Civil War Day Dress 2: Viewers Please Weigh In

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to start my next project, and find that I'm slightly stuck on choosing which pattern will go with what fabric. I'm going to make a day dress out of the following fabric:
The question is should I make a simple very period accurate dress from pattern 4551 (I like the lower right hand dress...the sleeves are pretty):
Or make a prettier day dress out of pattern 3727:The hang up is that I was considering using the 3727 pattern for my purple silk from India.
Of course, I could always make up pattern 2887 out of the silk, and that would be pretty too. What do you think? Which pattern is destined to be make up from my pretty homespun purple plaid? Feel free to weigh in on the silk too, but that's a future project.

Girl's Revolutionary Dress

This project is finished. Here's the final photo:
The front panel is a pink satin. I used net trim that I found in the .97 cent bin (wohoo!), roccoco trim on top of that, and net lace for the sleeves. With the exception of a little trouble with the zipper, no problems, and the dress went together like a dream.

I'm also announcing that I'm assembling a gallery of my completed projects so they'll be all together in one place.

Robe Francaise

A Little Girl's Dress Up Gown

I've begun a small sewing project while staying at my parents' house. I learned that my flower girl has cherished her flower girl dress over these last five years, and was so touched I decided that she needed another special dress that will fit her now. We went through the pattern catalogs together, and she picked out this 18th century girl's McCalls' pattern (M5414):
The dress is fairly straight forward to make. I'm using some of my fabric stash for this outfit:I've cut out all of the patterned cotton shown on top, but when it got time to cut out the faille I just couldn't do it. I bought these two as a pair, intending the faille to be an 18th century petticoat, and the cotton to be an 18th century jacket (obviously not very period). The faille, even though it's only poly, cost quite a bit is very nice quality. It's going back into the stash, and I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow. I think a pink poly satin will do the job nicely. I also need to pick up some interfacing and a zipper. This will be very cute when finished.

Calling all Colorado Springs Costumers...

For any of you in the Colorado Springs area who make costumes, or have always been interested in getting involved with costumed events, this announcement is for you. I would like to start a local Costumers' Circle - a much more casual version of a costuming guild. We would get together at each others' houses once and a while to sew and chat, and we could organize costumed outings and events, such as to the Renaissance Festival, teas, the Madrigal dinner at Glen Eyrie, etc. Contact me at thecostumediva@gmail.com for additional information. Look forward to hearing from you.

I'm Sewing!!!

Okay, I'm re-engaging with the sewing after a bit of illness. For a while there, I was convinced that I would have nothing to bring with me to Costume Con, and was considering dropping out of the one competition I'm enrolled it. But NOW....

...I started wanting to sew again last Wednesday. I fit the bodice toile Wednesday night, cut out the pattern on Thursday night, and I've almost got the basic gown assembled. Then, there will still be finishing details, trim, and three accessory garment pieces that need to go with it. Still, I'm feeling very pleased that I will have something to compete with.

Otherwise, I'm going to be selecting costumes to wear to Costume Con, I've signed up for the Victorian hairpieces workshop, and I'm going to be a model for one of Simplicity's news patterns! I"m definitely looking forward to Costume Con, and all the fun I'm going to have!

The Devil's in the Details

A few weeks ago I went to Williamsburg to take a another Burnley and Trowbridge workshop, and I'm just now getting around to posting the photos. There were lots and lots of froofy dresses to look and and drool over, and I learned a few new tricks:

How to make your own 18th century trim (seriously...this was so time consuming, I can't ever see wanting to do this myself...but I suppose you never know just how crazy 'period correct' I might want to go some day).How to make Death Head buttons. These are really cool! Here are the ones I made. I had a much easier time with the basic four point Death Head than the six point "Astral" pattern (the one where I used two colors). I was cursing that silly button the whole time.So, enough about what I learned. Here's what came out of the Williamsburg Costume shop vault: a froofy organza cap.FROOFY apron.A pretty stomacher with lots of froofy trim.A pretty purple and white stomacher with an amazing blue and white hat next to it.A pink Polonaise with Organza trim.An amazing Robe Francaise with self trim.A froofy organza and silk trimmed robe Francaise.And the piece de resistance that I really wanted to take home with me: A FROOFY yummy hat.

I apologize for the overuse of the word froofy in this post, but it's the appropriate adjective. I thought the striped polonaise brigade might get a kick out of this.

In other news, I'm in a bit of a costuming funk. The timing couldn't be worse, with Costume Con at the end of the month, but I just can't seem to make myself get my sewing out. The only contest I've pre-signed up for is the Single Pattern competition, but I may be pulling out of it. Oh well. It will still be fun to go. I'm also getting cool invites that I'm not sure I can accept. (there's a trip to Williamsburg that I'm dying to go on, and a tea), but I think everything is falling in the middle of the week, and with no leave saved up, I'm out of luck.