Photo Friday

© Bridgeman Art Library / Rafael Valls Gallery, London, UK
Painted by J. Mulnier

Today's Photo Friday is going of an 18th century woman with a ridiculously huge hat.... but I want it.

Have a great weekend!

The Hat

 My absolute ultimate, ultimate-ultimate favorite project for the Margaret Hunter Millinery Shop was recreating a hat from a painting. This painting, to be exact:

Lady Edward Bentinck,
Painted by George Romney
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!

The portrait is of Lady Edward Bentinck. The date on the painting, I could not find, although it would have had to have been after 1780 because Miss Elizabeth Cumberland married Lord Edward in 1780, thus taking his name and reference in the painting. The story on the portrait itself is that Lady Bentinck was trying on hats and picked up this "old fashioned one." The painter, George Romney, saw her put it on and had to paint her portrait. Still, I cannot find the exact date.

The hat in the portrait seems to hint that it was a straw hat to begin with (seeing the slight ridges along the brim) and covered tightly with white silk, bunched silk gauze at the crown then finished with a lovely, large blue bow.

Working on the straw

I can't tell you how much fun I had on this project. It always seemed to make me hungry. I always got comments that it looked like a wonderful dessert. It really does look like meringue...

That is a wool cherry ;)

mmmmmm..."Food" Porn.

The hat was lined with a changable blue silk which was also used for the bow at the side as well as the ties. I love it because it's a surprise when you see the underside, the rest of the hat is so very white!

The lovely blue lining, all my stitches too!

Here it is finished, sigh. I'm definitely going to make another very similar. It now belongs to Doris, the Journeywoman Mantua Maker and Milliner, at the shop!

"The Lady Bentinck"

I'll model it for you...

What do you think? I think it turned out pretty well ;)

Museum Adventures

While I was in Williamsburg, I had the wonderful opportunity to look at their museum exhibits. Here are the pics that I most enjoy:

WAISTCOATS!

ooooo

ahhhhh

Ohhhhh!

*swoooon* to see Devin in one of these....

My favorite pics are of lovely embroidered waistcoats, which apparently were very common.  Nevertheless, it's pretty and I would like to make one. The second one, in particular, was so sweet looking. As I captioned the picture....I really want to see my dearest Devin in one of these. le sigh

TAMBOUR!!! While at the shop, Sarah showed me how to do a little bit of Tambour Embroidery, which is basically embroidering with a sharp crochet hook..... and I LOVE IT. I reaaaaaallly reaaaaaalllly reaaaaalllly want to make this men's cap:

Downright purdy.

There were also some wonderful Calash bonnets that I desperately wanted to try on.

soooo muuuucccchhh ffunnnnnn

This one reminds me of an accordion.

 Then there was this gown:

What's so interesting about this gown is that it is black and in superb condition. The black dyes tend to deteriorate the fabric, so to have a gown like this one, that is so well preserved, is an extreme rarity.

 The motif you see on the gown is actually embroidered to the fabric itself. A lot of time went into it.

Sorry for the shakey pics
(museum lighting)

 Another interesting tidbit pertains to the trim. It is done by a series of knots, and to my knowledge, was an entire trade to itself. O.O There's a bajillion yards of this trim on the gown. Can you imagine only tying knots/making this kind of trim for your career?!?

muy impressivo

 The last things I took a peek at were the tools on display on the lower level. My favorite.... The Waffle Iron.... I want it.

nomnomnom

Bad News Bears.

Hello all! Again, I am so sorry about not getting around to blogging. Things are busy here in Williamsburg and it seems I could never get the chance. And now, there's a new wrinkle in the fabric...

My computer CRASHED. That's right. It crashed. Last weekend I had managed to accidentally unplug it from its power source and it went haywire from there. I'm writing this post using a friend's computer, so unfortunately I most likely won't be able to blog about the things I've made until I get back to Athens; when I either can get my computer fixed or get a new one.

To give you all a taste of what I will be blogging about; While interning here I've made a ton of items including a cap, petticoat, kerchief, mitts, and various parts of gowns and am currently working on a hat. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D  It's a really pretty hat too. :)

Well, I hope you all are having a glorious summer! I'm having a blast here in Williamsburg and can't wait to fill you in on my wonderful summer!

Under the Redcoat 2011

I have a confession to make..... I have never been to an 18th century reenactment before. D:

Fortunately, my living in Williamsburg has changed that. My debut was Under the Redcoat at Colonial Williamsburg, just last weekend. It was wonderful.

Photo Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg

  For those of you who don't know what UtR is, I'll give you a quick overview. British. Invade. Williamsburg. And let me tell you, there was a LOT of red.

The redcoats leave town.

I spent my weekend walking about with Eliza and befriending quite a few redcoats and fellow costume bloggers. They were very pleasant and great fun; teaching us some new dice and card games, as well as letting us try some of their homemade meade, which was very delicious.

Eliza and I with some members of the 40th

That was the only picture taken of me (that I know of) at the event. I hope to trim the new hat I bought (it's the one I'm wearing) once I get hold of some nice stuff to work with.

I had a great time and hope to attend it next year too :)

Internship Beginnings

Saturday marked the end of my first week interning at the Margaret Hunter Shop in Colonial Williamsburg. So far I have had a blast!

Our work area, Right to Left;
Eliza (fellow intern), Doris (Journeywoman) Tori (fellow intern)
and me! At the Margaret Hunter Shop

The staff is extremely friendly, and every day proves to be more enjoyable than the last.

My typical outfit for the day time.

So far we've worked on perfecting our stitches and I patched and mended a cute blue jacket that I love to wear.

Such lovely patchwork, wouldn't you say?

Then on Saturday we got all "gussied up" in beautiful silk gowns and wonderful hats. We walked about town, letting millions of little girls take pictures with us.

Us ladies of the Millinery Shop (I'm first on the left)
Don't we look lovely?!

Me in a Coral gown (I do not normally
wear this color)

Eliza in a peach, ivory and green cross-stripe gown

I got to wear a coral Polonaise gown with silk gauze and a bum roll; feeling wonderful. The other intern, my new friend Eliza, got to wear a Saque-Back gown and AWESOME HAT. I was jealous.

All in all, we've had a wonderful time so far. Things keep getting better, and we're getting into some more "serious sewing"; which we're very excited about. More to come!

BIG NEWS!

!!!!I am going to be interning at Colonial Williamsburg this summer!!!!

I will be working in the Margaret Hunter Millinery/Mantua Maker Shop, making lots of pretty things and being far away from home! AHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm so excited :)

The Margaret Hunter Millinery Shop

 Part of the reason I am ecstatic about this opportunity stems from my visit to Colonial Williamsburg when I was about 11 or 12. My family and I had gone to visit and I wanted a dress like the girls had in the brochure that we had. So we all went over to the Margaret Hunter shop to check it out. I was overwhelmed when we first walked in. There were ladies at the counter, all dressed to the 9's in their Colonial Outfits, embroidering diligently on Lady Dunmore's gown. Off to the corner, I remember a little girl, about my age, also working diligently on a little something. All at once she got up in excitement and said to the nearest lady at the counter, "I think I figured out how they do this!"  Can I tell you how jealous I was of that other girl???? Very. I wanted to be at Colonial Williamsburg, working on something, while wearing pretty clothes..... And it turns out, that little hope I had as a child is going to come true!

Now, I only need a place to stay/sublease/rent. I haven't had much luck in the 2 days I have been looking, but hopefully something will turn up.

Guess what I'm playing?

I am ever so sorry that I have not been blogging regularly. My reason: piano. The Ohio University School of Music holds a concerto competition every year. Those who enter get out of their jury for winter quarter and the winner of the competition gets to play with the orchestra at a concert; which is a HUGE and cool opportunity for pianist... if they're good enough.

I'm hoping to enter the concerto competition with a piece that I've been playing for 5 weeks. 5 weeks? You ask. My gosh. That'll be easy peasy, right? You say. I say wrong. My track record with learning pieces has been ridiculous. I have been known to spend 6 months on a song that's only 8 pages long. If you didn't know, that's a long time! So this is a brand new breakthrough in Amber's music abilities; to be able to learn, memorize and perform a piece in less than 2 months...a 17 page piece to be exact. Needless to say I'm a little proud of myself at the moment, but hold on folks. We're not done yet!

I plan to enter none other than J.S. Bach's Piano concerto no1 in D minor. The competition is a little over a week away. I've been practicing the darned song every day so it can be sparkling clean by January 25th (the competition).

For those of you who are not familiar with the piece, or you just like to hear the genius that is Johann Sebastian Bach played by none other than the genius that is Glenn Gould. Please, if you are not accustomed to the awesome that is this video, do not press play.

Enjoy!!! (and wish me luck) ;D

*insert HUGE sigh of relief*

Finally, my 1780's Servant Ensemble is done and turned in! I don't know what the grade on it will be, but I'm anticipating a high B or low A. BUT!

~Behold~

The bodice went together pretty well, I'm very proud of the back:

The class this is for is Costume Pattern Tech. The goal is to create your own pattern for the garment based on a rendition provided by the designer. There were 15 people in the class; all making the same dress; in different fabrics. Since we each created our own pattern, there was a lot of variety in style lines. In the entire class, there were only two people who created a more complicated back to the bodice. Though I love the style lines I hate that I did the piping on each piece. It created a lot of bulk in one spot and made the piping uneven, but now I know what not to do.

 And so you can see the cute bump at the back :)

For the process pics go HERE and HERE

And now, I have 3 more final until I am officially on my 6 week break! Woo. Wish me luck, the sooner those get done, the sooner I can work on more of my projects for you to see. YAY

Almost..... therrre.....

I have been sewing like a mad woman to get this project finished. Currently I am done with the dirty work of the bodice and only have to insert the grommets at the front and tack down the seams of the sleeves. Next on the to-do-list is the skirt, of which I have the panels sewn together and need to make the placket for the opening and the waistband. The skirt is almost entirely cartridge pleated... oh joy. I have a long couple of days ahead of me.

Since I've been up until 5am most nights this week, I felt the need for a little entertainment. My mom and I dressed my brother up in my nearly finished bodice and took pictures. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Isn't he beautiful?

Latest Happenings

Lately, my posts have been about everything under the sun except sewing. This is partially because I have had a fair share of homework and have not been able to work on a lot of my own projects. Lucky for you, I have been working on a project for our Period Construction class. Here's what I have so far:

It seems Mathilde's bust has deflated.

Yes, it's too large for Mathilde. The mannequin I used for the pattern is very busty and a size 8-10 (as Mathilde is right under a 5) Anywho, we are to construct a Maid's outfit in the theme of the 1780s. Since it's for the theatre, we have to sew it much differently than I'm used to. The Piping for instance. I am NOT happy about how it looks

The back seams are pretty,
just not the piping....

The piping is all uneven because piping is on each pattern piece; and that's hard to line up. UGH. It's done this way so that if the piece needs altered, the piping does not need to come off. Lovely for those to come, suckola for me. Despite the annoyingness of the construction, the color of the piping is pretty against the tan herringbone.

I must say, it's very interesting how things are done in the theatre world. Everyt garment is made for versatility and easy alterations. I'm used to just making the garment to fit, and that's that. Fortunately, the last two weeks have taught me to properly flatline pattern pieces, add boning to make a correct shape, without the period undergarment, and learn how to properly do princess seams. Very educational.

Soon to come: The piece is to have an attached peplum and sleeves (that look like she's wearing a white shirt underneath. A skirt is also next on the agenda.

Regency Short Stays, finished.

I recently finished my short stays and I am pretty pleased! This is the first time I've only done an entire hand sewn garment. GO ME!

Pattern: It is a self drafted pattern based off of the Sense and Sensibility "Regency Underthings"
Fabrics: I have no clue what the outside fabric is, but it is like canvas. The binding is the same "canvas-y" fabric. They are lined with muslin.
Other Materials: 14 Zip-ties for boning, hand quilting thread
Time: Patterning, 20 min. Fitting the gussets, 2 1/2 hours. Sewing, MANY MANY HOURS. Binding, 6 hours.
Stitches: Mainly saddle stitches, except the binding.
Cost: $2 mystery fabric + $1 muslin + $1.50 thread + $2 zip ties= $6.50 total.

Here's some more pics and then I'll talk more about it.

Sorry again.

What I like:
It is amazingly comfortable. It is quite effective. It was a relatively fast project (if done by sewing machine). It was relatively easy, being my first run with gussets. It has a pretty back. Some of my stitches turned out fabulous, after I got the hang of it.
What I'm okay with:
It's an odd color of creme. There's some puckeryness around/on the gussets. Ironing took a while to navigate the zip-ties/bones.

What I would do different:
I would have used 3 layers of fabric, to prevent the puckery. Used a fabric that I could identify. I would have made it a little smaller. Make sure that the front was even (it goes slightly downhill on the right side).

What I'm going to do: 
I plan to do some flossing on the stays in a light blue or just a white, but I'm still not sure how accurate that would be?

Some pretty stitches

Thanks for reading!

Halloween '09

I was going to wait until I got more pictures, but it has already been a week since BlockParty. It's Time.

I managed to only get a picture of Devin and I (with his brother). We had a great time. I can't tell you how much I smiled. I was just happy that Devin was willingly wearing the garb! We decided on "British Colonial Loyalists" as what we were.


haha, Devin has no hand :p

Other than that, Devin looked perfect! He fits that era very well. You can't see it but there's a frilly shirt under there. That's right. OW OW.

As for me, my hair was huge. It took us (my mom and I) and hour to put it up. And about 45 minutes to take out. LOTS of teasing and pinning. I may put a tutorial up on how to achieve it :)

Finished Caraco Coat thing

YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! I finally finished my Caraco Coat thing on Saturday. I had been putting if off because I thought the final task of hemming would be awful (as I did it by hand) but it didn't take me too long. Instead of doing 3 tabs in the front I decided to stick with 2 and make it a bit more interesting. I wanted the tabs to look more like an Open Pelisse that's present in a lot of Regency movies, I made the top tab/strap sloped to give a prettier and more feminine look to the outfit, because the straight straps were BORING. I'm very happy with the result, I'm just not sure if I need to embellish it! I definitely want to do something with the sleeve openings, but not sure what? Any Suggestions?




I took many many "vanity shots" (photos of yourself) because I was so excited with how it looks. Not bad for my second dress ever made! :)