FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Sized-up Alice
(click images to to enlarge)
https://youtu.be/gVoiyF5IsIQ
Outline the story …
Alice, from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Caroll, may be a child, but I am not. My approach to this project was to scale-up children clothing to my size, kind of like she ate a bite of cake until she was adult size. Because of this, finishes like pintucks, buttons, piping, lace (when possible) is about twice as big as it normally would have been. The general design is not original, it is very heavily based off the original drawing by John Tenniel from 1865, thus I looked towards clothing pieces of the first half of the 60s as much as possible. At the time of starting this project I would read that children clothes were just smaller versions of what women would wear, but now that it is mostly finished, there are elements (like the sleeves based off women's evening wear) and finishing details that I have been unable to find in children's wear. And now I must live with past me's decision and I'm coming to terms with that. Generally speaking, I do think my attempt was successful enough.
Outline the construction…
The chemise and drawers are a mix of Victorian Dressmaker and Truly Victorian. The added pintucks and rushing was inspired on a set from the Met museum because doing something simple just goes against my very nature. Chemise, drawers and 2 petticoats were sewn following Jennifer Rosbrugh's class on sewing victorian underwear which proved very useful. A stitchlings on fb helped me find a child corset pattern, followed by an FR article on how to sew gores. The chemisette is another TV pattern with some little added flowers. For the dress I stress debated for about 3-4 months on cotton vs taffeta, ended up deciding to go with what I would find locally, which was (poly) taffeta, and now I doubt my choice, because that's my brain. Didn't really follow a pattern for the dress, don't know why, so that was a process (a.k.a. headache). The bodice is flat lined in cotton, has light boning at the darts and buttons in the back. The skirt was modified 3 times so now has many lines and holes from it's past. It's sewn to a waistband that hooks in the back and is attached to the bodice. It also has a pocket because duh. The sleeves were eight ''I don't know what I'm doing'' moments, the 8th time with final fabric. The pinafore was from a Mode Illustré, and I only got the courage to tackle that by reading an article on FR.
Pretty close to Tenniel’s drawings- well done.
I totally love this concept and your dress!
This is Glorious! There’s no second guessing who you are.
Oh this looks so much like the illustrations in the books…. Absolutely gorgeous!
All the layers are so pretty! I love the corset and the chemisette.
All the layers are so pretty! I love the corset and the chemisette.
One look and yes, that is an Alice! Well done.
This is how I would think Alice would look IRL. Such a good job, SOOO many layers!! Fabulous!!
This is stunning! I love the poofiness of the dress and the apron is wonderful.