Finished!!!!

That’s right, I finished everything for our trip with three days to spare. In one month I made a pair of breeches, two waistcoats, a frock coat, nightshirt, and banyan for Aaron. For myself, I made three chemises, a nightgown, night robe, Janet Arnold open robe, and a round gown. I’m officially tired and I plan to take a little sewing hiatus after our trip. I’m also going to torture you all and make you wait until after we get home to see everything. Hope you have a lovely Labor Day!

Finished Waistcoats

Yup, they’re done! Two waistcoats in three days; entirely hand sewn. Whew, I’m tired :P Tomorrow I will be starting on hubby’s new frock coat. I hope to have it finished by this weekend. We’ll see how far I get.

Mrs. Cartwright’s amazing buttons! She made them for both waistcoats, the breeches, and his yet to be constructed frock coat.

Have a lovely rest of your weekend!

Love Lauren

Busy Beaver…

  Yes, I have been a busy, busy, busy beaver. In the past two weeks, I have knocked out two shirts, a night shirt, and a banyan for my hubby. I’m currently working on a pair of breeches, that just need their buttons and button holes sewn, and two waistcoats. And yes, everything is entirely hand sewn. The goal is to finish the waistcoats and breeches today. Then tomorrow start cranking out a frock coat. I am down to the wire, and as a result, I will be offline for the next few weeks. I promise to have more pictures of everything when I’m finished. In the meantime, here are some pics of the finished garments. Enjoy!

First shirt with ruffles.

The buttons are from WM Booth Draper.

The second shirt. I made the cuffs larger on this one. The nightshirt is exactly the same, except it is quite a bit longer.

His banyan.

My handsome man :)

The breeches. I still need to work the buttonholes and attach the buttons. So, I will have final pics of these when I’m finished. I’m very excited about the buttons, they are being made by my dear Mrs. Cartwright.

In other news… Guess who went to the puppy ER on Saturday night? Yup, that would be miss Leila. She ripped off her toenail and now has to wear the “cone of shame” for the next three weeks. She’s handling it pretty well, although she hasn’t quite figured out how to navigate the house with the “force field” around her head. She keeps crashing into everything.

Well, all, have a lovely weekend!

Love Lauren

Historical Interiors…

Some inspiration…. I have a thing for historical interiors too ;)

I think my dreams would be very sweet in this room.

I could go for this entry and the lands outside of it.

This room is just amazing. The bed looks so inviting.

Well, that’s all for now! Enjoy :)

Love Lauren

Standards (as written by Sir Thomas)

Greetings!  This is Sir Thomas Sully, Lady Sully’s husband.  My wife has graciously allowed me to use her blog to say this.

Life is a funny thing in many ways.  I would like to expound upon one of those ways…standards.  Standards, when set high, are the means to greatness.  One cannot achieve good things with out high standards.  If there are no standards, if there is nothing better to shoot for then why do anything?  Regarding costuming there are two camps: Costuming or Historical Reenacting.  Either of them are fine as long as you understand each of their own standards and expectations.  Some people just want to dress up and “feel pretty”, that’s great!  But please don’t call yourself a reenactor.  A reenactor strives to meet the standards of the time they are trying to portray.  This is basic common sense, if you want to reenact then you must do extensive research so you know how they dressed, spoke and carried themselves.  You must (and I cannot emphasize this enough) use fabrics that they used.  One cannot use synthetic fabrics and then expect those with standards not to criticize you for it.  I understand cost can be an issue, but if you want silk but cannot afford it do what they did in the time you are trying to portray…don't get silk!  Use other natural fibers.  I could continue with each individual item i.e. hair, buttons, skin art etc., but I will refrain.

Yes, we all just want to have fun, but do not be offended when some of us have the most fun only when things are be most accurate we can be.  With out standards nothing would get better, there would be no goal to shoot for, there would be no excellence.  And sorry to say where there is excellence there must be the poorest quality.  Just like there cannot be good without evil and there cannot be light without darkness.

Standards give us all something to strive for and if you want to be better, more accurate, honor our ancestors, and help the world understand history then shoot for the high standards, do your research.  Reach, strive, achieve, you will feel much more fulfilled and proud of what you have accomplished when you reach for those standards.

The Devonshires

I suspect most, if not all of you, know about Lauren Reeser’s latest shoe pre-sale. The leather version of the Georgianas is now available. I looove my G’s and I plan to order my Devies asap :) Great job Lauren!!!