Finished Projects

I've been rather busy getting ready for the Texas Living History Association's annual conference.  The conference was in Goliad this year and was really enjoyable.  I wasn't able to attend any of Friday's sessions but heard they were really good.  I attended two sessions on Saturday (one on using genealogy resources to flesh out a historical persona and another on day 'work' dresses and wrappers).  The last session time I was teaching.  It was a nice experience and I hope to get the opportunity to do it again some time.  I gave a talk on 19th century fabrics and weaves and where to find some of these fabrics today.

I *finally* got the black wool complete and wore that for most of the day.  I was so happy it was finally done and fitted-it was very chilly at the conference and we were outside a lot so having the wool was nice.  The chilly weather also gave me a chance to wear my paletote and ermine pelerine that I never get to wear since I live in Texas.  I didn't get any pictures of the black at the conference, but wore it the next weekend at Liendo so here are some pictures both with and without the pelerine.

I totally forgot to put anything stabilizing in that belt.  I need to fix that.  It's just a layer of silk and a layer of polished cotton right now.

The evening festivities of the conference were held in a nice Victorian town house that overlooked Goliad's town square.  Oh, my goodness, was it beautiful.  It was as Greek revival as a town home can be, had a ballroom, a veranda overlooking the courthouse, working transoms, and a GORGEOUS butler's pantry.  I had way too much fun exploring the place for the evening.

Paula had gifted me a lovely lilac shot silver silk taffeta that she had made up but wasn't able to wear anymore.  The day bodice doesn't currently fit me so I'm not messing with it right now.  But the ball bodice was mostly complete and basically fit me so all I had to do was add sleeves and pipe the waistline and neckline.  It's a little snug (you can see a little bit of my corset cover in the pictures) but it was fine for this time.  It also gave me a chance to finish a bertha that I have been working on for two years.  It features original Maltese lace that I found on Ebay a while ago.  I'm going to eventually put that bertha on another gown and trim this gown in original Chantilly lace.  I found a 5 yard piece of Chantilly that I want on the skirt as well as a little piece that would make a lovely bertha.  However, for the conference, I got to wear my new baby-a Chantilly lace shawl.

I'm glad that the black wool is FINALLY complete and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

My current projects include putting the lace on the lilac silk, working on the blue shot gold dress, and making up a new gown from a gold shot blue figured silk I found on Ebay.  Pictures to follow.