All posts tagged: chintz pet en l’aire

Pretty princesses in yellow

Last week Theresa came to town from Melbourne, and of course we made time to do what we do best together: get dressed to the nines and take pictures. Last time our theme was late Victorian, this time we went yellow: Ninon on me (yay, finally!) and the pet (Oooooh) on Theresa. It was a cold, windy, drizzly, overcast day , so an outdoor photoshoot was out. Ninon can NOT get wet, and I’m not too sure about the water-fastness of the chintz the pet is made from. Where to go in Wellington that is indoors, attractive, has good lighting, and where they will let you take pictures? The old Dominion Museum building, now the arts building at Massey University. We got soooooooooooooo many beautiful pictures. I managed to edit an hour and a half of photos down to 250 keepers. Then I had to edit those down to 90 that I really wanted to show you. More grueling editing, and I’m at 75 that I really, really want to show you. By the time …

Re-pleating the pet

Published by The Dreamstress

After deciding that the original linen lining of my 1780s pet-en-l’aire simply wasn’t going to do, I unpicked all my back pleating, put on a soft unbleached cotton lining, and started again. Luckily the pleats from my first pleating were still pressed in, so it made the re-doing process much easier, and the soft cotton was much more amenable and cooperative than the linen I first tried to use was. I’m very happy with the re-do, even if my stitching isn’t absolutely even and perfect. The silk is very, very tightly woven, hard to stitch through, and shows every stitch that has ever been put in it. My new stitches are literally exactly the same as my old stitches. With the pleats all hand-sewn in, I bound the top of the pet with a strip of the silk. I was worried I wouldn’t have enough to fold the binding over, so I cut my binding rather wide, and then of course it was too wide, and isn’t as neat as I would like. Because the …

Taking tea and talking about tea fashions at Premier House

Published by The Dreamstress

Monday was the much anticipated (at least by me) afternoon tea charity fundraiser for Save the Children at Premier House, where I gave a talk about the history of tea, and the way it has influenced fashion. It was a fabulous day: the event completely sold out resulting in a sizeable donation for Save the Children, the sun shone brightly all morning, Premier House looked wonderful, and so did my models. I wore Japonisme, the chintz pet made its ‘soft debut’, Julie debuted as a model in the Raspberry Swirl, Chiara looked beyond amazing in Ninon (as always), and I also debuted a new 1900s tea gown that I haven’t told you about yet. Lots of excitement! With everything I do, there are so many people to acknowledge. Save the Children for having the event of course, my models for being gorgeous and supportive and keeping me calm and putting up with my running around like a crazy women during the dressing. Most of all, there are the people who contributed and supported in the …