Historical Disney - Ariel

The blog has moved, and this post can now be found here:  https://peculiarseamstress.blog/2018/01/19/historical-disney-ariel/

A Peter Pan Costume

My Eldest just turned four. Before I had children I never really considered how important birthdays are to the parents, but now I couldn’t help but reflect on what have happened these four years, how sweet and adorable he was as a baby and toddler, and what a special little person he is today. I wonder what kind of man he will grow up to be, and hope I can guide and inspire him to always strive to be his best self.

Last week he had his first ever birthday party for others than family members, and a handful of children were invited. Having seen it on Peppa Pig (a huge favourite with both boys at the moment), he wanted a fancy dress party. He wished to dress as Peter Pan, and who am I to refuse a request on a costume?

I wanted to work from my stash, but had very little green fabric there. After considering for a bit I realised I had a green worn out knit top that had seen a lot of wear the past four years, as it provided easy access for breastfeeding babies.

I cut off the sleeves and turned them into trouser legs, with a gusset between them. In the end they reminded me a little of the Thorsbjerg trousers, but without feet. 

 

They are held up by an elastic at the waist.

For the tunic and cap I recycled an old cotton blend half circle skirt. The whole outfit was made with the measure-and-cut method, using one of Eldest’s t-shirts as a cutting guide for the tunic. As my sewing machine seem to have given up on life, I had to stitch the cap and tunic by hand, something I've been trying to stop doing, except with historical clothing. 

The cap is self-fabric lined for a bit of body. It has a “feather” made from some polyester-y fabric scraps, remains from when I made cushion covers a few years back. It’s stiffened with a piece of zip tie, and the edges of the two layers of fabric was then molten together over a candle. It makes a much more play friendly and endurable feather than a real one would have been, plus I already had the materials for it. The cap sits so well on the head that my boy can hold his head upside down without it falling off.

The tunic is cut on the bias, with pointed edges on both hem and sleeves. The collar is pretty standard, being made from two layers of fabric, and then top stitched. 

All the edges of the tunic were faced with narrow self-fabric bias tape, and all seam allowances folded in on themselves and neatly whip stitched.

When the costume was finished and it was time to try it on, Eldest said that he needed a belt, like Peter Pan has. I didn’t have one short enough for him, but a thin braided belt wrapped twice around his waist worked well. For the pictures he also wore his medieval shoes – they are already on the small side, he’ll need new ones next year. The costume on the other hand is a bit too large, so he can use it for a long time.

He was really happy with how the costume came out (though pretending to be angry in the above picture), and I couldn’t have been given greater praise than his happy and excited face when he tried it on.

Historical Disney - Snow White

For those who never read my blog before, my greatest hobby is researching and making historical clothing, and I’m also a sucker for Disney. The idea of designing (or sewing) historically accurate clothing for the Disney characters is something that has intrigued me for years and years. It's been done several times by very talented people, but I thought I’d give it a try too. I began with Snow White. I’m not sure why… maybe because I knew immediately how I wanted her to look.

 

I placed Snow White in (what is now) Germany, in the 1520-40’s, as it’s originally a German fairytale, it’s a place and period I like, fashion wise, and the slashed sleeves of the Disney version could hint at it. The laced bodice of this fashion also ties back with the story as it was written down by the Grimm brothers, where one of the Queens’ murder attempts was to lace Snow White’s bodice too tightly. I decided to only keep the colours of Disney’s Snow White, and for the rest do whatever I wanted to, or had to do, to make it more historically accurate. The colours is one of the most iconic things of the Disney characters, so hopefully that will make her somewhat recognisable, even after the brutal historical makeover. Both the clothing and the composition of the picture have been inspired by the art of Lucas Cranach the elder.

The picture can also be seen at DeviantArt.

Now a disclaimer: I’m not an artist, though I like to draw. I have no more training than I got in school, and what my dad taught me when I was a little girl. I only have the most basic artistic materials to work with: I’ve been using an ordinary pencil and some coloured ones. Thus, this is no artistic masterpiece and probably contains all manner of newbie mistakes. Also, I’m not an architectural historian, so that castle may be very wrong indeed. If so, constructive critique (preferably involving links to pictures) is welcome. I like to learn. The trees and mountains might also be wrong, so if you’re a botanist or geologist, don’t look too closely. All I know is fashion history and sewing, so focus on the clothes, please :) I chose to have the background in mutes, almost sepia, colours, to put focus on Snow White.

In my research I first had a hard time finding evidence of blue dresses in the chosen time and location. Red hues seem to have been the fashion, at least if you look at most of what Cranach painted. But there is this one (at the further end of the fountain, under the tree) that looks very much like the dress I ended up drawing: 

The Fountain of Youth, Cranach the Elder, 1546

And just now, as I was working on this blog post, I found this little gem - I know nothing about it, so please share if you do:

I'm now very pleased with the colours I chose for the dress, as you can imagine.
 

The headdress is more often than not shown in a golden/orangey colour, not red, but I wanted red, hinting at Snow Whites bow in the film. I suppose I could have used a hat for that - I might have done it differently if I did it again, but, well, done is done. Also, Cranach preferred reddish blond women in his paintings, but that would obviously not do for Snow White.

The lacing in front of these dresses could be in the form of either a spiral (looking like a zigzag when open) or a ladder - I like the former, so that's what I used. 

Three princesses of Saxony, Sibylla, Emilia and Sidonia, daughters of 

Duke Heinrich of Frommen - Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1535.

I based the sleeves off of this painting:

 Judith Victorious - Lucas Cranach the Elder ca. 1530

These kinds of dresses were often worn with several heavy gold chains, but as I wanted a more elegant look, I decided to only keep the choker. A similar arrangement is seen in this painting:

 

Judith with the Head of Holofernes, Cranach the Elder, 1526-30

Many of the Cranach paintings picture allegories, religious, or mythical subjects, so a small heads up for the influence that might have had on the clothes. On the other hand, the princesses and noblewomen he painted wore the same kinds of outfits.

I ended up drawing this picture twice, as I wasn’t happy with the coloured background of the first one. Though it was very annoying at the time I’m pleased now, as it looks better this way, and Snow White’s clothes came out much nicer. All in all I’m pleased – more Disney Princesses will be drawn, when I have the time and inspiration.

New Disney Costume - Bo Peep

The holidays are over, the tree and ornaments put away. Life is back to normal, except that the classes at university haven’t begun yet, so Tobias is still home during the days, which is nice. We spent a lovely week, first visiting my family for a few days (where I finished the Disney costume), and then his (where we went on a date and saw The Hobbit).

EdythMiller was the one who finally guessed what costume I was making; Bo Peep from Toy Story. Here are some pictures of it, of course worn by my sister E. 

 Just trying on the costume and experimenting with the hair.

She had a very limited budget, so I had to get creative. The pink bodice and the bonnet were made from an old tablecloth bought in a charity shop. The blue stomacher was taken from an old discarded skirt of mine. I had all lace and cord for lacing already, and the pantalettes were made from a sheet our Mum sacrificed. The materials for the skirt and overskirt I bought new, but the skirt is to be remade into a modern day one for her later, so not much money lost.

 The original.

The bodice is made in two layers, treated as one. The side and shoulder seams were sewn from the outside, so though it looks like I’ve put a row of decorative stitching there, it’s actually the real seam. Looks pretty, and is sturdier than modern stitching would have been. I would have liked to have done the back seam the same way, but since I didn’t know if the bodice would fit as it was or not, I didn’t. Turned out it fitted perfectly, but by the time I found that out, there wasn’t time to re-do it. Ah well. The bodice has darts front and back, piping all round the front and neck, puffed sleeves (that I improvised directly on the fabric – I’m very pleased with them), and two layers of tulle at the waist, as the over skirt. 

 Love the sleeves

Often when I use hooks and eyes, I end up using only the hooks, using sewn bars to hook them to, so I had quite a few left over eyes. (That’s a sentence you don’t write very often.) I stitched them to the inside of the bodice front, to pull the laces through. The front edge of the bodice is boned with zip ties up to where the lacing starts, and a pretty lace covers it. 

The stomacher is embroidered on double layers of fabric, and then attached to another two layers of fabric, with has a lots of zip tie boning between them. 

I traced the pattern to be embroidered on the back of the fabric. 

The embroidery itself is just running stitches which I've threaded the floss through - quick and simple.

I stitched the stomacher to the front of the skirt waistband, and added pieces of ribbon close to the top of the inside, to be tied to the bra straps to be kept in place. This arrangement made the bodice very flexible as to size, and made it possible for it to fit so well from the beginning. It was also quick to do, which was essential.

The skirt is a semi circle (I’d had preferred a full circle, but as money was an issue…), with large dots of tulle tacked on. They are easily removable when the skirt is to be made over to modern use. It’s pleated to a waistband that buttons at the side, and is trimmed with lace at the hem. I made a half circle petticoat which I attached to the same waistband. These are worn over a hooped petticoat that I made ages ago. It was a bit too long, so I put two tucks in it. Not perfect, but works well enough. The skirt is attached to the bodice in the back, from side seam to side seam. Unfortunately I don't have a construction picture of this...

I made a pattern for the bonnet brim out of paper, and tweaked it until I was satisfied with the shape. The brim is stiffened by rigeline along the front, and by cardboard pieces stitched in place. The crown is a pleated circle, with tulle giving it a bit of hold. A comb is sewn to the inside seam between brim and crown, to attach to the hair, as no visible ties are seen in the movie. 

 First time trying on the bonnet - this is not how she wore her hair to the dance.

The flounced pantalettes were made by our Mum, as I was running out of time. They turned out just as they should – thanks Mum!

I wanted E to have a staff as well, but besides not having the time, or much of an idea how to make one, a full size staff would be rather impractical on a dance. I asked our Dad if he had any ideas as to what we could use for a little one. He went down into the cellar, and when he came up again he’d made this out of an old coat hanger – thanks Dad! E painted it, and it’s adorable. The tiny staff also ads a bit of humour to an otherwise sugary sweet outfit. 

I’m afraid this is the only picture I’ve managed to get hold of from the dance. E made her hair and makeup herself – isn’t the fringe and curls just perfect? I think she looks adorable, just like a doll. 

Lovely, isn't she?

She won the prize for best costume, which thrilled both her and me. It's the first time one of my costumes have won anything. Apparently you need personality, not just a good costume – I’ve had several really nice costumes, but never won a thing (until I improvised a ghost costume the day before a Halloween party, and sat there looking as gaunt, tired and absent minded as I really was – probably the reason for me winning that time….); but then I’m rather quiet and retiring, whereas my sister is more sprightly and outgoing. A couple of people had asked her “if Sarah made your dress”, and I’m very curious as to who it was. People I know, obviously, but who??

And so this fun project is at an end. It was a very agreeable one, but I’m glad I don’t have another project with such a strict deadline after it.

Mystery Project - Progress

So I’ve been working as much as I’ve been able on my sisters Disney outfit, and now perhaps you may guess who she’s going to be? I had a couple of good, but not correct guesses (Belle and Ariel), after introducing this project. A clue: it's not one of the Disney Princesses.

 

I haven’t made as much progress as I’d have wished though, as little B has been a bit fussy and demanding lately. Maybe he’s teething again… I’ve been worrying about how in the world I could get the dress to fit well without trying it even once on my sister, but now things are working out for the best. Me, Tobias and B are going away for a week, first visiting my family for a few days, and then his. A huge bonus to the pleasure of spending time with our families is that I will be able to have my sister try on the dress, and I can make some last minute changes if necessary. B will also have happy grandparents, two aunts and an uncle who’ll be more than happy to keep him occupied so I can sew.

The sister missionaries dropped by earlier for a few minutes, and were met by this sight: a mess of toys and other things, and a hooped skirt and a petticoat hanging from the ceiling. They asked if I had a new project, and were exited when I told them what it was. Girls, and many women of all ages often are when it comes to Disney outfits, me being one of them.

  

I have ended up doing some of the sewing by hand when B was asleep, and as so often happens when I do that, I ended up using historic sewing techniques. It's just the most practical and time saving way of doing hand sewing. Do any of you also do that, even when doing non historic sewing?

Mystery Project

For a couple of weeks we’ve had snow here (it’s snowing again tonight), and though I know the snow has caused a lot of trouble in the traffic, I’m so pleased. I love the look of snow, and how it adds a little brightness to the dark afternoons and evenings of our northern winters. By four in the afternoon it’s pitch dark here, and where my sister and her family lives, much further north, it hardly gets light at all at this time of year. Hopefully the snow will stay over Christmas. The snow does hinder one to get around with the pram though, so we’ve been home a bit more than usual lately. 

My baby just had his first birthday. How fast this year has passed! It feels like we’ve had him in our family forever. His first teeth finally poked through (so far I’ve not been bitten when nursing…), and he learned to walk for real a week before his birthday. He doesn’t really speak yet, but wants to know what everything is called. I think he’s building up quite a vocabulary for when he will.

I’ve not been idle since last I posted, but I don’t really have anything fun to show for it yet.

I began working on a dress from old curtains in November, but was then interrupted by another, more intriguing, project. My 15 year old sister is going to a Church youth conference after New Years, and one of the dances is themed “Disney”. She asked me for help, and as I was pining away from the lack of fun costumes to make, it really came as a blessing.

I won’t tell what costume I’m making just yet, but will give you a sneak peak. 

 Feel free to guess though ;)

Jane Porter

The blog has moved and this post can now be found HERE.

Belle's Blue Dress in Detail

The blog has moved and this post can now be found HERE.

Belle's Blue Dress

The blog has moved and this post can now be found here:

https://peculiarseamstress.blog/2009/08/28/belles-blue-dress/