Tiger Lily's Threads

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...

It's been a VERY long time since I've last revisited the "Waverly" gown. Originally it was for the Braddocks' Day Ball in May 2014, and since then it had been sitting in my closet or in storage. Before my husband and I moved to our new place last year, I did spend a little time with it to do a little revamping and changed some things out. I made a matching petticoat, removed all of the extra frilly lace off the sleeves and shortened the HUGE red bow in the middle by cutting off the tails, as well as tightened up the neckline so it wouldn't sag at the shoulders when I wear it.  Before After  Fast Forward to 2015 ~~~~~~~~ After I revamped it a year ago, I still wasn't 100% happy with the turn out. The trim was ragged and needed a little more attention. So last night, I re-revamped it. Luckily I now have a pair of pinking shears (Love them!) and went to work on carefully cutting the trim of the neckline and the sleeves. I also removed the fl...

Last year, I wrote a list of things I wanted to accomplish for the upcoming year. One of them was to have a sewing corner where I could freely work without any space restrictions. Well, this week was the best time to make it happen. Last month, one of my roommates moved out leaving the spare bedroom to be a storage room. I took the opportunity to clean the corner of my own room out and build the sewing corner I've always wanted. At first, it was just a TV tray with the sewing machine on top of it and my dress maker's dummy, but after a while the space was still very limited. So my mother volunteered to donate her table top which is more than enough room for me to stretch out and really get to work. A little later on, I plan on getting a shelf so I can put things like ribbons on top, and maybe some cute fashion plates for inspiration and reference.