Thursday, June 6, 2013

Summertime, and the sewin's crazy

Ok I have been sewing like a house afire for the past month or so, and the big event around here is over now so I can feel justified in posting again, but I'm going to go light on words and heavier on pictures because I don't feel like a bunch of essays today...here goes!

First up -- my blue and white striped en-fourreau's first outing, done up a la Retroussée dans les Poches if I've got that right. Fancy way of saying it was really wet and muddy and the gown is WAY too long so I pulled it up through the pocket slits. Also I had a hemming disaster where the sleeves were too long before and then TOO SHORT after I re-did them *shakes fist at sleevils*. That's ok, I'll just put cuffs on them later, but here I am showing my elbows in an unladylike manner.
 Please excuse the un-period correct chariot in the background, people were setting up and I was anxious to get down to business and finish Monsieur E's coat. He set up camp even though neither of us intended to stay down there this year, just because it's nice to have a "home base" and a canopy to sit under in case of rain or too much sun.
 Here he is chopping wood in a manly fashion...wearing an apron. I told him if I was going to go to all the trouble to make him nicer clothes than his terrible buck-skinner outfits, he was going to have to protect them.
 I don't know, maybe it's just me, but the apron kind of suits him, really...

He looks a little dazed here but I think I just caught him off guard. The coat held up very well during an ultimately really wet and filthy weekend, so it was worth all the hours of sewing boredom. I was so glad not to be staying down there; a storm came up overnight and blew over a lot of people's tents and the whole area flooded, several inches deep in a lot of places!

 

And here is his finished ivory coat in all its Simplicity glory...it didn't turn out too badly although it's a little shorter than I would have liked it, but shhh he doesn't have to know that. I'll have to put pockets in at a later date. At least with added cuffs the sleeves are long enough, thank goodness, the poor guy is built like a daddy long-legs in his extremities. I'll try to find a picture of the back later, it turned out great after a lot of agony.

 And here is my sassy Curtain-Along Lowe's Felicite petticoat! I love it so much. I have shied away from prints so far, other than stripes, and mourned as I envied other girls' lovely floral things, so it was just a dream come true to get to have a little flowery-ness this year!


 My little Burnley & Trowbridge embroidery scissors, antique key from Etsy (I think it actually IS 18th century by the style!), and further down my maroon pincushion. And filthy apron.
 Ok, a glowing tribute to my poor abused Pompadours -- these long-suffering shoes slogged through mud, grass, and ankle-deep swamp for two days straight, and while I know they weren't meant for that kind of use, they held up PERFECTLY. I had waterproof-sprayed them before the event and the mud has wiped right off, so I'm very happy with them. Although the ribbons will be getting a sad burial.


 My jacket makes me look so wide from the back. I thought dark colors were supposed to be slimming! :(  Also I'll try to do a post some other time on my little pinner cap, it needs some adjusting so the lace lappets hang correctly but it turned out really cute.


 Also I just bought this unbelievably gorgeous upholstery fabric on Etsy that I am SO excited about. It looks so much like crewelwork. I can't decide whether I want to make a stomacher out of it or cover a pair of shoes with it. If there had been more than just a little square of it I'd have broken the bank getting it. So cool.
I also bought some really pretty gold striped, airy silk that I think will make a lovely polonaise, and I'm working on a woman's wrapper or dressing robe right now...more projects to come!

6 comments:

  1. You look splendid! I love your Curtain-Along skirt! And yay for Pomps holding up in the mud. The craziest thing I've done with them is walk in a parade. You are a trooper :-)

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    1. Thanks Lauren! Your shoes are the real troopers, I just put them through shoe hell ("boot" camp? Bahaha)...actually they were really comfortable the whole time, heel and all! Definitely some of the best re-enacting money I've ever spent. Now if only you were going to be making some 18thc men's boots...

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  2. The coat! Omigosh it look fantastic! You did a great job. I'm still squeamish of manly wear, but you give me hope. You and Madame Simplicity. That petticoat looks so pretty on you. I'm regretting my decision last year to avoid the curtain-palooza. Jealousy, thou name art Alison...

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    1. Manclothes were definitely the bane of my existence for a while there...I got shirts figured out ok on my own, but the Simplicity 4923 breeches are not too inaccurate, and both his coats came from that pattern too, just DO NOT add the gores, I guess they'd be ok for a court frock coat but they totally made the green coat look like a floofy dress before I ripped them out.

      You should go back on your decision about the curtain-along. Cheat on it. Just make yourself a petticoat out of one of the colorways and then in no time you'll be like "hmm, a matching caraco might not be too much more" and it'll steadily progress to full-trimmed a la francaise madness. At least that's what I'm daydreaming about...

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  3. I LOVE your curtain-along petticoat! It turned out great!! :)

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    1. Thank you Jen, and thanks for bringing publicity to this awesome fabric with the whole Curtain-Along project, I was so excited to find out I could just go to a regular store to nab it rather than digging through piles of overpriced bolts or paying an arm and a leg for something online!

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