Periods Of Disaster

A blog of terrible period sewing. Note: we only shame those trying to make money off of their crimes against quality.

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Returning Soon!

Life has been madcap lately! But I have all sorts of new disasters to share, and will implement a schedule soon!

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Westworld, Ho!

Ducklings, today your humble bloggess is going to rant about corsets.

I wear a corset. When able, I wear it 23/7, removing for showers, baths, and exercise. I am very fond of corsets. I am very picky about corsets. And there are certain things a corset should be.

Even an off-the-rack corset for daily wear should be cut in a manner that mirrors the shape of your own body, and there are many wonderful options available these days. Similarly, a costume corset meant for short-term, occasional wear, should be cut in a way that balances the natural silhouette of the body with the historical silhouette the wearer is going for. Timeless Trends and Mystic City are excellent options for daily wear off-the-rack, and Redthreaded is the current queen of affordable historical costume corsetry. Beyond that, there are a myriad of skilled corsetiers who will make something exactly to your measurements and visions, too numerous to list here.

I love corsets. Dearly. So it kind of hurts me to hold up the following example as the “expectations” portion of today’s post, because it’s really not what I would consider a well-fitted corset. But it is well-made for what it is.

This is a costume Dolores Abernathy wears in Westworld - basically, it’s her regular costume, with the bodice removed, showing her chemise and corset. The corset hurts me, deeply, because of its terrible tubular shape and straight top, and the fact that the busk is nowhere near flush with her body. But, it’s a pretty costume nonetheless, with a pale blue brocade pattern on the corset.

So let’s see what’s being sold as a Dolores costume.

Sigh. Dears, this is everything I hate in a corset. But first, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that it looks nothing like the previous corset. Pointed top and bottom like a ribbon corset, fully blue brocade, it just isn’t Dolores’s corset.

Now, onto why I want to burn it on a pyre.

First of all, the “points” at the top and bottom of the busk are so poorly constructed and turned-out, I feel like they didn’t even try to poke anything pointy in there at all to push the fabric through, nor did they press it. Second, the laces do not match it, and they’re tied around the front, which is an amateur move, and not all that great for the corset itself. Third, it’s clearly not made to her shape, as it’s merely a gentle tube that provides no discernible waist at all. Fourth, it’s not tied tightly at all, but it’s already puckering like nobody’s business. Yikes.

And finally, heavens to murgatroyd, if you’re going to make up an example to post online for a made-to-measure garment, post a well-executed example. This not only has a mended tear next to the topmost fastening in the busk, but the third fastening is poking out much farther than it should. This is not just an example of a poorly-shaped modern corset, it’s a poorly-constructed one as well.

I could obtain a white or blue brocade, off-the-rack corset that looks better and fits better than this for less than the $150+ price tag of this blue meanie. This, my dears, is not something to waste your money on, even if you want, especially if you want, a Westworld cosplay.

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Less Than Fantastic

Forgive me for taking so long to post again, dears. I’ve been dealing with a whirlwind at work. I turned to my wife and asked what I should post tonight, and she said I should find something 1920s. One thing led to another, and I found myself staring at Queenie Goldstein.

I haven’t seen Fantastic Beasts, so it took me a bit to do some digging to find the actual costume in question here. I’m not going to comment on accuracy of the costume itself, just how I feel about the replica.

So here’s Queenie’s dress, on display and on her.

This is a very pretty dress. It’s well-fitted, excellent seams that are specifically geared toward the light, sheer fabric. It lays well, has interesting sleeves, and a delicate decoration around the hem.

This is...not that.

First of all, the material is completely wrong, not sheer or light at all. Secondly, the cut of the neck, the embellishments there, and the slip beneath do not match up at all with the screen. Then, of course, my pet peeve, terrible puckered seams. And to top it all off, not only do we have terrible, thick, cheap trim around the hem, but for whatever reason, we’ve added random trim to the sleeves!

To add insult to injury, it’s listed for nearly $400. No, just no. That’s less than $100 worth of fabric and CERTAINLY not almost $300 worth of work.

Queenie, I’m so sorry.

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Victorian Blues

Here we go again, my darlings.

Today we take a journey back to...perhaps, the 1890s? I can’t really tell.

This one is a bit of a doozy, to be honest.

We always start with “expectations” before we move on to grim “reality,” so let’s take a look at a few examples of what I think our seller is going for. What we’re working with, I really can’t even articulate how much of a miss it is...you’ll just have to see it. But first, some examples of things they attempted to translate into a modern reproduction.

In the 1890s and the early 1900s, there were occasionally evening gowns with thin shoulder straps, like the reproduction I will soon present. However, like these examples from the Delineator and this rather simple 1898 Jacques Doucet extant example, none of what I can find simply has the narrow straps without also having something decorative that sits off each shoulder. I include the Doucet specifically to show that simple, sparsely-trimmed gowns did exist in this period, and how they were done in a way that still appears luxurious.

One thing the reproduction (which I promise to show you soon,) does get wrong is the back - it has something of a “bustle” to it. I cannot find any examples of a bustled back and narrow straps coexisting. It seems that, if you want a bustled back, you have to go back at least to the tail end of the 1880s, like this one from Worth, dated c. 1888. This is technically an opera gown, and this seems to be the last year you see slightly bustled backs among higher-end, higher-fashion gowns. Notice the straps on this are quite thick, and don’t even really seem to function as straps, mostly for decoration.

So, onward to today’s disaster.

I don’t really know what to say about this, to be honest. It is over $300 on Etsy, pre-made, not made-to-measure. What’s worse, the seller claims it was featured in a historical fashion exhibit, which, to be perfectly honest, makes me want to throw myself on a fainting couch and sob.

It is made of silk. I sigh, heavily. The kind of people who could afford a fully silk ballgown would’ve had *underwear* with more trimming than this. I honestly feel like I’m looking at a mock-up.

There is a right way to do a thin-strapped, sparsely-trimmed 1890s gown.

This, my chickadees, is not it.

A bonus nitpick: what little trimming exists is short, white fringe. This type of extremely thin, light fringe, made of synthetic fabric, was not a thing until well into the 20th century. In fact, as the article linked to below outlines, it didn’t even exist in by the 1920s the way we today think of it. Fringe in the 1890s would’ve been thicker, much heavier, and longer, designed to help fabric drape a certain way. Not short, light, thin, and purely decorative.

If you can call this decorative.

Actually, Flappers Didn't Wear Fringed Dresses

Your flapper costume is all wrong.

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Seams to Me - Hamilton Edition

Dears, today’s post might come across as a little bit nit-picky. So let me explain myself up-front.

One of the first things my grandmother taught me when I began garment sewing was that every time you stitch, you press. I am not a fabulous garment-maker by any means, but I have produced a few good, basic pieces in my time. And whenever I make them, I probably spend twice as much time pressing them as I do actually stitching. It’s actually funny to call the practice and skill set “sewing,” in my opinion, because, at least when you’re using a machine, the actual act of stitching the fabric together is one of the least time-consuming things. Even when I’ve hand-stitched things, it might take a lot of time, but it’s one of the easiest parts of the process.

In the end, a garment is made or broken in the non-stitching work done during it’s creation.

So I’m picky about seams that look good. Seams that look like they’ve been pressed. Crisp pleats. Structured pieces, like lapels, that lay nicely, flat when they’re supposed to be flat, and all that.

So, with that in mind, let’s look at a gown.

Here are a couple of different views/versions of an Eliza Schuyler costume used on stage in Hamilton. It’s a beautiful costume, a nice, stylized version of a well-known 18th century silhouette with true attention to detail. A quick search turns up fairly faithful and well-made reproductions of this gown or another design, with off-center button detailing on the bodice, by online sellers, in the neighborhood of $500.

Here, the button bodice dress on stage, and a close-to-$500 reproduction. You’ll notice, the seams are crisp and flat.

So when I see something like this, Tumblr, for sale for more than that one? I get a little exasperated.

I’ll be honest, Tumblr, I’m confused by this seller’s 5-star rating. I did check out some other photos of other costumes they had made, and none of them were quite this awful-looking. But they were still plagued with problems that this one shows clearly - puckering seams, soggy pleats, even whole stretches of the fashion fabric with creases they couldn’t be bothered to steam out, not just when the gown is on a dress form like this, but in actual professional-looking photoshoots.

Effort, people! It’s a market, and you’re competing for people’s money. Put in some effort!

Please.

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Madame Gonzaga Regrets

Today, darlings, we have a gown that offered itself up as befitting a Renaissance lady. It particularly suggested that it was appropriate for a lady of the Gonzaga family from the 14th or 15th centuries.

Now, first of all, that is an awfully long time for a single gown to cover.

Second of all, I decided to go digging for some portraits of ladies of the Gonzaga family from those time periods.

It appears the Gonzaga family were not in any particular position of wealth or power in the 14th century, so there is no costly visual record of them. However, I was able to find this fresco of Ludovico III and his wife Barbara of Brandenburg and their children from the 15th.

Other than this, most depictions of Gonzaga ladies I have found are from the 16th and 17th centuries.

In addition, the item description states the outfit’s headwear is inspired by Isabella de’Este in particular. Here is the most noted portrait of her I could find, from the 16th century:

So let’s see how our reproduction compares.

I’m not entirely certain what to add, to be honest. I think the workmanship speaks for itself.

I will say, this is a far more accessibly-priced set at less than $250. I might even say that this is fairly priced. But is this a crime not only against historical reproductions, but also general visual appeal?

Yes. I think that is evident.

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Titanic Disaster

For our inaugural post, I’d like to share the dress that started me down this path. For the past few weeks I’ve been sharing bad historical clothing I find for sale online with close friends. Some of it is well-made but simply not period. But a lot of it is objectively terrible, things I would feel embarrassed charging for. Since the Internet is all about secondhand embarrassment, I thought I’d start sharing my finds.

We begin with the dinner dress from the film Titanic. Now, I’m not the biggest Titanic fan, and I particularly think the dinner dress looks way too 90s to be a believable 1912 gown. But at the very least, it is beautifully made and well-fitted and constructed of top-quality materials.

I have seen some truly lovely replicas of this dress over the years. This one, which is listed for over $800, is not one of them.

I am reasonably certain the “beading” on this dress is iron-on embellishments like the ones they sell at craft stores for T-shirts.

The truly sad thing about this to me is, if you want to make an expensive gown with embellishment, they sell beautiful already-beaded fabric. It’s expensive, but not out of range for a quality gown. I have to imagine there are far more people out there willing to pay $3,000 for a beautiful replica of this gown than there are willing to pay $1,000 for...this.

Tumblr, I value effort. I value quality. I value research. I value skill. But most of all, I value integrity. And I think sticking this up for sale for nearly a grand lacks a great deal of integrity.

And that is why I created this blog.