Regency: New Jewelry and A Repair

 Here's a beaded necklace set - necklace, bracelet, and earrings - that I made a couple of weeks ago.  This started out as just a bracelet, but I had LOTS of these teal beads, so it ended up being a whole set.  

The beads are plastic, and the chain and fittings are gold-colored brass.  

I'm planning on wearing my white Ikea Matilda dress for Halloween this year, with a teal ribbon and this teal jewelry, and a teal shawl I plan on ordering myself for my birthday.  However, the Matilda dress still needed some work:  it was about 3" too short! 

I needed to add a panel to the bottom of the dress, but I didn't have much fabric left.  I had to piece the panel together, which made the stripes not match up.  In order to draw the eye away from this - and hide the seam - I added a row of puffs to the bottom of the dress.  

It's period, it was easy and quick to do, and it camoflages the added panel very well.  

Now the dress is finally ready to wear! 

SCA: Heraldic Chest: Refit

 I built this little chest in 2014, I think, and it’s undergone a lot of different finishes.  It was stained, then painted about six times - the last time I painted it with my heraldry (2019), as you can see in this pic: 

Sadly, the polyurethane I used to seal it turned really yellow really quickly, and it looked just awful. I could have just painted it black again, but some of the paint edges and detail would have shown through the paint, so I decided to strip it back to the wood and start over. 

I stripped all the paint off and then sanded it clean, then re-stained the whole thing and clear-coated it, this time using Polycrylic, which doesn’t yellow like Polyurethane does. I also gave the inside a fresh coat of black paint, and painted the handles with gilding paint to cover up the crappy gold spray paint job they had before.  

I have no idea what kind of wood that is, by the way. It’s plywood from a wooden shipping crate I picked up for free a million years ago - the whole thing looked like that. 

I may still throw some heraldry onto it, but I haven’t yet decided what exactly to do.  For now, this little chest will return to duty holding my camping supplies - mallets, stakes, flashlights, etc.  I’m trying to weed out all the plastics from my camping gear: wood boxes instead of Rubbermaid tubs, baskets and canvas bags instead of plastic sacks and Ikea bags.  

Regency: Jewelry: More Brooches

 After I made that Lover's Eye brooch, I had four other press-together acrylic brooches left, eyeballing me from the jewelry supply box in the closet, waiting to be used.  First, I decided to make a miniature, since they were so popular during the Regency.  I printed out a tiny painting (by Sidney Richard Percy, a Victorian painter), and glued it in place: 

I also wanted some solid-color "jewel" brooches, so I painted the backs of the remaining two cabs with nail polish - green and red. 

Just like the Lover's Eye, I glued a pin back on to the back of each brooch and filed off the bail (these were supposed to be necklaces).  I have plans for the green and red brooches; right now I'm loving the way the Percy brooch goes with my new blue open robe.  

Regency: A Green Recticule

 While I loved my pink reticule, it is really too small to do me any good.  I mean, not that I have anywhere to wear all this Regency stuff, but if I ever did, I'd want a purse big enough to carry my things; and the pink reticule wasn't.  

So I made a new one, from stash fabric scraps: 

This one is about 10" tall, plus the ruffle around the top, and is big enough to carry my phone, wallt, keys and whatever else I put in there.  It's a poly-taffeta lined with blue linen, with a poly satin ribbon to close it, and tassels made from cotton embroidery floss. 

There's nothing here for scale, sadly, but this is on my ironing board - it covers the entire width, and I can fit my outstretched hand inside the wide part of the pieces.  PLENTY big enough.  

Fun fact:  making tassels is for the birds.  

SCA Viking: Herringbone Linen

 Several months ago, I purchased the most beautiful fabric from a friend who was cleaning out her stash: it’s 100% linen, light gray, in a herringbone weave. I’d always wanted a herringbone or twill weave in my viking wardrobe. 

I dyed the linen a deep intense blue, with Rit’s “Indigo” dye. It actually didn’t turn out all that well the first time, but I made the dress anyway and then dyed it again and this time it came out beautifully. 

I applied a handwoven tablet weave trim (from Etsy) to the top front of the dress, and used very thin loops for the straps. Here is the finished product on the mannequin: 

As a bonus, I used the remaining herringbone yardage to make the shawl: I picked out the weft threads on two ends of the piece to make a fringe, and knotted it.  Just a little lightweight something to wrap up in on breezy evenings. 

Now I have three whole dresses I can wear to events this fall. (All the dresses I made last year sadly are already too small; but I’m working on that).  The “agave” dress I made in January (I’ve changed the trim on the top), and a dark teal one (“apatite” from Fabric-store.com), and now this. Time to start working on accessories and camp things.  

Regency: Pink D’Orsay Flats

 So, I needed shoes to go with all this Regency stuff - and no, since you asked, I don’t have anywhere to wear any of this, I just wanted it.  But I needed shoes. I didn’t want to wear plain flats, and I can’t  afford to just go out and buy something appropriate. 

What I did have, though, is a pair of dusty-pink microfiber D’Orsay flats that I bought at WalMart several years ago that I wasn’t wearing anymore.  They were seriously dirty and scuffed: the first thing I did was to clean them up with rubbing alcohol and brush the nap smooth, then glue the tips of the toes back to the sole of the shoe where they had started to come apart. 

My inspiration for the next steps was this excerpt from the self-portrait of Adele Romany, painted in 1799. 

After cleaning, I used hot glue to place four small ribbon loops onto each shoe: one at the front toe, one at the back heel, and two on the sides. I threaded my ribbon through the loops and tied it around my feet.  One of the reasons I never wore these shoes was that they would fall off when I walked - now they stayed on AND they would work with my Regency wardrobe.  The modern microfiber bugs me a little, but I’m not too worried about it; I can always imagine they’re velvet. 

My dog Daisy and my cat Darcy were both interested in the shoes as I was walking around taking pictures: 

Regency: Blue Open Robe

 To go over my white round gown, I made this pale blue open robe: 

This robe is also from the American Duchess for Simplicity pattern S8941. Like the round gown, I added some length to the skirts. I shortened the train quite a bit, adding only an 8” train instead of a fuller train. I just don’t like tripping over all that fabric, but I did want a little puddle on the ground. Just a little one. 

I also altered the sleeves: I lengthened them so that the cuff would hit me about my knuckles instead of my wrist, and adjusted the elbow seam to compensate. For the dress and this robe, I made a size 22 from the pattern, but for some reason on the robe the sleeves were way too wide, and I had to narrow them quite a bit. I could have done more narrowing, but I didn’t want to push my luck. 

The fabric is Fabric.com’s Kaufmann linen in Paris Blue. The bodice is self- lined. I finished out the front with three covered buttons; I added a pair in the back, too, although I’m not sure it looks right without a belt or sash there to anchor them visually. I may rethink that.  Overall I really love the way this open robe came out, and I'll definitely use this pattern again.  

But first - accessories! 

Regency: White Ikea Dress

 Long time no see! It’s been about a year since my last entry. Dunno if anyone will even read this, but blogging is fun whether you have an audience or not. ;)

So, I’m still in the SCA and still making Viking clothing. I haven’t done much new since the last time I was here, in that vein - I made a new apron dress because I outgrew my old ones (again!), but I don’t have pics for you at this time. 

What I do have is a buttload of new Regency/Empire stuff, starting with this white round gown: 

This was made with Simplicity’s S8941 pattern, by American Duchess. It’s a 1790s-early 1800 round gown with a drawstring closing front.  The pattern is designed for a woman of about 5’4”, and I’m 5’9”, so I did a lot of adjusting and lengthening. The biggest changes I made were to the bust, where the pattern was too small for my rather ample bosom; and to the overall length, because of the height thing.  (American Duchess has a great post about fitting this pattern).

The fabric is from an old set of IKEA’s Matilda sheer curtains. It’s basically a cotton voile with a woven stripe and dot pattern. It’s very sheer, so I wear it over a long full petticoat; eventually I intend to create a couple of new busted petticoats in different colors so I can alter the feel of the dress. 

I love the way the dress came out. It fits perfectly, and it feels great to wear. I think the only thing I don’t like is the way the back of the bodice is pointed in the back - it’s totally apropos for a 1790s gown; but I think the next time I make this pattern, I’ll straighten out the back.