It’s been a long time coming, but I finally finished Leonard’s pink suit! I made the pants and waistcoat back in 2023 and commissioned the matching coat around then too. But I never got around to trimming the coat until I was inspired to wear the whole outfit for the Salon at Palais Royal event
I’ve wanted to make a repro of this gown since seeing the painting of Lady Frances Courtenay by Thomas Hudson at the Huntington in 2011. I love seeing how one era interprets another era, and this style is so romantic and pretty! Apparently, this was a whole genre of painting, a trend for upper-class women
This was not the Edwardian black-and-white stripe suit I planned for Carnevale 2022, but this was the one that turned out pretty damn good in the end. A year before, our group decided to take a walk in Edwardian costumes, preferably in black and white, during Carnevale. So I thought this would finally be the
At least two years ago, I was inspired by the HBO series Gentleman Jack (2019) to start a jacket with the intention of recreating this outfit worn by Anne Lister: I mean, really, I already had a vintage top hat! So I started with a basic Period Impressions pattern, fitted it to me, and cut
I’ve only been wanting to make this gown for a decade. No lie — my first blog post about it was in 2009, and I’ve loved the portrait for longer. So for my birthday this year, I planned a fancy dress party where I would be the queen, wearing this dress, surrounded by my ‘court’
This has got to be my favorite costume I made for the Chateau de Pys trip — the black silk francaise that I hand-sewed 75% of (not necessarily by choice). That amount of hand-sewing is a first for me, and hopefully a last. But it looks good and didn’t fall apart on first or second
The problem with working on several costumes simultaneously is that I don’t get that “ah, finished!” feeling from having completed any one item. All my projects are in a state of half-done, all at the same time. It’s annoying & not my usual mode of operation. But I’m in deep now, & there’s no turning
And it has to be, if I’m going to get all these outfits done before I leave for France in May! Holy moly, I’ve got so much to do. I had to cancel a bunch of social events on weekends (tho’ I’m still obligated to attend two SCA events & one faire with Bella Donna;
At first, when one of my BFFs Sarah said she was having her birthday party at Castello di Amoroso & asking people to come in medieval costume, I figured, whatever, I’ll wear some of my usual 16th-century garb. It’s what I like, she wouldn’t mind, & it would fit in at the 14th-century-style Italian castle
After owning a fancy new sewing machine that does embroidery for nearly half a year, I finally got around to testing said capabilities just this week. I was spurred on by two things: 1) I was finished with Collegium so I had time & 2) a new group popped up on Facebook devoted to historical
Kendra came over yesterday, & we sewed, sewed, sewed. We worked on skirts for our gowns & got to the point where we could sit on the couch, watching “Elizabeth R,” hand-sewing vast piles of black silk whilst drinking cocktails. Good times! Well, I cartridge-pleated the skirt & attached it to the bodice, so the
I was a little bit surprised when I sewed up the sleeve side seam, turned it right-side out, & *ta da* the sleeve looked liked I’d hoped & planned it would look all along. Sure, there were some fiddly bits to fix like trim not lining up perfectly & basting lines still showing, but those
Who’s idea was it to make crazy complicated sleeves? Oh yeah, mine. Well, I’m chugging along… Tuesday night, piped all the panes of the slashed puffs (say that five times fast). Yeah, the girl who said she’d never pipe anything again after the Eugenie Project is on her second piped sleeves. Never say never. But
Finally got back to some sewing this weekend, admist putting up xmas decorations, dealing with a Very Bad Cat, & discovering that our house has termites. Good times! (Not.) I’m going with trim pattern #2 in the previous post, but may intersperse that with lines of the narrow trim — depends how much time I
Back to work — but not in the office. I luckily have today off as part of the July 4th holiday! So I’m sewing (tho’ it’s pretty dang hot, even in our insulated bungalow). All 30+ buttons that I covered on the drive up to Oregon are now attached to Leonard’s coat. Still have to