Tiger Lily's Threads

To double up on keeping me warm for the upcoming winter weekend event in January, I figured that just the wool cape and mitts wouldn't really be enough; being slender, I end up getting very cold easily at 70 degrees. I really had to look into my clothing inventory to see what I had for the extreme cold. In the past, I would wear layers in order to keep warm, however it's always been hit and miss (either the gown wasn't warm enough, or I didn't have a heavy enough wool cloak-it was always something). This year, I decided to remedy that and make a wool jacket out of 100% flannel wool by Renaissance Fabrics.   While I waited for my 2 yards of wool fabric to come in through the mail, I immediately set off to work on cutting out the lining for my Jacket (vers. B). B happens to be my favorite because I really love the peplum in the back as well as the stomacher. I also considered adding some thick interlining to the top of the sleeves to ensure that I would have ex...

It's gotten a little colder these past few days, and from reports from the Poor Richard's Almanac, we're just getting started.  With the goal of keeping warm this winter for upcoming events, I looked to working with wool. I ordered wool flannel fabric from Renaissance Fabrics to make a 1777 jacket (will do a write up about that later), and then worked on a pair of long woolen mitts as a small project.  Using references from Linda Baumgarten's Costume Close Up (1750-1790) , I cut out the fabric pieces (well, franken-stitched them before sewing the actual pattern pieces together). Once I had the arms done, I added the thumb gussets by tracing the pattern on my computer screen with tracing paper and zoomed it into scale (thank you technology!). All in all, these were a fun little project to do. The only thing I wish I had done a little differently was used black thread along the bottom hem of the mitts rather than green. But at the same time, ...

Halloween has officially come and gone! Luckily I was able to grab some photos in memorandum.  Before class, I went to participate in the Halloween Party at the student commons. I really had a great time and was surprised with all of the activities they had there for the college students: photo booth, picking out your own pumpkin and painting it, a murder mystery, face painting, a fondue fountain with other snacks, and of course free candy by the coulduron! By the time class let out at 1:45, I headed on over to the local mall and visited my mom at her store and volunteered an hour to help around and get stuff ready for the holidays.  For my daytime costume, I was torn between what to wear. I had specifically made a Victorian gown  but at the same time, I wanted to wear my new 1790's pelisse jacket that I've made earlier this year, but have never written about OR worn. In the end, I decided on both, because why not? No rules apply to how many costumes you can wear...