December projects

I hope everyone's had a great holiday! 

This whole month of December has been super busy for me, which would explain my month absence. In between working 2 jobs and going to school, I somehow found some time to make at least 3 colonial outfits as well as a new wool cape and a matching muff cover. To speed up what I've done these projects, I'll give you the short version. 

Red Trailing Vines Caraco Jacket

For my birthday, I bought the Williamsburg collection fabric (Red flowers) with the intent on using it to make my first long caraco jacket. Thankfully I had more than enough to not only make it, but also had a yard left for selvage or for future projects. I used the J.P. Ryan Anglaise pattern and instead of making the skirt floor/ankle length, I stopped it to my knees. At first, I thought about adding trim to give it an elegant finish, but realized that 90% of my gowns and jackets either have ruched or box-pleats or knife-pleats on them. So, ultimately I decided to keep it plain and simple. 

Red Trailing Vines Fitted Jacket

Decided to do this one on a whim. With the remaining 1 yard of fabric I had left over from the caraco, I managed to turn it into a fitted jacket for my working class/camp follower impression. To make the jacket, I also used J.P. Ryan's Jacket Pattern and also kept the project plain and simple (mostly because I expect this to get dirty and be in the washer machine a lot).

 Plum 1780's Anglaise Gown

When I originally made this gown, I intended to make it into a ball gown and pulling all the stops for when it came to making trim. So far, I had somewhat accomplished that goal (box pleats with pinked edges) and decided to try a "fitting" a week before Christmas, while walking around Colonial Williamsburg for the day to see if it would hold up and what needed to be fixed later on. The dress held up well with only a little bit of fraying with the trim around the arms. Later, I plan to make a copper color petticoat to contrast the plum color and then add flounce to it. :D