Well I had no motivation to finish the Alice dress. Not sure I ever will! I wanted to finish my steampunk outfit but ended up messing up the corset in my haste. So I decided to just wear my silk Regency dress that I hadn't gotten good pictures of and go as zombie Jane Austen. It was really fun, and I carried around a quill and leather notebook to complete the look. Kelsey did my make up which looked pretty awesome, although you can't see it in the pics because they were taken at the end of the night. It felt so good to wear a complete outfit I didn't have to worry about. Although the top two hooks kept coming undone. I hate back closing dresses!!

I pretty much LOVE this dress... I feel so elegant in it. I want to make a chemisette with a giant ruff for it too. How fun! But I don't need a Regency dress for anything soon. I wish I could go to the Jane Austen Evening! Oh! :-/

Also, a scandalous pic of me in my bodiced petticoat. It would be highly indecent for you to see a front view! Even so, it's remarkably supportive and comfortable!

      

I decided to continue my madness and trim the entire bottom of the paletot with fur. I'm about halfway done attaching the fur, then i'll need to finish the edge. Surprisingly, I can sew through the skin with a regular sharp needle. Yay! Because I'm too cheap and lazy to buy leather needles. :D

 I think I'm going to be stood up tonight. Was supposed to hang out with an old crush from high school. He graduated from college last year and came home this summer. He hasn't responded to my two texts or voice mail... Hmph...

The linen Regency is almost done. It's so cute! I just need to hem the ruffles and the skirt, and put some hooks and eyes on. The colors got really washed out in the pics, but it's much nicer in real life! I love how silly the ruffles are. I really, really love this dress.

Yucky, blurry pictures... It looks so much better than this, I promise.

    

 I am now officially Lady Bridget Manners with the Queen's Court of the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

*squee!*

This feels like such and honor, because I think RPFS is the most prestigious faire around (I may be a wee bit biased...) with the best-looking court ever! I'm already getting giddy thinking about who Bridget will be (and especially what she'll wear!). This will be the most fun "work" I've ever done!

I just finished trimming the green plaid wool dress! I'll take good pictures tomorrow, I promise. :]

Right now, I really want to start on the linen Regency dress... But I should probably finishing fixing the grey silk dress. Boo!

 I'm in a very Elizabethan mood. :]

The bodice is ready for the shoulder treatment, and then it will be as done as it can be without the eyelets (ewww...). I'm pretty sure I want some kind of puffy roll... Need to play around with shapes, which I'm actually not excited to do. Then sleeves and skirt, which are so easy. In fact... Maybe I'll do that right now instead of the shoulder rolls/puffs. Yes... This is a good plan. 

However, I also wouldn't mind starting the linen Regency. Ack! Must. Stay. Focused.

 Because these past two weeks were completely abominable, I came home to some really wonderful surprises. Like lots of fabric!

Linen for a new late Regency dress:

 

I want to make this dress, without the skirt ruffles. I have yellow silk to bind the ruffles with too! <3

 

Then, the long lost striped 1780s jacket silk came!! 

I decided to just stick with Alice for Halloween. I attached the skirt to the bodice. Still need to put two tucks in the skirt and hem it, but for now I'm done. I hate being "over" a project before it's even finished!




 

Well, that was fast... And easy and fun. Still needs hem and closures, but what doesn't? :-P

Sorry about the blurry darkness. Flash+mirrors=bad.

Matt really wants to see some ruffles along the neckline but... I kinda like it plain. Maybe he'll be okay with it sans ruffles. He essentially designed this dress. He really likes Regency, so I asked him what he liked best based on fashion plates, portraits, and extant dresses (thus the ones I posted previously).

Alright, bodiced petticoat time!

  

But at least it went to a good cause: Athenaeum summer uniform! Yay! It's going to be such a fun project! Especially since there's three of us working on it all over the country at once! Burnley and Trowbridge had a silk/wool blend on sale in white, so I snapped up just enough for a dress. Completely cleaned me out, but oh well... That's what you get for quitting your job!

I'm totally set with sewing projects. The Regency is really shaping up; need to make a bodice petticoat for it and a ruffly chemisette, then I'm done with that outfit. The red silk dress also needs to be finished, as well as making a new bodice for the wool plaid dress. Then the Athenaeum uniform, which should take me about two weeks to make, since it's just a basic 1860s dress and I can whip those out like no one's business. I still have my plaid linen, which I thought I might turn into a natural bustle gown but... the 1890s have been whispering in my ear lately. So who knows! Needless to say, I have plenty of projects to get this broke college student through at least her first semester!

Oh Lord, I just remembered my silk stays still need binding and eyelets!

I definitely do NOT have a lack of sewing! :]

Pictures soon!

So this weekend was my 4th annual trip to Comic Con. Wore my "updated" Slytherin uniform and had a blast. Got more pictures of me taken in that than at faire and reenactments combined haha. And a photographer asked me to do a shoot for him. Creepy serial killer much? Still flattering. ;-)

Did I mention the bodice of the silver silk Regency dress is almost done? Well it is! Putting on the second sleeve now. Need to figure out the black closure. I NEED a drawstring around the "waist" for added support, but the back edges are supposed to overlap. How do you do a drawstring when the edges overlap?? You don't... So I'm going to have to put my clever cap on and get thinking. Ugh... too tired to think. And now for God knows what reason, I want to do a graphic novel. Hah.

I put off the inevitable long enough. I have a decent 18th century chemise I can wear with this, but some sort of stays contraption is necessary for *ahem* support. Now, a lot of Regency dresses and portraits look like they could never have been worn with undergarments because they're so off the shoulder or low cut. But then I found this REALLY NEAT "brassiere" from KCI. Looks simple enough to make, and I have plenty of reed to lightly bone it at the bust, like it says it's boned. This will follow the neckline of my dress perfectly, so I'm very excited.

www.kci.or.jp/cgi-bin/collection/collection.cgi

Okay, I'm done. This is THE dress I'm going to make. 'Nuff said... :D

So I decided I want a Regency dress. Joann has some super clearance priced silver silk that I'm going to get tomorrow. I've decided. :] I just can't work on it until I get back from the Athenaeum, but that's not too bad.

I know I definitely want it to have long sleeves. But I'm not sure about the neckline. I think I want to stick with early to mid Regency, and definitely nothing after 1815. So I'm going to though some pictures up here and get my thoughts out.

Cute ruffle!!! But I definitely want the neckline lower...


This is so cute!!!! I'm definitely doing those cuffed sleeves. But the skirt and waistline are definitely late Regency. The V-neck is cute though...


V-neck with ruffles! But would a V-neck look good with long sleeves?


This is so cute and sweet. I love the lace with the rounded neckline.



Hm... Maybe I like the more rounded neckline more. With some kind of cute ruffle. Yes. I'm excited!!