Making a Cozy Victorian Teagown -- Adding Sleeves, Collar, and Soooo Many Buttons 

I came to the realization awhile ago that Joann is a craft store, no longer a fabric store. In the sewing section of my store, it's overwhelmingly devoted to upholstery-related items and quilting. I miss Minnesota Fabrics!

Etsy is hands-down the best place for trim, buttons, and even fabric. I have found so much great stuff on Etsy.

Oh how I feel your button pain 😥 I often sit and lament about why I didn't keep the huge cookie tin full of buttons that sat in the stairwell of my Dad's house. There were buttons in there from my grandmother's house that I'm sure she pulled off things since the depression

Dora is just too a-dora-ble! Also, this teagown's color makes me think of the beauxbatons' uniforms in the harry potter movies - it's such a pretty blue! 💙

I need those sleeves for my regular clothing. It would hide my arm flab. 😁

I am used to massive sleeves -- I am a product of the 80s -- but I was glad I was sitting down when you said 61 inches needed to be pleated down into the armscye. It doesn't seem like a tremendous thing when it's all done, but to hear the number and to see the pattern -- ! I have, most likely, seen bigger, but I never measured them. All I can think of now is the ultimate big sleeve pattern. "The dress pattern is super simple -- just the front and back bodice and the skirt. You will need to cut the skirt out three times -- one for the skirt and the other two will be used for the sleeves." I don't know, we might be crazy. Like the people who cut big pieces of fabric into little pieces of fabric and sew them back into big pieces of fabric, but the opposite. We take big pieces of fabric and fold it down to fit into little loops of fabric -- a little loop of an armscye, a little loop of a cuff, a little loop of a waistband. This is looking so lovely! Can't wait.

Really neat to see - I thought these kind of sleeves always required the arm donut support things. Looks great :)

Not sure if its helpful at all, but sometimes quilters shops have a unique array of buttons to choose from, no trimming to speak of, but they do carry buttons. Sometimes you can find wood and horn as well as plastic and metal. Its worth popping into if there are any around you and sometimes you can find some really good deals of fabric too. I got 12.5 yards of a medium weight linen for a bargain once.

Your tea gown is looking really lovely well done beautifully made I am looking forward to seeing you fully dressed in the tea gown

I can't recall which one it is bernadette or Morgan Donner , that did a vid on buttons. I know Morgan did several vids on how to make your own trim and how to make braided cord. There is also one other lady I follow who teaches embroidery and Morgan did a vid on making your own lace. Lots can be learner when we all team up together to learn from eachother. Much love for the stuff you all have taught me. 💖

My entire wardrobe WILL consist of this dress

Goodness what an interesting construction- watching it I was screaming why not cut a shaped yoke and trap the Watteau pleats under the yoke. It almost looks as though the pleats were added as an afterthought- so interesting. Stunning presentation as always.

Those sleeves are GORGEOUS 😍

Couldnt wait until later, thumbnail is gorgeous

I'm here for all sewing and Dora escapades 😉

Ahhh! JoAnn's is often so, so frustrating!! I just got some buttons from Britax fabrics that I'm really liking and they had a great online selection. Came in less than a week too which was nice! This dress came out so lovely and it has been great to watch it come together! Also, your cat makes my day every time I see her and I am so glad you don't edit her out :)

If you have stiff netting, maybe add some in the shoulder to help hold some structure. I think Angela Clayton did this in a video. Not sure which.

I've given up on buttons as well. I found a jar of maybe... 50-70 1/2" shank buttons at an antique store for $1 and now I'm modeling new button facings out of clay, going to make a mold with silicone, and make new buttons with resin. I already have the resin and need it for other things anyway so this is likely the cheaper option. They'll be larger than normal buttons but that should be fine. I'm making it for a cosplay anyway.

It's turning out just gorgeous!

I feel your pain on buttons! I have the worst luck at Joann's too. May I suggest deadstock buttons on Etsy? I have had awesome luck with decorative metal buttons and "pearl" vintage buttons. Your dress is looking so cute! Thank you for sharing your project with us.

The dress looks amazing, I love your solution on the sleeve. The collar looks perfect. I can’t wait to see it finished. You look so beautiful in this dress!! I appreciate how you talk through your thoughts and solutions, thank you so much!

Such clean work! I really liked following your thought process through this - making tweaks to fit a garment is something that is still new to me.

I am loving this project so much!

Joann's seems to cater more to the quilter and the modern special occasion apparel. So little historic usable stuff. Hobby Lobby sometimes has some cool "findings", but both buy so much stuff from Chinese textiles, so lots of plastic in everything. We used to have so many fabric stores in my area for a while, but now the big box 2 and Walmart are just about all that's available locally. I shop my local thrift stores a lot and get lucky to find some things from de-stashing folks. My online sources are my best though more expensive sources. SO far this ensemble has been very interesting build. On the collar, some tailor's tape at the fold of the collar would help with the fold. A little bit of fabric glue in the back helps keep them together.

I just adore this color 😍

It's looking great!!! I love the big sleeves!

This series is Wonderfully Addictive! Fantastic job!!!

So great to hear you berate JoAnns. I try to never go there except for thread or something simple. The quality of the fabrics are so less than any serious sewer would ever want to waste there time on. Also Dora is always I high point in your videos. She is a doll. You are great too:-)

Those sleeves are amazing 🤩🤩🤩 The way they drape shows volume and softness.I think a stiffer sleeve would detract from the look of the gown. Hope your trim comes soon so we can see the finished look. 😊

I believe in u for welt pockets! I loooove sewing pockets haha so maybe thats why. Anyway those sleeves look spectacular :)

This is coming together beautifully. I can hardly wait to see the finished 👗.

You look like a princess!

I absolutely love this shade of blue! Also, so many buttons! I really hope you only have to undo a few to get in and out, otherwise that would take forever!

Wow it already is looking so good, and those buttons, so many buttons. Guess you'll be swimming in trimming right now, looking forward to the end result. :}

I enjoy your videos, I have learned a bunch watch you..awesome stuff!

Just trying to be helpful for future projects. I didn’t read all the other comments (but if you didn’t realize it already or weren’t told already) if you attach the horsehair the other direction it would fold down neatly and give flare. Its only really foldable/flexible in one direction. It always tries to stay straight in one direction.

Loving this dress more than I expected!! Can't wait to see the finished product! 😁😍👍

I used to live near Seattle and always loved going to Pacific Fabrics first. I know what you mean tho... it seems the selection of trims and buttons has gone way down. And those lovely little fabric shops seem to be around just a few years before moving on.

Love the sleeves! And yikes, 32 buttons. That's a project in and of itself.

This is absolutely beautiful. I love this video! Wonderful job!

Beautiful!!!

You do so well to be fitting yourself! I always need help at certain points.

You are so amazing, the dress is coming along so well. Three weeks? I could easily take 4 or 5 weeks without working a day job. I’m enjoying seeing this come together. I watch you while I’m in my sewing room, it’s almost like a virtual sewing bee. Thanks your making COVID a little less lonely.

I am sure you have already found something that works, but you could crochet your own trim. Even a simple chain stitch done in fine cotton thread would sort of mimic the size that you want.

Oh it's so pretty! I'm feeling the urge to make a pretty tea gown to wear around the house without a corset.

Joann's is also the only remotely garment-oriented fabric store anywhere near me, I feel your pain. (We have all the quilt stores you could want, but I don't want to make everything out of quilting cotton *and* I used to work at one, it was horrible, and quilting stores make me anxious now.)

I vote for a patch pocket . Something one could put a cell phone in.

Love to see your work. Everything comes out so nicely. Wish you used an overhead camera for footage. Would be nice to see you in action

You need sleeve hoops. That would keep them floofing.

and of course i got an ad for Joann's during your video...

what about a 1" tulle ruffle between the two sleeve layers at the very top? That would make the sleeve head stand up a bit and the fall would be more like the organdy layer itself.

These sleeves are gorgeous! The fit looks perfect, I think I should sew me a coat with this type of yoke and sleeves, thank you for all this inspiration and drafting pattern tips, I learn so much with your videos!

I'm in love with those sleeves!!

It's so great to watch it coming together! Its SO. pretty!

I actually really like the lighter-blue 3/16" velvet trim that arrived from Amazon first; I kind of hope you go with that option over the navy, though I'm sure either choice will look great in the end result.

Nikki Leam did a video on welt pockets back when Noelle was in Welt pocket hell. That might help.

It’s all coming together so beautifully!! I really love the colour. Can’t wait to see the finished product!!

Not sure what sort of stores you have nearby but you might want to check out yarn shops for buttons. I have seen some amazing and beautiful buttons at a variety of yarn shops in my life.

I use lightweight iron on interfacing and I dampen the fabric that gets stuffed in...with my finger from a little bowl of water. If the fabric If the fabric is thick I trim, sometimes snip into, the fabric that gets stuffed in. Sometimes I put a little glue into my dampening water.

Omg... watching...I’m a spaz..lol

Have you tried Etsy? I first go to Amazon because of the speed delivering, but when that fails I usually find anything I need at Etsy, mostly vintage and unusual!

I know I am late, but Noelle from costuming drama uses glue when using those button makers

I am a sewing novice, so I don't even know if these questions makes sense. If you were to remove the sleeve and put two sets of trim in the puffy part (to mirror the two sets of 3 trim bands in the cuff) would that give enough structure to the upper sleeve to keep it from drooping? My second though was to add a fine, but stiff wire under the trim in the upper sleeve to "inflate" the upper sleeves to keep them from drooping. Again, I'm a new bee, and don't really know if these questions even make sense. Another thought I had - for future leg of mutton sleeves, not necessarily these - originates from playing Japanese mahjong, studying esoterica, loving history and multiculturalism. (Sorry!) I don't know how much Asian culture still informed fashion in the 1890s - perhaps not at all - but, I do know that odd numbers are "better luck" in Asian numerology. What if instead of 5 or 6 pleats in each side of the sleeves - what if you had 7 more shallow, closer together pleats, thus providing more lift and structure? Really, 9 is the luckiest number in Japanese numerology, though.

I was wondering if the weave wasn't hand woven right onto the fabric, maybe? Kinda looks like the kind of weaving I saw Morgan Donner do a while back. Dress is looking great can hardly wait for the next video to see what type of bells and whistles you were able to get!!!

The cat, Dora was it?, probably just wondered who you were talking too, and thought that perhaps you needed someone! 😆

It feels like there was a mistake made on the original. I think yours is more accurate. However, it feels like on the original, the soutash braid should have gone over the pleats.

The horsehair collar interfacing is definitely too heavy and the grain of the hair is going the wrong way (against the fold not parallel with it) and I think that is what's pulling the collar back up. It might be a problem later as the hair is sharp and may poke through the collar and chafe at the neck. Definitely something else, maybe a buckram or modern interfacing would be better. (I've bingewatched a bunch of costuming and I think Nicole Rudolph has a recent video on this specific topic.

If you have a Hobby Lobby around, sometimes they have decent buttons. I almost have better luck finding buttons, ribbons and trims at Hobby Lobby. It does suck that most of the sewing stuff I need isn't available in local stores. I hate waiting for things to ship when I'm excited to keep working on my project.

Welt pockets are scary because of the cut. They are totally do able. Make a bunch. Cut with care! You can do it.

Not that it needs it ... but you should make an add sleeve hoops. I searched RU-vid because I wanted to see what they looked like and literally only found one video with nothing more than a quick photo. Again it’s fabulous without but would be super cool to see a video on the subject

Maybe try to braid your triming like Daisy Victoria shows on her RU-vid channel???

💖💖💖💖💖

I don't know what rat tail is, but I'm thinking it's bad since you said it like a four lettered word. 😂

Shoelace might have worked?

I know this is probably a moot point, but do you not think about making the braids yourself, with yarn? Or do you just prefer ready-made.

Sorry it’s the Halloween bodice.

I was going to suggest making thread buttons... and then I read something about needing 32 😂

Incredible work and astonishing beauty. But don't you think that your shoulderseams are to wide? The shoulder bulges betwee neck and arm.

I made a mostly historically accurate gown. The top however is shoulder straps, modern-day straps. The heavy weight of the rest of the dress is stretching out the straps to the point it can't be worn. How do I fix that?

more than half is most, isn't it? Or maybe more than half is much of it, and then more than much is most?

Are these button kits easier than just making stuffed fabric buttons?

❤

Sorry to back track but I was watching a vlog from 6 months ago where you talk about a boot strap dress. I could not find where else to talk about it. What is it?

Which fabric u used

Not Rat's Tail!!!

There is no shame in picking the parts that you like better to be in front. It's not vain, it's logical 😉