1885's Blue Bustle Costume.

The blue bodice is finished! I made the base of the blue bodice and my friend finished it, by decorating it with blue velvet cuff and black brandenburgers, she also sewed in the hook and eye closure (50 of them!). The rest of the costume she made herself and I think it's wonderful and she looks absolutely breathtaking!

See for yourself...

Can you imagine that this is the first victorian costume she has made?! 

Pictorial overview of current projects.

 Just in case you are wondering what I am up to these days...

A blue velvet 1885's bodice & sleeves, for a friend.

current status: work in progress

1840's -1860's wrapper

current status: work in progress

1840's -1850's quilted petticoat

current status: work in progress

Red and green knitted christmas scarf

current status: 1.30m of the 2m done, work in progress

Chunky Wheat  Crochet Cowl

Current status: done! Finished it yesterday

Yesterday i want to the KreaDoe beurs in Utrecht,

 looking for some prjects I can do with the childeren at school.

I got inspired alright but those where no projects for kids:

I don't even think they are project for me,I just haven't got the patience.

Bought myself a book on broomstick lace and a magnifier lamp.

A magnifier lamp, that feels like admitting that I am getting old...

At this moment flat on my back, because my lower back and legs are killing me.

Sewing crinoline tape to the hem of my quilted petticoat, 

to create more volume. I don't have the time or ambition to

make more victorian petticoats before December. 

So I am cheating!

My current status, busy!

When the going gets tough, the tough get sewing

My family has been through a couple of major changes Both of them where for the best for all of us in the end but we had a lot of stress. (No, don't worry we didn't get divorced!) So a lot of my friends are asking me if I am okay and the answer is Yes! Now that things have settled down a little and my mind is clear enough again to get back to my projects I am actually quite happy! Keeping my hands and head occupied seems to be a very good therapy.

At this moment I am working on several projects:

• A blue velvet 1880's cuirass bodice for a friend
• a cotton 1840's work dress for myself
• and a red and green striped knitted scarf special order by my husband as a colorful addition to his victorian/dickens costume.

So when the going gets tough, the tough get going...

Historical Horsemarket Zuidlaren/ Historische Paardenmarkt Zuidlaren

We where very happy to have a late medieval event this year, as this was our one and only. Hopefully next year we will have more time and energy to do more late medieval events, and more request!

My husband and son where casting pewter.

I was doing some textile crafts, here I was tape weaving 

with the wonderful boxloom my husband made for me several years ago.

 

Here I was doing some fingerlooping.

I even made an authentic medieval beefstew

and bread. The recipe was based on Harleian MS 279 

Broomstick lace scarf

A few years ago I saw a lady demonstrating how to do broomstick lace. As I had never crocheted I didn't think I could do it but, the idea stuck in the back of my mind. When I saw this love yarn with these lovely autumn colors I decided to give it a try. I found this wonderful tutorial through Ravelry and now I can proudly present my finished scarf, tadaa!

I think I really need a broomstick lace hat as well ! ;-)


And my youngest sister always bakes the birthday cakes for everyone in the family. So for her birthday I gave her this:

1840's work dress

I am quite the peacock, I like my costumes to be bright and flamboyant. And now I am working on a costume that is quite modest and we are still not sure what to think of each other!

I have this green plaid 1860's crinoline dress, which is modest, at least to my standards. I wore it for two years but never felt at home in it. It was okay the first time, when the whole victorian thing was new and overwhelming but the second year I knew it just wasn't me. The I made my red velvet bustle costume and I love it. I have worn it, or a version of it, almost every year ever since. One year I wore a purple Edwardian costume but again it felt wierd and off...

And now yet again I am making a modest victorian costume and I am really a little bit nervous Will it work for me? You might ask why are you making it then? Well that is simple, it is practical! This year I will be attending a Victorian event without my husband. Which means I will have to be able to dress myself and travel by public transport. In my case  this means that a corset, a bustle or a crinoline are no option. I know that there a plenty of ladies who can get themselves into a corset without any help, but I am not one of them. And there are plenty of reenactors who get a kick riding the train, subway or bus in there costume, again I am not one of them!

So I choose to start working on a 1840-1860's work dress or wrapper. When my husbands grandmother died I inherited her enormous amount of fabric and there was one fabric that  I have a lot of  yards of that just screamed Victorian costume. It's a Laura Ashley fabric from a lot of years ago, it's slightly faded but for working class costume I don't think that's a problem.

The lace collar is a present I got from friends who visited Brussels.

To get a little bit of inspiration, I looked up images of:

•  Mrs Cratchit a character in one of my favorite Christmas stories: A Christmas Carol aka Scrooge.

My favorite image (above) is from costume designer Jonathan Knipscher

• Working class women ca. 1840-1860

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/29/19th-century-newcastle-photographic-plates

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/16/rereading-henry-mayhew-london-poor

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/16/rereading-henry-mayhew-london-poor

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123212/Black-white-pictures-capture-lives-Londoners-1800s.html

• The original dresses

Autumn colors

I always feel a bit sad when I put away my summer dresses in storage and take out the autumn and winter (and often a large part of spring) clothing. But I do love the colors of autumn, so when I came across this yarn I immediately fell in love.

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I had been wanting to do some broomstick lace crochet for a long time but was scared of because the technique looked quite complicated. When I saw this yarn the idea of making a simple broomstick lace scarf popped up in my mind again. On Ravelery I found this wonderful tutorial in English and Dutch, although I read English fairly well, I do prefer a tutorial in Dutch when I am learning a new skill.

I started on the scarf yesterday, while I have a lot of costuming projects, with deadlines approaching fast and household chores that needed to be done as well. I managed to do most of them and still work on the scarf as well. I am happy!

The other project I am working on is a combination of cuirass and french vest bodice for a friend.We do not have enough of the lovely petrol blue velvet for a cuirass bodice, so I am trying to combine it with a vest bodice. Alas the vest bodice pattern is cut several sizes too small, so that is why I am using the cuirass bodice pattern as well. It's one of those projects that seemed simple enough at first but is much more complicated than I thought. On the other hand I do like a challange!

The other project is a 1840's work dress for myself, both projects need to be completed at the beginning of December.

My viking hangerock or pinafore or apron dress had become pale after wearing it for a few years. As it is still fine, it has only one patch to cover up a burn hole. I decided to dye it again to refresh the color.

Here you can see how much the color has faded. The darker band is normally covered by my tabletwoven band, protecting the color from light. It has been dyed with union skins which is know for it's light sensity. 

The apron turned out darker than I had planned, next time when refreshing a color, I will use half of the original amount of dyestuff. The silk scarf, woollen yarn and small patches of wool fabric are from the second dyebath. The small patches where to try if the woollen fabric I bought a few months ago where dyeable with natural dyes.

I also finished my husbands woollen viking nalebound socks, that I started on during the vikingmarket in the Archeon.! Which means I can cross one of my winter projects of the list.

I also made these two cute amiguri owls!

The yellow one is made with Baby owl ornaments by Josephine Wu. And the blue one with the Confused owl by Karissa Cole

So I finished a lot of projects but also started a lot of new ones.