French Court Dresses…

My descent into the 1780’s is slowly progressing. I have not had time to work on my stays at all. Hopefully I will have some more progress to show you this weekend. Anyway, while researching what I hope to wear on top of my stays, I came across the amazing French Court Dress. Talk about over-the-top decorations, fabrics, and size. I’m thinking I might just have to make one. It probably won’t happen until the summer, but at least I can start planning now. Here are a few pictures that I found in my internet wanderings. God Bless!!!

This one (above) is my favorite so far. I’m thinking I would change the red accents to green. Mmmm…..

This one (above) is a close second. I don’t have anything that is pink. It might be a color I will have to try.

Here is an extant court gown. It’s a little earlier, but non-the-less resplendent. This one is too over the top for me.

Well, I must be off. My package from Burnley and Trowbridge just arrived. I now have  books and patterns to drool over!

Love Lauren

Back to the ‘80’s, Well 1780’s…

 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Costume ADD has struck again, and hard. I have had lots of fun in the late 1790’s, but it is once again time to go back a little ways.

You may remember the orange stays with the green trim I made in 2008. Well, they have never fit quite right, plus I made them before I really knew how to fit patterns to my frame.  So, it’s time to make a new pair so I can make more outfits from the 1780’s.

I’m using the JP Ryan Half-Boned Stays pattern as a guide. But, as usual, I couldn’t manage to leave it unscathed.  I’ve decide the stays need to be both front and back lacing. It’s just too cumbersome to jimmy my way in and out of my back lacing stays, especially when I need to do a dress fitting when hubby isn’t around to lace me in properly. I also made my last pair too long for my torso. I needed to shorten the length by about 2 inches so it fits at my waist and doesn’t dig into my arm-pits when I sit. My other issue with my old stays was that the bust was too large and the waist was not quite large enough, so the back wasn’t strait when laced. I think my final caveat was the front was too wide and the straps dug into the front of my shoulders.

So, with all of these things taken into consideration I started drafting and adjusting the pattern last night. I have a basic mock-up on my dress form that I’m fairly happy with. I’m planning on making a final mock-up out of cardboard, so I can get an idea of the comfort of the stays and make adjustments accordingly. So, that is the plain du’ jour. Here are the pics thus far :-)

The pattern…

The general inspiration. These stays lace about 1/2 down the front, I plan to lace mine all the way down the front. I’m not sure what color I will use, but I’m thinking the blue silk from my last project and white binding will be lovely.

The side of my mock-up.

The front. I originally made a full mock-up, but when I adjusted the pattern I tested the half mock-up on my dress form.

The back… I’m thinking I’m going to lower the neckline on the back a bit. I’m going to test it first with the cardboard mock-up and then we’ll see.

I will keep you all posted as it progresses. Have a great rest of your week. God Bless!

Love Lauren

It’s Finished …

I had some time this afternoon to crank out the gold silk petticoat to go with my new spencer. I’m pretty happy with the results. It’s not my favorite ensemble, but it will do. I think it’s a good representation of the transitional fashions of the late 1790’s. I decided to put “Lady D” on for the photos. I do think she is a little large for this ensemble. I’m thinking my smaller wig will work better. Anyway, here are the pictures….

I hope you had a lovely Easter. He is risen!

Love Lauren

1795ish Evening Spencer

Here it is :-)

I pretty happy with the fit. It doesn’t look as good on the form, but it’s good enough for pictures. Now I need to make the petticoat to go with it.

Have a blessed weekend. God Bless!

Love Lauren

We Have Progress…

Hello Dear Friends and Readers, I hope you are enjoying your week thus far. Aaron and I have been on vacation, well Aaron is on Spring Break and I took time off from work to be with him. Anyway, we have had a lovely and relaxing week and I can’t believe it’s already Friday. Time really does fly when you are having fun.

I have finally had some good sewing time. The jacket is coming along nicely and I’m about halfway finished with it. Here are the pictures so far. Have a great week and God Bless!

 

Here is the front, unlined and pinned to my dress form.

The side so you an see the peplum in the back. I’m quite happy with the way the peplum lays.

The back.

The front with lace tucked into the collar so you can get an idea of how the finished product will look.

I still need to sew in the lining, finished the center closure, and make the sleeves.  I will keep you posted as it progresses.

 

Love Lauren

1790’s Jacket Progress

I finally had some time to start on my 1795ish spencer. I spent about two hours pinning and unpinning the pattern to my dress form. I used the JP Ryan Robe l’Anglais bodice pattern as a base. I cut it out of muslin, as is, and pinned it to my dress form. I adjusted the fit, marked the lines so I could make it a high waist spencer, and redrafted the pattern. The hardest part, which wasn’t too bad, was creating the peplum and centering the pleats on each piece of the pattern. Now I need to decide if I want long sleeves or three quartered sleeves. I think I will play with both and see which will look better. Here are the pictures of the progress thus far.

Research, inspiration, and my sketch of the final product.

The fabric and lace. I’m planning on using the gold for the skirt and the blue for the bodice/ spencer.

The original pattern cut out of muslin.

The original pattern on my form (back side). You can see my short stays through the fabric. I used them as a guide to know how and were to alter the original.

The front as it is originally designed.

My alterations to the back, before I added the peplum. I decided to take the back neckline down a bit to fit the later style.

The front with my alterations. I added a dart to one side so I could transfer the markings to my tracing paper pattern.

I added the peplum to one side of the jacket, to keep things symmetrical when I draft the pattern onto paper.

The side view with the peplum added. I’m thinking I might need a small pad underneath the peplum to give it shape. I’ll wait until the skirt is finished before I decide.

The final pattern with the peplum. I’m quite happy with the results thus far. We’ll see how the finished product turns out.

Have a great weekend, everyone. God Bless!

Love Lauren

Aaron’s Frock Coat

I finally have pics of Aaron in his new coat. I’m pretty happy with the results, but as usual, there are things i will do differently next time around. Anyway, here it is…

It looks much better in his full gharb, but for quick pics, the jeans and t-shirt will do.

The Many Friends of Birdie Boy…

My little parrot loves to chatter, of course when no one is around. He’s tends to be a bit of a singing frog. Anyway, he has developed a desire to “talk” to various inanimate objects around the house. He chatters to them in his bird talk and throws in the occasional “Hi baby,” or “Whatcha doin?’, or “poop”, yes he says “poop”. It’s pretty hilarious. Well, after a while, he decides that new said object needs to be ordered around. Now, Gico is trained to step on my finger when I say “step up.” It’s also used as a “punishment”, which isn’t the best word, when he’s misbehaving. With parrots, making them step-up is showing that you are the head of the pecking order. It’s kind of like establishing yourself as pack leader with a dog. Anyway, in his little bird way, he thinks that if he tells something to “step-up”, which he says quite clearly, it will do something. His latest attempt  to control the refrigerator by telling it to “step-up” ending in a mad little parrot. Once said object disobeys Gico, he hisses at it and moves on to the next object. The other day he was walking around on the kitchen floor talking to the stove, the refrigerator, the cabinets, and finally the bookshelf. It’s pretty hilarious and almost impossible to capture on film. I haven’t managed that one yet. As soon as he sees the camera he stops talking and chattering immediately. I did manage to get a few pictures of him sitting on his favorite lamp and plant. He doesn’t usually talk to the lamp, but he loves the plant and loves to carry on long conversations with it.

Well, enough of my gratuitous pet post :-) Have a great weekend and God Bless!

 

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