The Fill Pattern On One Half Of The Waistcoat Is Finished! Tonight Ill Work On The Other Side And The

The fill pattern on one half of the waistcoat is finished! Tonight I’ll work on the other side and the remainder of the embroidery on the second pocket flap, and hopefully have all the embroidery wrapped up by tomorrow. Then it’s on to construction!

The embroidery for the 1760s waistcoat is officially finished! This one took me a while to complete, but looking back at my sewing diary I actually only spend a total of 16 days on the embroidery (though that was spread out over several months). As of now, I’ve put in around 150 hours, with more work to come.

The next thing to do is begin on construction. When it’s all finished, the waistcoat will be completely lined and have functional pockets. It will also be my first time making hand-sewn buttonholes, which is a little scary.

Now I need to figure out how to embroidery the coat that will go with this!

Back in 2015, I made this skirt for an 1860s ballgown. I wanted to make a daytime bodice to give the gown more wearability outside of formal events, but I had run out of fabric and since the fabric had lived in my stash for years, it had been discontinued long ago.  I had a minor fabric miracle when I discovered some similar plaid taffeta on Etsy! I scooped it up and decided to make an 1850s bodice, since tiered flouced skirts like this were super popular then.

This bodice ate fabric, and I think I used three or four yards in total because the sleeves are massive and multi-layered. There is a black lace/fringe trim on the bodice, which you can’t see very well in pictures but is lovely in person.

The cap and bodice were made to accompany the new ensemble. The cap is made entirely from things found at Walmart, and the materials for the bonnet came from my fabric stash.

Whipped up a quick mantelet to keep me warm at yesterday’s Georgian Picnic. The outer fabric is a champagne colored taffeta, and it has a warm fleece lining. I edged the entire thing with marabou to simulate fur. It was nice and warm in our cool fall weather!

Was sifting through some late 16th/early 17th century stammbucher (basically little scrapbooks that people would collect cards, stamps, drawings, etc in, especially while travelling; their friends and family could also add little entries to your book, like memories, poems, drawings, or well wishes) in online libraries, and thought I'd share some fun images of people doing who knows what. Bowling for ladies? Running from cupid and getting tied to trees for it? Rolling around your really bendy dude? Just another Tuesday in 17th century Germany.

The petticoat is finished! It didn't even take as long as I anticipated, even with all the hand-sewing that was involved. Everything but the long interior seams had to be hand-sewn, which was a bit of a pain, but it makes the finished skirt so much nicer looking. The next step will be to pattern out the under-bodice before starting on the levite itself. This particular dress is a little unusual, in that the under-bodice actually closes under a stomacher rather than down the center-front, which is more typical for levites and polonaises. I'm so pleased with how quickly and smoothly this project has gone so far! Of course, I haven't started on the gown itself, so we'll see if my good luck streak lasts