O, to be well-shod!

American Duchess recently went through a vast amount of trouble to create a beautiful 18th century dyable silk shoe for ladies (and gents!) wanting a more stylish and customizable option than basic black. I jumped at the chance and ordered the Georgianas and I am extremely pleased with the look and comfortable fit (though I haven't gotten around to dyeing them yet). Now she has come out with an even more durable leather version, also dyable, and even posted a tutorial on her blog on how to dye them. I already got my pre-order in and am desirous of spreading the news! Hurry, because the pre-order period only goes through the 10th and I got the impression that it is by no means certain that she will do another run! See below for more info!

The Devonshires are a leather 18th century shoe based on museum examples from the 1760s through 1780s.  They're made of top-grade dyable leather, with a beautiful, smooth Italian leather sole for dancing, and are hard-wearing, water- and mud-proof, for even the toughest of outdoor re-enactments.

Pre-Order the Devonshires through August 10, and get the special $100 price.  We're only making 200 of these shoes, so don't miss the chance to own one of only a couple hundred pair on the planet!  Visit www.american-duchess.com to order.

Finally...a few pictures

Rendezvous was great fun this year albeit extremely (as in record-breakingly) hot.

My tent is teeny tiny but I wasn't about to pay a ton for a larger tent I didn't need; nobody even spends time in them during the day because they are SO HOT. Even in the shade, it's much cooler to be outside under the canvas fly than it is inside the tent. I was sewing a shirt here at the dining table but I kept getting interrupted so it still isn't finished.

There's my little hand-made housewife after the pattern in Tidings from the 18th Century. I actually lost it later that day while watching a slander trial but it turned up in the lost and found.

Next year I want to make a jacket like these girls'...they were so cute. I liked their shorter skirts but didn't have time to hem mine up that high.

This was me on Saturday...the jacket, which you can't see very well, is after a Janet Arnold jacket which I did all myself just by looking at the pattern in the book, so I am quite proud of it as my first non-paper-pattern outerwear. My 18th century lining skills are awful though. I need to practice. And I should have put my shawl around my neck the proper way because I got rather sunburnt despite the hat. Live and learn!

Captain Jack Sparrow is an acquaintance whose costume and mannerisms are so fantastic that he has been hired to put in an appearance at the St. Louis pirate festival in September! It was hard to get a picture with him because of all the kids swarming around. 

I sewed the clothes on the gentleman on the right; it was pretty gratifying that he got called up on stage during the "fashion show" later as a good representative of a local farmer. Even if I didn't have time to give him buttons down the knee of his breeches.

Here I am on Sunday, cooking a peach cobbler in the dutch oven...with my skirts dragging because that poor gown really needs panniers or to be polonaised. Next year, next year. It was just way too hot to wear more than one petticoat anyway, sigh. This dress is a truly nasty Simplicity pattern that I have modified the best I could. When I bought it last year around May, I knew nothing about 18th century clothing. I sewed it, wore it proudly to the Rendezvous, and came home feeling embarrassed...not because anyone said anything or looked at me strangely, but I could just tell that it wasn't quite right. Particularly the back, which wasn't a quarter-back, or that pleated-down-anglaise back....it was just wrong. So I re-worked it over and over during the past year (I didn't want to waste all that effort and fabric!) and now it doesn't look too bad, I think, but it would be better with the right supports around the sides. I needed an Ugly Puffer like American Duchess has. The more I work on the gown the more accurate it gets, so maybe when I wear it again next June it'll look even better!

The back...not TOO bad, right? Other than the length. I was a lot happier with the gown this year also because of the stays. I am in love with my stays! I even wore them to sleep in, which I know they didn't do back then, but I am having a lot of back problems and they seemed to really help keep me stable in my sleep because I woke up a lot less stiff than usual!

  

Gratuitous hat-and-teapot shot. I had been dying to get that teapot since I saw it at a previous event, and the same folks showed up here so I absolutely had to get it! It matches my teacups almost perfectly...I should have put one in the shot. And my hat, which the ladies in the milliner's tent all liked, so I must have done ok with it! I bought a new blank one to decorate for whatever outfit I choose to sew next. I would really love to do a matching caraco and skirt but my problem is that I just don't have enough pieces of the same fabric in my cabinets, so it might be more separates for me next.

Exhausted!

I have done a LOT of costume wearing recently! I went dressed up as a piratey sort of female to the new Pirates of the Caribbean premiere at a St. Louis theatre one weekend, then over to the StL Renfaire the next, and just got back late last night from camping at the Rendezvous at Fort de Chartres. The fort was a fantastic time, as usual, but the heat was in the 90s almost all the time with the exception of hitting a reported 105 on Saturday. I was so proud that I wore stockings, shift, petticoats, corset, jacket, cap and hat and didn't pass out or get dehydrated! And actually some of the "tourists" with less clothing on seemed even more miserably warm than I was. I had another proud moment when we popped over to the brief "18th century fashion show"...even though we weren't participating, my manclothes on my gentleman-friend got called up onto the "runway" because they were missing a local farmer and he looked accurate enough that the caller was able to use him to show off the breeches, shirt and waistcoat as a typical example. It made me feel good to know I did something right even though I loathed making them....pretty girl things are much more fun.  Photos to follow, after I have done a lot of sleeping and laying around!

Impatient

Well, once I got the new navy blue petticoat done, I really really REALLY wanted a jacket to go over it, so I dug out some navy blue corduroy and used a Janet Arnold pattern...so far so good. The jacket has kind of a longish skirt on it but I may shorten it by a couple of inches. It's weird but I seem to do better with modifying exact period patterns than I do when using actual patterns that are supposedly my size already. I once had a dark blue bedgown but it was so hideous and unshapely that I covered as much of it up with a pinner apron as I could.

Still putting off the man-clothes, how I hate them. I can't get motivated to do anything regarding them, but a deal is a deal, and I want the chair my friend promised me! :(  I keep getting distracted by all the adorable 18th century girlie accoutrements...I am dying to paint a couple of fans I have, and sew a needle case to go in my housewife, and do mitts and a cloak and a couple more caps and shawls and aprons...good grief!

Evidence at last

Finally some documentation that I have not completely been twiddling my thumbs in the 18th century, haha. But first, credit to some very helpful resources: Nicole at Diary of a Mantua Maker had a couple of tutorials that were the inspiration for my chemise and pocket (ok so it wasn't just inspiration, I pretty much straight copied because her instructions were so excellent), and Lauren at American Duchess was so wonderful for patiently emailing me a little more detail about what went into her beautiful Sunny yellow-and-white stays that I did not even use a stay pattern, I just went by her photos and extra info.


I sewed up a dreadful mockup of the stays before I started with my real fabric, and this must be the ugliest mockup in the history of such because I was just throwing together whatever materials I could find (or whatever thread happened to be on my machine).

 Aren't they awful? But based on that, I now have...this!

 They are fully boned with plastic zip-ties, the big kind, with metal grommets (I did get around to covering the front ones but what a chore), an outer layer of cotton upholstery fabric that has a subtle white stripe, an inner layer of some fabric I already had but can't identify (it's like canvas, only brushed soft?) and a lining of linen. The binding is blue cotton, with blue satin ribbon for lacing.

I have to admit, my tabs, particularly towards the front, turned out really bizarre. Not thinking, I did not cut one tab on each side near the hip bone, and then the squiggly bit in front, well, I don't know what happened there. They don't look like any stay-fronts I've ever seen but oh well, they hold my tummy and hips in, and surprisingly don't dig in to my thighs when I sit down. They are really quite comfortable.

 

And another view from the back, with the as-yet uncovered metal grommets *wince*:

If I were doing this project again, which I yet may, I may try them with straps, better-placed tabs, closer under-arm-cut and a higher back. I actually have them laced tighter in the photos than I intend to wear them, so hopefully that will release the hilarious over-the-stay bulge effect going on here. I haven't tried them on under my anglaise gown yet so I'm hoping that they will give me a nice solid silhouette that will take care of some of the strange torso-ripples that were going on before.

And also, my rather dreadfully embroidered pocket:

And my shift! Which I did not photograph on myself due to its extremely see-through nature.

I'm sneakily abandoning the men's breeches for the weekend to work on a navy-blue petticoat to dress my striped anglaise down, and then I will try to get some pictures of that up!

sit, STAYS.

Thank heavens I am almost done binding my set of stays. I hate going around the tabs. They don't look fantastic to me, but they work beautifully and they are actually quite comfortable, in fact I love how I physically CANNOT slouch while wearing them. It's like always having a solid chair back to rest against. I think it may even have helped with the minor back pain I always have, at least for the twenty minutes I sat in it while finishing watching the Tudors series finale.

Also, I am done with my pocket, which turned out rather pretty. Thank goodness nobody can see the backside of it because it looks like a chimpanzee went crazy in the embroidery thread box. I will try to get pictures of the stays and the pocket up sometime soon.

Men's breeches are up next for a friend :(  Just thinking about them makes me want to cry with boredom, but we are working on a barter system; he is making me a chair (because nobody wants to sit on the ground at an event after they've worked hard to make a pretty gown). I am selfishly only interested in clothing that *I* can wear. So I might sneak some work in on the Italian Renaissance dress I am making for the St. Louis RenFaire in May.

A beginning

This blog is really mostly just a placeholder for me as I find and follow some of the fantastic blogs that will serve as resources as I attempt some 18thc sewing projects, which may or may not result in some hilarious pictures of my very woefully amateur projects. I have dressed up for two reenactments thus far, and intend to continue building my wardrobe. I also have gone in costume to a local pirate festival (in not so historical garb) and may develop further on that as well.

Currently have: shortgown, petticoats, caps, hats, and one gown.
Currently working on: pockets, men's breeches.
Future projects: stays, another gown.