My Own Meringue Hat

Hello everyone! Again, sorry things have been so quiet... Newlywed life has been so busy! But I finally got to do some sewing in the form of a hat to wear with my white silk gown on a recent trip to the Mount Vernon Market Fair. It is very similar to the hat that I wore with the gown last time, which matched so perfectly that I knew I needed one of my own.

It's just a straw hat covered with silk taffeta leftover from the gown, and copious amounts of silk gauze. The trim and ties are icy blue silk taffeta.

We had a great time at the Market Fair, too! I came away with beautiful earrings and matching pendant from Kimberly Walters.

Happy Caturday!

Meet our new little kitten, Calimanco! Now I'm a real costumer, complete with cat. :)

She is an adorable little monster, and Michael and I really enjoy her antics. She's also a great cuddler and the loudest purrer ever!

I know things have been really quiet over here, but I should have a few new 18th century projects to share soon. Life has been CRAY-ZEE since getting married and moving to Williamsburg, and I have had absolutely no time to sew (or write thank-you notes for that matter... yikes!).

Married!!!!!!!

Sorry for the radio silence, but my life has been totally crazy and awesome as I was getting married, travelling across the country, having a second reception, and then road-tripping it to our new home in Williamsburg. I am loving everyone's Costume College pictures and really wishing I had been able to go this year, but getting married was pretty cool too. :)

In a word, the wedding was PERFECT. It was everything I wanted it to be, which is basically a Pinterest wedding. ;-) My mom totally gets all the credit for the amazing details, I just had the vision. The icing on the cake was our absolutely incredible, too-talented-for-words photographer Allie Lindsey, who captured the big day in precisely the way I had been seeing it in my head. Plus she was just awesome to work with and made me feel so comfortable!

And no, I never ended up making the spangle wedding gown. I had a good cry over the countless hours I spent putting the spangles on, but I honestly love my DB wedding gown SO MUCH and had absolutely no stress once I decided to give up on the spangle dress, that it was totally worth it. I regret nothing!

There were a couple small adventures, one of which includes blood streaming down my leg during our first look, and my shoes going missing, but they made the day all the more memorable (and I have great stories to tell!).

I'll let Allie's amazing pictures do the talking. I've posted some of my favorites (because really, I love every picture!), and you can see the rest of the sneak peak batch at her Facebook page. We'll get the official, edited pictures in about 4-5 weeks. :)

      

Here are some more pictures from my bridesmaids!

 

Stuff for Sale!

1.  Quilted Silk Taffeta 1860s Winter Hood. Silk taffeta, machine quilted, parts of it lined with brown polished cotton. I didn't make it, so I can't tell you what the batting is. $50
  

2. Navy blue knitted sontag. I didn't make this so I don't know the fiber content. Should fit most sizes... $30

Bonnet and Kerchief in Action

I spent the weekend "selling" rum and vegetables to the soldiers. It was lovely to see so many friends, especially since this is my last event in California. 

A Beautiful Black Bonnet

This is SUCH an improvement over my first black silk bonnet that I made about 2 years ago. I've learned so much since then!

I made up the pattern myself, which really just involved playing around with paper grocery bags until i had something I liked.

The brim is stiffened with artist's chip board to simulate pasteboard, which I personally like better than buckram for this kind of hat. The "Instructions for Cutting Out Apparel for the Poor" of 1789 recommends pasteboard for bonnet brims, as does the Kannik's Korner pattern (Kathleen wrote about pasteboard and bonnets here and here.) It is covered with black silk taffeta, trimmed with the same, and drawn up in the back with black silk ribbon. After careful consideration, I decided to construct my bonnet using the same method described by Rebecca. It made the most sense to me, and to Michael. I'd love to look at CW's original bonnet (currently the only known extant bonnet form the 18th century) to see how it was constructed, but the brim is stiffened with stripes of baleen, so that changes things a bit.

So here it is. Also pictured is the new spot'd kerchief I made. Yay for accessories!

      

Suggest Your/A Blog!

I would love to expand the number of historical sewing blogs I follow here on Blogger. Please share your favorites, or your own! There are a number of blogs I'd love to follow, but I can't figure out how to add them to my list... Yes, I am very technology-challenged! Can you help me?? Is there something I'm missing? I thought there was a button in the top left hand corner, but I no longer see it on some blogs.

Things have been very quiet around here, but my wedding is only 3 weeks away so life has been absolutely crazy! Hang in there, readers! I should have fun things to post soon. :)

Here's a picture from UTR last weekend (which sadly I had to enjoy from the comfort of my own home in CA via Facebook) of Michael with our friend's sweet baby boy. Enjoy!