The Challenge: a pair of garters (that lace on)
Materials: cream silk ribbon, flannel (nonslip!) backing, hand dyed pink silk ribbon for ties, acrylic paint and a tiny paint brush.
Pattern: none
Date: 1700s, early 1800s
Hours to complete: 2
from the V&A
from the MFA
What's the deal with the parasol? Truthfully, it was really sunny outside and I couldn't find my sunglasses. This is the cascade skirt by Megan Nielsen - I bought the fabric in a kit from her because I loved it so much in her look book. This skirt was very easy to make and gets all of its flowing movement from being cleverly cut on the bias. I did hand hem it because I am not good at making tiny rolled hems on my (old) machine.
Also, please read Lauren's recent post on finding time to sew. She makes a lot of really good points, especially when it comes to UFOs, which have been my weakness in the past.
The challenge: an 18th century swallowtail jacket
Materials: vegetable dye paisley cotton
Pattern: jacket from Costume Close-up
Hours to complete: 20-30. All handsewn, plus an extra set of sleevils that didn't work.
First worn: Not yet.
Coming soon-ish will be some details about the way I like to construct 18th and early 19th century garments. And modern stuff, too, because there are some really clever techniques.
Materials: Mauve silk from Sewfisticated. Linen lining. Buckle salvaged from a belt from J Crew.
Pattern: Modified version of my all-purpose Regency pattern
Date: 1800
Hours to complete: 8-10
First worn: For these photos. It was meant to go to a ball that ended up being cancelled because of weather.
Total cost: $20 for the silk, the rest of the supplies were from my stash.
Construction: Hand sewn using period techniques. Post about my construction techniques coming soon!
Inspiration:
The challenge: fichu
Pattern: it's just a triangle
Date: 18th century
Hours to complete: 2
First worn: I wore this ages ago to Costume Con in Baltimore and many times since. I am embarrassed to admit that only one of the three sides had been hemmed until now.
Materials: Dotted swiss, cotton thread
Pattern: my standard regency
Date: 1800-1810
Hours to complete: 5, handsewn
