Reticulous!

Or, the 1-hour reticule, made during the busiest week of the semester.

I attended a truly lovely Jane Austen Society of North America event last week, and decided that I needed something new and spiffy for it, since I was wearing my old yellow and green gown.  My original idea was to make a ruffled chemisette, but I couldn't fine any documentation for using whiteworked broderie and I didn't have time to hem several yards of muslin.  So instead I whipped up a little reticule out of silk taffeta and silk satin ribbon, using silk buttonhole twist for the embroidery (it was all that I had on hand at the time.)

There are innumerable surviving reticules of this approximate form and function in museum collections, spanning essentially the first half of the nineteenth century.

Here's the specific extant example I took the pattern from, using the very advanced technique of 'sizing up the image, putting my fabric on my laptop monitor and sketching it on.'

It isn't as ornate as the original, and I wish I could have had the time to add the sequin wreath and the tassels.  But It was a fine holder for my ID, phone and other necessaries, and it was a brilliant little party overall.

As an ex posto facto apology for not having a lot of pictures, here's me, indulging my urge to put my newly made breast knot on my head.