Jenny La Fleur

A selection of pics from the 4th of July celebration on Sunday. The weather was absolutely heavenly (low 90s, 50% humidity) - it was more like a San Diego 4th of July than a Virginia one! The company was wonderful too (especially that of my sis) and the dancing very enjoyable indeed. A truly wonderful event!

B did a wonderful job as photographer - I have lots more pics to post to the RCHS website, which I will do shortly! I also have some videos to post on youtube of the day...


And some pics from the June Faire event we danced at on Father's Day. *sigh* I do love that yellow jacket! :>

Thanks so much for all your kind compliments and well wishes. *hugs* I am feeling much, much better. Dance last night helped I think, I was so stiff all the warm ups were really good.

Today we danced for ½ hour at a local church event. It was fun to go, dance and then leave. Boom, boom and the rest of the day is yours – I love it! I had Mom take a few pics when I got home, as this is the first time I’ve worn the outfit with the trim on the skirt. I like it… if only it fit better! :P

I got my Lacis order today. It all looks so cool! I can’t wait to try the tambour needle but I’m saving it for the CC class. I broke out the tambour hoop though, stuck my Bee dress on it and have been happily embroidering all evening. I was zooming along so well that I forgot myself and chatted with elegant_musings far too long. Good thing Dad recently up -ed my cell phone minutes! :P

Oh my gosh – why did I wait so long for a hoop like this!! I can see many blissful hours of embroidery in my future. The Bee is going much faster now – if only I'd gotten this sooner! Oh well.

I don’t know why I’m always amazed when things work better & more efficiently with the correct equipment, but I am. *silly Jenny* The Lacis sit-stand is now tops of my birthday list. (feel free to hint to the parents at any time) *giggle*

I finished the trim on the ruffle jacket petticoat today as well so that outfit is finished. Well maybe. I can’t decided if want to mess with the hat or not. I’m tempted to leave it, cunning plans or no, at least until last. Rounding out my CC wardrobe is would be good too. :P

First - thanks to all for your kind comments on my attire this weekend. I'm so humbled by your praise - you guys are great! More pics of the event can now be found on the RCHS website on this page.



Thanks also to those of you who helped slap me upside the head on the regency stays issue. You all are absolutely correct and I've seen the error of my ways. *wicked grin* I'm going to just fix the fitting issues and wear the ugly twill with pride. :> Besides B has begun work on my bee diadem today so I'm anxious to get the dress properly started. *wink*



That is about all to report on the sewing front. I've been busy the last few days on baby quilt signatures. I've gotten quite behind the past few months. I took the step of simplifying the design further. I just don't have the time to do the more elaborate ones these days. So the signatures are smaller and simpler but still nice I think. They are hand crafted and made with love and good wishes anyway. :>



After some thought I've decided to put my Butterfly dress on hold until later in the summer. I'm just not in the mood to work on it and switching from 18th/regency and 1911 construction has proved too much for my little mind to deal with. The shapes and fitting techniques are just too different. So I'm going to focus on my bee dress and other 18th century projects for a while. If I get the butterfly done in time for Costume College than great and if not, well that's really okay with me too. I'm just not going to worry about it for a while anyway...

It's official!!! I'm going to California and Costume College!!

In other words I just bought the airplane tickets. :> I'm so excited, partly because they were a great price (under $200 a piece). So B and I will be flying into San Diego on Wednesday and B will drive me up to LA Thursday sometime.

I've also definitely decided to skip the fabric tour. I really want that extra day in San Diego with friends. I don't really have the money to make it worthwhile anyway. I'm still trying to decide about the fantasy tea. I'm waiting to see what classes I get and how much downtime my schedule will allow that day.

O yes, I had a wonderful time in Williamsburg. I have some goodies to share but right now I'm dreadfully behind with costumes for the tea on Saturday. I'm still sewing on trim and hooks on my jacket and haven't even started on B's bed gown. I feel another headache coming on too. I really don't have time for that you know. Wretched headaches!!

So back to the needle and thread I go…

So ummm… yeah. I’ve been working on my jacket for the past few days. *make mental note to actually update LJ while sewing* I finished putting the bodice together (except for the sleeve hems and hooks & eyes) last night. I’ve been working on the peplum today, admittedly not much. Been one of those days but hey - I caught up on my backlogged emails! A very good thing indeed.

I hand stitched the hem of the peplum and pleated half but when I tried it up against the bodice it doesn’t come around far enough. This is the point at which take out 3.25 inches (actually a total of 6.5”) to fit the pattern pieces within my yardage is starting to hurt. *ouch*

So out those cute, small, full pleats go, in favor of more spaced pleats to fit the bodice correctly. May I just say scrimping fabric totally stinks? The good thing is my linen has some body to it so it shouldn’t look too skimpy. I really should go work on the peplum right now but I’m feeling like just going to bed instead.

In fact I am going to bed instead. My all-day headache is a good enough excuse right? …

After a few days of waffling back and forth I finially cut out my ruffly jacket last night. I’m going to take joysdaughter’s excellent advice and use a thin muslin (or voile or organdy or something) for the ruffle with the original creamy linen. After you made that suggestion I looked through my books and found a few examples and really liked the look of them. You are the best Suzi! :>

I didn’t get much further with the project than that as I had to wash the cotton lining before I could cut it. It's now washed and dried so I'll start my morning by cutting that out. I’ve decided to use a purple lining, just for the fun of it. It won’t ever be seen except perhaps a peek at my neckline.

Unless of course I line the peplum with it which I haven’t decided on yet – what do you think? The peplum probally dosn't need a lining, it should be heavy enough on it’s own. Would the purple be dashing or distracting to you think? I’m going for very stylish with this ensemble you know. :> I also wasen't going to line the sleeves (t keep those long sleeves as cool as possible in the summer) - should I line them so the lining shows a bit at the wrist?



I also started on a new English gown for the summer. I was part of a fashion show presentation on Thursday (much fun by the way!) and the outing brought to home just how inappropriate a dark green wool gown will be on summer outings. So I pulled out my red toile (recognize it jennil? ;>) and started pleating the en fourreau back last night. It will be exactly the same as the green wool, and the green ball gown, and the striped l’anglise… *sigh* I am in a rutt aren’t I?

I almost attempted a sacque this time but I really don’t have time and the fabric is really too light and thin. Sacques need fabric with a bit of weight or drape to them to look right I think. The nice thing about the en fourreau English gown is that I can make them up fast (I should hope so on the forth one!!) and I know they look good. I’m also still making a fashion statement as I’m one of the few in our group who wear the later English style. I push those date boundaries as late as I can, which as a young women I can get away with. :>

Well my tea is gone and Jo-Anns is finally open so I should dash. I have to run out for lining for the red toile English gown, Rigilene for both gown and jacket and something else that has slipped my mind… Wait don’t tell me – it will come to me!! *wink*



Oh yes, I thought you might enjoy seeing the bit of interior decorating I’ve been doing in my office. After 2 years I finally hung up some pictures. Isn’t that sad? I originally bought the book of prints to hang in my bedroom but it's never worked out. I adore the grouping in the office though, appropriately pink & girly for a Mary Kay office without being over the top. It’s also very inspiring for my current projects! :>

To complement I added my engraving of 1770s York, UK and my new dry marker calendar on either side. I have the too high-back chairs back in the sitting room part of my office as well (thanks to B's homecoming and the purchase of a new recliner for Dad) so my office is cozy, inviting and functional once again. *sigh* I love my office. :>

The final sleeve toile #2 fitting and the sleeve toile #3 fitting. There is still a bunchy fullness at the back of the sleeve that is bothering me but I think I can live with it at this point. There is always a certain amount of fullness there, even in period frocks. Besides I’ve had enough messing with it!


The toile as it is tonight. The peplum looks pretty good I think. I need to perfect the shaping (much easier when it’s back to being a flat piece of fabric) and I might lengthen it an inch or so. I need to try it on with a petticoat – it’s hard to determine proportions with pj pants on! I’ll try it on again tomorrow, when I’ll have everything on anyway. :>

I really shouldn’t have stayed up so late finishing the toile, not with Belmont to get ready for in the morning but I didn’t want to waste my momentum. This outfit is really coming along! Next up, I need to trace master patterns and see if I can actually fit everything onto my piece of fabric. *crossing fingers and toes*

I need professional help I really do. Not that anyone on the list doesn’t already know that but I still feel the need to express the thought. I set aside today to sew and what to I do? I spend the day spring cleaning my room, closet and hope chest. *sigh* It felt good to do all that tidying –up but I should have been sewing all day!!

I started my sewing day this evening. *rolls eyes* I started out by trying on my ruffly jacket bodice and it looks perfect. I took my basic robe anglaise lining pattern and simply added some more seams in the back. Easy!

The long sleeves to go with it are turning out to be much more fiddly. I tried using my robe anglaise sleeves as a base but that definitely didn’t work so I pulled out my Northern Society of Costume & Textiles pattern and will use the sleeves from that. I've enlarged them and am killing time here while it prints out.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate sleeves? :P

Just to refresh your memory I’m making a replica of this outfit from Williamsburg. There are better pics in The Language of Clothing book as well. I’m (hopefully – not sure how much yardage this puppy will take!) making it out of cream linen, leftover from my petticoat. I will trim it with white lace and black grosgrain ribbon. Eventually I want a big black hat à la Sarah Siddons to go with it but I don't think I'll have time to make that for Sunday. Too bad.

Sunday is Seurat Sunday at Belmont. My "Auntie Tina" invited me to join her and a few friends to create a vignette for the occasion. So we will nibble, gossip and play whist all afternoon. I can't wait!

I managed to finish my frock, petticoat and hat for the outing to Gunston Hall on Saturday – yay! I’m very pleased with how my hat came out. It’s quite fetching if I do say so myself. :> I broke down and used the lovely lace I bought at Liberty of London’s two years ago on it too. I'll just have to go back and get some more now. *wink*


The day at Gunston was lovely. There is something almost magical about that property. The people there are so nice and because it’s off by itself on acreage with few modern things laying round (no signs or plaques) it’s easy to forget there is a world outside. The Gunston events are definitely my favorites!

The day started out rainy but it turned out to be a gorgeous spring day, if rather windy. We all had a hard time keeping our hats and caps on! It was a little chilly at times so my wool frock turned out to be perfect.

We wondered around both the American and Highlanders camps, watched the battle reenactment and did some demo dancing. Once the park closed we ate picnic lunches and then danced with the soldiers and sailors. It was very strange to be outnumbered by guys, usually it’s mostly girls in our group! It was one of our esteemed musician’s birthday so we had cake and the lady who portrays Martha Washington (at Mount Vernon) and Gen Cornwallis (among other things in Williamsburg) came up for the occasion too. I wish I could have stayed for the candlelight tour of the house but I had to sing at church the next morning and stay awake on the drive home (I drove home). It was a truly delightful, if long, day though. :>

I was very inspired by one of the Gunstonian’s frocks. I was a total ditz and didn’t take any pics of her outfit but it was an almost exact replica of a jacket/petticoat from the Williamsburg collection. It will be perfect for the Under the Redcoat weekend in June. Out of the leftover cream linen from my petticoat, trimmed in black and with a big black hat, perfect I say!! *rubs hands together*

I couldn’t sleep last night so I started on a toile for the jacket. I took my robe a l'Anglaise lining pattern and used that as my base. I cut the front just the same but split the back into two slightly curved seams, like the original. I also lengthened the sleeves.

This evening, while I had all the toile making stuff out, I corrected and recut the second toile for the butterfly gown. So that is all ready for a second try.