The Trouble with Trains (on gowns)

[Orphena]

Greetings fellow costumers!

I am working on a fantasy costume - enhancing my mermaid skirt to be more regal, and am thinking about adding a detachable train. The skirt is already floor length, form fitting without being skin tight, and opens by a zipper at the back from bottom hem to just above the knee to allow me to walk. (I zip it closed and add a "fluke" when I want to sit for a while). The train will basically fill in the area from knee to ankle, with a few inches dragging on the ground.

While I would like to use some blue sheer fabric from my stash and add large sequins to continue the scales that make up the skirt, I recognize that this train will HAVE to be lined to protect a fabric that would otherwise fray. My question is - how sturdy of a fabric should I use as the lining?

This event runs in late June - so, if it rains (aka creates mud), the train will not be used (hence the detachable part), and while I know I will act as a sweeper of anything on the ground, and have to be aware of people following me too closely, I really would like to make it work as I need to look a little more regal, and having my legs hidden adds to the illusion of being a mermaid. Luckily, this particular event is in a park where the terrain is all grassed.

Any solutions / ideas are appreciated!

[isabelladangelo]

What they did in the 19th C:

Use some cotton or other sturdy material to make a ruffle on the INSIDE of the train, along the hem, where it can't be seen.   Dust ruffles were very common during the Bustle Era.

What I would do now:

Use some netting to make a ruffle, out of blue or green netting, to make the ruffle.  This way, even if it does get seen, it won't ruin the illusion. 

[mollymishap]

A ruffle would work, BUT I might suggest using sturdy polyester in a tight weave, not netting.  I know: ACK!!!  But since it's already a fantasy gown, poly will wear better & wash out better whereas the netting might/will snag on and catch any bits around...which could add to the look, come to think of it...what about some marine-type thick rope artfully woven into a mantle/train/thingie?

[Orphena]

Thanks for your suggestions!

I had never before heard of a dust ruffle - and I think it will suit this project excessively well!   

Do you think if I line the sheer fabric with cotton, and then put a dust ruffle beneath it in netting, it will be sturdy enough?

While I would have gone with something sturdy as molly suggests - I think that netting would be easy enough to replace - this is only a one weekend event - and the grounds are well kept. I like the idea of having something marine oriented dragging behind - but am worried about people stepping on it!

Molly - your idea about the marine rope - are you talking that it would BE the train - or enhance it?

Do you think that a dust ruffle would also help to keep the train more "open" or spread out?

I will post a few pictures soon - I just can't upload them from here.

[mollymishap]

I was thinking that the marine rope could be perhaps knotted into a loose, long, trained type mantle garment that you could take on & off as needed.  Something like this, perhaps:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Weltliche_Schatzkammer_Wien_%281820%29.jpg

[Wickedvox]

Orphena--you can always make the dust ruffle detachable, perfectly period. Than you can put it in a lingerie bag to wash separately. Can't wait to see it!

[Orphena]

Ok - here are some pictures - sorry for the quality - the light in my apt. does not always cooperate:





The pinky coral fabric is not what I am intending to use..... just draping (since I finally got my first dressmakers mannequin!)  There are a few scales that will need to be added on the skirt itself.... so now that I can work on it on the mannequin, that should be easier.

Does the general shape of the train seem ok? Again, I'm not going for HUGE....

[Wickedvox]

The stripes give it an optical illusion quality that makes it difficult for me to tell if it's "perfect," but the shape is there, so I think it's all right. You'll definitely want to bolster that train. I suggest making a three layer detachable dust ruffle, and I think you can get away with a cheap broad cloth of the same color as the skirt. It may even give a nice effect when zipped up. *OR* make the train a series of ruffles in *itself!* THAT would look really cool! I thought you were talking about an Edwardian "mermaid" skirt, lol--I didn't know you meant an *actual* Mermaid skirt LOL!

[Orphena]

I really appreciate all the suggestions! I will definately be adding a dust ruffle - it makes so much sense - I knew someone here would have a solution!

Now on to further train woes....

I had my train begun - in the same pattern as that trippy fabric shown above (which I assure you I got for free - so NOT my style!), but my train had an underlayer of seafoam grean taffeta (completely appropriate for a mermaid), covered with a layer of see through teal. I even began hand sewing my large sequins on the train, and it looked very nice.  Then, I decided to pin the train to the skirt, and it would not sit nicely. In a fit of angst, I cut it down - so it currently looks a little closer to this - with about 2 inches that lies flat - ish on the ground.

http://www.beautygowndress.com/images/v/201303/13639370351.jpg

But of course I am still not happy with it. It does not sit correctly, and it puddles in an unflattering shape.  The taffetta is too crisp to flow nicely.

So opinions please:

Do I continue with a "Structured" train and if so - can anyone reccomend any good patterns or sources for draping an inset fishtail train (Yes, apparently that is the name of it -   fitting for an actual mermaid tail!)

Or do I go for a more freeform layers of different sheer blues and greens that "froths" behind me?

In either case, I am hoping to incorporate my fishscale sequins (which I keep wanting to spell as "seaquins" !

[gem]

I am hoping to incorporate my fishscale sequins (which I keep wanting to spell as "seaquins" !

Sorry, no advice on the draping issue, but I got a giggle out of this! The Indian fabric site, puresilks.us, features several fabrics with "sequence." I have to do a double take and say it out loud in my head every time I read it! LOL (And it just occurs to me that "out loud in my head" makes no sense at all!)

[Kate XXXXXX]

Oh, yes it does!  I knew exactly what you meant instantly!

[mollymishap]

What if you slashed the taffeta?  You know, in a pattern sorta like this:


____  ____  ____  ____  __
__ ____  ____  ____  ____
____  ____  ____  ____  __

only closer together so that it forms a net of sorts.  It's hard to explain like this, but get a piece of paper and try it out until you get something that's more stretchy.  It might help with the flow issue.

Of course, it will also catch every bit of anything you walk over, but if you're being wheeled around in a cart, it may serve.

[Orphena]

Ah...wheeled around in a cart... yeah - there was an incident with a wheel barrow - let's just say that 6 feet of mermaid do NOT look very glamourous in a wheelbarrow - and they are NOT very comfortable either! There was a cart for a few years - a cabriolet - but the other queens got a little miffed that I got  the cart.

Now adays, I just walk - but I am hoping that the train keeps the regal feel. There was talk of a sedan chair - but honestly I would feel very strange with 4 guys hauling me around....

Progress has been made on the train - it is now shaped like a slightly wierd tear drop, and, it has a fabulous dust ruffle made out of 2 meters of netting, all box pleated (which of course, no one will see),  but the netting does work to hold the train out at the sides, and makie it "float" above the ground. I am in the slow process of hand stitiching hundreds of sequins on it - the sequins are about the size of a nickle, and I am overlapping them, so they actually look like scales. Even if I only get a border around the bottom, several rows deep, it will, I feel, really add dimension and regalness to the costume.

I have also finished adding about 50 new scales to the actual skirt part, and replace the bottom fins (the purple ones near the zipper), and added fins to disguise the top zipper as well. Plus I added trim near the bottom zipper to help hide the zip when it is open.

Still need to make a corset (simplicity 5006), and a seashell crown....

Will post pictures at some point.

Thanks for your help!