Green Swallowtail Jacket

I made a quick 18th Century jacket last weekend for a winter-themed photo shoot at Colonial Williamsburg.  I was already planning on making it to complete the outfit I wanted to wear for my Christmas card pictures this year, but American Duchess's photo contest moved my deadline up considerably.  I'll post the pics from the shoot after the contest is over, but for now here are pics of the jacket.

I borrowed the pattern (with permission, of course) from work, and put it together with no alterations.  I'm wearing it without stays, as I still haven't finished the ones I started a year ago.  I did finally finish my shift, though!  I've worn the red petticoat previously for photo shoots featuring my Lowe's curtain cloak, along with the mob cap.  My new muff cover did get a first wearing, though!  So look for those pictures after December 6, when voting is over.

P.S.  Vote for my photo!  It's called "In a holly daze."

New Cloak Pics And An Announcement

I love everything about the pictures from my first Curtain-Along Cloak photo shoot, except that there was no snow.  Apparently Virginia doesn't believe in snow....  in February.  But I digress.  I was back "home" in Iowa over the weekend, where they have snow a-plenty!  (We have snow here in Michigan, too - but I never seem to have time to get out in it to take pictures.)  My sister Gretchen was kind enough to be my photographer for an afternoon, and we went out in the wooded area around my parents' new house on The Farm.  There may be one or two dogs running around in a couple of the shots.  :p

Follow me if you like snow.

Curtain-Along Cloak Photo Shoot

I finally wore my Curtain-Along Cloak out and about yesterday!  I was in Williamsburg for a job fair, and afterwards went for a drive around the Jamestown area with my lovely bf, who was kind enough to take some pictures for me at a pretty scenic overlook.

My HSF UFO: The CAC

I could have chosen any number of half-started ventures for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Un-Finished Object Challenge, as I have several such projects lying around.  I went with the Curtain-Along cloak, which had been sitting folded in a box for months.

This photo makes me feel rich.  :)  

I already had the outer cloak cut out and sewn together, but for the sake of tidiness I had folded it up and put it back in the plastic pouch that the curtain panel originally came in.  In the meantime I gathered more fabric.  The red wool in the top left corner of the box is now the cloak lining, and the black and red velvets on the bottom will be made into a couple of muffs eventually.  I like to organize my fabric by project in these nice flat boxes I get from work.  Up until Saturday, this was as far as I had gotten on the cloak.

Update on my Curtain-Along Cloak

So far I have been unable to find a suitable lining for my Lowe's curtain cloak, so I'm still at somewhat of a standstill on that project.  I had hoped to use this brick red wool gabardine:

It matches the red flowers in the curtain fabric perfectly!

It's the right color and the right fiber content - 100% wool - but upon further research I discovered that gabardine as a weave was not invented until 1879, which puts it 100 years too late for my 18th Century cloak.  Boo.  It had two out of the three!

Oh well.  My 2 yds of 60" wide gabardine is now for sale, along with several more fabrics from my stash:

Some of these are free!

I'm sure I'll be adding more fabrics and trims to my For Sale tab in the near future, so keep checking back for more treasures!  Unless noted, there is nothing wrong with these fabrics - I just want them out of my apartment.  :)

Curtains and More Curtains

I was in Meijer again on Saturday, and decided to check if the curtains I had found last week were still there.  I quickly discovered that the entire curtain aisle had been re-arranged, and guess why?  They're joining the Curtain-Along, too!

It might be hard to tell on my crappy cell phone pic, but those are the famous Waverly indienne-print curtains in the bottom left corner!  So I guess the reason all those other curtains were marked down last week was because they were making room for the new Waverly line.  Their price is the same as Lowe's, though.  I'll keep my eye on them and see if they ever go on sale, at which point I might snatch up a red one for a caraco jacket...  We'll see.

In the meantime, I did end up finding some clearance curtains to tide me over...

Starting on my Curtain-Along Cloak

I cut out my cloak today!

Curtain-Along, here I come!

Flirting with Curtains

It's curtains for you!  

So I was shopping at Meijer today (Meijer is kind of like the Walmart of Michigan, even though we have Walmart here, too...), and I somehow found myself in the curtain aisle... and I think I'm in trouble.  :p  See, ever since I became aware of the 18th Century Curtain-Along using the Indienne print curtains available at Lowe's, I've been looking at curtains in a whole new light...

Joining the Curtain-Along

Now that Celebration VI is over, I am diving into the 18th Century headfirst!  

I've been collecting fabrics and patterns for literally years now, and it's time to finally do something with them.    *Puts determined face on*  One of my first projects will be a hooded cloak much like this one:

I got inspired by the Curtain-Along started by Festive Attyre and several other costume bloggers recently.  I decided to make the cloak mainly because it should only take one curtain, but also because it seemed like most people are making gowns and I thought it would be fun to do something different.  Also, I can't start on any 18th Century gowns until I have appropriate stays.  (That's my next project.)

I was originally going to make a red cloak with the crimson colorway of the Waverly Felicite curtain panels, but when I went to Lowe's to buy one, I saw the samples in person and decided I liked the noir version better.  So my cloak is going to be even closer to the original version than I first envisioned.

I even plan on adding the pleated trim around the hem, if I have enough fabric.  The only thing I haven't figured out yet is what to line the cloak with.  I'd like something warm so I can wear it in the winter.  Any thoughts?