Regency Harbor Day - historical ships & fun!

Our friends Judy & Kat hosted a Regency Harbor Day in Baltimore on Saturday, including a trip to historical Naval ship U.S.S. Constellation (at the Baltimore Inner Harbor), and then dinner at The Belvidere's historical 'Owl Bar,' which was really neat looking decor, very eclectic and cool: and the food was yum!

I loved that my honey joins in, even when he needs a break from the costuming: he was dressed for Inner Harbor but wanted a break in the evening, and he still looks so handsome in his jeans!

My HB & I

The ship was just really enjoyable. I toured it long, long ago in my growing up years but it was like seeing it new again. We sat on benches in the captain's cabin, and planned a candlelit Regency dinner there at the table for 10! Too bad that's never going to happen, lol.

U.S.S. Constellation in Baltimore

Inside the Captain's cabin

U.S.S. Constellation - The tall ship touring group

Judy & Kat

My HB ringing the ship's bell!

At one point they shot the cannon, which was awesome, and then my HB had a good time ringing the ship's bell.

I also 'won' a few costuming awards from Kat, including the very special 'Marabou' award, which I was super excited about :)...I also won an "Elegance" award (not pictured).

Costuming awards

Austenland modern technology award

Later that evening, we met with some more friends at the 'Owl Bar', for delicious food and good company. I was so excited to sew and wear my new Regency pelerine for the evening, and it was so warm and fun to wear!

Marabou fun - photo by Kat

Gloria & I - photo courtesy of Gloria

Group shot at the Belvidere

Group shenanigans at The Belvidere

All my photos can be found here.

18th century sewing kit or 'housewife' - September HSM Challenge 'Colour Challenge Brown'

For September's  Colour Challenge Brown challenge, I created an 18th century sewing kit or 'housewife' out of leftover silk scraps, with rose burgundy, blue & brown being the main colors! . 

First, the finished sewing kit / 'housewife':

Silk Sewing kit or 'housewife' by TheLadyDetalle

Silk 'housewife' w/ silk ribbon

An 18th century sewing kit has been in the plans for a long time, but I know so little about them. I've seen these sewing kits popping up at Fort Fred (where I picked up a small version a few years ago made of cotton/linen), and more recently someone made one & posted on LJ. So my mom is currently making a bunch of fabric books (a really cool alternative scrap-booking idea), and I asked her to save the scraps from the outer cover fabrics (one of which I gave her to use), and she gave them to me last weekend and so now I made an 18th century sewing kit or 'housewife' using fabric book scrap as a base.

The scrap was a quilted (low slub) silk dupioni in a rose burgundy, and was JUST too pretty to throw away, so based on my small reproduction 18th century sewing kit and a few images I've seen of like  ones, I decided to put one together, making it up as I went.

Cutting the silk dupioni

First, I dug in my leftovers bin, which is basically leftover fabric from finished projects, and came up with a few pieces to use.
The outside (fashion) of the sewing kit is the rose burgundy quilted silk scrap mentioned above, and the inside I lined with a leftover piece from a reproduction muff for sale in my etsy store, a blue silk dupioni with embroidered wheat (in brown silk).

This was a really quick little project, basically cutting out a piece that is 5 1/4" X 17" in the rose burgundy quilted silk and then the same in lining (blue embroidered wheat silk), pinning and hand sewing on the rose silk bias binding all around, in order to finish the main piece.

Pinning & sewing binding - lining side

Then I added all the various little pieces that make up the needle holder, a pocket, a band (to hold in thread) and more. It was a lot of fun and quick to put together, and I Google'd to get a few image ideas of what to include inside.

I also dug around for a very small piece of blush colored silk dupioni (leftover from my 18th century riding habit waistcoat) for a pocket, a few small scraps of coutil from my Regency stays (for needles), and some brown gold dupioni from my yard sale find silks for binding, as well as some silk ribbon. I also made bias binding for the fashion fabric/front/back of the sewing kit from a small amount of rose burgundy dupioni from my stash (silk sale earlier this year which matched almost perfectly, yay).

Adding the sewing kit pieces

A fun, quick little historical sewing project that incorporated the challenge color BROWN, used stash scraps and from which I learned a bit more about historical sewing kit/'housewives'.

Historical Sew Monthly SEPTEMBER challenge:

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

The Challenge: Colour Challenge Brown: it’s not the most exciting colour by modern standards, but brown has been one of the most common, and popular, colours throughout history. Make something brown.

An 18th century sewing kit or 'housewife' made of rose burgundy quilted silk dupioni, and lined with blue embroidered with brown wheat silk dupioni, with touches of brown gold & blush finishes.

Fabric: Small scrap of rose burgundy quilted silk dupioni (from mom), small scrap of blue embroidered with brown wheat silk dupioni (from a muff I made previously), bias binding from rose burgundy silk dupioni stash fabric, pocket from blush silk dupioni (from JoAnn's leftover from my late 18th century riding habit waistcoat), white coutil (from 96th District Fabrics leftover from my Regency stays), and some small pieces of brown gold silk dupioni (from yard sale find).

Pattern: No pattern. This came entirely from past experiences in looking/handling small reproduction versions and seeing images online. I guessed at the sizing and details, and used Google to confirm some general images of 'housewives.'

Year: 18th century - going for late 18th century

Notions: Silk ribbon & then small sewing accessories just to show how they fit

How historically accurate is it? It's a reproduction 18th century sewing kit ('housewife') out of close to period appropriate fabrics (silk dupioni is not quite period, but it's low slub quilted and embroidered dupioni, so hard to tell).

Hours to complete: about 4-5 hours total.

First worn: Not worn, will be taken with me and used when I re-enact sewing or want to bring along to an event and sew.

Total cost: Almost nothing. All stash (except the quilted scraps from my mom) and all small leftover pieces from other projects, so I felt very thrifty, which is I'm sure how they made theirs & felt also!

Silk 'housewife' by TheLadyDetalle

Next up is October - Sewing Secrets

Sewing on marabou feather trim - a mini tutorial

A few people have asked me about sewing on marabou feather boa trim...so I decided to do a quick little tutorial explaining how to work with this stuff, and hope that it is helpful!

I used marabou feather boa trim on the following projects: 18th century pink silk w/ white marabou hooded cape, 18th century black silk w/ black marabou hooded cape, my fluffy white modern hat, and most recently, my early 19th century (Regency) cream silk w/ white marabou pelerine.

18th C pink silk hooded cape 

19th C cream silk pelerine

Resources: All of the marabou feather boas I bought at my local JoAnn's or ordered from JoAnn's.com. Link to boas here (also I used sale coupons).

Also on the sidebar (near top) is a link to my Pinterest board of capes, cloaks, pelerines, mantles, and other examples of historical outerwear, many of which have marabou trim OR ermine or other furs.

There are different methods for sewing on marabou trim, and what I used was intended to very thoroughly secure the marabou to the cape/pelerine edges, and minimize the amount of feather shafts (the hard middle part of the feather) that stick up. I did this by securing the marabou every 1/8-1/4 inch instead of every 1/2 or 1 inch or so, which was laboriously and difficult, but ends with a lovely finished product!

Finding the SMOOTH side: Pick up the marabou feather boa and stroke it a few times in opposite directions, finding the smooth side (the side that strokes the feathers down versus standing up). The smooth side direction top will be your top edge. This is what you want to start with, to secure on your cape/cloak/etc. Keep in mind that you want the feathers to smooth DOWN, so if you are starting with the hood, find the middle of the hood at the top, and then start there and make sure the feather boa is smooth going down one side of the hood, then using a separate piece, start again on the other side of the middle ensuring that the feather boa is smooth going down the second side of the hood.

Marabou feather boa, SMOOTH side versus NON SMOOTH side:

SMOOTH side

NON SMOOTH side

The same holds true for the cape or pelerine edges, you want the marabou to lay smooth going down, so ensure that you start at the top and sew down the cape/cloak/peleriene edge, with the marabou smooth side going down (going down the vertical). Areas of the cape/cloak/pelerine that are horizontal can be smooth going either way, so I just continue the smooth direction already in process and keep going.

Sewing it down: Using a needle that has been double-threaded (I used Mettler's 100% cotton), First, you gently cut away the bit of rope at the end of the feather boa, leaving you with only feather shafts (use non-sewing scissors). Starting from the bottom (lining side) hide a thread knot underneath the edge of the bias binding, coming up slightly over the middle on the top edge (above the marabou).

Start your needle from below, hide knot

(View without flash)

Take your needle OVER the marabou (hard to see)

Then take your needle across the marabou below to enter your needle in just on the other side of the marabou trim (so as to cover the feather boa with your double thread and secure it) and come out the bottom side. Again, starting from the bottom, come up slightly over the middle of the top edge (above the marabou), then take your needle across the marabou, covering it with your double thread and through below to come out the bottom side. Repeat a few times in the same area to well secure the cut top end of the marabou boa. Then move on by repeating the above steps to sew down the marabou trim by securing it every 1/8-1/4 inch.

Continue with the above, sewing down all the marabou feather trim using double thread thickness (for securing) and hiding your knots as you go. It's fine if your stitches overlap each other a bit, it will make the marabou edge very secure.

Finishing: Once you have completely sewn on all the marabou trim (keeping in mind it should be SMOOTH vertically), you will now need to 're-fluff' the marabou! The double thread is now holding down (trapping) the fluffy marabou feather bits along the edge, and you will get a beautiful finished edge when you re-fluff it. Taking a needle or pin, hold the marabou up vertically (smooth or rough side doesn't matter).
Gently work out the fluffy feathers to release them from the (now) horizontal threads, picking out a small bit at a time, making sure not to pull too hard. If you pull too hard, the thin shafts of the feather fluff will break, so work gently and carefully.

Fluffing the marabou

See how the marabou is 'trapped' under the thread?

Fluffy marabou again!

Free as much of the marabou feather fluff as you can, and voila! You are DONE!!

Tips and tricks: The marabou feather fluffy bits MAY get caught up in your thread at times. If so, stop pulling and gently work at the area with your needle until your thread is able to be pulled through again. For me, it seemed to happen more with the white marabou boas then the black ones: the white ones were not quite as 'full' as the black ones, so this quality difference seemed to affect how easy it was to sew down without getting caught.

Note: if you are not looking to secure the marabou well and want to re-use it on other projects, you can sew down the marabou trim every 1/2 to 1 inch or more, and it may move around a bit but can be possibly removed later for re-use. I wanted my garments to last so choose the above securing method.

And there you go, I hope this mini tutorial was helpful!

Regency Pelerine - August HSM Challenge 'Heirlooms & Heritage'

For August's  Heirlooms & Heritage challenge, 

First, the finished challenge, a Regency Pelerine!

Regency Pelerine by TheLadyDetalle

I've long been intrigued by the various outerwear from the late 18th through the late 19th centuries: I've seen them called cloaks, capes, mantles, mantlets, pelerines, fichus or fichus of something, hooded capes, and etc. I've often wondered what is the difference between mantle and mantelet? Is the cloak the same as a cape? what about a pelerine? I have a Pinterest board here, where I gather various extant garments, portraits and inspiring images of examples of all these outer cloakwear, and I have been intrigued with making a few for use in the various time periods. First, I made my late 18th century hooded cape: and now that it was time for a HSM Heirlooms & Heritage challenge, I decided to make a second piece of outerwear that my relatives could have worn.

My family history (like most people's) is intriguing and varied in location and time periods, and whether you are looking at the male line or the female line (of direct descendants) or the side family lines, etc. My family history includes Massachusetts near the water, and would have been cold and even bitter cold at times and warm during summer. Without any specific pictures of relatives prior to turn of the century (1905 or so), I had to go with more what they 'could have worn' versus what they actually wore. Hence, the Regency pelerine, a fashion from the early 19th century meant to keep warm during cold months: a pelerine is outerwear that is waist length in back, and long in front, with my fashion print example going to a point in front. I decided for August's Heirlooms & Heritage challenge, that I would re-create a pelerine from the time that my relatives in MA could have worn about 1805!

Here is my original inspiration fashion plate:

Fashion plate inspiration - pelerine

Pronounced (Pel-er-ine). First I created a muslin for my Regency pelerine, using my draped (hooded) cape as the starting point, and then draping and re-shaping it to mimic the fashion plate shape above. It took two muslins (the first I tried the back part as one piece and the front long pieces seamed in, so three pieces total. the fit was not great. so for the second muslin, I kept it all one piece and it shaped it until it would work as one long piece cut on the fold: bingo!). One piece cut on the fold also seemed to support what you can see in the fashion plate, because there aren't any visible seams.

Here are a few pelerine in-progress pics:

Cutting out the silk taffeta pelerine (on the fold)

Cutting out 2 1/2" pelerine bias silk binding

Pelerine & pelerine lining pinned
and bia binding strips ironed & ready

Pelerine with hand sewn bias binding

Historical Sew Monthly AUGUST challenge:

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

The Challenge: Heirlooms & Heritage: Re-create a garment one of your ancestors wore or would have worn, or use an heirloom sewing supply to create a new heirloom to pass down to the next generations.

For this challenge, I re-created a garment one of my MA ancestors COULD have worn in the early 19th century, a Regency pelerine! 

Fabric: cream silk taffeta from the stash (silk sale from GoldenSilks.net) and lavender silk from the stash (Jomar).

Pattern: no pattern. I draped/drafted this using my late 18th century hooded cape base as a starting point, then pinning and shaping, making up 2 muslins before I was happy with the shape/fit! I ended up cutting one long piece on the fold.

Year: early 19th century, about 1805

Notions: white marabou feather boa trim from JoAnn's.

How historically accurate is it? It's very historically accurate. I based this directly on a fashion plate example, simply changing the color of fabric and trim a bit. I hand sewed everything (minus a hidden machine sewn tiny seam allowance to hold together the top fabric and the lining until I could hand sew it together with cream silk taffeta bias binding.

Hours to complete: 1.5 hours to drape the pattern, a few hours to cut out fabric/lining and cut out & iron bias binding. An hour to pin on bias binding and a few hours to sew bias binding on. Sewing on the marabou trim is a pain and took a lot of hours, probably 12 hours. Or more.

First worn: not yet! I'm planning on wearing this some time this fall/winter, but not 100% sure which outing yet - a few upcoming Regency costume events in this fall, so likely one of those!

Total cost: all fabric and trim/notions came from the stash! Cream silk taffeta was on sale for $7 a yard (plus $1.50/yd s&h) and lavender lining was $5 a yard. I used about 3 1/2 yards of silk taffeta (and I pieced the lining a bit; you need 3 1/2-4 yards to cut the silk taffeta in one piece on the fold, and to cut bias cut binding - but I had plenty of fabric left over still). Marabou trim was $5.99 each (I used 4) but I bought them using 20-40% off coupons from JoAnn's.

Next up is September - Colour Challenge Brown

2015 Plans and Progress!

I realized I never posted my plans for 2015, so I'm doing this now! I created the list back at the beginning of 2015, so I didn't edit this based on where I am now. I am adding a little progress update below.

Plans for 2015:

I am taking part in The Dreamstress' challenge for Historical Sew Monthly, so lots of sewing will revolve around that, and also a focus on Regency for the JAF in England (originally planned to go in Sept. 2015 but delayed a year due to life). Also a focus on getting some things done for my hb, as I delve into men's fashion. Also the year of the muffs and muff insides for my new Etsy shop:

Late 1790's Open Robe Gown - June HSM (LATE) Challenge 'Out of Your Comfort Zone'

First, this is a LATE finish of June's HSM Challenge (finished in July, posting this in early August) - life got in the way, and I missed three months of sewing and HSM Challenges (April, May & June) so I am planning on catching these up (albeit late), starting with the June challenge!

For my late June Our of Your Comfort Zone challenge, I decided to finally create a long planned transitional gown from 'The Cut of Women's Clothes' by Norah Waugh. It's the open robe gown, and is a period I have not yet done, and I was quite nervous to attempt this era when the late 18th century (Georgian) waistline is transitioning to the early 19th century waistline (Regency). I created and finished this gown in early-mid July.

First, the finished gown, worn for the first time at last Saturday's Jane Austen Ball at Gadsby's Tavern:

Late 1790's Open Robe Gown by TheLadyDetalle

For June's HSM 'Out of Your Comfort Zone' challenge, I decided to make a gown that's definitely Out of My Comfort Zone, a late 1790's Open Robe Gown for the upcoming Jane Austen Ball! Here is a link to 'in-progress' on the gown: my late 1790's open robe gown

I created a Pinterest board for all my research on late 1790's gowns, which can be found here. This is the picture from the book that I based this on:

Open Robe from 'The Cut of Women's Clothes' by Norah Waugh

Historical Sew Monthly (Late) JUNE challenge:

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

The Challenge: Out of Your Comfort Zone - Create a garment from a time period you haven’t done before, or that uses a new skill or technique that you’ve never tried before.  

For this challenge, I drafted a transitional late 1790's open robe gown from the book, 'The Cut of Women's Clothes' by Norah Waugh. 

Fabric: A Jomar find: I used about 10+ yards of a (I believe) silk cotton blend with copper sequin spangles stripes - the fabric was a SUPER bargain, and I had to cut around a lot of flaws, holes and ripped edges to make my full open robe dress with train.

Pattern: No pattern. I drafted this by looking at the picture from 'The Cut of Women's Clothes' (I did not scale the pattern, I simply drew general shapes by looking at the shapes in the book, creating two muslins before I was happy with the fit). I used my S&S crossover gown sleeve as the basis of my sleeves, and then drafted/drew an entirely different sleeve to fit my drafted bodice.

Year: Transitional. Late 1790's, probably about 1798-1799.

Notions: Thread, pins to close.

How historically accurate is it? I would say it's very historically accurate. They had similar fabric at the time, and they had metal sequins and the like (these are metallic but not metal) but it passes the close up check. I hand sewed everything that is visible (binding, hem, sleeve binding, etc.) but machine sewed the bodice together and the skirt panels. I hand braided the belt and hand sewed the edges together. The braided belt is 3 strips of the sequin spangled stripe, cut out then braided together.

Hours to complete: A lot! I put this together over about 4 days of stay-cation sewing days, sewing about 8-10 hours a day. Mainly a lot of the time was taken up in drafting/drawing my muslin mock-ups, trying on and making changes until I was good with the fit. The fit was quite challenging as I'm not used to the lower waistline of the transitional time, which was between the high, high waistlines of the early Regency period and the lower waistlines (true waist) of the Georgian period. It was a challenge coming up with in-between look of the late 1790's!

First worn: At the Jane Austen Ball at Gadsby's Tavern last Saturday! My friend from Learning to Costume bought similar fabric at the same time, and we made up our dresses to wear together on Saturday (mine 1798-1799 and hers 1805).

Total cost: So I paid a ridiculously LOW price for my 13 1/2 yards of fabric: $5. It was seriously flawed like crazy with holes, tears, rips and flaws (and the cutter discouraged me from buying any) but the fabric was gorgeous and just spoke to me about becoming a flow-y dress with a train, that I decided to take a chance! I lined the bodice with a purple silk that was about $5 a yard, and I used less than a yard.

TheLadyDetalle & LearningToCostume in their 'matching' fabric dresses

This gown was fun, and now I feel ready to tackle another gown from this transitional era between two historical periods that I really love!

White silk modern hat & black hooded cape progress

I've been planning a white on white and cream hat that I always intended to make last year, but I was too busy, never could find the time, but I told myself I would still make my fun white hat in 2015! I had previously covered a small straw hat (doll's hat probably) with some thick smooth silk and today I finished the underneath, and basically started with this:

Silk covered straw hat - top

Silk covered straw hat - bottom

 And after a few hours of sewing on feathers, tulle, marabou feathers and other fun things, I had this:

White Silk Hat by TheLadyDetalle

Finished silk hat - top

Finished silk hat - bottom

I have no idea where I'm going to wear this, or with what, but I just had to create it!

I also finished the bias binding on the black silk hooded cape today, and then sewed binding on the unfinished edges (where hood and cape base meet and also inside the hood), so now it's time for black marabou!

Black silk hooded cape - pleating necklne

Black silk hooded cape - almost done!

 Friends coming and Jane Austen Ball at Gadsby's is tomorrow, yay!