Somewhat random mix of things

That's a picture of last week's plunder. The beige thing underneath isn't a table, it's my new (sadly unbound) 1886 Mode Illustrée. Sadly it has been hit right in the middle where the pages used to be folded and they now tear veeeery easily there - but overall it's in good shape. I lost the teens books I was bidding on. *pouts* Mode Illustrée books from after 1900 don't seem to pop up as often as the bustle era ones on eBay but, oh well, you can't win them all, right ?
Besides, I just ordered Queen Maud's Wardrobe for half the retail price, and the new What Clothes Reveal. And a whole stack of children books for Heimlich. Like a BIG pile. I blame the book we haven't been able to hide from him yet that his Grandma (guess which side...) gave him for Christmas : ugly images, text is dumb as a brick and full of typos. It's now hidden behind a lot of more interesting stuff, with the shiny (yeah, metallic shiny !) turned to the wall.
Justaucorps status : it needs the front buttons and half a buttonhole sewn over. The interfacing (white, as I didn't have anything in a dark color) showed through the machine-made buttonholes after I had opened them. I tried recovering them with the machine. Bad idea #1. Then I went for handsewing and buttonhole thread. Bad idea #2. I don't know whether it's the thread that's just bad or if it's a combination of thread and fabric thickness. So I had to make do with the same sewing thread I used with the machine and hand-sewing. It may sound like a cardinal sin but it works. Except for the part where I keep jamming the eye of the needle into the flesh of my thumb, because the wool + interfacing are pretty thick and tightly woven and the needle slips from the thimble. Right into my thumb. But I'm almost done, I even managed to make steady progress over the last couple of days despite Toad only sleeping for 20 minutes on one afternoon and her being übercranky for most of the day yesterday. (I guess she just used up both kids crankiness potential for a while because they've been adorable today)
I decided to take some rest this week, so the children will be with Nounou on all weekdays. January has just been exhausting, both physically and mentally, so I'm taking advantage of our wonderful and helpful sitter. And maybe I'll be able to work a little bit for myself, like on a set-up to take better pictures of my costumes, or even on some sewing if I get to finish my next commission quickly enough.