There’s Been Lots of Sewing

But not a lot of posting!  Mostly it’s because I have been slowly slowly working on binding my 1780s stays, but also because I’ve been working on Michael’s 16th century trunkhose (but they keep seeming to stay in a not-excitingly-photographed condition – update soon!).

I think red is my color of the moment, because that’s the theme here…

First, I made the Costume Close-Up cloak for the Lumieres seaside stroll.  I was worried about freezing to death, so I took some lightweight red wool, fulled it, and made up the cloak — which I have to report is SUPER easy, because of the fulling… you don’t have to finish any of the edges!  I debated and debated what to line the hood with — I wanted to do something solid so it would work for any era (because how often do I make cloaks?), but the only thing in the stash that worked was a green & red 18th c.-style indienne print.  Oops!  Guess it’s not going to work for 16th century!  Also, a report — according to the book, the hood is cut large to accomodate the big hairstyles of the period.  Well, obviously they don’t define “big” the same way I do — there is no WAY that hood was going to fit over my hair!  So I’ll have to make another version at some point with a bigger hood, and this time of some heavier wool so it will work for REALLY cold events.  Luckily, although we expected rain, we had a beautiful day, so it worked out just fine.

Next, I went to the GBACG Duchess of Devonshire tea, which Cynthia and I organized.  We had planned one tea (obviously), but it sold out so quickly we added a second date the following weekend!  I didn’t want to stress myself out by trimming my hat at the last second, so planned to wear something else… but then got the wild hair the night before to wear the hat.  Silly costumer!  So I put some burgundy ribbon and a burgundy feather on it, all with straight pins, and called it good.  I had experimented with using green ribbon, as in the original fashion plate, but it just looked like a Christmas hat.

I finished binding my 1780s stays in time to wear to tea #2 (ie late the night before).  I really wanted to wear them because — hey, they’re new!  Plus I wanted to find out how comfortable they’d be.  I handsewed ALL of the binding, top and bottom, both sides, because I really wanted it to look good.  And while I’m not 100% happy with it, I think it’s my best binding job so far.  The petersham worked well and I think it looks good — I was worried it would scream “petersham!” but I think it just looks like a ribbed ribbon.  I did discover some cosmetic changes I want to make when I do version #2, mostly that the side tabs are shorter than the back tabs, and I’d like to even that all out.  Also, I don’t have a back picture, but I want to make the line of the straps at the top back of the corset merge more.  I’ll post really REALLY final photos once I have the right color ribbon on hand to lace them with — I had to just use what I had on hand, which meant the straps are tied on with black, and the back got laced 1/2 with burgundy and 1/2 with green!  I wore it under my chemise dress, which is the only dress I had that (because it’s gathered) fit — all the rest of my dresses are too small in the bust and too big in the waist to fit!

I haven’t yet posted my photos from the first tea, but I’ll do so very soon!  I do have photos from the Devonshire tea #2 up.  Both teas were lots of fun — yummy food, good conversation, and we had lots of fun playing forfeits!