PANTS! In the BALLROOM!

For some reason, I've been all about Poiret for the last couple of months. That turned into two projects: a dinner dress and a jupe-culotte evening ensemble.

Yep, you read that right. I wore pants to a ball.

Dowager Countess Grantham, queen of the judgmental side-eye

A pant-ed outfit seemed appropriate for this ball in particular, because it was paired with a women's suffrage rally (more on that soon) and it was our "Chelmsford Abbey Ball." A Poiret jupe-culotte outfit definitely fit with those themes!

look! my legs are separate entities!

all of the dramatic poses!

While I was researching jupe-culotte ensembles from the 1910s, I noticed a few trends I liked: metallic embellishments, stripes up the leg, over-robes (which I didn't end up making, but want to!), and elbow-length narrow sleeves.

the green  ensemble in the back

Poiret with model

But I have to admit that my favorites weren't actually Poiret.

Callot Seurs, 1913 (LACMA via American Duchess)

French postcard, 1911 (via)

Or in the case of Lady Sybil's season one costume, not even an original piece from the teens.

I ended up using a new source for materials for this project: a sari. I found a beautiful silk one on eBay that was being sold as-is (there were some damaged spots in the embroidery and some sun fading). It was such a great find! The silk is a dusty purple color with bronze sequins and gold, bronze, and copper couched embroidery patterns. I adjusted how I cut my pieces to use the embellishments to my advantage, which had the added advantage of meaning I didn't have to finish a single edge! Bonus!

The pants are just two big tubes with a curve at the top where they're sewn together and then gathered into the waist and ankle. The waist is cotton, and there's a structural cotton bodice that the embellished sari fabric is sewn to (and then also gathered into the waist). The sleeves are basically rectangles where half the rectangle is sewn into a tube and the other half is attached to the front and back of the bodice. After attaching the sari fabric, I added a pleated gold silk waistband to break up the purple a little bit.

sorry, ignore the messy house...in progress snap of the pants and sleeves mounted on the cotton bodice

In the end I was really happy with the way this turned out! I have to admit, it was really weird wearing pants--both because normally I would be wearing a ballgown at a ball, but also because I don't wear pants in normal life. But also fun! I especially loved the way the pants moved when I danced.

And look! There's evidence of it!

blurry, but I'm dancing!

fluffy pants butt!

my hairband is leftover gold silk from the waistband

 

And just like Lady Grantham, Quinn judged my scandalous attire!

"look at her! in pants!"

"I don't think pants will ever catch on"

Being Daisy Buchanan

The last weekend of August I attended a super fun 1920s weekend with some friends, and it turned out to be the motivation I needed to not only get sewing again, but also to dust off my camera and get shooting. We picnicked, swan, played croquet and mah jong, met some awesome people, and charleston-ed our hearts out!

our venue was built in 1915, so perfect for 20s! this image is from a tour book from the period

It was a really perfect way to end the summer (and it really was the end...I started grad school a few days later!), and I don't think I can capture it accurately in words. Instead, here is a giant (really, really giant) photo post!

waiting in line

our picnic setup. I love my giant umbrella!

ready to go swimming! We each made a 1920s bathing suit

Antonia knitted hers!

shooting film! Much braver than me.

the only pictures of me are on land, but if you can't tell from my drowned poodle hair I really did go swimming! The water was gloriously cool for the hot day.

we're goofs

splash fight!

I finally put sleeves on the white yachting dress I started a year ago...whoops

mah jong and afternoon refhreshments

a different game I can't remember the name of (but rules very similar to mah jong!) after dinner

serendipitously coordinated in dragon pajamas for morning croquet! The set I'm wearing is original (something I don't typically do, because originals are so delicate--in fact, these started to shred when I was wearing them. I've photoshopped them back together here.) and made of lovely red satin. I plan to lift a pattern from it so I can make a new pair I won't mind running amok in. 

croquet takes teamwork

The Wolverine Jazz Band! They were so great!! And joined by a fabulous vocalist (and our fearless dance teacher) who was amplified via megaphone

And the B&Ws:

ok, it's not black and white, but I added little corners so I'm counting it in the special ones

my dinner dress

Of course, I managed not to get a single picture of any dancing! Luckily my friends were more on top of things than I was. Here's a video one of them took of a charleston--I'm the blur in gray at the very beginning.

#gatsbyontheisles #charstondance

A video posted by Julia (@julia_rampone) on Sep 6, 2015 at 12:26pm PDT

Now all I need is a yellow car to crash! Or maybe not.

Rectangles + Triangles = Dress!

It's rare that I attend an event where I won't be dancing or playing croquet or climbing rocks or lugging equipment, so I don't have many occasions where it's remotely reasonable to consider something with a train. But recently I attended a 20s weekend event with a dinner, and since the dinner was separate from the dancing (and there was time to change in between), I could wear a dress with a train! So even though it was entirely unreasonable, I had visions of trained evening gowns floating through my head. Like these:

embroidered evening gown, c.1920

House of Worth, c1925

Then while doing research for an entirely different project, I found this Poiret from 1921. It was the last straw that broke my "don't buy more fabric or start stupid projects" willpower, and with a whole Saturday in front of me (t-minus seven days until the event) off to the fabric store I went!

"robe sabat" by Paul Poiret, 1921

back view of train

I didn't want to exactly copy this dress, but rather draw heavy inspiration from it. I did find a very very close match for the velvet (although I think mine is slightly redder than Poiret's), so my color combination is similar (orangey-red, white, and gold).
As I mentioned in my previous post, Poiret was known for draping and using rectangles as the base for his designs, which meant that I could use a very easy base and then experiment on my dress form from there until I found a look I liked. This was a great fit for my schedule (which never happens! hooray!), as I got most of the measuring/cutting done that Saturday and then could drape/pin/tack down haphazardly throughout the week when I had time.

draping the bodice (I pinned the train on to try and mimic the final weight from the shoulders as I played with the shoulder pleats)

adding sleeves

 Overall this was a pretty smooth project (yay rectangles!), but when I was ready to add sleeves I was running low on fabric (which I suppose is good, since I was totally guessing on yardage and ended up being pretty spot on). I ended up going with a curved triangle shape rather than the long rectangles on the original, which maximized the fabric I had left and kept with the vaguely oriental shape of the dress. Except then I hated the sleeves! I felt like I was wearing a 1920s monk/medieval princess fancy dress costume, rather than an elegant evening gown. Whoops.

draping the back

I didn't have enough material to re-make the sleeves, so in the end I left them. After wearing this to dinner, I think I like them after all.

tasseled sleeves and a train!

The heavy velvet was lovely to wear, and trains are always fun. This entire dress (except for the triangular sleeves) is just rectangles draped into shape, but it flowed elegantly behind me as I wandered around. Hooray! I will say, though, that when you have to get up and walk about the dining room trains start to become way less reasonable...I spent a lot of time trying to avoid dropped food. Worth it! ELEGANCE!

train!

trying to sit elegantly

Although this project was a little slapdash, I'm really happy with it. I actually don't have any fixes I need to make! I do want to find a source for some long fringe for the waist, but that's pretty minor.

This was a silly project, but it turns out what I needed to get a boost back into sewing after my crazy summer was some Poiret--not a period or aesthetic I'm usually drawn to, but maybe that's what made it work. Hooray, novelty!

I just really love trains on stairs