A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

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!

First and foremost, I'm shelving the natural form dress for now. I have the striped early bustle dress, and that is eminently wearable if boring. It's mainly my own fault, though also due to things outside of my control conspiring against me. All in all, though, I'd really like to sleep more than a few hours this week! It's not about what I wear, anyway - it's not my birthday party! :) The underskirt did get finished this week, though, and it did come out rather nicely, despite being kind of a PITA to get all those pleats pinned in... So I suppose that means I'm free to work on Gettysburg stuff now. Huh. So where do I start?? So many options!

And I really have been sewing today (for hours and hours, oy), so it's a proper Sewing Sunday! I did do some work on the blue corset during the week, and got most of the boning in - when I realized I really need to put some more in, in certain strategic places. Argh. Let's move on for now, shall we? Plus I met up with a few friends this afternoon for a sewing day, so I wanted something I could work on by hand (so much easier than lugging the machine around!) So yesterday I put together the foundation for the underskirt - blue polished cotton - and sewed together the Big Green Panel that gets box pleated over it and tacked down. Simple enough, right? Well, I got a quarter of the skirt finished this afternoon, so, yes, simple, but time-consuming! It's fiddly work getting the pleats pinned just right. Also possible I'm just slow. Woo.

I forgot to do my weekly "what I've sewn" post yesterday - oops! Well, it's the last day of my weekend today , so we'll still count it, okay? Not that I've done much. I made a couple of little dresses for a good friend's new baby (although I made them in a larger size so she can hopefully wear them next spring/summer), and did some boring boring alterations that at least made me a bit of money. And banged a few grommets on my natural form corset, woo. A very few. And then yesterday I went to see Austenland with some friends. In costume, naturally! Philly's just full of nice old brick walls for costume picture-taking! It doesn't seem to have gotten the best reviews, but I think I can speak for the group in saying we thoroughly enjoyed it! It's a chick flick and it's silly, but every once in a while I do like a silly movie, you know? And it was so funny! I think our little group might've laughed slightly louder due to knowing a...