Miss Philomena

The green dress is almost finished. I just need to do the last bits of tacking down the binding in the bodice and add the closures and buttons. The skirts are completely finished, and even have actual skirt hooks for closing, so I won't be safety pinning myself into it for once.

I'm about go to start on the white and red dress too. I think all the fabric is done drying by now. I also decided rather than try and find white eyelet with red embroidery, it's just going to be a fully white dress with a red sash.

Then my sari for my Titanic dinner gown should be arriving tomorrow, so fingers crossed~ It's only taken me a month and a half to get it, after the first one I ordered was damaged in processing and I had to pick out a new one. Dx

And finally~

I'm teaching a class at Dress U, first thing on Friday afternoon, 4pm-7pm. It's how to make knit beaded Victorian (and earlier and later) purses. Only two people signed up for it, but that should make things go faster and easier, I hope. Dress U itself says you can't get into the class day of, but I was planning on making some extra kits for it anyway, so I have no problem accepting extra people as long as they pay for it. We'll see, I guess~

I took pictures of two of the purses I'm currently knitting.

First, ( Midnight Diamonds. )

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through with this one. This one has been quite a long adventure, as I was making the pattern up as I was working on it, and then I kept running out of beads, and needed to wait for the store to restock. As lovely as the beads are, they're $3 per 7 ounce tube, and I've put in about 20 tubes so far. I've got an extra 4 tubes I haven't strung yet as well, just in case.

And the second one, which I started this past weekend, ( Metallic Teal Shell. )

I'm probably about 1/3rd of the way through this one, unless I decide to make it longer than usual. Unless I can pick up a black purse frame, I'll probably do this one up as a drawsting instead. I don't want to add any extra colors besides the beads.

And on a completely random note, ( I made a pie! )

It's an apple orange pie, and the first time I've baked a pie, so I'm really happy with how it turned out. There are a couple things I plan to do differently the next time I make one, but that's normal for me when I bake. This is the recipe I used, adapted from a 1588 English cookbook. The first (and only) time I had an apple orange pie was about 10 years ago when I was volunteering at Pennsbury Manor, which is a reconstruction of William Penn's summer home, and interprets the years 1699-1701. The ladies working in the bake house made one and shared it with some of the volunteers nearby, me being one of them.

In other words, current and soon to be started projects, in no particular order. *Warning, this post is image heavy.*

While I don't claim to be a great knitter (I can't do *rather, haven't tried* more complicated stuff), one of my absolute favorite things are the beaded knit purses you occasionally see. I have a couple, bought at an antique fashion etc auction that I can't remember the dates for, done with gorgeous steel beads. Steel beads are no longer manufactured, or if they are, I haven't been able to find them, so I have to compromise and use glass beads. Fire Mountain Gems actually carries steel colored glass beads, which look damn near prefect, but I haven't gotten around to ordering more from them yet. Anyway, enough babble. ( This is one of three purses I'm working on at the moment. )

And on to the sewing.

I had some fun on Ebay the other day and ended up picking up three saris. One of them will probably wind up being made into an 1880s bustle dress. I have a book with a plate I like, I just can't find it at the moment. If (and this is a very big if) I can make it work, the other might wind up a late Regency style. It really just depends on if it's long enough on the crossgrain to use for the skirt.
( It will be one of these two, and I think I'm leaning more toward the green one for the Victorian dress. )

( The third sari I bought, which is an absolutely gorgeous blue brocade, will be put aside for some future use. )

On my 1872 Watteau outfit: I've done a bit more of the pattern, but I still haven't gotten around to the back and side back pieces. Perhaps Sunday or Monday, since I have the house to myself for a week, and the cats certainly won't care if I move the kitchen table. ( Anyway, I snapped a pic of the fabric I'm planning on using. )

Next up: 1874 evening gown (on the left): Nothing really to say, as I don't have the lace yet for the skirt, and haven't done more than cut out the bodice. Here's the beautiful light blue/white shot silk I'm using for it, though. I think I'm going to look for a satin ribbon to match it for the swags and bows. Don't know what I'm going to do about the fringe yet. I might just go with lace.

And into the the 18th century: I've loved the 1775-85 Caraco in Patterns of Fashion since the first time I saw it. ( And I've had this silk/cotton brocade sitting around waiting to be used for years, so it really seems like a match made in heaven. )

And I think that's enough babble from me today. And on a completely random note, I need more icons.

ETA: I've also got a Regency getup mostly done for one of my BJDs, so once I get around to sewing the closures and whatnot on, I'll put up pictures of that as well.