I guess that's all done and over with

I did finish my graduation underbodice in time, thankfully (all by hand, because I was too lazy to get my sewing machine out from the detritus of the basement) and was able to wear it to graduation.  Luckily the dress still fit, as small as ever - unfortunately, I tore it off my body as soon as physically possible (it must have been over 90 degrees, and it was a two hour ceremony) so I don't have many good shots of it.

Courtesy of our local newspaper - a picture of a picture.  (Hi, Mrs. J!!!!!!!)

I already did the explanation of this dress earlier in the year, and the underbodice is about as plain as it gets.  The whole ensemble was surprisingly cool despite the aforementioned temperature.

Now I'm working on cleaning up my sewing spaces, as my parents are moving house as soon as I leave for W&M, as well as a few small projects - a Revwar shortgown and, with some lovely teal silk I found, a new fancy 1860s corset.

And for Adi, the questions regarding the Liebster blog award:

1. What period was your first love or your introduction to historical costuming?  Wanna share a picture of your first costume?  Ahhh, my first love was definitely the 1830s.  I loved antebellum political history so much that I wanted to be there in as many ways as I could, so I started off with dreams of gigot sleeves and poke bonnets.  The best dreams of mice and men, you know.  I didn’t sew my first costumes; my mom is a lovely sewer and at the time was not working full time, so she did a lot of my early clothes – I started to take over bit by bit until I was sewing them all.

All poly brocade, all the time.

2. What period do you find most difficult?  Why?  I think that the 1770s closures are immensely frustrating. I usually end up deciding to just pin it closed, which makes the perfectionist in me wince (but it is period!)

3. How have you balanced school work and costuming and a social life?  Well, my teachers have been very kind about letting me sew in class, which helps with the schoolwork (that’s an easy 4-5 hours of work a day.)  I’m also a pretty sedate person by nature so it isn’t like I’m missing out on wild rave parties to sew – I usually only devote maybe 20 minutes a week to sewing outside of class.

4. Looking back at all the costumes you've made, which are you the most proud of?  I’m really proud of my 1840s ballgown.  That was my first all-hand sewn dress.  I just took it apart a few days ago, but wow, my stitches were so neat.

5. Where do you see yourself five years in the future, in regards to costuming?  Hopefully at Colonial Williamsburg in some capacity.  A girl can dream, right?

6. How does your family feel about your hobby?  They pay for it, and that’s really about it.  My mother loves it and shows pictures of my dresses to all of her friends, and my father is a lovely cameraman who thinks that all my dresses are pretty although his grasp on the construction is rather vague.

7. What is one piece of advice you can give to someone new to the hobby that you wish you'd gotten when you were just starting out?  (Or, alternatively, what is one piece of advice you got as a newbie that you'd like to pass on?)  I would have liked to know beforehand to start out with simple dresses made of cotton or linen or wool until I had the skill to work with the good stuff.  I think that if I had saved my good fabrics for now I would have had a lot of better-quality dresses.  Also, iron every seam ever.

8. What is your dream fabric to work with?   I really, really love tropical weight wool.  Something about the feel of functionality mixed with luxury. Mmm.

9. If you are comfortable with doing so, give us one random fact about yourself that you've never mentioned on your blog!  I always drink my coffee in a glass instead of a mug.   I also love economics and talking and reading and learning about economics, especially of early America (turn't up for Nicholas Biddle!)

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to talk about myself! c:

Edit:  This also happened.

 (Happy late Memorial Day!)