madamemodiste

I was invited to attend a local museum exhibit as "atmosphere" in a Victorian dress. It was so much fun! I wore my new Lost Souls dress (so named because it's all black and sucks up all the light and is hard to photograph).

Here are a few photos taken by Steven Rosen Photography (all rights reserved!!!)



( a few more here )

Yesterday evening I made an underskirt from the TV 225 Fantail skirt. Today I put on trim! Here it is:



I had to lighten the photos to show detail, but it's jet black.

( Wanna see more? )

Hello! I finished the black and white NF era gown that I have simply named "Donna's Dress" since she inspired it!

I wore it this past weekend to Belvidere Victorian Days in NJ. It sort of drizzled all day, but we made the most of it!

Made entirely of cotton from the Truly Victorian 1882 tea gown pattern with the neckline from the TV 410 1873 polonaise, and a "Victorian revival" white blouse underneath purchased at the mall.



Please ignore the alien cat in the background. She is clearly engaging in shenanigans.

As you can see, I paired the overdress with a striped skirt I made several years ago. The parasol frame is circa 1890's and was recovered in net and lace by me and mostly Beth because I was distracted putting in an offer on a house the day she visited.

Here is a link to photos from the day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14941369@N07/sets/72157622226266761/

We did a bit of shopping at Convergence on the QM! Jason got a ton of stuff for once, and I found some cool things, too...

among my favorites:

I've always wanted a small notepad chatelaine, and they had them at Holzer and Combe Haberdashery!



( click here to see more )

Well, here it is!! I can't believe I did it!!



( more photos under the cut )

I just have a few minutes before I have to get ready for school, but here I am at the 18th century "Polonaiseville" tea Friday afternoon!

(I'm on the right)


...and with bauhausfrau (she's on the right), who inspired Polonaiseville and organized the tea!


[x-posted]

Once a year, Renninger's Antique show comes to the King of Prussia Convention Center, and it's the highlight of my Winter season. I just got home, and am pretty disappointed with what I saw. Almost no clothing, and only two of the pieces I saw were earlier than 1920, one parasol with broken ribs, and one Victorian bonnet of unremarkable appearance.

I was hoping to find chatelaine items like glasses cases, dance cards/memo pads/aide memoires, books like Peterson's or Godey's bound volumes or single issues, parasols, antique laces, antique or even vintage gloves, hats, etc. Aside from a few gloves and hats I wasn't interested in, none of these items were to be seen (ok, well, one volume of Peterson's, but it was that awkward 1869 transition year).

Anyway, I did come home with one thing. A pretty lace cape!





I'm thinking this might be 1890's. Thoughts?

However, there was tons of pretty to look at that was beyond my price range like 18th century portrait pins, mourning jewelry, hair jewelry, furniture, etc at the nearly 300 booths. Definitely worth the $6 entry fee!!

Here I am mocking up the petal layer. I used the TV225 as a base and just put together the front and side sections to just below knee length. Then I took my chalk pen and drew various petal shapes until I was happy, then I cut out along the markings. Here is the end of that step:



After that, I took out the basting --including the darts-- laid them flat, and used the muslin pieces as my pattern pieces for the front and side

Then I serged my edges, put in the darts, and pinned the petal side sections to the front piece. After that I turned up a small hem.

I am putting the petal layer on a separate waist band so I can wear it with other gowns, so then I added a waistband. So what you have is a front and sides with an open back. You can see the back of the Fantail skirt, which is nice if I decide to not use the overskirt!

Then I dove into my Lady LaSalle trim stash and pinned the lace to the edges.



This photo required much work as my cat Dashwood kept crawling under the skirt with his butt sticking out while I was trying to take a picture! I kept him out for 2 seconds and he was right back in!

So I got a lot done on the jacket yesterday! Lining is in, button loops are on, capelet is piped and attached, sleeves are made.

Here are progress shots:

Attaching the button loops



Photo from this morning



Tee hee! I don't want to give too much away because though I still have a lot to do (attach sleeves, slipstitch bottom hem, put on buttons), it looks pretty much done. I don't want to do the 'big revel' until it's really ready.

So I keep going back to Jomar (local store that sells discontinued and closeout fabrics) to look for a deal on winter weight fabric for a winter coat as I've been wanting to make the Butterick B5266 and TV 560. Well, today I found a smidge over 5 yards of a 60" wide Donna Karen 100% Italian wool tweed for (drum roll please...) two dollars a yard!!!

So, now I get to decide which coat I make out of this fabric. Of course, I still have to get the interlining and lining...

Anyway, here's the fabric:





Meanwhile, I started a plain taffeta petticoat to wear under my bustle. Because the bustle and petticoat are cotton, I find they tend to grip my cotton knee socks and cling to my legs. So if I have a taffeta layer between my socks and cotton pettis, I'll be good to go. Since I had a ton of purple taffeta on hand from long ago, that's what I'm making it out of. So it's my first Stash project! Yay!