- [Narrator] Hello, and
grave tidings to you,
curious listener.
In tonight's episode, we find
our heroine beside herself,
and in need of an entirely new wardrobe
for a grand ball just a
few short months hence.
Determined, she studies her books,
intent on making sense of a
strange new time and century
her eyes dart rapidly
through drafting manuals,
templates, finding Keystone this,
and Symington that,
it's not long before she decides,
and just purchased the patterns instead.
- Hello and good morning,
I'm Morgan Donner,
and I do indeed need to make
an entire 1890s outfit by,
effectively, mid-April.
So I have delayed a while
on getting started on this
in part because all different
things keep coming up,
but also, if I'm honest with myself,
I was feeling a little
bit of project paralysis.
I've never done 1890s before,
I was feeling a lot of like,
ergh, I don't know what
to do, or how to do it,
I kind of have this feeling of,
I need to do everything myself.
There is this little voice
at the back of my head
that said, "you need to draft it yourself,
"you need to drape it yourself."
And I'm like, well, but what
if I'm not super familiar yet
with all of the correct
shapes and proportions?
"Figure it out."
One day, I finally
decided, you know what, no.
Enough is enough, I
squashed that little voice,
and said, I can just buy a pattern.
It's fine.
Especially for my first 1890s outfit
I think it's very reasonable.
I know it seems very silly,
but sometimes it takes
a bit of convincing yourself that
how you're going to go
forward with a project
is actually okay.
So, I finally did my convincing,
I got Truly Victorian
patterns, because I've heard
lots of really great reviews for them,
I also got myself an Atelier
Sylph corset pattern,
she has this really great
antique collection of corsets
and she patterns those corsets
and sells the patterns.
And I had a lot of fun
making a lot of mockups
over the past week.
This is Mockup Number Four,
and I think we're doing pretty good,
I think it's about right.
I'm a big advocate for
this thing with mockups
that I do, where once you're
pretty close to the end
of your mockup, wear it for a while.
Especially with anything
that's really structured,
like a corset, or a bodice
with a lot of boning and structure in it,
you may find that there is a spot
that starts to rub after a while,
or maybe after wearing it for a day,
the fibers have relaxed
and loosened a little bit
and you realize that a spot
that you thought might be trouble,
is actually probably fine.
This project is going to
be done in collaboration
with Costuming Drama.
So we are going as Aziraphale
and Crowley from Good Omens
and I'm so excited,
Aziraphale wears lots of
ivory, cream, white, tan, beige,
which is actually really,
really perfect for 1890s,
especially 1890s ballgowns,
they seemed to just love
tossing cream and lace
all over everything, which
I think is going to be
so perfect for Aziraphale, yes!
So excited!
I love having a theme
when making something,
if I don't have a specific
portrait that I'm copying
then having a kind of
thematic thing going on
is really, really nice.
That's also perfect, because the sponsor
for today's video is Audible.
I'll talk a little bit
more about that later,
bu I am totally gonna go ahead and give
the Good Omens audiobook another listen
while I'm working on this project,
because I thought that'd be
a good thematic motivator
while I tackle some of
these very first mockups.
I have several options to start out with.
I think I'm gonna go from inside out,
so why don't we start off
with the chemise and drawers
and then make our way over to
petticoat, skirt and bodice.
So I have high hopes to
getting as many of these done
over the next 12 hours as I can.
So, let's see.
Now, when I say done, I mean mockup.
Just, so your expectations are set.
I'm not gonna have any
like finished products
by the end of this.
Well, maybe that's a lie,
with the chemise and drawers,
I will probably go ahead and
do my mockup out of linen,
they don't need to be very
fitted, so I think that
maybe it'll actually be the
final version for these,
we'll see, I have hopes.
I'm also going to listen to my book,
which I'm very excited about,
definitely spoilers for
Good Omens in this video.
- [Narrator] This is Audible.
Harper Audio presents Good Omens...
(narration fades out)
(relaxing piano music)
- All right, so I am about an hour in,
I have cut out my paper patterns,
I have cut out one of the
two sides of the chemise,
which is very exciting,
I'm also one hour into my
listening of the audiobook
of Good Omens, and it's
really interesting,
the combination of Neil
Gaiman's writing style
and Terry Pratchett's, it's... (laughs)
I've read the book before,
but it's still fascinating
to see such interesting
styles blended together.
For those of you familiar with the story,
the baby switch just happened.
(relaxing piano music)
All right, so hour number two is down,
Crowley and Aziraphale
have just kind of agreed
with each other that they will attempt
to both raise the child in
a way that is for their side
and hopefully, you know,
doesn't bring about the end of the world,
we'll see.
And I have cut out all
of my chemise pieces
and I've also ended the tops
of the kind of sleeve strap areas,
with some little reinforcing squares
as per the instructions.
Next up, after sewing the
front and the back pieces
together, would be finishing the neckline.
Which...
I might be a little bit stuck on,
because you're supposed to finish it,
like instructions to finish it are,
zigzag it and then toss some lace on it?
At least that's how I'm
reading the instructions.
So I'll read over it again,
and unfortunately the only lace I have
that is the insertion ribbon style
is not quite enough for the full neckline.
It's close, but not quite.
So, a trip to the store may be in order.
I have a lot of lace,
but it's all like 16th century style lace,
which doesn't have a lot of that
ribbon insertion type stuff, so...
(relaxing piano music)
(indistinct audiobook narration)
- All right, so I am back
and ready to continue
my listening and my sewing.
I did go ahead and take a
trip to the fabric store
to look at my possible
options for ribbon lace,
and I found one I like,
obviously I got it,
I think I will maybe still use the one
that I kind of cobbled together,
in part because I want to use
it, I've had it for forever,
might as well, although I might save that
for the legs, I think this'll
make a really, really great
insertion lace, which I feel
like this will be better
as more of a neckline and arm line trim.
Although I will have to replace
the shiny white polyester ribbon in here.
The lace itself is cotton, which is nice.
But this ribbon is not making me happy.
So I think I might replace it
with the black silk ribbon that I have
so that it's nice and contrasty goodness.
(relaxing piano music)
(indistinct audiobook narration)
- That is the end of hour number four,
and I don't feel like I made
very good progress at all.
I felled one side seam and I stitched on
one of the little sleeve floofs,
I also re-threaded some of
my lace with the black ribbon
instead of the white
ribbon that it came with.
I think that might be about it.
Yeah, my last hour here
was not very productive.
I would be really bummed
if I got to the end of this
and all I had was one chemise.
I was trying, kind of maybe hoping,
to have mockups, or like basic versions
of several garments.
So, I need to pick up speed.
I finished up sewing the little
arm sleeve thingy, ruffles,
on both of the shoulders.
I pinned and started to get ready
this whole neckline trim area,
I'm gonna sew it here in a second,
ooh, and in the fifth chapter,
no, not fifth chapter,
fifth hour of the audiobook,
we're introduced a lot to
the kind of personality
and dynamics of Adam's group,
his little group of friends,
which is very fun and
we're starting to see
some of his influence on the world,
which is very exciting.
I really enjoy something about this book,
that it's both a very fun overall premise,
which is kind of the end of the world,
and the nitty gritty flavor of it,
that is so interestingly
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman,
there's something about the
personality of this book
that I really love.
I have sewn on the lace
to one of the little sleeve ruffle flaps
and then I need to sew the
lace on the second one here,
and then I guess I need to do
like a button, buttonhole situation.
It already feels so thick, this area,
that, one, that tells me I
need to do this differently,
because clearly this is
not making me super happy,
which I suppose is the
whole point of a mockup,
is that you find out what is
working or not working for ya.
So, I think that I'm gonna
go ahead and finish this up
and I think that with the
little sleeve ruffly bits here
I don't think that this
would necessarily be great
for a ballgown anyways,
which I kind of knew when I put them on,
but I wanted to see what
the pattern looked like
as it was, so I think that I'll have to
kind of think more about
what will work best
for a ballgown, so that
you don't have ruffly bits
coming out of your arms.
Yeah, but at least this
will give me a good
base to work on as I kind
of build up my other layers
and then I can maybe make a quick
final version chemise for the ball later.
(relaxing piano music)
Phew!
All right, so,
how many hours in am I?
I don't remember.
But, I did finally, finally
finish off the chemise,
which I have here, it's
inside out because I'm
a very particular person here,
but it is done,
it's kinda cute, I think it kinda works,
you know the little funny
ruffly shoulder bits
are surprisingly cute.
So, you know.
(relaxing piano music)
Hello again, guys.
I feel like it's been a million years,
but in reality it's only been a week,
but I am back to finish sewing,
and finish listening to my book,
oh, goodness, I feel like I
kind of left my sewing room
before in a little bit of a,
kind of a down note,
I was kind of really
not feeling my chemise.
Also kind of not feeling my drawers,
even though I hadn't really
done anything much more than cut them out,
yeah, that's kind of a bummer.
So what I did though, like
on my lunch breaks and such,
I spent some time going through Pinterest,
looking at old adverts
of drawers and chemises.
For example I think there's a book
Victorian Dressmaking
Techniques or some such,
I read it before, but,
oh my God, the difference
between reading it once
as kind of a potential future project
kind of concept,
versus, here's a thing that I've done
or I've half done, and reading
advice on how to do it,
is just like, ooh, it's
so much more solid.
So, oh my goodness, if
you guys find yourself
feeling kind of stuck on a project,
I highly recommend going
back and re-reading
some of the sources on that thing,
I wish I had remembered that that book
had so many really great
seam treatment advice things in it.
Hmm.
I feel way, way more excited
about my drawers here,
and I have I think some solid ideas
about what I want to do with it.
I don't want to gather the
drawers into a leg band,
and my further research confirms that,
it seems like it's not really a thing
by the time you get to the 1890s.
Not gonna say they didn't exist,
I feel like I always have
to put that caveat in there,
but it seems like it was much
more of a common thing earlier
and for 1890s and later,
they're kind of like
just either straight,
or even like wide-leg.
I don't know that it's actually
necessarily a wide-leg,
I think it's more like, you know,
you have the crotch seam comes down
so the leg portion itself is
straight or nearly straight,
but then you almost
universally have a ruffle,
which will create a very
wide-leg effect, so, yes.
I'm feeling so much better about
the direction I am heading,
I am also so excited
to get back to my book.
Oh my gosh, guys, do
you know how hard it is
to have to stop an audiobook
that you're listening to
and not just get to keep going?
Because I'm restricting
this book to this project...
(sighs)
So, I'm really glad that
it's time to get back to it.
(relaxing piano music)
(indistinct audiobook narration)
- We are another hour down
I have, mostly I think just pintucked,
that's pretty much all that's
happened in the last hour.
I did try two different techniques,
first I just put a pin
in, like every few inches,
but I feel like that was not
as neat as I would have liked.
Very quickly I could tell it was becoming
a little bit inaccurate,
so I decided that I would switch gears
and use just simply measuring
and pencil lines on it,
pencil should wash out
pretty easily on this
and if it doesn't, well,
it's underwear, it's fine.
That worked out way better,
it was far, far neater,
much more even and precise.
I'm still deciding on
whether or not I want
to do a ruffle at the end of the leg.
I do feel like it is kind of
a very, very common feature
although I have seen in the magazines
at least one example,
I think maybe a couple,
that didn't have ruffles at the end,
like just a few pleat tucks and that's it.
Or pintucks.
Hmmm, I kind of want a ruffle,
I also kind of really
need to get a move on.
I guess I'll think about it.
(piano music and indistinct
audiobook narration)
I have made some excellent progress
on the ruffle front, these are very cute.
I'm still trying out more of
the wearing the corset mockup
right now I'm wearing it underneath this,
and it's very interesting
seeing the form of the corset
underneath clothing that's
really not meant for that, right.
Like so for example, this dress, I feel,
fits me fairly well when I'm
wearing my normal undergarments
with the corset, the waist is
like way, way, way too big,
this is not tailored in to fit my bust
the way it would be if
it was an 1890s outfit,
which makes sense, I definitely
don't fault the dress
for not being something
that it's not meant to be.
But it's very interesting to
see the effect of the fit.
Like for example, I
know I've seen in a lot
of the Victorian dressmaking books,
there's lots of mention of,
okay, you might need to pad out
this area, this sort of
like hollow that's created
by the bust of the corset,
which is going to be
bigger than your bust would
be outside of the corset,
yes, right,
because if your waist
is a little bit smaller,
the rest of your body has to go somewhere,
so a little bit goes up,
a little bit goes down,
your bust is going to be a
little bit bigger, likely,
than it is without, and it's interesting,
that there's this little
like empty spot here,
that is a bit awkward,
and especially if I'm, you know,
unladylikely reaching for stuff,
there's definitely a lot of
creasing going on right here,
that I can absolutely see
how either more interfacing
inside the dress in that area
or padding, as some said,
like literally little pads
almost like shoulder pads from the 80s,
but here instead.
It's just very interesting
how silhouettes change
and how you need to adjust for that.
It's neat.
So it's kinda cool to see that in action,
and that does kind of give me an idea
of what to look forward to
on my actual bodice making adventures
so I'm gonna go ahead and
get the waistband sewn on
and the legs sewn together,
maybe, oh, I'm gonna need
to make some bias soon.
Hm, not sure what I'm doing next,
but I have several things coming up,
I'm hoping that I can finish the drawers
well before my two hours,
two and a half hours left is up, yeah,
I have about two and a half hours.
Yeah, I guess we'll see.
(relaxing piano music)
Oh my God, making bias
strips using a rotary cutter
is kind of life changing,
and if you are still
cutting out bias strips
using, like, marking with a pencil
and cutting it with scissors,
oh my God, it's worth it just for the sake
of being able to cut bias strips.
(piano music and indistinct
audiobook narration)
There's all sorts of very interesting
end of the world things
happening in Good Omens,
which is, ah.
Like that last hour basically flew by,
'cause I have a task
that I don't have to think about too much.
So I have a leg
and then there's another leg over there,
and for this one I've attached a bias band
on the inside of the leg opening area
so I still need to
attach a second leg band
on the other leg, and then gather this up
into a waistband.
I'm starting to doubt that
I'm going to get any more done
than the chemise and the drawers for this
sort of 12 hour project,
but at least if I can get those
two done I'm pretty happy.
So, let me just keep on carryin' on.
(piano music and indistinct
audiobook narration)
All right, so we are a little bit
down to the wire at this point,
I think I have half an hour left
where we are firmly in
epilogue territory of the book,
so, I am not done yet.
It was very ambitious of
me to think I could get
more than two garments done.
So, that's fun.
I am working on the side placket
for the drawers, I spent a bit of time
mulling over whether I
want to switch it from
a gathered yoke waistband style
to a more several long darts
kind of fitted waistband,
both styles seem to be perfectly fine
and good options for 1890s.
I've decided to go ahead
and go with the pattern,
go ahead and go with the gathered yoke,
so I'm workin' on it,
trying to make it happen.
(piano music and indistinct
audiobook narration)
The time is done, the garments are made,
the audiobook has completed,
and I have thoughts.
But, first let's talk a
little bit more about Audible.
Audible has most kindly
sponsored this video,
and I was so excited when
they reached out to me,
because I cannot think of something
that I could more wholeheartedly endorse.
I've literally been listening to Audible
for years and years and years,
and I kind of can't ever
imagine wanting to stop.
Audible is the best way
to listen to audiobooks,
and every month you get one
credit to listen to any title
like Good Omens, perhaps?
Not to mention that you can also
listen to two Audible originals
in the monthly selection,
in addition to other things.
I really like to listen to audiobooks
when I am, not only sewing
on long projects like this,
but every day when I'm on my way to work,
or when I'm on my lunch break,
I just really enjoy being
able to listen to stories
but also have my hands free.
Even if you do end up deciding
that you do need to take a break,
you can still listen to all
of your Audible collection
that you've already spent credits on,
they are yours to listen to
as many times as you like.
So go ahead and go to
audible.com/morgandonner
or text morgandonner to 500500
and start listening with an exclusive
30-day free trial, one free
audiobook of your choice
and two Audible originals absolutely free.
Okay, onto talking about the end of this
little project, I guess.
Man, I started out knowing
that I was going to be
going to Bath for this Victorian ball
months and months ago, and
yet kind of just didn't start
until like a week and a half ago.
Partially, yes, I can
blame it on various things
that came up that I felt like
I just needed to do first,
like the shoes video
that I posted recently,
the big secret Santa exchange that we did
at the end of last year,
that little purse giveaway that I actually
originally meant to release I think
when I reached like 300,000 subscribers,
that super did not happen.
But all distractions aside,
I was just feeling so uncertain
in myself with such a new
time and place sewing-wise,
I think I kinda really psyched myself out.
One of the biggest
inspirations for today's video
is because I saw a video a few weeks back
where someone was painting for 24 hours.
And something about that just absolutely
struck a chord with me, I
was like, kind of shocked.
I had a moment of thinking, oh my God,
sewing for 24 hours sounds amazing.
(laughs) Life has been just so busy,
and I kind of felt like really uncertain
about this project, I
haven't done a lot of sewing
in several months, a
lot of my recent videos
were filmed back in like
October and November.
I finally caught up on all my editing
and was just so incredibly
excited at the idea
of just making again,
that the idea of a 24 hour
sew-a-thon actually kind of sounded great.
And that's when I realized that
maybe something's just not quite right.
Of course, there's no
way in good consciousness
I could sew all the way through
the middle of the night,
and keep all of the other
members of my household up
for all hours, so that kind of squashed
the idea right there,
not to mention that pulling all-nighters
is maybe not the best thing
for your sleep schedule
but I think that shows just
how starved I was feeling
for creation time.
So this project, or I guess
this pair of projects really,
sort of helped scratch an
itch and gave me a really good
kick in the butt to go
ahead and get started
on this 1890s gown that needs
to be done in like a month,
so look forward to more videos of me
rushing through things in the future.
Hopefully though, I'm not
alone in this feeling,
like I just need to have some
time in my life spent making.
I'm not sure if it even
needs to be sewing, per se,
like, there's something
about the act of creation
that is just so fulfilling
and so, like, self-nurturing in a way,
that I'm not even sure I can
begin to properly articulate.
And it's probably not even just making,
I bet that making like
20 tea towels every day
wouldn't quite work the same.
I think that's why I enjoy
historical costuming,
it constantly forces,
or maybe more nicely,
gently encourages, one to
step out of your comfort zone.
If you see a new dress or a new garment
that you want to recreate,
there's often gonna be some
new element to that project,
something you've never done before.
Maybe you need to learn
to make your own lace,
to recreate a certain color,
or bind feathers together into
a type of lightweight boning,
or start tackling an entirely new century
that you have no good experience in.
There's something just really invigorating
and exciting, and maybe even healthy
about the way that historical costuming
encourages you to push new
boundaries in yourself.
(sigh) So many feels.
Okay, now that my bizarre love letter
to historical costuming is done,
let's finally maybe talk about
the actual project at hand.
So my goal was to try and
make some wearable mockups
for several Truly Victorian patterns
I ended up really only
getting to one of them.
Eh, it happens.
I guess the upside there
though, is that at least
now I know that making
a chemise and drawers
takes about 13 hours.
It would obviously take a bit more time
if you were sewing it by hand,
or adding lots of insertion work,
but I also feel like maybe it would take
a little bit less time for me at least,
because I've cut out all the paper pieces,
and I've put them together once before,
so I have that experience.
There are definitely
some things that I think
I would do differently if
I were to try this again,
like the lace here a the neckline,
instead of stitching it
entirely on the fabric edge,
I would probably instead stitch
just to the very edge of the fabric,
so that this part here is just
lace, no fabric underneath,
and that would create a lot less bulky
of an edge here, and it seems
like that was pretty common
in historical practice,
I think I would commit to just
one style of shoulder seam,
the pattern suggested a
button and buttonhole here,
so you can undo it for styles
where shoulders wouldn't work
but then you wouldn't have
this ruffle here, I think.
Whatever the case, I
think that this ended up
really bulky here, and I'd want to
plan better for that next time.
I made this chemise very simply decorated,
which I think is absolutely fine
and documentable, but if
I were to do it again,
I would probably want to
add all sorts of lovely
lacy insertion work, 'cause that's fun.
So for the drawers, I feel
like I was maybe trying
to force an earlier Victorian
style to work for 1890s
as far as I can tell, it
looks like drawers usually
ended at just below the knee,
while mine are definitely
hitting mid-calf,
so I probably should
have adjusted the pattern
for my short, short self.
So if you're thinking
of buying this pattern
and trying it out for yourself,
I do recommend it, with the caveat
that I also strongly
recommend that you get a copy
of the book Authentic Victorian
Dressmaking Techniques.
I feel like that gave
me a lot of confidence
as to which seaming treatments to use
at various points for things,
as well as a few different
alternate options,
and being from 1905, it's
almost as good of a resource
as I could ask for for this project.
It is the first week of March,
I have two very basic 1890s garments,
and I'm nearly dialed in on
the pattern for the third one,
so I just need to keep plugging along.
Here's hoping that I don't just
show up to the ball in underwear.
