Happy Holidays and best wishes in the New Year!

Best wishes to all this Holiday Season!!  I feel extremely blessed to have connected with you all over the last couple of years.  I hope that we will all continue to keep in touch through our various blogs in the new year.  I am planning to post more often even if it just to check in and say hello.  In fact my historical clothing goals are:

1.  Titanic Ball Gown (March event)

2.  Art Deco evening dress (Lt. April/Early May event)

3.  An 30's outfit for a talk I am giving at the GBACG Academy in March

4.  Victorian Jacket, Skirt and vest (Dicken's faire 2012)

5.  Finish the Pierrot I started this summer

6.  Remake the Victorian corset I made that shatter in one wearing! (Don't ever forget to interline your corset especially if you are using silk - bones and silk don't like each other!)

7. A Gatsby Picnic dress (Sept event)

8.  Regency evening dress and a Redingote.

Phew!  What a list.  Will it get done?  We shall see.  I have basic wardrobes for Art Deco, Victorian, Regency and 18th Century so all the above are icing on the cake for me....yummy!

Again, my dear readers.  Thank you for your visits and comments.  Please accept my deepest wish that you and your families have a wonderful holiday -  no matter how you celebrate this time of the year.    Cheers!

Le Modiste: 1840's successfully completed!

Well, with some minor handwork the day before going to Dicken's Christmas Faire, plus the bonnet I finished the dress.  I was really happy with the results and wearing it was like a dream!  Even with my corset shattering under the stress of wearing it (I will explain later), the dress was comfortable!  As I may have said before, I like to think that I am making historical clothing so I prefer my clothes to fit, look nice but also be comfortable - in other words I prefer that I wear my dress and not my 'dress wear me'.  Here is another image in the context of the faire:

With friends @ Tavistock House:  The two gentleman are friends visiting from England and one of my dear girl friends

The bonnet came out great.  I will try to take more up-close pics for another post.  I am not really a bonnet type of girl.  However, 1840's is a bonnet period and there was no way of getting around it.  So, I set-to and got a pretty blue silk one. I used a Lyn McMasters pattern for Early Victorian bonnet.  The fabrication was blue dupioni silk for the outer part and a silvery blue green silk for the interior gathered lining (both fabrics were from other projects - I love making use of scraps!)  My hands were very unhappy with trying to sew through the buckram which was a double layer laminated together.  I ended up doing a lot of hot gluing of the frame together and the mull over it.  The fashion fabric was glued in some places and sewn in others.  I will post close-ups on the next post.

Now, to the 'shattering corset'.  So, my pretty little corset taught me a very hard lesson.  Ladies - do not make a silk corset and not interline it so that the bones are b/w the interlining and the lining.  I had cloutil and silk and that was it.  The bones began to eat through the silk.  Yes, I know, what was I thinking?  Well, I wasn't.  I really took my time with the corset, too!  But for whatever reason, I just didn't think it through.  So, I will have to make another - a bit more sturdier.  Sigh. 

I am on to Christmas gift making and decorating but I have a few historical clothing projects in the works:
Regency day dress and Pelisse.  I hope to use American Duchess' turban how-to video to provide a headpiece.
Late Renaissance/early Jacobean embroidered jacket.

More to come.  Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and updates on my 1840's day dress!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  I hope that on this day you will accept my thanks for being a part of my life, even virtually.  I enjoy our community of history enthusiasts and those who express their creativity through the art of sewing, cooking and all.  Best wishes to you and your families for a joyous beginning of the holiday season.


As you know I have been working on a day dress for the Christmas Dicken's Faire here in San Francisco.  As thanksgiving dinner is to be at  my house today, I had to get the dress as far as I could so that I would not feel rushed next week.  With that said, the dress is down to handwork and finishing.  The process has been thus so far:

The dress sans sleeves.

I made self-fabric piping using the super skinny cording I bought ages ago.  I am told and have seen period examples of piping and it is always very fine.

The sleeves pinned in to test run and a sample of lace/cutwork for the neckline.

As soon as the joyful celebration of our Thanksgiving is cleared away, I will renew my efforts with finishing the dress by Sunday.  I want to make a bonnet but I think that won't happen not this time around.  I have a pretty matching fur capelet and cap that I can wear. 

Before I close this post, about a month ago I went to the Bay Area English Regency groups Queen of Naples Ball.  It has been a very long time since I had been to one of BAER's balls, but it was close by and though I haven't a Regency evening dress I wore my Directoire gown.  I went with friends who were just able to send me a pic to share.  It was the bloodiest hot evening of the year and I, in a wig and gown with chemise et al was roasting!  But it was fun and I enjoyed myself a lot!

My friend Sheila and I.  Photo by Walter Nelson

Again, happy Thanksgiving and best wishes to you all.  Updates to come, stay tuned!

Regency Alert! A new magazine to check out!

I found this at our local fabric store and at Barnes and Noble.  The magazine has a few articles about Jane Austen, the Austen movies and some back ground information around fashion, knitting and just a great timeline of corresponding events during Jane's life time.  The knits are all Austen/Regency inspired pieces sent in by different knitters and knit designers.  Unfortunately, none of them are for the novice knitter.    There is a sweet little reticule with a diamond pattern that I would love to try but I am not a good knitter nor a patient one.  Give me thread and needles and I will embroider and handwork up a storm but knitting, alas is not my forte.  What is exciting ladies and gents, is there must be an interest amongst Regency folks to produce a full, glossy colored magazine on such a specific topic.  There is a call for entries for future magazines, so all you knitters and Austenphiles go for it!

Le Modiste: Final corset fitting

Well, another UFO completed!  Opportunity knocked this past wet, cozy weekend to stay home and sit at my sewing machine and get some stitching done.  The rosebud corset I started this summer finally got its finishing touches and taken over to Lacis, in Berkeley, California http://www.lacis.com for its grommets. Lacis has all the equipment you need to put in grommets for corsetry for a minimal fee and all the help and advise you can want.

The original post for the corset was this one:  http://lachatelainechocolat.blogspot.com/2011/07/le-modiste-summer-of-underwear.html

Ta...da....!

The silk is super fine so I can already see that I will have issues with the boning coming through at the bottom edges.  In hindsight I should have put a middle layer so that the bones would go between the mid and layer and the coutil.  As I don't do Victorian events that often I may be okay.   I love this one.  I haven't made a corset in a long time so I have to pat myself on the back a bit.

Next posting:  How the Victorian day dress is coming.

Le Modiste: Mid to late 1840's day dress

Well, the problems with technology have been solved and so I am posting - finally!  So what have I been doing?  Well, I have completed a UFO!  The corded petticoat I started - way back when?  It came out pretty good.  Ladies and Gents!  This petticoat is really heavy! I only corded a foot bandwidth of 100% cotton yarn and 3 rows of horsehair.  Anyway, this is the finished piece.  (I know, white on white makes it hard to see the details but...

Finishing up the cording.

Ta, da!

Close-up of the finished corded panel.  The wider/flatter channels is the horsehair braid with a serpentine stitch.

I am also starting a dress for the Dicken's Christmas Faire in San Francisco this year.  The dress will be a combination of the following patterns:

I will use the fabric that I posted about here:  http://lachatelainechocolat.blogspot.com/2010/10/victorian-for-dickens-faire.html.  The image that I will follow somewhat is:

1839

 

I will probably make something similar to the left dress but use the sleeves from pattern 4400 above.   I am excited about the outcome.  With that said, I am constructing the skirt first.  So, I am going to put it together tonight and get it ready to be cartridge pleated.  Oh goody!  Hand sewing! 

Will keep you updated on this project.

Technical Problems

Dear Readers, Somehow my blog La Chatelaine Chocolate is experiencing some technical problems.  Until I can get a handle on this please bear with me.   I hope to get this challenge solved soon and get back to posting.  I have many plans and want to share and get feedback.  In fact, maybe you can help me with this.  You know how on your blog at the very top there is a displayed menu which includes a Blogger search box, your email address, Dashboard, etc well for this blog it is gone?  I am not sure what to do, as I tried to add on to my fav blogs in a gadget but it won't let me add.  My art blog is fine, not sure what happened since yesterday when I posted something about the 3 Muskateers and posted with a link an image from the movie.  Do you think that did it?  I was using something even though cited that I should not have legally? 
I looked the help section but there is no where to contact anyone for help?  So Help?  I really don't want to loose all my posts or have to start again.  Thank.  You can email me or comment below - hope I can get the feedback.  Cheers?  :(