Upcoming Photoshoot + Chemise

I'm so excited to announce that next weekend my designs will be involved in a photoshoot in Marin County by the wonderful Aura O'Brien.

There will be several other designers shot over the 2 day costume and clothing extravaganza, and I was so excited when she contacted me to see if I would like to be involved!

I spent the last week scrounging up my different half finished projects and met her yesterday to drop off my things since I'll be out of town and unable to attend.

One costume she'll capture is the houndstooth corset and fascinator, though I needed to provide something to be worn under the corset since it is so low cut. Therefor... a quick trip to JoAnns and a search through my pattern collection, plus 6 hours of cutting/pinning/sewing created this...

I used Simplicity Pattern # 9769, "Misses Authentic Civil War Undergarments" and sewed their chemise with only a few diversions from the given instructions.

First, it recommended flat-felling the seams, which is a couture technique of encasing the seam alloance within iteself, so as to provide a clean and beautiful inside of the garment as well as out. But since I was in a bit of a rush I simply used my serger to machine finish all of the interior seams. Sure, it's not as painstakingly beautiful, but it's clean and does the job!

I also chose a poly Shantung instead of the recommended cotton because my chemise is acting as an outer-garment instead of as underwear. I would have loved to use a silk shantung, but alas my funds don't provide for such luxuries just yet! Using the flat, slubby side of the fabric, I think the chemise turned out beautifully!

I also added a pearl button at center front instead of the recommended hook and eye, ans shorted the chemise to shirt length instead of dress length because it will be tucked into a skirt anyway, and I didn't want to buy the extra fabric.