavy treatment to the jump dress) but the picture has much better resolution than the original DVD release.
I've also looked at the old reference photos with new eyes. Like, I finally figured out what the black dots in the front of the lace bodice might be in the famous "a guy holding the remains of a jump dress at the Fox studios costume vault" picture. Why, they must be some kind of buttons to attach the beaded bodice to the dress, most likely press studs. I had figured out earlier that the beading is really heavy and that there must be something to hold it up but this never came into my mind. Sorry if I'm a bit slow! ;)
That was the good news. Now the bad. I'm thinking of redoing parts of the costume. I've realised I don't like the lace I used for the underbodice at all - and it looks nothing like the original. I'm probably getting silk lace this time, partly to correct my error with the overskirts (see below). And the red silk underdress needs to be remade and maybe underlined this time. I'm also wishing I had used silk tulle for the overskirts but I'm not really that mad I would do the medallions again. (You know the sewing rules you hear everywhere like: "always get the best fabric you can afford, preferably natural fiber" or "never skimp on basting". Well, I can tell you they're true.)
I will finish this costume eventually, I promise!
|
|
| Sabrina on the red carpet! |
[06 Mar 2006|02:08am] |
I'm watching the Oscars - mostly just for the gowns. You can quess my reaction when I saw what the best original screenplay nominee Grant Heslov's wife/date(?) was wearing: a recreation of Hepburn's 'Sabrina' gown (see my previous post)!
I'm so excited!
|
|
| Sabrina ball gown and embroidery madness |
[12 Feb 2006|03:12pm] |
I mentioned yesterday I've taken up yet another project. Confession time: I've loved this dress for ages. Recently I've become obsessed. Really, we're talking about 6-7 metres of hand embroidered fabric here. Believe me, I've gone through all the options in my mind. I can't find a fabric that is anywhere near the original. I've thought of printing or painting the design but that would give it a costumey look and I want this to be a real dress. The logical solution would seem to be having it machine-embroidered - I don't have access to an embroidery machine so I would have to hire a professional. I don't know if the embroidery can be made onto silk organza (at least the thread can't be silk) and I'm also afraid the result will be stiff and coarse - nothing like the floaty softness of the original.
So I've decided to give it a try. Not the whole costume though, just the dress. That much embroidery I should manage. And maybe after that, just maybe, I can start embroidering the train and have it finished in, like, 5 years.
I've posted my research here, including the patterns for the embroideries. I ordered some white silk organza and black silk floss (I'm using Zwicky Filo Floss no. 2001) to try out the design. Here's a progess photo - there are some things I'm going to change in the final product. The stems need to be thicker, for example. I used backstitches now but stem stitch will be a better option. Other stitches used are satin stitches and blanket stitches in the leaves. In the second picture the design is drawn onto pattern paper and compared with the original.
 
Like I said, I'm going to use silk organza for the dress. The original is, however, said to be made of silk organdy (or organdie). I've had difficulties figuring out what's the difference. Some sources say organza is silk and organdy is cotton. What is silk organdy, then? It is also said that organza is not as stiff as organdy. This source claims that organza is "sheer silk organdy". Anyway, the dilemma is resolved by the fact that I haven't found a source for silk organdy anywhere. I'd be happy if anyone can clear this out for me, though.
|
|
| Titanic jump dress bodice progress and buttons |
[11 Feb 2006|12:34pm] |
I've finished beading the right side panel of the jump dress bodice!
   
What is left: the shoulder panels and the train. Should keep me busy for a while. I must confess I haven't been beading as much as I should have since I've been occupied by another project - more of that later.
I've been thinking about the buttons of this dress. There are 8 of them: two at the front, 4 at the shoulders and 2 at the front corners of the overskirt. They are black (glass?) buttons decorated with clear rhinestones and I've been unable to find an exact match anywhere. Here's a rough closeup:
I had intended to make them myself by gluing some rhinestones on a plastic button. Now I feel that plastic may look out of place among all the glass beads. I'm probably going to purchase real glass buttons for the dress, even if they're not exact. Cartwright's Sequins offers also vintage glass buttons some of which might work. And I really like these from MJTrims.
|
|
| Home again |
[01 Feb 2006|02:55pm] |
|
I've uploaded the first set of pictures from my UK trip. Still coming up are photos from Museum of London and the Museum of Costume in Bath.
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
