Corsets

Weddings with Tradition

mcgrewsadmin · March 12, 2016 ·

Custom wedding attire for the wonderful Karl and Rebecca.

We engineered Rebecca’s four-piece dress to match her illustrations (she is a very talented artist and author). We created a suit for Karl, too. His is an elegant grey wool frock coat with matching trousers, plus colorful vest, period shirt and a custom hat we had JW Hats make for us, here in Salt Lake City.

When it’s ungathered, the skirt we made for Rebecca is over 10 feet long! Eight seams with casing and cord inside her skirt gather it all up into the lovely Austrian folds, topped by an elegant bustle. She also wears a custom corset we built to go underneath her custom bodice. Everything is white satin with very little trimming or embroidery, as per guidelines for Temple weddings. We stabilized both her corset and outer bodice with steels to create a smooth, hourglass silhouette. We love how Karl and Rebecca look and we adore them both:) Very proud of this custom tailoring/dressmaking project.

Making History: Victorian Dresses

mcgrewsadmin · March 6, 2016 ·

Historical anniversaries bring re-enactors and history buffs out of the woodwork.

We thought we’d add some youthful vigor to the Transcontinental Railroad Anniversary celebration by creating a lovely dress and sending our intern, the lovely Anna, to join in on the fun.

The Union Pacific’s tracks joined the Central Pacific’s tracks on May 10, 1869, in Promontory, Utah.

We took our pattern from a museum book featuring mid-1800’s dress patterns and created the outfit in a nice understated calico fabric. We adore how bright and cheerful Anna looks, amidst all the dark, dour costumes around her. They look like they’re dressed for a funeral and she looks like she’s dressed for a party:)

Tea-dyed linen frog closures adorn the front of her bodice and tiny crochet lace trim with miniature burgundy piping frame her collar and sleeves. We created a straw hat for her with the matching fabric, too.

Anna is wearing a corset and hoop underneath, plus a rounded ‘pillow’ to fill out the bosom of her bodice, giving her the accurate monobosom silhouette of the period.

Red Riding Hood

mcgrewsadmin · October 10, 2015 ·

Corseted Leather Bodice with Basque, Skirting & Hooded Cape

Custom built, for the lovely Tawny.
Red leather, wood-grain patterned fabrics, plus an all-over red-on-red foliage patterned fabric for the cape plus a red satin lining.

That’s a lot of red. Divine!
Can’t wait for some portraits of her:)

Xena Warrior Princess

mcgrewsadmin · September 30, 2015 ·

Leather with worbla armor.
Xena costume for the lovely Meghan.
Watch out. She’s beautiful but dangerous.

Steampunk Wedding Attire

mcgrewsadmin · September 6, 2015 ·

This ensemble is definitely all about “something old, something new.” Jessica wanted some of her existing items repurposed and integrated into this ensemble. We built the corset, blouse and bolero jacket as brand new pieces. Kyle’s vest is also a new item that we made, a double breasted black canvas waistcoat with silver buttons. Her white lace skirt was originally a full length dress and a family heirloom. She also owned a short black petticoat. I recut and made her lace dress into a full length skirt with a new waistband, and her black knee-length petticoat became a new ruffle of a new, full length underskirt.

This dress and vest are a lovely departure from steampunk’s usual sepia tones. Jessica and I discussed Cecil Beaton’s wonderful designs for the film, My Fair Lady, particularly the scenes at the racetrack. All the ladies and gentlemen wear black and white in these scenes, with fantastic dresses, hats and accessories.

All wedding attire becomes a piece of history, by definition. Wedding outfits are super satisfying to make whenever the couple wants to take their look out a slightly different door, say historic, fantasy, sci fi, steampunk, etc. So when we create suits and dresses that articulate an impossible world or replicate some earthly historic period, we’ve just doubled-down on the cool factor. We are helping people re-imagine, re-live or recreate history with clothing that’s used in new ceremonies and new contexts. It’s really fun. It’s also awesome to custom build for grooms. They’re often so overlooked.