A Glimpse into my Life.

My Grandmother gave me a skirt, and I like it enough that I would like to recreate it. Here are some photos to help with the process. I'm not sure if it would be easier to pattern off this skirt or if I should try to find something similar and alter it.
 The color is somewhere between the first and second photos.
Sorry for the funny side view, I was trying to get my arms out of the way.

For July, I traced off the proper size of Sense and Sensibility's Elegant Ladies Closet Drawstring Gown and then cut out my sari. I cut all the trim and the big fancy border off then found out from some really helpful ladies that I should have left the fancy bit intact and the trim on and then I wouldn't have had to hem the skirt hardly at all! Live and learn though. Next time I make a sari dress, and there will be a next time, it'll have the fancy train on it! Here is the sari as I cut it out.
This is what the fancy piece of the sari looked like. I cut the border off and ended up cutting the flowers into 5.25 inch strips to border the skirt with.
I used some of the border to widen the skirts. In this portrait of Princess Charlotte you can see a center border on her gown. Since I was going to be short for skirt width and had extra of the sari border, I figured, why not?
Here is the front view of the dress as it is right now:
Here is the back view:

Here is a side view:
The drawstring is in place at both the neckline and the waistline. I still need to add the border to the neckline, waistline, sleeves and hem. It also needs a good pressing to make the pleats pretty and a real drawstring put in instead of a piece of ribbon that was handy. So in making this gown has made me realize I need a new petticoat or I am going to go crazy wearing it. The sari fabric clings to the petticoat I have currently, plus I want it to be slightly longer. Also for July, I found a fabulous fashion plate! It isn't for my sari gown, but it's for a plaid gown!! I absolutely love plaid, and this is great. I decided I absolutely need a plaid gown and so I am going to try and get it done for August. Here is a link to the gown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51592109@N08/4837839744/

Goals For August:

• Finish Sari Dress- Attach all trims, find a good ribbon for the drawstrings.
• Plaid Dress- Cut out, put together, and finished.
• Pelisse- Mockup done, Fashion fabric cut and put together.
• Headwear- Capote- Cut out brim and attach wiring to it
• Research petticoats and figure out what needs to be done for that.

Since it's the last day of June, and I have posted absolutely nothing in regards to the Regency Costume Challenge, it's time to get busy! June has been the tracing and patterning month. In the interest of expediency, and since I am already familiar with the patterns and life is handing me some curveballs that I am having to work around, I am going to be using the Sense and Sensibility patterns for creating the wardrobes for myself and Little Miss. I am comfortable enough with the S&S patterns to feel like I can modify them in the ways I may need to to achieve the looks I want.


June Project List:

• Trace out patterns to start working on Mockups of all outfit pieces. Since I hate tracing patterns with a passion, I have to get it all done or it will hold me up later. As such, I am almost to the point that if I don't look at another pattern for quite a while, I'll be happy. ;)  So far for Little Miss, I have the 1780's Girl's Portrait Dress, Little Girl's Regency Dress, Pinafore and Pantaloons and Girl's Spencer Jacket traced. For myself, I have traced off the Regency Gown Pattern, The Elegant Lady's Closet, the Spencer Jacket Pattern, The Chemisette Patterns, and Reticule. 
• I *think* I have decided on a hat style. At least until I get a bit further in the process and end up realizing I desperately need a new style of hat. ;) I am going to make a Capote to go with this outfit.

I think I have all the patterns traced off that I need to work with, now to start on the mockup!


Now, for what will be worked on in July:

I am going to finish narrowing down my inspiration for my gown. I know approximately what I want my gown to look like, but am lacking the fashion plates/extant garments to back it up so I have been going through as many sources as I can to find what will explain what I am making. I like the earlier Regency style, 1798-1808 ish in style. With a somewhat fuller skirt, drawstring neckline and bodice and either elbow length sleeves or longer. Also incorporating a sari with a printed border. I can see the dress in my head, but want to make sure I have documentation for it before I move forward completely.

My Pelisse will be started with the mockup phase also. I figure I can alter the pattern pieces to get what I want out of the shape.

Any suggestions, links, etc. on where to find an image that would work for the dress would be greatly appreciated.

The Jane Austen Festival Australia decided to host a Regency Costume Challenge and I thought it would be great fun to participate! Each month you set goals for what you would like to do and then report on your progress. You can go the link above to see the different participants projects and follow their progress!



My Project List:

For Myself:
Chemise
Petticoat
Converting a Spencer jacket into a half length Pelisse
Headwear of some sort
Reticule
Gown

For Little Miss:
Chemise
Petticoat
Gown
Spencer


May Project List:

• Research Fabrics used during the Regency Period and try to figure out what would be appropriate and within my budget. Also ordering fabrics that are needed for my ensemble.
• Search fashion plates for inspiration and documentation for my outfit ideas. Currently I am leaning towards an earlier Regency impression.
• Making a mockup of a chemisette to see which style I like.
•  Check the fit on my short stays and see if they will still work or see if I need to make a new pair. If a new pair is needed, I am debating on another pair of the S&S short stays and the full length Mantua Maker stays.
• Figure out my dress style and so I can start making mockups.

Here are my stays:

They seem to fit well enough, although there are some things I would like to tweak on them if I have time towards the end! I don't like how the strap buckles a bit and it feels like it is wideset on my shoulder. If I have a time later, that will be corrected.

I want to make my outfit to go with this Spencer. I will be pulling the Spencer apart to redo it then adding length to convert it into a half length Pelisse. Here are my  fabrics so far for the Costume Challenge. I am debating which color of sari I want to use for my gown.

I still can't decide between the Blue, Red or Green!

Cotton Voile, Lightweight Linen, and Silk Gauze. These will end up being either a Fichu or Chemisette. Please excuse the darkness of the photo. I couldn't get them to show up well.

Here is another Sari that I was thinking of using. It is actually more red than this and the vine patterns are more of an antiqued gold. I couldn't get it to show up right with my camera.

Here is the mockup of a Chemisette. I will probably try a different style during June to see if I like it better, but I really won't know until I decide on a dress style! I still have no idea on the dress style, but I think I can settle that during June!

It's been a bit crazy in our lives lately. Now that we are finally home and (mostly) over jet lag, I am attempting to catch up on life and blogging. Most of the laundry is washed and put away, the house is *somewhat* cleaned, and dinner is cooking so I have a few moments. Back in January, my parents called to tell Hubby and I "Happy Anniversary." Now, there wasn't anything unusual about that, but then they told us that for our ten year anniversary they wanted to send us somewhere and watch the kidlets for a week while we left. Then they told us they wanted to send us to Italy! We were totally in shock and very happy. We had to figure out when would work with Hubby's and my Dad's work schedules, and then where in Italy we wanted to go. Hubby and I both had lists of places we wanted to go, and once those lists were down on paper and we started comparing, we realized we should just move there for a few years to put a dent in the lists! We then decided to each pick one or two places we really wanted to go and work around those. Luckily, our short lists were pretty similar. Rome and the Naples region. We then decided to stay in Sorrento and use that as a base for setting off to what was in the Napoli region.


This is a view of Mount Vesuvius from the road down into Sorrento. Our hotel was up the hill from Sorrento so we had about a mile walk into town every day. It was a great way to start the day. Walking past Olive Groves, and down orange tree lined streets was fabulous!


This is the harbor in Sorrento. It was gorgeous!


Walking under the orange trees! It was incredible to wander through the streets in the evening. Hubby and I tended towards wandering off the beaten path and found a very lovely little restaurant in the more non touristy part of town.


This is the entrance to Pompeii. The rings you see were where they would moor their ships. Pompeii was formerly a coastal city. When Vesuvius irrupted, it changed the coastline and ended up raining so much debris on the town that it was completely buried in volcanic rock, ash and mud. People literally choked to death on the air. Hubby estimates Vesuvius added almost a mile to the coast from where Pompeii was to where the present coastline is.


Pompeii was a large thriving city in it's time. It was set up so that the different neighborhoods had their shops, 'fast food' restaurants, and bakeries.


This is the body of a pregnant woman that they found in the ruins. As they excavated Pompeii, they found numerous bodies, and when they tried to move them, the excavators found out how fragile they were. The solution was to pour plaster around the bodies and basically cast them.


The stones in the middle of the road were so people could cross the streets without having to step into the muck. The stones were spaced evenly so that chariots could drive down the streets. At night, they would flood the streets and wash them out to control some of the mess and smell.


These are some of the grinding stones at the mills. They would put large beams in and use that to turn the stones. I can't remember exactly, but Pompeii had either 20 or 30 bakeries in it. They also had a surfeit of hotels. I find it hard to imagine the quantities of bread that was produced in the city.

More to follow, but it's time to get back to everyday life! 

Well, we've had whatever bug has been going around for the last little while. Two weeks later, we are finally over it, thank goodness. I'm almost caught up on the housework and laundry, but for some reason it's the never ending chore to get the laundry done. I also spoke at the local Gluten Intolerance Group last week about making your own soaps, lip balms, body butter, etc. It was a really good experience.

I am opening my own website!!! Charmingly Quaint is where I am taking up residence. Feel free to stop by and take a look! Here is a sampling of the products I am selling!

Soap! Everything is handmade by me in small batches. I use Essential Oils, Fragrance Oils, and Fragrance Free is also an option.


Lip Balm! Pineapple Coconut flavor with Sweet Almond Oil, Cocoa Butter, and Mowrah Butter! It feels fabulous, and your lips don't have that waxy feel to them.

Sugared Body Scrubs! This is one of my favorite scrubs. And it smells good enough to eat!

Fizzing Bath Salts! A great way to relax! I've been *thoroughly* testing these, because quality control is always important. ;) It could also be that I like how wonderfully relaxing it is to read a good book while soaking in a fizzy, lovely smelling bath!



Thanks for taking a look!

I just found a few more pictures from our Summer Adventures. I couldn't resist.

I can't remember if I put it up, but here is what the back porch of our cabin looked like. Very nice, very quaint.

There was a hammock there! I think it was one of the highlights for the kidlet crew! I know I had fun rocking in it. Bumpa is taking Dutch for a swing.

Now it's time for a solo act.

Baby B had to join in on the fun!

You know she is a girl who knows what she wants. Water shoes so she won't get her 'neekers' wet, her twirly skirt so she can have fun, and her lifevest so she can go canoeing.

Baby B isn't shy about letting you know if something pleases her!

Although it's called 'Old Faithful' sometimes it's hard to wait for it to erupt.

Us? Mischief? Never! (I think they were stealing Floolie's phone and dialing China with it.)

Not sure what they are pleased about right here, but they sure were! They must have got through to someone!