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Showing posts from 2012

The Historical Sew Fortnightly

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Look for a "What I've Sewn This Year" post soon (since it's the last few days of the year! Eeep! And yeah, that'll be a short post), but for the moment, something else. I've decided to participate in The Dreamstress' Historical Sew Fortnightly for 2013 (you should join in! All the cool kids are doing it). I don't think I'll make all the challenges, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! She's posted the first few challenges, and I've been mulling them over...

1920s gold and white evening dress

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As per usual, it's not done -done, but done-enough-to-be-worn! Which it was, last night, to Cairnwood by Candlelight , and at which I got precisely zero good pictures. So you'll have to make do with one or two bad ones for now.

Photos of striped 1770s jacket

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The one I made in April and haven't had a chance to wear yet? Well, I still haven't had a chance to wear it, but I was off work today, and since it's ridiculously unseasonably warm, decided to put it on and take pictures.

1911 Corsets & Crinolines corset

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Bad, off-center pictures taken with the timer, but proof I can finish things! Every once in awhile.

New Regency, first outing

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Well, it's not done , but it's been worn! To the annual Pumpkin Tea a friend has, where there's lots of great food, tasty tea, pretty dresses, and better company! We had good weather, too, unseasonably mild, which made for some nice photos. Due to a series of Unfortunate Events, I didn't end up being able to finish the spencer or the bonnet - was hoping I'd be able to wear at least one of the two, but it didn't work out. So I borrowed a hat (that ended up matching my outfit very well; I was tempted to smuggle it out in my bag...but she knows me too well and kept an eye on me!) and went in my shirt-sleeves. Very glad it wasn't cold... How I felt about my very-unfinished outfit! Other people did seem to actually actively like it, though, so I guess that's good! And I do like the jumper style, because it's kind of cute, if more informal than I had planned to be!

Regency shirt finished

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Quick post before I trot off to bed (trains are back up after two days not running, thanks Hurricane Sandy); I managed to finish the linen shirt to wear with the pompom Regency outfit. Bad pics, sorry! Bad lighting, bad hair...you know how it goes.

Pompom dress in the works

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I did promise to post more! It's just difficult when all the sewing I can do is picking away at a hem here and there for fifteen minutes or so before I go to bed - nobody cares about those kinds up updates, I don't think! But I'll give you an overview of what I've been working on - in two weeks I'm going to a Regency tea with friends, and I need a new dress! Really. The only Regency dress I have is made from a lightweight silk sari, which isn't exactly practical for November. I have a ton of wool from an online sale last year (or the year before?), so I knew I was set for fabric...one of the wools is a very dark midnight blue with a drapey hand, good for Regency. And after much poring over books and finding this one in the V&A's collection, I decided I needed a silly pompom dress! From Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail - more views on the V&A's site

New Ren Faire outfit

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Or, What Happens When You're A Procrastinator. You have an unfinished jacket with no trim, no shoulder bits and crappy sleeves, no coif, and no smock. So you wear your 1530s French hood and your low-necked 18thc shift, and feel self-conscious all day (even though it's the Renaissance Faire , and no one besides the group you're with know how wrong it is!). So...I hesitate to call this done, but then, I don't know when I'll actually get around to fixing the horrible chicken-wing sleeves, putting on trim, and all that - we've got Many Wicked Plans for next year's faire visit, and none of them involve a c1590-1600 jacket! At least it was wool, so I wasn't cold for the final joust...except for my neck. Would have helped if I had a HIGH-NECKED SMOCK or something. Just a couple pictures so you can see the awfulness...

Rockwood Museum outing

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Today I drove down to Delaware to meet up with a few friends, at the Rockwood Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. It's an historic house that was built in the style of a lovely English Gothic country house in the 1850s, and is kept in the style of the family that lived there around the turn of the last century. There were just four of us, but we made the most of it! Weather wasn't superb; it rained all the drive down, and was still a bit drizzly when I got there, but we had tea and snackies in a parlor, took the tour, and by then the rain had decided to take a break so we could parade around and get pictures! (Well, my friends could get pictures, anyway. And were kind enough to post them tonight so I could take them!) It meant yet another outing for the striped bustle dress (SIGH. Really going to have to get on that), which wasn't ideal, with the whole "train" and "wet" thing, but at least it's cotton, so wasn't a problem to wash out the hem!

Victorian Party

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Well, whenever I promise to "update more", you should know automatically not to expect another post for two weeks at least! Again, nothing new sewn, but I went to a lovely Victorian party at a friend's house yesterday. We ate, drank, chatted, and cheated ubiquitously at croquet! I wore my striped 1870s dress - obviously, as I have nothing else! Here's some photos of it - I managed to tie the polonaise a little less wonkily this time! Didn't lace tightly enough though, so halfway through the day the corset started doing The Creep, and I've a weird bustline lumpiness going on in the later photos. SIGH. Nothing's ever perfect!

Adding pages!

I've decided to try and update here more often - with in-progress posts as well as finished ones. To that end, I made pages for each era of costumes I made, which now have tabs at the top of the page. Eventually each costume will link back to the blog posts I've made about them (to make it easier to see more pictures, any in-progress shots, &tc.). It's not all finished yet, but just wanted to put it out there as a PSA!

Belvidere Victorian Days

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Bad blogger! This was ages ago (well a few weeks, anyway) and I didn't do a post. Well, it's not a new dress, so it wasn't top of my list. Of course, I forgot it's new here... Belvidere Victorian Days - Saturday September 8 2012. We were only there a few hours before a serious rainstorm moved in, but it was great fun to shop and chat with everybody!

Mid-1920s green lawn dress

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I made and wore this a while ago (three weeks? four weeks?), but didn't get any full-length shots, so I wanted to wait until I'd washed it to get more photos to post here. And when I'd finally gotten round to washing it, we had rainy weather so I couldn't get the photos-in-the-park that I wanted. But we had beautiful weather today, so here you go! This dress was mostly a one-day deal; I worked out the measurements and design, then procrastinated until two days before the event to even cut the fabric. But it's the 1920s, right? Easy-peasy. Step One: Cut rectangle. Step Two: Sew rectangle. Step Three: Wear rectangle.

Regency Fairmount outing

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Nothing new around here, just a little outing on Saturday I put together as an excuse to wear my spotted Regency dress again! Well, I did make a little chemisette (not, ahem, totally finished) because those things are incredibly silly-looking but I like them anyway. I want a bigger one to wear with winter outfits. My hair didn't look so great, as I've just moved and my things are a mess  - so I couldn't find my fake hair! Plus the extremely high humidity...I kept my bonnet on most of the time!

1780s white stays

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Just finished these tonight (and I'm posting now! That's got to be some kind of record) - I needed new stays to wear with my as-yet-unfinished chemise gown for an event this Saturday. Well, "needed." More like "wanted." You see, chemise gowns are made of thin fabric, and you can see a bit of the color of the stays through them. And I wanted to strictly keep to a blue-and-white color scheme - and my current pair of 1780s stays are mint green. Dear me, that will never do!

Concerts by Candlelight at Laurel Hill

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The spotted sari 1810 dress got another outing tonight - I went to a concert at an historic house in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia tonight with some family - so I took some pictures! Well, my mum did. (Which is good, because I realized I never actually posted about this dress on here! Oopsie. Cliff-notes version: Basic drop-front dress, made from a silk sari, worn over corded short stays!)

1860s blue ballgown

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I finished this dress for Dress U - how many weeks ago? Well, I've been meaning to get some detail shots, but don't have my dress dummy at the moment, and realized I'm never actually going to get those detail shots! May as well post about it now, or anybody not reading my journal will think I've given up and gone away! The finished product:  Well, it's a bit dark, but I like the silhouette! Also the champagne Jampagne!

Pompadour shoes

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(Appy-lollogies to those of you on LJ who get to see this twice! Unless you're like me and never remember to actually go on Blogger.) Just doing my civic duty to spread the word about American Duchess' latest shoes! After my $600 car repair yesterday (thanks, exhaust system, I hate you so much right now!), there's no way any costume shoes are in the budget soon, let alone these lovelies. But I could win them, right? Clicky for the link to the presale  

Fort Fred 2012

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As I said in my previous post, I was going to wear the striped jacket to Fort Fred, but finally decided on the cranberry wool gown (after bringing both with me!), and was very glad I did. (Wore the petticoat I made to go with the jacket, so that's something. Ivory linen, handsewn, whatever.) I could have even used my cloak at some points during the day (it was in the car), but what's the fun if you can't show off your nice dress? All my pictures came out fairly dreadful, so these are from an accommodating friend and her photographer! So here a few more shots of the cranberry wool's latest outing.

1770s striped jacket

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I have a blog. Right! Well, to be fair, I haven't finished anything since the Francaise dinner, which I did post about! Yes, that's sad. Don't worry, Dress U is coming up so I have to finish something ! I decided I wanted something fun to wear to Fort Fred market fair, which was this past weekend in Big Pool, Maryland. (Much fun! Will post on that too.) I didn't end up wearing it, of course, because the weather was too chilly, with a threat of rain - but I'll post pics of the finished jacket on the dress dummy for now, and get pics on Yours Truly eventually.

1770s Pink Sack Gown

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I started this dress last October, I think, for an event, but decided it would be smarter, considering the weather forecast, to wear something a bit warmer - which is how the cranberry wool 1770s gown came about! Then the idea came about for a Francaise Dinner for the costumers in my area, and conveniently, I already had this dress started! Barely started… Here’s how it came out! I must say, I’m pretty pleased with it!