Spooky Season is in full swing and if you spend any time with me in my little cottage by the sea, you'll know at my core, I am a Gothic Ghoul. I put together some Gothic sewing plans based on some of my favourite Gothic screen moments and had a wonderful time matching patterns to fabrics.
Although this is an exercise for my imagination and to provide a little inspiration for you, I now actually want to sew up all these ideas!
I filmed a YouTube episode to accompany this idea so do go and have a little watch before curling up in your coffin for a good days snooze!
Look 1
I'm rather fond of Hammer Horror as it fits the Gothic sensibility perfectly and a favourite film is The Vampire Lovers, a seventies feast for the eyes loosely based on Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novel Carmilla. I watched a new {ish} version recently too which I thought was very beautifully filmed and the costumes were perfection! You can find it online on one of the many streaming services fairly easily I think and I highly recommend!
I chose the Mabel Dress by Tilly & the Buttons as all the versions I've seen are really lovely and I especially like the neckline on this ~ very damsel in distress!
Really you could make this in any fabric you prefer and it seems to work beautifully in drapey fabrics but as I'm going for ethereal Hammer ingenue vibes here, I'd use a muslin from Merchant & Mills. It's really good value for money and they have a few nice colours, my preference being either black or the deep berry. You can find all of Merchant & Mills lovely Muslins HERE
And Tilly & The Buttons Mabel Dress HERE
Look 2
One of my absolute favourite Gothic Screen moments is the TV series Penny Dreadful which encompasses all the Gothic horror tropes and classic 'monsters' we so ghoulishly love! I'm especially fond of Eva Green's character, Vanessa Ives so looks 2 and 3 are inspired by her beautifully costumes from all 3 seasons of the show.
I thought the Folkwear Sewing Pattern 227 Edwardian Gown would be a really interesting sew and could easily be worn as an everyday dress. I love the idea of a wonderful black tea dress, metres of delicate lace and fine lawn to waft around in. I've never sewn a Folkwear pattern but I'm very keen to give this one a go as soon as pennies allow.
Again I've suggested the black muslin by Merchant & Mills
You can find lots of lovely lace at this new to me company The Lace Co
I have yet to order from them but I shall be bookmarking them for future reference. Another good source of lace is V V Rouleaux and they're well worth a visit if you're near to their London Store. When I'm on my treasure hunting adventures, I will be looking out for lace that I can use for this project should I make it in the not too distant future.
Look 3
To go with the Vanessa Ives inspired dress, I thought this wonderful Vintage Vogue coat would be perfect. Although it's not Edwardian in tone, I like the structured silhouette and the large collar. Vanessa's coats all have some kind of detailing and this collar would be perfect to do some velvet appliqued ribbon on or using a contrast fabric to the wools I selected.
This beautifully textured Italian wool from Croft Mill is called Como Wool Tweed and I think it would be beautiful with a velvet collar and an arsenic coloured lining!
Also from Croft Mill, a favourite place of of mine to browse for lots of vintage looking, sustainably sourced fabrics, is this wonderful boiled wool called Darkness ~ Perfection!
I would buy some good quality Cotton velvet for the collar details and use some of my vintage buttons to finish off this beautiful Gothic inspired sewing project.
Look 4
A favourite film of mine for spooky season is the wonderfully melodramatic Dragonwyck from 1946, starring Gene Tierney and one of my all time faves, Vincent Price.
I actually bought the Simplicity pattern a while ago as it reminded me a little of that 1940's does 1840's look that Hollywood was so fond of at the time and partly inspired this whole idea to Sew Gothic
I sewed up my version, version A, in a really lovely black crepe that I bought locally for the bargain price of £2.50 per metre so this is really my wearable toile. I should have gone a size down, I made the size 18, as it's not a perfect fit across the chest but I shall tweak when I work on my next 1, version B. I'd love to do this in a Tana Lawn with some beautiful vintage lace on the neckline detailing and as ever, Liberty has so many beautiful fabrics to choose from! This one especially caught my eye ~ I wonder why?
Sadly this dusty pink colourway is out of stock but the red is beautiful too! And I'm sure I saw a black colourway but maybe my imagination ran away with me?
Look 5
One of my favourite All Hallows films is Tim Burtons wonderful Sleepy Hollow and I've seen many versions of this iconic dress that Christina Ricci wears in the film. Colleen Attwood, who designs many of Tim Burton's costumes, did such an incredible job costuming this wonderful fairy tale/folk horror of a film.
As much as I'm here for actual costume replication, I like the idea of creating a wearable, everyday version of this iconic stripe dress so thought it could be interesting to use a historical pattern. You would get the proportion and detail but could adapt and wear in a 'modern' way. This Simplicity pattern S8411 is basically the Outlander dress but with some trims and detailing, you could adapt it. I like the idea that the bodice and skirt are separate, so you could style the bodice up with different skirts {Very Dame Viv!}.
I found a wide stripe fabric that would work as it's a cotton twill which you can find HERE
Look 6
My final suggestion for some spooky sewing this All Hallow's season is an outfit inspired by Wednesday Addams from the recent Tim Burton series. I really loved this fun version of Wednesday and I really liked this outfit so I wanted to do a more 1930's take on it.
I would re cut the collar to create a more dagger like proportion and then add white cuffs to match. You can find the McCalls M8239 pattern HERE
To go with this I thought this coat by Butterick would be a good option and you can find the pattern for this HERE
This ditsy floral really is so pretty, very vintage in feel and would work perfectly with the suggested pattern
It was quite tricky to find a fabric for the coat but I stumbled across this pansy jacquard fabric and thought it would look amazing! It doesn't go but it sort of does go with the dress fabric!
So, my dear Boils & Ghouls, I hope you've found something here to delight and inspire you and that through the spooky season and beyond, you find only the good things go bump in the night,
Tara x
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