Entirely Swoon-worthy ;)

If I had all the time in the world, and nothing else on my plate, I'd turn Seamstress in a heartbeat. :) But that wouldn't fit too well with the whole "BBC" thing...there aren't any nursery rhymes about historical dress-makers, are there? ;) Here are some of my inspirations when I do follow the sewing bug...
The Story of a Seamstress - Atlanta's projects never cease to elicit admiring, envious, altogether-drooling sighs from me. This is historical sewing at it's prime.


A Needle Pulling Thread-- Because an afternoon in my dear friend Joanna's company is delightful, even when ripping seams. :)

Sewing in the Past-- Rebecca is just simply adorable, and she sews costumes for theaters and plays all that amazing jazz. :)

Interview with The Young Victoria costume designer, Sandy Powell --since I was all agog over the costumes in this movie, I was hopelessly enamored with this website.

This is a hilarious website, devoted to spying out "recycled" movie costumes! Gotta love it. :)

And my absolute favorite.... Cosprop! This is the Costume Warehouse in London where the BBC gets so many of its costumes for period dramas--in the gallery you can click around and see up-close photos of all the swoon-worthy costumes, including trims and embroideries, fabrics, and more!

Ahhhh....I am seriously thinking about making something elaborate as soon as I gather together enough money to buy material and trims and things.... :) I'd like to do a combination dress of these two:

The Rose and Gold gown from The Young Victoria....

And Belle's gown from Beauty and the Beast....I would just need to decide once and for all if I look good in yellow/gold, and then decide how to fix the dilemma of it's being off-the-shoulder....but aren't they lovely? :) What sewing projects are you working on?

Ah, yes, I could easily morph from baker to seamstress. ;) 

From Nada to Prada ;)

This week we have been lent a sewing machine to accomplish some altering of historical costumes so that we can go as a family to a reenactment this weekend. You don't know *how* good it feels to get back into sewing! My poor machine has been ill for a year now, and shows no signs of revival anytime soon. :P So when I saw that we had the machine for a little while my mind immediately flew to projects I've had on hold during this whole year. Enter: The Too Short, Adorable Dress.A dear friend of mine, The King's Daughter, had given it to me, as it was too short for her. But I found I was too tall for it too, so I thought, "Why not make it into a shirt?" That was what I aimed to do. I laid it out on the table this afternoon:

I measured how short I needed it to be, then marked that on the wrong side of the fabric:

Then Snip-Snip! (The frightening part. :P) And there on the table was my new shirt, ready to be hemmed. I even had some left over for a head-band!

 

Here's a view of my happy-tiny hem. :) 

The finished product! :) I left it a little longer because the style of the new shirt (having formerly been a dress) would have looked funky much shorter.

 

Pardon the ultra-concentrated expression on my face--it's harder than you'd guess, taking a picture at that angle in a mirror. :P

 

And a view of the hem and whatever else this picture shows.  Isn't that fun? I made myself a much needed addition to my outfit by cutting down something that formerly would not have been very modest! I feel triumphant! :D Any sewing bugs biting around your house?

This is entirely random, but on the subject of clothes, I love my red and white polka-dot dress! :) The King's Daughter [again] passed it along to me, and, despite my sisters calling it the Minnie Mouse dress, I love it. So feminine and stylish! ~Rachel