An Award

Dear readers and friends, I am very honored to receive this award from the American Duchess. It was originally created by Wolfgang Amade’ Mozarts the Blog and has been awarded since 1998. " The Amadeus Award for Taste and Excellence is to be given to five blogs that meet the qualifications which I have previously stated. Please give it in the spirit of community, love of history, and artful presentation." So, I will certainly be passing this award along, but I need to decide who I want to give it to first :-) So please check back soon. God Bless!

Love Lauren

Progress…

 

Life has been pretty busy as of late. Aaron just finished his summer term and is preparing for his second board exam in September and I’m working away at my job, as usual.

In between work and sewing for client, I have had a little time to work on my own project. Here are the pictures of the bodice thus far. I’m planning to add trim around the neckline and on the sleeves. I also need to hem the peplum and add hooks and eyes to the stomacher and bodice. Right now, it’s pinned onto my dress form. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week. God Bless!

Love Lauren

   

Aaron’s Suit

 

I finally finished a complete suit for Aaron. It was quite the undertaking. I redrafted the pattern from the “Frock Coat of Doom” and revamped my breeches pattern. The hardest parts were drafting the collar on the coat and figuring out how the pockets work on the drop front breeches. Once I got my head around it and made Aaron try on multiple muslins, it worked :-) So, without further adieu, here are the pictures. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. God Bless!

Love Lauren

The Lord of Portland House, my own Darcy :-)

P.S. The gold frock coat fabric and the green waistcoat fabric is what I plan to use on my zone front jacket in the afor mentioned post :-)

Opinions Please :-)

Dear Friends and Readers,

I am getting ready to start on my next project, after I finish Aaron's breeches and a large project for a client. Anyway, I want to know if my idea is Ball Worthy. I'm trying to use pieces in my stash and this is what I've come up...

I am planning on using the left over fabric from Aaron's frock coat and waistcoat. The main jacket done in a gold silk, the zone front in a striped green silk with a hint of gold, and the skirt will be done in a cream striped silk organza with cream satin stripes. I probably will not wear a panier, since I'm in the late 18th century. I'm also debatin on how I want it to close: buttons, hooks and eyes, or stomacher. Anyway, I wanted to hear your ideas and see if my little creation will be worthy to wear to a ball or be destined for picnicing :-) God Bless!

Love Lauren

Pittock Mansion Picnic

 

Today was my the much awaited picnic at Pittock Mansion. It is one of my favorite events of the year. The setting is gorgeous and the views of the city are spectacular. This year was indeed fun, but quite warm. We’ve just began a heat wave that is supposed to last until next week. It was about 85 degrees at the mansion, which is around 90 degrees in town. It was beautiful in the morning, but started to get uncomfortable towards the end of the afternoon.

We also made quite the spectacle. It always entertains me to see how people react to us. Usually, they either ask to take our pictures with them or they avoid eye contact at all costs. Today, the mansion was swarming with tourists. Aaron and I had our picture taken by so many different people. One little girl came up to me with her mom and asked me if I was real. It was so adorable. I always love watching little girls’ reactions to our bonnets and dresses. They always look like they want to join us :-)

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here are the pictures! God Bless!

 

Steph  in her new day gown

Christian, Tara and Angel

Tara and Christian

Me in my “oh so over the top” hat :-)

Steph and her pork pie.

Stephanie with her new day gown and parasol.

A really handsome man ;-)

Touring the gardens

 

Have a wonderful week everyone! Love Lauren :-)

Bastille Day Picnic

We ate, we drank a little champagne, we played croquet and bocce ball. It was a wonderful afternoon. And, as luck would have it, the rain waiting until we returned home. Here are the pictures from our little “trip” in the past. Enjoy!

I was not the best at croquet. Tee Hee. Have a great week everyone :-)

Bastille Day...

Hello Dear Friends and Readers. Today we will be heading out to West Linn to celebrate, with some fellow ORS'ers, the fall of the Bastille. For the French, this holiday is akin to our Fourth of July. So stay tuned and I should have some pictures up by this evening. God Bless!!! Love Lauren.

Storming of the Bastille
by Jean Houel

Fastes de cour at Versailles

Johanna from 18th Century Blog has recently returned from Versailles and has posted some amazing pictures of the Court Pomp & Royal Ceremony on her blog. I'm sure it doesn't equal to actually being there, but for those of us who live across the pond, it's the closest we can get. Thanks Johanna for the pics. Enjoy :-)