12/23/07

It is finished! Go here for the final pictures.

10/01/2007

If I continue at this rate, I think this dress might actually be finished WELL in advance of its deadline! Read More...

9/30/2007

All day sewing on velvet trim and I have a callus on my middle finger the size of a pea... Read More...

9/19/2007

I started something! Read More...

9/16/2007

It's time to start making a new frock for the Dickens Fair. Last year I went all nuts over an early bustle gown, which in concept was really fabulous, but when it came down to wearing it, I really didn't care for. I'm short and the effect of the waistline at the natural waist, plus the bustle, just didn't flatter my figure. But that was last year's outfit... Out with the old, in with the new!

This year, I went back to the dress I've been intending to make for the last 2 years, the black day dress pictured above. I had it in mind to use a gold & black plaid silk taffeta I'd been saving for a Dickens dress, but then I got to looking at the fashion plate and the more I studied it, the more I realized I was drawn to the black dress because, well, I've got a goth streak a mile wide in me. I wear almost no other color except for black on an everyday basis, but my historical wardrobe is brighter and more varied in color. I have only one black historical gown, come to think of it.

The other thing that clinched it was at Costume College this year I bought this stunning little ceramic pendant from one of the vendors. A skull surrounded by forget-me-nots, it struck me as rather Victorian, and it ended up being the center-piece for my idea of an 1850s mourning day dress.

So, with all that in mind, I went through my stash and pulled out some dark charcoal silk taffeta, black velvet ribbon, and some other odds 'n ends and then got started on the undergarments...

Click for undies!