Well....

Okay, I have good news and bad news:

Bad news first.

I have decided not to do the Regency dresses right now, but maybe later on in the future. Right now I want to focus on dresses I can wear in the 1775-1789 time slot, which means polonaises and in the case of my newest project, a Robe de l'anglaise.

Good news:

I have several pictures from movies and documented portraites of that time period showing this style of dress. I have another drawing of the one I want to make, but I will post that later with pictures of the fabric. Which brings me to another point. I have already bought the fabric to make this gown, so I would like to get it done first before the Regency dresses. This dress is very fancy and is more of a "special occasion" dress or as I would use it, a dance dress. My version is very militarical in style and is very clean cut. It actually has much of the style of the bodice of a riding habbit.

So here are the pictures, with captions. :)

This is an actual portrait done at the time. This dress encompases the entire design I want, however with a little less lace and more green.

This is from a movie called the Duchess which stars Keira Knightley. While I did not actually see this movie, there are some great costumes in it and photos of them are redily avaible. This is a jacket, where mine would be floor length, and the point comes lower than what I would like, but it shows very clearly the "triangular" design of the bodice, which is what I'm going for.
This is also the Duchess, in another dress in the same style. (She's on the right) I love the crossed neck scarf and the cameo.
Here is the above dress up close. The point is not as long as the jacket version and the colors here are beautiful. This is at an exhibit, and I don't like the way they did the scarf here.

So! There you have it. Later on today I'll scan the drawing of the dress and load the pics of the fabric for you guys. Enjoy!

New Project

Okay, so I have been doing some Englsih Country Dancing every other Tuesday night and I have decided to make a few Empire dresses (or Regency as they are also known) to dance in and to just plain ol' dress up in. :) To those of you who are still confuzzled, I am making a few dresses that look like they walked out of a Jane Austen movie. They may look similar to Jane's dresses in Pride and Prejudice. I sketched out my designs and I wanted to post them all to so here we go.

Here is the first one. The main dress (underneath) is a simple day dress with a drawstring neckline. It will be out of a cream of light colored fabric with a faint/small print. It will have cupped sleeves. The outer part (jacket) buttons beneath the bustline with two fabric covered buttons out of the same fabric. The jacket will be either a pale green or a ligth blue/grey. I haven't decided yet, however I will take suggestions. The back of the jacket has three sets of double pleats, (Sam, Allison: The kind on the side of my long gown), giving it a very full back.

Because this is a day dress, it can be worn with or without the jacket. It instantly becomes a dress you would wear to a dinner party with the jacket. If you don't wear the jacket, you could put a bit of ribbon around the bust line for a sash to make a whole other dress.

Dress #2

For this dress, the jacket is worn again, but we have a different day dress worn underneath. This dress is very rouched and the front crosses over, clasping with a fabric covered button. The fabric is a very light weight gauzy kind and will probably be white. The sleeves are just above the elbows. This dress can also be worn without the jacket and with a ribbon/sash. This one is designed to be a ball gown or dressier one when worn without the jacket.

So there you have it! My teo new projects for the end summer/early fall. I hope to buy the fabric soon, so please make any suggestions asap. I wanted these dresses tio be very versatile. With the jacket, I get four dresses instead of two! Let me know what you guys think!

July 4th Celebration

Well, my family decided to celebrate the 4th of July in a little different than the normal American family. Especially in the fact that we do re-enactments. So, last Saturday, we went down to Mansker's Station for the day and "par-tehd". :)

This is the official Mansker's Station jam band. Minus Daddy (dead center) who picked up the guitar, sa down and started playing with them. Ms. Laura is on the extreme right. There were guitars, dulcimers, madolins, and a violin.

The Lovely Daddy. Pardon the Sprite cans. The site fed the volunteers lunch. :)
Here is Janessa (in the blue jacket, dead center) dancing a dance called the Whipporwill. This is one of our favorite dances and it has a lot of twirls. Sam is in the background in the blur dress.

Here I am (in the red jacket) and so is Sam. By the way, that jacket is brand new and I love it! It's a long gown that I made from a linen tablecloth. It has two pleats in the back and tripled pleats at the side. Very fashionable. ;)

Me and Sam again.

Me in the background with my partner. Now you can see me from the front.
This is one little pic I like to call:

Clash of the Centuries

We have an Abraham Lincoln impersinator new here and they had him come and speak. He was very good and we all love him. He is very funny and sweet. At the dances, he tried to get partners for the standing girls left. One time he has come out and borrowed 18th century clothes and fought in an Indian Skirmish we had. It was a lot of fun and he claimed to be representing Abe's grandfather. ;)

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful 4th of July.

God Bless.