mandie_rw | 2018 Costuming Year In Review

Or, lack thereof, because school and student teaching! Which is fine! I'm very pleased at my progress in that aspect of life, rest assured. :) I wouldn't even bother with this list except it's a yearly tradition at this point, and because we all know I like list-making.

- I did make a very few everyday-type clothes (I think...two skirts?) that I didn't take pictures of, including a Simplicity Vintage beach cover-up (from #8139). Which is sad because that IS a cute beach cover-up. Maybe I'll go to the shore next year and remember to get a picture of it...no guarantees, I am so not a shore person.

- Blue linen skirt to wear to the Great War event in August. Didn't really exactly match my already-existing shirtwaist, but I ran out of motivation for the top half! That might happen someday if we ever have an occasion to wear those outfits again... I also made a hat for Robin that she forgot to bring to the event, so obvs we HAVE to wear these outfits again. ;)
robin and me

- Finished the natural form dinner dress for Belvidere. Despite the back seam that frayed out before I even wore it (hi, glue pen), I was really pleased with how it came out. And I haven't yet gotten nice pictures of it nor written a blog post, as outdoors in the dark/indoors in a poorly-lit hotel were our options for pictures at the event! I'm probably going to wear it to a fancy-dress event in January (despite it being...not fancy-dress, technically) and might be able to get nice pics there. We'll see.

(Also I spilled cordial down the front of the skirt that night. We made it a point to have only white wine, for just that reason, and I manage to spill only the one reddish drink, only down the ivory stripe. I have talent! And then let it sit in a garment bag for 3.5 months. Vinegar works wonders, BTW! Not 100% gone, but hardly noticeable!)
me in nat form

- Early Victorian Man Shirt! Done, is currently on the laundry room floor in the to-wash pile. I will document it at some point though.

I also got various other projects into various stages of "sort of almost done" to "actually almost done if I had just another couple of free hours"; 1780s striped cream satin dress, natural form teagown, and striped 1790s open robe come to mind, and there may be a couple more.

I'm just going to paste and add to last year's list, sans old commentary, as the "finished" list kind of speaks for itself, heh.
Things I Want to Sew in the New Year But Probably Won't (~~2018~~ 2019 edition)
- UFOs. Finish, throw away, sell...whatever needs to be done! I severely need to do a de-stash, the piles are out of control.
- More modern skirts & dresses, and a pair of trousers or two. By "modern", I mean mostly 1950s! Someday I'd like for my entire wardrobe to be vintage, but that's a very long-term prospect! Under this heading is a late 40s/early 50s suit or two for interviews at some point...I got a "wearable mockup" skirt from one pattern half-finished so far.
- Finish my striped cotton 1790s open robe...I don't know if we'll make up an opportunity to wear it but it's SO close to done, probably a couple hours worth of hand sewing if I recall correctly.
- Late Victorian swimming costume. I won't be able to make a nice long weekend of it down the shore like I wanted, but at the very least I still want to have a day at the beach in Victorian swimwear!
- 1898 summer day dress. For aforementioned abbreviated day at the shore. I'm hoping we can wrangle an overnight at some point after my summer semester is over! Probably out of some slate grey and white narrow-striped cotton I have in the stash.
I've been threatening to do this for a couple of years now, and I have almost all the fabric for it! I really do want to make it happen, in the long weekend-version. Not this summer, as I still don't anticipate having the money for it, plus this is a Gettysburg year, and we try to offset our Big Costume Trips. jenthompson , if you're looking for something to do on the East Coast in the summer of 2020... ;)
- Boy clothes, circa 1840. For the Young Victoria event.
- I want new clothes for the Young Victoria event too! I love the red silk "Christmas" ballgown I made a couple years back for New Castle so that'll be fine for dinner. I would like a new day dress and bonnet though. Just bonnet is the most likely scenario here, but hey, this is an optimistic list!
- Finish the natural form tea gown for Belvidere. It's about 3/4 done, but the skirt flounce is literally still sitting on the far dining room chair. I am SO GOOD at cleaning up, you guys...
- New stuff for Gettysburg. At this point I am fully set for a long weekend in the 1860s in mid-November...but some of it dates back to 2011, and I am getting TIRED of it. Want:
          - New ballgown. Satin dress is lovely, but weighs a shit ton and something breaks every time I wear it! Taffeta or organdy next time.
          - Rational dress. Ran out of time for this last time, but I am DETERMINED this year. It's going to be supremely unflattering and I love it. Trousers are done (I think), short skirt is done, I think I wanted to get an Ageless Pattern for the bodice? Must do research and figure out what I was thinking, LOL.
          - New silk day dress. Why silk? Because I have both the horrid chartreuse dress and a dark teal-y green check dress in various stages of partially-sewn-and-cut-out! Finish one of those, at least.
          - New headwear. I want a soft-crown bonnet, just for a change, and since I think a spoon bonnet of any sort with Rational dress will look a little too stupid even for me...some thing less bonnety, more hatty.
          - New underoos. At least one new chemise and pair of drawers, even if I don't get around to replacing the old ones. Which are cotton (not a very nice cotton either) and GROTTY. I know linen's pretty much out of fashion for chemises and drawers by the 1860s, but the 1860s can fight me. Linen is SO much nicer and better-wearing than cotton. So, new underoos will be linen!