The Hats of Downton Abbey Season 5

It's been a while since I did a good Downton Abbey post. So it's about time for one! I've warmed considerably towards 20s fashions lately. And I adore hats so hat's it is today.

I've always adored the cute 20s close fitting cloche hats. I think that they are flattering on just about anyone.

Plus they tend to be rather easy to find in modern reproductions. You can always retrim a store bought hat to look more period or to match your outfit.

And, of course, a bob goes perfectly with a cloche!

Don't have short hair? Never fear! Plenty of ladies faked the fashionably bob by pulling their hair into a low bun at the back of the neck. Wear with or without fingerwaves for a smashing 20s look!

While wool cloches were rather popular, straw ones are perfect for summer.

Don't be afraid of fabulous trims! A multicolored ribbon on a neutral colored hat will go with so many outfits.

 Neutrals like black or dark red will go with many different outfits. The idea of a pop of color is not new.

Go with a matching hat for a classically put together look too!

Do you have a favorite hat from season 5?

Dressing Downton Take 2

You may have guessed from all of the late Edwardian inspiration that's been popping up lately (and from this post), but there is going to be some Edwardian sewing going on here! My previous Dressing Downton efforts were mostly modern or modernized a bit with the costume documentation part dying a sad death after my laptop died and I lost all of the photos I had collected. :(

In 2013, there will be (more) historically accurate costuming going on and still some costume inspiration from the show as I decide what lovelies I want to make. And, as with any good historical costume, I'll be starting from the inside and working my way out!

Phase 1: Undergarments

The thing about the Edwardians is that they wore gobs of layers and many of these layers were covered in ruffles and lace. These would include:

• chemise and drawers (open or closed)
• or combinations which were a chemise and drawers sewn together at the waist
• corset
• corset cover with bust improving ruffles if needed
• early brassier 
• stockings

I was going to draft up a set from The Edwardian Modiste even though it was from the 1900s rather than the 1910s since all of the patterns I found (like the above one from Truly Victorian) were from pre-1910 anyways but I finally found a combination pattern from 1913 so all I'll have to draft up is the corset cover. I've also found a great pattern from an early bra that I've been muslining.

Phase 2: Corset

Source

I seriously considered joining in on the 1911 corset sew-along hosted by Bridges on the Body last January, but I decided to buy my Astoria's instead. I'll be using a free pattern by Festive Attyre based on an extant mid-1910s corset from her collection (her finished corset from this pattern above). And I'll be using bits from each site to help me make my corset because you can never have too much help when making something you've never made before! I'm planning on going the whole nine yards and using coutil and steel boning for this corset.

Phase 3: Clothes

I'm currently planning 3 outfits to make before costume college: day separates, day dress and an evening dress for the gala. I have loads of ideas for this part but I'm sure that they'll change before I get this far! At the moment I'm in love with Mary's gold evening gown above!

Costume College: Friday

Phew! I made it home in one piece with all my luggage (but that's a story for another day). From your comments, it looks like you enjoyed your selection of period costume drama goodness. Hopefully, you still have enough in you for more costumes!

Alas, I didn't get any pictures on Thursday so we're starting on Friday. I'll scour the interweb for Thursday pics or take some outfit shots later, but for now on to Friday!

Friday was my Edwardian/Downton Abbey day! I wore my Edith's black floral blouse with a new skirt.

The skirt is Butterick 9682 from 1915 which is available from Past Patterns. It came with a hand drawn copy of the pattern and a photo copy of the original directions (which were pretty sketchy). I had some issues with the waist band-first off, my grading was off and it came out too big, and second, the closures were really complicated-6 hooks and eyes and two snaps in 3 separate closures.

But Edwardian closures are supposed to be complicated and it works so I'm cool with that. It's super fun to wear and has POCKETS!!

Plus the whole thing has almost 70 buttons on it but, thankfully, they are all decorative. I purchased them from Yummy Treasures on etsy.

And I wore my Astorias from American Duchess. I wore them all day and they were super comfy. I also got to meet Lauren R., American Duchess while I was wearing these!

Friday evening was the ice cream social so we all headed back to our rooms for a quick costume change.

I wore my Lady Mary's Garden Party dress with faux pearls, vintage crochet gloves and my Astorias again.

The lovely Ginger of Scene in the Past in a fabulous regency dress.

Beth of V is for Vintage in a darling Edwardian nautical ensemble.

The Edwardian gals together.

Lauren M. of Wearing History in an amazing plaid bustle dress. Check out her plaid matching skills!

Isn't she a vision?

And it wouldn't be Costume College without some silliness.

If you've ever wondered how to get your train to look great for a picture, this is how you do it.

I was bad and didn't actually take any pictures at the Ice Cream Social or the market place grand opening which was right afterwords but here's one of me I found on Flickr.

Dressing Downton: Daisy's Purple Dress

Despite having pretty much one dress in season one, Daisy has a pretty cute purple dress in season two.

It has a really cute collar.

I'm sure it's made of a sturdy fabric to stand up to kitchen work.

When unrolled, we can see that her sleeves have cuffs that match her collar.

It has a nice wide skirt to allow for easy movement. This dress would be a fabulous every day house dress! The Crawley sisters may have dibs on glamor but the servants sure have more practical garments.

Summer Sewing and Knitting plans

I haven't posted any sewing plans lately so I thought I'd do some to help me get motivated. It's gotten hot lately and I need summer clothes.

First up: Circle skirt

I adore circle skirts and have decided that I need another one. My husband surprised me one day a few weeks ago by bringing me home some lovely fabric. It's a quilting cotton, but that's fine for circle skirts and because it's cotton, it will breathe and that's perfect for summer. Despite the length and gobs of fabric, I find them actually quite cool especially with a crinoline (or pooffer as they are called in my house) since they are light and keep the skirt fabric off your legs. Plus, there's all that space for air circulation.

Next: Dressing Downton Half Circle Skirt

This was supposed to be my May Dressing Downton project, but that didn't happen. I'm planning on doing a half circle skirt again but shorter since the appropriately deep red fabric in my stash is not long enough for a full length skirt. I'm almost 100% sure that Mary's skirt is not a half circle skirt. It has some kind of seam that goes part way down the front. I'm thinking it might be some kind of yoke??? All I know is that it is there. I got the blue ray of season 2 and you can see everything! (Well, almost everything.) Anyways, my fabric is just the right shade to go with my new 40s hat and I just bought a great 40s sheer blouse so this project is going to be a 40s inspired Downton Abbey look.

Thirdly: blouses

I've been toying with the idea of playing with my back buttoning blouse pattern and switching it up to be front buttoning. I have some stash fabrics that would work well with this. I also have some fabric for another Wearing History Smooth Sailing Blouse.

Next: Costume College things

I have one skirt I need to make for Costume College to go with my Dressing Downton blouses. I think I've decided against making a corset because I will need a new one for my Renaissance dress and I don't think I'll have time/finances for two new corsets.

More: Renaissance dress

This needs a new corset plus everything needs taken in plus my original plans for this dress which include more trim, interchangeable sleeves and maybe a new underskirt. And there is another accessory/sleeve bit that came with this pattern that I do want to make eventually. We'll see how much of this actually happens but I do want it to be wearable! I also wanted to make a simple skirt and top to wear under my corset for a more peasant-y look but I doubt that'll happen this year.

Lastly: Mending/UFOs

I got through a lot of my mending/resizing during Me-Made May but I still have a few things that need work. Also I have a 50s blouse and 40s dress UFOs that need finishing.

And I've also been pondering my next knitting project. I've been pouring over my giant book of vintage knitting fabulousness (aka A Stitch in Time Vol 2) for my next knitting project. I'm torn between wanting to try a more summery project or get started early on something more fall appropriate since it probably won't be done till near September anyways. My goal is 4 big knitting projects this year so this next one will be my July/August/September project. Here are some that have been catching my eye lately:

Dinah's Lacy Jumper for a fun summer project. I've decided that I really like lace work (and really hate tiny ribbing).

The Lavenda Droplet Jumper is lovely for fall. Plus it has the benefit of being mostly stockinette stitch.

The Jan sweater has been a popular one with many knitters and looks just delightful.

Simple- But So Attractive is a favorite of mine, but with the long sleeves this would be a major project and I'm not sure I'm up for that yet.

The Tailored Cape Stole would be a practical and (hopefully) easy project.

I've still got some work to do on my Ribbon Threaded Jumper but I've got all the separate pieces done so I just need to finish knitting the yoke and do all of the finishing and sewing up.

Lavinia's Sweetheart Dress

So, I watched the entire season 2 of Downton Abbey yesterday and got inspired to get Dressing Downton back up and running again! Today's dress is a lovely black ensemble worn by Lavinia.

It features a sweetheart neckline and cute little shear sleeves.

It's fitted to the hips and has a gathered, layered skirt. In this shot, it looks like the fabric has some kind of metallic print on it. What a LBD!

While watching, I was struck by this dress' similarity to Sewaholic's latest pattern- The Cambie dress! The great thing about this pattern is that you could make it as fancy or simple as you like!

Edwardian Millinery Adventures

I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some lovely millinery adventures when I made Mary's Garden Party dress.

Mary wears two hats with this dress. One at the flower show and this one at the garden party. It has an asymmetrical brim, some decorative ribbon and felt flowers.

I picked up this hat for $15 at Charming Charlie. I really liked the asymmetric brim and it was perfect for retrimming.

The original decorations were lightly hot glued on and came off easily.

Next, I hot glued on my own ribbon.

Then I made my own felt flowers using Gertie's tutorial. I made one from 2" wide, one from 1 1/2" wide, two from 1" wide, and four from 1/2" wide (two from shorter length and two from longer).

There wasn't any particular pattern to my arrangement. I just kept moving them around till I liked them.

The roses were super easy to make. I'm usually terrible at this kind of thing but I was really happy with them.

Lady Mary's Garden Party Dress

Happy Easter! Today I premiered my version of Lady Mary's garden party dress!

I used Vogue 8648 as a starting point and then drafted away. I really wanted to capture all of the different directions of the stripes so I changed a lot! Here's what I did:

• Raised the neckline of the front
• Drafted the waist band on to the skirt
• Lengthened the skirt
• Changed the shape of the skirt from pencil to more aline
• Drafted the back bodice from 4 pieces to 2
• Moved the zipper from the center back to the side
• Made the sleeves less poofy
• Raised the back neckline
• FBA
• Added some extra space by the hips
• Adjusted the cutting layout so that my stripes lined up with Mary's dress
• back-all cut on the bias
• center front bodice-horizontal
• sleeves-horizontal
• rest of front- vertical

The only pieces that I ended up cutting straight from the original were the bodice side front and the sleeves. But I really wanted mine just like Mary's so I put in the extra effort.

 

I also bought a cloche type hat and retrimmed it to be like hers! It will be getting it's own post later this week.

I was able to use a piece of my great-grandma's lace, which was really cool!  It's not in perfect condition but it was perfect for this dress.

A better shot of the hat.

It was very pretty out today and just lovely weather for this dress.

Hey look! Matching chevrons! :)

The dress came out a bit big in the waist has more ease at the waist to give a more period shape and is therefore very comfortable and good for days when I pig out get served lunch at 12 pm and then again at 2 pm. I just wish my Astorias were here! And I need a pair of crochet gloves. It would have been perfect then.