Another year bites the dust.

If I don’t look globally and only focus on my own front door, 2016 has been pretty good.  DECEMBER 2016 can bite me, but 2016 as a whole has been fine for me and mine. I hope 2017 is a good one as well.  And to my 4 readers, you know I wish you well too.

Blogger traditions says I must do a completed projects run down.

First on the list is that dumb cloak that never did hang right and I never had occasion to wear (thank God).

Then there was several knitting projects, most have not yet been used.  I just don’t costume in the winter much.  Going outside sucks.

The first pair are fingerless gloves

Then came all the parts for the Spanish Senora dress-blouse, skirt, jacket, belt and hat.

The lace cap is the part of the Spanish dress I am most pleased with.

More knitting…a tulma that I did actually wear.

And more modern knitting.

Then I fixed my garage sale find loom…still haven’t used it.

I made some steam punk earrings.  Which were worn once for the steam punk tea at Coco and never again. 

And I made some wings for the Coco gala.

I made the Ugly Bag of Tea Gown less hideous…again for Coco.

Atessa was the dress I was most pleased with this year.

My first attempt at leather gloves.

My second attempt was meant to be completed on time for the final HSF challenge of the year and as my final completed project of the year…but as I said earlier, December 2016 can bite me.  I’m too grumpy to be bothered and we all know what happens when we push through when the mood is off.

There was some more knitting.  Not shown is neck warmer for my son…turns out I made it too big and I’m now making a smaller one.

And finally a pretty nice bag.

Knitting was a real theme this year.  I should probably reduce that for next year or actually get out of the house in costume during the winter.  Or stick to modern stuff…but how much does one actually need…even in winter.

 

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Year in Review: costumes worn

I had big plans to wear all my dresses this year but that didn’t happen.  I blame my new job…not having vacation time, Shirley and I were not able to go to Saskatchewan for the Dickens Festival.  That trip alone would have had at least 4 dresses out and about.

But lets see how well I did.

1838-40 Queen V dress.  Check. That was worn at the Coco Gala.

1845 Atessa dress was worn for Halloween.

The 1860’s  Silky Skies dress got put on for this photo but I can’t figure out where I wore it.  I wouldn’t have put all that on for a chance to try on the apron!

Oh, wait!  Good ol’ Facebook!  According to Facebook I wore Silky Skies to the 7 Oaks Museum.  For some reason, those photos didn’t get posted here!  I will remedy that next post!

1861 Senora dress was worn to the St Boniface Museum this year.

1872 Basque in Blue was used during Coco’s Steam Punk Tea. 

My 1872 Lilac dream was worn to a play (I had almost forgotten about this fun event!)

1873 Purple Polonaise went to Little Britain Church.

1880’s Half Grand Surprise Dress was used during the Circus themed social at Coco.

My 1880’s travel outfit was chosen for our annual ride on the Prairie Dog Central Train.

The 1882 Tea Gown finally got a real wearing during the Sunday breakfast with the artists at Coco.  I still don’t love the gown but I no longer loath it.

My 1890’s swim suit was worn by the pool Friday night at Coco.

My 1895 Summer Ensemble made an appearance at the Steam Punk wedding.

1900 Widows Weeds got worn twice.  Once by myself at a celebration and fashion show at work…

…and once by another person at the Vaughn Street Jail event last spring. (Serious nip tucking needed on the dress for this event.)

 

Four dresses didn’t make the cut this year: 1840’s Copper Penny, 1850’s Tea Dress, 1895 dinner gown, 1895 Walking outfit.  It is probably best that I have only one dress on the docket for 2017.  If I can’t get them all worn, then I have to slow down production.  Or I have to part with some of them (gasp!)  Trouble with that is, if I am disenchanted enough to be willing to part with one of my babies, I am disenchanted enough to feel that no one actually would want it!  Then factor in size…nah.  I’m just going to have to find more times to wear them or set my goal to “wear once every two years”.

 

Steampunk Wedding

I went to a Steampunk Wedding yesterday.  It was a small affair and I went dateless-just not the hubby’s thing.  It was an excellent opportunity to eat cake and wear one more costume.  I wore my 1890’s summer ensemble, 1850’s knitted shawl and my early 1800’s gloves.  I know…nothing remotely plausible about that age range but, hey, it is steampunk so historical accuracy isn’t the goal!

Hope you had a nice Saturday too!

HSM:2016 Challenge #3 Protection

I finished this yesterday and it is only a few days late!  This project has some successes and some loses.

The successes are: it is wearable, I will be glad of it on cold days, I figured out the vague parts of the pattern so doing it again will be easier and I figured out just how much wool I would need to do it again properly.

The failures are: the mass of old yarn that I had in my stash turned out to not be massive enough, and the yarn was more or less retro  with the brand being discontinued-getting more was impossible. The shortages meant I had to do a lot of fiddling with the pattern to get something useable out of it. Fiddling with the pattern means I didn’t get to make up the pattern as it was originally intended (and that was disappointing.)  But, the learning process was a good one and I actually enjoyed the actual knitting so on the whole this project was a small win.

The Challenge: 3 protection (against the cold)

Material: 14 balls of acrylic/wool blend yarn 1.4 oz each (slightly thicker than worsted weight)

Pattern:  Peterson Magazine knitted Talma

Year: 1859

Notions: size 9 circular needles

How historically accurate is it?: 40% The colors are plausible.  The pattern is original.  A woman would have adapted the pattern for size and available supplies just as I did.  The yarn is wrong because of the acrylic in the blend but there was enough real wool in it to give it that lanolin kind of feel.  The yarn was a looser twist than would have been used in the Victorian era.  The strand was also thicker than I believe would have been common.  At least, the knitted objects I have seen in museums were made of a tighter thinner strand.  The benefits to my thicker strand are: increased warmth and my finished item ended up bigger which compensated for the tendency for Victorian patterns to make up much smaller than my modern, well fed frame.

Hours to complete: approximately 100

First worn: yesterday for the photo

Total cost: free.  It was a stash buster.  The wool was given to me.