Tiger Lily's Threads

For the past several weeks, I've been working on attempting to make a ladies 18th century jacket. Nothing too fancy, but something cutesy and practical enough for upcoming reenactments. The first thing that came to mind was the jacket worn by the famous "Chocolate Girl".  The sleeves and the peplum in the back of the jacket are my two most favorite things, and definitely something I would like to attempt to recreate.  To make this jacket, i had to really do my homework and figure out what would work for this. I pulled out my jacket pattern I bought in April, and selected version A front and back.  Women's Jacket pattern by JPRyan The mockup worked pretty well, only the peplum in the back was too long and almost resembled a Caraco jacket. I tried pleating it, but it didn't work too well to give the jacket that pleated look-where it sticks up and out. So this is where I'm a little stuck now. I'll fiddle with the pleats some...

On a rainy day like today, I've decided to do some sewing (preferably finishing projects that I've kept in the queue). So, I pulled out the blue 1809 day dress I was working on back in March, and got busy. I've also decided to add it to the Historical Sewing Monthly Challenge. The Challenge: #4 War & Peace Fabric: Cotton quilting fabric  Pattern: Period Impressions' Regency day dress Year: 1809 Notions: Buttons & clasp How historically accurate is it?:  Historically speaking, a lot of women wore day dresses like this during the War of 1812. As far as sewing construction goes, I want to say that it's pretty much half/half. On the inside of the bodice, most of it is hand-sewn, but as soon as I got to the skirt construction, I decided to use the sewing machine. The pattern itself, is as close to historically accurate as possible considering it's from Period Impressions.  Hours to complete: 120+ hours, and 2 months; I got started on i...

Went on an adventure with my husband and our friend AJ, to Historic Ellicott City in Maryland. It was an awesome experience, mostly because of the things that we stumbled upon that was either hidden or overlooked. Case in point, at the Forget me Not Factory on the third floor, there is a door that housed several original writings of the Odd Fellows Lodge who were there for a party... back in April 1887. Barnie Radcliffe Not sure exactly what it says but it was written on 4/22/1887 1887 If you look at the very bottom, there are prices for beer Seeing something so hidden from the general public, but at the same time in plain view was pretty awesome, and I'm glad to have come across it with my buddies. After that, I just decided to take pictures of all of the plaques outside of the buildings so I could read them later. But other than that, I did come across some pretty neat stuff.  The old Millhouse now turned into an antique and restaurant...

Ok! Finally had some time to get started on one of the projects from my "To-do" list. Today, I worked on cutting out the fabric of my petticoat for my new ensemble. Originally, I was going to make a Pet-en-l'air but I've decided to put that on hold until a ball event and just stick with my fitted jacket. But at the same time, I'll have the petticoat on hand. For this project, I didn't want to break my bank, so bought this really cute coral colored flat bed sheet from Wal*Mart for $9. I folded it in half and measured it out to my waist and towards the floor. After I got the correct measure, I cut it out and started fun but tedious job of pinning and pleating using knife pleats. The thought of doing cartridge pleats were on my mind, but I figured that for a petticoat it wouldn't really be necessary. Later on, I do plan on adding a flounce to the bottom and having a matching jacket from my JPR pattern I bought back at Ft. Fred. As far as the fin...

It's a bit of a long read, but it's a very interesting take on the possibility of what really lead to Marie Antoinette's death during the French Revolution: Fashion trends. If you look through several accounts in the history books, the fashion trends of her time definitely mirrored the demand of the fashion trends of our time: everything had to be new and current. This definitely was a huge thing in the aristocracy, and the Dauphine Marie Antoinette, was no stranger to following fashion trends and even starting a few herself...remember those towering hairstyles? http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/fashion-to-die-for/

It's been an interesting month. With all of the events and projects I've been working on and whatnot, but nothing prepared me for what I encountered today. If you have or haven't read, the blog "Wearing History"by Lauren M., It's definitely an eye opener and something to consider, that even though we costumers, seamstresses, and even reenactors post perfect pictures of our works online, underneath it all, there is a story to tell of what went on during those days each of those posts were made, or those pictures were taken. Perhaps a bad day or something very deep that heavily dawned on their minds that hindered them from focusing on what it was they really wanted to happen. But never the less, we're not perfect. We are human, and we each have our own personal stories. For the challenge that Lauren M. requested, I'll do my share and take you behind the scenes of some of the entries I've posted. Braddock's Day Ball May 2014 My husband ...

Met up with a friend after work yesterday, who told me that her grandmother was getting rid of some fabric, but didn't want to exactly throw it away. When I volunteered to give it a home, I was overwhelmed with how much I was actually getting. While it's not pictured, I was given 2 HUGE garbage bags full of uncut and unused fabric. I was very thankful but didn't have enough room to store it all in. I ended up dividing it up with another friend of mine who has a passion for sewing and I took what I couldn't part with. I see a lot of potential with these yards of fabric, especially the wool fabric in the far back. 

Just got back from Mount Vernon, VA for the reenactment event. I haven't' been to Mount Vernon in a while, and I certainly haven't' been interpreting there in costume, since I was 8-12 years old. So it was great to be back!  Anyway, it was definitely an experience that I wanted to share with you. First off, this was my first time camping overnight. I was excited but at the same time nervous because I was away from home from my warm bed, but I wanted to experience this first hand. When my unit arrived to the site, we set up camp and settled down for the night… well sort of, on the account that it was FREEZING with hat felt like 30 degrees outside. We tried to sleep, but even with several blankets, a wool coat, modern clothes, and several pairs of socks, we were all complaining about how frigid it was. We ended up taking over a fire pit from someone else's camp and just sitting around just so we could stay warm.  That's when we noticed some strange things hap...