Today it has rained and rained, slowly and steadily and the rain has washed away nearly all of the snow we received a few days ago. The wind comes from the easterly direction and is warm. I don't think we shall have a white Christmas after all. Rather a brown and gray and silver sort of Christmas, with the wet and damp of the outdoors combated by a warm wood fire and smells of roast duck and cheesecake and cranberry-apple pie and a cut glass punchbowl simply swimming with ruby-red punch that David makes from ginger ale and frozen cranberry juice. (Assuming, of course, that the duck comes out well).
I finished the last of my Christmas gifts and have them all neatly packaged and wrapped. I was very proud of myself to have only to bake something for my grandparents before I was done with all my Christmas preparations. I whipped up a batch of cinnamon swirl bread and baked the two loaves as I have done countless times before. They came out terribly. The taste is excellent but it seems the loaves underwent some sort of writhing and twisting contortions while within the oven. The dough has burst open in some places revealing the brown and sugar crystaled interiors. I just cannot give these to my grandparents. It never fails that when I want to make something especially nice for someone dear to me that the thing I am making turns out wrong. Especially when it comes to cooking and baking. The fudge won't set, the cookies burn, the apples in the pie are still crunchy, the cake has a dip in the middle, you get the idea. Sigh. I will make a batch of my tried-and-true favorite blueberry muffin recipe tonight to give to my grandparents instead of the bread. If they don't turn out it is not my fault. I am under some sort of holiday-baking curse.
I finished my dress today - well, except for the hook and eyes - and am very happy with how it came out. I haven't had a new dress for Christmas for a long time and well, isn't every girl excited to have a pretty new frock to wear for a special occasion? :)
It took me a little while to figure out how I wanted to attach the ruffle. I debated over whether drawing it up over a cord or hemming the top side and attaching it directly to the skirt. At last I decided on a more practical solution that will hold up the best to every day wear and washing in a modern washing machine. I just gathered the ruffle and covered the top edge with a bias band and then turned under and hand stitched the top of the bias band to the skirt. This way I had way less handsewing to do (since I like to handstitch everything that can be seen from the outside) and it is very sturdy. I really like the ruffle. It gives a little added feminine flair and also helps the skirt obtain that characteristic 1820's triangular/gored shape.
The bias band also helps to hide the imperfections of the fabric I used. It was a $1.50 cotton from Wal Marts bargain table and the check is not woven, it is merely printed. The print was not exactly on grain so the lines of the print do not match the straight torn lines at the top and bottom of the skirt as well as the top and bottom of the ruffle. I chose to add the ruffle to hopefully help hide the lines of the print at the plain skirt hem and the bias band to hide the weirdly angling lines of the check where I attached the ruffle.I decided to make just two bows for the bodice. They are placed slightly down on each shoulder and attached with a safety pin. The belt hooks closed in the back. A lot of fashion plates from the 1820's show gowns heavily trimmed but this is just a plain cotton day dress so I tried to think of something a girl from this area may have done, in a rustic backwoods community, to dress up a plain frock for a special event. The bows and belt seemed like a very simple and easy way to accomplish this and they can easily be removed and reattached whenever the need arises.
The necklace is a wood carved cross pendant on a black linen cord. The two items (cross and cord) were from David to put in my stocking. I decided to put them together and save him the trouble of having to figure it out for himself. :) I like the simplicity of it. And yes, the necklace is going back into his little "stocking goodie" bag so I can get it permanently on Christmas morning.
I am NOT looking forward to sewing on hook and eyes. You know when you reach that point of hand sewing where your fingers are rough and indented with millions of tiny pin and needle pricks and catch on everything you touch? I am at that point now. But I Must Get This Done. I suppose I will work on it while sitting directly in front of the oven watching my muffins with suspicion and passionate eagerness - "Oh, please come out right this time!"I don't think I'll have time to post again until after Christmas, so I wish all you dear readers a most marvelous and wonderful God-filled day! Merry Christmas!!
Love,
Sarah
The tree is up, and each day the mailman usually delivers a Christmas card or two from dear friends and beloved family. Each card is duly admired and read and then hung upon our mantle with the others, til Christmas Eve, when they will be taken down and replaced with our stockings.
"Victorian Roses"
"Autumn Colorsplash"
I have also been slowly working on my dress for Christmas Eve. It is going very slowly as I keep having to postpone work on it for some reason or the other. It is an 1820's style and I think this is the last dress I will make in this style for a little while. It is getting - old. I still really like the overall look, I'm just tired of making dresses with this overall look at the the moment. The process gets so monotonous. Here is the bodice. It is made of a cream and cranberry check cotton with a darted bodice, scoop neckline and piping. The sleeves are bishop sleeves, based on a drawing of different sleeve styles in Patterns of Fashion 1. 
Here is the point of construction that I am at now. I have the skirt pinned to the waistband but not sewn on yet. The folded up fabric you see laying on the neck will be an 8" wide ruffle all around the hem. The skirt is made from one 45" wide rectangular panel in the back and three gores in the front. To make the gores I folded a 45" wide rectangle, cut to my preferred hem length, in half and drew out a gore that was appx. 15" wide at the top and 35" at the hem. The two pieces left over after I cut out the center gore I used as side gores. This gives maximum fullness at the hem but a smooth line at the top. I did lightly gather the front of the skirt in case I ever wear this if I am pregnant again. Room to grow is always a good thing!
To finish it, I plan to add the ruffle and trim the top of the shoulders with cranberry taffeta bows with perhaps another bow at the center front neckline and a cranberry taffeta sash or belt. I also just got the Sense and Sensibility Regency Underthings pattern and would love to make a turn back collared chemisette to wear with it from some sheer voile I have.
The construction methods offered in the pattern seem a tad modern. I can’t say if they are inaccurate per se, but I like to construct my own dresses a bit differently with the lining and fashion fabric treated as one and seams overcast or left raw as per original dresses. The instructions call for sewing up the lining and fashion fabric separately and then sewing them right sides together and turning them. I prefer to use a turned self facing for opening edges (front or back) or piping for around the neckline and openings rather than using the method called for. The instructions also call for a center front or center back placket in the skirt. I like to use a center back skirt opening for a back fastening dress but prefer a dog leg closure on a front opening dress to avoid a seam or placket in the center front of the skirt. The instructions also call for the top of the skirt to be gathered along the raw edge and stitched directly to the waistband or bodice. A period method would be to turn under a little of the top of the skirt and attach the folded, finished edge of the skirt to the bodice with small whip stitches. This method makes a very smooth, low bulk waistline rather than having all the gathers or pleats bunched into the waistband. 
Technical Characteristics:
Final Thoughts:
Another lovely pattern by Sense and Sensibility! I think it is a lovely base pattern from which many serious costumers could create beautiful, appropriate gowns, combing outside research on fit and construction and additional style details with the information contained in the pattern. As is, the pattern creates a very passable dress and would be a wonderful and practical style to wear for everyday. 
P.S. I do not smoke a cob pipe, but since David had one lit, I couldn't resist using it as a prop. After all, my extreme interest is in the clothing of the Early Settlers and according to Christian Reeser, patriarch of David's family, who settled in this same area in the mid 1800's, tobacco was one of the things that kept him healthy and young (he lived to a very great age, I believe 102 but do not have the family history book on hand to check for sure). 
The last picture is of my handsome hubby with his Redbone Coonhound, Jeb Stuart. 
I was not getting that look. I took the 3 bones out of the center of my stays and corded the sides of the "busk pocket" in the center front, although at the time I had no intention of ever using a busk. It supported me but did not give me a seperate look at all. I posted about my problem on the Sense and Sensibility message board and received several suggestions and encouragement to try a busk - so I did! The effect was immediate and happy. I got The Look. I also felt much more supported since the busk is very stiff and holds up the gusset "cup" in which each bust lies.
This one was also a paint stick which he picked up at a hardware store yesterday. (He got several actually; they were free). The ones he got were much thicker than the one I used as a trial run. They were printed on one side with lettering and there was a curved in handle shape at the bottom. He carved it down so the width of the paint stick measured the width of the curved-in handle so the finished busk is all one width. He sanded the edges smooth and sanded off the lettering. He did a very nice job with it. It is just a tad too long but he has promised to cut it down to the proper length for me this evening. I love him so. :) A wife certainly knows she is loved when her husband is willing to make a busk for her!
In other sewing news, I've been lazy. But I did finish my pink 1820's dress by sewing on the hook and eyes this afternoon. 
I also made a cloak earlier this week, 18th century style. It is a trial run made of poly blend plaid but it is warm and I have been using it a lot in the rain and damp we have been having. 
I also drafted a pattern for a set of 1790's stays for use under my regency drawstring gowns. The short stays I made a few years ago no longer fit the way I want them to. I've always admired the 
And finally, did I mention we have rain?! I glimpsed out the window today and realize we have a lake. Wild geese have been pausing here for rest and water all day long; as one flock goes out another comes in. 
They are now swimming the bean field that was harvested last week. It is very comfortable and cozy to hear their cries and bellows. What a busy little watering place we have right now!
Back view. Compared to my 1860's gored corset, this one is very lightly boned. Yet it still provides the support I need and is extremely comfortable, just like it is giving me a gentle hug. There are three bones down the center front of the corset to take the place of the more period-correct busk (which I did not use), a bone radiating down from the outside of each bust gusset and one bone radiating up from the inside of the hip gusset. Then there are bones on either side of the back eyelets. The spring in the back is not even so I will have to work on that. Either I need to tighten the top or loosen the bottom to get a more uniform space.
A closer view of the shape from the side. The one thing this corset doesn't do is provide the "divide" factor so desirable in regency corsets. I think a period correct straight busk would have helped but honestly, there is no space between to have anything straight to divide! :( I content myself with thinking that these stays are for later than regency dresses anyway. I still like the overall shape and think it will work perfectly for what I need.
Now that this is done, I need some chemises. For these pictures I used a mid-19th century style since my one drawstring regency chemise currently needs new drawstrings.
Love,
The First Day (Tuesday) I cut them out and sewed all the main pieces together. The Second Day I attached the gussets together and sewed the boning channels and inserted the boning. The Third Day I bound all the edges with homemade bias made from the lining fabric and today I finally finished up all the hand made lacing holes. So they are done, laying out on the bed and waiting for laces. They are of two layers; the outer layer is cotton twill and the inner layer white striped cotton.
I haven't tried them on since the mock up stage so I hope they fit well and don't need any alterations. I decided to just bone them instead of doing cording since I need the extra support and it is so much quicker to sew a boning channel and slip a bone in than to laboriously sew rows and rows of cords which would, probably, have to be done by hand to look nice. For my historically-inspired clothing I have decided that if it can be seen from the outside I will sew it by hand but if not, I will do it with a straight stitch on the machine. Probably Historically Sinful, I know, but it works for me for these every day wear sort of clothes. (A living history event would be totally different). Stays are underwear and thusly will not be viewable by the majority of humankind. Exceptions are my own family, but they don't care or even notice hand stitched seams vs. machine stitched seams. (In passing, it is a very prideful thing when your 2 year old son correctly indentifies and names "eyelets" "bones" and "stays" and takes great interest in "helping" poke eyelet holes in fabric with a knitting needle.)
And an inside view:
Not much else is note worthy, except for the fact that today Malachi is nine months old, he is starting to wean (*weeps*) and as of yesterday he has begun to stand by himself for quite lengthy amounts of time. No steps yet, though! But he is *extremely* proud of himself for standing alone. And for drinking out of a "real" cup (he tried a sippy once and hated it but does well with a certain little tin cup that is just his size) from which he partakes of milk, juice and water with habit and regulation.
If I had not firmly decided on the 1820's as my very favorite fashion era before this time, this dress would definitely have decided for me! Can you imagine wearing such an exquisite piece?!
Instead of attaching the collar to a chemisette, I just bound off the neckline with bias cut strips of white cotton and that is basted into the neck of my dress, just like my 1860's dresses. I don't know if this is P.C. or not, but it works for me and was a lot less work than having to make a whole chemisette to wear beneath my bodice. 
