Tiger Lily's Threads

Over the past few months I've always wanted to make a pierrot jacket...actually scratch that! I've always wanted to make a proper zone front. The past few attempts I've had to make a zone front, mostly resulted in me just sticking trim overtop of my gowns to mimic one. Seemed like a good idea at the time, and it was; but then overtime I came to realize "where's the challenge? You're not really making a zone front by decorating the front like that. Gotta actually get in there, and do it." To quote Miss Frizzle, "It's time to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy." So with that in mind, I pulled out some inspirations via Kyoto Fashion Book, Pinterest, 18th century fashion plates, and online tutorials and got to work.  Shameless plugging here, but my stockings and shoes are from American Duchess . I've had these shoes since 2013 and never once needed to get them replaced (especially with all the battle reenactment events a...

Last week I was asked by my good friend Heather, to make her an outfit for her steampunk themed vending booth for an upcoming anime convention. She didn't want anything elaborate and complicated such as a floor length Victorian walking gown or anything flashy like a heavily cogged bodice.  SO MANY COGS! However, the request for something practical and comfortable seemed to come to mind. Also, everything would be due on Friday! I started this on Sunday.  So after our trip to JoAnn Fabrics, we grabbed patterns from the Simplicity line. A vest from Simplicity 8023 and an A-line skirt from 1369.  While making the skirt, I was immediately faced with a few tiny challenges: installing pockets into the front of the skirt, and installing the waistband with elastic (when the pattern does not call for it). I had to do a lot of trial and error in order to get the skirt to look right; otherwise it was pretty easy to knock out in two days.  The ves...

This past weekend was the battle reenactment at George Washington's Mount Vernon; where the Continental Army with the aid of Spanish forces, squared up against the British and Hessian forces. With the weather surprisingly on our side this year, the event turned out to be a very successful and educational experience for all. Working on the numbers This year I debuted my newest impression Mrs. Charlotte Carter, a wife of a merchant who operates a local trading company in Alexandria. With supplies dwindling, the British Brigade had contracted us out to replenish their food and uniform rations. Originally, my husband Jonathan was supposed to accompany me with this impression (in an attempt to break him into the wonderful world of reenacting), but had actual military duties this weekend and couldn't make it (the life of an NCO is never dull, I tell you!).  However, what I've learned through my research and from the scenario my Lieutenant and I did for this new i...

A few months ago, I decided that I needed a new bum pad that would best work with my 1780's and early 1790's gowns; this is mostly because the bum rolls I had just wasn't cutting it anymore. While they do at times give me a nice silhouette for the skirts in the back, it just seemed a bit blocky around the front of my hips. So I wanted to change that.   When American Duchess came out with their underpinnings pattern (half boned stays, with flounced shift and bum pad) I figured this was a good place to start. And boy am I glad I followed through. While this is my first time using AD patterns, I was a little nervous at first (Simplicity sometimes can be a bit hard for me to follow), but to my surprise, I found Lauren and Abby's instructions very easy to follow and it came out looking like it did in the sampler photo (phew!) I also made one for my friend Stephanie to use for her ball gowns and also augmented it just a little bit to match her impres...

This Thursday, my friend Stephanie and I went the Ft. Fred Market Fair in Big Pool, MD. In the past we have gone for at least 3 years together and usually come ready with market bags, baskets, etc. to carry the combined haul. We saw friends and colleagues and made new acquaintances, and even the weather was cooperative (no snow or excruciating temps this year). Definitely planning to go back again next year. The front end of the Market Fair !Twins!  I kid you not though, we had not planned on wearing the same print or the same petticoat color! It was awesome and we had fun with it!  Love that mountain view! My small stash from the fair: A Yd. each of sheer kerchief fabric from Burnley & Trowbridge and 96 District Fabrics, and some lacing tapes for my new stays.  Well that's it for now. Now to prepare for the Rev. War Weekend reenactment at George Washington's Mount Vernon next weekend. Stay tuned! 

It has been a wonderful and yet busy last few weeks for me. From the 11th-13th I spent a few days in Colonial Williamsburg doing research on behalf of the Historic Londontown & Gardens museum in Edgewater Maryland, on how to best implement African American Interpretation into their regular programming.  As soon as I arrived, I immediately hit the streets of Duke of Gloucester in search for answers. I was given lots of helpful advice from the museum educators, Nation Builders, and actor interpreters. I was even given opportunity to shadow one of nation builders to get an idea of how to best talk about slavery (which in itself is a very difficult subject), by showing me how he spoke with groups of visitors who were coming into the Raleigh Tavern; he'd introduced himself as "Benjamin" for each group of people that came in, and start off with an ice breaker about what their favorite type of drink was, then he'd flip it around and say that due to the lack of inve...

Lately, I have been doing some research and development for a program I am going to be in this fall: I will be portraying Ona Judge, the enslaved girl who successfully ran away from George and Martha Washington in 1796.  Mount Vernon The actual runaway advert. in the paper Here's a little bit of a background on Ona Judge. Ona was born on June 1773 at Mount Vernon, Virginia to Betty (an enslaved seamstress to Martha Washington), and Andrew Judge (a welsh Indentured servant and tailor to George Washington). When Ona was old enough to start her duties she was appointed as Martha Washington's personal maid and traveled with her during her years as the 1st Lady to the north such as New York and Philadelphia. However since Philadelphia was more progressive and even had a law that stated that any enslaved person in bondage under 6 months were immediately manumitted. The Washington's were afraid of losing their slaves to this law and would send Ona and the other ...