Colonial Ensemble:

My sister Rebekah and I volunteer at a historic house nearby, giving tours to the third graders from the neighboring towns. We've become good friends with many of the dear ladies who work there. Claire Harrison, who is in charge of the house and the tours (and was my parents' music teacher in grade school), is one of them. She has always taken a great interest in me and my sisters' sewing projects, and late last year she commissioned me to make her a new outfit.

We used a Butterick pattern for the skirt (the same one I've used in the past) and the Eagles' View patterns for the chemise and vest (which I've also used - see family projects). Everything went together pretty well (although I skipped instructions too often - since I've made it so many times - and that gave me some problems. Oops! :) and we were both extremely happy with how it came out.

Here's a few pictures of the dress "in action". The first photo wasn't very flattering, which is why I cropped it; she really is a lovely lady!

Fleur de Lis Jumper:

My aunt and uncle are really into the medieval era and enjoy sword fighting (well, my uncle anyway :) and going to medieval fairs. So I was commissioned to make my (then) 1 year old cousin Rhea a dress to wear to a fair. My uncle really wanted fabric with the Fleur de Lis on it and so I did a lot of research and showed my aunt lots of different samples until we found the perfect fabric at Rose Leaf Sewing Co. We used a basic jumper pattern that I'd worked with before - See and Sew 4488 - and I adjusted it to make it look more medieval. I omitted the pockets and changed the shape of the neckline and shoulder straps to give it a medieval flair. It worked really well and everyone was really happy with it (although Rhea doesn't look it in the first picture :).

Civil War Apron:

A friend of mine was having her picture taken for the cover of her grandfather's old-fashioned cookbook, and she needed an apron within a week. I was offered the project and accepted, using some fabric that she had around the house. We used Simplicity 7212 and I really liked the way the pattern went together. The whole process went very smoothly and was very enjoyable, and Sarah looks great in her picture!

1930s Evening Gown:

When my violin teacher, Daniela, was invited to play at a fancy charity benefit she wanted to dress up. The benefit theme was the 1930s and the elegant hotel it was to take place in was to be decorated like the Queen Mary. Daniela wanted to dress the era so she commissioned me to make her an evening gown.

We looked at many different designs and patterns and finally settled on Simplicity 5876. Then we took a trip to JoAnn's and picked out some gorgeous black satin. I washed the satin in cold water at home, before finding out that it should normally be dry-cleaned. Fortunately the washing didn't seem to affect the fabric any, much to my immense relief.

The dress went together pretty simply and gave me no serious problems. The entire gown was lined and working with all those yards of slippery fabric was tough, but I managed to keep any small mistakes I made from getting out of hand.

The gown came out extremely well and I was very pleased with my first attempt at an evening gown. It was lot of fun to be able to make something for somebody, especially because it came out so well!

Photography by my wonderful talented Pa!