An actual Post
So, I'm revamping my journal yet again. Don't worry, those of you who come to read my stories, they will still be posted here, but along with those posts I want to start posting about my various projects (mostly sewing).
Without farther ado...
My latest project, making the White Dress for a bribe to one of the women I work with. I say bribe because we (my partner in sew crazy-ness), want to get her (the woman I work with) to come with us to a Steampunk Con next year and have her in costume. She said she would, after we informed her that her body measurements were almost exact to Marilyn Monroe's and it turns out, she loves MM, thus I offered to make her any one of MM's dresses for her to keep, if she would come with us. Thus, I am making the White Dress.
Have you ever tried to research a Hollywood movie costume that wasn't in the last 5 years? It is darn near impossible to find good pictures and information on how the actual dress was constructed. I've been at it on and off for two weeks now. I've bought several patterns to hodge-podge together. And then I got the bright idea, Watch the Movie Dummy! So I borrowed the movie from my sister, mainly because I could find absolutely no pictures or information on what the back of the dress looked like. Low and behold, there is a shot of the back of the dress! And really the dress is in all of maybe 5 minutes in the movie. AND those iconic pictures of the dress flying up around her waist; that isn't shown in the movie! They show her feet to about half way up her thigh, but you never see her under-clothes like you do in the pictures! That is only seen in publicity shots! And the more I look at the dress, the more I realize that it is way more modest than most of the reproductions you see at Halloween! It doesn't plunge down as low nor is the bodice as small, it actually comes around almost to her back!
Enough of that rant, now on to me making the dress, which I haven't done. I am in the midst of having to take the pattern that closest resembles the actual dress, Vogue 7321, and like I said, alter it. In my research I found that there is an edging around the inside of the halter and that there is a criss-cross sash kind of thing that most reproductions don't have. In actuality most costume versions of this dress come no where near the actual dress in anything but the silhouette. I was happy to find a few good stills of the actual dress that is recent, and a shot of a reproduction made by William Travilla (the man who designed most of her famous dresses) from the original pattern.
Here are some of the pictures I found, and no, I do not own the rights to these images:
A recent photo of the actual dress
Travilla's sketch of the dress
the reproduction
Production Still
Looks simple to make, no? The answer is Yes, and No. Yes, it should be a simple build, no, it will be a time consuming build and I will have to decide if I am going to attempt to make as close of a reproduction as possible, or am I going to fudge a few things because i do not have the amazing skills to pull off all of it, nor the unlimited budget.
What I would fudge would most likely be the midriff. In the original the midriff is also pleated, and I don't know if I want to spent the time doing that. And a word on those pleats, from my research I found they are called Starburst Pleats. What the Heck is a Starburst Pleat? that was my question. That took my a while, finally I found my answer, a Starburst Pleat is just a regular Knife Pleat with the fabric cut on the bias. I did some test pleats to see how much fabric I might need and came to the conclusion that the Vogue pattern calls for enough fabric (that pattern doesn't call for pleating but gathering the fabric). And I've found information on hiding seams in pleats.
So that is where I am at. I have gotten some cheap cotton to do a mock-up and am ready to begin that part, but that will have to wait until I get back from vacation in a week.
Without farther ado...
My latest project, making the White Dress for a bribe to one of the women I work with. I say bribe because we (my partner in sew crazy-ness), want to get her (the woman I work with) to come with us to a Steampunk Con next year and have her in costume. She said she would, after we informed her that her body measurements were almost exact to Marilyn Monroe's and it turns out, she loves MM, thus I offered to make her any one of MM's dresses for her to keep, if she would come with us. Thus, I am making the White Dress.
Have you ever tried to research a Hollywood movie costume that wasn't in the last 5 years? It is darn near impossible to find good pictures and information on how the actual dress was constructed. I've been at it on and off for two weeks now. I've bought several patterns to hodge-podge together. And then I got the bright idea, Watch the Movie Dummy! So I borrowed the movie from my sister, mainly because I could find absolutely no pictures or information on what the back of the dress looked like. Low and behold, there is a shot of the back of the dress! And really the dress is in all of maybe 5 minutes in the movie. AND those iconic pictures of the dress flying up around her waist; that isn't shown in the movie! They show her feet to about half way up her thigh, but you never see her under-clothes like you do in the pictures! That is only seen in publicity shots! And the more I look at the dress, the more I realize that it is way more modest than most of the reproductions you see at Halloween! It doesn't plunge down as low nor is the bodice as small, it actually comes around almost to her back!
Enough of that rant, now on to me making the dress, which I haven't done. I am in the midst of having to take the pattern that closest resembles the actual dress, Vogue 7321, and like I said, alter it. In my research I found that there is an edging around the inside of the halter and that there is a criss-cross sash kind of thing that most reproductions don't have. In actuality most costume versions of this dress come no where near the actual dress in anything but the silhouette. I was happy to find a few good stills of the actual dress that is recent, and a shot of a reproduction made by William Travilla (the man who designed most of her famous dresses) from the original pattern.
Here are some of the pictures I found, and no, I do not own the rights to these images:
A recent photo of the actual dress
Travilla's sketch of the dress
the reproduction
Production Still
Looks simple to make, no? The answer is Yes, and No. Yes, it should be a simple build, no, it will be a time consuming build and I will have to decide if I am going to attempt to make as close of a reproduction as possible, or am I going to fudge a few things because i do not have the amazing skills to pull off all of it, nor the unlimited budget.
What I would fudge would most likely be the midriff. In the original the midriff is also pleated, and I don't know if I want to spent the time doing that. And a word on those pleats, from my research I found they are called Starburst Pleats. What the Heck is a Starburst Pleat? that was my question. That took my a while, finally I found my answer, a Starburst Pleat is just a regular Knife Pleat with the fabric cut on the bias. I did some test pleats to see how much fabric I might need and came to the conclusion that the Vogue pattern calls for enough fabric (that pattern doesn't call for pleating but gathering the fabric). And I've found information on hiding seams in pleats.
So that is where I am at. I have gotten some cheap cotton to do a mock-up and am ready to begin that part, but that will have to wait until I get back from vacation in a week.