Fabric Shipment Number Two and Thrift Store Finds!

More new fabric!  These are the last of my orders for a very long time.  I solemnly swear to not buy any more fabric until most of my projects are completed!

 First are the wool batting and wool flannel I am using for my paletot.  I practically stole the wool flannel--on clearance it was just $5 per yard for 60" wide fabric!  I almost died.  Perfect!  Also, I got the wool batting for the paletot for only $10 per yard for 92" wide!  I'll be able to use the extra wool batting in my winter hood, too.  I am going to be very warm at the Perryville reenactment this summer!

Sadly, now we say goodbye to the paletot fabric for a very, very long time.  No offense to you, lovely fabrics, but I have to work on my other things!  Farewell until the fall.

 I got these teacups at Goodwill for only 50 cents each!  They may not be perfect, but they are passable until I can go to an actual antique store and find some more accurate ones.  They also are lacking saucers, but again, they are passable without them (and also much more appropriate than my tin cup!)  One of these will probably go to Sarah.

I also got my Easter present in the mail today!  "Civil War Ladies: Fashions and Needle-Arts of the Early 1860's."  It is a beautiful book full of fashion plates, needlework projects, sewing patterns and much, much more!

 See?

 Wonderful!

 Beautiful! :)

 And the back of the book :)

I also picked up some movies from Goodwill.  No matter how inaccurate the Gone with the Wind costumes are, I still adore the movie!  I also got Gods and Generals and Little Women (both of which I've never seen before).

 Finally, a nice little basket I picked up at a different Goodwill a week ago.  We have plenty of baskets at my house, however most of them are too large and/or too shallow to be of any actual use.  This one is the perfect size and just deep enough to hold what I need.  However, it didn't even cross my mind that it wouldn't hold my plate!  Oh well.

Till next time!  Au revoir!

New Fabric and Sacque Muslin!

Don't you love receiving packages in the mail!  It's like getting gifts (only you paid for it!)  A sad existence, I know, but opening a package does give me a decent amount of joy.  Especially when fabric comes in them!  Check out my haul:

First is the 4 yards of polished cotton I snagged off of Ebay.  Only $15!  This will be used to line my paletot.  That thing just keeps getting more and more expensive... sigh.

Next is the fabric for my Regency dress.  I'm using the Sense and Sensibility drawstring day dress pattern from the Elegant Lady's Closet super pattern.  Short puff sleeves!  I'm excited for that one.  It shall be beautiful.

Finally, the lavender semi-sheer plaid fabric I'm making an 1860's sheer dress out of.  I need to get working on this dress as soon as possible or else I'll miss the summer season and have to stow it in my closet for a very long time!  It's on my agenda for the month of May, along with Sarah's dress, so hopefully Senior Project and school won't get in the way of my progress.  As for the design, I'm thinking one word: ruffles!

I also sewed together the muslin for my sacque today.  I love sewing together muslins.  Seams really don't matter and yet they look good in the end!  How lovely! And, it's an awesome crash course in using the pattern.  Always, always, always sew a muslin.  It is very important.  Anyway, the bodice of the sacque is just about right, however the sleeve needed to be taken in quite it a bit for it to fit in the armscye.  After I took it in, then it fit very lovely.  Check out the pictures:

 I especially love the back.  It's going to look so lovely over my hoop!  It is quite gratuitous width-wise, but I figure that it's always good to have more rather than less (at least with a sacque).  I can be assured it will fit over the necessary 4 layers of clothing I wear at reenactments at any given time.  Black polished cotton for the lining is on its way.  And, with any luck, I will be able to wear this to the Cincinnati Museum Center's Civil War days in the beginning of May and use it as a part of my Senior Project presentation.  Let's hope!

Finally, a picture of my lovely assistant, Judy.  She likes to sit underneath the sewing machine... while I am sewing.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!