Life and Goings On...

Hello friends and readers. I hope your week is going well. Mine has been weird. I started the week out with a nasty, nasty cold and spent Tuesday at home in bed with a little birdy who didn't exactly want to let me rest. It was not fun, but I am thankfully on the mend and starting to feel like a human being again.

In all of the years I have been sewing, I have never purchased fabric online. I have been wanting to for a while, I just haven't had the courage to do so. Well, last night, I decided to take the plunge and buy a lovely linen/ cotton blend online. I ordered it from Dharma Trading Co and it should be here sometime next week. I'll let you know what I think when it gets here. I'm hoping to use it for a few chemises and a shirt or two for Aaron.

The Fabric...

So, due to nasty aforementioned cold, I have not done a stitch of sewing this week. Thankfully, Aaron's Spring break starts this coming week and I am taking some time off to be with him. I plan to start on my jacket/ gown from the previous post tomorrow. Anyway, hopefully I will have something sewing related to show you soon.

Life has just been crazy lately and a little upside down. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, after July, I should have plenty of time to sew again and more blogging will hopefully abound. Have a wonderful weekend, dear friends. God Bless!

Love Lauren

Busy, Busy...

Happy Spring to you all. I hope you had a wonderful week and are enjoying your weekend, thus far. Aaron and I have been just plain busy lately. I feel like I have had so little time for costuming, blogging, and even keeping my home in shape. Things are going very well in the job department for Aaron. I still can't spill the details yet, but I promise to share all as soon as things are finalized. We have also been busy preparing for Aaron's graduation and my departure from the working field. Yes, you read that right... I hope to be retiring this July. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Again, this is linked to said job for Aaron that I can't talk about yet :-) Anyway, we have both had a number of late nights and meetings as of late. So, my happy 18th century world has been suffering a bit.

I did manage to finally finish Aaron's frock coat. I used the Wingeo pattern, which was okay but not my favorite pattern by far. I'm pretty happy with the results, but as always, I am my worst critic and there are things I would change. I hope to get some pictures posted this weekend. We'll see if I can entice Aaron into dressing up for blog pics ;-)

Now, it's time to make some clothes for me. I fell in love with a painting and gown that Isis, from Isis Wardrobe, made. I think I'm going to have to use it as inspiration. I have some blue silk and some yellow silk in my stash that just needs to become a late 18th century jacket and petticoat. I'm also debating whether I should add some of the wide lace I bought at the fabric expo to the collar and cuffs. I'm not 100% sure yet.

Anyway, that is what is going on in our neck of the woods. Hopefully, I will be able to post more often and start sewing more often as well. God Bless and have a great weekend.

I'm loving the gown on the right. I'm thinking the salmon jacket needs to be blue and the petticoat needs to be yellow. I'd love to hear your opinions :-)

Love Lauren 

St. Patty’s Day and More

I hope you are all doing well and having a wonderful week. We have been just plain busy. I know, I have been horrible in the blogging department. Hopefully today’s posts will help remedy my lack of blogging :-)

Anywhoo, Aaron and I joined our dear friends at a local tavern for a little St. Patty’s festivities. It also ended up being a celebration for my 26th birthday, which was a very lovely surprise. We had a lovely rustic Irish breakfast, well it was more of a brunch due to the hour, and a little libation. Then we headed back over to Tara and Xian’s home and discussed our new reenacting group, Le Bon Ton. You can read more about it at our group’s blog, Le Bon Ton.  Anyway, it was a lovely day full of good food and good friends. Here are the pictures. God Bless!

Tara’s mum and dad

Theodosia Rowan de Valois (Aka Tara)

Lieutenant Colonel Etienne de Valois (Aka Xian, Tara’s hubby)

Captain Edmond Cartwright and Lady Abigail Cartwright (aka Brand and Angel)

Elizabeth Marie Devereux (Aka Connie)

Yours Truly, now known and Lord Thomas Francis Sully and Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Sully

Have a wonderful rest of your week.

Love Lauren

Friends and Fabrics…

There is nothing better than spending a day with friends, but spending the day fabric shopping with friends makes the time that much sweeter. On Sunday, Lissa, from a Fair Prospect, invited Connie, Angel, Tara, and me to the Fabric Expo in Washington. Sadly, Tara wasn’t able to join us, hopefully next year, we sure did miss her. Anyway, Connie, Angel, and I left my house at 7:30 Sunday morning and made our way up to fabric heaven. Talk about a fun trip. We met Lissa at the Expo and happily spent our allowance monies on some awesome finds. The highlight of the day was finding some incredible laces that are hard to come by. Anyway, we had a lovely time, and we hope to go again next year. Here are some pictures of my finds.

More Voile. Can I really have too many Chemise Dresses ;-)

I fell in love with this print. I think it’s going to become this lovely dress…

Can one have too many buckles? I think not.

 

Yummy lace, 100% cotton….

This gorgeous lace was a steal and I can’t wait to use it. It’s about 6” wide and is also 100% cotton.

Have a wonderful rest of you week. God Bless!!!

Love Lauren

Aaron’s Cane

I wanted to post pictures of the cane Aaron made for reenacting. Muhahahah, I have officially brought him to the dark side :-) He is really getting into reenacting. Plus, he is starting to develop a personae. Soon we will have a Dr. and a gentleman :-)

 

A Birthday Gathering

Hi All,

This post is shamefully overdue, I know. I feel as though my blogging life has been overrun by real life, lately. We have been sooo busy with things I can’t elaborate on at this time. Everything has to do with  the dentist in the aforementioned posts. Just know that things are progressing. As soon as I am able, I promise I will tell all :-)

Anyway, I finally have some pictures form our ORS President’s Birthday Gathering. I don’t have a lot to say about the event, except that it was extremely rustic and it was a very good thing it was not raining. Anyway, I’ll let you read Lt. Armstrong’s review of the event, I’ll Fathom the Bowl.

My Lord and me in front of the “Ye Ol’ 18th Century Rock Climbing Wall”

Dear Friends (L to R: Steph, our Birthday Girl, Aaron, me, Angel, Brad, Guy, Ryan, Tara, and Connie)

Mike, Connie, Angel, and Me

This is what happens when my friends come and play at my house. I end up dressing them :-) Angel is wearing my chemise a la reine, robe a la turque, and the smaller of my hair pieces.

Here we are at a boat house on the grounds. We tromped through a dimly lit path with a candle to get here. Thank goodness it was dry or this lady would have been a muddy and grumpy lady.

Our beloved Guy… I love this picture of him.

This is what happens when you take a picture in nearly pitch dark. Aaron looks as though he’s about to lop someone’s head off ;-)

Well, that’s all for now folks.

Lady Lauren

Valentines’ Tea

I know this post is very overdue…..

We had a wonderful Tea on Sunday. Connie and Mike graciously opened their Victorian home and allowed us to host the tea there. We had tons of yummy food, great entertainment in the form of a Regency Magic Show, and lots of card playing. I hope your week is going well. God Bless!

Danny and Me during the Magic Show

Danny and Tara during the Magic Show

Us

Lissa (from a Fair Prospect) and Me

Angel, Christian, and Me working in the kitchen.

Connie, Angel, and Brad working away…

Have a wonderful rest of the week.

Love Lauren

P.S. We met with the dentist on Monday…. Things are looking very, very, very good. I can’t go into detail, but know that we are excited ;-) I promise to give details once everything is finalized.

Antiquing and Friends

Yesterday our friends, Brad and Angel, took Aaron and me to the Antique’s fair in Clark County. We decided to make a little spectacle of ourselves in costume. We had a lovely time meandering up and down the aisles, digging for treasures, and having fun together. We had a number of people ask us about our costumes and who we were. There were a number of sweet older ladies were swooning over Aaron. One lady asked if she could take him home, it was quite entertaining.

I was amazed at how many booths there where and the sheer amount of trinkets and treasures. There were a number of over priced items and a few really good bargains if you were willing to dig. I ended up coming home with a darling little table for our bedroom and a hand painted minature pendant on a necklace. The pendant is probably Victorian, but it was very cute and has 18th century people on it, so I decided to get it.

After our Antiquing, we went to a local English pub, Horsebrass, and had dinner. While we were sipping on our Ales, a lady came over to inquire about our “unusual attire.” She was on vacation from England and was so excited to see us in Regency costume.

We had a wonderful day. Here are the pictures. God Bless!

Love Lauren

 

My little table, I absolutely adore it. Now I need a cute 18th century style lamp to go with it :-)

My porcelain pendant.

     Angel and Me

Brad, Angel’s husband

Us :-)

Brad and Angel

Aaron’s Frock Coat

Well, I finally decided to start on Aaron’s new coat. I’m using Wingeo’s 1795 Frock Coat as a base and, as usual, I will “Frankenstein” it accordingly.

I must warn you, if you plan to use this pattern, watch the sizing, it runs small. Mme Du Jard was so kind to warn me before I delved into the pattern. Also, they transposed the 34-36 lines with the 38-40 lines in a few places, but it’s pretty obvious which lines are which.

I traced the pattern at the 34-36, even though I knew it ran small. I decided to start small, because I usually have to take most patterns in and lengthen them to fit hubby. To my surprise, I had to go up to the 38-40. The body of the coat fits quite well and after a little lengthening, the sleeves fit well.

Here are the pics so far. God Bless and have a great week!

The pattern of doom :-)

My little helper, Leila. And, no, I didn’t set this picture up, it was all her :-)

Aaron in his mock up. The sleeve is no longer attached, I removed it and then remembered I needed a picture of him.

Now onto cutting out the main fabric and lining. I’ll keep you updated :-)

The Feast of Twelfth Night

We had an absolutely amazing time at our Twelfth Night Celebration. It was definitely an event of gastronomic delights and good company. There were three amazing courses, dancing, and a Whist. The event officially ended at ten o’clock. However, we were having so much fun that we wanted to continue the evening. One of our party, Connie, invited us to her historic home where we danced and played parlor games for another hour. It was a great night, and i think one of the best events the ORS has had thus far. Here are the pics and video.

Connie, Cory, and Me

Steph and Me

Stacy, Bill, Aaron, and Heidi playing a game of Whist

The amazing spread.

The Lord and Lady of Portland House :-)

Charlotte, Steph, and Cory playing parlor games at Connie’s

Aaron’s turn at the game.

Here are the videos of my songs. The angle is a little strange because is was sitting on a table right in front of me.

Plasir D’Amour

Weep You No More Sad Fountains

The Dreame

Have a wonderful week and God Bless.