BBC Elegance

Another Preview~

This is a preview of the dress Willow plans to wear. Full picts to come!

GEOMETRICS :s

Ever wonder why you spend hours in highschool doing Geometry? Well, I just found out...

Having found a 1855 pattern online for the bodice of Kelsey's dress, I laid out the material only to find that the pattern was missing some dimensions! Using a number of triangles, formulas, sine, and cosine, I figured out the missing dimensions. (I haven't used geometry since highschool, so I had to quickly look up the formulas online. )

Here is a screenshot of my calculations in Paint. I think its time to adapt Solidworks ...

South Hampshire Cotton Dress

And tonight I am beginning on Kelsey's Dress.

(I am now only one day behind my schedule.)

I found these amazingly simple patterns from Lady's Godey's Magazines from the 1850s. They are so simple, hardly any seams! I suppose if you had to hand sew every seam, you'd be looking for a simple pattern too. And to think that these dresses were often so ornate!

Well, I am going to try to recreate a BBC North & South style dress (with a few of my own details as always) complete with a bonnet.

And I'm thinking a cream batten burg lace collar?

P.S. I did end up putting jewels on the brown dress, and this is the last one to sew.

Late Century Finery

Today was a much nicer day, the sun was out and it warmed up in the afternoon. It would have been a perfect day for professional pictures, however, my photographer didn't get home until late - and I don't have everything done. For now, it's another sneak peak.

I picked this dress up at a thrift store, I was so excited, it was so lovely. I added sleeves, and a piece at the neckline, and I'm thinking little rubies to match the under-layer? Willow is the genius behind the sleeve material. With the dress being a fair bit more than I would normally spend, I didn't really want to buy material for the sleeves. Willow was brilliant, she suggest using a portion of the lining. I took off several inches of the lining, re-hemmed it, and made some sleeves. Now, I just have to figure out how I am going to attach the rubies?

~Before~/~After~

And Additional Details

By the Lake of Shinning Waters

I apologize for this post being so short, but in a moment or two I am racing out the door. Here is another preview. I picked this blouse up in Mexican Town down in Detroit, I love the crispness of the collar.

The skirt of this outfit reminds me of Anne's Lake of Shinning Waters, also seems as if the lake took shape in an outfit.

And here is the suggested parasol, not rain proof, this is completely lace. I consider this one a masterpiece.

~Ashley

A Hint of Spring with Violet Trimmings

The first post of an outfit is always a challenge. How does one post without spoiling the final surprise?

I was driving by the thrift shop one evening and a dress caught my eye. The dress stood Regal & Elegant, reminiscent of the Victorian Ball gowns.

As the store was closed when I drove by, Willow was gem and picked the dress up for me, and it was every bit as lovely as I had thought. However, it was only a size 16! Well, with a little seam letting, the dress is now a XS, here are some pictures of the work in progress.

As you can see the dress had small straps on each shoulder, which really took away from the beauty of the dress. I removed these, and tucked up the hem in small, graceful poofs.

I am now in the process of adding embroidery ~ Violate Embroidery ~ ....

The Dress is a light Spring Green, a transparent shade of the green leaves above.

(my lighting isn't very good, nor are my photography skills, I'll have Willow take the professional shots.)

Whispers of Roses

Another sneak peak! Here I am fixing Sarah's dress, just before the storm came rolling in.

(I recently bough this lovely hat from KaKy Co. )