· Sale this Weekend! ·

I hope you are all having a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!  We had a wonderful day with family yesterday, and I'm looking forward to decorating our house for Christmas this weekend and finally breaking out the Christmas music. :-) 

This past week, Kathryn was visiting for 6 days crammed full of regency-ball-gown-making, Call-the-Midwife-watching, stay-up-way-too-late/early, and blog-photo-taking!  I'm excited to share the pictures we took over the next few weeks. :-)

To help with Christmas shopping, I'm running a sale all weekend long- Friday through Monday!  Just use the code BLACKFRIDAY to save 20% in Mode de Lis! (excluding custom orders)

Masquerade Attire · Details

Our family attended a Masquerade Ball last weekend, and as it is a truth universally acknowledged that Masquerade Balls demand new attire, I subsequently felt justified in succumbing to the expectation. ;-)

We are also planning on attending a Regency ball in December, so I thought I'd make something that could do double duty!  I was really hoping for a new ball gown, as I've worn my white dress innumerably and to a significant number of dances/balls.  However, nothing period-appropriate presented itself in the stash....  So, it was back to the drawing board.  I pulled out all of the suitable fabrics, and the leftover scraps from a previous project were terribly tempting!  My sister had a Titanic dress made from this antique sari 2 years ago (you can see her in one of these pictures), and I've always been severely jealous of it.  The scraps leftover were very minimal and oddly shaped, but included a few fairly long pieces of border.

Enter- odd regency overdresses.  What a lifesaver!  It was a relief to know that whatever I scrapped together from the pieces would probably end up being pretty close to period-accurate! :-P  I've greatly admired this fashion plate for years, and after draping the scraps on myself, it looked like it was ideally suited to the idea!  

La Belle Assemblee, April 1811

I didn't have enough fabric length to make the skirt as long as the fashion plate, nor could I continue the border around the hem.  However, I still was able to achieve asymmetrical, drapey fun-ness! ;-)

Well, please bear with me on these photos. ;-)  They definitely aren't up to "Kathryn Caliber", but they'll do for now.  I've given up trying to find the best place to take pictures in our house, so Cluttered Backgrounds and Clashing Walls will have to be ignored. ;-)  I'll get official pictures taken at a later date, but I wanted to share the details about this dress while it was still new!

I couldn't find any pictures of evidence for the back of these asymmetrical overdresses, so I made the executive decision to have a pleated skirt like most regency gowns.

Oh, and please pardon the fit!  Unsurprisingly, my dressform does NOT work well with garments that were made to be worn with stays! :-P

The bodice is made from a continuous scrappy piece of the "pallu" portion of the sari.  It only required this tiny bit of piecing under the arm- otherwise it was the perfect size!  Apparently, this was meant to be! :-)

Oh, this just really doesn't fit the dressform!!  But here's how I chose to close it- the under-layer of the front is finished off at the waistline and closes on the side with a hook-and-eye.  The top portion then comes over the top and closes with a hook-and-bar.

I applied a piece of border onto the front skirt and gathered the closure edge to keep as much of the trim intact and visible as possible.

Since the neckline was formed by the border, it required a dart on the shoulder to provide shaping.  The fashion plate looked like it had gathering at the shoulder, and that ended up providing a more precise fit as well!  I love it when stuff works out like that. :-)

While working on this, I decided I'm a big fan of asymmetrical garments.  I only had to sew half of the usual darts and only 1 armhole! ;-)  So fast and easy!

I just really love this sari!!  It's hard to get the pictures to accurately reflect the true colors- it is more green than it appears in most of these.  The embroidery is so pretty, and the almost purple-ish bits are copper embroidery.  The level of detail is amazing and I'm so glad I was able to showcase it another project!

The entire gown was draped by my fabulous (and very patient!) mother. :-)  Due to the nature of the design, but especially the fabric limitations!, there wasn't any way of patterning it besides draping.

And of course I took the opportunity to make a new turban. :-)

My turban was made from some more scrap fabric!  Three cheers for stash-busting!!  We purchased this lovely blue/green velvet and made a cape from it, but had quite a few random scraps.  I previously made a purse and regency sleeveless spencer (as yet unphotographed! I'll have to get around to that soon....), but one can't have too many accessories from this fabric! ;-)  I decided to go the route of a fully-fashioned turban, since the backside of the velvet is light green and wouldn't look good if it peeked out during the wrapping process.

I used a cheap straw hat, cut off the brim, and bound the edge.  Then I cut a rectangle long enough to cover the hat and wide enough to allow for some pleating.  Then I randomly stretched and pleated it in place and sewed 3/4" from the edge to keep it all in place.

(Oh, and a note to the wise- pleating the velvet added a lot of bulk to the circumference of the hat, so make sure your hat starts out at least an inch bigger than you want it to finish!  I ended up taking a bit of a detour to stretch out my hat and re-bind the edge to give much-needed room. ;-))

In order to hide all the raw edges of velvet, I attached a lining- just a simple rectangle gathered up at the top.

I had grand ideas of following a fashion plate for ideas on how to drape my turban, but it wasn't coming together nicely, so I just went with something super simple.  I sewed 2 rectangles into tubes- they were about 5-7" longer that the circumference of the hat and about 15" around, I think.  I twisted them around each other and finished off the ends.  I tacked the twists in place around the hat in a few areas, and it was done!

The complete arbitrariness of this project was... stretching.  I don't really like "randomly pleating" things.  And "tacking in just a few areas" drives me a bit batty.  I like to sew everything *very* securely. :-P

The feathers are just basted so they can be easily replaced with a different ornamentation later.  All the info I've come across seems to indicate that peacock feathers were rather taboo in the period.  However, I have a deep and abiding love for them, so since we were attending a masquerade, I made a concession and stretched my ideals of accuracy a bit to have a peacock-themed outfit. ;-)

Family Heirlooms · Antique Twin Baby Dresses

We don't have very many antique garments from our extended family, but my meager collection grew exponentially this year!

When my paternal grandmother's twin sister, Aunt Daisy, died earlier this year, the family cleaned out her home over the course of several months.  We went over several times to sort what to keep and what to donate, and we were able to get several vintage accessories to remember her by. :-)  Near the end, Mom went over one day to pick up her sewing machine and happened to notice a box of donations containing old kitchen towels.  Upon closer examination, she noticed that it also contained baby clothes!  She brought the box back home and it was like Christmas. :-D

I have a fond spot for vintage baby/children's clothing and the family connection made them even more special!  However, the best part of it all was that there were still a few "twin" outfits together!  I don't know how often they wore coordinating clothing, but judging by the pictures that survived, I don't think it was often, if ever.  I think the remaining "un-matching" dresses were just Aunt Daisy's share of the saved baby clothes.  I thought it would be fun to share the matching outfits I have today! :-)

I got several white dresses like these, but these 2 are my only matching set.

Look at all those pin tucks!  They're all machine sewn, but sooooo tiny!  The tag says, "Hand Made" (like many of the other dresses) so I think these were purchased rather than home-made.

The sleeves are so adorable- I just can't get over all the detailing that goes into these antique dresses!  Impossibly tiny!  The center front of the hem is embellished with a little bit of embroidery.

The middle button on the back is missing- ironically both dresses are missing the same one!  Makes me wonder if that one just got more stress than the others?  All the buttonholes are made by hand, as well as the embroidery.

There were also a few slips, including a matching set! :-)

I love how even though they're just slips, they still have a little bit of embroidery and a detailed scalloped edge. :-)  I'm pretty sure all the edging was done by hand, but I'm not positive on that.  The sheer amount of work that goes into all these baby garments is astounding and inspiring!

The slips close with buttons on the shoulder, but amusingly- all of the buttons are different!  I don't know if that's original or replaced. ;-)

There were also these sweet toddler dresses!  So, so cute.  The twins were born in 1927, so these dresses are from the late 20s or early 30s.

I'm pretty sure they're made from silk, but they are in need of some more special repairing than the rest of the clothing.  They are still intact, but there are several seams that have come out and some fraying and tiny holes.  I suspect that these were worn several times, just due to the evident wear.

I love this idea of alternating pin tucks and regular tucks! :-)

The dresses are very simple- a tunic style with a snap closure on the left shoulder and the neck band closing with a bow.  They are embellished with a small embroidery motif around the hem.

I suspect that they are home-made due to the lack of tags, but mainly due to the difference in hemming- one dress has a simple hem, the other is faced in lightweight cotton!

I have several more of Aunt Daisy's baby dresses to share, including one that I was able to identify from her baby pictures!  I also have a couple wedding dresses, so "Family Heirlooms" is destined to become a (semi)regular feature. ;-)

I was originally planning on doing my post this week about my new costume for a Masquerade Ball we're attending this Saturday.  But then I remembered that several of the attendees are also blog-readers, so I won't be able to retain my element of surprise if I divulge the details before the event!  So, sorry.  Now all the rest of you will have to wait a week or two to see it. ;-)

· 1780s Chemise Dress ·

Well, this dress is a blast from the past!  I made it 5 years ago before a trip to England, where I intended to wear it in Greenwich.  Well, the dress was completed and packed but I never got around to wearing it there....  And it has had two whole outings since its completion.  Terribly embarrassing.

But, I had a good reason!  Or at least an effective one.  I couldn't come up with a good hair solution.  I am always so hair challenged- the thought of it paralyzes me like few other things can....  I eventually decided that a wig would make me happiest, since rag curling and then teasing my own hair would wreak more havoc upon it that I really was comfortable with (as well as taking a long time!) :-/

Aaaaand, then I had to work up the courage to actually purchase the wig....  I'm very good at procrastinating apparently!  I eventually did finally make the purchase, in conjunction with the "Accessories Challenge" and a Literary Ball we attended in March.  (speaking of the Accessories Challenge- did you forget that I was doing that?  Because judging by my lack of completed projects- apparently I did, too. :-P)

I ordered a Lioness wig in Chestnut and it ended up being a great color!  Whew.  It's darker than my natural hair color but matches my eyebrows perfectly, so it's probably better than getting my hair color would have been.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it once it arrived, but I ended up teasing it as tightly as I could (except for the very bottom portion), and trimming a bit off the ends that stuck out too far.  I'm still not sure I know what to do with it.  It's just so... BIG.  But I was judging by paintings, and I thought the proportion was just about right.  I think it might be getting a little bit of a trim before the next outing, but it's good enough for now. ;-)

And yes, I want to do something different with the back portion but ran out of time before the ball and, well, haven't gotten around to it since... ;-)

But on to the dress!  I desperately wanted a chemise gown, but I wanted the more fitted styles of the later years.  I used J.P. Ryan's basic dress pattern as my base, cutting it off straight around the waist and adding width at the front to gather up.  The sleeves were drafted from Jean Hunnisett's book "Period Costume for Stage and Screen".  The collar is drafted from Janet Arnold's "Patterns of Fashion".

The dress is a cotton voile and is worn over a short-sleeved shift, stays, an under petticoat, and my marseilles cloth petticoat.  There are no other skirt supports, but I was happy with the shape the marseilles cloth petticoat gave! :-)

The bodice is lined with cotton.  The front lining is free along the neck and waist edges and closes smoothly and pins shut; the voile has a drawstring at the neck and the waist for closure.  The sleeves and skirt are unlined and the sleeves are edged with narrow self-fabric ruffles.

I kept the accessories pretty simple- just a nosegay, neckerchief, sash, and ribbon choker.

My silk organza cap-thing was inspired by Vigee Le Brun paintings and is just a simple circle, edged and accented with a silk band and bow.

I LOVE this collar, and was so eager to use it on a project!  All the little pointy bits make me so happy! :-)

And nothing is just quite as crispy and shimmery as silk!

· Photos by Kathryn ·

Inspiration · Plaids

Otherwise entitled: What Have I Gotten Myself Into??

On our last excursion to the Land of Stash Feeding (commonly referred to under the unassuming title of JoAnn Fabrics), I couldn't resist the siren call of the clearance section.  Yet again.

This time however, I came home with plaid.  And 2 different plaids, at that!  If you'll recall, my distaste for plaid has a long and prosperous history.   There seems to be a change in the wind however, as these 2 fabrics positively begged to be loved!

Actually, when JoAnns first got this fabric 2 years ago, I horrified myself by actually liking it.  It is a light-weight poly taffeta (much nicer than the stuff that usually comes to mind!), and it would be ideal for a fall/winter church dress since it's dressy but also washable. :-)  However not only is it plaid, but they're rather obnoxious ones at that!  Why in the world would I like something like that?!

I resisted purchasing it at that time, since I was certain I'd soon wake out of my uncharacteristic and unexplainable Plaid Affection.  Well, it persisted, despite all odds.  Every time I went to JoAnns, I'd check back- surely this time I'd realize how ugly and unappealing that fabric really was, right??  Eventually it went on clearance, but it was still too expensive to justify making a dress out of something that seemed like it was just a "fad" for me.  Until this time. ;-)

I thought it might be fun to do something a bit different from my normal blogging routine, so I'm sharing a bit of my inspiration/design process before I dive into these projects and I might be sharing a few in-progress posts. :-)  Hopefully it also might provide me with some motivation to get these finished sooner rather than later *cough*.... so feel free to keep reminding me for an update if it's taking too long. ;-)

There was only 2 1/3 yds left of this butter yellow/rust/purple plaid, so I'll have to be a little creative with my dress design.  I think it's begging to be made into a 1930s dress, with an accent fabric to help stretch the yardage.

It seems like 30s evening wear doesn't usually feature large amounts of contrast fabric like day attire can, so I might go with a more "nice" day dress instead.  This one is still very early in the idea aspect, so I'm keeping my eyes open for inspiration. :-)  Here are the most probable ideas at this point. ;-)

All photos taken from Pinterest- original sources here.

I really love the plaid/bias details going on in this one!  But it doesn't have any contrast material...

I love this one, but I'm hoping for long sleeves, and I don't think I'll have enough for a full-length skirt.  Also, there's the lack-of-contrast issue.

You might wonder why it made it into the inspiration list then.  Good question.  I think I just really liked it. ;-D

I think this dress is my current favorite!  It features a long-sleeve idea, as well as being one of my very favorite pins for years. ;-)

This rather, ummm.... colorful fabric is destined to become a 1950s dress.  I'm thinking something pretty classic- full, flared skirt and 3/4 length sleeves, maybe a V neck?  I'd like some interest as well though, so I need some good ideas. :-)

This sums up my original idea.  After pondering it for a while though, I don't think a high neck and wing cuffs will make me happy in the long run.  So I need some different ideas now! ;-)

I do love how the center front skirt seam is on the bias, so I think I'll make that a priority.

I like this one for the neckline, although I'm not convinced I want a contrast fabric... like the bow though!

This bodice is so simple and classic- I love it!  The boat neck/bow combination is a favorite of mine, I also like the bias bodice.  But those sleeve cuffs are so fun!  I might try to incorporate those into my design.

Lest you think that I just contradicted my "no wing cuffs" rule, I do consider these cuffs to be different- they don't stick out like the others did, so I think they're better. :-)

This pattern has been a *huge* favorite of mine for a couple years, and I'd love to finally make a copy-cat version of it!  This also has potential for contrast material, but it would be interchangeable and smaller, so I think it has an advantage over the other "contrast" option.

This dress.  Oh my.  I LOVE it!!!  But I really don't think this is the right inspiration for the fabric. :-(  This dress is made from organdy, which makes the bow so dreamy!  I'm afraid my taffeta wouldn't give the same effect.  Sigh.  Inspiration for a different day, I suppose...

Example of bias bodice with straight-grain skirt.  Now I'm conflicted about the skirt, because I like this, too!!

Idea for another boat-neck/bow option.  This would be pretty simple to do, although I would make my version higher.

Ever have times when you wonder why an image made it onto your inspiration board?  That's kind of how I am with this one...  I'm not sure why it made the cut??  I really don't like the skirt, and it's hard to see what's going on with the bodice...

(At any rate, it's an unrelated project- but her coat is so fun!)

I like this skirt, and the contrast between bias and straight grain on the bodice and skirt is fun. :-)  But what I really like is the unique neckline!  I'm not sure my plaid is quite right to give the same effect, though.

I'm still on the lookout for more ideas in both of these categories, so if you come up with any other good ideas, please pass them on! :-)

· Check out my Pinterest board for more ideas! ·

· A Gingham Dress for Kathryn ·

Fall has officially taken hold here and the trees are starting to get gorgeous!  Consequently, this post is a bit out-of-season now.... so try not to notice that this post is much more suited to summer. ;-)  That's one problem with posting just once a week- sometimes the end of the season comes far too quickly!

For Kathryn's next dress, she wanted a simple gingham dress to go with a "theme day" we had conjured up. (If all goes according to plan, you'll get to see the theme next spring or summer.  If it doesn't, well... Kathryn can just enjoy her dress anyway. ;-))

She wanted a very classic red gingham, in a simple, classic shirtdress style.  We used a 1990s pattern they had languishing in their stash for the bodice (proof that you never know when you'll use those ugly, outdated patterns!).  Since all we wanted was a notched collar and darts, it didn't matter that the rest of the pattern was vastly unsuitable for our desires. ;-)

I was really happy with the skirt from Simplicity 1459 when I made it last- it's gathered and flared, so it seemed perfectly suited to this style of dress. :-)

The dress is made from a 100% cotton gingham and is wonderful! :-)  I was concerned it might wrinkle more than the usual cotton/poly ginghams, but even after wearing for long car trips it looks great!

This dress was a great opportunity for practicing my plaid-matching skills, since it only required matching in a few places and came together smoothly. :-)  The only "failure" of sorts was the collar- I need to have a better plan next time for planning that all out! :-P

Her belt is from a different dress she made years ago- and it matches perfectly! :-)

Oh, and isn't her new haircut adorable?!? :-)

This style is so great- wear it without a crinoline for a perfect Audrey Hepburn/picnic look, or with a petticoat and pearls for a quintessentially 1950s look!  It can be dressed up or down so easily. :-)

I am offically convinced that my Summer 2015 Wardrobe is in dire need of a gingham dress.  Now to choose a color and style that doesn't look like I'm trying to copy Kathryn exactly. ;-)