I Feel a New Passion Coming On ;)

I have had a new passion shaping up recently. You wanna know what it is?

*happy sigh*

Costume designing. Specifically for period dramas. Like the BBC movies! :)

Okay. So I don't know anything about designing clothing, as of yet, but I can sew, and I love costumes, and love drawing elaborate clothing so it all kind of fits together! (Right?)

So I found a couple of costume designer's blogs and discovered through the grapevine that the BBC people get many of their costumes from Cosprop. Click Here to swoon with delight.... :)

You'll be invited to wander through a gallery of pictures... and you might find me fainted away in some corner over the beautiful costumes. :P

Unfortunately I can't share any pictures, so you'll have to go over and look at them yourself, but here is the sort of costume I'd love to design...

The "Think of Me" dress...

Pride and Prejudice! Wedding clothes! What could be better? ;)

The costumes in the 2009 Emma were superb, I thought! :)

Not sure what movie this is, but that dress is so neat! :) (maybe "Daniel Deronda?")

Love this dress of Jo March's in Little Women! :)

So this is where my little creative side of my brain has been wandering from time to time. Now if only Daniel would decide to make period dramas for a living.... ;) And give me free reign of the fabric store! :D -Rachel

Great Expectations....Or What I Would Do With Them :)

You know how people always ask you what you would do if you inherited a million dollars?
I for one have never been able to answer that to my satisfaction. What would I do with a million dollars? I'm not sure I even have the concept of what I would do with a thousand dollars (of my own) down! :)
However, as I was randomly thinking of it last night, I decided on what I'd do. After tithing it, and paying off Mama and Dad's mortgage and things like that.....what would I do with it?
Well, it starts with a "hire" and ends with a "historical seamstress"! :D I love sewing, of course. But since my machine is broken, and I truly don't have time, wouldn't it be lovely to have someone making costumes for me? :) Of course it's frivolous, but I for one would wear the clothes, so it would not be a waste. But for now I'll just sigh happily as I look at pictures of gorgeous historical clothing....no one feels like bequeathing me a million dollars anytime soon, do they? ;)

Love this one! :)

This one almost looks like lace over a different material, doesn't it? :)

Velvety! :) And gorgeous

I wish I had this dress! Isn't it beautiful? Of course, I'd have to pay the seamstress extra to follow me around and adjust the train! ;)

And this is a really cool Regency dress with beautiful embroidery on the skirt and sleeves.

Well, I think you get the point now! :) ~Rachel

More Costume and Hair Inspiration! :)

Recently, I've been inspired with recreating hairstyles and costumes from movies I love! (I mean, with the idea of recreating them...haven't really done it yet! :D) Some of the sites that have helped inspire me, are these:

Rapunzel's Resources: (Particularly her movie-styles. She looks at a movie, and recreates the hairstyles! The one I linked to is Esther Summerson's hairstyle in Bleak House :) It was based off of this hairstyle below :) (Yes, I know the photo's kind of dark! :)

Another blog I already spoke of was The Story of a Seamstress:This girl is so amazing with her reproduction clothing! I have loved browsing through her blog! :) So what costumes and hairstyles do I really, really, want to recreate? :) I'll tell you!

We all remember Mrs. Bank's "Suffragette" dress in Mary Poppins! I don't like the subject of the song, but this dress is just so fun! It always reminds me of a daffodil against a spring sky! :)


Another view of the same dress...the yellow would NOT work on me so close to my face, but this would be a super fun dress to make! :)


And I know this is a bad picture, but way in there, you can see the lovely yellow underskirt-my favorite part of this dress! :)

Another dress I'd love to make is the "afternoon dress" that causes Meg March so much embarrassment in Little Women! (1994) I could not find a picture of it online, but this is the dress that reminds Belle Gardiner of "forgetmenots" and is blue with little black stripes- very pretty! :)
Here is one of the many hairstyles I'd love to do! Bleak House did have some lovely ones! :)



Lady Dedlock's hairstyle is so elegant...I'm sure a lot of it is a wig, but I would love to try it!

Another view...


A closer view of the side....

Anyway! I have to go, but hope that was interesting! :) ~Rachel

An Infatuation With Costumes! :)

Hey guys! For a few weeks now, I've had an idea for a dress simmering in my brain. It was first inspired by a friend I hadn't seen for a long time, who looked so absolutely charming in her dress that I thought she belonged in some sort of painting. My brain started working...how to get a dress like that? Make it! Then, I watched BBC's Wives and Daughters. Oh my stars! The costumes Molly wears are so sweet and pretty! I really liked some of the bodices of some of her dresses, and the sleeves on her "berry-picking" gown. The only way to get a gown I dreamed up, seems to be to design it myself! So after reading Kendal Butler's post on the summer dress she designed, I figured it couldn't be too hard! With sewing, I tend to sort of make it up as a go along a bit anyway! :) So last night I sat down and drew a very basic idea of the dress bobbling around in my mind. I wanted to get a good image in my mind of Molly Gibson's dresses in Wives and Daughters, so I simply did a google search on "costumes from BBC Wives and Daughters" and came up with a great blessing! Namely, a blog called "The Dashwood Sisters", who had done an entire costume study on Wives and Daughters!!!!!:) :) :) I spent a bit of time poking around over there, and had to tear myself away after getting the necessary information! :) I could have spent all day looking at it, since when I watch any good old-fashioned movie, costumes are the area I scrutinize and moon over! ;) Here is a picture of Molly's Berrypicking dress! I basically, want to use the sleeves and over all idea of the bodice for mine! :)

Here is a really nice view of the sleeves- the main thing I wish to copy from her dress! :)

And here is a view of the dress as a whole! I really like the neckline too, but I was thinking I'd do the one that is rattling `round my brain, which i found out is called a "drawstring" neckline.

Here is the rough design I drew:

I am not sure, with the drawstring neckline, how the back would open up...any ideas? The Dashwood "study" suggested using Sense and Sensibility's "Romantic Era" pattern, and their "Ladies of Elegance" pattern has the drawstring neckline as one option....but I kind of want to avoid buying two patterns....tell me what you think! This is just a fun idea, I really, really like the dress! :( I hope I have enough money and wits about me to buy material, and somehow make it become a reality! What do you all think? Any tips on designing a dress and making a pattern for it? Should I just buy the "Romantic Era" pattern, and improvise the neckline? Help me! Oh! I didn't draw the sleeves quite how I want them! I want MOLLY's sleeves! :D -Rachel

Can I Turn Him Into A Mr. Knightley? I Wonder.....

Yesterday my lovely grandmother saved my hide by lending me a sewing machine! Yay! *great big sigh of relief*! Now I can finally start sewing for real on my Scottish dress. Grandmama is a seamstress, and sews for local theatres, ballet studios, etc. She used to own the ballet studio that she sews at, and I took lessons there as a really little girl! Anyway, it is undoubtedly a handy thing to have a grandmother who can make wedding dresses, chinese dragon costumes, and reenacting clothes! ;) We were over her house for lunch yesterday. Nobody makes meatloaf like Grandmama! Here is a tradition that is in it's second generation at least: whenever the grandkids come over, you serve them vanilla bean icecream with chocolate syrup. That has been going on for so long (With Mama, Uncle Lon, and Uncle David, and now us) that I can remember the chocolate syrup coming out of a can! :)
All this to say, thank you Grandmama for lending me the machine! I have it up my sleeve, (if Daniel pays for the materials) to make him a period costume. I'm thinking one like Mr. Darcy's or Mr. Knightleys, because we already have the pattern for his size in that. I can just see him in a navy-blue or brown coat. Then he'd only need high-top boots and a top-hat to make the ideal "Gentleman From Virginia". Or change it to be "The Gentleman from The Colonies" to sound more British! ;) So I'm thinking I'll make him either that, or, if he insists, I think we may have one that is rather Pirate-y. I'm not sure.
I'm slightly frightened at the idea of one of those tailored coats.....hmmmm....well, we'll see how far my creative-streak takes me, and whether I get my nerve up!
We girls are comissioned by Mama to make our swim-suits from a pattern The King's Daughter made her's from this spring! It is really neat, because while very modest, it is also stylish! I'm excited, but wondering about the slippery material.....? Anyway, just some sewing ideas!