Regency Christmas Ball Blues

  

It's that time of year again, Christmas is coming, life is busy, and usually I'm reveling in the fun of the annual Regency Christmas Ball I've been attending each year since 2012. Last year the event was sadly cancelled, and I was really hoping to make it this year after last year's deprivation. It's the first Regency Ball since 2012 I've been unable to attend. Nostalgia and event blues hit me as I sit awaiting the very near arrival of our little "heffalump" (as we've nick-named our little fellow, due oh so soon!). 

Since I couldn't go to the ball this year, I thought I'd instead finally finish editing the outfit photos from the LAST Christmas Ball I attended. (Hooray for 2 years of procrastination! 😏)

 

 

My white silk regency gown has served me extremely well since I made it 6 years ago. When I found this piece of white silk in the clearance section at Joann's, I knew I wanted to make a new regency gown with it. I loved the Grecian inspiration so prevalent in the regency era, and the delightful asymmetry of the wrap styles. Enter eking out a wrap regency dress from 3.5 yards of narrow silk fabric... 😬 I had to piece some poly taffeta underneath to accomplish the feat, but it was well worth the challenge to finally make my dream regency dress. :)

 

I found this delicate gold trim for the skirt, and the narrow edges worked perfectly for trimming the top. Just a few snips, and voila, a perfectly matched narrow trim for the neckline and sleeve details.

 

Casual and Comfy 1930's Corduroy Skirt

This piece of 100% cotton corduroy was an amazing thrift store acquisition. I'm not sure you can even find corduroy that's both sturdy and narrowly spaced like this anymore!

This skirt reminds me of the "golf" or "sport" skirts of the era, and I suddenly understand the appeal of a hefty weight material in a tailored skirt. It's incredibly practical and comfortable! I used the same skirt draft from the Brown 1930's Suit and Tigger Outfit, with just a bit more tailoring in cut for the stiffer fabric. I love how the weight of the corduroy holds the pleats.

 

 

I tried to be as strategic as I could with where the faded bit of the fabric landed, and since it's a "play" skirt, I didn't mind some defects of material... Plus the fabric cost less than $5 total, so how could I complain. 😉

I had SO much fun playing with the corduroy grain-lines for the pocket design and details of the skirt. The pointed tacking for the pleats even echos the angle of the pocket in reverse. 😊

The closure features several of my favorite techniques- a zipper put in with historically accurate hand picked stitching and hooks with thread eyes. Folks, thread eyes are the BEST! They stay hooked so much better than the metal bars or eyes, and they blend in really well to the garment!

I've had the skirt for over a year now, and it's been one of my favorite go-to, everyday skirts. It pairs perfectly with my linen blouse from the 1930's Linen Ensemble for warmer days, though the weight of the corduroy material makes it exceptionally well suited to chilly weather. Even my wool skirt, being a lighter-weight suiting is cooler. 😄

 

All things told, I think this is my favorite 1930's skirt to date, though it's really hard to decide between this and my brown wool one! Both are so comfortable to wear, but this one has pockets, so it noses ahead in the "favorite" race by just a hair. 😊😉

A Small Project for a New Little Person

After finding out we were expecting and getting through the first trimester, I finally sat down to start the somewhat overwhelming, but delightful and fun task of planning for all the things baby would be needing.

I finally decided after searching, and searching, and SEARCHING, that a co-sleeping baby nest would be the most practical baby bed for the first few months. He'll be snugly safe in his own little "nest", but close to me so I can tend him easily at all hours.

I really wanted a cotton nest, but since I couldn't find any with cotton batting and stuffing, I decided to go ahead and make my own. I had a bit of cotton batting already, so I ordered 3 lbs of natural cotton stuffing and searched through my stash for the perfect fabric.

I hemmed, and hawed, and hemmed some more... and finally decided to make the nest a little bigger than most of the baby ones I saw. Upon discovering a few toddler nests, I increased the measurements of the sleeping area to reflect those sizes more, that way the nest will be sure to work until baby is sleeping through the night on his own. 😊 Next up was drafting the pattern based off those measurements, and making the nest. The whole process actually went really smoothly! 😊

The main body of the nest is a heavy cotton twill material, perfect for a sturdy and durable base. 

I seriously miscalculated how much batting I would need, and despite piecing a couple narrower strips together, I ran out of the batting I had on hand after doing only the 2 layers for the base. With everything finished but the mattress, the project ground to a halt until I could make a run to the store for more batting. But hey, it probably saved me from staying up super late to finish the mattress and get the whole project done in one day. 😉

I really liked the v-shaped quilting on a couple nests I saw on Pinterest, and decided to go for that look with my own nest. I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

The sailboat mattress pad is made from a quilting-weight cotton fabric, with 3 layers of batting for softness. I'll be putting a thick piece of wool fabric between the mattress and nest for a water-resistant barrier to guard against the inevitable diaper and spit-up accidents. 😏 Since the mattress portion is completely separate, I can take it out and wash it without washing the whole nest... and trying to dry out nearly 3 pounds of cotton filling any time it needs a cleaning. 😨😊

It was such a joy to make a special nest for my own little one. 😊 Feeling my heart fill with love for the little person he is, his personality already showing in how he moves and the little things unique to the way God has knit him together to be. 💗

1930's Linen Ensemble/Disneybounding Tigger

With wedding prep and projects, the editing of photos taken LAST summer got pushed aside to a less busy time. I've finally gotten around to revisiting them, and I'm excited to finally share a few of my favorite outfits with you all!

This particular outfit was a last minute decision for a themed Ball... I've always loved Tigger rather a prodigious amount, and since the Ball was movie character themed, I decided I wanted to be Tigger and set to work designing a Tigger inspired, but historically accurate outfit for the event. Why am I crazy and try to plan an entire ensemble in a matter of weeks?

Tiger striped cat with a Tigger outfit... :D

I drafted every piece for this ensemble, which took extra time, but was worth it. :) The Jacket was the hardest and took the most time in mock-up phase. I still want to hone and perfect the draft for future projects, but I was pretty pleased with my first jacket project drafted from scratch.

 

The skirt was pretty easy to make with just a few adjustments to my original draft for my brown 1930's skirt.

I only ordered 2 yards of linen for both the skirt and jacket... it took a bit of finagling to fit it all on, but it just barely made it with a few small scraps left in corners.

The pockets were quite tricky, but I'm pleased with how they came out, and I think it was worth the agony I went through to perfect them. I even brought in my engineering minded brother to consult on the proper angle for these. 😉

The blouse went fairly smoothly, thanks to the absence of sleeves. 😉 Sleeve drafting is my current bane, which I will hopefully someday over-come and begin to feel comfortable whipping out whatever kind of sleeves I want.

I love the versatility of 1930's blouses. Unlike many other decades, they were often designed to be worn un-tucked as well as tucked.

For the ball I merely added a fabric headband with Tigger shaped ears, and used a permanent marker to add a few stripes, and colored more stripes on a pair of skin-tone stockings.

Unfortunately I managed to misplace my stockings and ears for the shoot, so I don't have a photo of the Tigger outfit. *facepalm*

A Once in a Lifetime Project- Tales of a Wedding Gown

 

 

Life has been crazy, and busy, and exciting recently... in case you didn't gather that from the nature of this post. 😉

 

Between planning a wedding, moving to another state, and settling into a new phase of life I haven't had much time lately to devote to blogging.

 

When I went about designing my wedding gown I knew I wanted a few things... I wanted it to be fairly simple in lines, but not boring, and I wanted it to include linen somewhere if possible, symbolic of the bride of Christ clothed in pure white linen. What better era to choose than the 1930's with their penchant for simple but detailed designs!

With the help of my Matron of Honor, Brigid, from Brijee Patterns, I came up with this 1930's design, featuring a little bit of a modern twist in the back. Brigid is fabulous at pattern drafting and helped with the design-side of the gown immensely!

 

Originally I thought my linen element would have to be only in the lining and/or slip, but the fabric for the dress is actually a silk/linen blend, perfectly fitting my wish of a 30's looking fabric AND linen.

Though it looks basic, the cowl neck probably gave the MOST trouble during design and mock-up phase, but it decided to cooperate before I threw out the plan and started over. 😜 

This back design was one of the elements I KNEW I wanted from the start, I had seen back v-necks with leaf decals, and both loving fall and having a fall wedding I wanted to find a way to incorporate that. I meticulously cut out each leaf, and stitched them on with silk thread forming the leaf veins one by one... it took an agonizingly long time, but I loved every second as I watched it take shape.

I really question my judgement in deciding on this closure design... 27 custom buttons with hand done thread loops... approximately a million hours later... ok, more like 12, it was ready to finish hems and wear. 😊

 

 

You'll have to forgive the bulky wool socks... October in the north can be a bit frigid.

I had a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty, 4 inch train and STILL in the first five minutes out the door for pictures I managed to trip... 😨 It was fine though... no one noticed.😏

 

The wedding was fall themed, so the bridesmaids, decorations, and flowers were an array of fall colors. Seeing all the colors together for the first time was so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos are by my talented friend Sarah Burns. She was amazing to work with and her photographs are stellar!