Costume College Gala - Bees, Bees, Bees

For Costume College's Gala event, I'm doing early 19th century court attire: an open robe and gown, I'm fondly terming 'Bees, bees, bees'!

Here's the fabric:

Silk brocade w/ Napoleonic Bees

I am making a Regency court robe (open robe) and a Regency court gown. I decided to follow Kat's advise and use Butterick #4890 to make the court robe (she made a gorgeous version of this at the end of last year for the Regency Baltimore Harbor weekend), and then I plan to use the La Mode Bagatelle gown pattern as a base to make the Regency court gown. I found a gorgeous silk bee fabric recently online that I'm using for the court robe, it was listed as silk shantung, but it's silk brocade: it ravels like crazy but it's very luxurious, I feel very spoiled and I'm loving working with it. It was way more than I ever pay for silk (I like super deals) especially for a non-wide 30" yard! But...it's really hard to find great silk Napoleonic bee fabric on super deal, so I just couldn't resist when I found this lovely Napoleonic bee burgundy silk brocade with gold bees: YUM!

I also have 4 yards of a gorgeous embroidered silk taffeta I picked up in the Fashion District about 5 years ago: cream with tiny red & cream flowers, that I am using for the court gown itself. It was always intended for a Regency so it's being used for its original purpose (win win!).

Fabric for the Regency court gown

I had a few days off recently so I was able to a decent bit of sewing in: so far I have the bee court robe all together, minus the final belt and the little gold trim I am planning for the edges. I have the court gown fabric laid out, but I don't have quite enough for my La Mode Bagatelle pattern pieces (I'm about a half yard short), so I'm going to have to be creative and figure out how to get it out of the fabric I have: a coordinating hidden back panel (but if I do, I can't really wear the court gown without the court robe), or add a different hem, another fabric for the top or just a bunch of piecing. Once I figure out what I want to do, I'll be full steam ahead on the court gown!

So far this is the progress on the bee court robe:

"Bees, bees, bees" Regency court robe

As soon as I figure out how best to do this, I'll start cutting out the court gown and sewing it together: it's so exciting to be so far along with my Gala outfit so early, which takes the stress off a bit and makes it more fun: I'll try to post a few in-progress pics. Eek, lots to do:

Here's a bit more about the idea formation:
I've been wanting to make a Regency court outfit, gown or robe with bee fabric ever since I began costuming. I have been on the lookout for great fabric for the last few years for this project, and occasionally pick up a bit of silk bee fabric at a sale price, but generally it's hard to find and expensive: so while I have acquired some and even made a bee muff a few years ago (and have some other bee fabric on hand to make up at some point, it wasn't quite what I was looking for, for this project though), until I recently found the PERFECT bee fabric for this plan, so I decided it was time to get this early 19th century court outfit going finally.

I'm going for something similar to this or this:

Here's a link to my Pinterest board for Napoleonic bees and also for court wear:

I'm an 'inspired by' rather than an exact copy costumer: the train on the original is too long for my super narrow fabric (there just wasn't enough of it: I COULD have gone a little longer and wider, but Kat made up the Butterick trained open robe already and it's gorgeous, so I knew I didn't need to go longer, plus now with the yards I have remaining, I should be able to get a spencer, muff, reticule & bonnet out of it hopefully! We'll see what I can get with careful cutting and piecing ;)).

I cut the fabric out for the open robe very carefully, and I'm going to try to get a spencer, bonnet, reticule (and maybe muff) out of the remaining yardage: I going to line it with mustard yellow silk taffeta. If I can get these done for CoCo, I will wear them with my yellow cross over gown.

I find it inspiring how often ideas can be YEARS in the making, but then they finally come together one day!

I'm teaching at Costume College - Winter Wear - Hooded Cape workshop

Guess what?! I'm teaching at Costume College this year! I'm pretty excited about it, a workshop class to make a late 18th century hooded cape, called "Winter Wear - Hooded Cape workshop.' I submitted a class to teach and they accepted! I've taught classes (Late 18th century muff workshop & Regency Dress Detailing) at a small convention called Dress U and Dress U the second in 2012-2013, but teaching at CoCo is new for me: I've only attended one other year years ago, and this year I'm attending again and teaching a class, yay!

It's a 2 1/2 hour workshop, and the class size is fairly small (limited, since it's so hands on). Students will bring their fabric and pre-made binding, and then will get a pattern I created for a late 18th century cape with optional hood and trim options. Students can choose to make a high fashion hooded cape/muff, a more subdued mourning cape, a more practical winter garment & much more: I'm also going to do a brief talk on history of outerwear. I've been so obsessed with outerwear lately, I'm super excited to share the knowledge I've learned about the shapes, history, and how to.

It's going to super fun, I can't wait!!

Here's the first late 18th century hooded cape I did: it's pink silk taffeta lined with pink linen and trimmed in white marabou.

Here's a link to my blog entries on capes and related outerwear:
-Late 18th century Pink silk & white marabou feather hooded cape & muff
-Late 18th century Black silk marabou feather hooded cape
-Late 18th century Black silk mourning cape

-Early 19th century Regency cream silk & white marabou feather pelerine
-Early 19th century Regency 'fichu' in Rusty red burgundy silk & black marabou
-Early 19th century Regency 'fichu' in Yellow silk w/ black trim

I'm really looking forward to CoCo and hanging out with everyone, and I'm about to start my Gala outfit and will share my plans on that soon!

Regency 'fichu' mustard yellow silk w/ black silk trim - March HSM 'Protection' Challenge

For March's Protection challenge, I decided to create a piece that protects from the cold, in this case a small 'fichu' to go with my Regency mustard cotton cross-over gown. These fichus were meant to cover the neck, shoulders and decolette in order to provide coverage and warmth, in essence 'protecting' one from the cold!

The finished early 19th century silk 'fichu':

Silk Regency 'fichu' - mustard yellow w/ black trim

 I went to PureSilks in India in order to find a mustard yellow silk taffeta. Once it came, I used the draped pattern that I created late last year while making this version, to cut out the fichu (all one piece on the fold) and then cut out a lining in a yellow silk or silk/cotton blend I picked up recently. I had some black silk taffeta bias binding already made for another project that was not used, so this was a quick project to put together and hand sew.

The back of the 'fichu' which protects the shoulders, neck and upper back from the cold

Historical Sew Monthly MARCH challenge:

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

The Challenge: Protection - make something to protect yourself (from weather or injury) or your clothes (from soiling, etc.).

Material: Mustard yellow silk taffeta from PureSilks. Black silk taffeta from the stash (L.A. Fashion District purchase a few years ago). Lining is a silk or silk/cotton blend picked up last year.

Pattern: TheLadyDetalle (drafted my own pattern based on a Regency fashion plate)

Year: early 19th century

Notions: N/A

How historically accurate is it? Very: the pattern is based on a Regency fashion plate you can see if you follow the link to my previous version (link above) (although you don't see as many of these types of outerwear fichus made out of solid fabric versus lace or organza, they do exist) and the garment is hand sewn.

Hours to complete: 2 hours to prep fabric, iron, cut it out and create bias binding, 4 hours to pin and sew it all together.

First worn: Not yet. Planned for wear at CoCo 2016 in July!

Total cost: $18 a yard for the mustard yellow silk, bought 2 yards but only used 1 and 1/4 yards. Black silk taffeta trim used for bias binding is from the stash, but used less than 3/8 yard bias cut at $16/yd).

Regency silk 'fichu' by TheLadyDetalle

5th Annual Francaise Dinner

Whew, well, the 5th Annual Francaise Dinner has come and gone (last weekend) and by all accounts it was another success! Thanks so much to my fellow co-hostesses, Maggie and Gloria!

Initial group picture by Beth of BWPW photography with edits by Gloria:

Group picture at 5th Annual Francaise Dinner

We had 33 people this year and again rented a private room in historic Gadsby's Tavern for this event: everyone brought their A game and looked fantastic! We had so many beautiful dresses, new and not new, including lovely ladies from the Fabulousity Club and also quite a few new faces! The food was delicious and the company such fun. I spent much of the evening fulfilling hostess duties and doing some vending towards the end (it's always so rewarding to share my love of 18th/19th century muffs and tea!), which was fun but meant that I didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I wanted to. I had such a wonderful time still though!

Here's a pic of my outfit (courtesy Maggie).

What I'm wearing: my Red & white striped silk Robe a la Anglaise, cranberry faux silk petticoat, dupioni cream silk under petticoat over pocket hoops, red 'Kensington's shoes from American Duchess, hair by me, clear rhinestone earrings & black fan from InTheLongRun Designs, necklace from Charming Charlie's and black sparkly eye swirls, courtesy scrapbooking supplies from Michaels! I wore by black silk mourning cape for warmth on the way in, with black vintage gloves.

My striped Robe a la Francaise is still in a pile of cut silk with my pink lining together (work has been intense lately), so I opted to re-wear my red & white striped silk Robe a la Anglaise, worn for the first time over pocket hoops with a cranberry faux silk petticoat and a golden silk sash.

I built big hair for the evening using various hair pieces, but not ahead of time on a wig/half wig, I did my hair 2 hours before the event: first I left down a good portion of my front hair and put the rest up in a tight bun up high on the top of my head towards the back. Then I pinned on top a half wig with clips removed folded in half to create height. After that I teased my front hair and pinned it up over the half wig. Then I added two more hair pieces to add small braids, a little curl and some more body/height. Finished it off with a few feathers, a lovely bee pin from a friend (a thank you hostess gift from Angela the evening before: thank you, I love, love it!!!) and a few little faux flower stickers and voila!

I also finally got buttons and buttonholes on my honey's waistcoat, with machine buttonhole help from my mom on 90% of the buttonholes (thanks Mom! we missed you at the dinner this year, but maybe next year?!). My honey wore his late 18th century blue jacket, blue waistcoat, blue pants (recently bought in Williamsburg) and red clocked stockings, with black shoes and black wool tricorn. He looked great! (Photo below of my honey and I, courtesy kaesha_nikovana)

My honey and I

I took very few pictures, just a few general shots of the room, but seriously everyone looked so fantastic! It was awesome to meet a few of you I've not met before in person (Beth, Bethany), and also find a new friend to recommend to LJ so there is no need to costume alone (Ashley)...Oh wow, Angela, you & Bethany looked FANTASTIC, and just getting to spend some time with friends, new and old, was wonderful. Isabella, it was great to meet your sister-in-law, and wow, such fun evening!

There was delicious food, wonderful company, a fun raffle to raise money for future Francaise Dinners, and even vending by TheLadyDetalle on Etsy, Bulldog & Baum, and InTheLongRun Designs. (Photo courtesy kaesha_nikovana)

TheLadyDetalle on Etsy vending at 5th Francaise Dinner

Everyone looked fabulous! Seriously amazing, there were so many beautiful and amazing and gorgeous dresses to look at, it was really fun to admire all the lovelies!!! 

It was a wonderful evening, both my honey and I were pretty exhausted though, so while I really enjoyed the evening, was happy to have a quiet day on Sunday to recover. Thanks again to my co-hostesses, to our husbands for their huge help and support, to Beth for coming and taking fabulous photos again, to everyone who came, wore dresses new or old, looked fabulous and make this event possible, and to the founders of this event, Kat and Judy, who made all this possible in the first place: we missed you this year, but hey, we know 'life' happens and hopefully next year. Next year the three of us are stepping back to let others take a turn at hosting, so the location and venue are likely to change again, but a huge big THANK YOU to all our attendees, who make this event worthwhile! 

18th century Robe a la Francaise - progress

My latest project is to finally tackle a style of gown from the 18th century that I haven't attempted yet: a Francaise gown or Robe a la Francaise. I'm super excited about this project because it's been a long time coming.

My fabric is a lovely smooth striped brown with pink and yellow striped silk (leftover scraps that I'll use for trim pictured above) that I picked up in the L.A. Fashion District a few years ago: $8 a yard bolt end, and I have 7 1/2 yards. My mom also picked up another 3+ yard piece of the same fabric from another source around the same time, so we swapped fabrics (she scored an 8 yard piece of a lovely burgundy striped silk from me in exchange) so I would have enough to SQUEEZE out a Francaise! Ideally for this type of gown with a matching petticoat and self trim, you want 14-15 yards of 54-60 wide fabric if you're around my height. I have 10 1/2 yards of 54 wide, so a matching petticoat is out (instead I'm making a coordinating one out of gold silk taffeta) and my self trim will be franken-stiened together: we'll see how crazy this drives me!

I'm lining this in a bright coral pink linen I got from puresilks ages ago. So far the dress is all cut out, and I've sewn all the lining together, minus setting the lining sleeves. I was so hoping to get this done in time for the 5th Annual Francaise Dinner last weekend, but work/life got in the way, so instead I'm hoping to get it done by CC! But I definitely lost some steam since the planned event just happened last weekend and now I won't need this until end of July. So I may work on some other inspiring projects in the meantime, we'll see.

2nd Annual Costume Budget Spa Weekend

A small group of friends and I went to Colonial Williamsburg last past weekend for the second installment of the 'Costume Budget Spa Weekend.' Thanks so much to those who joined me again this year. Had a lovely time! I wore my favorite pink linen gown matched with my pink silk white marabou hooded cape and muff:

2nd Costume Budget Spa Weekend - Late 18th century
Dinner at Shield's Tavern in CW (Photo courtesy Gloria)

So, the trip:
Friday we met up at the Williamsburg antique mall and did some antiquing and had tea lunch together. That night we ate at the Blue Talon Bistro (so yum), one of my favorite restaurants in Williamsburg: so yummy and so full in this photo.

Dinner at the Blue Talon Bistro in CW (Photo courtesy Gloria)

Saturday was spa day, so breakfast and then to the spa for whirlpool, steam room and spa services. So very, very relaxing. We did a light spa lunch of cinnamon raisin scones, lemon curd, fruit/veggies and cheese/crackers and had a delightful time. Here's the four of us post spa:

The four of us relaxed post CW spa day

Saturday evening was late 18th century costumed tavern dinner at Shield's Tavern in CW: Samantha (the couturecourtesan) and Emma (friends from CW) joined us, and we had a lovely evening eating, drinking and talking about costumes, events, travel, fabric and life! It was super fun to catch up and get to know these lovely ladies a little better: thanks so much for joining us and hope to see you again soon!

Emma and Jess at CW's Shield Tavern

Jess in her new lovely rose silk gown!

TheLadyDetalle - pink striped linen with pink silk
white marabou hooded cape & muff

Gloria in her lovely yellow silk gown & new necklace

Sunday we had a leisurely tea leftovers breakfast, and then we did some historic shopping, including a trip to Tarpley's, Prentis, Post Office, Mary Dickinson, and Greenhowe. They even had a small ice rink set up on one end of historic CW: so cool, maybe next year, eh?! Then a quick visit to The Williamsburg shop, the Cheese Shop, then on to Aroma's for lunch before heading home. Isabella and I also made a stop at Yankee Candle factory outlet (her favorite) before heading out of town.

Current fabrics for sale at historic CW Mary Dickinson shop!

They even had an nice rink in historic CW this year, so fun!

Here's a link to all my pictures:

I missed those of you who couldn't join us this year, and definitely plan to do this again next year! Jan-Mar are the slowest (and COLD-est) time of year in Colonial Williamsburg, and so they have quite good deals, so we'll plan on going again for the 3rd Annual around this time next year!

A wonderful and relaxing weekend with friends!

Recent events - Holiday Tea and Riversdale Twelfth Night Ball

Here are two events that I recently attended that I wanted to share:

First, the first weekend in January, I attended a yearly Holiday Tea - each year the theme or time period is different, and the hostess/s try to keep it relaxed and inviting since it's usually the last event just after Christmas or the first event of the new year. This year the theme Isabella chose was a really loose Victorian period, stretching all the way from 1830-1920.

Turn of the century outfit -
Holiday Tea Jan 2016

I decided to wear my early turn of the century (Edwardian) day outfit that I wore to Winterthur two years ago, with a revamped skirt, my recently finished black silk mourning cape and a new hat! First, I did some fixes on the skirt and added snaps, ties and some other finishes. Then I took a vintage hat that was probably from 1940's-1950's (could be earlier), and covered it with antique feathers, a bit of marabou, some black silk ribbon, and (I think this is hilarious), one of my Anne of Green Gables black 'pouf' sleeves from my homemade (mom made) sophomore prom dress. The vintage hat straw was not in fantastic condition, so other than a few stitches to secure the band in again, I just pinned this hat together and wore it that way.

We met for tea at a tearoom in a little town by the water south of Baltimore, and this was the first time I'd been to the tea room, and likely also the town (unless I went as a little girl and don't recall). The town was busy, with all these cute little shops (no time to check them out) and it was cold and parking was a pain, but the tea room was run by a staff who was welcoming and gracious, had a lovely big table for us in the upstairs, and we were served absolutely delicious tea food, including a cinnamon 'scone' (more bread cake then scone) but absolutely yummy and I'm still dreaming about it! I sat in the back corner with Isabella, so no possible way to move about or get up, so I only took a few iPhone photos, and I missed having conversations with folks on the end, but I did have a wonderful time, chatted with friends and met 2 new costumers, and chatted with a few friends more outside and in the parking lot after, so all in all, a very successful and fun day!

Here's the full outfit:

Edwardian outfit with black silk
mourning cape, antique muff and hat

Here's one of the group (photo courtesy InTheLongRun:

2016 Annual Holiday Tea

Thanks so much, Isabella, for planning such a fun and well attended event: seriously loved it!

Second, my honey and I got tickets for the Riversdale Twelfth Night Ball and Supper which was the following weekend, and it was a Regency ball. My honey wore his cobbled together gentleman's outfit (a quick vest, some thrift store finds, a walking stick and an antique top hat to finish it off) and looked very dapper. I wore a drawstring dress I made for Regency pumpkin tea about 7 or 8 years ago from $2 a yard sale 98% cotton 2% metallic silver thread from JoAnn's. I also wore my recently finished Regency 'fichu' out of burgundy silk and black marabou, securing it around my waist with ties.

Riversdale were wonderful hosting again, with a delicious light supper including gluten free and dairy free options for their guests, with much of the delicious vegetables and fruits grown in their garden, including most of the berries from the berry compote desert. It was delicious, and they were gracious in their welcome to their guests and in the way they served the food and drink. It was lovely to wonder the halls a bit, dance with my honey and with my friends, and also partake in the yummy repast they provide that evening. Definitely a place to come back to many more future balls!

Here is my honey and I (courtesy Maggie):

TheLadyDetalle and her honey

Here's one of the group (courtesy InTheLongRun):

2016 Riversdale 12th Night Regency ball

Regency wedgie shot

And the wedgie picture for Jen (courtesy InTheLongRun):












All my pictures can be found here.

My honey and I dancing (courtesy InTheLongRun): it was such a fun night.

Dancing with my best friend

Thanks Gloria, for letting us all know about the ball!

Hopefully we'll get to do more of these, what great events to start the year off!