I have been thinking about opening an Etsy account for some of my costumes and embroidery for a long time now, and it is now open! I am starting smaller, with a few of the costumes that I made just for photos and a few embroideries that I have made. Check it out here

All of these pieces are currently up on my Etsy account! Stay tuned, and I will be adding more as well. Each piece is custom done, and completely one of a kind.

~K

This year was a really huge one for me, especially when it comes to my sewing. I started this blog just a little over a year ago with my Special Project in school, and it has grown very quickly with all of the projects that I have been working on. I also started a makeup and skincare part of the blog (and an instagram here) after I started working at a beauty counter to share about some of the things I have learned through training sessions. When it comes to my sewing, I have grown quite a bit in the past year! I started the year with finishing my Special Project, which took me a semester to make. Not long after that, I started working with MakeFashion. I started out just helping, and ended up making a dress with the help of an engineer! It was hectic and crazy and I loved every minute of it. I also got to go to Mexico with my family this year, celebrated a one year anniversary with my boyfriend, graduated from high school, got accepted into Olds College Fashion Program, got a job, made a dress for a televison pilot, and finished 16 projects (some of which I haven't blogged about yet). I would say that was a pretty successful year! Here is my year in photos:

And a quick sneak peak of a project that I haven't posted about yet:

Heres to another great and productive year! I can't wait to see whats in store for me

​~K

I finally took a few photos of my finished Regency stays! They are three layers of cotton with very minimal cording at the front. The entire garment is hand sewn. 

This was a bit of a stash-busting project, so everything except for the bias binding was from my stash. The stays were also drafted by me, based off of a few Pinterest photos of original stays from the 1810s.

The middle and lining fabrics are a brown cotton that is from worn out sheets, so it is tough fabric. The front white fabric is a white cotton that I have had for ages. I decided to bind the stays in turquoise for fun, since binding is such a long and sometimes tedious job. 

Next up in my Regency wardrobe I need to make a petticoat. This will be another stash-busting project, since I have the perfect materials for it already. I would also like to make a summer spencer (basically a short coat) out of a light blue linen that I have, and I also would like to make a few changes to my dress that I posted about here.

~K

There are a few things that I would like to change on this dress, such as adjusting the fit (it is slightly too big, something I can fix pretty easily), as well as adding another band about 2/3 of the way down the sleeve to make the sleeve have a double puff. Other than that, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out!

The front of the dress features a box-pleated panel, and I added a red ribbon along with a brooch.

~K

My mom and I went to the Regency at the Fairmont Palliser a few weekends ago, and it was beautiful.
The hotel is old and is stunning inside, and I loved seeing all of the costumes that people were wearing. 
I made dresses for my mom and I, and I have to admit that I cut a bit close to the deadline when it came to making them... I ended up finishing my dress just a few hours before we had to leave. Fortunately, I did not have to finish it in the car on the way there, which I have heard of happening in the costuming world!

I used the pattern on the left for my dress, and the one on the right for my moms. Everything that I used for this project was stash, so it didn't cost me anything.

This first one was made out of a sheet. It is gathered at the sleeves, waist, and neckline with twine, which can be tightened or loosened so that different people could wear it. We accented it with a white ribbon at the waist. In some of the pictures you can see the twine at the sleeves. The twine is hidden when the dress is worn.

I will do another post about the dress that I wore, along with some photos from the evening at the Palliser.
~Katherine

I have just started on the project that I mentioned in earlier posts- the Regency era dresses. I will be making two dresses: one will be a simple round gown in a blue cotton sateen, and the other will (hopefully) be a bib-front dress in cream muslin. Yesterday I cut out the pieces for the first dress out of a Burda pattern, one that I talked about in this post. 

I will be pretty busy sewing-wise in the next few weeks. Along with this project, I will also be changing my grad dress, and this weekend I am picking up fabric and supplies for my next few projects. 

~K

One era that has fascinated me for years is the early 1800s. I have always loved Jane Austen, so when the opportunity arose to go to a Jane Austen ball, I was thrilled. It will be in May at the Palliser. You can rent costumes, but I thought that this would be a great excuse to make my first ever regency era costumes. 

If everything goes to plan, I will be making two dresses for the event- one for me, and one for my mom. I was recently lent about 12 historical patterns to copy, and there are two regency ones. I have already started on making myself a pair of regency stays, which are very similar to modern day bras. 

I was hoping to be able to use the chemise that I made for my 18th century costume, however if I make short sleeves, then I will have to make a new one. 

Other things that I am planning to make is a few petticoats and the two dresses. Here is some of my inspiration for them.

~K