I must fix it, its BAROQUE...

Yeah I know, bad joke. I am going to parlay my very much unfinished Baroque corset into the #16 challenge somehow. I will have to look through the terminology later, as right now I need to be sewing. There is a lot of it left to do (especially since a piece went missing and had to be recut/boned), and I am not completely sold on the actual shape of it. I am worried that the straps may end up being a bit too wide, and possibly the back too high. I will need to do a fitting and then decide, which would have been MUCH easier had I made it close in the front AND back, but I didn't want to hassle with re-working the boning placement. That was probably a mistake.

Challenge #16: Terminology

Yep, I did it again--which means I did nothing. Seems like life is always getting in the way of sewing for pleasure, but I am going to TRY and get something finished up for the Challenge #16: Terminology. I have till Monday so am off to sew...

Update...

It has been forever since I have been able to update. We have been very busy, and a simple move from one location to another that was only about an hour and fifteen minutes away, turned into a major undertaking that took weeks to recover from. We have been decently settled, I would say, since sometime in June, but there are still things that need to be done. My youngest son's sports took up much of the summer, and now we are into the football season and school starts next week (you can't see it, but I am so doing my happy dance). I am looking forward to a bit of quiet during the day and a chance to get into a routine again. Maybe this will give me time to actually sew.

It is almost the end of the Historical Sewfortnightly 2014, but I am going to make an attempt to get in on a few of the challenges before it is over. We will see what happens...

A few pics of girls Regency underthings.

Here are a few quick pics of the girls Regency underthings. I am basically happy with how they turned out but will make a few adjustments when I make them again. For now I am going to take out drawstring on drawers and put in elastic. No one can see it and it will just make things easier for her to manage. At some point I may replace the lace on the corset. Because it is so wide I had to snip it to get it to lay flat across the back curve but for now it will do. Elaina loved them! It was hard to get her still so I could take pics that weren't blurry.

Girls Regency underthings.

The dress I was making Elaina is NOT going to fit. I decided against taking it apart and figure I will sell it and just make her a different one, but either way she needs the appropriate underthings. I took a pattern I already had and some lovely cotton I scored at Goodwill for $2 and made her chemise. I adjusted the pattern to make it more appropriate and then used some lace to embellish it/use as casing. The lace is definitely not period but I didn't want to waste expensive trim on a child chemise. Maybe when she gets bigger. I also made drawers for modesty sake. Though she doesn't need one since she is only 8 she really wanted a corset. Since it really only covers the bust area, and I figured it would help the chemise to lay flat under certain garments, I said OK. Here is a photo of it waiting for all the handwork. It has same lace as chemise and boning at center front and one piece on seam of center back. I used scraps of the weed-trimmer string.

Regency Day dress progress

Here is a quick pic of the dress. I really do like it, just not the way it is put together. There is a wrinkle in the side-back pieces and I pinned and ironed the heck out of the "casing" before it was sewn, but it isn't too bad so I am not redoing it. I am trying to loose some weight so I saved some fabric and will just remake it how I know I should have made it in a smaller size later. It also was supposed to have a sash but the thing is way too short! I knew it was when I cut it out but somehow I seemed to hope it would work. I do kind of mine the buckle detail so I might make it longer to give me different looks. Both the buttons and the buckle are antique mother of pearl.

Work continues on Baroque corset...

Picked up the weed trimmer line to bone the corset. Not yet sure how I am going to finish the tips of the "bone" yet, so right now just cutting them to length and inserting them to see what I think. So far am liking it but think I should have gotten one size smaller of the line. Only reason I didn't was it was a much smaller package.