A 1940's White Suit: From Disastrous Mistake to Happy Golden Hour Part 2

In my last blog post I shared the story of losing a whole slew of photos from my memory card and the subsequent splendid re-shoot in a cornfield.

As if losing pictures of one outfit wasn't bad enough, among the photos lost in the formatted card fiasco were those of this 1940's suit featuring the same jacket.

When we found the cornfield, I noticed that just down the road was a small cluster of birch trees! They're one of my favorite types of tree and seemed like the perfect backdrop for this particular outfit! Once again... losing the photos, though an inconvenience at the time, worked in my favor to produce photos likely much better than those I had lost. I love it when a rainbow appears as a result of the rumbling storms of life! 😊

Upon completion of this jacket I discovered that with careful cutting I had enough material left for a matching 1940's style skirt!

It's amazing what a different hair-style and accessories can do to make one item of clothing look like an entirely different decade! With a vintage hat I got at an auction, a black belt, and the matching skirt, the outfit instantly transformed from 1950's to 1940's. It was a bit of a wild rush doing the flip from this suit and hairstyle to the 1950's suit and hairstyle to get both outfits photographed on the one warm sunny day in the forecast!

I selected this jacket from my wardrobe a couple Sundays ago, but ran short on time to do a proper vintage hairstyle. (Yay for daylight savings time sleep deprivation 😒) I pinned back the front of my hair in a rush and dashed out the door. I was amused and chagrined when I came home and glanced in the mirror... only to find myself staring into the face of someone who looked WAY too much like a 1990's secretary. 😖😄

Though I love this outfit, it doesn't get worn nearly as often as it deserves... A talent for spilling and tripping is not a particularly good combination with white clothes!😬

Photo-credit as always goes to my talented brother. :)

From Disastrous Mistake to Happy Golden Hour: Or A 1950's Photo-Shoot in a Cornfield

On a dull, cloudy day in November I crammed in what I thought would be the last of my fall themed photo-shoots. I pin-curled my hair the night before, set up a time to take the photos with my brother, and got up the next day ready to forge ahead with the shoot. The day turned out to be crazy! An emergency vehicle repair delayed the photo-shoot and we rushed to get the shots before an evening event, shivering in the chill weather.

What a relief! The photos were done! We DID it!

In the hustle and bustle we each thought the other had imported the photos to the computer...

A few weeks later I sat down to edit the photos, and we made the awful discovery... the photos HADN'T been transferred. The card had been formatted in preparation for an event my brother was photographing, new photos already taken, and my pictures were gone, for GOOD! All that work, gone in one fell blow...  so this is how Mr. Banks felt in Mary Poppins after the tuppence disaster...😉

A fair day was predicted in late November, so we seized the moment and rescheduled the shoot. Later that week we passed a cornfield near our house and had a sudden inspiration! Why not take the photos here?!

The day dawned bright and sunny, just warm enough to be comfortable in only a suit jacket. I'm still convinced this was a special "blessing in disguise" from God.😊

I loved all the photos so much that I couldn't decide on just a few, so brace yourselves for an unprecedented amount of photos!😉

I love, love, LOVE this slew of book photos. I selected one of my favorite books for a prop. "Jonica's Island"... copyright 1945, printed 1957. Just the right time period for this shoot, though I didn't know that at the time! :)  It's super hard to find a printed copy, so I was ecstatic when I discovered that it's available on Kindle! If I ever have the terrible misfortune of misplacing my copy I at least have hope of perusing its pages on screen. :D

I made this jacket several years ago based on a photo from the 1950's. The collar was so unique and the button and belt details really tickled my fancy. I went online, bought the material, and found the perfect buttons in my stash.

          Suzy Parker 1952 Photo by Richard Rutledge

I had the material for the skirt sitting in my fabric trunk for years. This fall I finally got around to making it. I LOVED the pocket detail from a 1950's ad, and knew I had to use it for this skirt.

              1957 tweed pencil skirt and blouse

Even though I never got to see the old photos I KNOW none of them were as amazing as these ones turned out. Though my distrusting heart was set into a tizzy at the knowledge of all our lost work, in the end I'm glad it happened! Without that crazy mix-up we would never have found the golden hour in the corn field. I think it will be a long while before we have a photo-shoot I love as much as this one

An 18th Century Ensemble

I set about making the pieces for this outfit last summer, determined to take every stitch by hand, and construct it as authentically as possible.

Museum Link: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127162/gown-unknown/

The first step was designing the jacket. I saw this dress on pinterest, and loved the button closure design, but discovering the dress had been altered in the late 1760's and again in the 1950's, I was concerned the style was too late for our 1750's/1760's French and Indian war reenacting. I began scouring the pages of pinterest for more evidence of this style and was rewarded with not one, but two, examples in paintings! I was delighted, and immediately set to designing the "perfect" tab pattern for the front.

Portrait of a lady in a blue dress by Léon-Pascal Glain, 1755          Portrait d'une femme en robe de satin bleu, 1760

I could not find the links to the original sources for these two photos, so here's a link to my pinterest board instead: https://www.pinterest.com/EonwetheBlue/pins-for-blog/

I hemmed and hawed, and hemmed some more before finally settling on a gradually decreasing tab width from the top to the bottom. I'm ecstatic with how it turned out and I LOVE how speedily the buttons allow me to dress for a day of reenacting.

I found out recently the fascinating information that there is some pictorial evidence for button closures on Dutch and Flemish ladies clothing in the 18th century! (Though the ones I found for this jacket were English and French) I just love the practicality and design elements buttons afford, and the Dutch caps tip the scale in further favor of honing a Dutch impression for future reenactments. I even have a small amount of Dutch heritage to further entice my interest! Much, MUCH more research on the prevalence of buttons is needed before I forge ahead on that venture!

It took at least 35 hours to complete the jacket alone.

The petticoat was fairly quick, taking a mere 6 hours to complete. I love, love, LOVE this blue color... It's called "Blue Heaven" and I think it's aptly named.😇

I really enjoyed the experience of making an entire ensemble by hand, and I would definitely (and plan to!) make more completely hand stitched garments in the future. The best part of hand stitching was how easy it was to visit with family or friends while doing so, not to mention several delightful hours of musicals and Pride and Prejudice (the one with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth of course. 😉 ) I ran short on time with the cap and was forced to do one of the inner seams by machine. 😥 Alas and alack for the woes of the time crunch!

I finished the jacket at the Fort Pitt reenactment just in time to wear it for the last day. The cuffs weren't on, and I still had to make the cream stomacher, but it was "finished" at last and I was excited to finally be able to really wear it!

I plan to make a new stomacher piece, as at least two folks have been set to giggles upon noticing that the tip of the stomacher looks rather like a tongue sticking out. 😉😛

 
Photo credit goes to my brother. :)