This is currently consuming my time so it will therefore become blogging fodder. A dress made it's appearance on stage in 2007 along with my children it was their first Thin Ice production, Oliver. We had found in our collection an antique item, late 1800's, that fit our Mrs Sowerberry. It was a black silk and really lovely but we discovered as rehearsals progressed that it was a bit fragile, required daily repair, and there were some sort of mites living in it, as our young actress daily came away with new bites after wearing the dress. Yes, we made her wear it, yes we cleaned it, yes it continued to be a problem. Needless to say it has not made another appearance on stage, but ended up sealed in a bag hoping to suffocate any other critters or eggs that might still reside in it's folds.
Just recently we moved the costume collection and unearthed the dress from it's bag, and whatever died left the dress musty and moldy. I said I would take it home to launder it. I started with a cold water vinegar bath, just soaking, hoping that would kill off the mold before I washed it. Well lo and behold the water turned jet black instantly and rinsing didn't help it continued to turn even plain water black. The fabric was actually disintegrating. I removed as much water as I could, as gently as I could and hung the dress, or what remained of it to dry in the sun.
With no hope of ever using the item again as a costume and because it was a beautiful dress I decided to deconstruct the thing and make a pattern from the pieces. The bodice was fully lined and the lining fabric was a cotton that proved a little sturdier that the silk dress fabric. So between outer and inner pieces I hope to come up with something that will make constructing a like item in the future possible.
Deconstruction has proved interesting and it appears that our dress had a history before it made it to the big time. I have also learned a little about the historical dress construction and need to study up a bit to find out about materials. But it has also explained how Polly, in The Five Little Peppers and How they Grew, could actually save and reuse thread. I began using only the "Good" thread years ago but now know it is a poor substitute for thread used 100 years ago. The cotton stuff used in this dress was made to last, they also use a cording to make mini piping that was a cotton twist heavier than button and carpet thread but not as heavy as a string. Of all materials that were used in this dress the thread was what was in the best shape.
I found the bodice had been interfaced, only around the neck, not the back where I would expect reinforcement of the placket for the hook and eye closure. There also appeared to be a correct way to sew on hook and eyes, all were identically stitched in place. The sewing in this garment was amazing hand work so fine and uniform on a couple of seams I thought I was looking at machine stitching. That interfacing though, I believe was a light cotton batting, seemed to be a perfect location for critters to hang out unnoticed. It was powdery in spots and I had to scrape parts of it off the dress lining. So I will only imagine what interfacing pieces should look like for my future pattern. I did take photos. Will post later.
So if you aren't bored to tears at this point I will continue to write about the dress, join me if you wish, or go away, your choice.
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