A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

I haven't been sewing much this summer, but I did manage to scrape together a new skirt and hat to do a Great War event with the Usual Suspects in Ringwood, NJ this past weekend.

Or, why we're the knockoff Koach bag of "Georgian Picnics." Also, long time no post! I've been in school. Well, I'm still in school, which is why this is not a "look at this new thing I made!" post, just an "I wore this old thing to an event" post. And I am going to be in school for the rest of 2018, so don't expect much! I actually got very close to finishing a UFO 1790s open robe for this...just not quite close enough. But I wore my couple-year-old 1790s round gown that's only had one outing, and wore it with different accessories...so it was almost like a new dress anyway!

Plaid, that's what! Worn twice, even. (No, this isn't the failed-tea dress; that is currently still in the naughty pile. This plaid was much better behaved!)

I've been wanting to have a vintage tea in the city for a couple of years now, and holiday season sounded perfect for it! Well, it ended up being somewhat less than perfect; couldn't get a reservation anyplace I wanted, several people bailed due to snow, and the dress I was making turned out horribly at the try-on point. (I'm still poking away at that dress, and intend to either make a "yes, I don't hate this dress" or "do not under any circumstances buy this pattern" post soon. It's a red and green plaid so I should finish it while it's still seasonably wearable!)

I had very grand plans for this weekend, that as the school semester progressed, kept getting scaled down...and down...til eventually all I managed to make new was one measly bonnet. So this mightn't be the most exciting post for those of you that have been reading here for a while! But I'll do a costume-weekend recap anyway. Entertainingly-slash-annoyingly, I didn't actually get to wear the bonnet at all, other than the ten minutes I had it on outside while taking pictures of it on Friday afternoon, as we only dressed for the tintype on Friday, and then Saturday was a monsoon so I wasn't about to wear a buckram and silk bonnet outside! Played with filters to make it look more autumnal (and me less blindingly white. That's difficult)

Or, Never Say Never In Costuming; Or, The Fugly Bedgown. Also...it appears that I am a fan of blue and orange, which didn't occur to me til I realized which post was immediately below this one. Heh. So...I hate bedgowns. (Just, as in, I don't generally want one on me, not that I hate them indiscriminately on all and sundry.) Yes, they are appropriate in certain contexts, yes, they are practical, yes, they are fugly. And yet...I have made a bedgown. Don't ask about the (somewhat suspect) motivation; suffice it to say the Usual Suspects and I got a bee in our bonnets to be the Bedgown Brigade at some point this fall. Washington's Crossing 18thc market fair seemed an appropriate deployment, so towards the end of summer plans were made and sewing was done...

I think it's hardly fair to call this a sewing project; there were two short seams to be sewn on the machine that totaled maybe a yard! But I haven't seen any reviews online of this pattern yet, so this is me being helpful. I used the new release Simplicity 8452 pattern - what I have dubbed the "envelope blouse." Why? Well, the back seams reminded me of an envelope!