I posted about my new 1912 evening gown and the amazing Titanic dinner I wore it to on my blog.  The pictures of my gown were taken by Nicole, as my little point-and-click camera was so inferior to the many SLR beauties at the event that I didn't even take it out.  I'm eagerly waiting to see all the photos the other guests took!

As a general FYI, I am not planning to start writing my LJ entries in German.

For the last year or so, language learning has kind of taken over as my main "hobby" since sewing has become much more of a job than a pastime.  I've tried not to talk too much about it here since most of you are on my f-list because of costuming, but sometimes its hard to avoid.  I really wanted a lot of people to be able to see my request in that last post, so kept it public.

However, I realize a lot of you are most likely not remotely interested in seeing posts in German or listening to me talk about progress with language stuff.  I'm making a filter for language learning/German so that I don't have to bore those of you who aren't into that sort of thing.

If you are interested in being on the filter though, just leave a comment!  

Ich bin sicher, dass einiger von euch haben Deutsch wie Muttersprache (oder fließend sind).

Seit fast einem jahr lerne ich Deutsch, aber nur ganz allein.  Ich höre viele deutsche Musik, Podcasts, Hörbücher... lese auch Romane und Lernmaterialien... sehe deutsche Filme... usw.  Ich verstehe nicht schlecht, aber weil ich neimand mit zu reden oder schreiben haben, sind meinen aktiv Vokalubar und Grammatik ganz schreklich.  Ich will nicht denken wie viele Fehler ich habe schon mit dieser Sätze gemacht!

Trotzdem, habe ich grosse Ehrgeiz.  Mit einem Teil davon, möchte ich im nächste Jahr die deutsche B2 Niveau zu bestehen.

Es liegt auf der hand, dass ich brauche viele Übung and viele Hilfe.

Ich weiß man braucht viel Geduld und eine menge Freundlichkeit meiner schwache Versuche zu ausstehen.  Aber ich habe die Hoffnung jemand wird Mitleid nehmen, und veillicht mir zu helfen zustimmen.

Bitte, gibt es jemand wen mit mir könnte schreiben?  Nicht zu viel.  Nur ein bisschen über unsere Tage oder Projekte.

Ich bitte euch so sehr!

Und bitte vergeben sie mir alle meine Fehler!

Lots of good things happening recently!  Biggest of all is that I got the job of First Hand here at the CW Costume Design Center!

They've never had a First Hand there before, and one has been sorely needed.  The job was created and posted late last fall when I applied, and finally, FINALLY the hiring process is over and the position is mine!  I'll get to escape from being constantly stuck behind the sewing machine, and will be doing a lot of fittings plus cutting and working on various projects for Special Events which I'll actually get to pattern things for (thank god).  I'll still be doing some of the regular tailor stuff that I do now, but there'll be a LOT more variety to my job and I'll get to interact with a lot of different people.  Which is so good I can't even begin to describe it. 

Seriously.  I've been so utterly bored at work that even with my ipod as constant companion I could sometimes feel my brain dripping out my ears.  I can do most of the sewing in my sleep, and the CDC has a system for everything with a set way of doing/making just about everything, which means there is typically very little room for problem solving of any kind when one is a Tailor there.  So yes, I am beyond glad to be moving up a little bit in the world. 

And it's also really nice because it's confirmed to me that I'm actually quite good at what I do (sometimes this is easy to forget).  My boss paid me some amazing compliments when she offered me this position, and I know she meant them.  It's definitley given me the confidence that I'm on the right path, and that I can take this costume professional thing a lot further... And trust me.  I will.  ;)

It's felt like an eternity since I was last able to say this regarding any new sewing project, but I finished my new Civil War day dress!

*cue confetti*

I'll definitely add more trim before I wear it next, but it feels SO good to have something new!  I wore it this past weekend at the Mariner's Museum for their 150th anniversary event of the Battle of Hampton Roads (the fight between the Moniter and the Merrimac).  Obviously, I had very little to do with the naval history side of things, but myself and a few other ladies had a display of various sewing and needlework and fashions which we talked about and gave demonstrations of.  It was a long weekend and very exhausting, but quite fun.  It's always so refreshing to be able to do Civil War events every now and then...

But more importantly; the dress! 



It's made of silk taffeta, which languished in my stash for a long time on the grounds that I already had too many blue costumes... but considering I don't wear them all at once, that reason fell apart under the weight of a non-existant budget.  The bodice lining and hem facing are brown polished cotton, and the trim is velvet ribbon.  Hopefully next time this dress appears in public there will be a great deal MORE ribbon on it.

I also finally got pictures of the sontag I crocheted over a year ago.  This weekend was very chilly, and I was able to put it to good use.





And then the wind picked up, and I flew.

Short little post...

- Halloween was pretty fun.  I put no forethought whatsoever into a costume though, and ended up doing a Regency Vampire look to complement my housemate's Pride & Prejudice & Zombies costume.  Even though I'm really not a fan of Twilight, I topped off my make-up with a healthy amount of body glitter.  Because what good is Halloween if you can't go crazy on the glitter?



- My little brother's getting married this Friday, and I'll be going down to Florida for that.  I'm SO looking forward to the time away from work and getting to see my sibs again.  Also, I bought a fun dress for the wedding, and new clothes are always a good thing.

- And then the weekend after THAT is Gettysburg, and man do I have a lot of sewing to do between now and then!  It absolutely doesn't help that I'm having a really hard time psyching myself up for any sewing at home.  I didn't do a lick of sewing today (even though it's the weekend) and I know I'll regret it later.

Today we had an Open House at the Costume Design Center... marking an entire year since I came to work here.  I don't really know if I can properly sum up how I feel about being here.  I know I'm not the same person I was a year ago, but I suppose change is good.

Working full time in costume has definitely changed how I approach my own personal sewing, and unfortunately it often boils down to "god, NO".  I have more ideas and costumey visions than ever, but I'm utterly lacking in any sort of motivation to carry them out.  It's not that I've come to dislike sewing at all, but it gets pretty physically taxing to sew eight hours a day and when I get home I just want to face-plant into the couch and never ever use my hands again.

Everything goes in cycles though, and I'm completely confident that I'll seriously costume for myself again at some point in the future.  Whether sooner or later.

After all, I half sewed a pair of mitts for myself the other day.  That counts, right?  ;)

And yeah, the Open House was lots of fun!  I had a table set up with a display of undergarments, including current and old styles of stays which are issued to the interpreters, plus a couple recreations of original stays from collections, and various other items.  I got to be in costume too, which was of course a bonus, and I just wore undergarments (shift, stays, underpetticoat, and pocket).  Lots of people seems REALLY interested in the display and in the whole idea of the scope of 18th cen underpinnings.  I think a lot of people's minds were blown when they learned that everything I was wearing goes under what they see on nearly all the interpreters in the historic area.  There were lots and lots of questions, and I think a lot of people went away with a whole new perspective.  At least I hope they did.  I just know I was swamped and talked nearly constantly from 10am 'til my lunch at 1pm and then for the rest of the afternoon after that.

I wish the opportunity for that sort of thing came up more often... I don't want to have to wait another year to be able to do it again!  Maybe I should be a historical interpreter for a while.  Who knows.

A few short truths:

Books multiply at astonishing rates.

Books are heavy.

After this weekend I am NEVER moving again.  Ever.  Three times in one year is more than enough.  (unless I have willing slaves to do all the work for me... that could be okay)

I finally brought it out again and finished the portrait miniature I started a while back!


More pictures and a detailed write-up on The Blog!

As always, I'm a little late posting about it (and am cross-posting from the blog), but Jenny-Rose's Regency gaming night was rather wonderful!  It was particularly nice to finally meet padawansguide, with whom I've been LJ-friends for ages.

Although tables were set up for several different games I ended up only playing Speculation, and game which relies heavily on bidding and gambling for any true entertainment... something all of us who played it seemed far too lazy to engage in!

The company was delightful, the rooms prettily decorated, and good times were had by all!

Before the gaming commenced, we all milled around the back-yard taking pictures of each other.  I didn't get any of myself with my camera, but plenty of others did, and I have happily stolen the ones that I like best.


I wore my old(ish) 1820 silk evening gown, though with new jewelry and a plume in my hair.

A selection of my pictures of the evening's company-


After the card playing had died down for the evening we just sat around chatting and snacking and drinking Good Things.  At one point, I pulled out my trusty drawing box, and did a quick sketch of Taylor as she sat across the table from me, lit by candlelight only.

I'm too lazy to cross-post right now, but I blogged about the sketching I did at UTR.  Had loads of fun with that, and will totally be taking my little drawing case to all reenactments from now on!

It's also time to start in on the next planned project!  My housemate, Nicole, and I are going to a Jane Austen ball which is being held a month from now in northern Virginia, and I badly need a new ball-gown.  There are grand 1790s plans afoot, and I'm waiting on a vintage sari to arrive in the mail which will become a key element of the design.  I looked through a massive archive of fashion plates from the 1790s, and have combined several of my favorite elements from various evening gowns... incidentally, all the gowns I really loved were all from 1797.  I don't know what it was about that year, but the fashions were killer. 

I'm not so excited about actually making the gown, since I'm always pretty sick of sewing when I get home every evening, but I AM very excited about the prospect of having the gown once it's done.   It'll definitely be worth it.  :D

Also, on a totally separate note, I just want to say that when learning two different languages, it's probably a good idea to segregate studying to some degree.  My brain has been an utter mess recently, jumbling around with bits of broken French and German that slip into regular thoughts and mix with each other and then mix with English and then I just try really hard to not let any of it out of my mouth when I'm at work.  This is kind of my own fault though.  Take for example the last two days... yesterday I spent all day at work listening to Harry Potter und der Stein der Wiessen and then came home and watching a French film and fell asleep listening to the French dub of Star Wars Ep VI. (and as an aside, that was seriously weird.  For years I could recite the entire dialogue to the movie verbatim; flip it into French and everything changes.  They even re-named trooper TK-421!  But moving on...)  Today, while at work, my ipod consumption was French podcasts interspersed with copious amounts of Tokio Hotel and some Rammstein to keep me awake.  Came home, watched a German movie this time before reading some French fairy tales.

This is all sadly typical of my normal pattern.   We'll see what becomes of it.

Oh!  And I was really excited the other day to discover something about Englisch that I didn't even know existed: Phrasal Verbs.  Finding out what they were, and then that French doesn't have them, made SO much all of a sudden make sense.  I love me my phrasal verbs, but will no longer try to bend French into making them work.  I believe I still get to have them in German though.  It's really the little things that make me happy.

So tired right now, but my gown was finished in time (minus cuffs/sleeve trim) and so far I've had a wonderful time at UTR. 

The stripe in the fabric is quite small, so from a distance it sort of visually blurs into a light grey-ish color, but it's really a white and lavender/grey stripe with tiny black pinstripes in between.  I'll most likely do a more in-depth post about it on my blog later, but right now it's time for dinner and then later it's back out again for libations at Chowning's Tavern.

I started my new gown for UTR a few days ago, and have managed to find a few snippets of enthusiasm for actually making the thing.  I'm using a lavendar and white striped linen from Burnley & Trowbridge, and aside from the long skirt seams, I'm sewing it all by hand... something I've not done since my brown print Regency dress over a year ago.  No pictures yet, as it's still all in pieces!

The light colored and light weight linen should be practical for being out in the Williamsburg summer, but to be honest I'm really not worried about the heat this year.  At the moment, the weather is predicted to be between 87-90 for next weekend which shouldn't be bad at all considering how I've grown rather accustomed to the climate here.  Day before yesterday it felt cool at 80 degrees, and when I had lunch outside today I thought it was warm but pleasant... turns out the high today was 97.  So yes.  Hopefully I won't jinx anything by saying the temperature should be totally fine!

I'm really looking forward to it all though!  It'll be my first real time at UTR... very exciting!

I got back from my Michigan trip exactly a week ago, and while I'm REALLY glad I took it and loved seeing my family and friends it knocked my entire daily/weekly routine sideways and upsidedown.  My sense of priorities and time is a jumbled mess even one week later.

I did have a good time at the Greenfield Village Civil War event though!  The weather was cool enough on Saturday that I could wear my wool asymmetrical dress without suffering, and I wore it in both fashion shows that day.  Had tea with my Mom, hung out with Mike (dandytailor ), Samantha (reine_de_coudre ), and Katie rvqavalon ), and had dinner at the 1850's based Eagle Tavern.





In spite of carrying my camera around in my pocket both days, these are the only pictures I took the whole weekend... I suppose once you've participated in the same event for several years with the same people (and have no new clothes), pictures become a slightly lower priority.

Sunday passed with very little surprises.  I did the fashion show again (this time in my silk windowpane dress), watched Mike cook the duck dinner, sketched, wandered, and went to the ball.  The ball was lots of fun, and I had the widest range of dance partners I think I've ever experienced at one event.  I had the requisite old man ask me to dance but also two teenagers, one of whom could not have been a day over sixteen, and a few others of various ages neatly filled in the spectrum. Of course the high point was when Mike proposed to Samantha about half-way through the ball... it's rather hard for any other occurrence to top a happy, romantic engagement.  :)

I blogged a bit about Greenfield, mostly focusing on the drawings that I did.  I adored having my little wooden drawing box along with me, and reaffirmed my love of charcoal over graphite.

Monday and Tuesday I spent back in Grand Rapids, hanging out with my best friend from college and my sister.  I also got my hair cut and dyed, which I'd been desperately wanting to do for a couple months now.

Un-styled with no product, it looks sort of like this:







Yes, it will be harder to style my hair for UTR, but that's what caps were invented for... right?  Besides, I think I love having short hair.  Every time I go in for a cut or trim I want it shorter than the last time, and this is my favorite cut yet. 

Under the Redcoat is coming up surprisingly quickly though, and my new gown is unfortunately not going to make itself.  Hélas.

I just 'finished' a new painting, and I'm left with the overwhelming sensation of having SO MUCH that I need to work on.  

I seriously need to amp up my drawing skills and really the only way to do this is by doing a lot of drawing from life, something which until this very week I hadn't even thought about doing since my junior year of college.  The past few days I've taken to drawing during my lunch break... drawing things in the real world, not stuff in photographs.  None of it is interesting or deep:  flowers I pass on my walk, the salsa jar on the table in the break room, gestures of sheep in a nearby meadow (sometimes I love working across the street from the historic area!), etc.  And it's really proving to me that I'm way too used to taking shortcuts with my drawing and relying on what I think I know about an object instead of what's actually there.  It would also behoove me to step outside my comfort zone a bit and stop always drawing things that I know I can already draw (more or less).

Also, if I want to start successfully incorporating backgrounds and settings in my work, I'm going to need to be able to draw and paint environments and landscapes MUCH more convincingly.  Again, I think I'm going to have to start going outside and doing some plein air paintings instead of heading straight for stock images on the computer.

And then there's color!  Good lord, color.  Basically, I need to start putting a lot more thought into the color scheme of a painting before I even think about picking up a brush.  Having a vague idea and making decisions as I go simply creates a lot more work in the long run and leads to a whole slew of headaches along the way. 

All that said, I really enjoyed painting every evening after work (even if it was only for an hour or two), and I desperately want to keep working and improve.

Inyhoo, new painting!


The plan for the summer is to put together a decent body of work and then actually get out there as an artist and start selling myself.

This weekend is Ft. Fred though, and I need to make a petticoat to go with my new-ish pink jacket or I'll be stuck wearing my ancient stuff.  I also want to finish the miniature I'm working on, but I don't think I can get it done before the weekend. 

 I've spent the last week utterly buried in research about portrait miniatures.

(blog post about my plans and immediate aims... sort of)

Books are strewn around my room (in fact, there are five just at my feet right now... two of them are open to specific pages), my desktop is covered in images, and I'm reeling with information.

I still have SO MUCH to read on the topic, and I desperately want to get more period appropriate materials, but I think it's time for me to think a little less and do a little more.  No, I don't have handmade ultramarine blue ground from lapis lazuli or handmade madder red or any handmade paints at all, but I do have modern equivalents of the most common colors used in the 18th and early 19th centuries (although I've found a source that sells pigments made from historic recipes and instructions... they're quite expensive, but hopefully I'll be able to make my own paint some day).  And while my current brushes might not be squirrel hair, that's an easy fix.  As for painting on ivory, that's not even a possibility anyway, but I'm looking into various imitations and I've been experimenting with different colors of polymer clay.

Also, why is no one else doing this at the moment?  There are plenty of current artists working with historic subjects and selling prints etc. at events, but I've yet to see anyone work with authentic materials on appropriate surfaces and do it in public.  Wouldn't that be an awesome sort of demo at an event?  To have someone portraying an artist of the time and actually doing real work to talk about, display, and sell.

Painting and portraiture was a real and lively trade... it ought to have some sort of presence in the reenacting world.

 Weee!  First time cross-posting from my blog!

New 18th Cen clotheses.  Or, more specifically:  new 18th Cen jacket.

I should preface this post with the disclaimer that the jacket is Not-Done-Yet and is still in want of trim. That said, I've worn it twice now to two different gatherings, and wanted to document its existence.



The jacket is made of a pink cotton homespun, lined with a natural medium-weight linen. This was one of those situations where I had both fabrics in my stash and really didn't want to spend extra money... Also, I'm trying very hard to move away from blue in my costuming, as about 2/3's of my historical wardrobe is in the blue family. Not sure how successful I'll be in the long run, as I still adore blue (and it never fails to look good on me).

Like the majority of my historical clothes, the interior seams are all done by machine, but everything visible is hand-work.





The fullness of the skirts is achieved with five inverted box pleats, one at each seam, which are whipped to the lining for stability.

The pattern is very loosely based off the robe à l'anglaise in Jean Hunnisett's book. I say "very loosely" as I looked at it for general sizing, and drew what I thought would work. Fortunately, it did. I didn't bother drafting a sleeve pattern though, and just adapted one of Nicole's personal sleeve bases.

I'll probably write more about research and general info once I really truly finish it, and can post pictures of it in all its trimmed glory.


I'll most likely be wearing this at Ft. Fred at the end of the month (hopefully by that time I'll have made a new petticoat as well, and won't have to borrow this one of Nicole's which I have on in the photos.)

Not wanting to be left too far behind the wave, I've caved and created a costume blog.

It seems to be "the thing" right now, and honestly, after listening to Abby's (of Stay-ing Alive) presentation on historical blogging at the recent symposium, I've been terribly inspired to give it a go.  In the last two years, blogs... good blogs... have been springing up like mad, and it really does seem as if that's where the action will be for the immediate future.  Abby's presentation was really wonderful, and the results of the survey of other bloggers that she conducted yielded some very interesting and useful pieces of information.  Unsurprisingly, it is the blogs that post regularly, preferably every day, that get the most views and followers... I'll have to work hard at that considering my typically sporadic output.

Livejournal is invaluable when it comes to social interacting and nothing can beat its friend's page and privacy/filter settings.  However, my LJ is so unfocused and full of day-to-day stuff that I feel like most of my costume content gets buried.

Link to the blog:  Idlewild Illustré.  And my username there is the same as here: "idlewildgrey".

I still need to back back through my f-page and follow people... but yeah.  Follow me!  I actually have several posts planned ahead and hope to keep up a fairly steady stream of content.  All costume and art though.  Personal stuff stays here.  ;)

I just placed an order for the patterns for my secret spring project!  I already have most of the fabric for said project, and since time seems to be literally flying out from under my feet, it's high time I finished amassing goods and got to work!

There are plans afoot, and they involve the Civil War and things-I've-never-sewn-before and a good dose of fun, but that's all I'm saying for now.  ;)

Also, what I've gotten to see of the accessories conference etc has been really good so far.  Lots of new ideas and mental connections and general info to let simmer.  Not to mention, this afternoon we basically learned where the evil reenactorism of the "bodice" came from... and yes, one can blame the 70's and 80's lack of research and the fact that Williamsburg sold off its old bodices once they were eliminated from the site (which were then used in many small historic sites and were patterned and spread around by reenactors and sutlers) pretty much equally.

I did my taxes the other day, and for the first time ever I am getting a decent amount of money back from the government.  I intend to save most of it so that I'll at least have something in the bank in case of emergencies, but I wanted to use some of the money to buy myself something very important that I've wanted for quite a long time.

So, last night, I placed an order for these:


Robert Land side-lacing boots in blue with black toes!  FINALLY I will have proper 1860s footwear and will get them in time for all my planned events this year.  This particular style was backordered so it'll probably be about four weeks before they arrive... but I can't wait to get them!