Saturday, February 26, 2011

Mme de Bordeaux’s New Frock

It’s finished, well almost. I still need to hem the ensemble, which will happen on Monday when Mme de Bordeaux comes for her final fitting. Here are the pictures, enjoy!

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Her round gown.

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The open robe. It’s completely adjustable with the drawstrings. It can be adjusted to show more of the bodice of the gown or less. It’s showing more of the gown’s waistline because it doesn’t quite fit my dress form.

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The back is based off of Janet Arnold’s open robe from 1797.

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Mme de Bordeaux requested a pointed sleeve. It sits right at the base of the middle finger.

Well, that is all I have for you this evening. God Bless and have a lovely weekend.

Love,

           Lauren

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A Visit to Portland Art Museum

The weather was cold and blustery outside on Sunday last. Our small party made our way to town to visit the treasures at the Art Museum. The museum contains a number of American and European Art from the Middle Ages to the present day. One of the favorite exhibits for Mrs. Cartwright and I, was a collection of fine Silver from the Renaissance through the Georgian period. It was a lovely outing.

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The Captain is puzzled by the man’s undressed appearance.

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Mrs. Cartwright and I admire the fine silver.

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Cpt. Cartwright, Sir Thomas, Myself, and Mrs. Cartwright.

And so concluded our delightful stroll through the Art Gallery.

Sincerely,

Lady Sully

Saturday, February 19, 2011

More Projects…

Here’s what I have been working on the past couple of days…

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The back of Mme de Bordeaux's round gown. I do have more finished than this, just no pictures yet. I decided it would be fun to play with the layout of the fabric. I’m excited to see her in the finished product, of course.

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And a new fan. This is the inspiration. It was a fan created to celebrate King George III’s first recovery from his madness.

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Progress so far. It’s not that exciting yet, but it will be once the gold paint is added.

Well, I am off to see the dentist, aka my husband. I actually have a cavity. I have never had a cavity in my life before and I’m pretty bummed about it. Especially since I take good care of my teeth. Oh well, at least Aaron will be doing the work and he’s really, really good at what he does.

We also have an event tomorrow, and I plan to wear my new Chintz gown. Le Bon Ton is going to the Portland Art Museum. It’s a rather small museum, but they have a wonderful collection of 18th century silver and house wares as well as some lovely paintings from our time period.

Have a lovely rest of your weekend.

Love,

       Lauren

Shameless Plug…

Tomorrow is Le Bon Ton’s trip to the Portland Art Museum. We hope to see you all there.

Art Musuem

Join Le Bon Ton for an afternoon of fine art and fine company.

When: February 20th at 11 am

Where: The Portland Art Museum

Luncheon will follow: Location TBD

*Wear your finest day gharb from 1750-1816

Friday, February 18, 2011

Bareback Riding

Yes, it was awesome! I love riding bareback and I didn’t die. I slid off of the horse once, but landed on my feet, which was fine. It was one of the best lessons I have had thus far and I feel like my seat improved a lot during the hour we rode. I was on a different horse this week, named Ayla. What a sweet, sweet girl! She is so gentle and kind and she is really in tune with her rider. If she feels you slipping she slows down until you catch up. She also gives great hugs and muzzle kisses.

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Ayla

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Jazz, the horse Mrs. Cartwright has been riding. Also a very nice girl. She used to be a trail horse, so she likes to get behind Ayla when we work in the arena.

Have a lovely weekend!

Love,

        Lauren

LACMA Blog: How They Made Their Paper Wigs….

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s blog has a wonderfully intriguing post about the creation of their mannequin's wigs in their Fashioning Fashion Exhibit. It’s a must read…. Enjoy!

Fashioning Fashion’s Paper Wigs: How’d We Do It?

One of the Fashioning Fashion Displays

Love,

        Lauren

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A New Fan and Other Random Goodness…

I decided it was time to make a new fan for myself. I had purchased a cheap fan at an antique store last year. The leaf was in shreds, but the sticks were in great condition. So, I decided it was time to make a leaf to mount on them.

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This was my inspiration…

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Here is my version of it. It’s not exact, but I’m happy with the results.

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I went with gold for the back to add some glitz!

In other news… I have started on two projects for customers. I will do some documenting, once there is something to show. I have the mock-ups finished, but they’re really not that exciting. I am working on a full suit for my friend’s husband and a round gown and open robe for another friend. I’m very excited to see how they progress.

Also, I have had a lot of inquiries on Facebook regarding my fans and when I plan to sell them. I am still planning on selling them, just not right now. I have been super busy with sewing lately and life; all of  which I am thoroughly enjoying. I’m hoping that by April things will slow down again and I can have a chance to paint some fans and get them posted for sale. So, please bear with me.

Finally, I have randomness for you….

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Someone in the produce department at New Seasons has a great sense of humor. The Gru lemon, for those of you who have seen Despicable Me.

And..

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Doggie snuggles… I had a wretched migraine on Tuesday night. I ended up conking out on the couch with my fur kids. They are the best nanny nurse maids, as my mom calls them. Of course, Aaron had to take a picture.  Here is further proof that I do indeed wear modern clothing in real life.

Well, I had better be off. I have my riding lesson today and I will be bareback for the first time. I’m super excited! Have a lovely day.

Love,

        Lauren

Sunday, February 13, 2011

My Newest Treasure…

Yesterday the Cartwright’s and I made our way to Centralia, WA for some antiquing. The trip itself was a lot of fun, however, we were pretty disappointed with the lack of good antiques to be found. Most of the shops we visited were full of dishes and odd trinkets from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. The few pieces that I like were extremely overpriced and out of my budget. I was pretty convinced I was not going to find anything until I rounded a corner in the last shop we visited and found this…

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She’s a reproduction, but I don’t know the original painting she’s taken from. If you know anything about the painting, I would love to have the info. She’s quite large, 2 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet tall, and I haven’t decided exactly where she’s going to live yet. I’m thinking she belongs over my fireplace; she definitely needs to have a prominent place in the living room.  Mrs. Cartwright also procured a lovely painting, but I forgot to snap a picture of hers.

Have a lovely Sunday!

   Love,

         Lauren

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Riding Lessons…

Hello All,

   Well, Mrs. Cartwright and I had a wonderful lesson yesterday with our teacher, Audra. She is a really good teacher, fun, and down to earth. We started posting yesterday, which is basically learning to force your body up and down with the horse while it moves while keeping your body in the correct riding position. Seems easy, but yeah, it’s not.  Talk about a good workout, and I workout regularly too. It uses muscles that I rarely use, except in Pilates, and works them hard. It was a lot of fun and interesting to see how our seats differed. Mine was too tense and I kept trying to grab for a saddle horn which doesn’t exist in English riding, thank you Western riding for that one. Mrs. Cartwright was a bit on the loose side. So, next week, she will be using a Western saddle to help find her seat. I, on the other hand, will be going…. gulp… bareback. Audra says it’s to keep me from trying to grab the saddle and force my body to hold itself up and back. So, we are super excited for next week’s lesson, especially since I have never ridden bareback before. Well, dear friends, I must be off, hubby has Continuing Education all day long, so the Cartwrights and I are heading to Centrailia for antiquing. I shall leave you with a couple of pictures of Athena, my lesson horse. She’s a doll, and I’m a bit attached, hehehe. God Bless!

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Here she is. I snapped this right before I started grooming her.

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This picture is a bit blurry, because I took it myself, and neither of us can stay still.

Love,

            Lauren

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Mission Mill Museum…

Mrs. Cartwright and I had a lovely little adventure today in the form of a museum tour in Salem, OR. We had originally set out to have our riding lesson, but unfortunately our instructor had to reschedule us for tomorrow. So, we decided we would have a fun day and go somewhere our husbands would not normally wish to go. We decided to check out the Mission Mill Museum in Salem. What a wonderful treat it was! There are five acres and a number of buildings, including some pioneer houses that were moved to the site after the museum was established. Here are a few pictures and if you want to learn more, visit their website, Mission Mill Museum.

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The Mill Creek with the mill in the background.

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The missionary house. It was built in 1840 and housed  missionaries and their families until the late 1840’s.

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One of the one room apartments in the missionary house. This particular room was the home of a husband and wife and their four children. Three of whom were conceived and born here.

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Here you can see the original construction of the walls. They were eventually covered with plaster in the 1850’s.

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The part of the mill where the fabric processing begins. It all starts with washing, cleaning, and drying the raw wool.

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The carding machine with bags of cleaned wool.

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A salesmen’s carding machine. This is basically a small version of the large machines for demonstration purposes.

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The spooling machine. The tour reminded me so much of North and South, the Gaskell novel and BBC series.

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This part amazed me! This is the warp loom. Each thread had to be counted and threaded into the metal rings based on the pattern for the fabric. They usually made 3 warp patterns per day on one machine. Pretty amazing!

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The weaving loom. This is where the weft is woven between the warp and fabric is made. There would have ben up to 10 of these machines in the factory. They are extremely loud and would have been managed, two at a time, by one person.

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The finishing floor.

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Those wheels on the ceiling would have been run by a massive crank that was powered by the mill creek. This gave power to the machines as well as the lights. It also meant that the machines could not automatically be stopped. If an emergency occurred, the belt from the wheel was removed and they had to wait for the machine to come to a stop. This could be quite dangerous if someone was caught in the machinery without immediate stopping capabilities. However, our guide told us there were only 2 fatalities and 3 injuries in the records of the mill.

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And, of course, one of my favorite prints in the exhibit and the only 18th century piece they had.

Well, dear friends, hopefully I will have a horsey related post for you tomorrow. Figures crossed!

Love,

        Lauren

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

1795 Chintz Round Gown

Here it is! It took about 10 hours of sewing, by hand, to complete. I am quite pleased with the results and I can’t wait to wear it at an event. Enjoy!

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I also finished the voile gown, but I’m not going to post it’s own pics because it’s not that exciting and you can see it in the previous post. God Bless!

Love,

    Lauren

The Bach Cantata Choir…

Dear Gentle Readers,

On Sunday last Sir Thomas and I attended a concert with our dear Le Bon Ton Society that lifted the soul and delighted the senses.

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Mme de Valois, Mme de Bordeax, and Myself

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Captain and Mrs. Cartwright

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Sir Thomas

The Bach Cantata Choir of Portland performed four lovely pieces ranging from Handel to Vivaldi, and of course Bach. The performers were stupendous and the director delighted us with his wit and charm.

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The Choir and their illustrious director, Mr. Ralf Nelson.

After the concert, the director and a number of performers came out to the audiences specifically to meet us. It was a wonderful honor. Bach Contada 022

Mme and Col. Etienne de Valois

Following the delightful performance, we took our carriages to the Peninsula Rose Garden for a stroll in the outdoors.

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Our merry party: Cpt. and Mrs. Cartwright, Sir Thomas and Myself, Col. and Mme de Valois, and Mme de Bordeaux

The weather was overcast, but comfortable and there was no rain to hinder our stroll.

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Myself, you can see the new voile gown under my robe.

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My handsome Prince in his new frock coat

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The flowers were in their winter state, but the shrubbery was quite green and lovely. The event was a lovely start to the Season.

Well, dear friends, I must conclude for today and put away my pen. I must away to the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright for tea and sewing.

Your Most Humble Servant,

     Lady Georgiana Sully