Empire Waists, Spats, Sheets, Petticoats, and Stripes!

There are a lot of pictures ahead! You have been warned!

Yeah. I've been a wee bit busy in the sewing department. I recently saw "Becoming Jane", and I was really impressed with the costumes. I always admire movies set in a time of empire waists, because making the dresses real and historical, and yet cutting them in such a way that they don't make the wearer look three months pregnant is difficult. I was also extremely impressed with the menswear. The coats were fabulous, and don't get me started on the boots and hats. Anyway, after seeing the movie, I was wondering how such a period style would translate to modern clothing. Here's one thing I came up with (I still have ideas bouncing around my head.)

And this is me with my corset over it:

I'm still not sure what I should do on the length. I like it longer for a dress, but it'd be so cute if I shortened it to wear over jeans. Opinions, anyone?

Did you notice the darling little legwarmer/spat things? Made out of fleece using this tutorial.

I love them! I love the buttons, how warm they are, and how they go over the heel of the shoe!

Remember those sheets I dyed last week? I used the fitted sheet to make this:

No, your eyes do not decieve you-- those are, in fact, soda can tabs used to lace the dress up. Eyelets cost money, and I figured this would add a cute, interesting, recycled detail.

I used up most of the stripey fabric to work on my hoodie pattern. I'm pleased with how it turned out. The long sleeves were mostly free-handed, and I was nervous as to how they'd turn out. Luckily, they worked! Here's a question, folks: pocket or no pocket?



This is the hood. Ignore my wacky hair!

I also made a petticoat! I used the sheet scraps from the dress up above, and 1.5 yards of tule. It was fun and fairly simple, and really makes my skirts go poofy. (See above green skirt: I'm wearing the petticoat underneath.)

So that's all, folks. Now that it's really late and I'm going to be tired tomorrow morning from getting gussied up to take photos at ten and onward to this point at past the magic hour I should've turned into a pumpkin. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!