What I’ve Been Up To

Sorry I’ve been quiet on the blog lately. I found myself needing some breaks from sewing so I could take care of non-costume related things, and when I was finally sewing, I realized time spent updating my website would take away from time sewing!

Let me do a quick update entry…

Still need to update the blog.

I have a few garments and accessories that I should create a page for on the costume section. I’m just not sure when I’ll get around to them.

One of the items, I’m half tempted to wait until I make a second version. I also think with most of those updates, it’s extra work because I need to press the garments, get good light and photograph them (hauling out a dressform), and then deal with photos, hunt for links and… you get the idea.

I’m sure I’ll get around to updating with the garment information, but I guess the items needing to go up just aren’t as important to focus on at the moment since they’re not really big items. Especially since I have an event deadline coming up.

Didn’t I say I had an event coming up?

We all know how it is. You know you should be working on something specific, but something else catches your eye and suddenly you can’t focus on anything else!

A pierrot jacket did that to me, and while I didn’t have any patterns to work with, I thought I could piece one together. I was having fun with it, and then got to a point where I had to make a decision about mock-up fabric for a second version to really finish up the pattern.

That’s when I realized I was spending WAY too much time working on something I not only didn’t need any time soon, but would involve a lot more work (I am wanting to make a white petticoat with a hand embroidered hem to wear with the jacket).

Upcoming Georgian Picnic.

This is one of the big DFWCG events every year, and I am hopeful this year that I’ll have something for my husband to wear finally!

I really struggled with getting back to his projects. I had started working on my husband’s waistcoat a while back and then stopped. There are some things wrong with it that I wasn’t liking at all. It discouraged me, because I’d already done a lot of work on it. I finally decided to deal with a problem by doing it differently.

I started the waistcoat before I had some of the current costuming books on my shelf. The pattern I used was the only one I had, and the pockets are done differently than I’ve seen on others since. Between the fabric I’m using, and the weird pocket shape, and I’m sure I did something wrong… it just was not working out right. So, I talked to Christopher and asked him if his jacket had pockets, would he even bother with waistcoat pockets? He told me he wouldn’t, so I will just seal them up and add pocket flaps that are tacked down to make it look like they have working pockets.

I’m still in the process of sealing them up, and then I will move on to some of the other finishing steps. I’m hoping it works (he is in the process of losing weight again — he’d gained a little since I first started working on the waistcoat), and if not, hopefully I’ll make enough progress on the other garments quickly enough to whip out another waistcoat. Using a different pattern next time!

He needs a dressform.

I have a tape dressform a friend made for me while I was wearing my stays. Although it’s not an exact match for me, it really helps me get the fit I need.

One of the other issues I’ve had with Christopher’s garments that are more fitted than say, a shirt, is that he’s not always available to stand there while I mark and pin and try things on over and over.

He works from home most days, but he’s busy. He also moves around a lot and that can make fittings awkward. I’m not used to men’s wear, and he has a tricky shape. I want him to be happy with his garments, so I need to make him a dressform.

I’m not sure when I’ll decide to do it, or which type of tape to try, but I’m hoping to pick a time when we’re both able to work on it soon. I think it would be great to have a “double” of him to do fittings so I can move along on his projects quicker. To be honest, as much as I wanted SO badly to have his costume/s completed, I dreaded working on them.

Now, thinking about having a tape dressform to help me with most of the fittings (obviously some fittings will be on him), I’m actually kind of excited about working on his garments again.

How I got Christopher interested in costuming.

As I’ve mentioned, Christopher actually isn’t into costuming and would never do it if it weren’t for me. He only has a few pieces of his 18th century outfit so far, but nothing he can wear. Oh sure, when he’s standing at an event in regular clothes and sees us all having fun, he feels a little left out, but he still has other interests that require his focus first.

We do enjoy watching videos using our Roku, and recently I added a channel to that so I could watch it on the TV. I already had it on my laptop, but discovered we both prefer watching YouTube videos on our TV together. I told him about Jas. Townsend’s channel, and how they had some cooking episodes. Christopher loves cooking, and within a few videos he was hooked. We’ve watched almost all of their videos, and he’s gone from “I guess I’ll dress up if you make me something” to “oh man! If I lived in one of those areas, I would even join a reenacting group! That’s so cool!”

Yay!!!! Now he has been asking me if I want to watch some of the Jas. Townsend videos, and he’s hoping to order some accessories like glasses, and has been drooling over some of the cookware even for modern use. Too cute! I wish I’d thought of it sooner!

The half-way hat.

I have a hat to be worn with the CalR to the picnic, but it’s only half-made. I need to order my feathers — I have the hat, and even hand sewed a rolled hem (for the first time) of silk for wrapping around the crown and tying in a bow. I keep putting off ordering the feathers, but I really need to get to it.

I also think I should make a hat box to keep it from getting dusty. This place is awful with dust. I can dust and five minutes later look around and wonder why I bother. I definitely don’t want to just leave a finished hat out here — by the time the picnic came around, I’d be needing to clean it off.

Sometimes it’s lonely sewing on your own.

Like I mentioned, Christopher works from home, but we’re both easily distracted and need our space to focus. That said, I get a little stir crazy (and I’m a huge introvert and don’t really need a lot of socializing) and wish I had my sewing buddies to hang out with. I’ve always loved sewing meets and get a lot done at them, even with chatting.

Unfortunately, all my sewing buddies live too far away from me for frequent sewing meets. So I decided to look around and see if there were any groups I didn’t know about.

I remembered that my small town library actually has a group that meets every Wednesday. One of the reasons I never checked them out before was that my husband hasn’t always worked from home, and we only have one car. The meets happen at 1pm, so I couldn’t really go.

This group also sounds like most of them knit instead of sew, but all needle arts are welcome. I’m hoping to check them out this week and see if getting out once a week or every other week helps keep me energized. The city went all out and built a new library which is still in construction. I’ve gone once to check it out, and there are a lot of cozy sitting areas.

Even though I mainly focus on sewing and embroidery, I had learned how to do basic knitting several years ago. Unfortunately, it was with a friend and I realized I hate knitting by myself. So, once I’m caught up on sewing and embroidery (is there such a thing?), I will have a group to knit with as well! I’m really looking forward to it and hope it’s a good fit for me.

Oops!

Well, that ended up being a longer update than I expected. I apologize for not including photos of projects in-progress. I’ve been bad and not taking photos anyway!

I really need to get a little better with updates again, but I guess once I don’t have quite a looming deadline maybe I’ll be a little better about it. I just really want to finish Christopher’s outfit in time so he can finally start joining us!

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Finally! My DFWCG Retreat Post

The first costuming mini-convention for the Dallas Ft. Worth Costumers Guild. Please see the very end of this entry for links to full photo albums!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to posting about the mini-convention costuming retreat we attended at the end of July. I was already exhausted going into the weekend, so I guess I only had enough energy and focus to get photos online — at least I managed to do that! Heheheh.

Anyway, I’m not sure how much detail I’ll go into, especially since Festive Attyre did such a great break-down on her own blog with a few entries, but I’ll give it a shot.

My husband (Christopher) and I arrived a day early, on Friday. We’ve actually stayed at the hotel before (the Crowne Plaza in Addison) for another conference, and really enjoyed the experience. We opted to stay higher up in the hotel, on the fourth floor, instead of closer to the action near the conference room the DFWCG had, and where most of the members stayed I think. It meant a lot of walking to get where I needed to go, but I actually don’t mind that (it’s kind of fun — I have a weird obsession with being able to wander around long hallways in business buildings, especially at night).

This was my first multi-day costuming event where I didn’t have to drive far to get to the actual location. How nice! No more stuffing myself into a car, since I prefer to fully dress before leaving home, and I already am uncomfortable in small cars since I’m tall! What a treat!

Thing is, I also had to pack three costumes — one had a bustle I needed to collapse (I had to remove a length of boning that held the bustle full), and the other was my false rump. All three costumes had lots of long layers, and I had two pairs of shoes to pack (18th century and Victorian boots). I ended up using our biggest suitcase to pack all of our costumes, and then the smaller suitcase for regular clothes and anything that wouldn’t fit in the costume case like shoes.

We also brought other stuff with us, and one of these days I’m going to learn my lesson and just not bring my laptop. I used it once. Since Christopher also brought his laptop and spent the time writing, it was too much of a pain for me to move his stuff over and plug in my computer and boot it up, plus I was having some trouble with a recent update locking my computer up every few minutes. So yeah, note to self, save yourself the trouble and leave it home, Cynthia. Still, better to be safe than sorry! I even brought extra things like thread, sewing notions, pins, and things like that. You never know when you might have a costume emergency, or if a friend might need help as well!

The hotel room closet, packed with three costumes. Glad I brought extra hangers!

I was a little worried about crushing this wig, but it held up fine thankfully!

We were silly-sillies and didn’t bother looking for one of those big rolling carts you can pack all your luggage on, and we made three trips to our fourth floor room from the parking lot. It’s the middle of summer, and it has been very hot, so we were wiped out! You’d think we’d guzzle water, but no! We had a coupon for a free drink from the bar and that’s what we did first. Then we had dinner. We meant to go try a nice restaurant, but we were so hot and ready to just relax so we ate from the hotel restaurant. Here was my error, I think! I forgot at the conference two years before, that I’d packed a lot of food. I’d been eating very healthy and light, and although what we ate was relatively healthy, it was a salty greasebomb compared to what we were used to eating. I ended up sick until Sunday morning. 🙁

Ahhhh, relaxing with a free beer!

Okay, so I know most of you are more interested in the actual retreat-related info, so let’s get to it!

I originally wasn’t going to dress up for the classes during the day on Saturday, but I heard a couple of people were going to wear costumes. I realized that I had something simple to get into — my very first costume! It had lots of mistakes on it from when I didn’t know what I was doing, so the week before the retreat, I tried fixing some of them.

Although it was very hot, I was glad I brought it. Very fun to get another chance to wear it, and I thought it was fitting to wear to my first costume convention. I ended up changing out of it before the end of the day, though, because I’d helped a few other members bring up lots of gear and luggage and decided I’d had enough of the bulky layers.

The costume I wore during classes on Saturday. It was the first costume I really ever made — seemed fitting to wear to my first big costuming convention!

The classes were great, and my main regret is I forgot to bring something to take notes. I was also focused on taking photos — the room did something weird to all of our cameras. It made it difficult to get good photos. I had to learn to guess when someone would hold still long enough to take a photo due to lots of blurring. Still, I got as many as I could of the various classes.

The first class of the day was for Photography. This is something we all need, because what’s the point of costuming if you can’t capture the fun and share it with others? The biggest tip was this: focus on the costume and get as many details as you can. You want to be able to tell what fabric it is, and see those details.

Showing the results, on screen, of how to capture fabrics with the right lighting and settings.


One of my favorites, and one I need lots of help with (because I thought a lot of the information could work for many eras and costuming needs), was Jen’s Big Edwardian Hair class. After purchasing my first wig recently, I think I want to run out and get a few more hair pieces!

Preparing for the hair piece and styling class.


Jen’s class ran long even though she worked as quickly as she could — we had so many questions for her, I seriously think we could still have more classes covering things like hair! We rushed around to get lunch, and some of us (like me) didn’t actually get to eat until later. Christopher picked something up for me, but I ate it quickly after the next class.

Ginger’s Vintage pattern class was very interesting. I most likely won’t sew vintage clothing as my costuming interest tends to end around 1900 or so, but I still found it fascinating to hear about some of those patterns. She has a nice teaching presence, like Jen, and it really made me want to learn even more!

Discussing the quirks of vintage patterns.

At this point, I rushed back to my room to scarf my lunch down as quickly as I could, and before I got back to the classroom, I came across some friends who were bringing up lots of gear and luggage. I missed the next few classes helping them, and then cooling off and changing into regular clothes.

Even though Christopher had a full pass for all classes, he decided to stay in our room writing. I kept teasing him that he was missing really fun and interesting stuff, so he decided to go down with me to the last class Ginger taught about Civil War clothing. That’s when he took over taking photos. I kept nudging him “get a photo of this! and that!” and he got used to what I was wanting.


I also have to say, it was hysterical since I usually stayed near the back of the audience for all classes, that every time Ginger lifted her skirts to show the hoops or another garment normally hidden, up came the cameras! She stood on a chair to help everyone see. I haven’t worked on anything from that era yet, but I’m hoping to. She had a lot of information for us, so we definitely know who to ask if we’re stuck or having a hard time!

After the last class, it was time to set up for the party.

If you remember, the whole reason our event came about was due to a few members feeling so down because they couldn’t attend other events out of state. We all joked that we should throw a pity party, and it started from there. When we were trying to decide on the theme for the party, we knew we wanted to be a little different from normal, and we realized… this was supposed to be a sad pity party — let’s make the theme mourning!

This also made me happy, because you would think Halloween parties with a group of costumers would be a normal thing… but Halloween seems to be one of those difficult holidays to get everyone together for fun!

So the basic theme of “mourning” allowed us to do historical clothing we normally don’t get to do, and for those not interested in historical, it gave them a chance to have fun with the idea and get creative.

I didn’t have time to make an actual mourning gown, or sew anything for Christopher. He wore his kilt (he likes to wear this if he’s feeling left out, plus the dark colors worked well), and I made a gray skirt to match the gray bodice I wore with a plaid skirt for the train ride. I also made some quick black arm bands for a little extra accessory.

We had a fortune teller…

We had a table to make voodoo dolls for sewing annoyances…

There were fun decorations…


And we also had a photo booth so we could make some fun “period” style old photos to be edited later…

Photo courtesy of Festive Attyre.

Photo courtesy of Festive Attyre.

Inspired by some of the period photos we used for posing, I let my hair down for a few of my own. Love how this turned out! Photo courtesy of Festive Attyre.

We found a group shot from a print-out showing old photos and recreated it. Photo courtesy of Festive Attyre.

Sadly, this is the point where everything seemed to hit me. I hadn’t slept well, and getting off on my usual diet made me feel sick. Within minutes of arriving at the party, I thought I would have to leave again. I wish I’d pushed myself just a little, because I felt like such a dork sitting in one corner of the room barely chatting and only eventually taking a few photos in the booth. I’m sure I missed out on a lot of fun and conversation.

I also learned my costume shoes aren’t as comfortable as I’d like. I wore my 18th century shoes with my day costume, and then I wore my Victorian boots for the evening party. By the time I went to bed, I had blisters on my feet and was hobbling around barely able to walk. I was a little worried having to wear the 18th century shoes the next morning would totally cause my feet to hate me. As it turned out, I was feeling better and in such a good mood, I didn’t even notice if I had any shoe issues!

Sunday morning, we had our last event to attend. The Time Traveler’s Brunch! Leave it to me to wear the costume with the most steps to put on, but it was definitely worth it!

When we went downstairs and found the group, they had gathered in the perfect spot with beautiful morning light:

“Good morning, everyone!”

It was a blast to see what everyone decided to wear for this event.

We had a Victorian zombie…

A nice mixture of sci-fi and historical…

After some photo-taking fun, including a group photo, we went into the private room for brunch.

We had such a large group, they decided to give us our own private room. That worked out well, since we were all very chatty and had a blast talking about costume stuff. I’m sure our wandering around the dining area was quite entertaining for the other hotel guests too! 😉


And then, like that, it was time to head out and start packing.

Of course, I couldn’t resist getting some photos of my own. Finally! I’d planned on doing that two years before when I was there for the other conference, but the hotel was crowded Friday and Saturday.


And just as we were finishing up, I spotted three friends walking by and waved them over for a few more photos.

“Braaaaaaaiiiiiiinssssss….!”

“Braaaii…. Ack! A hair! Phlbbbbtt!!” Photo courtesy of Festive Attyre.

I was thrilled to be able to get one more photo with a friend I’d wanted before I went back to my room…

The last photo — time to change and start packing!

And then it was back to our room.

I was a little nervous about getting everything back into the luggage without trouble, so I handed my checklist to Christopher and he kept me focused while I tried packing by myself. We’d lucked out and found one of those big carts by the elevator on the way up, and not wanting to make three or more trips to the car…. oh yeah, we grabbed it! “Score!!” yelled Christopher.

There was one terror while packing. My gray bustle outfit wasn’t finished annoying me — as I pulled the skirt out to fold up, I gasped and started freaking out. Poor Christopher couldn’t see what I saw, and asked what was wrong. I finally managed to say “gecko!” as I shook the skirt and the little critter dropped to the floor.

We’ve had bad some bad experiences with them. Oh, they’re cute, but trust me you really don’t want these geckos indoors (let’s just say they’re silly enough to get stepped on, hide in places they shouldn’t, or get trapped and eventually die), and so Christopher managed to keep the gecko away from my packing and safe until we were finished.

I’m sometimes crazy enough to immediately start putting things away, so when we got home I jumped to unpack and hang my costumes up. Christopher was thankfully very helpful and it went quickly.

A few days after the retreat, a survey went out asking what our thoughts were on each part of the weekend and any helpful tips for next time. I have to admit, even Christopher is looking forward to next year’s retreat. I just hope, since I’ve been cutting back on sewing projects (or trying to anyway) and attending events, that the costumes I’m planning will fit in with the theme and events at next year’s retreat.

Well, that was long and babbly! If you want to see all of my photos, go check them out on Flickr!

My Flickr photos are here, and the DFWCG group photos (from different members) are here.

And I hope our costuming friends out there keep an eye on the Guild’s website and join us next time! Best Wishes!

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DFWCG Costumers’ Lost Weekend Photos

chemise a la reine

See the bottom of this post for two group photos, and a link to the full Flickr album of photos from the weekend!

This past weekend was the Dallas-Ft Worth Costumers Guild’s (DFWCG) first mini-convention: Costumers’ Lost Weekend.

I have to admit, I am still feeling tired and have a lot to catch up on before I do more detailed blog entries, but I did put photos on my Flickr account from the weekend.

Just a few quick details I can share before I post the link to the photo album:

– Saturday during the day, we attended some classes on various topics (I wore the first costume I ever made — I still need to make a page for it).
– Saturday evening was the big costume party, with a “mourning” theme (the whole event started as a pity party idea because some of us couldn’t attend other big events, plus it gives us a chance to do costuming we normally don’t get to do).
– Sunday morning was the Time Traveller’s Brunch.

Sadly, the classroom and party photos were taken in the same room and we all had trouble getting shots that weren’t blurry. Sunday’s photos had great lighting since we were at a different part of the hotel and I love how those photos turned out.

Here are two group photos from Sunday:

dfwcg group photo

And you can click the image below to go to the Flickr album for the rest of my photos. Sorry if it takes me so long to put a more detailed post online!

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Chemise a la Reine Video

Sorry for bombarding everyone with so many CalR updates. I have one more for you though!

I’m going to try something new if I can get around to it quickly enough — it may take some time before I have everything updated. I’ve noticed sometimes photos don’t really show enough. They miss certain details. Since I have a YouTube channel and video cameras, I figured… why not?

I made a video for the CalR. It’s nothing special, but it does show some motion. I didn’t get closeup shots, and the glaring white fabric is hard to make out some details. It does give you an idea though. I’ve created a “Costume Videos” page in the Image Gallery section. I will also put any of these videos on the costume’s page itself.

Here is the CalR video. I hope it gives you a little better feel for the fabric:

I finished a purse/reticule yesterday, but sadly wasn’t very happy with it. I have it in case I need to carry some items, but it will probably take some time to get it online.

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Info page for chemise a la reine online

I just put the chemise a la reine information online (along with LOTS of photos). I still need to get the petticoat and wig information online, but at least I got this huge update finished. I hope I didn’t forget something!

Click this image to get to that page:

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The Chemise a la Reine Photos

The inspiration image that started my chemise a la reine project. Portrait of Monsieur de Lavoisier and his Wife, chemist Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze by Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825).

I finally have photos for you. The chemise a la reine (CalR) is finished!

While these photos weren’t taken at a costuming event, we decided to go back to the garden I filmed the knotting shuttle videos for some nice photos and have some fun. We also took some video, but that will take a little more time for me to get that online.

If you remember, I used the Lavoisier portrait as my first inspiration to start. I made some changes here and there, but when I saw her hair I just had to consider that my starting point.

There are some issues that bother me, but overall it was a fun project that was very interesting to try. It’s also the first time I wore a wig, along with my own hair!

Some things that bother me a little:

– The sash and arm ribbons aren’t an exact match, but I was limited on time and had a hard time finding what I needed. I do have some silk ribbons that are a little closer match in color, but they’re wider than I wanted.
– The sash slipped during the car ride over to the gardens. It was a bit too loose and ended up spreading out on my waist (width) more than I meant it to.
– We tried rag curling my hair (the longest part of the hairstyle) for the first time, and it didn’t work out very well. There might have been too much moisture, but my hair is very long. Regardless, it wasn’t comfortable to sleep in. I may try a curling iron next time since I won’t be doing this style too many times.
– My shift fell off my left shoulder and I didn’t even know it until we got back home. I’m surprised we missed it since you can see through the CalR fabric. I was also running around for some action photos, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by things moving around.

It sounds like I’m nitpicking, but they’re just some things I want to keep in mind for the next time I wear it.

I’ll put up a costume page for some of these items later, but for now I wanted to finally share photos with some of you. I know you’ve all been waiting a long time to see the CalR. Thanks for being so patient!

And I especially want to thank my sweet husband Christopher for all his help!

Here’s a photo from this morning:

Click the image below to see all the photos of the CalR!

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New Bustle Skirt

I actually finished this gray bustle skirt a little while ago, but never put it online.

I didn’t even get a chance to try it on! I finished it, and hung it up out of the way so I could move on to other projects.

Today was the first time I finally got around to making sure it fit.

There are some issues I’m not happy about, but who knows how many times I’ll actually wear it. It’s not worth the trouble to fix any of those issues right now, unless I finish everything else in enough time and want something to work on.

The fabric was annoying, and even with flatlining it to another fabric, it still drove me nuts. It didn’t want to press nicely either.

The main annoyance is some buckling on the back hem. That’s where the flatlining didn’t go so smoothly, and I didn’t realize it until I’d already started handsewing the hem. I’m not in the mood to take those stitches out and attempt smoothing the fabric down, so I’m just hoping no one will notice.

I still need to take some photos of the skirt with the bodice later this month, but click here for more information and some photos of the skirt on a dressform:

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A Few More Things Finished

Another teaser photo of my chemise a la reine. I’m almost finished! I only wish the arm ribbons had matched with the sash a little better, but it was hard to find what I was looking for. I can always change them later! More photos by the end of the month (if not earlier), I’m sure!

I’ve been busy. I not only managed to finish a few things, but finally found the time to update the costume page with them!

New Shift

First, I just finished my narrow-sleeved shift.

This will be worn with the chemise a la reine and other tight-fitting sleeves. The puffy sleeves of my own shift were too bulky and got in the way.

Although my chemise a la reine has puffy sleeves, there are two ribbons on each sleeve that tie around the arm to help create those poofs. When I did a fitting using my first shift, I realized I would end up fighting all the poofy fabrics, even on an outfit like that one.

New Reticule

I needed a black reticule — not just for an upcoming event, but I also figured it would be handy to have for almost any outfit.

I decided to use the same pattern I used on the plaid reticule.

Cuffs Added to Gray Bodice

I also added gathered white cuffs to my gray bodice from the travel gown page (see photo on this page).

I’m hoping to wear this bodice with the new gray bustle skirt (I haven’t taken photos of this skirt, or put it online yet) at an event later this month.

20 Years

Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately. There’s been a lot going on.

In fact, my husband Christopher Gronlund and I just celebrated 20 years together this July 3rd!

Still More to Sew!

I still have some more things to sew (not to mention, purchase) before I can share the photos of the chemise a la reine. I’m hoping to have it ready for an event at the end of this month. I know I’ve been teasing a little with this costume, but it’s been hard not to share lots of photos. For some reason, I’m really wanting to hold off on sharing too many since this outfit is so over the top for me. Ha!

There are some things I’d like to change about it already, like the arm ribbons and sash not matching up in color as well as I’d hoped — but it was difficult to find everything I needed. It’s just getting to the point where I’d just like to have it finished and wear it and not worry about every little detail!

The photo at the top of the page is another little teaser. I couldn’t show much more, because I was also wearing the shift when it was still needing the neckline finished. Just a few more things, and I’m sure I’ll try to take some photos before late July! 🙂

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I’m still sewing!

Flat felling an interior seam of my second shift. I had to use cotton again, but this one has narrower sleeves than my first one.

I may have cut back on a lot of projects and events, but I’m still working on things.

I’m almost finished with my second shift, and I just finished the sash for my chemise a la reine (CALR), although I might do something else to the sash later if I’m in the mood.

I still have things to make and a few things to purchase, but I’m determined to finally finish up the layers so I can wear my CALR and get some photos by an event in late July.

I also have a few other accessories for another outfit to make, and I keep thinking about some personal projects I’ve been wanting to get back to.

I originally planned on wearing the CALR for an event in November, but I don’t mind wearing it a few times.

I’m hoping to have a few other accessories finished by November, so that might make the CALR feel “new” to me again.

Here is a quick photo of the silk sash for the CALR:


Blue sash made from silk taffeta. My husband ties better bows than I do, especially on this dress form. I may go back and add something to it later, we’ll see. Sash pictured over the innermost petticoat worn under the chemise a la reine.

My husband is very busy as well, and one of the things he’s doing is a Kickstarter project for an ebook he’s wanting to re-release. I thought I’d share the link here:

Posted in Christopher, Costumes, Hobbies, Sewing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Making Some Cuts

No, I don’t mean cutting fabric. I’m making some cuts to my To Do List and other areas of my life.

Even though the year is only halfway through, I’ve been pretty active with events and sewing. I haven’t updated about all of my projects (some still need finishes or just photos so I can update), but I’ve been busier than ever. It has been fun.

Unfortunately, other areas of my life have been neglected, and my husband being involved in my hobby with me has kept him from a lot of his goals. June is a very busy month for us on so many levels, and it finally hit both of us all at once. The stress, that is. And the realization that we need to step back a little.

I’m still going to continue sewing, but I’m going to take my time and enjoy the process. Even getting back to embroidery projects that have been gathering dust. I’m still going to attend some costuming events here and there, but I will have to skip many of them.

One of the biggest things that has been put off is our health. We’ve always been very healthy and active, and we’ve missed it. Above all else, our physical and mental health should be the most important part of our lives, because without it we can’t enjoy everything else.

I don’t have any regrets though, it’s been an interesting challenge to see what I could do when I pushed myself. Like I said, I’ve had a lot of fun and realized even mistakes can work out. And it’s been great being able to mark off costumes I wanted to make a lot sooner than I’d planned.

Posted in Christopher, Personal | Tagged , | 4 Comments