After a prolonged bout of whining, I finally managed to compel my long-suffering Manly Person to take a few pictures of the Regency dress that I made for the
Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge # 6. Due to a book signing at work, the annual Mullet and Bullet festival at my favorite local historical site, and this photo-shoot, I've spent three of the past four days in historic dress.
Him: "What exactly are we going for?"
Me: "Pretend like this turns you on."
My inner nerd rejoices. Oh, how she rejoices.
But!!! In addition to pandering to my (undoubtedly) salivating public with soft-focus pictures of myself in Regency drag, I wanted to show off a new piece in my reenactrix arsenal: My frilled collar!
I've blogged about the
dress and
bonnet before, but haven't had a chance to mention the frill. Here's the scoop: As evidenced by my occasional posts lauding
American Duchess (and others), I'm keen on supporting talented, entrepreneurial folks in the historic costuming blogosphere. I purchased this frilled collar from Cassidy at
A Most Beguiling Accomplishment a few months ago, and I am so glad that I did! Relentless optimism has its place (in online dating and while eating at restaurants with "B" sanitation grades, for instance), and I'm usually all for trying something that's beyond my skill grade before relenting and sourcing it elsewhere. But, I could not have produced a piece like this. It's exquisitely made, and fits under my modest collection of Regency-wear perfectly.
Cassidy's Etsy shop is called "
La Petite Oye". She sells manchettes, collars, and chemisettes (among other things), all of which are made by hand and based on items she has researched. Allow me to repeat that: This is
entirely hand-sewn. None of that "visible seams are hand-finished" business. That's classy.
Now, if only I could find an equally unimpeachable source for Regency hairstyling tips for use in 9000% humidity. Seriously... not even a pint of Aqua Net with a dry shampoo shooter can keep a curl crispy in this mess. Just one of the many perks of a day well spent in the hillbilly-scented sauna of South Carolina.
