How to begin a project

Tiffany is starting out on a big project and she has asked me to help her. So here's how you begin a project

First thing to do is layout your pattern pieces on newly ironed fabric (Tiffany didn't want to do this, but if you've read the right books* you know that you should always iron).
Check to make sure you have all your tools. (Hint: You may have to prickle up your forhead to make sure they don't go anywhere)
Then make look around to make sure you're alone. (Tiffany doesn't count....she always comes in exactly when I'd rather be sleeping. Though I was a little suspicious at first this time, she had a big black thing, bigger than me, up to her face.....but humans can be strange like that.)

Then make sure you check the markings, so that all is in place.

At this point in the project, I had to wonder why there was another pin cushion, when I usually carry all my pins around with me. Must be another unexplainable human thing. It's very hard work getting ready to cut things out. (I think I now know why this is Tiffany's least favorite part of sewing.) So the next thing to do is to take a rest.

I'll keep you all posted on our** progress

Mrs. TiggyWinkle (with Tiffany)

*ie, The Tale of Mrs. TiggyWinkle

**Tiffany is trying to take some of the credit for all of this. I think it might be best to just let her.

And so it begins

As I've said before, we're going to England this September. Well, one of the days in London we're dressing to go to one of the places. So I decided to make a hisortical dress for that day. I knew I was already taking a Regency gown, so I really wanted something from another time period. I settled on the 1850s because 1) you don't need hoops, 2) I like the silhouette, and 3) I found this dress:

When I first saw the dress, I was in love. But not wanting to get too excited I searched for patterns to see if there was anything close that could be adjusted. I allowed myself to get ecstatic when I found this pattern:

With a few adjustments, I think this will be perfect.

I'm going to try to keep a diary of a dress for this project.

Let the fun begin!

Tiffany

A New Pattern

Sense and Sensibility has put out a new pattern. The counterpart to the Ladies' Edwardian Apron, the Girl's Edwardian Apron is now on sale.

This picture of Belle just shows how adorable this pattern is.

As you can see this pattern includes the big pockets that I love on the Ladies' pattern. I can't wait to use this pattern to make matching aprons for my daughters and I one day.

Tiffany

Exciting News!

I have loved the Sense and Sensibility patterns for years! I love the quality of the patterns. I adore the fit that they dresses give. And I appreciate the ease of putting the dresses together. I just plain old love these patterns.

However they just got better (if that's possible). Mrs. Chancey has scanned the Regency patterns and the Edwardian apron pattern (which is the best apron, ever!) and is now offering them as e-patterns.

I am so excited. I can't wait to get one! I bought the Simplicity version of the underpinnings, but have decided that I should've saved my money. You just can't beat the fit of the original patterns.

I highly recommend all of Mrs. Chancey's patterns, but why don't you join me and give the e-patterns a try!

Tiffany

Seagreen

October last year I made a dress to wear to the Award Ceremony at the SAICFF. However at the last minute I changed my mind and wore a formal dress. But I wore the new outfit the next day. However I never got the opportunity to get pictures.

For my birthday this year, we stayed overnight at a friend's house on the beach. The dress was a seagreen colour so I wanted to get pictures on the beach. My sister was a darling and took them for me (as she usually does).

The shell and skirt are made out of linen look-alike.

The over-shirt is a stiff sheer. I'm not exactly sure what the fabric is, but it scratches if it isn't bound off. :-)

I was not being stuck-up in this picture, Shannon took this picture right before a sneeze.

Tiffany

Regency Fair

Well, after a delay, I welcome you to the Regency Fair!

Starting us at the Fair today we have Aylwen. She has a lovely website that has some gorgeous gowns on it. I'm definitely adding it to my favorites for inspiration. And, oh, if I only lived in Australia, I would definitely attend one of the Jane Austen Festivals she and her husband put together.

Second, we have the wonderful Claire. The dress she wore to her tea-party is scrumptious. I love that color on you Claire!

Jordan also sent me a lovely post with pictures, but for some reason I can access it now. If you re-send me the link, I'll try again.

I got all the way through writing this out and then realized I didn't have anything myself! Uh-oh! So I'm just going to reuse a couple of pictures from before.

The first one is a picture of me on a bridge in the San Antonio boardwalk. I had so much fun dressing up at the SAICFF.

And the second is a nice group picture of all the ladies from the Sense and Sensibility forum that we met while we were at the SAICFF.

I hope you enjoyed the fair!

Narnia

I have made it a habit to read through C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. From the first time I read these books, Prince Caspian has been my favorite. I can almost remember my first time reading it and being excited by what they might find on that mysterious island.

Through reading it, I have been encouraged, strengthened, humbled and excited by the adventures of the Pevensies.

Last Friday, May 16th, marked the opening of the Prince Caspian movie done by Walden Media/Disney. We had a friend come over from Mobile and go to the theatre with us. We all dressed up Narnian style.

Shannon and I were Queen Lucy and Queen Susan.

We had made our costumes for a Narnian party Shannon had a couple of years ago. Shannon's is based on the older Lucy in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie. Mine was inspired by the illustration of Susan dancing with Tumnus by Pauline Baynes in A Horse and His Boy.

However, I decided I wanted to make a gold petticoat for this movie. So I did.

Well, I really cheated and just added left over gold fabric to the edge of my petticoat.

After we came home from the movie, we had a Narnian feast. There were pyramids

and cataracts

of fruit. As well as a few honey and oat cakes.

We enjoyed our feast for a couple of hours before we had to leave Narnia to clean up. But we didn't leave forever. In two weeks we will be enjoying Prince Caspian again with the school Dad teaches at. And, looking into the future, in two years Voyage of the Dawn Treader will come to the big screen. Now to make this dress:

for the next movie.

Tiffany

We're Going to the Fair

Baby Dresses

Our church has been blessed recently with the addition of Paul, Missy, and Ellie. They are a very sweet family who moved here not long ago so Paul could go the Naval base here.

Missy was expecting their second child, a little girl. Our church is very fond of celebrating these new covenant blessing, so our family hosted a baby shower for them.

It was so wonderful to see all those ladies come together to celebrate with Paul and Missy. The fellowship was fun and encouraging.

As soon as Shannon and I found out we were hosting the party we got busy with plans for our gifts to Paul and Missy and the new little one, but we didn't want to leave Ellie out. We agreed to make Ellie and Aimee Kate (the new little one) dresses.

I had so much fun making and then photographing these pictures!*

I made Aimee Kate's and Shannon made Ellie's. They are exactly the same except for size, of course. :-)

I only got pictures of Aimee Kate's. We had gift wrapped them when we realized we didn't have pictures of them together. By then we were in the middle of cooking and really didn't have time to stop. But anyway, if you just imagine this dress two sizes bigger, that's Ellie's. ;-)

The first is a picture of the dress with the little shorts underneath.

For the back closure, Shannon had four buttons in her stash that were perfect. So two went on Ellie's and two went on Aimee Kate's.Shannon and I wanted rick-rack for the edging and found this perfect match!

And for the center front, we attached three little ribbon flowers.

We had such a lovely time at the party. Paul and Missy were able to stay later and visit. Aimee Kate got quite active and apparently punched her Mom's tummy three times! We were all quite startled and then laughed.

On April 4, 2008 Aimee Kate was seen for the first time. She weighed 8 lbs, 4 oz. We went to the hospital to visit, but didn't think to bring the camera till it was too late. :-( But you'll just have to trust me that she is the sweetest baby. Missy allowed Shannon and I to hold her, and you could tell she was still having a hard time keeping her eyes open (Aimee Kate, not Missy;-).

We look forward to the day when we see them again!

Tiffany

*Thank you to Shannon for letting me take pictures on her camera. I have misplaced the cord to mine and can't download any pictures. Thanks Shannon.

My 1st 1940s Dress

The title is slightly misleading. I have begun another 1940s swing dress, but it still lies in my UFO bin :-). So this dress is actually my first finished 1940s dress.

Anyhoo. The pattern is a Vintage Vogue. The pattern number is 2669, but the company doesn't sell it anymore. I did find one here on e-bay, just to give you the picture. I got it on sale at JoAnns a couple of years ago and have been keeping it for the right moment.

The moment arrived when we received an invitation to a friend's wedding. So I began working on a mock-up. It went slowly. Eventually I got to the point where I knew the adjustments that needed to make the dress work and I was running out of time. So I laid the mock-up aside and began work on the dress. I finished 2:30 am the morning of the wedding.

The wedding took place near Birmingham, AL and the trees at the church were in full bloom. So before we went in, I asked my sister to take pictures of the dress under the tree.However, in the haste to get the dress done, I had forgotten to put the shoulder pads in the dress. Any good 1940s pattern needs shoulder pads. The rest of the pictures from the church didn't turn out. But I did wear the dress to church the next (after putting the shoulder pads in when we got home from the wedding:-) and had Shannon take more pictures.

The pattern was marked "Advanced" and those gathers on the front are to blame. They aren't difficult, just time consuming.

We have adopted a couple in our church to be our "Grandaddy" and "Nanny" since all of ours have passed on. She told Shannon that the embroidered eyelet was very popular in the 1940s. That was a nice surprise! I had just chosen the fabric because I had it, but it's also historic.

Now for the next project.......

Tiffany

Pictures

After we had Thanksgiving dinner, Mom, Shannon and I decided to go for a walk in the woods. We live near the Live Oaks National Park. It is a beautiful area to walk. We left as soon as we had taken the dishes into the kitchen. (I think we were worried that that "sleepy enzyme" from the turkey might take effect.)

While we were there, I used the oportunity to take some pictures of the shirt I had finished the day before.

Here is the front:

And the back:

When we went to England this summer, I bought some buttons at the Button Queen, a little shop in England. I was waiting for the perfect project to put them on. When I started this blouse, I knew it was the one. So here is one of the buttons from London:

I finished the blouse and then realized it was way too low. So I used some blue fabric and lace that a friend gave me for Christmas one year. (Thank you, Amy! I'll let you know what I do with the rest of it.:-)
I had also been working on a petticoat off and on for a few months and finally got that done too. I bought a new sewing machine when we got back from England and tried out one of the embroidery stitches on the hem. I love the way it turned out, and it really does help to keep me warmer.

After the walk we went home, cleaned up dinner, and the sleepiness kicked in.

Tiffany

Wrap Skirt

One of the message forums I visit had a Week In Feminine Dress. We all took pictures of what we wore through the week and posted them. Someone posted a picture and directions to make this wrap skirt. I fell in love with the concept and had to make one. Here it is:





I used some dollar fabric that I had on hand. I like it, because it looks like a rather thick fabric, but it's actually just a cotton. It's so cool for the hot summers down here.

Tiffany