ruffles & hats

[jennylafleur]

An extra day to work is a total blessing since I have been moving in slow motion all week. Not good with looming deadlines. Here are some pics of the first version of the linen petticoat. I must note that Narcissa is a bit smaller in the waist than I am at the moment. Yep. And pics of the original slits sewn up. Not bad, aye? They ended up inside back pleats, so you can’t even tell they are there now!

The linen petticoat is sort of finished. The ruffle is not working for me so I’m trying to decide if I even want to bother. I don’t have enough fabric to make proper box pleats all the way around so I’m stuck with really spaced pleats. I could use knife pleats or simply gather the ruffle but I’m thinking I may just skip the whole thing. Despite the time I took to hand sew the hems last night I’m feeling very unmotivated about the whole thing right now. It certainly doesn’t need the ruffle.

So besides the ruffle, it’s done. Of course, when I tried it on this morning to mark the hem I found it was actually too big this time around. *rolls eyes* Too big I can work with though – that is why safety pins were invented, you know! :>


My main project now is the hat. I pulled out all our hats and found one suitable for one of those cute “cocky” little hats, that look so charming on big 1780s hair. I’m basing my hat off one in Jefferson in Paris, the peach trimmed one on the right side of the screen capture. In a former life my straw hat was Bridget’s 18th century hat so it was all ready pinned up in the back and everything.

After looking at pics and screen captures for a while, I tried the hat on (with my hair looped and fluffed in an approximation of the correct style) to get an idea of any re-shaping I wanted to do. I thought drooping the brim a bit in front would be nice so I damped that section with a spray bottle and propped it up in the correct position with cans.

I must admit I’ve never actually re-shaped a hat. I read this was the way to do it on h-cost though. I was a little skeptical that it was really that easy (millinery work has always intimidated me) but it was! A few hours later and my brim is nicely shaped and on it’s way to being a jaunty little hat. As you can tell from the pic, this hat definitely needs the big hair to look right! :>

After I’m done typing and drinking my cup of tea I’ll start on the trimming. I’m taking ostrich feathers from our hat stash, denuding most of our old dress up hats in the process. I’m nothing if not resourceful. *hee hee* I’m not sure I want to use the black ostrich feathers (perhaps too much contrast, despite the dark brown petticoat). I may use some peacock feathers I’ve been hoarding instead. The white ostrich feathers will definitely be used though. I still have to raid the stash for ribbons and/or fabric for the rest of the trimmings but I’m looking forward to it. Picking out the trimming is the fun part of hat making. :>

My tea is gone so I’m off…