The Duchess of Devonshire Tiffany blue and silver muff - December 'Special Occasion' HSM Challenge

For December's 'Special Occasion' challenge I made a special occasion muff - light Tiffany blue silk taffeta hand-painted with metallic silver paint, leaf design on both ends and a fleur-de-lis design in the center. Finished with a Duchess of Devonshire fabric portrait, trimmed in platinum silk ribbon, with platinum silk ribbon ties and a white muff insides (pillow) with 100% white goose down inside. During the late 18th century, a muff of this style and design, material, would have been used for special occasions!

The Duchess of Devonshire tiffany blue and silver Silk 'special occasion' muff

Close-up of The Duchess of Devonshire

            Historical Sew Monthly 
           DECEMBER challenge:

http://thedreamstress.com/the-historical-sew-monthly-2016/

The Challenge: Special Occasion: make something for a special event or a specific occasion, or that would have been worn to special event of specific occasion historically.

Material: Light Tiffany blue silk taffeta, hand-painted with metallic silver paint

Pattern: The Lady Detalle muff pattern on Etsy

Year: late 18th century

Notions: fabric portrait, platinum silk ribbon for the portrait and ties

How historically accurate is it? All hand-sewn. They had portrait muffs during this time, made with silk, trimmed and with down, wool or other natural fibers inside, and they had hand-stamped, hand-painted fabric at the time, so pretty close!

Hours to complete: A decent amount! Some time to paint, sew it all together, add the fabric portrait, ribbon trim and whew, creating the white goose down muff insides is, um, rather messy, LOL. So, a decent bit of time!

First worn: Not yet worn, this one's going here.

Total cost: Hard to find light aqua tiffany blue silk taffeta, 100% white goose down, silk ribbon and silver metallic paint. All stash.

A few more pics!


 

Late 18th century black silk mourning cape - December HSM Challenge 'Re-Do' January 'Foundations'

For December's  Re-Do challenge, I decided to finish the year much the way it started, with another item for the 'foundation' of my mourning wear wardrobe a re-do of January's HSM challenge: a late 18th century black silk mourning cape.

Black silk mourning cape by TheLadyDetalle

 2015 began with my mother-in-law passing away and my January HSM 'Foundations' challenge turned into a black silk mourning muff, the foundation for a mourning wardrobe.

2015 was a rough year, lots of meh to family and friends, unfortunately a lot of death & major health issues. I thought it was most appropriate to end the year with a mourning cape, as I recently lost another, a dear friend, Barbee. Here are some of my favorite pics of fun times together.

Barbee & I at Loren's Farm 2010

Tea at Loren's farm

Barbee & Jim at Loren's farm - Apr 2010

Barbee at my 3rd Annual Pumpkin Tea

Having a grand 'ol time

Barbee & I dancing in Williamsburg - 12th Night

Barbee & her hb - fun sense of humor!

In tribute to Barbee, who was a dear woman, a great friend, a loving mother to twins and a loving wife to Jim. Her family & friends all mourn her passing.

Barbee at my 6th Annual Pumpkin Tea

Here are a few in-progress pics:

Black silk mourning cape in progress

Pleating 3/4" black silk ribbon trim

Close-up of neckline trim

Historical Sew Monthly DECEMBER challenge:

http://thedreamstress.com/the-historical-sew-monthly-2015/

The Challenge: Re-Do: It’s the last challenge of the year, so let’s keep things simple by re-doing any of the previous 11 challenges.

For this challenge, I hand-sewed a black silk mourning cape, trimmed in black silk ribbon. It ties at the neck with a bit of black silk satin ribbon. This was a re-do of my January challenge, 'Foundations' or the foundation of my mourning wardrobe. 

Fabric: black silk taffeta from L.A. Fabric District.

Pattern: my pattern (the late 18th century cape I drafted/draped).

Year: late 18th century, circa 1770's.

Notions: about 14 yards of black silk ribbon.

How historically accurate is it? Pretty perfect. Black linen and black silk taffeta, and black silk trim all very period appropriate. It was hand-sewn entirely, including trim. The only portion not hand-sewn is a small stitch that doesn't show inside the bias binding that held the lining and fashion fabric together.

Hours to complete: 2 hours or so to cut out & piece together the lining (not enough of the linen). Another hour to pin and machine a tiny seam allowance. Another few hours to mark, cut & iron bias binding, pin it on then sew it on by hand. Quite a few hours to pleat and hand sew on all the black silk ribbon trim. Probably 15+ total.

First worn: Not worn yet, planned for early next year.

Total cost: Black silk taffeta from the stash ($16/yd at about 3 yards) and black silk ribbon at about $30 for all the silk ribbon yardage.

Re-do of HSM challenge - foundations

Next up - HSM for 2015 is done, and I completed all the challenges, although 3 of them were LATE!! For 2016, I'm not planning on taking part in all the HSM challenges, but I may do a few, I've really enjoyed the historical sew-along, but I need to focus on sewing this year that may or may not fit all the challenges, so we'll see how it goes!

Late 18th century black silk mourning cape.
Barbee, we miss you.

Barbee at Loren's farm in 2008