MLS Designs

The Jane Austen festival was so much fun this year! Mummy and I stayed in the centre of town this time, instead of staying with our friend who lives in the suburb of Odd Down. We love staying with Ginny, but it was so nice to be 1 minute's walk from the Abbey Church Yard and able to say to new acquaintances 'come for tea this afternoon, and we'll have a nice noisy game of cards afterwards' which we did nearly everyday! Even better, we were only a few minutes walk from the lovely cocktail bar Ginny introduced us to last year :)
Mummy and I both had complete, brand new outfits for the promenade, then the rest of the week was a mixture of old and new, dresses and spencers, hats and caps, it's wonderful to have such nice big wardrobes of clothes to chose from each morning, I took everything we have, and some things came home unworn but it was so nice having them there if we wanted them, and I never wore the same thing twice, except my stays and petticoat ;) Then Aunty Jac joined us for the rest of our stay. I managed to get one of Clare's dresses to (sort of) fit her, and she wore mummy's spencers and wide brimmed hats to cover her modern hair, so, not too bad for a last minute addition!
Now, without further ado, ( pop on under the cut for lots of photos! )

Since coming home from Bath, I've been rather poorly, first with strained intercostal muscles from all the coughing, then with a dreadful head cold. I'm now over the cold, and most of the cough, but the strained muscles are as bad as ever, and now my back, which has been compensating for my chest muscles, is bad too, so I've been pretty slow this last week or so. I have finally managed to unpack from Bath and put everything away, including all the things from our reenacting escapades, and I've been indulging myself with a spot of modern sewing - some everyday tops and a skirt. I do need to get back to 'proper' sewing though! I need a ball gown for a Victorian Ballmoral ball next month, and then there's a Regency Christmas ball I want to make us new dresses for, and our winter dance demo this year is a Scottish Victorian theme, so I have a kilt I need to alter for Mummy, and I need something warm and tartany to wear too. Also, we've been invited to a 12th Night party by some new friends, so I kind of want a new Elizabethan dress ;) I really need to pull my finger out if I'm going to get all that done, and make a start on my WIlliamsburg wardrobe!!

I've been trying to share my progress for the last 2 weeks or so! Things kept conspiring against me :( First, last week was taken up with Clare coming home for a visit at the weekend so we could all go to a family holiday down near the south coast, and my aunt who lives in Canada came home with us for a visit. The day she left I came down with a cold, and it morphed into a chest infection by the weekend, so this week I've been completely knackered from all the sleepless nights brought on by the cough!
None of this really stopped me from posting though, that is due to photobucket crashing every single time I tried to upload a photo! It's finally working now though, so here is my new frock!


You have to imagine it with a tuck at the hem (I'm so glad it was too long, I do like tucks on regency dresses!) and it now has sleeve bands and buttons in back (only at the neck and waist at the moment, I need to try it on to see if it gapes) it also needs a crazy ruffly thingy at the neck! I don't want to wear a chemisette underneath, so I'm going to make the detachable frill from Costume in Detail :)
I've decided not to make the pelise this time after all, because I don't want to cover up the glorious frumpiness :D I'mm thinking instead, of making a purple spencer with military style trimmings to go with my purple military hat from last year. Hopefully it'll be too hot to wear my fur trimmed purple wool pelise, and I really want to wear that hat again, but have nothing else to wear with it.
I've made mummy a new dress, and yesterday I cut out a new spencer for her too. It's conker brown wool with dark red taffeta trimmings. So, not too bad considering how poorly I've been feeling all week!

It seems like all I ever do is apologise for never posting! This time it's because we went to Paris for a week just before Christmas, coming home the day before Christmas Eve just in time for me to get really really sick! I've either got a cold or flu, and it's only been in the last day or so that I've actually felt relatively human again!
Any way, in an effort to put off starting on the new year's very VERY long to-do-list I bring you photos I should have posted months ago, this time from the ball Mummy and I went to in Hampshire. In sorting out photos to post I've realised why I'm such a slacker when it comes to posting event photos - it's because I never seem to manage to get decent enough photos to share! I think that will be my New Year's Resolution, to try to take decent photos and actually POST THEM!!

So, ( pop under the cut to see some Regency goodies... )

I still have photos of my new bustle dress from the Cotillion ball, and our outfits from the Russian Dance Demo, but once I've posted them, I think I'm up to date! There's only one costume I've made this year that I don't have any photos of, Mummy's 18thC kit, I made her a shift and stays and a bedgown, she wore them with some of my petticoats the day after our dance group's Regency ball (no photos, because we both wore the dresses from Hampshire) when we had a house full of guests so had an afternoon card party, and she looked lovely, but I don't have any photos :(

so, my head is doing better (still not perfect, but the weather's still iffy) so you get the photos I promised! ( They're under here, just waiting for you! )

I really want to shift this headache though, because I'm having a Regency Birthday tea on Saturday, and I need to finish my new chemisette! I also was toying with the the idea of making Mummy a new dress, she hasn't had one in aaaages! Then next week and the week of half term I'm planning to use to make an Edwardian white linen waist to wear with my beige check linen skirt. We're planning to do something in Edwardian kit at the end of half term, either a trip on the steam railway or even just a picnic. I've not finalised the style yet, but I want something summery and pretty! I need to watch Room with a View for some ideas! Oh pooh, I need to do something for Mummy too don't I!?!? EEK!!!

Here we go, let's see how long this takes!!

( The list of my year's adventures in costuming, complete with piccytures, is all under here!! )

I've decided I need to do less this year, this list took far too long! All afternoon!!! It's so much fun to see it all in one place though ;)

Today has been much better, I managed to go to work, and I've not spent the rest of the day faffing! I have realised I'm a bad girl though, and haven't been posting my baubles, so here we go, the latest to be photographed are ( under the cut... )

So, I have a few more that haven't been photographed yet, but they're just different coloured versions of ones I have photographed, so you're not really missing anything :)

Mummy's pelise is finished now as well! I may put some more buttons on, for pretty, and I think it needs an iron, but it's ready now for the trip to Uppark after the ball ( on the 23rd, eek!) and my headache is nearly all gone too!

I've been sewing today! I'm halfway through a pelise for Mummy, and I finished a bauble I started on Saturday, and did another one. I think my sew-jo may be back :)
The pelise is made from a dark olivy green wool, the left-overs from making Clare's bathing dress. I'm lining the bodice and collar with the green taffetta from my chesspiece dress and it's going to have a self fabric belt and buttons. She'll be wearing it on the 24th when we visit a National Trust property after the ball in Hampshire, I have a feeling it's going to be cold and icky, so she needs warm weather wear!! Also, Clare and I have 4 spencers between us, Clare can wear mine and the one I made when I was 15, as well as her own, but Mummy can't fasten mine over her ample bosom!! So she'll have options at last :)

I still have a couple of days of Flist to catch up on, but I just have to post right now to say how happy I am with my fabric! You guys are so sweet, and you picked the PERFECT fabrics for me :)
For those of you who have no idea what I'm on about, in June after UTR, while koshka_the_cat and I were staying with jennylafleur, I ran out of holiday before I ran out of spending money, so I asked them to get me something gorgeous while they were in the Garment District in LA after CosCol. Well, my wonderful friend brought the package this morning, and the fabric is FAB! I asked them to look for some pink and faun plaid silk taffeta, and they found it! And some gorgeous pale pink and faun taffeta as well. So now my dress for the Bath Minuet Company ball in March is sorted ;) YAY :o) as I posted on face book, I feel so loved <3

In other news, the trip to Kent was lovely, we did quite a bit of siteseeing, but mostly we ate, played games and read and watched films. I also worked on some sewing. Mummy's ballgown is finished, and Clare did the handsewing on her spencer, (it's wearable but still needs braid and buttons) I didn't get anything done on my short stays though, because I've decided a pretty new spencer is more useful than a comfortable undergarment ;)
I was hoping to post daily photo updates of the spencer, but have yet to find an android ap for LJ that lets you posts photos :(

Why would you want to post an out of context comment to FB? So obviously I never will, apart from anything else, wouldn't know how! So rest assured :)
In other news, I've not been able to sew all week, but I'm about to go into the dining room to try and make a start. I've sorted out a plan for Mummy's new ballgown, made from a lovely black and gold sari with a sable coloured pelu and bodice piece. I've also come up with an idea for some fabric the wonderful jennylafleur gave me when I visited her in June. It's a beautiful hot pink and gold brocade with a gold border on one side. I'm going to make a sort of tunic/over robe, to be worn over a white or gold, (haven't looked to see which will look best) petticoat. When we got Mummy's sari we also got a lovely red and white one, with a lovely wide border and spotted with flowers, for Clare; and a very pretty pale mauve and silver brocade one for me, it's very yummy! I just need to work up the energy to actually sew something!

Sorry for the delay in posting photos from our trip to the seaside, I've been busy sewing ever since we got home!
The day dawned foggy and unpleasant looking, not a very propitious start! But by about 9 the fog had gone, and by the time we were half way there the sun was out in full glory! We had wonderful weather, although it was a little windy, but it was beautifully sunny and the wind helped dry our suits!
Talking of which, there are several photos of our bathing exploits ( under here... )
We're going to Deene Park on Sunday (another historic house!) for a Georgian picnic, and I have my chemise dress nearly finished, I just have to put a little more lace round the neckline and I think I'm going to take the lace off the cuffs and make them bigger, they're a bit tight at the moment. Meanwhile I've been working on our outfits for the Scottish Regency ball, Clare's little sleeveless spencer is done, and Mummy's dress is nearly done. I think, if I carry on as I have been doing, things will work out fine for me to get everything done before UTR, keep your fingers crossed for me!!