coastal harvests

Hello again! 

Another post for May! Who would have thought I had it in me? My lovely friend at little red gumboots told me she was aiming for a post a week, but I don't have anywhere near the level of social life that she does, so sporadic posts it is for me!

First I would like to share a snapshot of the yummy things coming out of my garden: fresh oranges, passion fruit, salad greens (spinach, rocket, tatsoi and shallots) and a whole lot of tomatoes!

In the interest of the many veggie gardens and fruit trees we have scattered around the place, my mum and I went on the hunt for mushroom compost and found the real deal (i.e. not processed, over packaged and then sold-on for ridiculously inflated prices) at Margin's Mushrooms. The owner was kind enough to give us a tour of his mushroom farm (cool room after cool room of mushroomy goodness!), and he even gave us a few Swiss Browns to take home and try (woo! samples! and they were delicious!). We left with quite a few bricks of mushroom compost, half of which have already disappeared into the veggie gardens, we'll probably have some lovely huge cabbages and peas if we can keep the darn caterpillars off them!

My second random trip of the week was to Little Creek, a family business producing handmade gourmet cheese. This little shop was like a temple to cheese, and I love that the cheese production area was in the next room and could be seen through a window. The cheese selection was great, from hard tasty to ultra soft fromage (or quark) in a variety of flavours (olive being my favourite!). All were available for sampling, and I think I tasted pretty much every product before narrowing down which I wanted to buy (always a tough choice when it comes to cheese!).

Lastly, the Buy Local festival is on this weekend, so Coasties, get out there and support your local businesses!

Regency Sewing Challenge: May Update

As promised, a JAFA sewing challenge progress report! My first official costume piece is a petticoat, since I had already completed my chemise, pantalettes and stays before I entered the challenge (I included some info about them anyway, just in case anyone is interested).

Chemise

I made my chemise out of white cotton lawn, using the Sense & Sensibility Regency Underthings Pattern. I didn’t add the little sleeves because I didn’t particularly like them, I don’t know where the short-sleeves of a gown will sit as yet, and it would look silly under longer sleeves, so I figure if I need to I can just line the sleeves of the gown.

Pantalettes

The pantalettes are Simplicty 2890. The style is a little later than those worn during the Regency period, which was basically two tubes fastened around the waist, which looked about as appealing as the idea of going au natural. I made these to sit on my hips, rather than around my waist as the pattern directs, so I would actually be able to access the drawstring under my corset... something it didn’t look like the pattern took into account!

I pinned the pattern together to see how it would fit before I started cutting my fabric, and since it looked rather large I opted to go a size smaller than I would usually wear, and they stilled turned out massive! The waist/hips are about three times larger than my actual size, which makes for some lovely gathers, but wastes an awful lot of fabric.

Stays

I wanted long stays, as opposed to the more popular short stays of the period, so I used the Simplicity 2621 corset pattern as my base and added four bust gussets.

I used white cotton broadcloth for the lining and white cotton lawn for the cover, with cotton/polyester bias binding. (I will also note for anyone attempting similar that cotton broadcloth was a horrendous choice for lining, as any cut edge frays like crazy, making neat seams and the application of bias binding pretty difficult: the thickness of the fabric was fine, but next time I will go for something with a tighter weave.)

The busk is a timber scrap my dad cut to size for me (hardwood is recommended, but I think this is only medium, and I haven’t had any problems with it yet).

The rest of the boning is 450mm by 7.6mm black plastic cable ties, cut to size, with hot glue applied to the ends to prevent the sharp edges from piercing the fabric (seriously, cap your boning! I didn’t in my last corset and it rips the fabric AND stabs you), as well as a few rows of cording under the bust gussets.

Also note that if you’re going to add bust gussets to a pattern that doesn’t already include them, you’re going to have to compensate for the extra room by making the side or back panels a little narrower: I didn’t and the top few eyelets at the back practically overlap when I lace it up, and I’ll probably have to go back and put a dart under the arms to make the stays fit properly.

A fabulous article on the Regency silhouette and how to fit stays correctly can be found here.

Petticoat

The petticoat is based on the one seen here, but made using the skirt outline from Simplicity 8852. I cut three skirt panels and then sewed them onto a tubular waist band (so a tie can be inserted), leaving the front panel straight, but pleating along the sides, then added the shoulder straps. The ruffle at the bottom came pre-pleated from Spotlight (thank you Spotlight!), and adds a nice bit of detail.

Next month: Chemisette!

April update

Well, so much for my a-post-a-month-minimum rule!

Here’s a quick recap of my March/April, because I know that you’re dying to know...

·         Saw Ross Noble live, learned that if you sit a row back from the stage he can see you and you will spend the rest of the evening having every question you answer turned into a joke... IT WAS AWESOME!

·         Took a cheese-making course with John and Juan at Home Cheese Making, made camembert with my own two hands and learned how to make ricotta... if you are a little OCD about cleanliness and hand sanitiser then cheese-making is for you!

·         Went to Canberra to see the Renaissance Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, and the artworks were amazing, nothing you print off a computer can compare to the depth of colour and the intricate detail of the Renaissance artists, it was mindboggling to see what the human hand is capable of.

·         Accepted the 2013 Sewing Challenge issued by Earthly Delights to create one item of Regency clothing per month until the Jane Austen Festival next year (which is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice, so I'm especially keen to attend and look fabulous!)... I am aiming to complete historically accurate undergarments (chemise, pantalettes, stay, petticoat and chemisette), as well as a day dress (or two), a ball gown, and accessories (bonnets, reticules, etc.). I will have to update the JAFA every month, so I will try to remember to blog my progress as well.

·         Finally, I was accepted to intern at the Powerhouse Museum working on the Australian Dress Register. I start tomorrow and I am very excited to work with historical garments, I will share news and pictures if I am able.

Until the next time I get off my lazy butt to blog ♥