Jessica Sews | Chambray Refashion Dress

Guys, this is one of my favorite sewing projects of the year and I’m so excited to tell you all about it. A couple weekends ago I was revisiting my spring outfit ideas page on Pinterest and on a whim did a search to see if one particular vintage sewing pattern (Butterick 6079) may be floating around on ebay or etsy. In a stroke of amazing luck, I tracked down the exact pattern I wanted in my size! Plus it was uncut and never used, so for six bucks I placed my order and waited patiently for it to arrive.

In the meantime I did some sketching and brainstormed ideas for fabric to use on the project. I’ve been wanting to do some seventies stye prairie dresses a la Gunne Sax, so the idea of using little ditty print cottons was one that would have definitely vibed with the pattern cover illustrations. As I jotted down ideas I started to think that chambray could be pretty, maybe in various shades. Since I’ve been thrifting multiple times a week lately, I also knew there were a lot of plus sized skirts just waiting to be used for fabric.

I visited both Goodwill stores in my town and bought four different skirts, all size 18 or larger. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but I picked up two of the same skirt (one slightly more faded than the other)- one at the east side location and the other across town.

While I waiting for my mail carrier to deliver the pattern, I started picking apart the skirts. The elastic waistband on one had amazing depth from color loss after washing (that’s what I used for the top band and straps!) The pair of matching skirts had these tiny eighth inch pin tucks and a nice one inch hem that I picked out. Although I didn’t have any full yards of fabric, by sewing panels back together in an alternating triangle pattern (hem up, hem down, hem up) I was able to get plenty of usable fabric with the grain running straight. I even picked off the back pockets of the darkest chambray which you can see closely if you look! I love this detail!

Once I was able to open my pattern and start cutting I ended up finishing the dress in the same day. I mean, as I saw it coming together I just couldn’t put it down! This turned out even better than my greatest expectations. I love that I refashioned and upcycled second hand pieces, used thread and notions I already had and got use from a vintage pattern that would have otherwise sat in someone’s attic for years. I am so proud that my self made wardrobe is at least half made from repurposed fabric and truth be told, it’s the only way for me to get really unique and high quality fabric where I live.

Time Traveling | 18th Century Dinner Party

Over the weekend I felt like a straight up royal, all dressed up in a 1770s pink silk gown. Adam and I drove to Ohio’s oldest hotel, the Golden Lamb, for an intimate dinner party with guests dressed in their best 18th century ensembles. We had such a great time and loved meeting historical fashion enthusiasts! And seeing their gowns and suits close up was a thrill! Many thanks to our gracious hostess Amber, who organized our event!

Let me tell you about my look from head to toe! I loved every single step of this project - researching the history, finding inspiration, sewing and especially wearing it. If you’d asked me a year ago if dressing up in Georgian finery would be my favorite hobby… well, I probably would have believed you. I love it!

I started getting ready for the night by putting on my sleeveless shift and embroidered stays. These were the only items that went over my head and I wanted to have those on before I started my elaborate hair style. I worked with 3 day dirty hair which had already been powdered a couple times. I divided my hair into a front and back section and to create the height and used a skein of yarn (thanks for the tip Yunna!) and pinned my hair over it and directly behind it. Once I was happy with the coverage and height (covering all of the yarn can be a tad fiddly), I pulled my remaining hair into a low bun. Then, I clipped in a hairpiece that had been previously wet set into five curls. Adam helped me pin those curls over the edges so the base of the hairpiece was invisible.

After a vigorous spritz of hairspray, I lightly powdered all of my hair. The photos don’t quite capture the coverage, but it looked awesome! Some might wonder - why was grey/white hair a trend in the 18th century? From my research I believe it first started with the use of wigs by royalty in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many believe it was to cover the baldness brought about by STDs (seriously) and then evolved into a fashion trend. White wigs were the most expensive and thus the look of white hair became most fashionable. Pastels blue, pink and purple powders were also on trend. A tax levied on hair powder at the end of the 18th century helped it fall out of style. I really look forward to expanding my knowledge of historically accurate hair styles but I really loved what I came up with for this occasion!

For makeup I simply powdered my face, did a berry colored lip and used the same lipstick to dab onto my cheeks. I did a quick swipe of mascara and was done!

Before I put on my gown, I dressed in additional layers to add more volume under my gown and petticoat. First, a simple white quilted cotton petticoat worn with a false rump stuffed to add more fluff to the back of my dress. Then I tucked my sheer fichu into the top of my stays (which can also be tucked into your petticoat at the waist… but I needed my bodice to lay perfectly flat and didn’t want any of the fichu edges showing underneath!) At this time I also had on white stockings and my American Duchess Kensington buckled shoes.

Next up - the gown! I used six yards of pink silk to make both the petticoat (underskirt) and gown. On the petticoat there is a 7” ruffle with scalloped and pinked edges sewn to the hem. The dress has ruched sleeve cuffs and trim around the neckline and center front opening. At the neck and sleeve edges I also placed a narrow sheer ruffle. The matching petticoat, also called a ditto, is intentionally short - those Georgians loved to show a little ankle!

At my waist I have a 2” wide band of brocade silk, which actually came from my grandmother’s wedding dress (see her wedding photos here). Me, my sister and all of my girl cousins have had a piece of her dress for our weddings (I wrapped mine around my bouquet). I was rushed on what to use and wanted silk so I asked my mom if there was enough of this fabric at home to make a simple belt. She stitched it up for me and handed it off as we headed out the door for our road trip. No, it’s not perfectly 1770s in motif but it looks great, it’s special and perfect to me!

Lastly I pinned on a corsage made of springy faux flowers. I’ve seen this in a lot of portraits and illustrations and I love the way it add dimension and color to my overall look.

And that’s it! We had such a wonderful time and I’m already on the hunt for a venue closer to home so I might host something similar in the future!

Inspired By | 18th Century Pink

If we’re friends on Instagram, you may have seen some photos of my weekend journey time traveling to a historic hotel in Ohio with Adam for an 18th century dinner party (yes, it was amazing!) Before I share those photos, I wanted to break down my inspiration for the project and share some images that guided me through my most recent costume adventure!

When I saw the photo above left, I knew I wanted to re-create a similar gown. My first historical project was for a daytime event and made from Red chintz and blue stripes, so for a dress of the same era, but for the evening, I wanted to go 180 in terms of materials. Both are Italian style gowns, but as you’ll see soon, the end look is quite different! So the photo on the left - that’s the main image I kept going back to when thinking out this costume. I love the lush sheen of the silk, the matching petticoat and trim, the soft sheer fichu (neck scarf) and the beautifully arranged floral accents. Six yards of a pink and cream shot silk (one color running each way) later and I was ready to make the 18th century evening gown of my dreams.

As I prepped for the event and tried to nail down styling, I decided to re-watch one of my favorite costume films of all time - Sophia Coppola’s 2006 Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst. Fun fact - I was very excited to see this film when it came out and was actually on a work trip to Paris when I saw it in theaters there! It was even a week or so before it debuted in the US. If you follow my stories you know I am the kind of person that gets a lot of JOY out of things I love, so just imagine what it was like to see this movie on my first trip to France! IT WAS AMAZING!

But back to the film! I was rewatching and noticed the dress - my dress - or at least the dress I wanted to recreate. A little googling later and a very fun tumblr called Recycled Movie Costumes and I realized the original inspiration dress above was originally created for Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. The practical side of me loves that this gown got multiple lives in different movies (also worn in a Royal Affair). While my gown isn’t a screen copy of the one you see here, it definitely captures the feeling. It’s also pretty historically accurate while still letting me feel like I got to make some design decisions. Guys! This was a dream project and I’m already imagining how I might rework the dress for future occasions!

For my hair I also turned to inspiration images - some modern (like the editorials at the top of this post) and some from portraits of the time like the image above and to the left. For my hairdo the main elements I knew I wanted to incorporate were feathers, flowers, shape and powder. Creating a somewhat similar look too a lot of trial and error, but was majorly worth it. I felt like it was pretty historically accurate but I still felt beautiful wearing it.

I also ended up buying a rose gold wig and styling it time and time again only to end up powdering and poofing my own hair instead - a last minute decision I’m really happy with in hindsight. I will say the wig I bought was amazing quality and not expensive, so I hope I have the chance to wear it another time.

So that’s a little about how I got inspired for this project and this week I’ll share some photos of myself all decked out at the event! It was raining cats and dogs, but Adam worked his magic and got some pretty shots - I can’t wait to edit them and show you!

Jessica Sews | Beach Comber Blouse + Dawn Jeans

Greetings friends! I wish I could say we’re still in sunny Florida, but we’ve traded sand castles for snowmen back in Indiana. It’s coming down right now as I write this, so I’ll just transport myself back to ocean breezes and beach combing with my kids.

For this trip, I made all my clothes. Ha! It feels so awesome to say that. I made all of my clothes! Minus a few knits and a swim top (I need more practice with stretch fabrics!) what you see over the next five posts are all things I’ve stitched up myself.

So without further ado, here are the details of my outfit from top to bottom!

The hat I’m wearing is an older style I made myself. I blocked the straw onto a custom brim and crown and finished it off with a vintage tie that I doctored up into a hat band. Fun fact: Stars + Field and all of it’s social media handles were originally for a hat company I started by the same name. This all happened at the time I had Felix and maybe I should have known having a newborn and trying to make handmade hats wasn’t going to occur simultaneously. Motherhood won out, but when I quit What I Wore I started using the Stars + Field name for my new blog. Viola! Here we are!

The shirt I’m wearing was by far my favorite of the trip! It’s a slight modification from McCalls’s 7387, view A. I cut the back using the pattern piece given, but did an inverted box pleat instead. I love the way the stripes form weird patterns because of it! On the front, I skipped the hidden button placket so I could do some fun covered buttons that match up perfectly. Speaking of! I worked really hard to make those stripes match up in every place I could and the end result was so worth it. This is an awesome pattern and I plan to make it up in white eyelet next!

I don’t have good close ups on the jeans (Megan Nielsen Dawn Jeans), but I ended up using the same pattern to make three more pieces, which you’ll see in more detail in the next posts. I also have some video on my Instagram highlights if you want to see them in motion. I LOVE THIS PATTERN so much! And I love sewing jeans SO MUCH. Part of that comes from a great cut and secondly, the amazing instructions. Megan has a Design Diary Sew Along and I used while putting these together. It’s so handy for visual learning and I had my laptop out right next to my sewing machine. In some of my later versions I used a zipper fly - I really don’t like putting in zippers - but the sew along simplified it beyond belief (many portions are written by another sewer I follow - Holly - she’s great!) These jeans made of some really heavy Cone Mills denim I had in my stash and done with matching thread. I cut the tapered leg in my regular size and did an exposed button fly. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

This vacation capsule came together in three weeks of sewing whenever I possibly could. In contrast to my historical sewing, this stuff goes so much faster! I can make a pair of jeans in a day and ditto with these simple tops. I am so hooked on making my own wardrobe - I don’t know if I can go back to buying my clothes from the store. Knits are tricky and will take me some practice but I have some ideas I want to play around with there. Now it’s just a matter of finding the time. Spring and summer are really busy for us outside, but longer daylight hopefully means later nights… of sewing!

Please let me know what questions you might have in the comments or on instagram!