jennylafleur | Entries tagged with z:archive:19th:regency:pearl

I took (well kept) 651 pics this year. Whew. What kills me is how many pics of costumes around me I didn't get. I was looking through the pics of others this morning going, oh my gosh she was sitting right next to me and I didn't take any pics of her frock! Opps! I think there was a little "overwhelmed with the pretties" going on.

Anyway I've combed them down to my favorite 400 to post. Well some of my favorites I can't post because I've been threatened with death if I do. All I have to say is: BROWNIES! *hee hee*

Jenny-Rose's CC pics

edited to add:
Oh and feel free to snag any CC pic you want for whatever use, credit not neccessary. If you need a hi-rez version of something just let me know!

( cut for my CC '08 line up )

Overall this is my favorite CC wardrobe. Everything was lovely, comfy (except for the hot thing) and were things I was very proud to say I'd made. It doesn't get any better than that. :>

I tried on the black stripe jacket to mark the petticaot hem this morning - mahhahahaha!! I adore it and can't wait to wear it!

Didn't get as much done on the pearl as I wanted last night. I must have been tired because I was slow. Oh well.

After trying on the black stripe jacket, I ran my last minute errands. I now have cash, tootsie rolls and a notebook for class notes. I rewarded myself for going out in the 105° weather with some sushi and ate that in front of Jefferson in Paris. I needed hairstyle ideas you know.

So now onto Pearl sleeves so I can start packing... Ack! This time tomorrow I'll be at the hotel either ironing or, having snuck into Katherine's room, pawing her gala dress. Ahh!!!!

(what me excited, what ever gave you that idea?)

Two more motifs to go and I'll be done with the pearl! Oh and attach the sleeves of course.

I was going to try and go to bed at a descent hour tonight & tomorrow night (since I won't be sleeping at CC!) but I'm going to stay up to try and finish instead. You have no idea how low my stress level will be if I don't have to pearl at CC.

And my Mom is a brick. She not only talked me through my first good CC cry this morning, prayed with me and talked me out of hacking off my train (making much more work for myself) but she worked on finishing bits of my black stripe jacket today so I could focus on the Pearl. So I think the jacket will be done before I leave too, or just a few things left I can work on at the LJ meet-up.

I'm so excited about how close I am to finishing I can't stand it!

I probably stayed up too late last night (my wrists are feeling it) but I got all the sequining done and repaired a few places where beads were falling off. *grinds teeth*. I think swinging the train over a hanger was not a good idea.

Today the goal is to finish the machining so it's finishing work on the black stripe jacket and sleeves on the Pearl. I'm looking at the clock thinking yeah right but I'm going to give it a good try.

*hums* Just keep sewing, just keep sewing...

My tiara from Bridget just came in the mail - *squeeeeeeeeeeee*

Seriously it's even prettier than I thought it would be. I think I like it upside down better though so I may need to flip some elements around. I want to try my Pearl dress on first though to make sure. Maybe I should break down and put some sleeves on the darn frock for the full effect... :P

Today I'm being bad and working on my black stripe jacket. I really should be working on the Pearl but I decided I needed a break from handwork and if I couldn't have some fun with my CC wardrobe what was the point. Besides I really want to wear it to the RCHS party on Saturday. So bad.

The arrival of the tiara is making the thought of working on the Pearl far less lothsome though (pearls, pearls, when will it end!)... that is a very good thing.

My yellow/green Regency is now 100% done - all hemmed and trimmed and ready to be worn. Well after a good pressing anyway. Do you know what that means? Something crossed off the list! *does happy dance*

I think I've figured out how to make my $7 Walmart bonnet into something decently Regency (as opposed to Regency-esque) as well. I've found all sorts of ribbons and trimmings I'm digging for that too.

The Pearl is progressing. I've gotten another full motif finished. I have to either do some sequining or design tracing (forgot a flower apparently) before I can do more pearling so I see sequins in my future later today. First off though, my bonnet!

I managed to push through my day-long headache a bit to get some work done. (I'm getting tired of this ick. But then I'm always sick the week or two before CC. It's a tradition you know. It could be worse and be the coughing, congested sort of illness that makes airplane travel miserable I guess... although the current ick seems pretty miserable if you ask me.)

I traced out the master pattern for my black stripe jacket then cut it out. It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r because of the nature of the fabric (stripes!). I cut out each peice separately, instead of doubled fabric so that the stripes would match. It took me almost 4 hours, I think because my brain was not running on all cylinders. Still, I got it done.

While I was going crazy lining up stripes B called and we talked through the last tweaks of the tiara she is making me for my Pearl. Hands-free sets are the best! The tiara is looking amazing, not that I expected any less in my sister's capable hands. I sent her a box full of pearls and beads and things a few weeks ago, posted some pics of Regency tiaras I liked and gave her leave to do whatever with the initial design and she has blown me away. *sigh* My sis is the best.

And no dear ones, no pics until Gala night. 'Cause I'm mean like that!

Darn I miss-counted.

I finished another motif last night and still have 6 to go.

Bother.

14 days 'till CC

We must be having lots of barometer changes around here as I've had a headache every afternoon this week. Very annoying, especially when I have CC costumes to work on.

I have managed to get one full motif pearled and another started though. Nine down, six to go.

Today I sewed up the toile for my b&w striped jacket. The headache of the day (TM) reared it's ugly head about the time I finished stitching it so I didn't get to try it on but tomorrow is another day. Hopefully not too many tweaks as I have my heart set on making it for CC.

15 days until CC...

A very belated Happy 4th of July to all you Yanks! I had a fun if slightly mad holiday. We adopted

sadievale for the weekend or she adopted us, I'm not quite sure. :> We got some sewing done (her English gown is almost done!) but mostly we cooked, ate, drank tea, watched fireworks, napped and shopped. We spent most of Saturday antiquing in Culpepper. I didn't find any of the things I was looking for (to accessorize my CC outfits) but I found a few deals, a pretty brooch, some sherry glasses, a tea cup. Mom and S really scored on tea cups so that was worth while.

I even got some beading done. I have now completed 8 motifs so I'm officially over half way done. *happy butt wiggle*

Today is catch-up day from being sick last week and swearing of the e-mail and websites for the weekend so I better go start catching up...

So yes, officially sickly, along with the rest of my family. Hopefully it's just a short lived thing 'cause I have things to do!

I did nothing all day yesterday but nap, watch movies with Mom and work on my Pearl. We watched the old BBC Emma, the old BBC Persuasion, Amazing Grace and The sons of Katie Elder so it was mostly a Regency day. One more motif done - yay! The train is really starting to drape nicely from the weight of the pearls. Yummy...

I backed out of the RCHS event today. I just wasn’t feeling great thanks to the heat yesterday and it was supposed to be brutally hot again today. I'm glad I didn't go as I started to feel worse as the day progressed. Mom felt the same way a couple of days ago, (bone tired, achy, slightly sore throat), but the symptoms didn't last long so I'm wondering if it's some 24 hour bug. It could just be my hectic schedule catching up with me too. I feel bad about not following through on my commitment but staying home for a day of rest was the right decision.

I got the toile of the cross-over bodice all sewn together but didn't feel up to doing the corset thing so I set it aside and worked on the Pearl. I got a whole motif done today (yay!), so I'm ahead of "schedule".

It won't last long I'm sure but it's a nice feeling at the moment. :>

Dispite it being a long tiring week for both of us,

sadievale came over last night for a sewing night. It ended up being a lovely time. We were both doing handwork (me working on the Pearl, S sewing the back pleats of her en fourreau English gown) so we stretched out on my twin bed sardine style, her on one side me on the other, toes every where. We made mugs of F&M Earl Gray tea, listened to S&S soundtrack and spent what turned out to be a relaxing and productive evening together. Costuming buddies are the best.

We spent part of the time doing some math:
I have 18 motifs on the hem of my Pearl Dress
Each motif has approx 500 pearls (in four sizes)
The hem when finished will have approx 9,000 pearls
It takes approx 5 hours to pearl a motif, so I apply about 100 pearls per hour
I have 15 motifs left so I have 75 hours left of work to finish
If I complete one motif every other day I will finish the Tuesday before I leave for CC08

Ambitous, not at all! After all I don't have a life or other costumes to sew or wrist issues or anything! I also have 3 more motifs to sequin and sleeves to mock up and create for the gown.

I'm going to have to start making some hard decisions about what I am and am not going to attempt to create for CC. I would be pretty bitterly disappointed if I don't wear my Pearl gown. It's the one thing I really wanted to wear this year, the rest was optional in my mind but this outfit was set. So I guess I'll need to scale back my other plans rather than give up on the Pearl. But what to give up? That is the hard part.

So little time does not even begin to discribe my sewing life right now!

I've found the perfect necklace for my Pearl Dress, it's exactly what I've been looking for! It's just a *little* bit out of my price range. Moo.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170194768292&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=007

Speaking of period jewelry, I recently recived an e-mail (thanks again Kristin!) with a book reccamendation: http://www.georgianjewellerybook.com

I'm now lusting after the cameo and gold chain necklace on the first sample page as well. It's probally out of my price range though too. Double moo. If I weren't going to CC this year I've have already ordered the book as a consolation but for now it's just on my Amazon wish list. Oh well.

The pearl dress is progressing... but slowly.

I still have 4 more motifs that need sequins but I was getting incredibly bored with them so I decided to switch to the pearls for a little while. It's looking good and the weight at the hem is just what I wanted but it's taking FOREVER! I'm having to string the pearls on 3-4 at a time then couch each one down to get everything to look nice. It is very sturdy but yeah, forever.

I've been hampered in my progress by my wrists acting up as well. It's a repetitive motion thing, thanks to the heavy combination of computer work and hand sewing that is my life. They've given me twinges over the years but it's never lasted this long or been quite this uncomfortable. It started bothering me right after the Coaching Day sewing madness so I stopped sewing and working on the Pearl for a good 2 weeks but it didn't seem to help. I can't stop being on the computer as it's part of my job (although I've given up computer games and expect to see me responding less on LJ) and I have CC to sew for.

*sigh* So I'm no on a regimen of anti-inflammatorys and icing my wrists twice a day. I have a lovely pair of little wrist braces I'm wearing most of the day now and I'm limiting my handwork time (icing before and after). I'm not willing to give up on the Pearl yet, it's the one piece I really wanted to wear at CC but I may simply run out of "wrist time".

I never realized just how much your wrists are used though and how much they affect your everyday life. Everything from driving, to shopping, to sleeping and eating. I never realized before how versatile and cool the wrist is. I also never realized how much I used my left wrist/hand even though I'm right handed. It's my left that is the most uncomfortable interestingly enough.

I am just way too young to be falling apart like this! *moo*

Yeeeeessssss! I just found an extra piece of pink taffeta! So I should have enough to re-cut the back of the pink pimpernel dress now. I couldn't find this last skirt panel (from the old Cynthia dress) and was getting worried that I would have to scrap the whole outfit. Whew!

Also while searching for something unrelated I stumbled across another picture of the original court train my Pearl Dress motif is from:
http://www.centraalmuseum.nl/page.ocl?mode=&version=&pageid=250

Interesting... The motif looks so large – I’m used to my scaled down version now!

I think I've also discovered why these court trains became a separate piece, besides an excuse to use a luxurious velvet or a splendid watered taffeta as in this case. As full as the back of my gown is, the train still looks a little chintzy. I don't know that I could have gathered up my fabric at the waist much more let alone doubled to get a nice full train like the purple one.

Ummm... perhaps I should add an embroidered velvet train to my frock one day. Because I’m not putting in enough hours on it as is of course. *rolls eyes

Not too much to update on... I'm busy, busy catching up on the pieces of life that were ignored during the past few weeks of madness. Today I'm doing paperwork, making phone calls and cleaning. Like actually cleaning with a feather duster and vacuum and everything instead of just picking up and making piles. I'm half way done and I already feel better...

Most of my costuming has consisted of dreaming and scheming on projects for the next year. Evil Jenny-Rose! I have been working on my Pearl gown, getting back to the sequin embellishment. I also went over to Tina's last night and helped her with a pair of S&S short regency stays. It was good to be back in the groove of cutting, pinning, sewing. I'm still feeling a little burnt out from coaching days sewing but the feeling is starting to subside.

Good thing as my list of things I want to make is so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o long this summer!

Why can I not sleep - very annoying! Well since I'm too tired to keep working but not tired enough to sleep I will post!

Yesterday (after church and then helping a friend pack for a move)

sadievale came over for some sewing help. We *almost* got her waistcoat completely finished before she left. Would have too if my machine hadn’t been acting up and she had wanted pretty insides (it's been a while since I bag-lined a garment, that was interesting!). In between the sewing lessons, I hemmed the skirt of the Pearl dress by hand. Even doing a messy running stitch it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. This is why I generally do hems by machine... :P

Today I worked on the Pearl some more... I'm so bad. First I must show off my new toy though! *strokes lovingly* A good friend just gave me this gorgeous lightbox - how cool is that?! Her mom is down-sizing and no longer needed it so she offered it to me. I owe her a seriously nice thank-you card now. Talk about perfect timing too, just as I was transferring the design on this project. I have the best friends ever, I really do!

So I spent a little while transferring the design, trying not to be too perfectionist about it. I only made two major re-draw mistakes. This ladies and gentlemen, is why I always use washable pencil! :>

Once the design was penciled on I just had to get started on the embellishment. So. Much. Fun. It's going to take forever but it's going to look awesome. I almost got one motif finished, not too bad for 4.5 hours of work.

I'm still trying to decide the most efficient way to do this so that slowed me up a bit. I'll be skipping the pre-string sequin idea and applying them all by hand instead. Honestly it's about the same amount of time and it looks tidier. After some experimenting I'm going to use my Tambour hoop for the heavy sequin work but do the pearls and scattered sequins without the aid of the hoop. It's looking like less hassle that way.

It's hard to tell from one (almost finished) motif but I think I may add more sequins (compared to my original test piece). In low lighting the pearls are almost invisible, making part of my design well, invisible. And really can one have too much sparkle on a ball gown... I think not!

PS - I don't really want to continue the step-by-step diary now that I'm in the embroidery stage so back to the plain old dress diary format. The step-by-step will be back when I turn my attention once again to the sleeves...

Crap!

I just spilled my whole container of small pearls on the bed/floor. I guess that means it's time for an embellishing break...

I think I need to consume a Cabury Cream egg first though. :P

Tuesday evening I had Daddy fix me a small very dry martini and I turned my attention once again to the Pearl Gown.

Hem time, my favorite part - NOT! I hate hems. Because I hate hems I'm a big fan of narrow hems, they are faster as I can do them on the machine and without as much fussing to make them fit right. The wider them hem to more fussing.

( steps #19-23 )

I should probally mention that after working on this for a little while I decided the hem I'd marked was too wide and cut it down more. I needed it narrower to deal with the shaping on the train. I hate hems...

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Jenny La Fleur

adventures in costuming

Costume College pics

in which I exclaim

just keep sewing, just keep sewing

in the home stretch...

the best sort of mail

crossing off the list

stripes & sisters

countdown 14

status report

my holiday weekend

sickly, sickly

today's progress

pearl math

the tempation of the cameo

the necessity of wrists

odds & ends

a mini Jenny-update

a beginning

umm opps!

marking the hem

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July 2014

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