All posts filed under: 18th Century

Fairies! And Dinosaurs! At Versailles!

You know those days when you are having brunch with friends and someone says “We should have a fairy party!” No? Well, among my friends group not only does that happen, but then I pipe up with “Yeah! Fairies! And Dinosaurs! At Versailles!” So, because a number of us had big, exciting birthdays, or little, equally exciting, birthdays this year, we had a joint birthday ball with that as a theme. Because of course! I was hoping to get my Marmotte Masquerade stays done for it, but they weren’t ready and I needed to concentrate on party prep, so I just wore the outfit I had been planning with my gilt stays as a backup. C’est la vie. I’ve never gotten proper photos of me in the stays, so while I’m sad that the Masquerade ones weren’t done, I’m excited about pictures of me in the gilt ones, especially since Sarah the Photographer and I managed to pop down to the beach before guests arrived and get in a quick photoshoot (the benefits of a …

Masqued marmotte madness

Published by The Dreamstress

Progress on my Marmotte Masquerade stays is moving along faster than I can blog about it, despite a little un-help from Felicity. Nope. Can’t have it. My fabric. All the pieces were boned, and sewn together: Then, with a bit of help from Mr D, I tried them on. He wasn’t in a very good mood for lacing or photography, but you can still see that my lacing is nice and even The fit was pretty good straight from the pattern, with no alterations other than a bit of lengthening (and I’ll lengthen any future versions another half an inch). The one change I will be making is to try to reduce the waist as much as possible. The stays aren’t giving me much of a cone shape, and I’d like a bit more compression in the waist for comfort. The uplift and shape in the bust is great though, especially considering how little I have to lift and shape. With fitting done, I made adjustments to the pattern and started covering the pieces with …

Masquerade stays: Progress, pain and a trim poll

Published by The Dreamstress

In between bouts of paper marking, the masquerade stays are coming along. They may actually even be finished on time (amazement). In any case, I have an event to wear them to on the 9th, so they have to be done by then! So far, with help from Miss Fiss, I’ve completed all the boning channels and inserted my boning, and sewn together the front, side front, and side back pieces in preparation for fitting. I’ve also cut the lining and outer fabrics for the back piece, and have inserted my lacing bones. I’m using fenestrated metal boning, because it’s the only boning that I have around that’s both strong enough to support the back lacing and long enough for the length of the stays. At the moment things are at a pause while I coat the ends of the lacing bones and let them dry. I’m just using nail polish – it’s worked well in every previous application! Things are also at a pause while I ice my thumb. There was a little problem …