My red robe à l'Anglaise is progressing. I'm feeling lazy about uploading pics so you'll just have to take my word on it. :>

It's starting to look like a garment of some kind which feels good. Although I have to say that this frock is fighting me a lot. Nothing major, just a lot of little things that are being fiddly. Or maybe I'm just paying more attention and not wanting to say "oh it's fine" because the fabric is too awesome for that sort of attitude. Also I don't need it until Jan so I have time to fuss with the fiddly.

Sometimes having a tight deadline is good, there is less fussing and dithering that happens in my sewing room and more "it's good enough - make it work!". :>

Tags: 18th:anglaise_redsilk

I worked on my red anglaise a bit last night. Got most of the en fourreau pleats set & sewn when I noticed how "off" the pleats were from the repeat of the fabric's pattern. Umm. So the burning questions began - would anyone notice, will it bother me in the end or not, it is period, am I being silly??? So I stopped work, slept on it and decided this am that I really did need to rip out all my stitching and do it again, this time paying attention to the print. Why I couldn't have thought of that the first time around... mreh.

Luckily this fabric is continuing to be a dream to work with (I love the weight and crunchiness of it!). Not only do the pin holes not show once it's been steamed and the washable pencil marks come out just fine with a damp washcloth, but the application of water doesn't change the crispness of the fabric's "hand". The red dye is a little unstable (some of it came off along with the washable pencil marks) but really that is to be expected with red silk. I'll have to be careful about getting it wet while I'm wearing it, that's all.

I'm going to have to think about the construction of this dress more than I thought I would. I've never made an English gown with a repeating pattern that was noticeable. It requires some adjusting in one's thinking.

Tags: 18th:anglaise_redsilk

Okay so I lied, I did do one more toile. I didn't like the look of the sleeve Mom helped me with and decided to try the sleeve I just draped for the linen print dress. Sure enough it fit perfectly without any changes - I love it when that happens!

So the master patterns have all been traced out and I'm ready to start work... if only real life won't get in the way!

Tags: 18th:anglaise_redsilk

Worked a little on my anglaise toile tonight. My first try on looked okay, really just had to re-cut the too short should straps. After attaching some new straps it was just a matter of tweaking little things here and there. I figured since I had time I could be a little more anal than normal.

I also cut out a sleeve toile, and had Mom help me pin in place on. It needs a little work, mostly adding to the back so I can have some little pleats back there and move my arms. I don't think I'm going to bother with any more toiling, I can make all the little tweaks when I trace out the master pattern... which I'm going to go do right now. :>

I love a project without a deadline - this is fun!


Oh and also today I updated my website with all the recent projects and event pics... man was I behind!

Tags: 18th:anglaise_redsilk, website

I was feeling inspired to work on some 18th century last night so I started work on what will become my red silk robe à l'Anglaise.


I've been dying to cut into this fabric ever since bauhausfrau picked it up for me in April. It's so-o-o-o-o pretty and different. Well except for the fact that both bauhausfrau and feathrfetish have some of it too! :>


I've decided I want go late 1770s, something fairly basic in construction and detailing that I can style into the 1780s depending on the occasion and my mood. (working with the theory that you can always wear an earlier dress with later accessories.) I've been inspired by many frocks in my files but the ones that have really stood out have been a yellow dress from Marie Antoinette, the polonaiseville dress from the Duchess and a yummy yellow frock from the Met.

I'm going to do an en fourreau because frankly it's easier and it pushs back the date a bit. :> Trimming I'm not too sure about. I have enough fabric to go reasonably crazy with self trim. The matching petticaot will have a full ruffle though and both pieces will have spangles - definitely needs sparkle!

So last night I started with the pattern from my pierrot jacket, which is also the pattern I used for my blue print jacket. I adore the fit of those jackets but I wanted to tweak the grainline (to shape the stripe in the front) and the shaping of the shoulders a bit (to try and achieve the same super pretty and comfortable sleeve I just got on my printed linen dress).

So I played around with the pattern and cut out a toile. It's all sewn up and ready to be tried on.

In changing the angle of the front's grainline I used the c1780-90 dress in Arnold as my guide. I lined up the center front of my pattern piece with the center front of the book's pattern and traced. When I lined up the newly marked grainline on the fabric, sure enough it created that pretty V in front with my stripe - just like on the Duchess polonaiseville dress. I'm assuming that if the grainline worked for Arnold it will work for me but I'm still curious to see if the change with throw the fit off in some way. I hope not but this is why we toile before we cut our yummy fabric! :>

Tags: 18th:anglaise_redsilk

Despite all my personal drama leading up to it, I had a nice time at the Pumpkin Tea on Saturday. It's amazing what good friends, lively conversation, fun food and a new frock will do for a girl. :> Pictures can be found here:
My pictures
Loren's pictures
Isabella's pictures


I'm still not quite sure how it happened but my new linen dress turned out wonderfully. I'm in shock about it really.


It was a close thing though. Dispite being up until 2am the night before, I woke up Saturday morning without sleeves. By the time I got to them Friday night it was way too late to be cutting fabric and/or sewing sleeves. So I got everything else I could do done and went bed. I finished the last stitch at 12:15 (the tea started at 1pm).

Thanks to my parents, who are made of win and awesome, helping with fittings (Mom) and sandwich making (Dad) I got to the tea right on time and not nearly as stressed as I should have been. :> My family is the best!


As much as I loved my dress, I was possibly more excited about my underpinnings. After years of cheating with modern slips, Victorian petticoats, etc - I was wearing proper Regency under things! A Regency shift, a high-waisted linen petticoat and of course my new stays. *sigh* I really should be less lazy about underpinnings, I love the feeling of wearing the proper ones so.


Speaking of my stays - I'm super pleased with my new pair! They were really comfy and the way they shape my bust is SO much nicer than the original pair. They were even more comfortable to drive in than my old ones - yay! I had another party after the tea, a non-costume event this time, but since my friends didn't care what I was wearing and my outfit was so comfy I didn't bother to change until I got home late that evening!

*sigh* I love Regency.

Tags: m.a.c., tea, z:archive:19th:regency:petticoat, z:archive:19th:regency:printed.linen, z:archive:19th:regency:stays09

Thanks to all for your support over the regency dress debacle. You are the best! *hugs*


On Monday, after my rant and subsequent meltdown, I had a bit of a brain wave. Last Feb I started a Lizzie inspired sort of fan-front dress. I did a few toiles but couldn't get it to work the way I wanted so I abandoned the project and moved on to other things. Monday's brain wave was to figure out not only a better base pattern to start from but also how to better achieve the sort of slight fan front gathers I wanted.


So I pulled out my bodiced petticoat, made from the lining pattern from the S&S Elegant Lady pattern. I laced up in my newly completed stays and tried it on, noting the changes that would need to be made to create my Lizzie dress.


I love my petticoat but because of the neckline I can only wear it with one of my Regency frocks. That's not cool! It's been my intention since CosCol last year to trim down the neckline and straps so I can use it with my entire Regency wardrobe. Thanks to the tweaks I made in my stays it really doesn't fit anymore however (those new gussets make my bust a bit fuller) so I decided to just take the bodice off and instead add straps (like on koshka_the_cat's petticoat).


I traced a pattern off the old bodice, cut up a toile and tried it on. Pretty good. My ideas for the shaping of the fan front worked much better than the ones earlier this year. A couple of tweaks, a new master pattern tracing and I had a new day dress to work with. The pics above show the original bodice and the finial master pattern I came up with on top of it so you can see the difference.


I decided that rather than cutting a new bodice for the disaster pink dress I would start completely from scratch - a new fabric for a new dress. I chose to use a fabulous printed linen that I found in the LA garment district a couple of years ago. I've been hoarding it but now was time to use it. I will work on the pink dress when I have time to fiddle with it (and the matching Spencer) and make the outfit I REALLY want it to be.


My week has been insane so I didn't have a chance to work on my frock until yesterday. S came over and we sewed for most of the day. My dress was moving along swimmingly until I got to the sleeves. I had neglected to toile the sleeves on Monday, having been lulled into a false sense of security but the ease of fitting the sleeves on the disaster pink dress. I thought, "No big, I'll just whip up a sleeve toile once the dress is made, tweak the little bit that needs to be tweaked and carry on". Um no. I forgot that sleeves play dirty! Jerks.


So as it stands I have the basic dress nearly finished, only hooks and eyes and a hem left. I think I know the changes that need to be to the sleeve to make it work so hopefully another toile (or two) and I will be okay. *crosses fingers*


I do have fabric and plans picked out for a coordinating hat and Spencer but I don't know if they will get done for tomorrow. The hat maybe, the Spencer no way. Still a girl can dream!

Tags: 19th:regency:hat:gold, 19th:regency:spencer, z:archive:19th:regency:printed.linen

To the US veterans reading this, both past and present, thank you. It doesn't seem enough, those two little words, but please know that this American is humbled and so grateful by your courage, your dedication and your many sacrifices. May God richly bless you and the country you served so diligently.

Tags: life

I think I just screwed my dress. As in I'll have to trash it. I was trying to fix an issue on the bodice and managed to cut the fabric far beyond the seam allowance in a way that is unrepairable.

I want to cry.

Not that I was liking the dress anyway. I kept telling myself it was okay and the fit and other issues didn't really bother me but really you know what - it does. I do have enough fabric to remake the bodice but I was going to save it until I could re-make the bodice better, not for a second half-assed version (which is all I have time for this week). I'm not sure I can deal with this frock anymore at the moment either.

It's moments like this I hate costuming. Why do I do these things to myself!!!!

Tags: rant, z:pending:19th:regency:pinkstripe

My stays are finished - yay! It's really amazing how much faster binding goes when no tabs are involved! Pics tomorrow...

Also tried my dress bodice on. It's a little on the snug side. Shoot. The orginial is a tad big and thanks to my few tweaks this one is a tad snug. I just can't win! Also the sleeves are a little off. I'm trying to decide if I care enough to rip them out and move them over. They look and feel okay. No one would know they were wrong, except you guys of course since I just told you. :> Maybe I'll leave them to last and see how the frock and Spencer go this week.

Tags: 19th:regency:spencer, z:archive:19th:regency:stays09, z:pending:19th:regency:pinkstripe

I got back from the farm yesterday morning. I had a fabulous time (as always!) and managed to get a good chunk of sewing done too. My dress is in good shape, just need to sew the skirt to the bodice, hem it and sew on some hooks and eyes.

Real life and a migraine hit me up-side the head after I got home but I did manage to unpack and get the bottom of my stays bound. Yay! I love not dealing with tabs! I have another headache today so I think I'll leave the Spencer alone for now and work on finishing up the stays and dress. They require less brain wattage.

Tags: 19th:regency:spencer, z:archive:19th:regency:stays09, z:pending:19th:regency:pinkstripe

Greetings from the farm! Last night's sewing session was fun, despite some fitting issues. It is so much easier to have fitting issues with a sewing buddy in the room though! :> Loren and I were both working on Spencers, both using the same pattern no less - when does that happen?!

I tried on my new Regency stays for the first time. Thats when I discovered that I'd put the shoulder straps on backwards. That will teach me to forget to mark notches on my patterns! The other issue with the stays is that some how I made the bust gussests too big. They stick out at the top in an annoying way. It's a really tiny amount of fabric that is doing it though so it's not really worth taking the gussets out and redoing the whole thing so I'm going to cheat and just run some gathering stitches at the bust. I was originaly going to run a drawstring in the top binding (which is reasonably period) but on further reflection it's just the bust that needs help and that is the easier way to go. If I hate it I can always redo the gussets later.

The fitting of the Spencer toile went about as well. *makes face* For everything I like about the pattern there is something I don't like. *sigh* Loren helped me fix the major fitting problems but it's going to need major work to get it close to my inspirations. So now I'm trying to decide if I want to comprimise and make it up as is so I have a Spencer by next week or if I should go to the hassle of changing half dozen things so it looks like what I had in my head. I'm still pondering.

Tags: 19th:regency:spencer, z:archive:19th:regency:stays09

It's been a productive morning - yay! I traced out the right size (I never cut my expensive costuming patterns, always trace them out) and cut a toile for the Spencer so I can whip that up while at the farm. So that gives me three projects to work on. I'm not at all ambitious!

In my defense I know from experience that hanging out with Loren gets all my creative costuming juices going and with my looming deadline I want to take full advantage! :>

Alright I'm off...

Tags: 19th:regency:spencer

I got the lining cut out before I went to bed last night - so all I have to do is sew the thing up this weekend.

I've decided I really, really want a spencer for the tea on the 14th. I'm insane to do it but I'm going to give it a try. So I spent some time last night looking through my files to get some inspiration. I'm going to use the S&S Spencer pattern, to make my life simpler (is that a word?), so that helped narrowed down my choices.


I love the simplicity of these similar spencers that Jane and Georgiana are wearing so I think I will go with something like that. I also like the way Lizzie's pumpkin spencer fastens, with the buttons and ribbon, so I will play around with that too.

Of course looking at all the spencers in my files makes me realize I really want about 5 spencers - so many fun styles and details to choose from! :>

Tags: 19th:regency:spencer, z:pending:19th:regency:pinkstripe

Found the sleeve pattern. It was in the folder for the cross-over dress. Yeah, right where it belonged *rolls eyes* Never found the skirt pattern for the simple reason I never made one. Found my notes though and apparently I used two widths of fabric (60" wide) for the top and the skirt lining pieces from the S&S Regency dress for the lining. Easy once I figured it out.

So I've retraced a master pattern. I made enough changes that the extra step was worthwhile - bringing the backup, making the bodice a bit smaller - yay, the sleeve straps a little wider, etc. I also adapted the longer sleeve from my cross-over dress instead of the shorter oringinal incarnation. I just felt like it.

Now all the fashion fabric is cut out and I'm waiting for the lining fabric to finish tumbling around in the dryer. What is more boring than watching paint dry? Waiting for the washer and dryer to finish their cycles so you can cut out a new frock. It will finish about the time I have to leave for church. Of course.

Tags: z:pending:19th:regency:pinkstripe

My Regency dress is being a butt.

First it was the skirt pattern I couldn't find and now it's the sleeve pattern. It has been 3 years since I used them (I'm making my life simple and using the same patterns as my adored sparkly bee dress & federalist frock) but still... *gives project an evil look* Bad, bad dress!

Tags: z:pending:19th:regency:pinkstripe

How can it be over a week and be a new month since I last posted?! It's really scary how fast the days are flying by! I feel like I'll blink and suddenly Christmas will be over and I'll be trying to remember to put 2010 on my checks. *sigh*

I haven't been up to much on the sewing front, thanks to real life rearing it's ugly head. I finished the bonnet commission, despite it fighting me every frickin inch of the way. Some projects are just like that. *gives bonnet the evil eye*

sadievale's Pumpkin Tea is next weekend so it's time to turn my attention back to my Regency wardrobe. I finished the eyelets on my corset. Now I'm off to sew on the shoulder straps, give it a quick try-on to make sure the length is good and I can start binding it. Then it's on to the fun stuff. :>

Tags: m.a.c., z:archive:19th:regency:stays09

Our outing to the Faire was lots of fun! Despite getting up really early and everyone arriving early or on time we pulled out of the driveway about an hour later than I wanted to. Ahh... the best laid plans! We all looked good though, Especially Rachel and Mom in their newly finished frocks. By the time we made it to the faire we were greeted by a line of cars to get to the road that leads to the faire. Yay traffic.

We ended up with a great parking spot though (a straight shot to the exit!) and made our way into the very muddy faire to meet up with bauhausfrau and her boys. They were all fabulous looking and after some chit-chat at the White Hart we grabbed something to eat and made our way to the pirate ship for the boys to play.

We left bauhausfrau and the boys to it, did some shopping and ended up on the benches in front of the chapel (one of my favorite spots!) where L and the boys joined us again for a little while.

After they left we got down to the serious business of shopping and nibbling. Mom, Rachel and Colleen had never been to the MD Ren Faire before, Mom and Rachel having never been to a Ren Faire ever. It was fun to show them around and take them to all my favorite spots and shops. We shopped, we ate, we sat and watched the faire go by. It was Day of Wrong, which on the whole was pretty entertaining. The high Elizabethan fops were great, the Tigger dressed in crusade garb fabulous, the knights with arrows sticking out of their chests were very chivalrous and all the western wear/cowboys so adorable. I don't think I've ever seen so many spurs at a Ren Faire! *sigh* I love cowboys.

I also really enjoyed my outfit, hobbled together and unplanned as it was. I was super comfortable all day, I got complements (particularly my mini tricorn), and I had way to much fun wearing false eyelashes and tons of dark eye makeup with it. My effigy stays were wonderfully comfy and I loved having a shorter petticoat in the mud and crowds. As much as I love historical accuracy and admire those that do it so well, I've discovered I love wearing Ren fantasy best - it's just fun! So I think for next year I'm going to take the same concept but make a more properly priratey outfit. Kind of a coquettish pirate. Thinking about it I already have the fabric in the stash and everything... I just need to keep my eye out for some pirate bling like bauhausfrau's. :P

We decided, based on how packed the faire was getting and past experiences getting out of the parking lot that we would leave well before closing. We have reached our limit of fattening foods and checkbook stretching by 5pm anyway. It was late when we got home but not overly so.

So yay to a lovely day! The rest of my pics from the day can be found here.

Tags: faire, z:archive:16th:effigystays

First thanks so much for all your support and kind words this week, both about my effigy stays *blushes*, my jacket and my decision not to wear it tomorrow. *hugs* So what is next on my costuming agenda? I have lots of yummy ideas running rampant in my costuming brain right now but the one I'm most excited to actually work on is...


My blue "Eyre" dress! I am *so* jazzed about this project. Before my fabric.com order arrived, I was planning on tweaking my original Poe dress for Poe's Birthday in Jan. When I made the order I was hoping for a royal or electric blue, something kinda obnoxious, for a different project. However after some mental adjustment however I found I loved the moody midnight blue that I received. It immediately screamed Victorian to me and after staring at it for a couple more days it quite clearly said 'I need to be 1840s'.

( all about the Eyre dress )

( laughing moon corset )

( commissioned bonnet )


After the CW bonnet is done I probably should work on a new Regency dress and finish up my 1804 stays for S's tea on the 14th but the Eyre dress is singing a very persuasive and sweet song right now...

Tags: 19th:corset.lm, 19th:eyre, comissions, hats

Well I've decided that as cute as I could make it and as much as I'll probably like it better once it's made up in real fabric - I simply don't want to wear an Elizabethan Jacket this weekend. So I'm not.

Part of me feels like a brat and pretty lame for not following through when I *could* get the jacket done in time but the other part is kinda proud that I'm actually following some of my costuming resolutions to neither costume in a rush, have to have "fabulous new" for every event, nor costume for what I *think* are other's expectations of my abilities.

So I'm going to wear a hobbled together "pirate wench" outfit - ie stays on the outside, petticoats and a little tricorn in the hair. I played around last night and found a combo that works nicely with my new effigy stays (which I'm dying to wear!). I feel I'm closer to "Pierette" or "Columbine" at the moment though so I'm going to run out to the party store today and see it I can "pirate" myself up a bit more. If not no big, the Pierette is kinda cute. :>

So the good news is I now have a perfectly fitted and ready to go Elizabethan Jacket pattern for my embroidered jacket project. I need to work on the embroidery design now - at the moment all I have is a rough desire for bees and Tudor roses... *rubs hands together*

Tags: faire, z:pending:16th:jacket

All finished with toiling - yay! The sleeve wasn’t too bad. Then again I wasn’t being too picky with it either. So I'm in the process of taking the toile apart to make my master pattern, then it's onto cutting.

I don't know the more I look at it the less I'm excited I am about this jacket. Maybe I've just been looking at it too long or I'm just tired (probably overdid a bit yesterday) or it could be my headache du jour. Mostly I think it's CADD (I really want to be working on my blue taffeta project) and a bit of disappointment I won’t be a pretty, pretty princess in a pink Venetian on Saturday. *sigh*

Tags: z:pending:16th:jacket

After looking up the weather for Saturday and seeing 70% chance of rain my back-up plan of just wearing the Rohan came crashing down. I don't mind dirt but mud and rain on my Rohan... um no.


Luckily the Jacket played pretty nice. The front originally fit really funky, it was a solid 2" too small, despite the back being just about right and the front being the right length and proportion everywhere else. There was also some funkiness at the top of the side seam. I cut the gussets to just below the waist, following koshka_the_cat's example of cutting until the bottom fit, which just happened to be exactly where the cutting line ended on the pattern. *grins*


My next toile was an improvement, having added 2.5" to the front edge and pinned in the gussets. I tweaked the top of the side seam a lot more and went on to a third toile (which I forgot to take pics of) where I double checked everything I'd done and added a sleeve toile to the mix.

I decided instead of starting from scratch I would start with my 18th century shaped long sleeve pattern. I had a bit of a panic moment when I remembered the 18th century sleeve was shaped but a quick look at all my scaled patterns and extant garment images and I found that most of the jacket sleeves were shaped to some degree. Yay!

The sleeve actually looked pretty good, most of the work being needed at the sleeve head to fit the jacket armhole, but my brain had enough for the day so I decided to call it a day and come back to it in the morning when I was fresh.

Which brings us to today. I'm hoping one more sleeve toile and then I can cut this baby out. *crossing fingers I have enough of my chosen fabric to do this*

Tags: z:pending:16th:jacket

Finally feeling better today - yeah!

So my jacket toile has been cut out and pinned together. I'm off to get out Bette the sewing machine to whip it up and do a fitting.

As lame as it sounds if this jacket doesn't play nice I'm going to ditch the project. I'm just not motivated. I'm only working on it at this point because I know I'll super happy on Saturday if I have a new something to wear. But honestly there are about 4 projects I'd rather be working on, including my unfinished bonnet commission and wearing the Rohan again isn't the worst thing in the world. I love that dress!

It will make me feel like a slug, not following through on now two Ren outfits but I'm feeling too blah and overwhelmed to be stressed out by a jacket. Life is just too short.

Tags: z:pending:16th:jacket

My stays are finished! Yay for mindless handwork when you aren't feeling well. :>


Working on the stays in the airport... I didn't want to risk my favorite scissors so I played it safe by pre cutting and knotting thread and only bringing a handful of pins.


And the finished stays. Purple isn't really my color (yay for using The Stash (TM)) but I don't mind this shade too much, especially with the pink binding...

Tags: z:archive:16th:effigystays

I'm sick, with a bug of some kind. Not too bad really, more just feeling bad enough to not feel good if you know what I mean. The almost constant headaches since I've been home have not helped the general blah feeling.

So not much has gotten done on my Ren Faire outfit. I managed to get some binding work on the stays done, that is it. Since I didn't feel like doing anything else, I spent a good deal of time yesterday scanning patterns, researching online, collecting images - that sort of thing. Despite loving these little jackets for some time I didn't have a single image of one in my files - tragedy! Luckily there are several lovely people on my friend's list who have been generous with their research and dress diaries. So not too much digging was required, just link following and a few Google searches. So now I know what I am making and pretty much how to get there so it was all time well spent.

Thanks to Arnold, Waugh and Tudor Tailor I have 4 patterns in the house to choose from, well 3 really as the TT is pretty much a copy of one of the Arnolds. I laid them all out this morning and decided to go with the TT, mostly because it is the only one adjusted to a modern body and I had such good fitting fu with their effigy pattern I'm hoping it will be true on the jacket as well. I like little things about all of them though so I'll do my usual multi-pattern merge. I rather like the look of the Waugh one, with its 7 gussets to the Arnold/TT's 5. Not a hard change to make to the TT though...

So I've enlarged the TT pattern and printed it out. Not sure I have enough energy to cut it out tonight so I may just work on the binding some more. The binding isn't strictly necessary for the faire but I'm really enjoying stitching it. So I am.

Tags: z:pending:16th:jacket