Tiger Lily's Threads

Over the Summer I was thinking about making another Chemise la Reine, but wanted another color other than white or black; since there were other documented exants of pastels and bolder colors existing in the 18th century, I went online and picked out the sunniest color I could find in 4 yards of cotton voile.  Originally, I was going for a more sunflower/turmeric color like the portrait above, however the color I received in the mail was a lot bolder than what I initially saw online. There's a saying that fabric colors are always a little different depending on the computer monitor...they weren't joking. This fabric was a deep orange sherbert color. After that discovery, I had 2 options: to get rid of the color by using RIT color remover and re-dye it with natural turmeric, or keep it as is and and pair the gown up with other warm colors such as reds and garnets. While I'm still making decisions on what to do, I may continue to experiment a little more with other co...

Last Friday, I had the greatest honor of being part of the lecture series "Lunch Dates with History", at the Howard County History Museum in Ellicott City, MD. (My hometown).  For those who are not familiar with Ellicott City or it's history, I'll give you a crash course: EC (or Ellicott Mills as it was originally called), was founded by the Ellicott Brothers; Quakers from Bucks County, PA. The Industrial Revolution was the only revolution the town participated in with many mills popping up, the growing city was given its namesake "Ellicott Mills". Before I go down the rabbit hole and continue on with EC's history, I'm just going to post a link so you can read at your own leisure.  Aerial view of Ellicott City's historic district Anyway, The topic of my lecture was on clothing in the colonial period. Again, this is in reverence to the early period of Ellicott Mill's minute colonial history and curiosity of the residents. ...