The Beginning of a Maternity Wardrobe

When it comes to Maternity clothes, I have been very much inspired by Mid Century Vintage styles, Such as Lucille Ball wore on "I Love Lucy"

 

I find these styles to be both lady-like and sophisticated, but also, thy just look downright comfortable!

 

 

A few months ago, while on an Antiquing venture, I happened across Vintage Simplicity 2705 and decided to bring it home for future use.

 

                                      

 

Perhaps I am still a bit early yet for maternity wear, but I am already finding my everyday clothes to be a bit snug and uncomfortable, so I thought why not!

Today I finally found that I had just enough energy (and I also wasn't sick!! ) to possibly begin work on it.

I have several lengths of different materials in my stash, some vintage, some new, and this one just seemed to call out to become a nice summer maternity top. My Mother picked it up on a recent trip to Lancaster, PA. Amish country.

 

 

 

There wasn't quite enough to get all the pieces out of it, but after having taken the cuff off the sleeve I was able to get all the base pieces out of it, and I think a contrasting white will do well for the pockets and sash. And I have just enough of the scrap left to add to a quilt. So all in all I'm very pleased.

 

Hopefully I can finish it and get pictures up soon. :D 

 

 



New Life Brings New Projects

So here are the few little things I've been doing for baby since we got Our News.


First off, I've decided to try my hand at cloth diapering. I know it's really a bit early for me to be thinking about it, but it's something my mom did with me and I thought I'd carry on the tradition. Although my mom used Disposables, she had the brilliant idea to sign up for coupons, and every week during her pregnancy, she would buy another box of a varying size.

So I've decided every week to buy another diaper or two and in just a few weeks I'll have all I need.

I've done my research and have decided to go with a liner/ cover method. It seems to be the most flexible as baby's needs change. It also seems to be the simplest when it comes to changing and laundering.

 

 

And there they are! My first shipment! Two "Flip" one size, and Two "Rumparoos" A one size and a newborn. (I only got the "Newborn" size because I absolutely loved the pattern, and they were out of "One Size" lol!) I also got one box of "Flip" newborn liners.

 

 

It's a beginning anyways.

 

 

Has anyone else used cloth? How did you fare?

 

 

 

 

 

 

My next project, I ran across on Pinterest and just couldn't pass it up! This will eventually be a baby blanket, and using a Cable Knit technique, it ends up making little cotton tailed bunnies! 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the little "Bunny Butts" Beginning to form there. Just look at the fluffy little tails!!

 

I would definitely call this an intermediate project. A knowledge of knitting and of cable knitting is essential. It also took me a bit to figure out the fluffy tail, but once figured it wasn't too bad. It's only fiddly for me as I hate working on circular needles. It wasn't called for, but it does make it easier to keep up with such a big project.

 

I had also forgotten my Cable needle and ended up working the first set of cables on an ink pen at my Father-in-laws... not recommended folks! But it did work at the time...

 

For those interested HERE is the pattern on Ravelry.

 

 

Anyways, things seem to be going well now. The Morning Sickness has now removed itself to a mild morning case instead of all day misery.  I'm able to eat again!

 

 

Although... it looks as though baby has a sweet tooth... Or maybe Mum does.. :D

 





An Announcement

So here is my reasoning for not getting all those lovely Wedding posts up like I promised I would...

It's been a rough couple of weeks physically with multiple doctors visits and uncertainty, but now we have a clean bill of health (although I certainly don't FEEL well!!) and come January there will be a new little addition!

Right now morning sickness has been a real plague! I've barely been out of bed for weeks because of it. Today has luckily been one of the good days with only some mild queasiness, so here's hoping I'm on the uphill climb!

We're also very excited that due to modern technology that in just a few short weeks we'll know the gender! So keep an eye out for that announcement!

Prayers and support are always much appreciated, and hopefully I'll be well enough soon to work on the rest of the wedding posts.

Until then!
Megan

All about the dress!!

And now for the beginning of the posts you've all been waiting for!

This first post will be all about my dress!

The day I got engaged, I did what every modern girl does and started a secret Pinterest board to begin saving all my ideas.

(Now public it can be found HERE)

It began as a "Pin all the things!" spree. I knew we both wanted an Edwardian wedding, but where to start! Ten years worth of fashions and traditions. As I started pinning period dresses I liked, I began to notice a common theme.

 

 

The bodices all had a similar feature, what I started calling, "The cross." The game was now ON! 

 I began a quest for "The Cross." Not only that, but there were several other features I knew I wanted. I had caught "Princess Kate" fever after staying up all night to watch her wedding a few years ago, and thought her long lace sleeves to be the epitome of elegance.

A few years before that I had made a purchase at Wal-mart of all places, of the softest lace I had ever felt. But there were only a couple yards of it. I bought every bit, and made a little dress with it. (Ironically, also "Kate Middleton" inspired) I vowed as I did that someday I would find it and use it on my wedding dress.

And I did!

As time went on, and things developed, The Dress began to take shape.... In my mind anyways. I still hadn't found a pattern. I intended to use a mash up of patterns until the day I found this one.

 

I knew I had found the one, with a few alterations, this was the dress.

 

I called up one of my SCA buddies who knows everything there is to know about patterning and drafting and we set to work putting the perfect pattern together.

 

 

So I now had ten yards of Dupioni silk, 8 yards of lace, and a pattern made from former 50lb paper sacks. It was time to get started.

 

(I took a ring shot for those who asked,
but I felt it was bad JUJU if the groom
should happen to see the fabric behind it... )



As the weeks wend by, it began to take shape for real. There were delays and setbacks, breakdowns and tears, but in the end, it all came together.

 

 

A not about the veil before I show final pictures. My veil was going to be my something new among all these old things, so I went shopping. With no results. My final stop on the store-bought veil train was "David's Bridal." I must give them a shout-out, they were so fantastic! Even though my budget was low and I walked away with nothing, they still treated me like royalty, thank you folks!

 

While I was there I found "The One" Unfortunately it was three times what my budget was. Eeep!

 

 

 

So I took some rough measurements and went to Joann's.

 

 

I also must give one final shout-out to American Duchess Shoes. Thank you folks so much for what you do! All the research and time you put into the final product! I ordered a pair of Astorias as my wedding shoes and I must say, they were so perfect! And comfortable to boot! I have worn them several times since with historic outfits and gotten so many compliments on them! (in fact in a later post I'll give more details about a trip to Biltmore that I made in them recently.)

 

 

 

And now, the final product. I hope you enjoy these photos, taken by my lovely photographers, Carrie and Erin.

 

                         

     

 

 

 

The embroidery pattern has special meaning to the groom and I, and also matched our floral of Cornflowers and Thistles. Note the many seed pearls my mother and I sewed on. (She also helped with the embroidery, God Bless her!!)

 

Also note the handmade ribbon roses of varying sizes, those were sewn on with only days to spare!!

 

The cape was a gift from my mother. A vintage find that only needed a change of closure to be perfect! And boy did I need it! Days before the "Stormageddon"

 

I hope you've enjoyed this look into the details of my dress! There's more to come with the Groom's coat, and the girls dresses, and of course the Big Day itself!

Until Next time!

~Megan



 

In the Easter Parade

So, a bit about my Easter dress.

Easter rather snuck up on me this year and I hadn't intended for this dress to be my Easter dress. The inspiration came from a 1911 fashion plate I found on Pinterest. (Pin found here)

 

I bought the material for it a good month or so ago and hadn't gotten around to making it yet, until I found out Easter was only two weeks away! Yikes! I had no other ideas, and not enough stash built to come up with something else so there it was!



 

I ended up choosing a basic mint green cotton, and sadly regretting it...  But it was affordable compared to anything else, so I went for it...

 

The lace was a much better choice! I have found that a husband's opinion is a wonderful thing! I had planned on some kind of crochet lace or a "Woven" ribbon with a pattern, but could find nothing to suit. We tried Joann's, Wal-mart, and even Etsy, but upon entering Hobby Lobby, Joshua found the perfect thing for it. This gold embroidered netting lace. (Excuse my terms... It's what it looks like. lol!)  It worked perfectly, the only downer was it took about 8 yards to finish it. Yipes!!

 

I used my well loved copy of Sense and Sensibility's 1914 afternoon dress pattern.

The cotton was thick, and as I chose to go for a true double layer skirt it made things rather bulky when gathered, as it pictured above. So instead I took the skirt back off, cut a good two inches off the sides of the underskirt and pleated the overskirt to give it a sleeker look.

 

One of the occupational hazards of working with an antique treadle machine is the prospect of oil and grease. Most times I am very cautious about it and am able to avoid it. Sadly this time I was not so fortunate. I noticed at one point I had a little under my nail, so I very carefully wiped it off and checked the dress, it seemed clear... Not so... A nice big blotch on the bodice... someplace I couldn't just cover... So I took it downstairs and used my "Cure-all" of dishsoap... Unfortunately that didn't touch the grease, but it did manage to create a whit spot around it the size of a half dollar where it had stripped the color from the muslin...

 

After some debate of trying another cleaner, my wonderful husband came up with the idea of putting in a dart to cover it. So perhaps it's not a very period correct solution, but it worked! Thank Heavens, and I was able to finish I off just in time to wear to church yesterday morning. :D 

 

But there it is, and I think it quite looks like the fashion plate. :D

 

Although, Joshua says that in the above picture I look like Maria Romanov... And I rather agree...

 

 

So there we are, Hoping you all had as wonderful an Easter as we did, Celebrating the Resurrection of Our Lord with Family and Friends.

 

Until Next Time!

Megan

 

A Bright and Sunny Update

I must say our first Easter as a married couple was a wonderful one. Another grand beginning in our wonderful adventure!

Over the past few weeks we have begun cleaning and weeding around the house and this weekend we started plating. Sadly I know very little when it comes to flower gardening as I lived in the woods my whole life, so Friday on a trip to Lowes I asked if we could browse. We came home with Pansies and Petunias to fill the hanging baskets and snapdragons for the lower beds in front of the house.

Since then, we have added in Salvia and Creeping Phlox, among other things.

 

 

 

 

 

Then, after having practically bought out Joann's entire stock of fairy garden items, and a good lot of Hobby Lobby's we created our own little haven. :D 

 

 

Cutting back the grasses

 

Why, Yes, that IS the Tardis. ;D

 

 I'll update more about Easter itself and this year's dress later. :D
Until Then,
Megan