chemise a la reine, take #2

[jennylafleur]

Golly - you guys are just a fount of wisdom with bustle queries - thanks so much for the help. It's great to know I have somewhere to go if I get stuck on my first foray into the Victorian! *hugs*

I couldn't stand all the post CC productiveness on the friends list so I actually worked on some costuming last night... or that was the plan. I got as far as washing, ironing (the fabric from LA that needed it) and rolling it all on bolts for storage. It was the ironing that sucked up my time but for once I enjoyed it, the time allowing me a chance to paw and stroke my lovelies... *ahem*

The actual costuming content of the night that I accomplished was to take apart my chemise dress. All the linings, straps, sleeves and gathers are now apart. It looks a little sad. I've decided to pull out a panel or two as well (looking at the pictures 7 panels was a bit much) but after that I can start putting it back together again... this time the correct way. I'm pretty confident I can use the same fabric (barring issues with the armholes) although I might lose a bit of the train. Well, it turned out longer than I expected anyway, not a good graces length really.

I'm also thinking I should tea-dye my fabric. *I see you laughing* I can't help it that white isn't my best color!! I just loved Kendra’s pale peach gown. *sigh* What color dye would give peach, watered down orange? Of course a colored petticoat underneath might do the trick too. :>

Comments

Tea-dyeing

[jehanni.livejournal.com]

In my experience, tea itself gives a grayish or cool brown (though I believe it depends greatly on your tea: Hibiscus or rose-hip will give you pink, though I don't know how long it lasts or what tint it fades to); coffee will give you a warmer brown that stays brown. Last year or the year before I read a treatise from someone who tried tea-dyeing with all sorts of herbal teas, abnd reported the varied tints that resulted. I'll see if I can find the reference.

Of course, none of these is exactly "peachy" :-)

Jonatha

[girliegirl32786.livejournal.com]

*snicker* Tea dye it! *giggle* ;)
I totally want to make a new chemise dress. I just need another good excuse!

[maidm.livejournal.com]

For a play I once had to dye a pair of pants to match a cream-coloured jacket. I had read that regular tea gives a reddish-brown colour to the fabric, not cream. So I used a mixture of about 2 parts orange pekoe, and one part green tea. This made it a lovely cream colour. So I say grab some scraps of your fabric, some different colours of tea, and experiment until you find a colour you like.

Or, just use a watered-down fabric dye in a colour you want.

[jennil.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the rub-it-in-the-dirt option. ;P