Evenstar Designs

Tailgates at Taco Bell, near collisions in the intersection reel, and lots of fandoms oh my!  The 2017  Homeschool Ball was definitely a night to remember!  This year's gown was the easiest to make yet, and also was the most comfortable!  I actually wasn't overheated once whereas in years past I felt like  I was on fire. This year's theme was "An Evening at the Library" so I chose to go as someone from the Lord of the Rings. Because the book isn't overly descriptive about costumes, and the movie has some amazing interpretations,  I decided to make Arwen's gown from the dream scene in LOTR the Two Towers: The hardest part was finding the right colored fabric, but after a day of searching through three fabric stores, I found something that would work. I used a lavender shantung taffeta and some lavender chiffon layered on top of each other, and it turned out very nicely! Kristi got me Arwen's Evenstar necklace for Christmas, and I purchased elv...

Hello and Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. Kristi and I went caroling with our choir again this year. I had the idea to carol in our neighborhood, so we tried that for the first time and got lots of smiles!   We loved having our cousin from Germany with us again this Christmas, and she dressed up too! We weren't the only ones who were excited...  I've been doing a little experimenting with hair, and successfully curled all three feet  of my hair using bandanas. I also tried a 27 strand braid on Kristi (Actually nine 3-strand braids woven together). Last week, I did a little "fabric shopping" (but I only bought one piece of new  fabric). At goodwill, I found four very lightly used cotton sheets, two white, one pink, and one light blue with pale stripes. I love turning sheets into gowns! There's so much fabric in them, and they're much less expensive than new fabric! In on...

New stays! I always say I'll never make another pair again, but then I do. This time I used American Duchess's Simplicity Pattern  with the accuracy "hacks" on the American Duchess blog. For example, I made hand sewn eyelets instead of grommets (did I ever mention I HATE grommets?), and I sewed the lining in after binding which is a more accurate 18th century construction method. I used off-white cotton for the outside and interlining, and linen for the lining. The entire garment is sewn by hand, but I did cheat and use plastic zip ties for boning. I love that these stays lace in the front and back which makes them much more adjustable and more comfy to wear. I also added some embroidery details just because I can. I successfully taught myself how to embroider the detached buttonhole stitch, which is great for making larger shapes on which you don't want to use the satin stitch.  This is the inside of the stays with pink satin ribbon lacing up the back:...

I call it a "faux polonaise" because it was a mistake... the kind of mistake you make when you try to hand sew a gown by yourself in about four days. I only had 2.5 yards of the fabric which we figured was enough to make a short gown. But while a was burning the midnight oil, I forgot that tiny detail, and cut the skirt full length. This meant that the skirt would be awkwardly narrow. So I decided I could disguise the lack of fullness by decorating it in the 1780s style and pretending it was a polonaise with out the "polonaised" skirt. It worked well enough. It was so much fun to fit the gown to a real person instead of a dress form! I spent hours hand hemming and gathering white trim, but I love the way it looked! It's also really fun to sew outside when the weather is nice! And here she is wearing it in Williamsburg with a neckerchief: Not my best work, but she wore it well, and I think the ruffles are darling! 

Our final day! I spent the morning trying to dry out my soaked shoes. I put the soles in the dryer, and blew dry the shoe (not sure if that was a good idea for the leather, but it survived). I also found a new way to style my hair that I quite like. My hair is 36 inches long and is a beast to stick under a cap. I curled the ends of a few strands of hair, then pinned them up, so just a few inches hung down below the cap. I braided the rest, then pinned it around my head. The cap kept it all together. I freeze sprayed the curls to make them stay put, then was ready to go! It didn't rain, but it was wonderfully windy. We met lot's of our friends from last time - I was surprised that so many people remembered us. Even the cashier at Tarpley's remembered us! Staying warm in my fleece cloak, and flannel mitts.  Liberty got a carriage ride :)  Our friend Jonah makes his clothing, so he offered to teach me a few things about sewing the proper 18th cent...

On day two, I wore the riding habit. It was overcast all morning, but it held off long enough for the fife and drum march - we got to see Clare again! Even if it was overcast, it was HOT, m ostly because of the humidity. Kristi and I retreated to the cool shade of the Carpenter's shop to play the harpsichord again.   Clare knew more about my riding habit than I did, and tied my scarf for me Never mess with a girl with a musket ;) Lunch at the King's Arms.  We got to see our waiter from last time - he remembered us!  Stuck a feather in her hat and called it macaroni! Next we decided to do something crazy. It started raining cats and dogs at lunch time. My parents went back to our hotel and left Kristi and I do have are adventures in the rain. We decided to walk to Great Hopes Plantation. Yeah. It's over half a mile in the pouring rain. We had one umbrella, but it didn't do much good. Our petticoats were soaked up to our waists, but ...