Oh look, Regency dress!!! I was very unsure how this silhouette would look on my bottom heavy frame, but it turned out pretty well! It’s all due to peer pressure. Two of my friends wanted to go to a Jane Austen Evening and it gave us all an excuse to sew for a different time period. Project: Jane Austen Evening Dress Recipient: Me! Pattern: Both from Sense and Sensibility, The Elegant’s Lady Closet for the dress and Regency Gown for the bodiced petticoat. Fabric: Lots of stash busting on this one. Lavender dimity from @shopmakethislook on Instagram. Ribbon I bought at Costume College in 2018 ..read more

The girls talk about Halloween all the time. 2019 will bring a vampire and…a superhero? Plans are not yet set. But 2018 was pretty fun. Our budget was very tight last fall, so I might have pressured the kids into costumes I could make mostly from my fabric stash. Plus, what is more fun than Dorothy and the witch??? Project: Halloween 2018 Recipient: Lu and Charlie Pattern: Simplicity 4139 Fabric: Lots of leftovers from my stash. I don’t remember where I got the solid black, but the purple and black lace was from my 1910s mourning dress. The white on the Dorothy costume was the same leftovers ..read more

I made these leotards a full year ago. Aren’t they cute? Too bad my kids quit gymnastics a few weeks later. It’s okay. We all needed a break.   Project: Gymnastics Leotards Recipient: Lu and Charlie Pattern: Jalie 3241 Fabric: Left over fabric from Halloween 2017. The girls needed new leos, but nothing fit from shops because Lu is so long and lean. So I pulled out some left over fabrics and gave this pattern a try. It went together super well, but the fabric lacked the vertical stretch really needed. So Lu’s was never quite long enough. Oh well. They’ve been worn dozens of times around t ..read more

What’s Rhinebeck without a couple of Rhinebeck sweaters??? I knit two sweaters just for my trip. The weather can vary quite a bit on each year, but I’m a thin-skinned California girl so I opted for a couple sweaters on the heavier side. Pattern: Keynote by Wencke Pertermann Recipient: Me! Size: 38.75 at the shoulders and 43.25 for the hip Yarn: Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport Sadly this is no longer in my life. It was huge in the shoulders. A wide neckline that didn’t sit well. The stitch pattern was really pretty though. The yarn had been in my stash since 2011, so it was a worthy project an ..read more

And now for the knitting from Lamplight 2018. Project – Lamplight Sweater Recipient – Me Pattern – Miss BB from Chic Knits and French Aviation Hat #613 (from Wearing History) Yarn – Foxhill Farm Millspun Cormo Cross This yarn was my Rhinebeck splurge. I saved for the trip for months and I couldn’t afford to buy a lot so I had to really be choosey. I landed on this so soft and warm Cormo Cross that my Rena recommended. The color was perfect for my Lamplight costume, but I also wore this sweater all winter. The biggest problem was time. I had to sew a whole costume AND knit a shawl collare ..read more

The museum is already planning Lamplight for 2019, so let’s look at what I made for last year’s program! The 2018 holiday program at the museum picked the very boring fashion year, 1918. Our costume coordinator on the night of the performance said, “I think pretty good considering.” Ha! The late 1910s do have a pretty subdued palate, but I think I did pretty well on our limited budget. I ended up pulling everything from my stash except the skirt fabric! No way I could have done that if I’d needed a bustle dress, but 1918 is a pretty tame fashion year. But for fun, this time I thought I’d show ..read more

Project – Vintage Nightgown Recipient – Lu Pattern – Butterick 3077 from the 1970s Fabric – 1950s vintage plisse bought from shopmakethislook on Instagram A sweet little nightgown I made last year for those hot summer nights. It has a teenager girl listening to records printed all over and the yellow ribbon matches the girl’s yellow hair. It’s been worn many time since I made it even though my girl has grown a lot this year. My sister found the pattern in a thrift shop and it was just perfect. Size 4, but with added length it fit Lu well at 6 years old and still fits well more than a yea ..read more

After an absence, I’m back and I’m going to try and make blogging more realistic for my life. I missed sharing my projects and having a record to track them. So here is a little bit different format with a few details of each project, a few photos, and hopefully more frequent posting again. Last fall I went to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, aka Rhinebeck with my friend Erica. It was a bucket list trip for both of us and going with a friend made the whole thing a little less overwhelming. Rhinebeck is the most talked about wool festival in the US and because its location is close ..read more