A Long Overdue Update!

I can't believe we are almost through the first two months of 2010! So much has happened since my last posting, there's no way I'll be able to write all that has taken place. But I will say our year started off with a bang! January is a special month in our household, namely because we have 3 birthdays to celebrate. My oldest son is a New Year's Day baby, my birthday is in the middle of the month, and my youngest son is the last day of the month. My daughter was due in February, but decided to come a little early, and now I share my birthday with my sweet little girl!

I have not dresses her up in Civil War, Victorian Era Clothing yet, but my husband did snap this cute picture in the hospital, which I later changed to sepia, to give it an old look. I have a few original Civil War Era dresses I can't wait to try on her. Most of them are for older girls so I have to wait until she gets a bit bigger before I have a fashion show.

Here is another shot of the sleeping angel. I think this was taken when she was 2 days old.

Fall was a very busy time for me. I've never had so many dress orders than I had this year. I made many Civil War, Regency, and Dickens clothing and even a few Steampunk.

Below is my favorite outfit. The lady needed an outfit for Nancy in the book Oliver Twist. With some research I discovered the dress Nancy would have worn would have been in the Romantic Era, which is sandwiched in between the Regency Era and the Victorian Era. This is the first dress I made in the Romantic Era and I had a lot of fun researching the fashion of that time.

The transition from Regency to Victorian is quite fascinating, and elements of both Regency and Victorian can be seen in the Romantic Era clothing. The dresses were not quite as full as the Victorian era and still feature the narrow sleeves of the Regency Era. The dresses were not worn over a hoop but a corded petticoat or multiple ruffled petticoats to give the dress a bell shaped look which later grew fuller as the Victorian Era approached.

Here is my original sketch for the dress.

I already have a few dress orders lined up for this year and I'm looking forward to more! I hope to post more of my work before things get busy again this Fall.

Etsy Trade-A-Holic $5 Sale!

Just letting my blog friends know that I'm participating in the Trade-A-Holic $5 sale September 18th-20th. The Trade-A-Holic team is where Etsy sellers have a good time trading items of interest among it's members. The team also works together to promote sales among the members of the team.

This is the first $5 sale put on by the Trade-A-Holic Team. Over 80 members have lowered prices of over 1000 items to $5. To find a list of those items just click here.

Below are a few of my items I marked down to $5. On Monday they go back to regular price!

Civil War Haversack made out of ticking. Great for a Confederate Impression!

Pink Eyelet Half Apron

Blue Calico Pinner Apron

To see more $5 items from my Victorian Times Store just click here.

The past few week have been very busy ones for me. For those who have been following my blog, I'm happy to announce we are having a little girl! With two very active boys it fun knowing that I'll have someone to share my love of sewing.

There has been a lot of sewing going on over here. I've had a number of custom orders to fill, in addition to creating (or redrafting) a new line of dresses for my Etsy Store Victorian Times.

The pink dress is one of my new creations. It's a ready made dress that I will be offering as a custom order soon.

Here is the back of the dress.

And below is a close up of the fabric.

These Black Victorian Style Wrist Warmer Cuffs are perfect for keeping you in style and warm!

During the Victorian Era detachable cuffs served several purposes. They protected the sleeves of nice day dresses, gave the dress a little flare and kept the wrist warm.

This is my version of the Victorian Era cuff. It was a lot of fun to make and I hope to be adding some more fun things to my line of Victorian Era Inspired clothing soon.

New For Fall

Wow! This has really been a busy time for me. My dress orders are getting completed and I'm looking forward to getting some new ones. I enjoy "meeting" new ladies as I work on their Victorian gowns!

Here is my new design I promised to show everyone. This dress I call Plum Wheat because of the small wheat design on the fabric. I'm offering this dress for sale in my Victorian Times Etsy store. I will be offering this style as a custom order dress as well.

The bell shaped Pagoda sleeves make this style dress very charming! I added under sleeves and a matching collar to complete the look.

Here is a view of the back.

I drafted this pattern and designed it loosely after a dress featured on In the Swan's Shadow that was worn by Mary Todd Lincoln. Some day I would like to recreated the dresses exactly the way it was worn by Mary Todd, but for now it gives me inspiration to create dresses of my own. Check out In the Swan's Shadow to see pictures of the beautiful velvet dress worn by one of our First Ladies.

I'm Back!

Hi friends and sorry for the long delay in posts. A few months ago I found out I was expecting our third child and as exciting as the news of a new baby is, it came with some much undesired morning (all day) sickness. I am now in second trimester and feel much better as my family anticipates the arrival of our new little one.

I am also back to sewing. With peek sewing season just starting I already have 7 dress orders to be filled in the next couple of weeks! (Things must be getting better for our American economy!)

During my off sewing season I played around with some new dress ideas. (Well I should say I recreated some dresses, drafting some new patterns from civil war era pictures and original dresses.) I will be showing you some of my new designs in the upcoming weeks as well as some of my custom order dresses I'm working on.

For now I want to share with you a new item I've added to my Etsy Victorian Times Store. Pictured is my Black Pantaloon and Chemise Set. I had a couple of special request for a Pantaloon and Chemise Set made in black this past year and I have decided to offer it in my store. Some of the women who ordered the set said they wanted to use it to go with their civil war mourning outfit. During the civil war and Victorian Era those who lost loved ones and family members would wear black as a symbol of their grief.

Pink Paisley Civil War Day Dress

Since I have not had any custom orders or Internet connection the past week, I have been busy making new dresses. I drafted some new patterns and have worked with some really fun fabric. Here is the first dress I made last week.

I just loved this pink paisley print when I saw it at the store and knew it would make a beautiful dress.

For those who have been following my blog you are probably well aware that this is one of my favorite style of civil war day dresses to sew. But for the sake of variety I have drafted some new patterns for civil war era dresses and I will be featuring some new dress made with the patterns in the next couple of weeks.

Making a Civil War Dress Part 3

So here it is the finished civil war day dress with collar and belt. The sleeves are full gathered bishop sleeves that gather into the armhole as well as into a cuff.

Here is another angle of the dress. The belt and the collar are detachable and add to the look of the dress.

Here is an up close look at the belt and the fabric. I went with an embrodered white fabric for the belt. I thought it brought out the paisleys in the civil war day dress.

Sorry for leaving everyone hanging on the last part "Making a Civil War Dress". We are change internet providers and I have not had internet connection the last couple of days. I should be back up and running next week with some more Victorian Era Blog post. Thanks so much for following.