Sense & Sensibility vest/body

Well, it is terribly far from perfect, but I've mostly finished the little velvet vest or body from Sense & Sensibility. I had both the silk lining and the silk velvet in my stash and they are a great color and matched each other! But I'd also blocked out from my Lord of the Rings days just how hard silk velvet is to work with. Blech. I'm not really happy with the wrinkles and pulls and though I tried to place my darts where the real ones are, they're not really in the right place. Oh well. I had the lace in my stash too - I actually colored the scallops with a Sharpie to imitate the real one.

It's also bag lined, which I so hate doing, especially with velvet.

The pattern was very loosely based on the same Sensibility pattern pieces.

But it's wearable, so we'll see how it looks in pics!

The only thing I have to add is the velvet covered buttons, but I'm waiting for a button blank kit to come in the mail. 

Here's a few pics of mine and of the real one:

Holiday Tea in Annapolis

I had such a fun time at our holiday tea at the 18th century Reynold's Tavern in Annapolis today! organized it and also present were my mom, , who was in my chemise gown, , , and . Hopefully I typed everyone's LJ name right! Hollie/librarycat is new in the DC area and had offered to return a book she borrowed to me this weekend since she'd be in my general area, which is when it occurred to me that it would be so much more fun if she came to the tea with us instead of just stopping by! So now she knows more east coast costumers and will hopefully be coming to more events!

The foot was really good and really plentiful. It seemed like there were plenty of options for both vegetarians and those with food allergies, so I think we'll definitely go back!

Here are some pics from the tea! Feel free to grab any you like and repost. Full set here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maggie42/sets/72157628269086157/with/6450592653/

One more Open Robe pic

Thanks to Kat for this one...

I got that fan at a market in Spain - it matches nicely!

Nathan Drake Uncharted Costume

My husband really wanted a Nathan Drake costume from the Uncharted games, so we did our best to put one together for him!

I've moved this whole detailed write-up to my actual site since it got really long and I wanted to give it a more permanent home.

You can find info on where to source pieces for the Uncharted 1, 2, and 3 cosplay or costumes here:

http://costumersguide.com/cr_uncharted.shtml

Here are my husband's somewhat incomplete Drake 1 and 3 costumes:

Regency Pumpkin Tea

I had a wonderful time at the pumpkin tea yesterday! It was lovely seeing everyone and Stephanie and her mom really outdid themselves with the decorations and food!

Open Robe

I didn't get many pics of myself in this that I liked, but here are a few from yesterday's pumpkin tea! I will post more pics from the tea in another post. :-)

Open Robe

Whew, well I just finished sewing like a half hour ago!   I have to redo the sleeves because I didn't set them in quite right - the gathers in the back need to be higher up.  I thought the sleeves were cooperating entirely too much - now I know why!  But it'll be fine for the picnic.  And the robe fits great - the sleeves are just a little poofy in the back.  Which is why I'm only posting pics of the front! But other than that issue, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

The color looks more red here than the pumpkin orange it is.  I'm sure the buttons aren't entirely period, but that's fine too.  So I have something new to wear tomorrow, hooray!

Pink Indienne print jacket

I finished my 18th century jacket! The lovely Sarah was able to get me some extra pink silk ribbon so I pleated it and just had enough to go around the front and neckline!

It's on my form with my pleated petticoat right now. I haven't had the time/energy to actually take pics of me in the last few things I've made. Oh well.

Also, my closet is *really* starting to get crowded! That's no good! On the plus side I have a pretty good 18th century wardrobe right now...

New 18th century petticoat with pleated trim!

I finished a petticoat and I'm really happy with it! I made it to go with my new 18th century jacket! It has box-pleated trim at the bottom. And my new Georgiana shoes from American Duchess go with it too!

One more 1790s gown post

Here are a few pics of me at the party tonight. I have a bunch more pics of everyone else (and everyone looked so great!) which I'll post tomorrow because I'm really really tired after the long drive home. I had a great time though!

1790s gown finished!

Here it is with trim - I didn't have quite enough for what I wanted to do, but oh well. I also kind of want to redo the sleeves a bit to make them less poofy. They don't look poofy here, but they are a little bit poofy on.

My friend Amber just brought me back this shawl from Afghanistan, and it matches nicely I think!

Bodiced petticoat

I redid the bodiced petticoat I threw together for my white regency gown. I made the back higher (it might be a smidge too high now? I don't know.  Anyway, it's much better than it was. And I made buttonholes!!  Nothing fancy.

Sheer Drawstring Regency Gown

I now have a few pics of my new Regency gown. I was pretty happy with it on the whole. It was comfortable to wear.  I don't know why the front seam came out uneven.  I think I'll just put a sash over it and no one will be the wiser. It'd be too much of a hassle to fix. :-)

I also need to redo my bodiced petticoat underneath. I threw something together for the party and it has to be redone.  I need to make it higher in the back too. :-)

Victorian Picnic

I had a lovely time seeing friends at Kat's Victorian picnic (it included Regency and I believe Edwardian fashion as well). I wore my new white regency gown! I'm second from the right with the hat and pink parasol.

Here are a few photos - first a group pic:

White cotton regency gown

I'd been wanting to make a regency dress out of some sheer cotton embroidered curtains I'd bought at Target a while ago.  I have a petticoat made out of them too - but I thought they'd make a perfect regency gown.

I finally got around to it, in time for summer.  It's a drawstring dress.  I again based it on the Sensibility pattern since it worked for me last time.  I altered the way the drawstrings go a bit though.    I next need to make a white petticoat for underneath. And possible a sleeveless chemise. :-)

Beatle skirt #2

I bought this fabric on Spoonflower - it's a really subtle Beatles-themed print, with Rocky Racoons, strawberries, and yellow submarines.  There's another similar print which I ordered some of too, but it hasn't shipped yet. Anyway, I made a circle skirt and then used a blue skirt I don't wear anymore but was a great color to do the strip on the bottom.   It would have been better to use bias strips, but I don't think I had enough fabric.   I'm relatively happy with it. I should also mention that because the fabric is white, I had to do a lining too, which was a huge pain to deal with. :-)

Ignore the mess in the background! :-)

Yellow Striped Sacque

Here are a few pics of my yellow sacque.  I'm not really happy with the hair, but I was kind of in a rush. :-)

Rococo Pirate

Here is the new outfit I made for Costume Con. I saw the winner of the Rococo fabric contest on Spoonflower and I had to get some. (http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/443305)  I was inspired by Jenni's Hello Kitty Anglaise, and thought this period-esque would make a cute period costume.  I decided to go a little different and make the JP Ryan jacket pattern I'd been wanting to try for a while, and a petticoat!  I had some pirate buttons on hand (I actually ordered more because I didn't think I had enough, but apparently I did.), and a pirate belt I'd bought at the Renaissance Faire a while ago.  I bought some box pleated trim on M&J Trims, hoping to match a piece I already had.  No luck there, but I thought the trim matched, so I went with it. I had a costumey tricorn, which I used because I had nothing else, but I bought a hat while I was there. I wore in on Sunday night but managed to not get any pics of myself in it that night!

I also ended up not wearing this skull necklace with it,   because I couldn't get the cord to stay adjusted. I just refound my PotC pirate medallion, maybe I should have worn that!

Costume Con 2011

I had a great time hanging out with friends at Costume Con this weekend!

Stripey 18th century robe a la francaise done!

I bought the striped silk taffeta from fabricguru.com. I believe I got nearly 10 yds for a total of 82.57 including shipping.  I actually even have some left!

I draped the back and then used the same pattern I used on the last sacque I made, an altered Simplicity pattern for the bodice side pieces.  The petticoat was draped too.

I used trim bought at Renaissance Fabrics and some on the sleeves that I bought at an antique show. I didn't have enough for the whole thing, but I liked the Renaissance Fabrics trim.  I also used some rosettes bought at the same antique show.

The roses were made by Katie Jacobs (katiejacobs.com) - they're actually made of coffee filters, but I think they look real! I was inspired by a costume from Marie Antoinette for the flowers on the stomacher. And there's one for the hair.

I hope to have some decent pics of me in this at Costume Con!