The Royal Wedding

I was one of those crazy people up at 1:00 in the morning to watch the royal nuptuals of the dashing Prince William and the beautiful Kate Middleton. I didn't go to bed until 5 am and I still didn't get to see the kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace until today after I slept for a few hours - I was just too tired to wait. I did get to see the entire wedding and journey back to Buck House after the ceremony. It was beautiful. And her dress...

...was gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful.

I have loved seeing Kate's style in everyday and recent public events and I was so anxious to see her dress for this magnificent occasion. I was not dissapointed and she was lovely.

I wish them all the best in their life together and look forward to what the future holds.



Good Friday

It's been about a week since my last post. Sorry, I bought fabric for a project and now I am completely out of money. Haha. It will be a couple weeks until I can get started on it, too because life has gotten busy... oh life! :) But I just wanted to say that things are brewing and I will have more posts next week. Have a great Friday and a very happy Easter Sunday.

~Dana

Solution Skirt!

The Problem:

These amazingly awesome shoes I got on sale at Macy's a YEAR AND A HALF AGO! I had this skirt envisioned in my head to go with them - kind of a 1940s look. Needless to say I couldn't find it.

The Solution:

Make myself a skirt!! This was an obvious option and a great way to break in my new sewing machine (no more having to use my mom's machine that she's had since before she was married... 25 years ago).

I finished this a week ago but finally hemmed it last night. This is the most I ever spent on fabric ($25 a yard) yikes! But it's really nice fabric (a wool weave with many shades of brown and rust).

And here's the finished product (I wore it to work today):

Have a wonderful weekend! :)



Epic Hair Fail

So, today I decided to try another 'do from the Vintage Hairstyling book. It didn't really turn out. Here's my hair in pincurls:

My arms were shaking by the time I was half way done from them being up over my head for so long while pin curling. It looks very messy in the back but I have a lot of hair and it was only like my second time doing pin curls! haha. I had heard that if I allow my hair to dry partially and then put it in pin curls, it will dry faster and not take so long (cause I have super thick hair) so I tried that and... it failed. I ended up having to curl pieces with a curling iron and I took it out when it was still a little wet even though I let it dry for like 3 hours.

Here's what I was going for (it's called "Silent Film Star" so it's a 1920s inspired hairstyle):

And here's what I got:

The whole ridge around the top layer of curls - ya, that didn't happen. I've decided to start growing my hair out so once it's a little longer and my layers aren't so short, I'll attempt this again... maybe. :)

Any suggestions on pin curls? Have you guys tried any styles similar to this? How did it go?

Latest Ebay Win

I am super excited about this pattern I recently won on ebay. I don't shop ebay often but I had to have this - it was my size and the price was right so I went for it. Eek! I can't wait to make it!!!

Thrifty Finds

So, inspired by Casey at Elegant Musings, I have been trying to get into this thrift store across the street from my place of business but it is always closed when I am off and I don't live in the same city I work so I can't go over there on the weekend - especially with gas prices these days. But yesterday I didn't have to be in till the afternoon so I left a little early and I am so happy with what I got in about 10 minutes. I need to go back cause there's a lot more to look at.

Here's what I got for $2.33:

I'm going to use the belt buckle for a belt I'm going to make for a future project. They had tons of fabric and it was all half off so I got this beautiful seafoam green silky georgette type fabric (not really sure what it is) - I'm gonna make a 1940s blouse with it I think. Now I just have to find the right pattern. :) Then I went through all the patterns they had (not that many) and found this great early 1960s skirt, blouse, and vest pattern. It's too small but for 50 cents, I'm gonna try my hand at grading a pattern (using this tutorial) - a useful skill when working with vintage patterns. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Blast From the Past...Really.

I wanted to share with you a project I did last year. I have been going to the Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco for years and I've always wanted to go dressed up in historical costume. I was just getting into historical costuming at the time and this was my first big sewing project. I mean, this dress took a lot of fabric and a lot of time to complete. Plus I made all but two of the undergarments. I think it turned out great.

I used Simplicity 3727 for the skirt, bodice, undersleeves, and bustle. I omitted the collar and opted to put black lace around the neckline instead. I also made the sleeves into one piece of fabric instead of two and I made them a little smaller so they weren't so giant they would be dragging through stuff everytime I reached over something.

Getting Dressed:

I used Simplicity 9769 for the chemise and drawers. I made these two years ago in preparation for my eventual 1850s dress. :)

This is one of the undergarments I didn't make. We bought this at the 2009 Dickens Fair. I didn't feel like putting in all the effort and work for a corset - I was a bit intimidated by the thought of making my own corset - plus this is so pretty! :)

This is the other undergarment I didn't make. I bought this at the 2009 Fair as well. It is NOT historically accurate but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on loads of fabric for a bunch of petticoats no one was going to see and that would add weight and bulk under my skirt. Also, I was going for an 1850s look, so I needed the bell-shaped silliouette but no hoop skirt (which I didn't want to deal with anyways).

I made this flounced petticoat to go over the tulle one I bought. I just made it out of all the leftover ivory and white fabric we had. I bought eyelet for the bottom two flounces but I really just wanted the bottom to look nice because it would probably be seen under my skirt a little as well as add width to the hip to achieve the bell sillouette.

the back with bustle (in the dress pattern)

side view with the skirt on

At the Fair:

Queen Victoria smiled at me!

I had a lot of fun at the Fair. I can't wait till next year. I would love to find another place to wear my costume. It took so much work (and money) and it's a shame to wear it only once a year. :) I would love to see some of your historical costumes. Leave a link in the comments.