- Hello!
Good morning,
is it morning, no it's afternoon.
Welcome to Merry London.
Today we are going on an
adventure to fabric shop.
(Upbeat, cheerful Violin)
This is Cathy Hay, who you better know
if you watch my videos.
This, ladies and gentlefolk is
the magical Constance Mackenzie,
who you probably have heard us
speak about already.
- Just stares into the camera cause
she doesn't know what to do.
Sorry.
- Constance is a magical human being.
I mean, just look at her, behold this.
So the three of us, well, many of us
are going to this 1890s ball in May.
So these two friends
are buying fabric today.
I'm not sure I'm going
to buy fabric today,
because I'm hypothetically making
my gown out of black velvet.
Which I may be able to get
more easily in New York,
but, meanwhile, come along on an adventure
to some London fabric shops.
- [Cathy] I hope you like tea.
- [Bernadette] Oh yes,
there will be lots of tea.
(Cheerful violin)
(Cheerful violin)
(Cheerful violin)
- [Constance] I was thinking skirt.
- [Cathy] Oh, okay.
- [Constance] I think
it might be too stiff,
maybe that one will be better.
I found my ideal fabric
in very circumstance!
it's black and brown.
- [Bernadette] This is
like, Constance on a bolt.
(upbeat violin)
(upbeat violin)
(upbeat violin)
(upbeat violin)
So, we set off with the intention
of scouring all of
London's fabric offerings
but, as it turns out, we ended up finding
everything we needed for these projects
right here in Central London.
Stopped for a leisurely
pot of tea at Fortnum's
and didn't end up going out to
Goldhawk Road like originally planned.
Which is basically the London
equivalent of 39th Street.
So perhaps we'll have to
venture out on another,
more thorough, London fabric
shopping adventure anon.
Meanwhile, if you're curious to learn more
about any of the shops that we did visit,
I've listed all of that information
down in the description box below.
We're supposed to be shopping for silk,
but I have made a beeline
for the wool tweeds because.
(String music fading away)
Good morning from merry, soggy New York
I am back here now.
So, now it is time for
me to purchase materials
for my own 1890s project.
If this was carelessly explained
in that first part of the vlog,
basically a bunch of us
are going to this 1890s
ball in Bath in May.
Myself included, along
with a bunch of faces
who you might be familiar with
from this internet costuming world.
And a lot of us will
are making 1890s things,
so I have to make an 1890s gown.
Which, by the way, has been designed
since circa like September
if you have been paying
very close attention on this channel.
You will know what it is.
So, my gown has been designed for a while.
My good friends, Cathy Hay
and Constance Mackenzie,
obviously we were all chatting
about our gown ideas and we realized
we all had the same inspiration gown.
And we were all roughly
thinking the same thing.
So we just decided to embrace this,
and we decided that we're going to,
sort of, coordinate us three Wyrd Sisters.
Work from the same inspiration gown,
but we're all draping
the bodice differently
and using different fabrics.
So, I have to start making this gown,
which involves making
an undergarment for it.
And potentially a petticoat,
I haven't decided yet,
we'll see if we have time.
A couple of weeks ago,
whilst I was in England,
Cathy and I went to go see a bust bodice
at the Symington Collection.
So we studied that, we patterned that,
which is what I'm working
on presently right here.
That's going to be my first project.
So, basically, what I'm
doing today is I'm shopping
for the next three months
worth of sewing projects.
Which is going to be
terrifying on the bank account,
but, of course, trying
to rationalize this with
the notion that I'm not
purchasing for another
sewing project for
another couple of months.
So, as we are going
on a big garment district
buying adventure,
I thought I would take you along with me.
As a lot of you seem to
enjoy that last video
that I put out, I will be going
to a couple of different stores this time,
because I'm shopping
for different projects.
Projects that involve
different types of materials
and I'm operating on a slightly larger
budget this time,
because it is a ball gown
and it needs to be 1890s evening wear.
So, without further ado, lets go see
what we can find in the garment district,
and lets not try and get
too soggy whilst we do that,
because it is raining outside.
Yay winter.
(delightful piano)
(delightful piano)
(delightful piano)
Hello, from the worst place on Earth.
So, I am beginning my adventures
today by going to Mokuba.
Which is the trim shop
if you have not watched
the previous video, the glorious
and very expensive trim shop.
I do not necessarily require trims today,
however, Mokuba is closing.
Apparently things are on sale.
(dejected sigh)
This is not something that I need
in my life right now, but you know what,
one does not simply
pass up the opportunity
to go to Mokuba one last time.
So, following my trip to Mokuba
I'm going to be heading to B&J Fabrics,
which is a very posh fabric
store here in New York City.
Which I don't usually go
into for personal projects
because they're usually
more than what I can afford.
I am looking for one very specific thing
which only B&J might have,
(loud siren)
so...
Pardon the noise by the way,
this vlog is going to be
a very noisy disaster,
and I apologize in advance.
I have made an entire list of all
of the fabric shops in logistical order
that I need to go to, as well as
what I need to purchase
at each of these places.
So there's nothing I necessarily
need to purchase at Mokuba,
but for when I of to B&J
I will be looking for the
bust bodice that we looked at,
as Symington was made from
this very strange, cotton net.
So I'm going to look and see
if they have anything similar.
It doesn't seem like something
I would find on 39th Street,
so I'm going to look at B&J.
I'm also going to look at
their laces and silk velvets,
although, I have a feeling I'll
be able to get those
elsewhere for cheaper, so.
(calming piano)
(calming piano)
(calming piano)
This is the extremely guilty face
of someone who just
spent way too much money
on the most beautiful laces you
will ever see, first of all.
I'll show you them when I get back, but
(emotional sigh)
so basically what
happened was their laces,
which is what I go into
Mokuba for, were not on sale.
He did give me a hefty discount,
it was still very
expensive, but I will never
be able to get them ever again apparently.
Because, it's closing and in other news,
I guess I'm making a petticoat now,
because I bought insertion lace.
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
(Calm, happy piano)
This is the coolest velvet, oh my God.
Look at this, whoa.
Ok, plot twist,
my ball gown is going to be red now,
because, (sigh). Or purple though.
This is beautiful, help.
So I found this cotton bobbinet in roughly
a similar color as the
Symington bust bodice,
but you wouldn't know that
cause, lighting is bad.
I think I'm going go
ahead a buy this for that.
It's a lot drapier than the
bust bodice that we looked at.
But the bust bodice that we looked at
is heavily starched, so.
Starting out with basic cotton bobbinet
which is, I mean, cotton threads woven
into this net pattern, which is
similar technique, different effect
as the original fabric, but I think
this is going to be the closest
of what I'm going to find
this similar material,
and then I could just
put some starch into this
and see what happens.
(soft music)
I forgot that B&J were always my favorite
fabric shop to go into
whilst I was working
in theatre, because they
have candy at the desk.
But, anyways, so I found
some cotton bobbinet
for the bust bodice at B&J,
I looked at the silk velvet,
well I looked at the velvets.
None of them were silk,
they were all blends
and they were quite expensive so,
I feel like if I can't find a silk
at least I will find a blend
for cheaper somewhere else, so.
Now I am off to to go to a place called,
Dersh Feather, which is a shop
that sells entirely feathers.
Because, part of the bust bodice,
one of the stiffening
materials in the bust bodice
is, well, I think it's
called feather boning.
I have to do a bit more research on this
but their goose quills, um, bound together
and stiffened with some glue.
This is one of the materials that helps
to keep the bust bodice laterally stiff.
I haven't explained
this at all, but anyway,
there's all this research
that needs to be done
with this bust bodice
and I will explain that
in the video to come.
So basically, what I'm doing right now
is I'm going to a shop
that sells feathers,
to buy some goose quills.
(Staccato Violin)
(footsteps approaching)
(knocking)
- This company is a
hundred and two years old.
- [Bernadette] Oh wow.
- I've been doing feathers
for about forty years.
We sell to Broadway, we sell to milliners,
we sell to basically anyone
who needs a decorative feather.
In other words, we don't do the feathers
that you would stuff a pillow with.
- [Bernadette] Right.
- But all the other types
known as fancy feathers.
- [Bernadette] So he
has very kindly given me
this lovely handful of goose quills.
I'm just talking to the camera.
You are in the New York
City Garment District
and you are in need of feathers,
please do, come visit Dersh.
We are on 37th Street between Broadway and
- [Both] 7th.
- [Bernadette] Number 144.
- Right.
[Bernadette] Come buy your feathers.
- We'll be here all week.
- Feathers have been obtained, by the way,
that's the place where I got
the feathers for my quills.
So, if you are in the New
York City Garment District
and looking for feathers,
or looking for quills,
do go visit Dersh.
Tell Jay or John that I sent you.
So, I am now presently headed off to Mood.
If you watched my last
Garment District vlog,
you may be aware of my rather,
love-hate relationship with Mood,
because they do have really
really wonderful things.
It is also half past two in the afternoon,
which is the single
worst time to ever think
about going to Mood because it is um,
a very tourist attractive location.
By the way, I never actually
mentioned what I'm looking for.
In addition to the black silk velvet,
I also need some sort of pretty Victorian
little bit of lace to go
up at the top of the dress.
So, that is something that
I will probably have to find
one of these more expensive
stores, because it's not
something of quality that
I will not find on 39th St.
So, maybe Mood will have
something of interest.
They may have some black silk velvet,
that will be of interest.
(loud horn)
And then I also need some very stiff silk,
which is something that
I can find on 39th Street
for relatively, less expensive
than I would find at Mood or B&J, so.
Wait, but before we go into Mood,
I had no idea that Steinlauf
& Stoller have actually moved.
This wonderful shop is full of notions
and trimmings and tailor's
canvas and shoulder pads,
and all sorts of fun things that you need
to support the actual
hardware of your sewing.
So, I'm going to pop in here real quick,
because I am in need of
some more tailor's canvas,
as well as a couple of notions of things
that I have written down on my list
to get at a place on 38th street,
but I actually quite
like this place better.
So I'm going to go in and
see what sorts of notions
I can cover, before we go into Mood.
(Happy drum beats)
(Happy drum beats)
(Happy drum beats)
(Happy drum beats)
(Happy drum beats)
(Happy drum beats)
Oh my God, this is
literally the exact weave.
Or nearly the exact weave of
the Symington bust bodice.
I'm so mad.
Except, to be fair, this
is like ~hella~ synthetic,
so I don't feel so bad, but wow.
Who would have thought.
Look it's literal plastic.
No luck at Mood, so now I'm actually going
to go down to 36th street
to a place called New
York Elegant fabrics,
they used to be up on 40th street,
but they have since lost
their space and had to move
and I have not been to their new location,
so I just had to go look
up where they moved to.
I'm going to go there
and see, they are one
of the other, bigger, more
expensive fabric shops.
They have a lot of really nice fabric
for a little bit higher price, but not
quite as bad as B&J, so.
we gonna go check out
and see what New York
Elegant has to offer,
hopefully they will have some silk velvet,
as well as, some sort of nice, natural
fiber lace to happen on
the top of the dress.
Mood, literally the guy there just said,
"Yeah, pretty much all
lace we have is polyester,"
I was like, why, why?
Let's see what we can find.
(Violins)
By the way, if you ever want buttons,
this shop right here just sells
like entire walls of buttons,
go forth.
(Violins)
(Chipper, elegant chimes)
(upbeat music)
(Chipper, elegant chimes)
(Chipper, elegant chimes)
See, it takes suffering through Mood,
in order to fully appreciate all of these
beautifully, swatched, and tagged,
and fiber contented, and priced fabrics.
Oh, how wonderfully organized.
Okay, but pro tip, New York Elegant has
the exact same cotton
bobbinet that B&J had,
for literally one half of the price.
Don't be like me.
(Violins and chimes)
Well, that was highly successful.
Not only did I find a velvet.
I decided to go with a
light, like, georgette
chiffon things, for the top of the dress.
So that solves that lace
thing, cause I realized
I wasn't going to find a lace that was
historically aesthetic-looking
and natural fiber.
So, whilst I was there,
since I was finding
lots of nice materials, I
decided to also go ahead
and just purchase a one
yard of white cotton
that I need for the bust bodice.
As well as,
a couple of yard of stiff silk
taffeta to line the skirt.
So, all the rest of the
components of the dress as well as
the bust bodice have now been purchased.
I am presently now,
there's actually no reason
to go to 39th street on this trip,
which is good because
I feel like I covered
a lot of things that I
did not cover in this vlog
that I did not cover in the previous vlog.
Now I'm going home to have some tea.
(Cheerful chimes)
(Cheerful chimes)
(Cheerful chimes)
(plastic noise)
(Cheerful chimes)
(plastic rustling)
(cronch cronch)
Well friends, here is the damage.
Let us begin by exploring
some of this velvet.
It is a silk and rayon blend,
because I was not able to find pure silk,
but that's probably for the best,
because it would have cost me,
approximately nine hundred
thousand million dollars,
Which I don't exactly have.
I think must forewarn you, in advance,
that the construction video for this dress
is going to be an absolute
cinematic disaster.
Because, trying to shoot on black
with very pale skin is not
often a very good combination.
So, prepare yeself for that.
I've bought ten yards
of this which I think
should be enough.
Whilst I was at New York
Elegant I also picked up
these fabrics here, this is just a plain,
very tightly-woven cotton,
which is a material
used on the Symington bust bodice.
This is the bobbinet I bought
for the Symington bust bodies
and this is supposed to be a,
sort of, backing the the busk area,
as well as the binding.
The colors don't match at all,
like, this was not even the forefront
of my mind whilst I was
selecting this fabric.
They had tightly woven cottons
is every color imaginable,
but for some reason I just didn't think
to actually match the colors.
Which is unfortunate, but obviously
this is pure cotton
so it can be dyed very easily,
and I may do that just because.
This is actually still a little
bit darker than the original.
However the original bodice, obviously,
is over a hundred years old.
So, it is, a little bit discolored.
The cotton may have been
very white originally
and it's just faded, but I
do think they should match.
So, that is an issue
that I will solve anon.
Additionally, from New York Elegant,
I bought this silk georgette.
So this is going to be this
little drapey bit in here.
I was playing with the idea, obviously,
of making this out of some sort of net,
or lace, or something fancy.
This was a conversation we had
in London with Cathy and Constance.
They, I think, want to incorporate
some nice little spotty nets or something.
I was not able to find anything
in a natural fiber or a synthetic fiber
that actually looked like a natural fiber.
As well as a design that
would have been used
in the Victorian period, hypothetically.
So, I just decided I was going to go
for this very plain, soft, silk georgette.
So I just got a yard of this,
I probably won't even
need that much but, yay.
I also bought ten yards of
this very stiff silk taffeta.
this is going to be the
lining for the dress,
because I will explain
my whole thought process
into the components of the dress,
in the actual dress video.
But, the dress that I'm
modeling off of this,
pattern wise is in,
Janet Arnold, and it says
the skirt is lined with a stiff
silk, to give it some body.
I also will need something to mount
the drapey, bodice bit of the velvet onto.
So I am essentially going to be making
an underbodice, as well as, using this as
flat lining for the skirt.
The color was a little bit arbitrary,
I don't know why I picked this color.
it's not going to be seen,
obviously, because it's a lining.
I was going to pick white, just because
black and white is the dress.
But then I realized that
using white as a lining
and especially as a lining under the train
of the skirt that will be on the floor,
is probably not a wise idea.
So I went with this sort of
goldeny, off, neutral tone.
I got ten yards of this as well,
to match with the ten yards of the velvet.
I'm actually no one hundred
thousand percent sure
that this is the yardage that I need.
It's a little bit of an over-estimation,
yes, in theory when
doing historical garments
it is actually not a bad idea
to be conservative with
your fabric yardages
and perhaps buy less
yardage than you need,
only because piecing is period.
And that's what they would
have done historically,
they would not have over bought fabric.
They would've been more
conservative with it
and attempted to use every
single scrap that they could.
I don't think I can
really do that with the
velvet though, just because the way
that velvet works, it's got a nap.
Which is the floofy,
furry bits of the velvet,
and depending on which
direction you hang the velvet,
the light catches it differently
and it turns a different color slightly.
So you can't exactly creatively piece
velvet stuff without it
being very noticeable,
and the color slightly changing,
because those little piecings
will be slightly off grain.
I definitely wanted to
get enough of the velvet,
this is something that I could use
for linings also in future, so.
It will all be used, but I may
have bought more than I actually needed.
So, that is all the fabric that I bought
with the exception of
this tailor's canvas.
Which I don't need this
for my future projects,
but I've been using so much of this in my
recent projects, because, obviously
I have been exploring a lot of tailoring.
Which has made me very
excited, but I have used
pretty much all of the
hair canvas that I own,
so I decided to buy more.
I think that there are five yards here.
It's really, really wide too.
It's like, over sixty inches I think.
So I have quite a lot of
tailor's canvas now that
I will be using for the
next foreseeable future.
Goose quills, of course, from
our lovely friends at Dersh.
I guess I do go in there asking for
the most beat feathers that he can't
possibly sell because
these are just going to get
stripped of their feathers anyway
and get put into an undergarment
that no one is ever going to see,
and no one is ever
going to see the boning.
Except for the entire internet
when I actually make it.
An assortment of relevant notion things
that I will be needing for this project.
Including some one quarter
inch metal eyelets,
as well as some hooks and eyes,
as well as some silk threads.
I got black silk and white silk.
More white silk than black silk,
because I already own a
bunch of black silk thread.
And I also got a bunch of cotton threads.
This cotton thread is going to
be used the the bust bodice.
Cotton thread is not
recommended to be used with
modern electric machines,
because it's quite weak.
And modern machines will snap them,
and a lot of people
really hate cotton thread,
but it was used historically.
I have used it with my hand turned
Victorian sewing machine
and it's been fine.
In fact, it actually works a
bit better than silk thread,
but that just might be
the state of my machine.
Last but not least
friends, and I know this
is the moment you are all
anxiously awaiting for.
There are the Mokuba laces, sigh,
I spent so much money on these,
but I have absolutely no regrets.
Because I am, literally, never going
to be able to see these ever again.
Cry.
Here is this lace, this I
actually have no project
in mind for, but I thought
this might eventually,
hypothetically work for some
sort of collar situation.
I don't really know, I
bought two yards of it
because I thought that's a relatively
substantial amount of
yardage that one could use
this pretty lace for.
I also bought, I believe I
bought five yards of this.
Although it's in several pieces, because
that is what they had.
This is just a little net lace that,
so I was hypothetically maybe or maybe not
going to make a petticoat to go
under this dress, just depending on time.
However, now I have the
insertion lace for a petticoat.
which is pretty much most of the battle.
I would presume this
might go on the lower half
of the petticoat, as a
sort of, bottom ruffle bit.
As well as, this most
beautiful bit of insertion,
that I would put as an
insertion on the petticoat,
along with, probably a bunch of pin tucks.
I only bought two yards of it.
So worth it, I'm literally
never going to find
something like this ever again probably.
Unless it's actually antique.
See that's the other
thing, is you can find
and you can use actual antique lace.
I don't like doing that because
it is a finite resource.
We can not get more of it,
we can not make more of it.
Well, I guess someone
could make more of it.
You can not just go out
to the garment district
and buy some beautiful
antique Victorian lace.
There is the argument for using
antique if you don't cut it.
You just sort of use it as a length
and lightly tack it onto something.
Hopefully I have time to do all of this,
these are all projects
that I'm really excited for
and I actually want to
get started on right now.
So that is all for today's
garment district adventure,
and now I should just
like to take a moment
to thank the sponsor for
this video, and therefore
the sponsor for this project,
and that is Skillshare.
Skillshare, if you do not know,
is the online learning
resource offering thousands
of courses and all sorts of crafty,
creative and business skills.
As you may know, I've been really putting
a lot more effort into
my production quality
and storytelling abilities lately.
So of course, I was thrilled
to find Dandan Liu's course
on Creating a Modern Cinematic
Documentary With a Soul.
Which if you saw last week's video,
you will know that I have
since had way too much fun
exploring my newfound BBC
documentary hype skills.
But, enough about me, I know I get a lot
of questions on where people can go
to learn more about all
of this sewing business.
Fortunately, Skillshare have loads
of basic beginner sewing classes,
as well as more intermediate and advanced.
Skillshare is giving away two free months
of membership to the
first five hundred people
that sign up through the link
in the description box below
to help explore your creativity.
After that I believe it is
only ten dollars a month.
So, that being said, I believe
we now have loads of fun
sewing things to get on with.
So, I shall leave this vlog there
and I shall see you anon,
when we actually start making
all of this fabric into things.
See, the thing about
travelling in a pack of ladies
in long skirts is that we all have to give
each other quite a lot of
space when going down stairs.
