Something fun for the end of the weekend: a little documentation of how much Felicity helped with the Augusta Stays. From the cutting out: To making buckram: To boning the stays: And to all the hand-sewing: Including the unpicking of handsewing… (note sad kitty) So much work! Look at how exhausted she is: What a helpful kitty!
Cats spend most of their time sleeping, and Felicity the Sewing Cat has definite opinions about sleeping – especially the sleeping hours she shares with us. If I’m sleeping, she should be sleeping. If I take a nap, Felicity will join me. It doesn’t matter what else is going on: her favourite person might be here, the back door might be open on the perfect day for sleeping in the garden, the heater might be on… nope. Her job is to sleep with me. Our family sleeps in the big bed, Felicity is part of our family, thus she sleeps in the big bed. If we have guests she’ll go and visit them in the morning, but even if they are housesitting and we aren’t home, she sleeps in our bed. The only exception is if one of the big family members is sick, and I move to the guest bed so we can both sleep. Then she comes with me. Because apparently her job is to sleep with me. Bedtime should be 10pm Bedtime …
It’s had a five year hiatus, but the mostly-Queen-Charlotte-inspired Frou Frou Francaise is back on my sewing schedule. It hit the shoals of inactivity back in 2013 for two reasons. First, the fabric was really hard to sew, and was aggravating the chillblains and other arm problems I have in winter. Second I realised that I had two meters less fabric than I had thought, and wouldn’t be able to finish it without significant piecing – and even then without all the trimming I’d hoped to have. The two combined were just too demoralising, and I packed it away in the naughty bin. I’m really trying to clear out my PHD (project half done) pile, so, inspired by all the people who were planning to make Robe a la Francaise based on the American Duchess 18th century costuming book, I pulled the Francaise back out after Costume College last year, and re-assessed it to see what I could do to finish it. When I set the dress aside 5 years ago, the petticoat was completely …
