Miss Philomena

The Idea	The Fabric	The Base Pattern
La Belle Chocolatiere by Jean-Etienne Liotard	burnt orange wool & blue/grey linen	1760-70 Jacket from Patterns of Fashion 1 by Janet Arnold

I've volunteered to help out at the Battle of Trenton reenactment next Saturday. And because I'm insane, I plan to make myself a full outfit rather than borrow one. I've decided on a jacket and skirt rather than a dress, for several reasons. For one, I don't have enough of any one color wool to make a full dress from. For another, a jacket will be easier to fit (and look better) if I don't get my stays done in time. And finally, and this is mainly a vanity thing, I don't want to be in a dress like most other women will be. I want to be a period correct non-conformist.

I should be able to knock off the petticoats in one sitting, really. I'm planning on three. An aquamarine flannel will be the innermost one, followed by wool of yet undetermined color, then topped with the blue linen. I'll have to run the linen through the wash a few times tomorrow; it's still pretty stiff.

I'll also scale up the jacket pattern and start working on that tomorrow as well. I'm not sure if I'll include the cuffs yet, that'll depend on if I have enough of the wool. I've only got about a yard and a quarter, but I'm not worried. Piecing is such a period practice, after all.

I think I have a round ear cap somewhere, but I might just make a new one, along with a stuffer shawl and mitts. I have one of the wide-brimmed felt hats from Williamsburg, but I'm not sure how to trim it, or if it's even appropriate for winter. That's at the end of the list though.

And over all of this, because it'll probably still be in the mid to upper 20s next weekend, I have a massive and heavy cape, made of dark blue wool and lined with light grey linen. I'll have to stop being lazy and finally sew a clasp on to it.

So, six days and counting.

PS- I didn't go into this intending to copy the color scheme of the painting. I spread all of my wool and linen out, picked the two I liked best together, and ran with it. THEN I went and looked up the painting for the style, and realized I'd picked the same colors. XD