Sunday 27 September 2015

Edith Cushing (Crimson Peak)


Gothic horror. Late Victorian costumes. Billowing nightgowns. How is a girl to resist?

Source.
When I planned this year's Halloween costume in February, I was going as the Woman in Black, but after watching the trailer (and suffering a sleepless night because aaaaaugh!) I remembered I had eleven meters white fabric just lying around.


The nightgown is sewn in two layers. The overlayer is a see-through polyester something with slubs, over a modesty layer of plain ol' boring cotton. I made the pattern from a sloper, for practice,. I started in July, so I had plenty of time to torment myself over every tiny bit of the costume, from pattern to what kind of interfacing would be best to use.

I made far too many sleeve toiles, and even took the time to baste everything by hand. Usually I just pin and sew very carefully. The insides are neatly finished (as usual), the yoke is lined, and weirdly, overall I am pleased with it. When I finish anything, I usually have a list over things I would have done differently.


I live in the middle of nowhere, so in my experience, what I can get of sewing notions and such is rather limited. And yet, sometimes I go to the shop with the lowest expectations and find small treasures, like these pearl buttons.

The buttons are just for show. I dreaded sewing button holes since my machine would rather eat fabric than do as I want, so I evaded the whole thing and sewed some pushbuttons in underneath instead. The lower sleeves have functionable buttons at the wrist.


While lining the yoke I put the dress onto a mannequin. It made lining very much easier, but every time I left the room and came back in, I'd almost give myself a heart attack. Toughest viking in town.

4 comments:

  1. I was wondering what pattern you used for this dress? It's lovely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I made my own pattern from a sloper, from scratch, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help there.

      The commercial pattern that looks closest to Edith's nightgown is New Look 6309, however, I didn't find it available anywhere atm.

      You could perhaps try one of these, though they would need some altering:

      Simplicity 2163 - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gothic-Arkivestry-Tops-Dress-Night-Gown-Simplicity-Pattern-Size-6-8-10-12-/370547183649

      McCall 8821 (already has a pattern for puff sleeves!) - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Misses-Pullover-Nightgowns-Pattern-Sew-Size-Large-18-20-UNCUT-Vtg-McCalls-8821-/272133479878

      Happy sewing :D

      Delete
  2. Any chance you could share this pattern? I love it! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I constructed the pattern from a personal sloper, so it's not a commercially available pattern. In my previous reply I've suggested a few patterns that could be used/altered for Edith's nightgown.

      It might take me some time, but I'll try to post a tutorial on how to construct the pattern from a sloper yourself :)

      Delete