Accessorizing Head-to-Toe - February

For February the challenge was jewelry.  Since I'm trying to shore up my regency wardrobe, I wanted to make a rivière or collet style necklace.  Lucky for me Michaels not only had a sale but had some cool chains... Some were bigger and fancier that what I purchased but I wanted something not chunky.  It was pretty easy to remove jump rings and extra chains to put three pieces together to make a necklace.

Accessorizing Head-to-Toe - November's Challenge - Fans

The Accessory:  I made a fan for the Queen of Hearts dress.  

Historical Period:  I went for the paddle type fans used in the Elizabethan era

Outfit It Accessorizes:  Queen of Hearts dress

Materials Used:  Velvet, cardboard, ribbon and cording

Techniques Used:  mostly cut out and glued (and a wee bit of sawing).... some sewing of the velvet to encase the cardboard and attach the cording.

Here you can see the slot I cut out of the end of the dowel.

I cut a slit out of one cardboard heart to fit in the dowel and then glued another heart onto each side to encase the dowel.

October's Accessory Challenge

I've been a busy girl and while I had grand plans to make a reticule, I simply did not have the time.  So I am submitting my huswife as my "Bags & Purses" item for this month's challenge.  I really do try to carry period handiwork with me when I do events, so it will come in handy.

You can read about the making of it here. 

I've collected some examples on my Pinterest Accessories! board.

September Accessories Challenge: Hats

So I was able to get one hat complete so far for the Tall Ship Adventure.  To minimize her discomfort and bribe her I made Vicki a Regency version of an oversized beret.  Here is an inspiration image:

Blind Man s Bluff, Le Bon Genre, 1803

1810 Ackermann's Fashion #5 - Carriage Dress

I had some purple velveteen in my fabric stash so here goes:

She preferred a cockade to a feather (le sigh) so it is more simple and I can't wait to make the next one.

Its a simple circle gathered onto a band and since its made from stash fabric, ribbons and frippery it was FREE!

It's quiet...

...because I'm working on some gifts.  The HSF #23 isn't until November 18th but it put me in mind that I wanted to make most of my gifts for this Holiday season.  Most of what I'm working on won't qualify due to timing, but I have time now while I wait on fabric to arrive...

Upcoming, expect to see winter hats and pelisses for the GBACG Tall Ships Adventure in October and a new Queen of Hearts dress for the HSF Masquerade Challenge and for Dickens (If the costume gods and my Director approve it).  Also, I recently realized that I don't have a period ball gown; so I will be making a regency ball gown out of some green satin-ish fabric.  Also, if the fabric gods are kind I may have enough of the black velvet left over from the QoH dress to make a regency mourning dress...(insert squees here)

I ordered the Regency boots (called the Hartfield) from the American Duchess.  This will be my third pair of shoes from her and I can't say enough good things about them.  I am a 6.5 but buy a half to a full size up so I can use my inserts and wear socks (my silk stockings work fine at only a half size up, so I'm trying a full size up to see if the thicker knitted cotton stockings will do).

I've been finishing up some projects and have decided that the pink and brown plaid dress (Victorian) will need to become a ball gown as I have both a work dress and a wrapper now...

So that's about it!  I'm going to try out Trystan's Accessories Challenge.  It's only once a month (HA!) so it should be manageable... :)

Well, I'm 4 handmade gifts down and several more to go. So off I go "To the Sewing Room!"