Make Fashion MakeCocktails

I love wearable tech fashion and I'm involved with an exciting group out of Calgary, Canada - MakeFashion.  They are having a cocktail fundraiser for the

project this Saturday!  If you are in the Calgary area come out and support new designers and interesting ideas.

Make Fashion Event

You can also check out the amazing fashions made by MakeFashion designers over the past couple of years!

early-mid 1900s bodice

I don't collect extant clothing because I don't have space to store items properly and my apartment is extremely damp because of all the Pacific fog.  

But sometimes I run across something that is just so inexpensive or damaged that I acquire it just to see how it is constructed.

I found this black beaded bodice in a vintage store in Santa Cruz.  The silk lining is shattered but the main bodice fabric, which seems to also be some sort of silk, although with a much more crepe-y texture is mostly intact.  From the shape, I'm estimating it is possibly from around 1900-1905/1906, before the more streamlined shape later in the decade.

The bodice was absolutely dripping in beaded appliques. 

I'm not sure that the appliques are original to the bodice. I think they are definitely vintage since they are all glass beads, but once I removed them there were some very nice dress details that had been covered.  For instance all the pintucks in the front of the bodice, and the nice contrast of the pink lining showing through the lace inserts. 

 I believe the sequined net at the top of the bodice is original to the dress since it is faced with a thin strip of silk that matches the pink lining.

Birthday Bustle Dress

GBACG's fabulous New York Society Tea is on my birthday! This seems like a fabulous opportunity to make anew bustle dress. Fortunately, there is one I've always wanted to make.

Mina's red bustle dress
from Coppola's Dracula. The costumes for the movie were designed by Eiko Ishioka, and are gorgeous. 

My to-do list is pretty intense considering I have 1.5 months:

1. New corset with bust and hip gussets, to hopefully give me more of a later bustle shape.

2. New petticoat bustle, to support the skirts better than my lobster tail bustle.

3. Hundreds of kanzashi flower petals.

4. The actual dress.

Guess I'd better get to work!