Black and Red Hat part two

Black and Red Hat part one

Here's a quick mid/late Victorian bonnet. It has a stiffened base, and the whirls of material on top I hand-stitched without a pattern. While it looks nice from the outside, I think if I make another one, it can be improved inside.

Black and Blue Hat part five

I thought I'd better include this photo so you can see the netting better.

Black and Blue Hat part four

Black and Blue Hat part three

Black and Blue Hat part two

Having access to the right materials does certainly improve things. I'm definitely going to look into buying some bags of these feathers...

Black and Blue Hat part one

Here is a hat I made with a professional milliner. It didn't take nearly as long as one of my average hats, but does look better, I think.

Black and White Hat part four

And a top view of the ribbon decorations.

Black and White Hat part three

Black and White Hat part two

The make-up was not my own idea, and I'm yet to be convinced it was a good decision.

Black and White Hat part one

I've been experimenting with new materials - stiffened millinery netting and sinamay. I thought it was best to start off with something that would be enhanced by a rough-edged effect... Hence this. It has a black velvet lining, so it's not as painful as it looks!

1878 Pattern Dress Part 6

Close-up of the pleats in the black material (under the ruffles now!)

1878 Pattern Dress Part 5

I made the train extra long so I could scoop it up into the right shape with the ruffled border.

1878 Pattern Dress Part 4

Close-up of the gathering and pleats at the front.

1878 Pattern Dress Part 3

The front view. You can see the lace border and buttons better in this picture.

1878 Pattern Dress Part 2

1878 Pattern Dress Part 1

The side and back of another dress I made from a historical pattern.

Cape part five (Close-up)

Cape part four (back view)

Cape part three

Cape part two

Cape part one

A mini-series of pictures of a lined cape that I made from a photo - while this does have more colour than I'd usually allow, I liked the lining fabric too much to hide it with a different cut.

Dr Suess hat

I had to take this picture so close so you could see the detail on the metal pieces - I see now though that you get no idea of scale... It's quite small - I'll have to take a picture of me wearing it later.

Striped jacket close-up

Just a close-up to show the three extra layers of material at the front here.

Striped jacket full length photo

Same story as the other jacket, but with a different cut and materials.

Fur-trimmed jacket back view

Another back view to show off a couple of darts at the waist.

Fur-trimmed jacket front view

An old jacket I didn't wear. I thought I'd add something more fun to it - sewing through four layers of fur fabric isn't too easy though.

Green Bustle dress front close-up

Here's another close-up on the bodice of the dress.

Green Bustle dress front close-up

A slightly closer view so you can see the lace on the skirt and sleeves better.

Green Bustle dress front view

Looking a little lop-sided here!

Green Bustle dress side view

Here's another bustle dress I made from scraps of other outfits I cut up (mostly bits bought from charity shops.

Side view of black bustle skirt

This photo is to illustrate the contrast between the gathering at the front and back.

Back view of striped bustle skirt close-up

Here's a closer view of the skirt - you can see the hook and eye fastenings on the right there, keeping the darts together.

Back view of striped bustle skirt

Here's a back view of that earlier skirt, which is gathered up on the inside and hand stitched.

Chemisette back view

Back view of the chemisettes.

Lace-fronted chemisette

Sorry this one's a bit blurry - this is an alternative chemisette, obviously without a ruff, and with lace panels at the front. It laces up in the same way.

A close-up of the gathering at the waist of the skirt.

The same chemisette with a bustle skirt - I took this picture so you can see the gathering at the front better.

Chemisette with ruff close-up

I decided to take some pictures of the more minor projects that I've done recently on my dressmaker's dummy. This is a close-up of a chemisette with lacing at the front.

Striped black dress hem detail close-up

You can see the details better here, but I'll admit the lighting is a tad bright.

Striped black dress hem close-up

The hem of the other skirt has some interesting details. It took ages to do all the pleats, zig-zag stitching, and sewing the ribbon on the hem.

Striped black dress collar close-up

I closed the curtains to try and get the material on the collar to shine just right here.

Striped black dress jacket front close-up

Although to be honest, non-fraying buttonholes are hard indeed!

Striped black dress jacket back close-up

The back detail of the jacket I'm especially proud of. Doing so many tiny seams without them fraying was very difficult!

Striped black dress back hem close-up

You can see here that the stripes on the overskirt aren't quite black, but navy - this is more material we had lying around I recycled.

Striped black dress (another front close-up)

The slightly shiny fabric that makes up the pointed detail on the front I actually dyed black from some of our old yellow curtains.

Striped black dress front close-up

I should say at this point I made another longer skirt to go with it, which is the extra layer you can see in these pictures.

Striped black dress side close-up

Oh, and I did a few in the garden room as well. The light wasn't as good in there, but this one came out ok.

Striped black dress (with crinoline and underskirt) side view

For these pictures, I built a makeshift wire crinoline to have on the dressmaker's dummy underneath so that you can see the skirt properly.

Striped black dress (with crinoline and underskirt)

Excuse the mess - these are some close-ups I took in the kitchen.