Monday, December 26, 2011

1840's Christmas Dress!

Greetings one and all! I do hope you all had a very pleasant Christmas. We enjoyed the company of extended family on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the little fellows were hit with a deluge of gifts that has left them with several meltdowns, a few mini-wars, but also many happy hours of play. I cannot step anywhere without coming across toy guns, foam darts from a nerf crossbow (and more foam darts from the toy pump shotgun), cars, tractors, trains and puzzles, cowboys and horses, construction site toys, crayons, coloring book pages and lots and lots of candy wrappers.

We had, as usual, far too much food. I think it will take us a week to eat all the leftovers as well as a week to get the house back in order. But the chaos is a happy and comfortable after-Christmas kind of chaos. It is fun to lounge about, eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate and not feeling like you have to get anything done.

I did put on my Christmas dress today and braved the frigid wind to take a few photos. I literally finished this dress the day before Christmas (sewing on the hooks) and finished the bonnet this afternoon. I am super happy with how this came out and although I have no idea where I will wear this, I am determined to hunt up at least one or two 40's-era events that I can attend next year so the dress can get some use. I'd even be ecstatic to find a semi-local Dickens fair that I could go to. So here, in no particular order, are a few of the pictures we got:










Or I could just wear it whenever the fancy strikes, as I have done in the past with other historic frocks, and leisurely do my grocery shopping in corded petti and plaid wool shawl. It is ridiculously fun to get shocked looks from people. It's even more fun to dress historic and go on a fun cemetery traipse and see cars slow down and stare as you soberly walk among the grave stones. 

One week til the New Year! Have a fantastic remainder of 2011!

Love,
Sarah

22 comments:

  1. The dress turned out beautifully, and such pretty pictures! I hope you'll find an event or two to wear it to.

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  2. Your dress is absolutely lovely. The neckline and silhouette are beautiful. I do hope you can find an 1840s event or two!

    Merry Christmas!

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  3. the dress is gorgeous, i am really in awe of your sewing talent.

    i never thought of going to a graveyard dressed in another era, it would be fun to see the looks on folks faces.

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  4. Nicely completed! I love a good striped fabric. The bonnet adds just the right touch I think. And walking around the grocery store in garb is how I first captured my husband's attention. (It would take another year before he realized it was me he was following around the produce department that day!)

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  5. Wow! Lovely Dress!! Merry Christmas!

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  6. Beautiful, and you've really achieved a period look ... as if you've stepped out of a daguerrotype :D

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  7. Its gorgeous, and beautifully fit! If you can't find an event, create one. Our guild goes to tea in costume, or goes to a movie in the era that we want to dress.
    Val

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  8. Merry Christmas!

    I'm really impressed with this dress. I know, I think that and say that every time, but this one really looks fabulous on you. The neckline, especially. I hope you find places to wear it. The produce department at your supermarket certainly works, but it would be fun to wear it to a period event, too. I really, really like it.

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  9. Beautiful dress!! Merry Christmas! :)

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  10. What an elegant dress. It suits you perfectly. You look like you aught to be in a dickens novel...or some other period drama.
    Is it comfortable to wear?

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  11. Really beautiful dress!!! : ) Merry Christmas

    Nereida

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  12. Wow, thank you all for your amazing compliments. *blush* Val, that sounds like a great idea! My hubby and I and our boys do similar things on our own, but it would be much more fun to have a few like minded friends join us to go picnicking, or out to eat.

    Lady D, it is fairly comfortable to wear. The only thing that isn't as comfortable as I am used to is the sleeves. The way they are set in at the armscye does restrict my arm movement somewhat. I can still move enough to do all I need to do - like pick up my son, or get cups or books down from a shelf, but I dont have as much range of motion in these sleeves as I do in, say, a regency gown or my 1780's dress, where the sleeve is set higher up on the shoulder and cut away more in the back so you have more flexibility in movement.
    Other than that, it is a joy to wear!

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  13. Wow, this is so great, you have a lot of talent! The pictures could be right out of a historical movie. It looks like you got it to fit perfectly, it's very beautiful, and the fabric looks great! I love the bonnet and shawl, too.
    That's awesome that you sometimes do normal things in historical costumes! Now I know I'm not crazy! ;D
    I hope you had a merry Christmas, and have a happy new year!

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  14. Oh Oh Oh! The dress is fantastic! I love and adore it! The fabric is gorgeous. You have an eye for that! Glad to hear your Christmas was wonderful.

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  15. Sarah, Your Christmas dress is beautiful! You look beautiful in it.
    You are so talented.

    Blessings, Mari

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  16. Absolutely stunning. Beautiful dress and great photos!

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  17. The Dress looks sooo stunning.
    I love the way the stripes turned out like i said before.
    Well done!

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  18. That is a beautiful dress!!!! I hope you had a Merry Christmas! and i hope you have a happy new year!

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  19. So beautiful! The print and the neckline are lovely!

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  20. You really are a picture in historical clothing. :) I keep having to stop and look at this dress because it's just gorgeous!

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  21. That bonnet shape reminds me of the one shown in this documentary.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/whatwewore/5611.shtml

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Thank you for your lovely thoughts!