Tiger Lily's Threads

To end the year out, I decided to crack open my fabric stash I bought from my birthday trip to Colonial Williamsburg and make myself a new Robe L'anglaise. Now, as many times as I have made them, they mostly end up looking funny around the shoulders due to the pattern's construction (Mill Farm). So what I did to fix that was combine the pattern from Mill Farm and J.P.Ryan in order for it to look a little better than the previous jackets. Thankfully, I got everything on point. Hung remaining 3 yards to gage what I would need after the bodice was made I made a mock-up of the modified bodice and tweaked some things to make it look more form fitting. Thankfully it worked.  My mock-up Long story short, I added the proper pieces to their places and even sewed the bodice overnight. By Monday, I got started on the skirt. Instead of sewing with the machine, I decided to take a more traditional approach and sew it all by hand; each stitch was very small and uniform to ens...

                Last month, I decided to try something a little different to challenge my sewing skills; boy was I right on the money. I've never made a spencer jacket before and while I've often considered making one in the past, I'd end up not going through with it. So, this time I decided to challenge myself by jumping in and doing it. Besides, with all of the other things I've made in the past, this couldn't be hard to do right? Aside from that, I just love the silhouette it gives when it's put over the day or evening dress.                  The fabric I chose for this project was the black Waverly print from Lowe's  for $27. When I paired the fabric together with a 2 of my regency dresses, it matched wonderfully. The colors absolutely popped when I paired it with the brown empire gown, and the Chemise La Reine I made back in September; it just gives it a great fall/winter fes...

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How to describe today's events: The Battle of Red Bank happened sometime around October of 1777, where the Hessians attempted to take over Fort Mercer (a fort on the left bank of the Delaware River), but were defeated by the local colonial residents of New Jersey. 2015's commemoration started with me waking up at 4am to get ready for my ride that would arrive at 6:30 am. The hardest part of course was only having 3 hours of sleep after coming home at 1:00 am from an evening wedding. After my ride arrived, my Artillery Lt. and I headed straight for New Jersey. It literally took us 2 hours with no sign of any cars or traffic. We made great time, and even got to see the sun rise. The one thing that took me by surprise was how cold it was. I was expecting it to be a bit chillier than normal considering we were by the Delaware River, but I wasn't expecting winter weather so soon. It was a frigid 45 degrees with a 5 degree increase and 20mph windchill. It was so c...

What the item is: 1779 Jacket The Challenge: #8 Heirlooms and Heritage Fabric: Waverly Curtain collection Cotton Fabric, muslin fabric (lining), interfacing Pattern: J.P. Ryan 18th century wome's Jacket Year: 1779 Notions: none How historically accurate is it?: The pattern is pretty accurate, but as for the print itself, it's possible; large floral prints like this, were popular back during that time. Hours to complete: 2 days for the muslin construction, and once I got the Waverly fabric, it took me 3 days to cut out the pattern, sew the whole thing together, and make all of the trim by using a loose running stitch and gathering it up tight enough for that ruched effect. First worn: I will be wearing this to the Battle of Red Bank reenactment in NJ Total cost: $20 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS!  Working on the stomacher Before the final result, this was what it was originally going to look like. The trim was on the stomacher only as a resu...

Just got back from Colonial Williamsburg this weekend, for my 29th birthday. It was amazing!  On Friday, my friend Stephanie and I arrived to Williamsburg around 11am and immediately went to go see the wonderful play, "The Pursuit to Monticello: Lt. Col. Banastere Tarleton's pursuit to capture Jefferson." It was a really funny and well produced play (especially since the audience was included in the play as restauranteurs, eavesdropping in on their conversation). In my opinion, I believe that I think everyone should go see it.  Throughout the weekend, we did some shopping and sightseeing around D.O.G Street and got some really nice pictures with the Founding Fathers.  My Swag: "A Morning Ramble or The Milliner's Shop" Poster, Quilted Petticoat,  4 yards of  this really popular fabric, The book "The Hemingses of Monticello", 2 Mill Farms patterns, a stack of writing paper, a reproduction of the Dunmore Proclamation, ...

This is a very short post, but this is definitely a good read if you want to learn more about the Victorian lifestyle. http://www.vox.com/2015/9/9/9275611/victorian-era-life

Hey everybody,         I'm really excited to say that in less than a week I will be traveling to the greatest place on Earth: Colonial Williamsburg. Since their awesome UTR event back in 2013, I have tried to save up for another trip; however due to financial ups and downs, I've never been able to go visit. . . until now.  With my birthday literally around the corner, I was able to collaborate with my Grandparents, my friend Stephanie, as well as spend a lot of hours doing Internet research on travel plans, and daily events the park offered. All I can say now is that this distant dream has finally become a reality. We have definitely a lot planned for our trip, which includes a visit to the famous Prentis store and to venture around Merchants Square and Governor's Mansion.       But still the question of what to wear… well given Virginia's history of scorching Summer/Fall, I'm totally basing it off of the weather and Virginia's heat index: Hot...

What the item is: Small bum roll The Challenge : #9 Brown Fabric: 100% cotton plaid fabric, cotton stuffing Pattern: improvised Year: 1700-1780's Notions : Binding tape How historically accurate is it?:  Bum rolls have been around since the Renaissance period all the way up to the late 18th century. As far as this particular project goes, I want to say this is as close to historically accurate (the majority was machine sewn to make sure it would't fall apart, while some of it was hand sewn when I had it closed by using a whipstitch). As far as the fabric print, plaid was used a lot during the 18th century as well as cotton (granted cotton was more expensive than linen at the time since this was before invention of the Cotton Gin).  Hours to complete: 2 hours First worn:  Plan to wear it with my Chemise La Reine and jackets Total cost : Around $10

During my lunch break at work, a friend of mine sent me this pretty neat article by Morgan Donner and her love for historical clothes and possibly anime. I absolutely love the concept and the step by step descriptions she put in her article. Morgan Donner's 16th century Sailor Moon  Check out her blog down here! http://www.morgandonner.com/2015/08/sailor-moon-in-the-16th-century/

               This is related to my earlier post, but heck why not turn it into a challenge piece?   The challenge: Out of your comfort zone Fabric: 100% Cotton voile (gown), bleached cotton muslin (sleeves), and sheer curtain fabric (collar) Pattern:  A modified pattern made by Fresh Frippery; the sleeves were used from the 1809 day dress pattern. Year: 1790 Notions: Ribbon for the sash and drawstring, lace for the sleeves How historically accurate is it?:  Despite using the sewing machine to beat the deadline, I'd say that this is pretty accurate for the time. Hours to complete: 72 hours (3 days) First worn: Only to try it on a few times. Total cost: $27.15 For a 1st attempt, I'd say I did pretty well. I plan to make another one in the near future with more lace, more frills, and probably make them with long slender sleeves.

The Chemise a La Reine ("Chemise for the Queen" in French) is a garment or chemise made popular by the Queen Marie Antoinette of France in the mid 1780's. The fabric consisted of a very lightweight cotton or muslin that was fitted around the neckline, sleeves, and cinched at the waist with a colored sash. It's a very simple but elegant gown even to this day. With that in mind, I wanted to make one myself. Over the years, I've seen a lot of historical costume makers do it and make it look so easy. This was a perfect time to challenge myself with working on new fabrics and techniques.  To start off, I ordered 3 yards of cotton voile from ebay for $2.99 a yard. I figured that if I make a mistake, I wouldn't feel too bad considering it was much cheaper than the finer quality which would be $14.99 a yard or higher.  Next I did used a diagram made by Fresh Frippery . I found this to be very easy to work with and to understand especially since it...