Big Ass Hat Tea

I was invited to Jenny-Rose’s Big Ass hat tea in April and it was a lovely time. The food was fantastic, as were the costumes, and it was so nice to see so many people! Thanks for the invitation, Jenny-Rose!

I rewore what is now one of my fav jackets - the yellow and white silk I got in Germany. I also wore a petticoat I made and then never got around to wearing with it. Funnily enough I like the jacket better with the cream petticoat that goes with my francaise, which I wore accidentally the another party, thinking it was this petticoat.













Did I mention how good the food was?

Mini Costume Gala

Carolyn has this gorgeous huge house she is renting in Capitol Hill while she and her husband are here, and she has started throwing some parties to take advantage of it. I’ve been to two of them and she’s also a wonderful hostess. This party was in October.

I was really happy Kat came down and stayed with me overnight to come to the mini costume gala which was awesome. I’m glad she was able to get away for a little bit.

Here she is taking a selfie with Willow!



I wore this little yellow jacket I never got the chance to wear more than once. And I had to take it in, which is great! I got this fabric, which is a pale yellow and cream stripe with a floral pattern, I got in Germany. It was just a meter of fabric, but I managed to get this jacket with ruffly peplum out of it. No extra fabric for trim, so I used lace. I meant to wear a different cream petticoat I had made to go with it but realized later I accidentally grabbed the petti from my cream francaise. It looks pretty simlilar, so that’s fine. I wore a brooch of my favorite Mrs. Russell, made for me by my friend Gen, a Dames A La Mode necklace, and antique earrings and bracelet.



Kat did 1830s. (The party was any-costume.)



Every time I successfully parallel park, I feel compelled to take a photo. (This, after the incident at a Greek festival where, to make a long story short, they outraged me by parking cars based on the gender of the driver because men are genetically better at parallel parking.)



More...

A few more holiday tea photos

These are from Isabella:


I bought my cloak from Cindy!


Shoes! I love my yellow Devonshires!

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/

An 18th century jacket out of one meter of fabric

I took a picture of the pattern pieces from the yellow/white 18th century jacket I just made, and I thought you might all be interested in seeing how I squeezed the jacket out of 1 meter of fabric!

The fabric without pattern pieces at the right was used for the ruffles on the jacket.  Half the fabric was doubled, but I didn't quite have room, so some of the pieces I made sure to cut a left and a right pattern piece. Click for a bigger image!

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!

18th century jacket

I sewed something!  I had one meter of this fabric I had bought in Germany. It wasn't enough to do much with, but L suggested a jacket, so that's what I decided to do! I was inspired by Jenny Rose's green jacket with the ruffle .  I had just enough fabric for it and I had a nice little pile of scraps left. I used nearly all of the fabric and I was really careful how I laid out the pieces!

Also, I did go a little out of my comfort zone and came up with a pattern that fit me for the back. Usually I do enforreau backs because I find them easy.  But this turned out really well and I'd use it again!

I'd like to make a cream silk petticoat to go with this. Right now it's just over a plain linen one. I do have lace sleeve flounces that I'll probably wear too.

The lace at the neck is vintage, bought at an antique show.