After two years of hanging in the closet, I decided my dragonfly volante needed an outing - and the Renaissance festival was the perfect excuse to give it one. A week before I planned to head to the Ren fest I pulled the gown out of my closet, and made the last accessory it needed to be wearable - a stomacher. From my stash I picked a scrap of green and gold shot silk taffeta (given to me by a friend) and some metallic gold trim.  Using an early 18th century stomacher in Patterns of Fashion 1 as my reference for shape and a Simplicity pattern piece as a guide for size, I cu ..read more

Over the winter, my mom, sister-in-law, niece, and I met up for a morning of fabric shopping at a little Mennonite fabric store we like. We each picked out all sorts of fun fabrics for different projects we had in mind. My niece loved all the fabric (we're training her well) so while we were there I suggested she pick a fabric for her Easter Dress.  There were several fabrics she considered, but finally a cotton print featuring stripes and butterflies was picked. (Apparently butterflies are the name of the game when it comes to Easter dresses for my niece! Here's her butterfly Easter ..read more

 Right after Christmas I had grand plans for my Easter dress. A week ago I had no plans for an Easter Dress. Holy Thursday, I started dreaming of an Easter dress again. Good Friday I decided it was absolutely happening, picked some fabric, pre washed it, picked a pattern, and cut out the pieces. Saturday morning I cut the dress out, then went outside and did animal chores. Saturday afternoon I made deviled eggs, a strawberry pie, and a carrot cake. Then I cleaned my kitchen. At 6 p.m. I finally sat down at the sewing machine. Would I have a new dress for church the next morning? It was ge ..read more

 Upon completing my Dragonfly Volante, I decided I ought to make a few little accessories to go with it, so it would be ready to wear when an occasion arose. A stomacher, sleeve ruffles, bows, and some sort of cap to go on my head. That was my proposed list, and I got through half of it back in the fall of 2021.  The stomacher? I cut that out, made a plan, and never actually made it. Two years later when I was ready to wear the gown I couldn't find the pieces I'd cut out, so I started again from scratch. The sleeve ruffles? I had a vague plan for those, but never actually did anyth ..read more

 Historical Accuracy was already out the window for my Robe Volante thanks to my Spectacular fabric choice, so when it came to assembling the gown, I went straight to the sewing machine. No need to hand sew the whole thing! Volantes could have a fitted bodice lining, with the loose outer layer draped over top. Or, the lining could be skipped entirely, giving you just a nice loose tent dress type garment. There are extant examples of both types. I chose the second option for my gown. A lining was one more thing to fuss with and fit - and I just wanted to make the pretty dress! Also, as I ..read more

 I have a really hard time resisting fabric. Especially cheap fabric. I really like butterfly and dragonfly prints. Really like them. A large amount of cheap fabric featuring butterflies and dragonflies? Yeah, that came home with me. It was a large bundle of some sort of poly/cotton drapery cloth (best I can figure) at my local antique mall. $7.50. That's right - seven dollars and fifty cents! Stripes of red and yellow and green, with motifs of butterflies, dragonflies, and bees woven into the design - pretty and intriguing! I left it behind. That's right, I left it. And instantly reg ..read more

 I was getting carried away with my plans for the pink and burgundy 1882 gown. I was ready to mock-up the bodice and make some real progress on this thing! Then I had to halt and do a pivot. I needed the correct under things to go under this new gown and give it the right shape. And it would really be best to make those things before going through the hassle of mocking up the bodice to ensure a good fit on the finished product.  Thus, the bodice patterns I was contemplating got set aside for another day, and I fell down the rabbit hole of horse hair bustles. 1882, the year of my fa ..read more

 Happy Valentines Day!  A couple weeks ago, on a cold Sunday afternoon, I was browsing Pinterest instead of doing the multitude of other things I told myself I would get done that afternoon. I happened upon this fashion plate, and fell in love! That pink and burgundy dress on the right! It was so pretty! I made a spur of the moment decision that I was going to make that gown. I had the perfect fabrics in my stash, so I wouldn't have to buy a thing - what excuse did I have to not make it?? I traipsed down to my basement sewing room - forgetting about any and all other projects I ..read more

 Thank you to everyone who commented (either here or on Facebook or Instagram) on my post about Felicity's Birthday Dress, my birthday, and the infertility my husband and I have been experiencing the past two and a half years. Thank you for the messages of support, thank you to those who shared their own similar experiences with me, and most of all, thank you for the prayers.  I truly, truly, appreciate all of it. As I mentioned, by my birthday, I had the gown and apron of Felicity's birthday ensemble done, or at least wearable. However, thanks to the awesome surprise party my husban ..read more

*note: This is a post I wrote 6 months ago but have held off sharing because it shares some personal stuff. I've considered scrapping it entirely and re-writing the story of this dress differently, but, I've decided to share it. So, I've updated it a touch, and here goes:  I was not looking forward to my birthday this year. In fact I was rather dreading it. It was a milestone birthday, and yes, age is just a number. For the most part I don’t think much about my age, I have no fear of getting older. But. I thought I would be a mother by this birthday. For sure. This was definitely the ..read more