Virtual Christmas Dress Party

Katrina, of the blog Edelweiss Patterns, has put together a Christmas Dress Blog Party. The short version is that anyone who wants to make a holiday dress and participate can share pictures and links on Katrina’s blog right before Christmas at the online party. Here’s the link to the full description.

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I have to say that I’m not a make-a-dress-every-holiday sort of person. I’m also not a wear-a-fancy-dress-for-Christmas-dinner kind of person. I don’t go to many holiday parties except historically clothed ones and for Christmas dinner I wear something nice, but then soon change into comfy clothes for lounging in front of the fire and playing board games (mmm, favorite holiday pastimes!).

This year, however, I’ve already started a dress that I’d been intending to wear to a Christmas party, which works out wonderfully! Unfortunately, the party I’d been planning to attend changed locations, making it impossible for me and my friends to be there, so we’re trying to find a date to do our own holiday-themed outing instead (if it works out there will definitely be pictures!). Regardless, my dress is well on its way to completion–hopefully I can finish it off over this Thanksgiving weekend–and I will get pictures somewhere even if our holiday outing doesn’t work out. It will be perfect for the Christmas Dress Blog Party!

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Here’s my inspiration: Vogue #588 from 1950, in the COPA at URI. (Click through to COPA to see an image of the pattern pieces.)

My dress is red sheer rayon with a slight textured stripe. I call it the Baroness dress because it reminds me of a mashup of the style of dresses worn by the Baroness in The Sound of Music (see below), despite the fact that the inspiration pattern is a bit later than the movie. It’s a fun coincidence, because Katrina particularly loves The Sound of Music, as you might guess by the title of her blog and pattern line, but I promise, it was the Baroness dress in my head long before Katrina posted about the virtual dress party!

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The Baroness by the lake. Hip bow inspiration. And red.
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The Baroness in an evening gown. Evening dress inspiration in general.

And, happy Thanksgiving!

Safety Pin Pillow

I completed a little project last week! It’s one I’ve been hoping to complete since the summer, when I realized how helpful it is at work that I have a safety pin pillow with open safety pins stuck into it near my fitting area, but that at home I keep my pins closed and in a plastic container. The solution was simply to make a safety pin pillow for home that can also travel with me when I do independent work outside of my normal costume shop!

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The pillow is a simple square. It’s made from leftover bits of 1850s reproduction cotton (also known as Georgina) flatlined with muslin to help give the pins something to bite into and stuffed with polyester batting. I love that the colors are very me, the fabric has a story, and it won’t show hand oil dirt for a long time.

The pillow is about 6″ square and as you can see I have space to add lots more safety pins. (Plus, it’s squishy, and I like squishy things!) Really, safety pin pillows are genius ideas! It makes fittings so much more efficient to have pins easy to access and already open. Maybe you need to make one, too?

Fabric Stash Addition: Silk Plaid

Well, I went to the fabric store today looking for fabrics to cover some gifted pillow forms to grace our newly redecorated rooms (they’re still not quite done after two weeks of work, but hopefully soon they’ll be done and I’ll have pictures!). I found some truly horrendous fabrics like the one below… (don’t worry! I didn’t buy it. I can only imagine this being in a farmhouse kitchen and even then I wonder about all the mixed motifs…)

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Roosters, and damask motifs, and sunflowers, and gingham, and words…

I did find a few pillow possibilities that I liked, but they all had oatmeal/neutral backgrounds that would not look good in our space, so I didn’t purchase any of those. (I’ve got more places to check out, so I’m not concerned on that front, yet.)

And I did look through the silks, as I always do. Danger!!!! I found lovely plaid smooth silk taffeta (no slubs, hooray!) and it just wanted to come home with me to be made into an 1850s/60s evening gown. I finished off the bolt, which was just under 7 yards. Hopefully enough to make a skirt, possibly both day and evening bodices, and also maybe self trim. Someday (maybe next year?).

A very kind and enabling friend who happened to be with me helped convince me that the silk was a good idea. So in the grand tradition of all my 1850s/60s gowns which have names, when I get around to building the new plaid one I affectionally plan to name the new gown “Johanna” after her. It’s actually a bit more subdued in person. More of a “bruise palette” collection of colors than my usual jewel tones, but “bruise palette” is Johanna’s go to for color choices, so that is perfect. And it’s patterned, which is in keeping with my need to add more patterns to my wardrobe. I think I’ll play up the purple in this rather than the green, since I already have a green 1860s ball gown.

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Fabric! (Because obviously I don’t have enough of it in my stash or enough to accomplish in my life right now…)

Take A Break With Me

My life is still unexpectedly busy and my only sewing has been decor-related as a result. What do I mean, you ask? The story (with pictures!) is coming sometime soon in an upcoming post, but for now I’m leaving only that hint.

This weekend, though (unlike last weekend!), I’ll be taking a break from my decor-realted activities. And if you’re in the Boston area and you don’t yet have plans for November 8th and 9th, you might consider joining the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers at a Civil War Dance Weekend in Chelmsford, MA. I’ll be there dancing the weekend away and would be pleased to see you there.

Not able to join us for this dance weekend? There’s an annual holiday ball in December and a special 1890s weekend in January coming up! Details can be found here. And if you’re just too far away to be in person at any of these events, I hope you still enjoyed the brief video and that you’ll enjoy the pictures of these events that will be included in future posts!