On Friday night, after all my previous museum shenanigans, I met Fanny, Olympe, Carmene, and Anne — all fellow costumers — at Fanny’s shop, Au Temps d’Elegance.  It is, I believe, the only shop of its kind in Paris.  Fanny is a very talented costumer who does custom work, plus sells all sorts of bits and bobs for costuming (hats, feathers, jewelry, etc.) in her shop.  It was fun to see all the shiny things in her shop, plus she brought out two real extant eighteenth century pieces — one a jacket, the other a dress — for us to peer at.  It’s always fun to meet new people and talk costume — many of them go regularly to Vaux le Vicomte, Carnivale, etc.  And if you’re in Paris, you should definitely check out her shop!

Now I’m at “our” chateau, so tomorrow:  costume posts!

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Paris – I’ve been very busy!

May 17, 2013 18th century

Bonjour from Paris!  I’ve been here since Tuesday and already it’s been a whirlwind.  In addition to being on vacation (I leave tomorrow for the south for our two weeks of playing dress-up), I’m also here in France doing research!  See, the research I’ve been doing for years on the robes a la polonaise, turque, [...]

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State of the Sewing – France Prep!

April 30, 2013 1770s camisole

So I haven’t been blogging lately (obviously) — partially because I’ve been too busy, and also partially because I’m feeling like the dress diary is over.  There are so many costume blogs these days that I think it’s hard to keep up with them all, and I don’t get much feedback on my own dress [...]

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WonderCon 2013 – cosplay!?!

April 5, 2013 events

WonderCon 2013, a set on Flickr. Last week I went down to Anaheim to help my husband, who is a professional illustrator, sell his art (originals, prints, cards, etc.) at WonderCon. This is an annual convention, officially for comics, but also for scifi, fantasy, video games, and all things geek-y, and is organized by the [...]

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Your Hot 18th c. Boy of the Day

April 3, 2013 18th century

Something I’ve been doing over on Livejournal is sporadically posting photos of Your Hot 18th Century Boy of the Day.  My friend Bridget suggested I start doing this on my blog, so as to share the hotness! So without further ado, let’s get things started with:

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Very Inspiring Blogger Award

April 2, 2013 totally random

Thanks to Loren of The Costumer’s Closet for nominating me for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award! To accept the award, one must: 1. Display the award and link back to the person who nominated you. 2. State 7 facts about yourself. 3. Nominate 15 bloggers for the award. 4. Notify the winners. Okay, here we [...]

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A Useful Fitting Example?

March 20, 2013 1778 robe a la turque

I was starting yet another simultaneous project (this 1778 robe a la turque, more details to come soon) and realized that what I was doing could provide a useful example of fitting. When I first started doing costuming, I was working from commercial patterns, as so many of us do.  Fitting, particularly bodices, was so [...]

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