As with my brown 1860s this is a post mostly about templates and measuring. Fun!  I actually really enjoy the measuring-and-mathing part of sewing, so figuring out how to divide x space into y repetitions of the design is one of my favorite parts. It's complicated by the fact that panels don't usually end up a width that fits into whole integers - ( Read more... )

On my wool dress which I made for the Gettysburg's Remembrance Day weekend trip I put a decent amount of curlicue braid trim. That is, I bought 20 yards and had two partial yards left over after doing the skirt, and had to go back to get more for the sleeves. I based the trim pattern on this fashion plate:

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