Grand Opening of Warner Carrillo Rancho Museum

June 1, 2013

Members of our costume guild attended the SOHO (Save Our Heritage Organization) grand opening of the Warner Carrillo Rancho museum in Warner Springs, CA on this day. 

              http://sohosandiego.org/warners/index.htm

Through our contacts in Old Town San Diego, we were invited to attend the opening fund raiser there. We had a costume range of 1857-1920 so we had some room to move. Because of the predicted temperatures of high 90s many of us chose to wear something in cotton. Good decision. We heard various temperature ranges of 97-103d while we were there.

The adobe house was built in 1857 and was a huge cattle ranch and stagecoach stopover. You can see it on the right in my photo with the red roof. The old barn is on the left behind the people there. This barn survived the Great Easter Earthquake of 2010 (a 7.0) where it really knocked our socks off. The support structure built under it kept it from falling down even though the earthquake caused it to shift off its foundation.  This article by the Ramona Centennial gives a very succinct story of the rancho.  http://www.ramonasentinel.com/2013/05/31/grand-opening-for-historic-warner-carrillo-ranch-house-museum-slated-for-saturday/

The area is high desert and as you can see, very dusty. The day we were there, the wind was blowing like a son of a gun along with all the dirt. I think the wind was the only thing that kept us all from dying from the heat. Except me, I felt faint quite a few times. But I don’t handle heat very well.

About nine of us showed up, and on arrival we moved some tables out of the direct sun under a tree and had our picnic. Then the wind started picking up. Quite a few times we had to lower our parasols and fans to protect ourselves from the dust. Alana Coons from SOHO came over to talk to us and commented that her lovely tan wasn’t really a tan but she was actually covered in dust.  I wore my 1873 gown of white w/ black polka dots, and changed out the red ribbons to all black. I really like this color better than the red. The red cherries on my hat added a spot of color to it.

The Grand Opening Ceremonies began with soldiers marching and a band playing. Then we stood out in the sun and listened to all the speeches.  At this point I started feeling the heat and had to go sit in the shade on the porch of the adobe house. But we were pleased that our costumed group was acknowledged in one of the welcoming speeches.

These were the ladies attending it with me, and if you notice the young lady in blue on the far right discovered us and has decided to join our guild and be part of the fun.

You’ll notice *I’m not in that photo*. That’s because I’d just discovered the tintype photographer was set up at the other end and I was going to get my photo taken at the carriage there.  Nick is the same photographer from Old Town San Diego that had taken the lovely one of me in my Bloomers during Twainfest last year. So I was excited at the possibility of another one. And these were a larger one with a donation going to SOHO.

It took two times for a decent one to come out because of the wind blowing my dress around. I felt like Mary Poppins about to take off with my parasol. Nick had to deal with the liquids drying out too. Sadly one of his large cameras on a tripod was blown over and damaged.  Nick has also decided he wants to join our guild to further his hobby of old timey photography.

If you notice, my dress looks white. It actually has black polka dots on it that you can’t see. So that’s fun to know when looking at old black and white tintypes. Here it is in color.

My friends Gina and Trudy also had theirs taken, and I took one of them with our cameras too. Now you can see the color of the carriage. 

I didn’t spend too much time walking inside the museum as it got crowded but this little beauty caught my eye in one of the rooms. I’m seeing more and more of these very old sewing machines and they’re so darn cute.

After about three hours, some of us headed over to the Julian Mining Company in Wynola to see what was happening with the Julian Gold Rush Days there. Not too much but we visited with some of our friends, and even the animals had their photo taken with us.

I ran into my friends Shelley Peters, who was packing up, and Paige, who was part of the Civil War encampment there.  

Then we headed into Julian and met up with the other ladies at Mom’s Apple Pies for some nice homemade pie and ice cream on top. After all the heat, it was a welcome treat.

We walked around town, did a little shopping, and many people stopped us asking why we were dressed like we were. And of course they had to take our photos.

We ended up in a shady yard at the Julian Grill to finally cool off. I think this was the prettiest spot to sit in.

 

These are my favorite pictures of the day with Cindy. And Randy finally got some shade.

Later that evening when I got home I put my dress into the bathtub with cold water and soap and let it soak overnight. The water was pretty dingy when I took it out to rinse it. I let most of the water drain out of the dress in the tub, then rolled it up in towels to get the excess water out, and hung it on a rod to dry for a day.  And I had a layer of dirt on me also. My shoelaces were so dirty in my boots that I pulled them out and tossed them in the wash. My white socks are no longer white. But we got a real authentic feel of what life was like in the old stagecoach days, I’ll give you that.

*My appreciation goes to Cindy P.,Gina L., and Trudy F. for the use of some of these photos.*

Have You Heard of CADD? I have it.

5-26-13

If you’re a costumer, you probably are very familiar with CADD or are already a member of the club.

C.A.D.D. is Costume Attention Deficit Disorder.  The main requirement is you are easily distracted by pretty-shiny-lacy-costumes-fabrics-patterns. A side effect is probably whiplash.

If you're a regular follower of my blog you probably already know my costume interests vary widely and not always at the same time. I lean towards the 1880s bustle period but bounce back to the 1830s or early 1900s at the drop of a hat; or as a squirrel runs by. Sometimes all at the same time too. I am a card carrying member of CADD.

A few weeks ago while having a burst of creativity I cut out three skirts and blouses from the 1890 and 1905 period. Yes, at the same time.  Remember my “Assembly Line” method?  The skirts are basically all sewn the same way. They’re very wide and I cut all my patterns out on a cutting board on our bed.  I used Truly Victorian’s patterns for both, and their 1903 Plain blouse waist.  The 1890s is for my Seaside outfit I’ll be wearing to Costume College.  I’m thinking along these lines. 

I bought this blue & white striped cotton fabric years ago at Michael Levine’s in the LA Garment District. It was in the shirting section and had a nice weight to it, not a shirt weight at all.

At the same time I cut out three 1903 blouse waists from white figured cotton voile, white dotted Swiss cotton, and a purple floral silk voile, (which is for another outfit for CoCo).

I’m hoping one of the whites might work under my bodice for the 1890s since it’s mostly covered up. I didn’t want it plain so I dug out some crocheted lace from my stash to put on the neckline. I marked the fabric by ironing creases down the center and across to have lines to lay the lace on. I don’t know how to miter, so I used my cheater method of laying the vertical pieces down first, then the horizontal piece across them, turning the exposed edges under. Then I topstitched with a midsize stitch length across all sides. 

 

I repeated the lace around the neckline and sleeve cuffs, although I forgot I wanted to make this as three-quarter length sleeves but I can do that on another one I have cut out. J  I put a little bow on each corner of the lace square, and plan to use some vintage shell buttons I have from my Aunt Doris’ sewing box on it.

 

I guess I’d better check if I have a petticoat that will work under the 1890s skirt.

So that’s it. You got a sneak peek at one of the outfits I’m working on. 

A Shortie Chemise

May 12, 2013

One of my favorite tools when making my costumes is to get inspiration from either extant clothing or ones other people have made. 

I’ve needed a square-necked chemise to go with a couple of my costumes that had square necks that I couldn’t wear a regular round neck chemise with. I mostly had to resort to one of my Regency ones that tied loosely and could hang down off my shoulders. But that’s about 100 years out of style. So what’s a girl to do?

Last weekend while attending Gaslight Gathering Steampunk & Victoriana convention, I went to a panel on Steampunk Travel after reading about the description my Facebook friend, Karin, who was on it, said about it. “Have you ever considered travel in the Victorian Age as it compares to today...or in the Steam Future? Bringing an antique travel trunk filled with history: what a Victorian/Steampunk should bring for travel, from antique dresses to underpinnings and accessories to display and amaze. Come travel with us!"

It was well worth going to it because Karin had some beautiful antique dresses and underpinnings with her that I tried to take photos of as much as I could. The drawers she reproduced with blue ribbons really caught my eye. Here’s some of her pretty eye candy. Some of these Karin had reproduced from the originals. 

 

One of the items that caught my attention was a short chemise that looked like just went to the hips. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of it. But I came home with a plan. I needed to make some more underpinnings. Later I found a photo of an extant short chemise that comfirmed this was workable.

I found one of my older petticoat patterns, Simplicity 7157, that had a nice square neckline.

I first thought to just shorten one of the long petticoats but then noticed the short “bodice” one on the right that was for a pair of combinations, and it looked much easier to make without all the Princess seams. So I copied the bodice portion, adding 4 inches to the bottom to make it longer. Instead of the buttoned front, I changed that by cutting it on the fold.

I had about two yards left of a white cotton voile with white designs on it that I’d used for a blouse, so I was able to cut two short chemises out of it instead of one longer one.

When I first tried it on, the front was too loose. It was ok that the whole chemise is loose but the neckline was very baggy. If I was going to do a drawstring neckline that would be fine. But I wanted it smooth so I could put some pretty trim on it. I made a 1 inch seam in the front fold and topstitched it. I also did French seams on the shoulders. After all the seams were done and I was satisfied with the fit, I did a staystitch just a little over 1/2 inch along the raw edges of the neckline and armholes. I used this to turn the edges under to hem them.

I sewed some lace from my stash on the neckline by turning under the top edge, laying it on top of the lace, then topstitching it. The bottom of the lace covered the raw edge. For the armholes and hem I just turned under the edges a quarter of an inch and machine stitched them.

I kept the neckline loose so I can pull it down more than it shows in the photo, which will work better with my square necklines on some of my dresses. I think now I have something that can be made when I only have a yd or so left of some of my white cottons. If I have enough I may make them a little longer. But I can always use more chemises.

   

Do I Like Natural Form?

May 5, 2013

Another dress done and another fashion show over. This year’s Gaslight Gathering Steampunk & Victoriana convention in San Diego held its Fashion Show & Tea on Sunday where we dressed as “Ladies of Sports & Leisure”. It was a lot of fun. All the ladies picked a sport or leisure activity from the Regency, Victorian, or Edwardian era and put together a dress or outfit, along with the necessary accessories to demonstrate it. There were 18 of us, some wearing two outfits, and over the months went back and forth and traded with our themes. We had tennis, fencing, archery, equestrian, dancing, and many others.  We had twenty-four outfits modeled. I worked with Cindy, our manager and narrator, on a printed program to give to the guests with each model’s name and description for them to follow. There was a little teacup charm attached to it with a ribbon too.

 I wanted another chance to wear my 1905 Pink Floral gown and serving tea as a leisure activity was obvious for me. I planned on carrying a teapot and walk around the tables “pouring tea” as I modeled my dress. And then later I came across the photo of a lady photographer in the 1870s that inspired me to make a gown for it too. About a month before the event I switched my theme of serving tea to sewing, because THIS is what I do, and women have always done. How could I have forgotten that?

I only had to make one new outfit, the 1878 gown for the photographer. This was the Natural Form period, which I’ve never worn. I really like bustles and poofy skirts but I wanted to try something new. And it had the tailored look that my lady photographer had.

 My patterns & fabrics were shared in an earlier post but to reprise them, they were Truly Victorian’s 428- bodiced jacket, 324 long draped overskirt, and 221 for the skirt. This narrower silhouette of the late 1870s to early 1880s was called the Natural Form. They were without bustles and skirts draped around & showed the more natural form of the woman.

The jacket and overskirt were blue plaid cotton homespun, and burnt orange twill for the skirt. Later I found an ecru cotton crocheted trim to go on the jacket and skirt to tie them together.

Sewing the jacket together was fairly easy after having a mockup fitted to me at one of Shelley Peter’s sewing workshops. Getting over that hurdle has always slowed me down. This was also my second attempt at a lapel collar. I’m not sure if it was done the “correct” way but it looks good. I basted the collar to the jacket, and then sewed the facings over it. However since I wasn’t lining it and instead was doing facings along the edges, I ended up with a gap between the collar facings inside the jacket.

 

 

So after a chat w/ Heather at Truly Victorian, I just added a bit more fabric to close off the two facing edges. And no one will see it.

The sleeves only caused me to baste them in twice getting the excess fabric spread around the armhole properly. With it all constructed, I got to start adding my trims. I included a pocket on one side since “pockets” were all the rage at this time as decorative items, but I also needed to have somewhere to put my little preprinted photos that I would hand out during the fashion show. I used the ecru crocheted trim around the collar, the sleeve cuffs, the pocket, the bottom of my overskirt, and the bottom of my skirt to tie them all together. I used small dome-shaped navy blue plastic buttons I bought in the Garment District for the front closure and put extras on the pocket and cuffs.

 

Here is where I started to see some problems. I didn’t like the way the overskirt was hanging over the skirt, and it was caving in at the bottom. I made a new large ruffled petticoat that should have held the skirt out. Both the skirt & overskirt have ties in the sides underneath them and they’re supposed to be pulled to the back to get the narrow look. But I wasn’t getting it. After seeing some photos of me wearing it in the fashion show, I also didn’t like the limp look of the overskirt. And it haunted me during the entire time I was wearing it.

 

Instead of feeling like a graceful swan, I felt like a lump. Later I learned that I probably had it tied too tightly in back, and was also reminded about using the narrow plastic crinoline around the hem to hold it out. *Thank you for that reminder, Cindy! I’ve already sewn it in, and into another skirt I had similar problems with.  I definitely can see a difference*. The crinoline is found in the upholstery/curtain section in JoAnn’s fabric stores. Since my skirt was already hemmed and I couldn’t take it out because I’d sewn my crochet trim on top of it already, I just did a whip stitch on both sides. Cindy says she puts it inside her hem. Don’t you love it when we all share our special tricks?

I’m happy about my hat though! I used one of the last straw hat forms I’d bought from Truly Victorian years ago with the tilted up back.  I hand stitched a band of black taffeta around the brim, and also put a gathered circle inside the middle so it wouldn’t catch on my hair so much. I just love the frizzies I get on the top of my wigs from hats. *sarcasm*  I bought a couple flowers at Michaels in creamy gold color and burnt orange, plus a couple brown feathered plumes. I used large headed straight pins to hold everything in place while I was playing with all the trims.  I pinned a length of antique lace around the crown and brought the ends to the front crossing them over. After I got them to where I wanted them, I basted the lace on, then each flower and feather. I like to reuse hats so if the trim is basted on, I can just remove them later. I used two hatpins, one on either side pointing front and back to hold it on my head.

 

 

 

So I wore this outfit in the fashion show and carried an antique camera that our photographer, Jerry, loaned me to carry and “take photos” with. I carried a bunch of 3x5 size “photos” I’d printed of antique photos and as my part of modeling my dress as a photographer I walked around taking people’s photos and then handed them one of the photos from my pocket. It was a lot of fun rather than just walking around and displaying myself.

 

 

For my other outfit, demonstrating sewing, I wore my 1905 Pink Floral gown and carried a little SewHandy Singer mini sewing machine. I didn’t sew anything on it, just walked around cranking the handle. On the screen behind me you can see the antique photo displaying my “leisure” activity of sewing. Ha Ha!

 The day before the fashion show I also attended Gaslight and went to a couple classes. Instead of dressing in Steampunk this year, I decided to go with Victoriana, and wore my 1872 black polka dot dress that I got a lot of compliments on.  And this dress now has the same plastic crinoline sewn onto the hem so it won’t have the caved-in look anymore. 

My thanks to Jerry Abuan, and Kelley V. for the photos I used of theirs.