mandie_rw | Entries tagged with z:19thc:green & gold regency

I just wrote a big old blog post on the party, and I'm too sleepy to write a slightly cleverer, more inappropriate version for LJ, so all you get is a link to the blog, I do apologize!

And all I did was filch everyone's pictures anyway, so there's nothing new to see if you're friends with all the same people I am on here. Creative and original, that's me! (Clicky pic to go to blogger.)

Think this is the favorite shot of me from the night -

quincy134 managed to catch me at a time neither side of the bodice was slipping off my shoulders drunkenly! And isn't that a lovely shawl?

Yes, it's the extra-long one I gave Robin for her birthday...she lent it to me for the night, and I threatened to steal it back permanently, and I totally could have! I really want one for myself now.

(And link to my album of filched pics)

Current Mood: sleepy

I put the last stitches in this morning, and managed to squeeze in a photoshoot before Lil' Sis left for work. And even the weather was compliant; it's practically a heat wave here right now, so I wasn't quite freezing to death in my thin silk dress. Quite.

I'm very grateful to Lil' Sis for being such an accommodating photographer - her only problem is not noticing when outfitty bits come askew. She doesn't really know how it's supposed to look, so it's not her fault, but sometimes I go to upload my pictures and notice that a shift is hanging out or a hat is crooked or what-have-you. So, I apologise for having a shift sleeve showing, and entirely more fringe than I meant to be hanging down off that turban. The turban especially looks silly, but it is what it is! I'm not good enough to photoshop errant fringe out of a picture. :P

( Read more... )

Now...what to work on next??? I think I'll make a separate post about it later, since you know I can get wordy when it comes to Costume Planning!

Current Mood: accomplished

It transpires, that when my ratio of whining to sewing is in favor of the sewing rather than the whining, I actually can get things done. Who knew.

It's a sleeve! The "petals" are uneven and the piping is woobly, but it is a sleeve that is attached to a dress. If I'm very dedicated I can finish the other one off tomorrow and get this silly thing out of the way completely.

Current Mood: cheerful

bad words bad words bad words

Now I am officially never finishing those sleeves. The whole thing can go die in a fire. *kicks dress into a corner, whistling jauntily*

Expect the next update here some time in February, since I have nothing to sew and therefore am at a total loss as to what to do with myself. Perhaps I'll take up stamp collecting. Or drinking. That might be cheaper than stamps.

Current Mood: moody

I resentfully worked on the sleeves a bit today, but it's looking like another late night before an event. What a surprise, right? If I had anything else appropriate to wear I'd toss this in a corner and continue to sulk!

Well, in a pinch I could wear the spotted sari dress, though that's decidedly not fancy. For the first time I'm wishing I had a generic white Regency dress! That's appropriate for everything.

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Kinks; Dead End Street

...though not half as much snow as Sunday! Is this going to be a snowy winter? I would not be displeased. (Though no ice storms please. You can keep your ice storms!)

The piping on the oversleeves is now sewn on and ironed, so I can see just how dodgy it looks (pretty dodgy on the "V"s!). Just need to tack the wrong side down - which I really wanted to finish tonight, but I actually have to get up early for work tomorrow and still need to figure out the grocery list for the Party menu, so I'm packing it in for tonight. And then I just need to sew the oversleeves together, baste the over- and under-sleeves together, and put them in! And then I will be presentable.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Simon & Garfunkel; The Only Living Boy in New York

1" forecast, my foot. More like an inch an hour. We must've gotten at least six inches here. Very glad I didn't have work today! It's so pretty though - I like snow when I don't have to drive in it! I wanted to maybe get some snowy shots of my pompom Regency outfit, but it was snowing so hard while the light lasted I didn't get a chance! Ah well.

Worked on piping those awful sleeves tonight. It's taking seven times as long as I think it probably ought, and it's fiddly, and I made the gold bit of the piping face the wrong way round so I have to trim the seam allowance down very small on the inside of the sleeve if I want to fold it over. I don't care what Robin says, I don't like piping!

Current Mood: cold

I lifted a few photos others took at the Card Party on Saturday, just so those of you who weren't there can see a bit of the dress. And more importantly, the Party. Candles! Other people's pretty costumes! Food! Punch! Champagne!

This one from

jennylafleur is my favorite (clearly. hello new icon!). Unfortunately one Sleevil is showing, but you can also see a bit of the border at the hem, which I oh-so-artfully draped at my feet (and then stood on when I went to get up). And my hair came out pretty well - despite my usual method of pin-pin-pin-add fake hair-pin-pin-pin IT'S DONE!

What are trumps, again? Hearts, Miss Wood, hearts! (And sometimes diamonds.)

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Current Mood: exanimate

Many, many thanks to

jennylafleur (and her wonderful "staff"!) for hosting the card party - it was absolutely fantastic. The food, the decorations, the people...oh, and the champagne! And whist, which once I got the hang of, I decided I love, and want to play it again so I don't forget how by the next card party.

(I feel sympathy for Mr Collins now, in that scene from P&P...I forgot what the trumps were sometimes, too!)

And it snowed just enough to be a lovely background to our party, but not enough to muck up the roads.

My dress...existed. I forgot my camera, but it doesn't do well in low light anyhow, so I wasn't too broken up about it. Probably should have asked someone to get a shot of my whole outfit, just to prove it did exist...but oh well. One might be floating around in somebody's photoset, but if not I'm not exactly devastated. :P

So, now onto the Francaise Dinner Projects! Or, well, sleep, then onto the Francaise Dinner Projects.

Current Mood: content

Progress on the green & gold dress today: closures. Woo!

Well, I also got waylaid by this BBC miniseries from '06 with Dan Stevens in it, that I couldn't live without watching all THREE HOURS of it. (Rather good, actually...and he only made the annoying Matthew pouty-displeased face once.)

Anyway, they were wildly annoying drawstring closures, and I'm never doing ones like this again. Probably. Doesn't help that I can't visualize the way things work til I start putting them together, and these needed some visualizing! Drawstrings and channels and...ugh. I'm bad at spatial reasoning.

Oh and I did try it on to make sure it fits - which it does. Drawstrings. Duh. On the bright side, I don't have to hem it!

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Rolling Stones; Street Fighting Man

Spent the portion of the day I spent at home avoiding making piping for the green & gold dress' sleeves. I dislike piping extraordinarily. It's not even that much piping, but I put off starting it til well after dinner.

Won't be done in time for the Historical Sew Fortnightly deadline unless I sew like a madwoman tomorrow, but I don't care all that much as long as it's done for the card party!

Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: Kinks; The Village Green Preservation Society

Hours and hours later, I have one thing more done on this dress.

Doing gathering stitches is not one of my favorite things to do by hand, but they're done now and the skirt's attached to the bodice, so yay. If I have the intestinal fortitude, I'll tackle the sleeves next...

Current Music: Zombies; She's Not There

The silk is all stitched to the bodice (except the neckline, which I may not need to stitch all the way around, so I'm waiting on that). I made an interesting discovery in the process of draping it - the part of the sari closer to the decorated end is more closely woven than the rest, so it's more opaque. So one half of the back and about three inches of one side of the front are slightly sheer, while the rest of it is not.

( Some pictures this time )

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Rolling Stones; 2000 Man

...but the green and gold Regency dress bodice lining is sewn together, and the sari fabric is currently being draped over that in an attempt to make it look attractive. There was unexpected delay due to having to piece some of the sari, to have gold trim all around the neckline, but I managed it, so it's all good. It may even be picture-worthy tomorrow if I continue to disregard the 1913 dress...

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: Small Faces; Hey Girl

Draped and fitted the bodice of the 1913 dress today, yay me. I should probably do the sleeves tonight as well (looking at the calendar is starting to make me nervous), but, ew, sleeves. That's asking a lot I think!

Edit: Orrrr I could drape and fit the bodice for the green and gold 18-teens dress I need for the card party. Yes, I think that's a good option! (Bodice lining mockup fitted? Check. The silk's going to be draped over the lining, which is darted.)

Current Mood: bored
Current Music: George Harrison; Here Comes the Sun (live)

So, what's up next in sewing-land? Besides the dress for the Titanic exhibit, which is not the highest on my want-to-sew list, since I've already done it ten times over in my head - but that's what I need next so that's what it is.

After that though - I'm going to try and get my dress for the Regency card party done for the next HSF challenge. It's going to be made from the green silk sari with a gold boarder that I've had for a while, and I cut and sewed the skirt panels a while ago (November, I think) so it counts as a UFO. I'm basing it on a 1817-19 dress in Costume in Detail.

I got my silk in the mail today, and if I have time I'd like to make the mantle to go with the expensive sack as well, to bring to the card party. If not that's fine, but it'll match so I'd like to if I can!