green_martha

Our trip to Vizille, with Heileen, Lady Darkstone (who was in a 100%-not-historical mood), and the kids was on Sunday. We were lucky to have reasonable weather (i.e. not too TOO hot). Despite a massive hair disaster, we managed to get there in time to say hi to our friend Antonia, have a picnic in the (gorgeous !) park, then went bakc home so that the kids could take their nap under the Home Geek's supervision (turns out they didn't want to nap that day, oh well...), went back to see the end of the battle and tour the museum some. It was fa-bu-lous. In fact, we had such a great time we didn't take that many pictures.

Only picture I have of Antonia's gorgeous Directoire gown...

The theme this year was 1792, so Heileen and I went with Directoire fashions. I re-wore the printed cotton I had made last year and focused on making new stuff for the kids. I just added a last minute cockade and changed the turban arrangement. I intended to add feathers but didn't have the energy in the morning, and decided I didn't want to brave the wind int he afternoon, so the feathers stayed in the car. Heileen wore her fabulous pleated back Ikea-sheets Directoire gown, that I had not seen in person yet.

Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français, 32e.
Cahier de Costumes Français, 25e
Suite d'Habillemens à la mode en 1780 -
Museum of Fine Art, Boston

Heimlich has outgrown last year's skeleton suit, so he got a new one. I just changed the lapels' color form the original plate to make it more patriotic. I made him a new chemisette out of linen and cotton scraps, the jacket and trousers are of plain Ikea cotton with buttons I found on eBay ages ago (labelled as ex-DDR buttons); the scarf is a simple tube from a remnant of my han bok project. Yay for a 100% from stash project ! I didn't ahe the time to hunt down correct shoes nor make a new hat, so he wore the same non-period hat as last year (which he loves loves loves. When I dug it out on Saturday he had to wear it to breakfast !) and his usual shoes.

My fabrics for Toad being very fine and transparent, I made her an underdress to go under the "chemisete" sic), a simple green cotton chemise-style dress fitted with two drawstrings around the neckline and chest ( a few detail shots, including growth tucks, here). The white chemise dress is put together out of rectangles and triangular underarm gores, with just one drawstring at the neckline. The fabric is a fake eyelet lace (the "embroidered" parts are actually some kind of printed puff paint... yeah, I know, puff paint... *giggles*). The cap was a last minute addition, from cutting diagrams from the Kannik's Korner infant pattern. I only had to buy the ribbon for the ties, everything else came form the stash as well. In fact, except the white fabric, everything came from the scraps bin.
All of my pictures are on FlickR, Heileen's are there as well.

Now, I obviously need to print and start carrying business cards around, especially when I'm in costume. We had one lady come up to us with stars in her eyes "Did you make that ?" "Can I touch it !" "Oooooh the back is beaaaaautiful..." I gave her my mobile phone number, but I felt like such a fool for not having the cards ready.

Current Mood: accomplished

I'm sorry, I'm a bit slow lately. Sick, very tired, aching, that's the short version.

( But my kids are cute ! )

I hope this was somehow readable, my head is swirling from the pain, and staying on the computer for more than a few minutes at a time is kinda hard...

Current Mood: sore
Crossposts: http://green-martha.livejournal.com/345165.html

It's official, I'm not trying to finish the Directoire outfit for Saturday. I could not possibly get it to a stage I'd be happy with it. So... I tried on what's in my closet. In short : I need to alter the stirped pierrot, the redingote-dress, the casaque. I probably need a new pair of stays as well, as my waist now sits a good two inches higher than pre-Toadette. But the plum caraco, which was jsut a tad shortwaisted, now seems to fit fine ! I just had to cut of the sleeve above the elbows as they were too tight, but that's pretty much it. Bonus point, I now wear them over underwear from the same period (aka the plum jumps). I feel pretty good, looking at my first serious attempt at historical costuming and thinking it's still totally serviceable and nothing I should be shamed of - in fact, the sleeves are some of the best sleeves I ever constructec, dammit.
I still have a few things to do before Saturday :
- make two tiny stitches to hold the pants legs of the skeleton suit folded up inside (they're a bit too long, as I feared, but the jacket fits fine)
- find white socks for Heimlich
- find white narrow tape and sew it on - to close Toadette's frock
- hem and add lace to her shirt's neckline
- change the bows on my hat
- bake a cake
- buy some othe rcakes
- wrap the birthday girl's present
- repair cartridge pleats on muslin skirt
- iron everything
- DO NOT forget period correct glasses !!!!
I do have pictures, pictures of the kids (OMG this girl truly IS growing like a mushroom, she's bigger and heaier now than her brother was one month older !), pictures of Toadette in her almost finished outfit (no time for a cap, yet, and OMG again, she barely fits into it now !), pictures of the state of the blue directoire two-piece... but !i got a new computer. And this nifty brand new mini-PC only sees the first picture on my DSLR. So, no pictures. Here's hoping that the HG will fix it soon enough...

Current Mood: accomplished
Crossposts: http://green-martha.livejournal.com/344720.html

I had striked them out of the agenda, but it seems the Revolution feasts in Vizille in July could be doable. as in : they start on Thursday, and we'd be leaving Grenoble on Saturday only. The HG is on vacation at that date anyway, so kids would not be a problem - Heimlich could probably come along fine anyway. The only possible issue would be having a costume I fit into by that date. I'm not so sure about wearing the quilted ensemble in summer (but who knows, it might be exceptionnally cold) - this one would certainly fit and be ready. The Pierrot I mrobably wouldn't fit back into, as it's a little tight, and 5 weeks is not a lot to get back to your usual shape. The Plummy Jacket could probably fit with minimal tweaking. The redingote could certainly work too, probably with a new or altered stomacher. Redoing the hat would be a good idea as well.
Hmmm Heileen, I guess you'll be babysitting at that time ? *sad panda face*
Or I could do something new... wait, no. Strike that. Not by the end of July. Buuuut I still need a new empire gown for August. I have the fabric. Yup, I scanned it - with the magazine underneath to give you an idea of the scale.

I love the fabric, it's light and summery, I grabbed it as it was cheap and it "spoke" to me, but now I'm a bit at a loss at what to do with it. Something like this ? Or a late 1790s cross-over front dress (haven't seen those in darker print, though) ? Or a late 1810s/early 1820s dress with puffy sleeves (I have the right undies for one of those, AND the chemisette) ? I just can't decide, so please, LJ-hive mind, if you have any suggestion, shoot ahead !
I also have ten millions meters of white fabric for a more classical empire look, but I don't feel the love for a white dress right now. As for Heimlich, the skeleton suit would be pretty much okay-ish for both the revolution and the empire outing.

Current Mood: hesitating
Crossposts: http://green-martha.livejournal.com/338914.html

I don't have a permanent web access here and I don't have any personal pictures from Saturday (ùy DSLR really is too big to be carried around much, I need a new compact. Bummer), so no real pictures of my dress for now. But here are some pictures from the event. What can I say ? I was fabulous ! So many bustles dresses, several men, fabulous locations, way too yummy food, and to top it all of, a japanese restaurant with

heileen and

fleurdelysa !

Current Mood: fabulous

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately - I suspect I was really, really tired and needed the vacation. Now I have regained some energy and I give you the obligatory "yearly costume review" post.

Back in January 2010, I tried to push myself to finish one project a month for a year. It worked quite well for the first half of the year, then as I went back to work my productivity went downward and I stoped keeping track. Most of all, this year has been bad for pictures - I forgot to snap some of half of the things I made, and I still haven't gone through the Vaux one. Boooo ! I'll try to catch up now that I'm home, but first, what did I make ?( click )

That'd be 10 or 11 projects in a year. Not quite 12-12, but considering I had a baby on my hands and how exhausted I spent the last months of the year, that's really not bad.
Oh wait ! I made a 12th thing ! I made a maternity t-shirt with th serger, it was so quick I forgot it ! *ticks the last box off*

Now for the coming year, what do I want to make ?
- finish the 1887 red maternity bustle dress
- make an 18th century quilted maternity ensemble
- make an adorable baby
- work on the super sekrit eyebrow project with

heileen
Nothing else is set yet, but I suspect this will change after we have the programm of the Ministère des Modes in January...

Now for the mundane stuff ( click )

Current Mood: accomplished

Yay, I finished a dress in time !
Yay, I uploaded all the pictures !
And more importantly : Yay, I had an amazing day !
First, the event Click any picture to get to the album.

I was blazing hot. Not as hot as for last years rococo picnic, but still very, VERY hot. We couldn't park at the entrance of the park, so we had to walk a little kilometer just to get there. We joined the group and ate in the shade (waaaaayyy too much yummy food), played graces and crocket, chatted, took a small nap, then went for a walk in the park. It's a gorgeous and very big park in the center of Lyon, with a roseraie, animals, carousels... About midway trhought the stroll, the weight of the skirts got too much for me and I had to take them off. I tried to put them back on after a short break but the nausea got the best part of me and in the end I just went on in underwear and corset, with stripey socks and a hat on my head. Lady Darkstone ended up with two burns on the thighs, from walking a LOT in warm skirts in such temperatures. Ouch !
Lots of extremely adorable people, some really amazing costumes, and lots of fun ! There were lots of trips to the water fountain, silliness, singing, turtles, giraffes, and fabulous ice-creams !

Current Mood: happy

... was short but really nice - we were interrupted by the rain, making the whole thing about one hour shorter. The location, orchestra and dance were fabulous, as was the company of friends. The heat in a closed paved court was not so enjoyable, but bearable in costume (the ladies in full Tudoer garb might have disagreed, though). The costuming was somewhere between ugly "OMG a leopard print and lurex fake française" (yes, it was a *Renaissance* ball) and beautiful periodesque, with a really gorgeous elve in the middle. Lady Darkstone's dress ended up nothing like a florentine gown, but beautiful nonetheless. We ended the evening with a yummy yummy YUMMY restaurant and crashed in bed around 1AM. Back home today around noon, where I noticed I got myself a kind of cold. I'm trying very hard not to get really sick *crosses fingers* - I don't have TIME to be sick, scrogneugneu !
I found out the costume is incredibly comfy and I LOVED it - but I HATE most pictures of myself in it. The hairstyle I improvised just doesn't work, maybe I was also just a little too tired or too hot, dunno... I just don't like myself in them.

Yes, the back is too low... But I appreciated the extra aeration yesterday ;)

The dress looks waaaaay better in person, the low lighting just killed the shine of the taffetas...

Current Mood: tired

lady_darkstone and I ordered ostrich feathers last week, from a site which was recommended to us by the grils at the Grand Mogol (french costuming forum). And what comes yesterday in my mailbox ? "We acknowledge your command and are currently working on it"? WTF ? It should already be on its way !!! I need the feathers by the middle of next week !
Lord darkstone has a possible alternative option for us *crossing fingers*. It seems there's some bad vibe hanging over the Vaux outing,

lady_darkstone has also ordered some fabric and it probably won't be here before the 18th, or the like, that is, when we leave for Vaux.
And I just figured out the art school's exhibition opening night is the 18th. Dang. I don't even know when it ends nor where and when I can collect my pieces...

And I have pictures to prove it !

The skirt, in progress and finished. The balancing picture shows the color best. Hey wait... It's a finished garment ! I said one finished garment, even if it's just part of an outfit, counts for 12-12... OMG I already have a finished 12-3, I'm working on 12-3 the second ! o_O

And then we have the redingote itself. Pinning the stripes to match...

... and the finished back. Except for the center back seam I sewed this by hand, as it was easier to fold over the seam allowance and then just pin one piece on top of another. Plus, I love all those visible teeny tiny handstitches on the back of 18th century gowns, I actually made some on both sides of the center back seam when attaching the lining there. I could have made the stitches invisible on the outside but they just make me sooo happy. I know, I'm a little silly *giggles* but if I can be excited about my son eating carrots, I can be excited about unnecessary visible handstitching, right ? :)

lady_darjstone and I took a trip to a "seamtresses flea market" today. We didn't know what to expect but it was pretty cool. Mostly geared towards quilters, but there still were some gems. Too bad enitehr of us had some spare 200 euros... a lady was selling a lovely cotton damask victorian fabric reproduction that was just soooooo yummy. I got a little fabric : one piece of changing acetate taffetas for a corset or the like (the color was just too gorgeous to pass up), a sheer white something and a lilac and white striped cotton blend that would make a perfect early bustle bodice... if only I could find a coordinating skirt fabric. Aaaand I found two buckles for my redingote !

... not really period but neutral enough, and they're just the right width for what I had in mind. And they cost me *20 cents* !!!! YAYAYAY !!!

Current Mood: bouncy (but tired)

To sum it up : I had one of the best times of my life. It was a blast, we totally need to do that again.

The long version ( will go behind the cut )
Owie, I think I covered it all, although I barely scraped the surface of all the fun we had. *pouts* I'm missing you already !

Expect another post about pending projects, and a separate post just to show you the details of the casaque outfit - thanks to my wonderful photographer

heileen. But for now, I'm going to bed. I'm even giving up on getting more patterns saved before the CoPA stops being free, I'm just waaaaaaay too tired.

The casaque is done except for the hem ! Yay ! I didn't touch the shoes but that's not such a big deal, as it was only an option for today. I still have good chances to get them done by Saturday.
I should probably try everything on and make sure it fits, and add some linen tabs to the stomacher so that I can pin it to my outfit. Making a cap for

lady_darkstone would be nice... Except I just remembered her dress is blue and pure white, and the fabric and lace I have are a yellow-y ivory. Not good. Well, good that I did notice before cutting them up. I'll have to go stash-searching again, maybe I can still find something.

Current Mood: accomplished

The answer, I had it all along... I DO have some pretty pretty fine lace I can use for the 1890s Paquin dress, see ? It's pretty and really finer than whatever I've found online or in a shop yet. I have quite a lot of it - I seem to recall 7 meters, but looking at the bolt I'm not sure there isn't a bit more. I haven't found a better way to display it's yumminess yet. Now I just need to find fabric for it.
Okay, now the bad thing ? Searching my stash has let another yummy-pretty piece of lace emerge, it's a little more dead-dinosaury and bulky, but still very pretty, and yesterday I stumbled upon THE perfect dress to display it, yet another 1890s, though a little earlier than the previously mentioned Paquin dress. So that means after I'm done with the casaque, the cradle dress, the possible new outfit or outfit revamping for Vaux, I have two dresses on my To-Sew-List that I badly badly badly want to make without any fabric nor occasion to wear it yet. Ewwww...
I must sew faster.
And post pictures but that requires lurching a big heavy book up from the living room, that'll wait.
Okay, I'm back to working on the stomacher, I think I'll attack the shoes tomorrow only.

Current Mood: mischievous

My dress dummy is in a corner of the house with almost no direct daylight (we want to install a skylight, someday), so bad lighting ahead :

From left to right : my attempt at matching the front pleats on both sides by threadmarking them. Of course after this careful work I had to redrape all of it ; then the casaque as it currently stands, cuffs need to be finished and it's still in need of a hem (

heileen, I'm afraid it's highly likely I'll wait for your help to mark and sew it) ; then the cable ties boned stomacher base, and finally a cap that just needs some ribbon for sprucing it up. I'll probably make a second cap for

lady_darkstone as well, as it's quick and I have the fabric at hand.
BTW

heileen, she'll be coming in on the evening before our outing and is willing to help, as long as she gets some as well.
Here's the museum's page, I just spotted there are two exhibitions going on there, one modern photography exhibit in the gardens and the museum, and a non-modern painting exhibit inside the museum. There's also the permanent exhibition rooms, aka the house as it stood at the end of the 19th century. The museum's not big, the entrance is free and there's a (really nice) pick-nick area. And we can park right outside of the park. We just need to figure out if we go Saturday or Sunday (if we go Sunday, we can do some fabric hunting on Saturday... not that we have a Marché St-Pierre here, but I have a "secret" dealer who has nice and rather cheap stuff if you don't want 100% natural fibers), and what we bring to eat. I must say I'm very tempted to try my hand at macarons again...

On a completely unrelated note : WANT ! Not wait, not want, NEED ! Anyone have suggestions as to where to go hunting for that kind of lace ? I have some that I could make do with, but it's not nearly half as wide as this one...

Current Mood: cheerful

After lamenting for a while that Costume College is so damn far away from this end of the world, I realized I have quit e a few events plannend for the coming year. And I don't have to worry with them colliding with work (yay to parental leave !) or other travel impairments... So, the list goes as follow :
- 22d or 23d of August : Rococo Promenade in Grenoble with cakes and tea. Casaque in progress.
- somewhere in March : Bustles in Paris, The Return of the Bustle, early bustle, yet in planning
- somewhere in March as well : Bordenau-Treffen, 3 days sewing circle meeting from Kostuemkram.de's forum
- mid-June : I be damned if I don't get to Vaux-le-Vicomte this year !
Chime in if you plan to attend some of these, or want to share plans for more events !

Current Mood: bouncy

I just tried some nifty tricks with Gimp and B&W. And I love this one.

From

lady_darkstone's hen party, picture by

argyronete.

Current Mood: creative

We were away yesterday and today visiting the HG's uncle and aunt in the mountain. They've rented an apartment in a ski station for two weeks, about 100km from here. We came yesterday, the HG and his uncle skied for the afternoon and this morning, while I just sat in the sun and chatted with his aunt. And now I'm. Completely. Utterly. Exhausted.
I had some doubts about whether I'd be fit enough to handle a day in costume, that obviously solves it. *sad panda* I'm really sorry to let you down like that, esp. as I was feeling very motivated again (and I have fixed the straps on my bodiced petticoat), but getting enough rest for the baby and me is a priority.
Right now, all our Paris plans are in the air, we don't know how long we'll stay nor where we'll stay, but will probably concentrate on some family members who've been too sick to come to the wedding (including the HG's lost uncle, who's been confined home with sciatic problems).
Right now I'm going to lie down until I feel vaguely human again, then maybe I'll try ont he bodice petticoat to check that the strap problem is indeed solved.

Current Mood: exhausted

Hey

heileen,

lisotchka,

philcostumes,

fleurdelysa ! The Home Geek have some vacation time between the 29th of March and the 5th of April, and a Paris trip is planned (to visit the family members who couldn't make it to the wedding, officially). Unofficially, I very much plan to visit the Galliéra exhibit. Who wants to have a costumers' meet-up, go drool over some beuatiful dresses, have some costume chit-chat, drink some tea ?
And BTW... Who's still in for Poe and when ? I am, as long as it's after the 28th of February and on a sunday, or on a Saturday where I don't work. Or during said vacation. We probably wouldn't stay the whole week, but can start making arrangements, trian tickets and accomodation are not booked yet.

Now someone please remidn me that I'm to tired to sew tonight...

Current Mood: determined

Heee, I just finally got around to browsing through my sister's pictures of

lady_darkstone's hen party. I *finally* have really good pictures of the Avant-Garde dress, yay !
I just love this one :

Have to go through the rest of the pictures and put a page together. Someday. Probably after the wedding, I fear...

I'm back ! I'm tired ! No wait, I'm not tired, I'm... exhausted ! Don't know why going to the movies and wearing a corset for four hours killed me that way. Maybe it has to do with the getting up early on a day off and running errands and makign important phone calls and getting ready before the Darkstones came.
So Lord and

lady_darkstone arrived around half past eleven, we made ourselves something to eat, ate, ironed our costumes (those 9 meters of muslin in my skirt... argh !), hopped into our underwear, did our hair, hopped into the costumes, grabbed the key, found a parking place in the town center and were barely on time for the movie. I pulled out my dotted muslin skirt and striped pierrot, and

lady_darkstone wore her française and made a pouf following Kendra's tutorial. With only her own hair and a net and fabric pouf.
It was obviously a baaaaad day for taking pictures. It had rained for the last 24 hours and everything was drenched, there was no way we'd get nice pictures outside without ruining our skirts, and when we got home afterwards it had gotten a little bit drier, but the sun was gone. This long babbling was meant as a meager apology for the less than stellar ( pictures )

As for the movie itself, I liked it - not loved, liked. I was surprised when it ended and found it a little errr... sort of short. The costumes were gorgeous, and I need to see them again and hit the pause button every minute. The plot I found a bit light - but still miles better than Marie-Antoinette in my eyes*. Good acting, pretty pictures, heavy-drooling costume porn. On the whole, it's a YAY ! When can I get it on DVD ?

*Please note that I have a big issue with Sofia Coppola. This comes from someones who thinks her movie embed the quintessence of boredom.

Current Mood: exhausted

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green_martha

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Entries tagged with events

Vive la Nation !

Here are your pictures !

A check-list, and other stuff

Revolution and empire ramblings

Quickie post

The year past and the year to come

Pictures bonanza !

The ball

Boo...

I sewed !

Grenoble, August 2009 - the full write-up

Tschakka !

facepalm

Here come the pictures !

What's coming up on this costumer's agenda ?

Gimp fun !

Something aorund the lines of "ugh !"

Paris trip !

I just had to share

The Duchess, or a Bad Pictures Day