The red wedding gown has gone home to its owner and we even got in a photo-shoot! My client was such a trooper and donned her 15+ yards of silk taffeta with grace to do a photo shoot in record high temperatures. I held the fan on her and we did take a water break. A great testament to the comfort of the dress as she was in it 2+ hours.

See how that custom-dyed silk ribbon just glows. Shot-silk taffeta glows so beautifully as well!

I had cut this out the week before my wedding figuring I’d add a piece to my outfit. I wanted to take off the gown and throw on the jacket to head home that night. After cutting it out I decided to enjoy the time with my family before the wedding instead of more sewing. Recently I found it floating around my workroom missing one piece!! *grr* I searched and then gave up but decided to pursue finishing the project nonetheless. I had enough fabric to tweak out a new piece. (more…)

I’m going to try to go back and document some of this fantastic project. Like usual it started with a muslin toile that tells me enough to make pattern adjustments but doesn’t really show off how fantastic the final garment will look:

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This jacket is styled after the military zouave jackets that became a popular bolero jacket style in mid to late Victorian era for women. We are doing it in a very fashionable red, but instead of wool it is a fine silk.

All and all, a very clean & subtle jacket that looks lovely over the black silk velvet waistcoat. It has just enough tie in with the skirt to look like they go together.
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I wore my jacket closed through class on Saturday and then decided to fold it back and wear with my peach quilted stomacher. It was fun to get two looks out of one garment.

In the hotel room:

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I traded a blue and white duvet cover for this hand block printed cotton fabric. The pattern itself is too dense but some of the elements remind me of 18th century fabrics. I’ll have to splurge at some point and get something more historically correct but it worked for the trial run. It has a nice texture as well as pretty browns & blues together (one of my all time favorite combos).

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I surprised my client with an additional bustle-like drape & optional bow (not pictured) for her ensemble. The jacket can be worn with or without the additional back drape. She picked a hat out of my stash and altered it while I worked on the finishing touches on the outfit tonight. I’m so excited to see her wear it at Baycon!

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This jacket was added onto another project as a separate piece to coordinate with a corset and skirt. When we started we knew we had very little of the blue silk left but wanted to have the tail and edges of the jacket in the matching silk. As the silk was purchased many years ago I found out it was no longer carried. Although I found similar colors none were the same, hence the piecing of the lining.

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