Fashions from Peterson's Magazine: July 1854-June 1855

I recently acquired two volumes of Peterson's bound in a peculiar fashion.  Instead of binding January-December of the same year together, these two bound July 1854-June 1855 and July 1855-June 1856.  I found this quite interesting, as all of my other bound volumes have contained the same calendar year within.  Oh well!  Peterson's listed the table of contents for previous volumes every half-year, so I suppose the woman who owned these didn't want to wait until January to start collecting!  Anyway, here are some of my favorite images from the volume of July 1854-June 1855.  Feel free to share, but please cite my blog.  And enjoy!

A Lovely Accessory

I recently completed a knitting apron for my dear friend Deborah as part of an exchange.  In return, she knitted me a lovely pair of knitted under sleeves that were delivered to me via the post office at BGA Gettysburg... yes.  That was quite a while ago, but I have finally gotten around to finishing her apron!  Here it is in all its glory... on my dorm room floor.

The body of the apron is 100% silk taffeta with rayon velvet trim.  The taffeta was purchased from an Ebay vendor and the trim is from Needle and Thread in Gettysburg.  It is based off of an original in a private collection, which the owner graciously shared with me in order to make it for Deborah.  All of the trim is applied by hand, as are the pockets.  The only machine stitching is in the waistband.  I will be adding a buttonhole to the waistband and Deborah will be supplying a button.  All in all, I'm very happy with how it turned out!  It will look very lovely for her to knit in.

Here are some close-ups of the apron in the construction progress:

The initial photo of the fabric and the trim in natural light.  After some consideration, Deborah and I decided that plum trim would suit this reddish-orange very nicely.

A close-up of the hand-applied trim

And a close-up of my delicate stitches, of which I am very proud.

Recent Acquisitions: CDVs

Recently, I've been collecting some original images to add to my collection.  Here are the CDVs that I have picked up.  Soon I will get around to posting the colored plates from the editions of Peterson's and Godey's I've acquired.  But, for now, some lovely CDVs.  All of these are from the UK, and if anyone would like to see the back of one of the images, please let me know in the comments.  Feel free to pin and share, but please cite my blog.  Thank you!

I love this woman's bonnet and her leather gloves!

The skirt trim on this is gorgeous, and the baby is pretty adorable too :)

Lovely sleeves!

I might tentatively date this to pre-1860's based on the tiered skirt, but I could be wrong.  What a nice coat on the gentleman, though!

One of the two tinted CDVs in my collection now.  I love that the cravat is tinted blue; Sam liked it very much!

I love her sleeves.

I might date this to post-war due to the hairstyle.  How interesting for her belt buckle to be off-center, as well...

The second tinted CDV in my collection.  I can't express how much I adore this image.

Check out her skirt--you can count her hoop rungs!  Also, the last rung is very far off the ground.  How interesting!

A-freaking-mazing skirt ruffles.  To die for!

Another sweet face.

Moire--yum!

This picture eerily looks like my mother when she was younger...

I love the rosettes down the front of this gown.

Gorgeous trim!  I would probably date this as post-war due to the shape of the crinoline and the style of hair.

And finally, something near and dear to my heart--reading.  What a sweet image.

The Best Laid Plans...

So, I'm sure everyone has been waiting for a Chickamauga recap.  I'm sorry to say that there won't be one, because, well, Sam and I never made it to Chickamauga.  It turned out that, with Sam's school schedule and the layout of the event site, we wouldn't have made it in time.  The best case scenario would have been us sleeping in our car one night (after driving 8 hours) and sleeping in a borrowed tent the next night.  It simply wasn't possible.

However, we did get the opportunity to go to a nice little event in Louisville: 100 Years on the Ohio.  It was a timeline event reaching from 1765-1865, so I got to see some friends I normally see at 1812 events.  There was a lovely little dance Saturday evening and a vintage baseball game Sunday afternoon.  The grounds were lovely to wander around.  In retrospect, it was better for 100 Years to be Sam's first event than Chickamauga would have been.  While going down to Georgia would have been fun, it was nice to have a relaxing event to go to and a real bed to sleep in at night.

Sam loved it, at least from what I heard him say.  He had a great time dressing out and making new friends, and even suggested we make the event an annual thing.  All in all, we had a very lovely time.  Enough for talking, now pictures!

Waiting for the sun to set before the dance

I didn't realize until this event that my red dress really needs to be let down.  No worries though, it has a bit of a hem in it.  I also need to take Sam's pants in.

I used my antique paisley shawl for the first time at this event.  It was a very nice accessory, as the weather was a bit nippy.

A candid taken by my new friend Toni during the vintage baseball game--featuring delicious homemade ice cream!

I think we make a handsome couple, if I do say so myself.  Sam's clothes weren't perfect, but at least I know for next time what to do differently.  However, I think he looked pretty good for his first event.

Lavender in the Mid-19th Century

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for being such a bad blogger.  I haven't had much time to work on garments so therefore I haven't posted very much :( but very soon I'll be out of school and sewing up a storm for the summer reenacting season!

Anyway, in preparation for finishing my PhD lavender sheer (project half done, thank you Dreamstress for the lovely acronym!) I've been on a pinning spree of lavender dresses in the mid-19th century.  I'll let the garments speak for themselves--they are all quite lovely (and I want every single one of them!)

Have a lovely day, everyone!

The Amateur Cobbler

Yes, you read that correctly--my friend and I are going to delve into the wonderful world of shoemaking!  Armed with reproductions of the book Every Lady Her Own Shoemaker and many varied supplies, we are setting off to encounter the seldom-charted land of cobbling.

Now, as you might have already guessed, this isn't a one-woman job.  My dear friend Hannah (who may be making some guest blog posts soon) came up with the idea to start off, and I decided to run with it.  Because, who doesn't want a pair of custom-made reproduction shoes that you don't have to pay out of the nose for!  I know it's going to be difficult, but I think I'm up to the challenge.  It will definitely be an adventure and a lovely one, at that.  If you follow me on my Pinterest, you'll notice that I've been pinning a few shoes here and there.  Now that the sole leather for my shoes has officially been ordered, I can now begin to plan!  There are so many gorgeous shoes that I want to reproduce.  I shall leave you with a few of them from the Regency and Civil War eras, for those are the ones I'd like to reproduce.  Enjoy!

I absolutely love slippers that have ribbons to lace up the ankles.  These shoes, from 1812, are my special favorites because they feature a square toe (the lasts that I have are square-toed) and they can kind of be worn for Civil War, if I'm sneaky :) I'd be making these out of silk taffeta, lined in linen and bound with silk ribbon.

Another gorgeous green Regency shoe :) These are from 1818 and are a very simple but classic style.  If I was to reproduce these, I'd most likely leave off the fringe.

I absolutely adore these shoes!  Now, I'm not one for the extreme point of some Regency shoes, but the lacing on these and the slight heel just make me want to swoon!

Another gorgeous pair of Regency slippers, also from 1812.  I love the bows on these!  I will definitely be drawing inspiration from them.

I LOVE these Regency sandals!  I have no idea how I would get the pattern correct, so it's definitely low on my list, but I need a pair of these.  They are just so stinkin' adorable!

These 1860's button boots are Hannah's particular favorite, and  once we get the process down we are definitely going to try them out.  And who can blame her?  They're gorgeous!

These are a very good example of a typical side-lacing 1860's boot.  These are made in silk taffeta with leather foxing at the toe and heel.  The pattern for shoes like these are in the book, Every Lady Her Own Shoemaker, so likely they will be the first or second shoes that we try.

1860's red leather slippers.  These are my particular favorite because they have the side seam seen in a lot of Regency shoes, so making a pair like this would kinda-sorta-not-really-don't-quote-me-on-it okay for both time periods.  These will most likely be the first or second shoes that we reproduce because both Hannah and I need PC shoes for Civil War balls (we both already have reproduction boots).

And finally, the most gorgeous pair... cotton sateen boots from 1865.  I absolutely love the foxing, the slight heel, and the rosettes at the toes.  I must attempt these!