A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Well, I completely forgot to update at all last Sunday! Ooops. I mean, I still don't have much finished to post about, but a bit is better than nothing, right? First, I finished a new reticule,which I promise does not actually have a wildly off-centred tassel. It's just your basic sack - a circle of silk, lined in cotton, with a drawstring channel at the edge for the ribbon. No, it doesn't remotely match my (planned) outfit. Then there was a ridiculous chemisette that took three days to make, for some reason.

So I have been doing sew-y things this week - but none of them in a picture-taking state, really. I've started a new Regency dress - to wear on a little outing to Philadelphia next month. All my day dresses are very thin silks or muslins, and I wanted something a bit more substantial. I'd a drapey wool suiting in the stash that wasn't earmarked for anything, so I decided on that. It's not a super-exciting color (a yellowy kind of ecru with thin white stripes), but I'm going to pair it with a black spencer so I think it'll be alright. The skirt panels of the dress are sewn together, and tonight I finally finished fitting the bodice mockup and cut the wool and the lining. I'm also in the process of making a new reticule because the one I have is a bit on the small side. The new one's cut out and hemmed, and I've sewn a bit of the drawstring channel. Hopefully next update I'll have something a bit more exciting to post!

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 )

I finished the pink petticoat yesterday; today I hope to get all the pieces for the half-robe cut out. Except for the sleeves, because those I will actually need to mock up. A bit pathetic that it took me so long to make a petticoat, but then I remind myself it was Christmas week, and I didn't have much sewing time! I have faith that I can crank out the half-robe in time for this coming weekend. Hopefully. Here's the petticoat, for your viewing (dis)pleasure. Mabel's bust is a bit too low to wear it in the right place, but I didn't have time to get all trussed up to take a photo on me. It is a wee bit on the short side, but as its main function is actually going to be an under-petticoat for warmth purposes, that was on purpose. Nothing more annoying than having a petticoat that's just a tiny bit too long!

Well, my big exciting post was on Friday, so nothing much to see here! I have decided to make that outfit to wear the morning after the Regency 12th Night party...just a simple half-robe over a petticoat. The half-robe will be made of the green printed cotton, and the petticoat of the wool/cotton blend twill. The pink side is technically the wrong side, but that's the one I'm using for this petticoat because I like it better! (The purple side will be used for an 18thc under-petticoat at some point, when I get around to it.) Yesterday I ripped the panels for the petticoat, and today I sewed the side seams. Hopefully next week I'll be able to post about a finished petticoat and a partially sewn half-robe, but with the holidays who knows how much time I'll have for sewing...

I just realized that I never posted about this...our planned Regency Christmas party for this past Saturday had to be postponed because of the weather. Many attendees were driving in from out of state, and no one was sure how safe the roads would be. (To be fair, I'm from out of state too...but just across the river, and I drove over earlier than most people would have, before the roads might've got bad.) We've rescheduled it to be a Twelfth Night party the first weekend in January - and are hoping the weather cooperates! I admit I was very disappointed, but I did finish my sleeves (actually, I just put the last stitches on them this morning!), and today got some pictures. Important disclaimer: there is not supposed to be that much dangly fringe on the turban - I didn't know it had untucked itself! Same for the escaping shift sleeves.

I would love to say I've been sewing too much to post - but that wouldn't be true! Bit of a sewing slump post-Gettysburg, I have to admit. I have a Regency Christmas party to go to this coming Saturday, and I'm going to wear my green and gold Regency dress. I'm in the process of fixing up the sleeves, and that's the only sewing I really have to do for it (though I may whip up a matching reticule if I'm feeling so inclined). Which is good because I'm responsible for helping out with food, drinks, and decoration!