An Opportune Moment

This week, my hubby and I set out for a nice photoshoot. A field of sunflowers was in bloom so we rented an antique couch prop and hurried over there.

These lovelies only last a week or so before they are done for the summer.

Unfortunately, even though we shoot early in the morning, it was still hot and sticky so my hair wasn't so great.

The secret to faking good hair is a great hat.

And the secret to not blinking in shots is to take pictures where you are purposefully closing your eyes. Or wear sunglasses.

For the shoot, I wore a me-made dress and vintage hat and gloves.

Love these yellow gloves! They make me feel so lady like!

It was so much fun to get to shoot with these lovely flowers!

HSF: Re-make, Re-use, Re-fashion (sort of)

This Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge was Re-make, Re-use, Re-fashion: Sew something that pays homage to the historical idea of re-using, re-making and re-fashioning.  Turn one thing into another.  Re-fit or re-fashion an old gown into something you would wear again.  Re-trim a hat for a new outfit, or re-shape a modern hat to be a historical hat.  Re-purpose the fabric from an old garment (your own or a commercial one) into a new garment.

I'm in serious Ren Faire mode so I whipped up a set of reversible, detachable sleeves for my Elizabethan kirtle.

Now, I had every intention of making them out of these 40s pants which are too large for me. They happen to be linen which was perfect. Alas, the legs were too narrow to fit the pattern by about an inch. I could have pieced them but decided not to. I had about 3/4 yd of the same fabric leftover in my stash so I used that instead. The inside of the sleeve is lined in the same linen/rayon fabric as the kirtle.

So while this isn't technically a re-make, re-use, re-fashion project, the challenge did motivate me to get a project done!

The Challenge: Re-make, Re-use, Re-fashion
Fabric: 3/4 yd brown linen, 3/4 yd red linen/rayon
Pattern: Self-drafted
Year: Elizabethan-ish
Notions: none
How historically accurate is it? fairly, I did machine sew them and the rayon content isn't period, but it's a basic sleeve so there's not much to mess up.
Hours to complete: 1-ish
First worn: Not yet, but hopefully to the Ohio Renaissance Festival this weekend
Total cost: $0 all leftovers from stash!

Faire Time

Huzzah for a wonderful Renaissance Faire opening weekend!

We had a rather large group going to the faire this time and it was a blast!

It was supposed to be hot and possibly rain and I was still having serious costume blah from Costume College so I decided to go in a non-historical direction. I wore my leather corset, a modern peasant top and a 50s circle skirt for a retro Renaissance vibe. My friend Kat also purchased a leather corset from Brown Cow! We've decided that we need coordinating outfits with our corsets now.

At the faire, you never know what sorts of characters you are going to meet-including one mud show performer ready to pose with four lovely ladies!

Despite not being to excited about costuming this weekend, I'm so pumped for things to do now! I don't have a ton of sewing time (or funds!) this year, so I'm focusing on small, mostly stash projects. A lot of these projects were inspired by a wonderful class I took at Costume College on Lower/Middle Class Englishmen/women c. 1570-1580.

1. Reversible sleeves

(source)

One of the things that I learned in the class was that most sleeves were attached during this period and even if yours weren't, you'd be wearing them in public. Since sleeves were on my to do list last year, this should be a pretty easy project to finish.

2. Fur lined partlet

(source)

Here in Ohio, faire season is during that wonderful time of the year when it can be 90 and humid one weekend and 60 and windy the next. So I need some cold weather gear! 12 yds of polyester isn't as warm as you'd think.... Anyways, I knew that wool partlets were often worn over a dress like a sleeveless bolero and then I found some images of fur lined partlets so that's what I'm going to try. Especially since I just so happen to have some faux fur in my stash.

3. Warm Petticoat

Again with the chilly faire weekends! Instead of wearing jeans under my dress, I'd like a wool flannel petticoat. This one would have to be non-stash but I really do need one!

4. Apron

Aprons are another must for lowerclass women. Plus they are crazy easy to make and I think I have some leftover material from my shift that would work for this.

5. New coif/caul

 Coif made from an embroidered shirt! (source)

I've decided that I like this style of caul better so I might try making one of these.

6. Embroidered blackwork partlet

I think blackwork is so pretty! Here are some of the pieces that are inspiring me right now.

Embroidered partlet with ruff (source)

Embroidered black partlet (source)

I've been pondering doing some posts and videos on Elizabethan costuming things other than just finished costume posts. Is this something you guys would like to see? Any of the local-ish readers want posts specifically on the Ohio faire (where to shop/what to see/etc)?

Window Shopping

I'm not much of a car girl. In fact, I don't even drive. But there is still something about a classic car that makes my heart go pitter patter.

Maybe it's how cute they look with my vintage outfits.

Maybe I just love that someone has saved and cherished a little piece of history.




Maybe I just love the attention to detail and style that is often lacking in modern cars (to me anyways).

Whatever it is, I sure had a blast checking out old cars at a local car show.



One darling gentleman even offered to let me pose in his car for a photo!

Perhaps one day I'll get to own one of these lovelies but for now I'll just have to be content with window shopping!

More photos over on Flickr!

Youtube: Brushing out pin curls

Woot! Woot! Another pin curling video! Enjoy!

Falling in love with a novelty print

This weekend, I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding. So like any good bridesmaid who's making her own dress, I made a test version first!

It's Simplicity 8398 c. 1950. The fabric I used is not particularly retro, but it's one I had my eye on at Jo-Ann's for quite a while.

Of course, it just happened to be $14/yd. There are some things I'm willing to pay $14/yd for, but not a basic cotton no matter how pretty the print.

Luckily, I spied it in the red tag section for $7/yd and even though I think that's still high for clearance fabric, I had to have it.

And I did actually need some more dresses I could wear while shooting weddings, like I did this past Saturday. The modern print keeps the whole dress from screaming vintage too much.

It's really bad form to steal the limelight from the bride on her big day so I like to tone down my retro-ness for work purposes.

I am really glad that I did make a wearable muslin of this dress because I did make a few changes to my actual bridesmaid's dress including raising the waist .5".

I'm really starting to think that I am ever so slightly short waisted but I still love this dress and know it'll get loads of wear!

And I love even more that I got my bridesmaid's dress finished last week so no panic sewing! :D

When in doubt, more bling!

I have issues with accessorizing. I never can decide if things go, especially brooches! Today, I threw caution to the wind and went with lots of bling. After all, the 50s were all about more, bigger and better.

I love the print of this dress because it can be paired with so many different colors.

I went with black as my neutral instead of white because I wanted to go very sophisticated. I would have preferred black shoes too but I didn't have any barn friendly black shoes to wear (to my church which is held in a riding arena.).

For bling, I went with a pair of silver confetti Lucite earrings which looked much smaller when I bought them and a sparkly rhinestone vintage brooch. In this case, I think the bold print really called for bold accessories that wouldn't get lost next to it.

Sparkly!

This is a me-made dress and it's the pattern I'll be making my Halloween dress from. You guys have about 95% convinced me that I really need another collared version but I do want to get my hands on the actual fabric first.

I really love this dress and I don't know why I don't wear it more often!

I actually have enough of this fabric leftover to squeeze out another dress which I may get to this fall/winter.