Tatyana costume

Latest entry in my literary heroines sewing project.  Inspiration: this costume from an opera production, as well as this one, and, of course, the book.  :)




 It's similar to the Young Victoria costume, being from the same era and all.  I basically used the same pattern pieces, based on view D from Simplicity #9521 and a sleeve pattern from another set. 




The hardest part was the sleeves, which were a colossal pain and turned out way too tight.  It looks ok, but I've learned my lesson this time--for Barbie-sized sleeves, never ever again try to make lace fluffy and extra-gathered (unless the lace is super thin).  All I got was added thickness.  *fail*








Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out...  The blue & white color scheme was new to me, and it was fun to work with.  ^_^

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Emma costume

Emma Woodhouse, from Emma, by Jane Austen.

The third installment in my "Heroines" costume series.

When I saw this fabric, I knew it was the one for Emma.  :)  The flowers are pink/peach instead of blue, but besides that it's pretty close (see Atlanta's post for inspiration photos and her lovely replica version).  I just love the costumes in the new BBC series!

I had to try the Regency Colouring Tutorial too.  ;)

For the skirt and sleeves, I used Simplicity 7089 (with less of a train for the skirt); and Simplicity 5673 as a base for the top.  The back fastens with a snap and hook & eye.

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Historical costume: Queen Victoria

My first entry for the Historical Costume Inspiration Festival is a doll costume which I have posted about before--the yellow gown Queen Victoria wears to the King's birthday, in The Young Victoria:



I love this film, and I just had to recreate one of the costumes! I had all the fabric and trims for this particular costume, so I was really excited to try sewing it. 






The doll in the photo is actually an 11 1/2 inch Mary Poppins doll.  ;)  The dress uses three different fabrics--yellow fabric, peach-colored overlay fabric, and the lace.  I used different patterns from the Simplicity Museum Collection (to me, these are must-have sewing patterns!); and I tried to make it resemble the original pretty closely, using the fabric/trims I had.  :)  There are things I would do differently next time, but overall it turned out the way I wanted it to. 

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Arwen costume

My attempt at replicating Arwen's Coronation Gown, from The Return of the King (2003).  I must mention here that if you need a Lord of the Rings costume study for reference, you should visit this site!  Their Arwen Coronation Gown page was very, very helpful.  The detail of their costume studies is amazing, and they have some good photos, too, especially of those costumes which didn't have much screen time.


The butterfly on the crown.  I think it kinda looks more like a flower or a bow, though. 



The sleeves were a bit disappointing.  I didn't realise till later that they were supposed to be much longer/bigger.



The crown was a lot of fun to make!  :)  I hadn't done any beading in years, so it was also quite challenging.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pattern for it.  I just experimented....  I can give you a hint, though: copper wire is much easier to work with than silver.

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Costume Series: Heroines

Updated:  July 2011

My #1 sewing obsession is replicating or designing 11 1/2 inch doll-sized costumes of characters (usually from literature).  So one day when I had lots of better things to do, I came up with a list of heroines whose costumes I'd like to replicate (or design):

1. Jane Eyre. . .from Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
2. Jane Austen heroines
1. Elinor. . .from Sense and Sensibility
2. Elizabeth. . .from Pride and Prejudice
3. Emma (click here). . .from Emma
4. Fanny. . .from Mansfield Park
5. Anne. . .from Persuasion
6. Catherine. . .from Northanger Abbey
3. Marian Halcombe. . .from The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
4. Esther Summerson. . .from Bleak House (Charles Dickens)
5. Irene Adler and/or Violet Hunter. . .from "Sherlock Holmes" (Arthur Conan Doyle)
6. Marguerite Blakeney. . .from The Scarlet Pimpernel (Emma Orczy)
7. Catriona Drummond. . .from Catriona (Robert Louis Stevenson)
8. Lucie Manette. . .from A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
9. Margaret Hale. . .from North and South (Elizabeth Gaskell)
10. Joan of Arc
11. Molly Gibson. . .from Wives and Daughters (Elizabeth Gaskell)
12. Anne Shirley. . .from Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maud Montgomery)
13. Eowyn. . .from The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien)
14. Arwen (click here). . .from The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien) 
15. Queen Victoria (click here)
16. Alice. . .from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
17. Alice Kingsleigh. . .from Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton)
18. Trixie Belden. . .from "Trixie Belden" (Julie Campbell Tatham)
19. Jill Pole. . .from The Silver Chair (C. S. Lewis)
20. Polly Plummer. . .from The Magician's Nephew (C. S. Lewis)
21. Amy Edmonstone. . .from The Heir of Redclyffe (Charlotte Yonge)
22. Tatyana Larin (click here). . .from Eugene Onegin (Alexander Pushkin)

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Sewing a jacket: Part 1

Here's a photo of that green jacket I mentioned earlier:

Basically, what I have left to do is add the facing, button, and hem.  I'm using Simplicity 3565, and so far it's a great pattern, easy to use and understand.  On the other hand, this pattern does not include lining.  However, since it's just going to be for summer, I don't mind.


Close-up of the fabric.  It has a nap.

And here's a picture of the fabric I'll be using for my next sewing project!  Hint: it's for an 11 1/2 inch doll, and it is based on a costume from one of my favourite movies:

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Fashion Week for Dolls: Colonial

Fashion Week for Dolls, May 1st-7th 

at Iradessa

This outfit features one of my favourite patterns, Simplicity 9521.  This was also my first time using this particular pattern, but it wasn't too hard at all.



The Simplicity Museum Collection patterns are wonderful; they're most (or all) of them out of print, but you can get them from Ebay.  They're great for recreating your favourite costumes for 11 1/2" dolls!

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Young Victoria costume

When it comes to sewing, few things (if any) are more inspiring to me than watching a good costume drama.  :)  So, I sewed a costume from The Young Victoria--it's based on the yellow dress she wears to the king's birthday, and I made it for an 11 1/2 inch doll:

The lovely flower-print lace was something someone gave me a couple years ago; the ribbon is also from the lady who gave me the lace, and the rest of the fabric/trim was stuff we had already...

The gloves were an experiment, first time I'd attempted to make them.

If I were to do it over, there are a couple things I'd change; but overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out.  =)

BTW, the DVD is set for a release date of April 20; you can pre-order it from Amazon. 

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Poll: Favourite Costume!

I'd like to know which of the costumes (dresses) below you like best.  :)  So, click on each number to see them, and then vote on the poll that's on the sidebar!    >>>--------------------->


#1
#2
#3 (second photo down)
#4 (largest photo, on the left)
#5 (not the best pics, but recognisable)
#6
#7 (any of the 3)
#8 (very last one, "White Gown with Sequins")

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Movie Review (with video clips!): The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria (2009)
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Cast: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, etc.
Rated: PG. This review talks about how the movie is, content-wise.
My overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars. One thing which would have made it even BETTER would be a cameo appearance of Felix Mendelssohn, one of Victoria's (and my) favourite composers. But that would be too good to be true. ;)

The story: As the young, soon-to-be Queen of England, Victoria faces a difficult life ahead of her. She is surrounded by critics and politicians with their own agenda, such as the calm and collected Lord Melbourne and her mother's friend, the violent Sir John Conroy. Meanwhile, Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, has plenty of pressure of his own to deal with, and it's with hesitance that he goes to meet Victoria, whom his relations want him to marry. Yet, unexpectedly, they both find in each other an understanding, genuine friend; and, that despite whatever schemers they meet in life, they can always depend on each other.

My thoughts: This movie turned out to be way better than I'd expected, and in about every aspect! I was thinking it'd be a nice, pretty, chick-flick kind of film, but it goes a lot deeper than that. In fact, it's so good, I hardly know where to begin.

Costumes, of course, were lovely; Victoria had so many different gowns, and Prince Albert's outfits were very nice too (especially the blue waistcoat). It makes a big difference that they actually designed some new costumes for this film, instead of digging something out of a closet, and I think their efforts were totally worthwhile in this respect. It was a pity that some of the costumes, like the yellow birthday gown, didn't get enough screen time, but one can't really complain, especially as there are some nice photos online of the dresses. The sets were also really detailed and tasteful, and I love the cinematography! There was a beautiful, rich look about the whole film, without looking too overdone or superficial; it's hard to describe, but I guess I'd call the lighting/cinematography as "natural but artistic". Or something like that. :)

The cast was excellent. Though Bettany as Melbourne did look too young, he nevertheless played the part very well, portraying a Lord Melbourne who is cool and composed no matter what the situation. Blunt was quite convincing as a young Queen Victoria; she is young Victoria, in the sense that I don't think I could see anybody else acting the part. Her facial expressions are perfect for the role, and she conveys the "half-Queen, half-inexperienced young lady" character wonderfully. Friend as Prince Albert was charming from start to finish; he really stole the show in some scenes!





Script was very, very good. There were all sorts of great moments, and some humour, too--like the part at the dinner where Victoria takes a big bite, then Lord Melbourne asks her a question (or something). I think most of us can relate. ;) Balance is the key word for this film: the characters were well-balanced (Victoria not being too timid or too fiery, too inexperienced or too authoritative, but some of each), the mood of the film was well-balanced (you'll laugh, and cry), and the plot/story was well-balanced overall. One of the best things about the film (in my opinion) was the way they wrote the proposal scene--it doesn't come when you expect it to, and when it does happen, it's not over-dramatized or anything, but instead quite realistic.

People have said that Blunt and Friend's Victoria & Albert didn't have much chemistry, but I quite disagree. This is a very romantic film, and now one of my favourites. Like my mom said, you have to understand the personalities and the era. Not only were Victoria and Albert (as here portrayed) naturally both rather quiet people, but they also had to maintain reserve, due to the standards of the era and their being public figures. Besides, I think writing letters and having serious talks with each other, as in this film, very romantic. In fact, I could have done with fewer kissing scenes, lol. This movie also has one of the best ballroom dances I've seen yet. <3







The soundtrack was epic, and deserves a paragraph of its own. There was only one theme that really stood out as being a consistent theme: Schubert's Serenade (aka Swan Song), best rendition/context I've heard and I'm not really a fan of that song. But in this kind of story, a solid theme song isn't a must; the soundtrack instead consists of various themes, most of which are orchestral and set the mood. I got the soundtrack from iTunes, and it's great stuff--some of my favourite tracks are "The King's Birthday" (which quotes Paganini), "Lord Melbourne", and "Constitutional Crisis" (which reminds me of A Tale of Two Cities). "The First Waltz" is also really nice.

All in all, I was sad to see it end; it's the sort of movie that you wish went on longer. You come to really care about the characters: Victoria, learning how to fulfill her role in life, and Albert, eager to be her help and support. It's a great movie on several different levels, and I highly recommend it!

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Another doll dress

This is my fourth--and perhaps my last, unfortunately--American Girl doll dress that was made for one of my cousins, this time my youngest cousin, who's getting a "Just Like You" doll for Christmas. =)


I was quite happy to finally be able to use the green fabric...I had about a couple yards of it, but hadn't ever made anything with it.

While I'm at it, here's a fairly recent 11 1/2" doll dress I did--it's supposed to be one of Lucy Snowe's dresses, from Villette by Charlotte Bronte:

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