Paletot for Sale!

I'm selling this paletot. It's wool lined in silk and trimmed with velvet. It's a size small... Hard to take measurements for a loose-fitting garment! There are more pictures of it in this blog post. $150 plus shipping. I have Paypal!

Sort-of Tutorial! Early 19th Century Round Reticule

I knew I wanted an unusual and fun reticule for NOLA, but with very limited time it had to be something easy to make (as much as I would have like to embroider one!).

 I came across a handful of these circular reticules, and decided to make one inspired by the silk examples. The cotton ones are lovely, and I had cotton in the stash. But if you zoom in on the cotton ones, you'll see that all of the pieces are meticulously hemmed, and then the puffy part is whip gathered to the circles (what I call the medallions). Phew. That was a lot of handwork, and as I said I had very little time, and my wrist problems as well. (Also the opening on the cotton one is different than the silks).

Since there are no interior images of the silk bags, the construction is a bit of guess work. Ultimately, I made four silk-covered medallions--two for each side--and sandwiched the gathered strip in-between them. I used a very fine slip stitch to put it together.

The medallions are cut from pasteboard and then covered with silk similar the way you would cover a button with fabric, cutting it larger than the form and gathering it to fit snugly.

The two silk bags vary quite a bit in size; one is just over 6" across and the other is just over 10". Mine falls in the middle at 8" across.

I figured out the size to cut the pieces by figuring that the medallions were roughly 1/3 of the finished "diameter" of the entire circle bag. I guess I was going for 9" finished, and ended up with 8" because I forgot to add seam allowance to the gathered section... So my medallions are 3" across. Then I cut a long strip of silk for the gathered section. Mine measured 6" wide, and I honestly can't remember how long the strip was... But I actually cut some off because it would have been too full. So that's something you can eyeball and finish according to your taste. The ends of the strip need to have channels sewn in for the draw strings before being gathered and attached to the medallions.

Again because of time and wrist constraints, I only decorated one medallion, although having both decorated seems to be the norm. I just did simple chain stitch in silk thread and silver spangles (I literally have thousands...).

I hope that makes some kind of crazy sense! I'm calling this a sort-of tutorial because I don't have step-by-step instructions, but I really feel I should be doing helpful things like construction posts more often!

NOLA 1815: Fox Fur and Pink Silk Pelisse

For daywear, I created a pelisse made of pink silk taffeta, interlined with wool in the bodice and sleeves, and lined with pale pink lightweight silk. The whole was trimmed with white fox fur (yep, the real stuff!). It's very simple in design, relying on the sumptuousness of the fabric and the novelty of the hood to make a statement. It actually kept me quite warm, since silk has insulating properties and acted as a good windbreaker! I wore it over my trusty old Swiss dot and lace insertion gown and a new antique lace chemisette.

I didn't realize that the darned belt had slipped down in some of the pictures *grumble* so please ignore that...! I think it's interesting to see how the colors change in different qualities of light. The battlefield pictures were taken on a very overcast day, and the French Quarter pictures were in brilliant sunlight.

Michael blocked the hats for Nicole and me, and we trimmed them. They are made of shaggy rabbit fur felt.

My main inspiration was this 1815 fashion plate, although you see hoods on pelisses and spencers in the years preceding and following.

For construction, I followed this extant silk pelisse. The bodice and skirt are fully lined. The lower edge of the bodice and the upper edge of the skirt have the raw edges turned in and roughly stitched together. Then the two are stitched together along with a piece of tape to help strengthen the seam.

The fur was lightly tacked on so that it can be removed eventually, and I might turn this into an 18th century pelisse, which is what I originally bought the materials for! I attached the fur to the outer fabric before putting the lining in, so that you wouldn't see big nasty tacking stitches on the inside of the garment.

And of course, everything was hand sewn.

2014 Review and 2015 Plans

I didn't make nearly as much as I have in previous years, but sewing for other people for a living, plus my ongoing wrist problems, plus buying a house (!!) meant I was often tired. But I the things I did make generally took a lot of time to construct and research. No quick, slap dash projects this year!

• 1920s Robe de Style
• 1770s Hoops
• 1864 Half Mourning Dress and Bonnet
• 1824 Dress, Cap, and Hat
• Late 1770s Riding Habit
• 1600-1610s Gown
• 1600-1610s Undergarments
• A Rebato
• 1815 Ball Gown for New Orleans (pictures coming!)

I also presented at three academic conferences, taught a class at Costume College, and studied original 17th century artifacts for work. What a year!

2015 should be pretty awesome, although I regret to say that Costume College probably isn't going to happen... Since I live so far away from my family, spending time with them is my top priority. After a year hiatus, we are resuming our family pilgrimage to Hawaii (this will be year 16!). And I will be able to go to faire in CA! That vacation will be about two weeks long, in May, which is just too close to late July/early August... But we'll see. I haven't completely given up hope yet!

Here are my plans for 2015 sewing, if my wrist cooperates, more or less in chronological order:

• Felicity sack gown finished
• 1610s silk gown
• 1560s gown, kirtle, petticoat, smock, and hood
• 1860s corset 
• 1860s Swiss waist
• 1840s undergarments
• 1840s gown
• Cotton polonaise finished
• 1860s outerwear 
• 1860s wool gown