Tiger Lily's Threads

This past April I attended a Victorian-themed birthday dinner party honoring my good friend Chelsea of Sartorial Statement. It was a weekend long celebration that truly was memorable and a lot of fun. Saturday morning kicked off with high tea, while later in the evening we donned our Victorian & Edwardian evening gowns for an elegant dinner and dessert. Sunday concluded with a nature hike nearby.  While I couldn't make it to the other two events due to work scheduling conflicts, it was really great to catch up with everyone and celebrate the Lady of the Hour.  To make the dinner gown, I looked at several examples from the late 1890's and early 1900's to decide just how I wanted the design and embellishments to look. After searching around for sometime, I decided on loosely replicating this style below.  The 7 yards of peach silk taffeta fabric I have always held on to since 2020; originally this was going to be used for an Angelica Schuyler cosplay since Hamilton was ...

2019 is finally coming to a close (whew!). As we all look forward to ringing in the new decade that is 2020, I want to look back on the projects that were done over the year with both sewing and public history. This year's sewing adventure was a challenge and a blast, as was all of the events and programs that I participated in. I cannot wait to see what awaits for me in the new year! Speaking of... On a very personal note, I feel very honored and blessed to have been able to participate in many wonderful programs, events, and projects over the year and want to take the time to thank everyone who supported me in every way. There's a lot that goes into what I do, and having a wonderful support group who has always been there with helping me gather research on specific topics, assisting with planning and development, with transportation and lodging whenever I'm working on a program locally or out of town, or showing support by attending the programs and events. I rea...

Last Month, Gloria & Mike from  In The Long Run Designs,  invited me to participate in a special photo shoot called “Kit-Kat Club Portraits”. I was very excited to be part of a really cool photography experiment and debated on what to wear. Many of the subjects wore gorgeous  silk gowns and summery 1780’s ensembles. Given it was the middle of Autumn and I wanted to mix it up a little bit with the selection, I got some advice from my friend Jennifer on what to wear: my Royal Artillery regimental riding habit (we’d figured that we’d be complimenting one another with my blue to her red habit).  After getting everything ready, I realized that my habit needed something a little extra. So this is where my idea of making the fur muff comes into play. Not only does it work with the military habit, but also it works with every outfit of any period.  Trying to make a muff on a shoestring budget was exactly easy, but I can tell you now, it’s VERY doabl...

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. ...

Looking back at all of the projects (sewing and interpreting) I've done this year, all I can say is Wow! Time definitely flew! With that in mind, I wanted to feature some of the top projects I've done as well as the future projects I already have planned and on the dress-form as we speak.  2018 Flashback Sewing Plaid 1880's walking dress 18th century half-boned stays  1770's Silk Gingham gown  Blue Silk Round Gown  1780's "Blossom " Powerpuff Girl Cosplay  1785 Green Pieriot jacket  1790's green linen dress aka "Ona Judge's gown" Steampunk Vest & Skirt 1770's Yellow Woolen Caraco  Interpretation Winter Immersion Weekend (Beck) Journey to Judge: Ona Judge Series Omohundro Institute Ben Franklin's World: Episode 212 (Voice of Ona Judge) Colonial Market Fair (Jemima Banneker) 2019 Projects 1785 Chintz Round Gown 1799 Copper Sari Round Gown 1890's Walking Dress ...

Back in October, I was attempting to make two gowns out of silk taffeta. While I was halfway into one of the projects, I realized that the measurements to the blue round gown was a little off and had to send the mockup out to its future owner for a fitting. Now that I have received the mockup and the minor adjustments had been made by adding 1" panels to the front, I am back on track and surprisingly still on schedule. A beautiful gown for an elegant lady The challenging part of working with a bodice made of silk taffeta were two things: everything had to be handsewn (I was told that the sewing machine could chew up the fabric if I wasn't careful), and the second being the setting of the sleeves. I was a little worried with how they would turn out. Would it be forgiving after I set them, pinned in, and sewed them down, or would it look too poofy? I took extra precaution in making sure that never happens, by using what I like to call "the drawstring method...

Hey everybody! It's that special time again! A time where the seasons change from a God-awful hot and humid summer on the Eastern Seaboard, to a beautiful but biting cold Autumn.  BUT!  🎃 Halloween is also next week! 🎃 While on the topic of making a new gown for the season, Surprise! I have a special treat for you! I will actually be making two at the same time. My own silk taffeta ensemble, and a round gown that was commissioned by a client to be made also out of silk taffeta. So, given time constraints, it's time to really put my work to the test and use what I've learned back at Margaret Hunter's shop. So buckle up everyone, you're in for a double feature!  brownie points if you know where this image is from :) Feature 1: Return of the Silken Round Gown Had a customer come to me a few weeks ago, inquiring about a taffeta round gown. Given the similarities between the structure of a round gown and an English open gown, I figured it...