i see london. and possibly france.

New underpinnings! The Queen Elizabeth effigy corset, courtesy of the Tudor Tailor. (Have I mentioned how much I love that book? And that I'm within a size of the example patterns? Can I get a "huzzah"?) Executed in navy blue duck with pale blue edging. Boned with 3/8" electrical ties. Plus some super tacky flannel drawers. Ugly, but necessary to play dress-up outside in November. They should be quite cozy under the farthingale.

 

And the back view. I do love the "racer" style straps, as they are assuredly staying put on the shoulders. Very nice that.

 

And a close-up. The flannel britches are pretty low-slung by design, strictly for ye olde privy convenience. They've got elastic instead of ties for much the same reason. I'm pretty sure if I tried to mess with ties under my 10 pounds of skirts and whatnot, well....it would be bad. Very bad.

 

A pretty easy task, not counting how eternal it is to bind 34 eyelets by hand. I even finished the inside seams (gasp!) because I think this one is a keeper. Third time's the charm perhaps, but this is the most comfortable corset yet, and also the most inclined towards the ideal cone shape.

Next up: a warm wool kirtle in olive. Making a total three green dresses. No, I'm not in a rut. 

stuff! we love stuff!

My dear Auntie Tina, purveyor of wondrous jewels, mentioned that she feels the urge to shop and was wondering what sorts of stuff we like. Well now! We like all sorts of stuff, Auntie Tina! Here’s an enormous list of the things I keep my eyes open for when I’m in thrift shops or at garage sales.

P.S. Auntie Tina – do pop over and check out what Julie did with one of those fantastic ostrich feathers….so pretty!

P.P.S. New project underway - more posts soon!

Textiles
--Any sort of old garment for cheap that is made of 100% wool, silk, or linen in a solid color. We can reuse the fabric for accessories, trim, guards, hatbands…you name it! The color isn’t that important since we love to mess with overdyeing things (with humorous results much of the time… we are especially good at inadvertently turning things pink that are intended for our husband’s outfits…oopsie.)
--Anything cheap and leather in a natural color (or black). Leather is great for bindings and accessories like gloves or belts.
--Leather gloves in natural colors. We’re thinking about trying our hand at embroidering cuffs for on gloves.
--Anything that looks handwoven, most likely in a solid color. Things like handwoven placemats are wonderful to use as coverings for our baskets (to conceal things like water bottles and cameras!)

Jewelry
--Brooches/pendants – Generally rather geometric, symmetric designs are good. They didn’t have a whole lot of fancy gemstone cuts then, so I remove rhinestones and replace them with other things. They loved pearls, so most anything with a stylized design in pearls can work. Heavy metal pendants such as the one I used on the end of my yellow silk girdle are fantastic.
--Earrings – I usually wear some sort of drop pearl earring.
--Enamel – Anything with squarish enamel settings is perfect. I keep an eye out for buttons, although I’ve yet to find any. They called these “ouches” and stuck them on anything that held still long enough!

Odds and ends
--Small wooden bowls or platters. These are really nice for arranging a little period lunchtime snack.
--Pewter or wooden goblets.
--Feathers – We’re always keeping an eye out for natural-colored feathers for on hats.

shoes

 
My "new" shoes admiring the beginnings of fall. I know, I know, they don't look like much. They look like someone took some rather dull scissors to a pair of really ugly shoes that're about an inch too long on me. They also look rather like that selfsame someone didn't bother to dig out some proper leather ties to model them. Whoopsie. Still, if by cutting up a pair of $1.50 shoes from a thrift store in a feeble attempt to look like latchet shoes will save me bunches of money on reproduction shoes...I'll do it. A website with handy do-it-yourself type instructions is located here.

I think I owned some just like this in junior high. Except possibly they were actually the right size. This style must be from back in the time when making your feet look small was the object, rather than making your feet look chunky and lug-soled. Ah, I do love me some chunky shoes. Nonethless, Behold the wondrous outdatedness.

 

Stay tuned for me cutting up a pair of $2.00 (big spender!) shoes for the dress engineer. He's gonna be thrilled no doubt. 

 

The Virginia Renaissance Faire was wonderful. Julie and I were lucky enough to join Her Majesty's Hounds for the day.

 

I wore my new kirtle and loose gown. Although I hadn't finished a number of things (such as fasteners and the sleeves), it did well enough. I don't think I'd want to wear it on a hot day.

 

I did also get to play the harp a bit with Musica Gallica, a harp and recorder duo. Happily, the harpist is my teacher Whitney, and she's a professional so my shortcomings went unnoticed. Or so I certainly hope. Julie did call me "renaissance harp armcandy." You can kind of tell by my expression in this picture that it's taking a lot of concentration. Or possibly I just look like that all the time? Don't answer that.

And of course, one picture of a dog doing what a dog does best. Check out Killian's pooping skills (on the right.) Yes, I'm one of those people. Those people who think pooping dogs are hilarious. And period! Now hand me ye olde plastic bag.