A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

A friend in Virginia hosts the Regency-themed Pumpkin Tea around this time every year, and this year I was able to make it, along with some of my local peeps, which made for an entertaining (if very full!) car ride down. The order of the day is eating and socializing, and believe me, there was plenty of both! I must mention that the pumpkin soup was especially amazing. The lot of us, from In the Long Run

This past Saturday night, my friends and I had our Regency Christmas party that was postponed because of bad weather. Of course, anyone living in the Mid-Atlantic region will note that the weather was bad immediately beforehand for this snow date, too! Happily the highways dried out fairly quickly, and no one who was planning to come to the new date had to cancel because of weather. I stayed over Friday night so I could be up bright and early to start with the cooking and decorating - which there was a lot of! We had enough food to feed an army. And drinks...don't lets even mention the drinks. I learned anew that my poor little camera makes everything orange in candlelight photos (and then my batteries died and I couldn't find the new ones), so none of these photos were taken by me. I very much appreciate those of my friends with decent enough cameras to get good shots! Enough of this, on to the party! FOOD. (Photo credit: quincy134 of In the Long Run )

Apologies for not posting last week about my sewing progress - but I felt like I hadn't made any, so it was hardly worth a post. Was much more productive this week; I made most of an 1810s bonnet and finally finished the pompom spencer! I'm not going to the usual fall Regency event, so, since I don't know when I'll have an opportunity to actually wear it out, I got pictures of it this morning. Which required getting up much earlier than I like. Be impressed with my dedication to this blog. :P

This week, I bring you...outerwear! Not finished outerwear. I hope no one got too excited. First, I'll just note that the pompom spencer now has two sleeves, and they are attached. And that is good! Now I just have to sew more pompoms all over it... In the interests of time (and never finishing anything ever), I thought I'd start work on the things I need for Gettysburg - starting with the paletot (aka coat). I think I found about six paletots I wanted to make...but finally chose this one, not least because everything I need to make it can be found in the Stash. (Except the button forms. Gotta remember to buy those.)

I mentioned that you all had permission to kick me if I'd not finished the spencer by the time of my next post, and, well...just don't kick me too hard, okay? I finally got round to mocking up, fitting, and cutting out the sleeves Thursday, and currently one sleeve's attached. Other sewing: I had jury duty Tuesday, and wanted some hand-sewing occupation that didn't involve explaining why on earth I was sewing pompoms to a tiny bolero jacket to any curious members of the public! Not that the pieces of an 18th century cap look any less odd, but they're smaller...and at least there are no pompoms . So I cut out an 18thc cap the night before. Since I was at the courthouse from 8 to 3.30, I did manage to get a good amount done (in between sitting in court, where I don't think they'd have appreciated my little project) - I hemmed two-and-a-half out of three pieces, and put some gathering stitches in. And then it seemed silly to put the cap in the UFO bin, s...

Time is really getting away from me - this spencer really is such a simple little garment, it should have been completed the beginning of this week, at the latest. But the early fall weather has just been so enjoyable these last two weeks, that every time I have a good chunk of time to devote to sewing, I've been going outside for a walk in local parks and nature preserves instead! I'm terribly not -outdoorsy, so be impressed. I still have to make and fit a sleeve mockup, but since I'll always put off sleeves as long as I possibly can, I'm working on the trim now. Pompoms!! So far I've only got it sewn to the bottom edge of the spencer, but, you know, better than nothing, right? Dangly pompom bits. Hee.

Alliteration, heh heh. First things first; yesterday was my friend Robin's birthday party - it was a Victorian picnic in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, and it was lovely! She made a really beautiful new dress for the occasion - check it out ! I didn't make anything new for the occasion, though I'll have to next time - this dress is two years old and it's now a bit too tight! Not unwearable, obviously...but not terribly comfortable, especially if there's a picnic involved. And there was indeed a picnic. And - what I've been sewing this week. Gettysburg sewing needs to start soon, but I have a Regency event in November as well, and I'm making the pompom spencer to go over the jumper I made last year . I worked very hard on fitting the mockup on Wednesday, and have made reasonable progress: Lightened a bit so you can *sort* of see the collar. And the inside. Pieced linen from the scrap bin!

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!

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.

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