Costume College - Classes I taught

Wow, I have to admit that Costume College always goes by in a quick blur. This is especially true whether teaching classes, taking classes or just enjoying the long weekend of costuming and costume friends, lol. And I'm quite delayed in getting my posts up!

I taught three classes this year, one on Friday and two on Sunday, all workshop kit classes, which ended up being a lot, but I had a great time teaching, and the students said they had a great time in the classes, so yay!

1) Winter Wear - Muff Workshop

This one was on Friday, it was a full class, and we made silk taffeta portrait muffs!
I brought the down pillows pre-done (you've seen some of the pictures of the mess that makes, right?!), and everyone got one, plus a kit that included silk taffeta, silk ribbon, a fabric portrait and pattern instructions. Everyone got right to work, some making it up by hand and some by machine, and quite a few of the students finished by class end, and we had a lot of fun!

Here's some of the students finished portrait muffs:

Katherine Adrian's lovely Marie and purple silk muff

Mother and daughter took the class together! 

Lovely bright aqua trim!

Beautiful and quickly finished!

2) Regency Detailing: Learn Reverse Applique

This one was Sunday, and a workshop/skills class, which was really fun. Everyone got a kit with silk taffeta squares, drew on an alphabet letter and design of their choice, and then cut away the inside of the top layer of their design, tucked under the seam allowance and did reverse applique: end result is the back fabric shows thru to the front. It was also a full class and a lot of fun!

Students hard at work!

Samples with Reverse Applique and Historical Detailing

3) Sewing Kit or "Housewife" Workshop

This one was also Sunday, and the only class that had a couple of spots open: since it was one of the final class times of the weekend, I wasn't surprised, lol. I had a great group of students, who each got a housewife kit of embroidered silk taffeta, cream silk taffeta and quilted silk, along with binding, pocket, pin and needle 'holder', silk ribbon for ties and more. It went by quickly with everyone sewing and learning together!

Finished student housewife:

Silk Housewife sewn by Pam Metsers

Yay, so I had a wonderful time at Costume College teaching classes again this year, and hope to teach again next year!

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!