A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

This past week I've managed to finish the bodice of the 1816 mourning gown, apart from the one line of trim that goes under the bust, which will wait til after I put the skirt on. They're not great pictures, since I took them tonight, and indoors with an all-black dress doesn't work very well...but here's what it looks like so far.

But no pictures. Sorry, boring. Our planned Ren Faire outing was yesterday, but the weather was absolute rubbish (rained all day), so everyone decided against going. There wasn't another date we could all attend, so in a way I'm glad I didn't finish K Parr! Not that I'd have worn her to a mud-filled faire either way. Fabric's too expensive for that. I've ordered my black fabric for the mourning dress, have a pair of 1770s stays in progress as well as a 1770s shift, and made a wool twill under-petticoat to wear with my 18thc stuff. It's purple and pink and very cozy. (The petticoat was yesterday at a surprisingly productive sewing day.) Oh, right, I did make a black reticule to use with my mourning dress, and took a picture of that. Hooray picture! It has dodgy tassels. And I apparently sewed the whole thing with navy thread without noticing til the very end, oops.

I guess it's time to do an updatey sort of thing here, no? Poor neglected blog. And I'll have to confess that I'm not going to be able to finish Katherine Parr in time for the ren faire. She keeps throwing all these little snarls in the works, and while none of them are omg huge disaster, I can't work them out by the 11th. Even if I drove myself crazy (and took a week off work!) I don't think I could finish in time. I want this to be my best effort, not corner-cutting because I'm fed up with it. But you'll see her again, promise! After Christmas at the very latest, as I've made some more costumey plans...which I've got to tell you are such a relief. (Which is how I know I'm correct to put this project on hiatus.) A quick rundown: I'm going to the Met's Death Becomes Her exhibit for their Halloween event, and am planning on a c1816 evening dress. I got the bodice and sleeves all mocked up and fitted the other day, but have to wait ...