a cozy chat...

 ...with a friend or two.

Happy Spring to you all.

Em

a long awaited dress

 Well, hello!

I am finally here again! It is so lovely to be back. I finally was able to make some changes and now, with the help of all your much needed comments and the faithful hard work of our dear friend AnnaKristine and her tech-savvy husband, am able to post pictures again! Hooray! I am still ironing out some other little snags and wrinkles, but hopefully I will be able to post a little more often. :]

So, to start... My finished 1750's Blue Dotted Swiss. 

Here is what I started with. A lovely 1960's dress with a mystery fabric that looked very much like dotted Swiss. As you can see, this picture was taken after I cut into the high jewel neckline. :] At least you get the basic idea.   

 And this was my inspiration.

 (More pictures of this dress HERE.)

And here is the dress.

 Here are the back seams and 18th c. style sleeves.

 The hat I upcycled from a men's straw fedora that was exploding.

Flat lining, for "attaching" to my head via scotch tape. shh.

Eventually, I plan to make a sash or ribbon for tying it on.

Thank you dear readers for so patiently waiting for this long over due post. :]

If you have any comments or questions please leave as many as you like.

My fondest love,

Emaline

If you'd like to see this entire outfit (underpinnings, shoes etc.) you may go here.

1750's shoes & stockings

 Here are my 18th c. shoes!

These were so much fun to make. As usual I used the "drape" (or in this case, 'wrap') method. I did the embroidery on the same fabric I used for the dress. The soles and heels are made from leather and then glued on the upper part of the shoe. They are lined with cotton.

Because they are a slip on shoe, I was finally forced to make some stockings to cover up my, *ehem* painted on boots. 

I used some very stretchy knit fabric scraps, pinned them on, inside out, and sewed them with a back-stitch, while they were on. It worked very well. smile...

 To keep the shoes on, I stuck an applique or sequin pin through the shoe and stocking on the inside of each foot. If you look at the above picture closer you can see it.

 Here you can see how little they are. They measure about 1 3/4" x 1/2".

Love to you all!

Emaline♥

p.s. Up next will be dress pictures!

1750's underpinnings continued...

Hello my dears! 

Here are the 1750's underpinnings. The chemise I already posted here.

Here is the corset.

It is Linen, lined with cotton. The straps have a patterned satin ribbon over the top for decoration. The embroidery and top stitching was all done with hand-quilting thread. It is also boned in the front to make the most accurate 1750's look on *ehem* my particular shape! And, of course, I made it too big like I always do on corsets, so it overlaps in the back. But then, you may as well be prepared for all those macarons and petit fours, oui?

And here is my favorite... Paniers! Or Pocket Hoops as some call them.

These are a MUST for any wardrobe because they are just so delightfully charming in their peculiarity.

I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of how they work...

But they are not complicated! They have a drawstring waist, casings for the boning, flat string connected to the ends of each bone and tied to form a semi circle. You see? It is quite simple!

And of course, there is a slit on the top of each side so you can reach quite through your skirts to find your hidden pocket in cases of extreme urgency!

And... here is the pocket! Made for me by my sweet cousin Olive. ♥

It ties on around the waist.

Now for petticoats...

Here, I have put on my 19th century petticoats to see the effect. Pretty, but not quite... well, poofy enough.

So instead I am using this blue petticoat (also made by Olive)! Isn't it charming? It is made in the same way petticoats were made in the 18th century. Here is an excellent tutorial on how to make an 18th c. petticoat!

The edge, instead of being hemmed, is pinked. It was a little bit short to begin with so we decided, "Why spend so much time hemming when you can spend a very little time.. pinking?" There are MANY, many gowns from the era with pinked edged trims and ruffles, so it is quite accurate. Though, I'm not entirely sure whether they did it on petticoats... hmm...

It too has openings on the sides.

Well, that is all I have for now. I hope you are enjoying my 'dress journey'.

Next up... stockings and shoes!

Thank you everyone for following our little blog! You mean so much to us!

All my Love,

Emaline

1750's Chemise

Here is the first post of my 1750's dress!

Well, to be precise, I'm starting with the underpinnings. 

I'm always saying, "If the underpinnings are not right, the dress will not look right." And so I finally took my own advice and made her the right chemise.

 via

This is not the exact pattern I used, but very similar. As you can see, it is mostly square pieces. So it was very easy to figure out without an actual pattern. I did not, however, use any drawstrings or gathers as this pattern suggests. This is the basic idea below.

 Under arm gussets...

 Side gores and crocheted edge around sleeves...

 ...crocheted edge around hem...

  ...and neckline.

And here it is under her corset.

Here is an interesting article (and some lovely pictures) about corsets in the 18th century.

Hope you've enjoyed these pictures. 

Coming up next... More 18th century underpinnings!

Love, Emaline

French

I just wanted to share this picture. Isn't it neat? When I saw it I thought, "How very french..." ha ha!

I hope everyone is well and good. 

Love, Miss Emaline

Christmas Presents!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a lovely holiday. Our house is just starting to return to normality (which may not be considered very "normal" to some.. but you know how that goes...).
I thought I'd show you some pictures from Christmas day at my house... enjoy!

Olive wrapped her presents so pretty and used these adorable tags! For me she got this amazing red bird cage!! Isn't it beautiful?
It matches the birds Alice and I just got too! The red one is Moto (Which means "fire" in Swahili) and the blue one is Maji (Swahili for "water").

Olive got this great cast iron skillet for Mabel! Isn't it wonderful? I can't wait to see (or eat) the things she'll cook on it!

I got a bird for Olive and for Mabel. (Apparently, birds are the thing this year.)
I shall have to find out what they've named them...

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of size. ;]
The tags I cut out of some pretty paper I had and then tied with string.

Here's last years present from Olive.She embroidered this hidden pocket with my initial in such lovely colors... It has gotten a lot of use. :)

As it's just us females around our house we always wear our pajamas for as long as we can on Christmas morning. he he! I thought I'd go for the French Rococo look. While Alice went for splendiferous and comfortable. :)

I would love to know how you spent your Christmas and what you got or gave. =]
And if you're interested.. the birds and birdcages are at Michaels and the bird cages are on sale for 50 cents each! -- Just in case you want to know. =]
Well, I hope you all are having a most enjoyable weekend!
Love, Miss Emaline