Month: October 2010

18th Century Masquerade Costumes

A reader asked me about 18th century Masquerade costumes. Specifically, she wants to make an 18th century Grecian inspired masquerade costume. How fun! It’s right up my alley! I wish I had the time and reason to make one too! The theme allows for either full on stays, stomachers and paniered robes, or simpler flowing ‘negligee’, permissible under the guise of classical inspiration. There are so many possibilities! Goddesses have always been popular, and would be perfectly appropriate – one of the top masquerade destinations in 18th century London was the Pantheon. I could do Athena, goddess of wisdom, with a medusa-head stomacher. Or Diana, goddess of the moon and the hunt, with star and moon spangled hair, and even stags and bow and arrows (if I was feeling really over the top!) I bet Venus was popular in the 18th century; the goddess of love could wear a rose-wreathed frock, and have a miniature cupid in her hair. There are non-goddess options available too: Elisabeth Cudleigh, Maid of Honour to Princess Augusta of Wales, …

Frothy fairy dresses

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m sewing a frothy goddess frock – just for the fun of it. It’s a nice break from the UFPro pile, and commissions, and historical costuming I’m working on, all of which have specific requirements for their creation. The dress was kind of inspired by this week’s poll. I don’t understand all this modern vampire and werewolf and zombie craze. I want to be a fairy. It turns out that I’m not the only one who wants to be a fairy – well over half of you have the same impulse. So I’m making a fairy frock. Not a tinker belle fairy frock, sort of a fairy godmother meets the traditional faerie queen fairy. A study in contrast: natural materials with an etherial feel, elegant formality and whimsical fun. I liked the idea of making a dress that looks a bit like a sarong tied around you, and a bit like a Regency gown. One that blends total relaxation and classical formality. The fabric is an ivory cotton voile with tiny woven-in stripes of silver, …

Sewing my wedding dress

Published by The Dreamstress

There is a superstition (which I am convinced was invented by the wedding dress manufacturers) that it is bad luck to make your wedding dress. Marriage-wise, my own observation would indicate that it is extremely good luck to make your own dress- all the women I know who did have had long and happy marriages. Perhaps the bad luck is in the making of the dress itself? I could see that. Making my dress was an unhappy and traumatic experience, and both my mother and mother-in-law suffered unfortunate incidences related to the making of their dresses (one of which involved brand new sewing shears, tripping over the toile, lots and lots of blood, a trip to the emergency room, and a permanent scar). Still, if that is the price you pay for a successful marriage, bring on the wedding dress making horror stories! My dress was a case of anything that could go wrong, did. Part of the problem was that in between bouts of dress making, I wrote a thesis, graduated from university, moved …