Corset Update :)

I finished binding on almost my entire first half of my Elizabeth Swann corset! It finally looks like something resembling a corset now which makes work on it all the more enjoyable. But...the best part...I started doing the eyelets...I love them. :)
These are the front eyelets which are smaller than those in the back:

And these are the back eyelets:You can't really tell the difference in the photos I suppose. But I had to show them to you anyway. :)

I love hand sewing the eyelets, although I'm not a huge fan of hand sewing the whole corset. I think on my next corset I'll use the machine and then do the eyelets by hand. I just love the authentic feel they give to the garment!

But...I still have a whole half of a corset to go!

1995 Pride and Prejudice Costumes

I ran across an interesting article on the costumes in the A&E Pride and Prejudice that I thought some of you might be interested in. You can view it HERE. My, I'd forgotten how much I loved this film. It's been rather neglected as the new one is shorter and therefore easier to watch in an evening.

But really...I love this adaption. :)

I think I may pull it out and watch it today while I work on my regency gown. :)

Also, if any of you are interested in notes on the costumes in this version of Pride and Prejudice, as well as the 2005 adaption, there is a wonderful site HERE.

SALE!!

Until the end of November I am having a sale on several items in my shop. Head over and check it out.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kitty and Lydia

I simply love Kitty and Lydia's costumes in Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice. I think they are so beautiful and colorful.

I think my favorite is Kitty's pink dress with the green jacket.

But they are all so pretty...

The bonnets are lovely as well with their soft ribbons...

Here are some pictures of dresses with out the jackets:
I love this one...(It's also re-used in the film Becoming Jane, worn by Jane's sister Cassandra)

I can't wait to make these costumes!

New Accessories in the Shop...

Royal Wooly Badgie Bow Messenger:

And Buttony Fingerless Elbow Gloves in Deep RedAre now in my shop, thanks to a hard day of work yesterday. :)

Lovely Clothes

I've been sewing things for my shop all day and I'm sooo excited about what I've made! But you'll have to wait to see just a little while longer.

In the meantime...how amazing is this shirt? I think it's from Anthropologie since I typed in "Anthroplogie clothes" in my google image search and this was one of the things that came up.

Aren't the yo-yo's lush? :)

I also came across all these lovely dresses....
I'm staying home the rest of the week to sew sew sew like crazy and finish up some projects for my shop as well as make some Christmas presents. I've got some fun ideas up my sleeve...but I can't post them until after Christmas as they must be a suprise to those getting them. But I promise pictures after Christmas. :)

Scrap Busting Day

We had our very first scrap busting day on Saturday and it was so much fun. :)
I made a pincushion:

And this is a pair of pajamas that had ripped up the side to my knee so I cut them off and added fabric to make them cuter. :)

I also mended another pair of pajamas and made another thing that I am going to keep a suprise until it's completely finished. :)

But it was fun to have a day to use up those scraps that seem to never end when one is constantly sewing.

Elizabeth Swann Chemise Pictures

I finally got pictures of my Elizabeth Swann chemise. :) Check them out HERE.

Pretty Wit Giveaway!!!

Do please do go visit my friends at Pretty Wit and enter to win a beautiful bracelet. I'm so taken by them. *sigh* Evenstar has quite won my heart.

Regency Project

Alright...ready for your first peek at my Regency dress? I'm mixing a bunch of ideas together so it's not a replica of any one dress. But I'm sort of getting the idea of a dress like this from Pride and Prejudice: (drawstring bodice)Or this from Becoming Jane:
But with the sleeves from this pellise in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1:

So, here is the fabric I'm using, it has a wonderful woven pattern through it. I LOVE this fabric. :)

The lining wont really be seen but I think it's pretty, little cherry branches:

So first of I started with the sleeves. I'm realizing now I should have started with showing you what the pattern piece originaly looked like but I forgot to take a picture. I changed it though by making the edge straight like the one in Patterns of Fashion and cut five horse shoe shapes along the edge.

Then I sewed the lining (wrong sides together) only inside the shapes:

Then I turned them inside out and pressed them and sewed the side seams then sewed them into the band. I then ran a gathering stitch straight up from the top of the cut outs to the top of the sleeve:

I atatched black ribbon on the inside:

Then brought it up across the gathering and tacked it to the top of the sleeve:

I also sewed the long sleeve together and then placed it under the short sleeve. Also, gather the top of both sleeves seperately. They will be sewin in as one sleeve later.

So...there you have my progress so far! I'm moving rather slowly as I'm sewing it all by hand.

But I just have this problem where I HAVE to make it as authentic as possible. I'm hoping to get the bodice a ways today. My friend is coming over for a Gilmore Girls marathon so I shall have plenty of sitting time to sew!

Notes on the Costumes in Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice

As I've been in a very "Pride and Prejudice" mood these past few days I decided to write out a bit of the notes on the costumes in this film from Joe Wright (director, whom I think is brilliant) and Jacqueline Durran (costume designer).

Here they are...I hope you enjoy them. :)

"I think the empire line dresses are very ugly, so I did some research. Although the novel was published in in 1811, Jane Austen wrote the first draft of Pride and Prejudice, then called First Impressions, in 1797. So we were able to use the fashions of the earlier period, where the waist line was much lower, and more flattering." -Director Joe Wright

~Caroline Bingley~

"When Caroline Bingley appears she would obviously be wearing the latest creation,

~Mrs Bennet~

"but Mrs Bennet's dresses are earlier than 1797,

~Lady Catherine~

"and Lady Catherine's are even earlier- because those two would have best clothes in their wardrobe from previous years." -Director Joe Wright

"Joe wanted to make something which felt more real and the early research would tell you that people didn't iron their clothes every day, they didn't wash their outer garments every day and that things would look worn in, they wouldn' be all fresh and new." -Costume Designer Jacqueline Durran

~Elizabeth Bennet~

"Joe wanted Lizzie's character to be tomboyish, to be clever, to be bright, to not be very interested in current fashions, to be interested and involved in nature and the things around her."

~Mr Darcy~

"If you look closely, Darcy's costumes in the course of the film change quite radically. In the early scenes he's wearing a very buttoned up, very rigid, very stiff style of costume.

"In the middle stage he's wearing the same style but in a softer fabric and a softer cut,

"and by the end of the film, he's wearing a much looser cut, an open jacket, a more country style, less uptight, less rigid...His costumes reflect the other changes in his character." -Jacqueline Durran

~Jane Bennet~
"Jane is the most perfect of all the Bennets and her clothes are the most up to date...her colours are very pretty, pale pinks, pale blues, sage...and the object of her clothes was just to be always perfect, as perfect as you could be in a provincial setting." -Jacqueline Durran




"We wanted to make the two dances very distinct visually." -Jaqueline Durran

~Meryton Townhall~

" For the Meryton Ball, we used muted earth colours and browns and soft colours so that it would be very much a part of the provincial world, and the extras would blend in with the Bennets...

~Netherfield Ball~
"For Netherfield, we wanted to make it very monochromatic and used primarily black for the men, red on the soldiers and white on the women." -Jacqueline Durran

So there you have just a taste of the thought put into the costumes behind the scenes. I have a few thoughts of my own but I'll wait until I do individual costume studies, which if this mood lasts long, might be sooner than later! ;)