Lavender in Milk Glass

English Lavender from the flower garden in a milk glass bowl is quite comforting.

I love the calming gentle scent of lavender as well as the "puffy clouds" outside of the thrifted bowl. Think: "sweet dreams."

It even looks soothing with an antique book and a hair comb.

I think I have what's referred to as "antique pox." I should say that regretfully thankfully, there is no known cure for it.

Victorian Dreams

Creamy vintage lace and lovely blue floral fabric are being constructed into an old-fashioned Victorian dress for a young girl.

Final pictures will be coming within a day or two.

Something other than sewing...

The other evening, I had a delightful time making Suzi's English Scones (ladies from the S&S board, her recipe is in the recipe exchange section) that turned out well. Combined with some homemade strawberry jam that Grandma made, and a cup of tea ... it made for a delectable evening.

English Country Blue Apron

Just one more (for a little awhile anyway!) ladies apron for the shop...

A Vintage Homemakers' Apron

A fabric that is covered in vintage-inspired items makes for a perfect homemaker's apron! And yes, it is in the shop this afternoon.

One thing at a time, one thing at a time...

Like books, I have a tendancy to start up many sewing projects at once and then take a while to finish them.

--I need to finish my bodiced petticoat I just finished it!
--I should start working on my Peach robe
--There are two 1930's aprons on my table waiting to be sewn, while I'm waiting for some income to purchase thread to match
--Don't ask me why (as I really don't have a clue!) but I'm in the mood to sew doll clothes.
--Mrs. Chancey's new apron for girls just arrived in my mailbox today, and now I'm anxiously awaiting for some of the cutest fabrics you ever did see, to get here too, to make some up for the shop.
--In the mean time, seeing this darling mitten pattern, makes me wish I knew how to knit better!

Hmm, where do I start? =)

Polite Conversations

Asked I, "Kind sir, would you be so good enough to use my motion picture camera to take a portrait?"
"Here my love, let me take another..." said he.

"My good man! You shall not take another picture!"

::smiles::

And with that dear ladies, I am off to enjoy an evening with my friends for a Presidential evening in honor of Theodore Roosevelt. It will be a delight, especially as I am going along as "a friend of the Roosevelt family."

Happy Valentines Day!

To all you dear ladies and friends who read my blog, Happy Valentines Day! And just as a "special" for today everything in my etsy shop can be ordered with FREE shipping!

We don't go "all out" but we do enjoy making cut-out cookies decorated with Valentine colors and shapes, and this afternoon I'm going to go through my scrap bin or stashed fabric to make something up in pink.

:::

On a random note, I was thrilled to find this tea (which all I've heard is postive remarks!) at a local discount grocery store. $3.29 isn't to bad for 240 bags of tea all the way from England! My poor mother was shocked that I bought yet another box of tea. I have such a huge collection that I know longer can store mine in the kitchen cupboard. Yes, I have that many. =)

Dressing up...

The other day, I came across a link that had a listing of all of the dresses that Pleasant Company (now, American Girl) produced that enabled girls to dress up and match their doll. (Was anyone else out there an avid fan of the historical American Girl dolls?) I am very blessed to still own two of Kirsten's outfits that I'm saving for my own daughter some day; they are the Prairie School Dress and the Scandinavian Outfit. I did own the Summer Striper, but wore that one until it was thread bare. And at some time, I had Felicity and Kirsten's nightgowns, but of course wore them until they could no longer be worn. Oh yes, and I still own Kirsten's petticoat and pantaloons. =) The link made me look back with fond memories of my girlhood of dressing up and playing with dolls.

My love for just that has continued on into my twenties, well minus the dolls, and just recently I was asked if I would like to join some friends in a historical group on an evening "for a presidential dinner in honor of president Teddy Roosevelt." Just the idea got me all excited. =) I think I will be accepting the invitation and then decide how I'm going to manage something to wear from the dates of 1900 to 1909. My two dresses that would be closest to the dates would be from 1912 and 1914. Perhaps I could be a "very fashionable" friend of the Roosevelt family? =)

At Long Last!

I know that I've already posted twice today, but I could help but get so excited about Mrs. Chancey's new Edwardian Apron for girls that just came out!

Photo copyrighted by http://www.deepsouthimages.net/

Isn't it just the sweetest thing?! I'm ordering my copy right away, and if you click on the Sense & Sensibility pattern link to the right of this post (you may have to scroll a tiny bit) you can order your e-pattern too!

I have a feeling some mother and daughter look-alike aprons will be in my shop soon... =)

The Making of a Bodiced Petticoat - Part 2

If there are any gentlemen reading my blog today, you might as well find another blog to visit, as today's post won't be of any interest to you whatsoever.

I was able to work on this a little bit more this afternoon, and found that hand-stitching does get faster with time and experience. Yay! =)

Reluctantly after I had everything enclosed, I added 3 boning channels where the darts were, per side, and tried it on. To my great surprise and delight, it fit me nearly like a glove! I say nearly, because there were a few things that I thought, "Hmm, lets see if we can get this any better..." So I added another channel to the front, and one farther out on the side.

Before I sewed the lining to the outer fabric, I used some some interfacing that I had, and had one long piece going horizontally (you can kind of see it in the picture below) and two going vertical on the sides of each set of darts and boning. Whether it lends any stiffness or not, I'm not sure. Oh well. =)
I almost think that I like the fit and comfortableness of this more than I do stays! I'm looking forward to sewing the skirts on next.

Before taking it off Arabella, I slipped the gown over to see how the necklines would match or if the petticoat shoulder straps would stick out or not...

It's about as perfect as one can get.

::happy sigh::

The Making of a Bodice Petticoat

If there are any gentlemen reading my blog today, you might as well find another blog to visit, as today's post won't be of any interest to you whatsoever.


Now that that is said and done, I was sketching out a picture and trying to play around with my patterns to come up with what I wanted. Didn't work. So I went back to the main instructions with a few alterations to the necklines since I would be wearing it with the ELC gown and not the basic one.

So far I've got the darts done in the front, and right now I need to hand sew my casing for the ribbon drawstring at the neckline. The instructions show it to be on the outside, but since my gown is sheer, I want any extra drawstrings to be inside and not showing through the gown!

After that, I'll add the boning to the front, add buttons to the back, and check the fit once again.

From a screen cap of the '95 version of Sense & Sensibility, you can see that Marianne is definitely wearing a bodiced petticoat underneath a sheer gown. This, and Lydia's famous petticoat from the '95 version of Pride and Prejudice are my inspirations.

It also appears that the top part is made out of sturdy stiff fabric. I didn't think of making the top part of mine out of stiffer fabric, unfortunately. I'm beginning to think that two layers of muslin isn't going to cut it. =P

Maybe if I were to go out in the rain my bodiced petticoat would magically come together. ::sigh::

Guess I'll just have to finish the bodice part of mine to see if it does what I want it to do, and then decide from there. Thankfully, muslin is cheap, and it's even cheaper using a coupon.

Vintage Sweetness from the 1950's

For some reason, I don't remember where I picked this up. Whether it was from an online auction or from a nearby antique shop, I may never recall, but when I came across it in my collection of vintage patterns, right away I looked through my stash of scraps only to be delighted to find 1 1/2 yards of a slate blue cotton floral!
For some reason my camera is acting up today. The pictures aren't very sharp and it's making everything washed out, so for the true color of this baby dress, click on the above photo.

The pattern gave a 4" hem allowance, but I wasn't about to hem up that much, so I took in 2" worth of tucks at the hem.

A close up shot of the little peter-pan collar and white eyelet lace around the yoke.

I've never seen a baby dress, or any dress for that matter with the sides being pleated like this. Certainly makes the pattern original, and yet cute in its own way.

I had some adorable heart-shaped silver buttons in my stash, but I was thinking for comfort that flat buttons might be better.

I have a feeling this will be a pattern that will be used again someday... =)