Back from the City

Sorry I've been such an absent blogger lately. Life has been so crazy with work, some sewing, and I was gone to the City over the weekend. But, I did get to do some fun shopping while I was there!
My mom and Aunt and I did some insane thrift shopping, we came home with the back of our car packed with stuff. Lots of cool things to make some stuff out of as well as some cute clothes and such.
But the highlight of my shopping trip was that I got to go to Forever 21, which is one of my favorite stores. :) (We, sadly, don't have one in my town)

One of the things on my "Look out for" list was a nice handbag. I'm tired of lugging a ton of small bags to work for lunch, books, etc. So I decided I needed a nice big bag that could contain everything but still be cute.
I hunted all over the Internet and decided this one was my favorite:

But I ended up finding this one at Forever 21 which I might even like a little better. And...it was a lot cheaper!

So, I am now a big bag owner. :)

I also got this adorable sweater at Forever 21:

Did I mention I love that store? :)

Well, I'm off to work for a couple of days, but I am in the process of posting another Robin Hood costume study and hopefully starting some fun costumes!

*sigh*...if only I could spend every moment in my sewing room. So many new little notions and things to sew with!
But I will try to come back to post again soon!

~Anna Kristine

Repurposed Sweater

I had this sweater in my closet which doesn't fit me, but I always felt was rather plain.
I decided to give it a second life so I added a dash of vintage shell buttons and vintage lace:

Just a peek at the results:

For the full look see HERE. :)

Anybody else getting excited?? :)

I can't wait for the new Emma to air on Masterpiece Theater. I've heard rumor it's to air sometime this Fall.
The wonderful Romola Garai plays Emma:
Jonny Lee Miller plays Mr. Knightley:

Michael Gambon plays Mr. Woodhouse: (I adore this man)

Blake Ritson plays Mr Elton. Oh dear, I love this guy too.

And *drum role please* Rupert Evans is to play Mr Frank Churchill. *sigh* I've been dying for this guy to be in another period role since playing Fredrick in North and South. Now I'll most likely fall for him instead of Mr. Knightley. Why do they always pick my favorite actors for Frank Churchill? Oh well...perhaps he'll astound us all and make us reel with hatred. We shall see.

The costumes look so amazing. Now I must go sew something Regency...

Catching up...

I haven't quite accomplished the art of keeping up on blogging while working. But now I've got a few days off so hopefully I can catch up and maybe get some sewing done!

I've been really inspired lately to work on some of my historic and movie inspired costumes. Right now I'm in a total Maid Marian mood. I want to make something inspired by her incredible wardrobe and it would be good timing with Amanda Beth's event coming up next month.

But I'm also really inspired by Pirates right now. I want to make some more Elizabeth Swann costumes.

So who knows what I'll end up doing.

My goal at the moment...is to try and complete one costume per month. Huge goal for me th way I've been getting things done lately...but I'm going to try! I'm not sure where I will start though...I'm going to try and start with what I've already got. Which is probably more Regency and some Civil War. Who knows. I'm going to go do some digging in my fabric stash over the next few days and try to come up with some projects. I'm excited to get a sewing schedule organized so I get more done.

But I still might have to start fresh with something Maid Marian...I'm just so in love with her wardrobe....*sigh*

Me and Orson Welles US Release Date

I finally found a release date for Me and Orson Welles! It's to be released in theaters November 25, 2009. I'm so excited. :) That's just 5 days after New Moon comes out though so I guess I'll need to be saving my pennies up for November.
*sigh*...I just love the 1930's. :)

Fall Layers

When the weather gets chilly, I just can't say goodbye to my short sleeved shirts and dresses. I love layering long sleeves underneath my short sleeved things. :)
Here are some really cute examples from TOAST.

Pemberley Couture

I've hugely neglected my poor costume blog, Pemberley Couture, as I haven't been getting a lot of costumes done lately. So I've decided I'm going to use it to post about my Etsy shop listings and other fun handmade stuff as well. I'm also hoping to do some fun giveaways soon.

I will most often let you know on this blog about big events going on over there but I might not always, so if you want to keep up on the happenings be sure to hop over and check it out regularly!

I'm also starting to make a little bit of jewelry and starting to sell a few vintage things so my shop will always be bursting with something new and exciting. :) And don't worry, I wont neglect my original passion of historic costuming. ;)

I hope you all are having a great Holiday,

~Anna Kristine

Queen of Hearts Costume Analysis by Ginger

I just found an amazing costume analysis on the Queen of Hearts costume from Alice in Wonderland.
Check out Ginger's post.
Saved me a lot of figuring out. :)
She also has an analysis on the White Queen's costume.
I can hardly wait to start this project!

One lovely thing...

...about having an office job, I get to wear cute shoes. :)

Red shoes found at ROSS, Tweed Heels found second hand. Yay for bargain hunting.

Taylor Swift: 'Love Story' Music Video - Part 1

"See the lights, see the party the ballgowns, see you make your way through the crowd and say hello...little did I know..."

I fell in love with Taylor Swifts music video, Love Story quite awhile ago, I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at the beautiful dresses she wears. :)

The dress Taylor wears at the ball looks as though it's inspired by 18th Century gowns, while the gentlemen remind me of Regency. The setting is beautiful, candlelight and ballgowns...

"That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles and my daddy said stay away from Juliet, and I was crying on the staircase begging you please don't go..."

The front of her dress comes down to a "V" and there is lacing across the stomacher:

"And I said...Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone, I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run, you'll be the prince and I'll be the princess...it's a love story baby just say yes."

The back of her dress:
"So I sneak out to the garden to see you, we keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew, so close your eyes, just leave this town for a little while..."

"'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter and my daddy said stay away from Juliet..."

Here you can see her sleeves better:

"But you were everything to me I was begging you please don't go..."

The sleeves are trimmed in delicate lace:

Pattern Ideas:

Here are some pattern ideas if you'd like to replicate this dress. :)

Simplicity 3723

McCall's 5414

McCall's 5731

Part 2 coming soon!

New Moon: Jane

I finally ran across some official pictures of Jane, played by Dakota Fanning, in New Moon. I think her cloak is really cool!

It reminds me of a "Coachman's coat" from a Dicken's film or something. And her mary janes are so cute. :)

This is the Jane promo picture that I'm not sure is from the movie or not. It doesn't look like any of the other pictures of Jane but I thought it was cool anyway. :)

I'm not a big fan of Jane (all the Volturi give me the creeps) But her costume is so cool. Probably the closest we've seen of "costume" in these movies so far, besides Victoria's cape.

And one more picture of Bella and Jacob. Because we love Jacob. :)

November...hurry up.

Taylor Swift Style

Taylor Swift has such a soft romantic clothing style. It's carefree and feminine, yet classy. I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of my favorites. :)

I absolutely love this coat. The color, the big brown buttons, it's definitely Audrey Hepburn worthy.

I think this black coat with her black ear flap hat is so cute:

Here are some fun photo shoots with Taylor:

I love the bluish tones in these:

I'm working on a post about her music video, Love Story. For those of you who haven't seen it, don't worry I'll post it or you can find it on YouTube. I'm not really a Taylor Swift fan, but I fell in love with the Austen/18th Century/Fairytale themes of her Love story music video. Some really cool costumes! :)