Things I made in 2014 (some still need a bit of finishing, but are mostly done), with comments:
1. Smooth Sailing grey wool trousers: need hemming, nice wardrobe staple, will be good for when I have to look professional or something like a grown-up ;p

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I bought my Costume College ticket the other day! And a ticket for the Gala! Yay! I can't believe that it's really happening. All I need to do is make a bunch of things to wear now... It looks to me like there are about 4-5 opportunities for costume wearing (not including vintage stuff that can be worn whenever, like it in classes). So here's what ( Read more... )

Stays! With pictures! Worn with my shift from the Under-it-all challenge. You can see that I cut the back of the shift neckline about 2 inches too low. Oh well.


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What do you all think about horizontal boning at the bust of 18th century stays? My 1790 stays are pretty much done now, but I have yet to put in any horizontal boning. I know that some stays have it and some don't. Does it really make that much of a difference in terms of shape? I'd love to hear your wisdom ( Read more... )

Today doesn't seem to be a very busy day on my LJ Friends page, so I'm filling up the silence with a fun discovery that I made the other day while browsing in my university library: a book of embroidery patterns from 1780-1820! It is called Embroidery Designs, 1780-1820 by Mildred J. Davis and is from the manuscript collection at the Valentine ( Read more... )

I'm slowly progressing on my shift. I managed to eventually figure out the fiddly bit of felling where the point of the gusset meets the two straight sides of the sleeve. It involved picking out some handsewing which was highly irritating, but now I understand how it works. This made it much easier to sew the sleeves to the body and the sides of ( Read more... )

So, I dug out my twill tape to start binding my stays and realized that I only have enough to bind the bottom half. And I also discovered that my original plan of machine sewing on the binding first (before flipping to the back and handsewing down) was not going to work. Thus, HSF #1 is not to be. I won't have a chance to get to the fabric store ( Read more... )

I am trying to get my stays done in time for the first HSF challenge. (Just a reminder that these are the Jean Stays c. 1790 from Jill Salen's Corset book.) It seems doable if I continue to make progress and refusing to let myself procrastinate. In the past few days I have finished the eyelets on the front (Huzzah! Eyelets are always what keep me ( Read more... )

I feel like I've been so busy this summer that I haven't had time for anything. But life is good, especially the life of a research assistant at the university. I mean, they pay me to read! How awesome is that? I've been doing a little bit of sewing, which I will have picture proof of some time. I'm trying to get my plum silk stays done and have ( Read more... )

This was my list from last year. It's funny; I did do sewing, but I didn't really work on any of these.
For 2010:
Finish plum 1790 stays
1860 corset
Some kind of shift or chemise
Bumroll
Gold striped petticoat
Red brocade jacket
Red cotton dress
Finish chocolate knitted mitts

What I actually got done this year:
1860 corset (actually morphed into a green ( Read more... )