It's been months since I posted.  Defended my dissertation in May, officially graduated in June, and have been looking for a postdoc or industry research position.  In the meantime, I've been turning out Elizabethan corsets and working on Regency wear for myself ( Read more... )

Wow, been a while since I updated.  My dissertation is keeping me on the edge of sanity, really pushing to get it done ASAP.  Just waiting on some histology and finishing statistics ( Read more... )

I'm currently three chapters into my dissertation and one enormous stress ball.  My favorite way to relax is imagining up new bits of clothing to construct (I'm a die hard sewing geek), and since it's winter here I wanted to make a pelisse in honor of the weather.


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From last November when I first started my foray into Regency fashions:

I always like to start from the ground up, so to speak...I guess that's the skin out.  If there's anything I've learned in my journey from 'costumes' to 'clothing', it's that the right underpinnings make all of the difference.

I for the life of me can't seem to locate the exact ( Read more... )

Finally transferred a load of photos off my memory card.  There are things there from over a year ago *groan*... Please excuse the yellowy lighting, my desk lamp casts that weird glow and I haven't had a chance to correct for it in all of the photos.

A much-belated accounting of my taffeta Venetian project.  This was meant as a trial run for the ( Read more... )

I decided I couldn't leave off at yesterday's project post of the chignon form, and went ahead with Lynn McMasters' instructions on how to make a full head form.

After some adjustments with the PDF and my printer, I was able to use standard 8.5 x 11 paper.


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I was reading up on period hairstyles, including the making of hairpieces to augment one's own natural hair, and stumbled across Lynn McMasters' fabulous tutorial on Victorian evening 'dos at Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.  From there, I followed the link to her fabric head form pattern, and printed out the one for the smaller form, which she refers to as ( Read more... )

I've experienced a true gem of a customer.  She has been an all around pleasure to work with, from the day she contacted me via email to request a custom Regency bonnet and all throughout the creation process.  Not only that, but she sent a lovely handwritten thank you note after receiving it.

This follows on the heels of another lady I sold a ( Read more... )

I'm inordinately pleased to have my first sale on Etsy.  To a lady in the UK no less!  For some reason I feel like having someone buy it from from a place that experienced the Regency fashions firsthand is validation...I know that sounds strange when I type it out.

Etsy certainly is more freeform than eBay.  No annoying micromanagement of shipping ( Read more... )

Thought I'd share a few pictures of the lot of silk flowers I purchased off of eBay.  There was something like 6 lbs of mixed stems, flowers, and leaves.  They filled a 16 x 14 x 22 inch box to the brim - when organized this way, the assortment doesn't look as extensive as it does jumbled in the box.

I've sorted them into piles by color.  Please ( Read more... )