2017 News and Future Plans

I have been neglecting my poor blog for the past few months, due largely to the fact that Brian the Engineer and I moved into a new house! We have not yet sold the old house, and therefore we are not in any particular hurry to finish moving out of it. The new house needed some work, so we've done the move in stages. And the last room to be finished will be my brand-new sewing room! I will do a whole post on it when it's all put together, but for now here's a teaser:

In other exciting news, Brian and I are going to have a baby! I'm due June 2, and I'm very excited! And in the meantime I plan to have lots of fun delving into historical maternity wear. Luckily the Regency already serves me well for this purpose.

I have already finished my first new Regency dress of the new year, which I will blog about next. And I have many more planned!  My current plans are based solely on fabric I already have, and most are also taking my pregnancy into account. In no particular order:

1. A sheer blue drawstring dress.

I have a feeling that drawstring dresses are going to be my go-to Regency wear in the coming months. I already made two, and the above portrait is my inspiration for a third. I have the perfect fabric for this:

It's a semi-sheer polished cotton voile with a wonderful sheen in a lovely pale shade of sky blue.

2. A black & ivory apron-front dress. Next to the drawstring style, apron-front or drop-front dresses will be the best option for an expanding baby bump, and eventually for nursing.

My fabric for this one is a printed cotton I bought from a fellow costumer on Facebook.

3. A cream wool apron-front dress. Something like this, but with long sleeves:

And without the embroidery.

I have some beautiful wool voile (who knew there was such a thing?) for this. And it's about time I had a winter dress.

I also need some new undergarments, as the long stays I finished this fall will no longer work until after I have the baby.

I have made a white bodiced petticoat already this year, and have planned:

4. Short stays

I'll use the same Laughing Moon pattern as my first set of stays, as I found it to be incredibly well-designed.

5. A pink bodiced petticoat. This will join my yellow and white ones, and will be fun to wear under my new sheer white dress.

Then to coordinate with it, I plan to make:

6. A pink silk spencer

I have two yards of a lovely carnation pink silk/cotton blend which I think will make a fancy, yet comfortable spencer for Spring.  And if I have enough fabric left over:

7. A pink silk bonnet

I bought the Regency Soft Crown Bonnet pattern from Lynn McMasters, which I intend to use for this project.

I have many more garments planned, and not just from the Regency period, but I think I'll save them for another post. I need to get pictures up of my latest dress first!