Palisades in Action

Not content with merely earthquakes and swamp fires, Mother Nature has sent a hurricane to the William and Mary campus, so we had to evacuate. Fortunately, this means I can post the photos that my dad took at my brother's baby shower. It was a picnic at a park near their house - the perfect occasion to wear a 1940's summer dress! I missed the fact that it was a barbeque (one of the ultimate stainers), so I stuck to veggies, guacamole, and mac&cheese.

Toby, the future father:

Me with a friend of Toby and Sheela. Her mom has boxes and boxes of vintage pattern - a useful connection to have.

Here's Sheela and her sister-in-law who is also pregnant. There were at least 5 pregnant women at the baby shower.

My other brother, Steve, putting some much-needed bug spray on Sheela. Also Toby...

They had the great idea of having the guests design onesies for the baby. Here's mama (who is apparently trying to match me) drawing hers:

My onesie, yes I know, I should totally go into textile design

Some of my favorites:

Back in the Burg

I'm back at William and Mary! Unfortunately, this will slow down my sewing because I don't have most of my supplies and my professor have a tendency of wanting me to read books and write essays when I could be sewing - quel domage! I will still be making slow progress on my Regency undergarments.

In other news, we just had a big earthquake...

More Regency Goodies

Here's a Regency cartoon, also from the Tribute to Jane Austen Wall. It's called "Dandies Dressing", but I like to think of it as "If Men Were As Silly As Women".

Sorry about the glares. Here's a transcription of the dialogue:

"Damn it, I really believe I must take off my cravat or I shall never get my trowsers on."

"‘Pon honor, Tom, you are a charming figure! You’ll captivate the girls to a nicety!"

"Do you think so, Charles? I shall look more the thing when I get my other calf on."

"Dear me, this is hardly stiff enough. I wish I had another sheet of Fools cap."

"You’ll find some to spare in my breeches."

"What If I Were..." Project

The American Duchess has put up a tutorial on making antique-looking photographs - you should definitely check it out: http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-if-i-were-historical-photo-project.html#more. I was completely inspired, but I lack both photo-taking and photo editing skills. So here is my attempt at a late 20's photograph. The inspiration photo is of a relatively young Fay Wray:

Here's my original picture:

Then flipped:

Now cropped, made black and white, and very slightly sepia'd:

Finally, I added a very pale yellow vignette (because I couldn't add a border with picnik), a bit of fading on my hair, and the text:

Then I was bored and tried the pencil-drawn effect, just for fun:

Fashion Plates and Hair Experiments

Last night when I was about to go crazy from making a gazillion stiches on my chemise, I tried some 1790's hairstyles. My hair works well for this era, and by that I mean it's kinda curly and kinda messy. So, I started with a narrow scarf, and then threw some pins around.

First, some of my inspiration images:

Portrait des soeurs Frankland, John Hoppner, 1795

Unknown Lady, 1795, from the Victoria & Albert Museum

And here's me (yes, I do have a scarf that matches my bathrobe)

And here are the promised fashion plates. This pair have been in the family forever and currently hang on the Pictoral Tribute to Jane Austen wall. Unfortunately, this means that I have no idea what publication they're from.

I like how you can really see the changes in fashion in these plates. The first one still looks very transitional/directoire (whatever you want to call it), while the second one is destinctly regency, even though it's just one year later.

Up Next: 1790s

I've starting planning/working on a late 1790's morning ensemble. This started with me falling in love with Janet Arnold's 1795-1800 half robe.

However, since this is my first Regency (well, close enough) dress, I need to start from the skin out. I've started putting together a chemise - no pattern, I'm just using rectangles and the occaisional reference to the shift in "Costume Close-up" from the Colonial Williamsburg (or as we at William and Mary say "C-dubs") collection. Then it's onto Past Pattern's Partially Boned Transitional Stays. I'm not sure about the round gown, but I've got time since I'm determined to do this all by hand. Yeah, we'll see how long that conviction lasts...

Finished Outfit: 40s summer dress

Completely done with the yellow 40's summer dress. Here's the lowdown on this project:
Pattern: Palisades 1940s Wrap Dress from Wearing History

Adjustments: Taken in at the armpits, interfacing for the belt

I'm a fan of: The waistline! The bodice ends at my high waist but doesn't crush my ribs.

Change for next time: Use a different fabric. This cotton twill is too heavy. Unfortunately the only other fabric I could find in this color was so thin that I would have to line it with something thick in addition to wearing a slip.

On to the pictures! Ignore the slip sticking out of the back. I still need to experiment with bras to find one cut low enough. You'll also notice that my belt isn't tied in a bow. It always looks ugly when I do it (using the basic shoe-lace technique). Does anyone know how to tie a pretty looking bow?