MLS Designs

Still working on my Williamsburg wardrobe, but now it's a 1745 dark blue wool en fourreau gown!



I started pleating the skirt yesterday over my larger hoops, and it would not lie right and looked dreadful and I though I was going to have to scrap the whole thing, but today I tried my smaller hoops and it works great! I am severely limited by the amount of fabric I have, but I've just managed to squeeze it all out. Luckily the petticoat is adjustable, so it works just fine with the smaller hoops. I have plenty of hand-sewing for work tomorrow, and hopefully it won't be too long before I can cross another thing off my list :)
Talking of which, last week was great for list crossing! I finished the Brunswick, right down to the matching stomacher for wearing it as a pet en l'air, and my fur trimmed short cloak (which I have just realised I've not posted any photos of!) and I knotted several necklaces and made a new fichu.

Since rushing to finish the new dress and ballgown bodice, I've been taking a little rest, not even going into my sewing room! I feel refreshed now, and ready to sew again :) The next event needing clothes is our Christmas demo the first weekend in December. I have a kilt I need to alter for Mummy, and for me I want to make a bustle skirt to go with the blue velvet bodice I made last year, and a plaid wool coat of some sort.
They will have to wait though, because tomorrow Mummy and I are going to Kent, where we will meet Clare and her Girlfriend for a lovely family holiday :)
Of course, being me I won't be able to sit still in the evenings if I don't have some hand sewing to do, so today I cut out a short gown! I will be taking it to Williamsburg in the spring to have something for 'messy work' but mostly it will be for reenacting next year. It's a fine red wool flannel, lined in linen, with Indian block printed cotton for the turn back cuffs. The cotton is the scraps left over from the first Indian muslin Regency dress I made years ago, I've been saving it for this project ever since! The wool is left over from the red flannel 1860s petticoat I made (also years ago!) so I had some interesting piecing to do! hopefully it'll work out, and won't look too odd, just nicely authentic :)
One of the options for a petticoat is a lovely Prussian blue wool I bought at Leicester market a couple of weeks ago. It looks like a delaine to me, (from what I can remember from University) and is exactly like the red wool I bought from the same guy a few years ago. He called it a challis, but it definitely isn't that. I'm currently in the middle of cutting off the petticoat pannels, and the rest will be a pet en l'air I think. I'm planning to make it to be worn over hoops, and adjustable, so that I can wear the petticoat with small pocket hoops and the shortgown for lower-class, and with my big hoops and the pet en l'air for upper-class, all 1745-60 ish.
Hopefully, when I'm home next week I'll have something to share :)