My very first award!

I am pleased to announced that this little blog has received its first award!  My dear friend Julia over at The Bohemian Belle nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award... and here it is!

The award rules are as follows:

1. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you
2. Paste the award to your blog
3. Tell 7 things about yourself
4. Nominate 15 other blogs

So, about me!

1. I am absolutely OBSESSIVE over BBC Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Supernatural.  It's slightly unhealthy and strange, but I can't help myself!  I have a tumblog dedicated solely to these shows (plus a few others!)

2. I drink tea like it's my job.  I'd do anything for a good cuppa.  I even carry around a tea bag and some sweetener in my wallet in case of tea emergencies.  My favorite tea is Twining's Lady Grey.  Go out and try some!

3. I am a freshman in college right now, and man, is it kicking my butt!  I'm studying history and English with hopes of becoming a professor (but, honestly, I really just want to get the heck out of school!)

4. I have only been sewing for one and a half years!  I started in June of 2011 with the yellow Civil War dress that I have pictured somewhere on the blog... A lovely friend of my mother's taught me to make it and helped me along in the process.  I've been learning more and more ever since.

5. I LOVE networking with other bloggers!  My favorite event by far was the Jane Austen Festival this year, where I got to meet Julia, Jenni, Maggie, and many other dear friends who sew amazing things and are wonderful people!

6. I do only American Civil War and English Regency right now, but I really want to get into Georgian.  It is my dream to sew a pair of baby pink silk Georgian stays!

7. Finally, I am a COMPLETE Anglophile... if you didn't already figure that out!  I love all things British and I hope to study abroad in either London or Guildford in the next couple of years.

And now for the nominations (most of these are probably repeats, so bear with me)...

1. Romantic History

2. Misty Clouds

3. Jessica Dean by Design

4. The Fashionable Past

5. The Story of a Seamstress

6. The Jane Austen Tea Society

7. Diary of a Seamstress

8. Living with Jane

9. Adventures of a Costumer

10. World Turn'd Upside Down

11. The Diary of Miss Emily Waterman

12. Maggie's Costume Wardrobe

13. Leatherbound Reviews

14. The Lady's Resource Site

15. Addicted to Jane Austen

And now, I bid you farewell!  I am off to Perryville, Kentucky for the 150th anniversary this weekend!

The Unfortunate Cost of Adding Another Historic Period

So, recently I've been very, very jealous of everyone doing the 18th century curtain-along... mainly because the fabrics look like this:

And those are curtains.  Yes.  100% cotton curtains that can be found at any old Lowe's or Sears (and on some online retailers, too).  That makes this beautiful print only about $8 per yard which is super reasonable considering it's GORGEOUS!  I just have to have it, and I have to make something from it.

But what?  It needs to be something near the 1770's, because that's the period of time I had originally planned on doing for Georgian.  And then it struck me.  The most amazing idea ever.

A Robe a l'Anglaise with a red silk quilted petticoat underneath.

I know.  Right?

It's the most amazing thing ever.

BUT WAIT.

I do not have any of the proper undergarments OR skirt supports, nor do I have proper shoes.  Basically, to make this wonderful, amazing thing, I need to invest a giant chunk of change in yet another historical period.  I know one other person in my general area that can help me out and she is a busy woman!  So this post is mostly going to either convince me to or not to invest in the 1770s.

1. Cost.
The necessary amount of fabric, 2 curtain panels, would cost $50.  Wool batting would be another $30, I have muslin lying around, and the silk would cost at least $40.  I already have some cotton voile for the fripperies.  This is already beginning to look like a $120 outfit, just on the outside.  I can borrow patterns, so I don't need to worry about that cost (hopefully).  Then I need to make a chemise--I already have muslin, like I said before.  Stays are going to be a special pain.  Not only do I need boning (plastic boning will cost, I'm guessing, around $10), but I also need silk for the outer layer and I already have linen for the two inner layers.  The silk will cost $20.  Let's add in the giant headache I have concerning stays.  I'll probably drop two years in life expectancy just because of them.  Then I must make skirt supports, and I have no idea what they will cost or what they will look like.  Add a petti for over the skirt supports out of muslin--got that.  And let's look at the cost...

A total of $150+ and two years off my life.

My sad realization is that, however badly I wish to do it, I cannot do the curtain along :(  Possibly after Christmas, when I can ask for all of these things on my list, I will be able to invest.  Now, however, it's just not possible.  Oh well.  I'll be able to live vicariously through people like Jen and Caroline and Lauren.

Anywho, forget about my woes and go buy some curtains and make them into a dress.  It turns out great every time, right?

A Regency Tea Party

Today (yesterday?) I hosted a Regency tea party for my friends and I, and what fun we had!

This is the table set up.  We enjoyed tea, toast, homemade jam (by yours truly), pound cake, cucumber sandwiches, sugar cookies, and, to top it all off, lemon and strawberry ice (sorbetto).  It was quite the spread!

My masterpiece was the pineapple centerpiece.  An article from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath talked about pineapples in the Regency period.  Actually, if you can believe it, merchants would rent out pineapples to the poorer set so that they could use them as centerpieces at their parties, and then finally sell them to the richer customers to be eaten at their parties.  Who knew?

We enjoyed Jane Austen themed teas from Bingley's Teas, Ltd.  The two teas that we had, Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Longbourn Wedding Tea, were both divine.  I can't stress how much I recommend these teas to both the Jane Austen lover and the tea connoisseur.  They are simply lovely!

All of my lovely, beautiful friends looking lovely and beautiful in their Regency dresses.

Some of my friends delighted us by playing the piano--either seriously or as a joke.

And of course, the shoe (or lack of shoe) shot.  AKA I love my Pemberlies and was happy that I had a chance to show them off.

All in all, I had a wonderful time!  If you're looking for something to do, I highly suggest a tea party.  It was quite fun to have an afternoon of elegance!

Love, Melissa

Exciting Regency prospects...

A ball gown!

A Regency Sari ball gown, to be exact.  I picked up a Sari from an Ebay dealer--only $20 for 5 yards of silk!  Yay!  It was exactly what I was looking for.  I'm thinking of making it in the style of the above gown and this gown...

I would post pictures, but apparently my computer decided I didn't need those photos.  You know, along with the Trevi fountain photos from Rome.  Thanks, computer.  I will take pictures and post them very soon.  Thanks!

Regency Things for the Jane Austen Festival!

This year, 2012, was my first time going to the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville and my first Regency event ever.  So, naturally, I needed to sew an entire wardrobe for myself.  Here are some pictures of the items I sewed (with some things still needing tweaking).  I will post actual pictures of the event as soon as they're made available to me.

A chemise.  In hindsight, I probably should have made this sleeveless.  Oh well!

The evil stays.  They flattened my bustline.  I hate them.  They are going to be torn apart and fixed as soon as I can look at them without growling.

A bodiced petticoat made from the Sense and Sensibility drawstring dress pattern.  In favor of spending as little time sewing as possible, I simply chose not to cut out the front piece on the fold and made a placket down the front, running one drawstring from the waist and one from the neckline (I also lowered the neckline considerably).  Other than the drawstrings, no fasteners were needed.  Yay!

A chemisette and a fichu from the most soft, lovely cotton voile that was given to me by a very lovely lady.  The chemisette ended up being so cute on.  I highly recommend it.

Finally, my dress!  This was made from the Sense and Sensibility drawstring pattern in the Elegant Lady's Closet mega-pattern.  The dress was lovely, however I would have liked to modify the neckline.  That is modification number two on the list.

My waistbands and reticules made from matching silk.  The blue I wore for the day and the purple for the ball.  I also trimmed my new Pemberley shoes from American Duchess with purple bows at the toes. Those shoes warrant themselves an entire separate post.

Finally, the straw bonnet form I decorated from Austentation Regency Accessories.  I ended up only wearing this for part of the day on Sunday.  It doesn't fit very well over period hairstyles.

Have a lovely day, everyone!

The list has changed... again...

I promise I'll post very very soon about the Jane Austen festival, but for now, here is my updated sewing list.  I have completely removed anything Georgian from the table because I just don't have the time or money to invest in another time period.  I'm going to try to focus on sewing for the Regency Wardrobe Challenge and using up my stash for Civil War so I can get to Georgian (maybe possibly).  So, here it is!

August

CW Bathing costume

Mom's dirndl

CW Sheer

CW Sarah's dress

Regency Spencer

September

CW Winter hood

CW Paletot and muff

Regency seaside dress

October

Regency beach slippers

Second Regency bonnet

November

CW Ball gown

Regency ball gown

December

Regency day dress #2

CW Asymmetrical bodice

January

Regency spencer

February

Regency day dress #3

CW bonnet

March

Regency cloak

Sneak peek of the next project...