A Fractured Fairytale

No, that’s not a typo, this project really was that awful. Ever have a project where you love the fabric so much, and are just so excited to work with it, but then it all just goes to hell? Yeah… I won’t recount every painful detail of how this dress fought me, but there were three different bodice iterations, I redid every seam multiple times, and I still ended up with something I’m not thrilled with. Silk satin is beautiful and gorgeous and evil. But enough whining, on to construction! Read more...

This year has been a series of nightmare projects. I’ve been constantly ripping out stitches and redoing patterns in the hope of making something I am satisfied with. It has felt like everything I’ve tried to sew has fought me. With the exception of this project, that is. Granted I’ve made this style of dress numerous times now, but at this point I’m claiming the victory. Read more...

With the mad summer rush of the Jane Austen Festival and Costume College over, I finally have time to share some of the projects I’ve been working on this year. The first, however, is a project I started in 2015 but for various reasons didn’t actually wear until last month! Read more...

June seems like the perfect time to tell you all about my latest winter accessory, right? When I made my fur trim satin mantle this past winter, I also made a matching oversized faux fur muff.  Read more...

My first completed project of 2018 is a cream satin late 1780s/early 1790s faux fur-trimmed mantle and matching muff. You’d think by now I’d have enough  18^th century capes and cloaks, but there is so much variety in the accessories of the last quarter of the century, and I want to make them all! Read more...