Art Deco Preservation Ball and The HIGH STYLE exhibit at The SF Legion of Honor

In May, Mark and I were able to attend the Art Deco Preservation Ball at the Scottish Rite Center in downtown Oakland.  It was a magical evening, and the experience rivaled that of making my gown for the event, which took a little over a month. I absolutely love designing and making historical dresses for art deco events. 

And, I LOVE to go to fashion exhibits SO the High Style exhibit at the San Francisco Legion of Honor was quite the treat.  Of course the two dresses pictured above were my favorite and a total inspiration for next year's event.

Here are some photos of my dress in progress:

I started by draping the gold brocade on the dress form front.

I hand smocked the side panels on silk charmuse, as I wanted to have some soft drape in the skirt but a fitted bodice. Smocking was a great way to reduce the fullness on a large part of the fabric.  It's also an older technique and seemed an appropriate accent for a 1920's style dress.

I wanted the lace edge to be curved from front to back, so I cut out the scallop design on both borders and shaped the full width of the lace so that it was curved on both sides to the center of the panel.  You can see the finished effect in the photo below.

Front View

side view

Back View

 I also decided to make a corset to wear under my dress.  I really wanted the silhouette to be authentic.  It was fun to make, however, I needed to add a stretch panel in the back as the original design was a little (ahem) small.

Here are some more photos from the event:

The Chanel Jacket - The Little Details

 

 This year, my pet project is the Chanel Jacket.  You see, I want one for myself.  The Little Black Jacket, akin to the Little Black Dress, is a classic staple in a well dressed wardrobe.  At just over $4,000, the real thing is out of my range.   My couture teacher Susan Khalje, teaches a course on how to make one.  Her class is about $1,000.  Fabric invested is about $200+.   Not sure I can afford to take her class this year,  so I plan to try my hand at doing it on my own, using past Thread's Magazine Articles and the Claire Shaeffer book, Couture Sewing.  The beauty is all in the little details.

Note the quilted lining and chain on the bottom edge.

Here is another photo of the chain.

 There are lots of details to consider like fabric, trims, lining, buttons etc.  I picked a nice black tweed from the Mill End Store in Portland, Oregon, while I was visiting a friend.  Solid black with a large basket weave.  The lining, a black crepe back satin from C&J Textiles in NYC.  I also purchased buttons from M&J trims in NYC but will likely alter them by inserting them into a fabric covered washer, just to change the look.  Still searching for fancy braid.  A trip to Britex in San Francisco ought to solve that problem.

Nice contrasting braid on this model

I really love the Georgette trim and large braid on the sleeve hem. It's really an stunning effect.

Not a little black jacket but the details are very nice on this one.  Love all the contrasting trim and gold buttons.

 

Sometimes the classic double C buttons can be found on Ebay.