To be a bit cliché, this shoemaker is a professional Web Developer and her child is this blog, but it was past time to launch what I have of a new design. All the content is still here, everything else is a work in progress (kind of like most of my sewing projects)!
I’m lusting after the new American Duchess carriage boots right now, in anticipation of winter and my denial that it is as long and as cold and icky as it probably will be. Of course, I’ll always long after impractical-for-every-day-wear Victorian boots instead of practical snow boots like the ones I have even if mine are boots with the fur and all.
In between bouts of covetousness, I realized I should mention my AD purchases this summer—one of the last pairs of ivory Gibsons (they’ve since reordered) and a pair of seamed stockings.
My wedding dress was not remotely Edwardian, but it worked. The Gibsons rocked all night long, no cliché reception flip-flops required. And, I had the perfect excuse to skip the whole bouquet/garter throwing—my garters had a real purpose. Thank you, American Duchess.
I mentioned early on that I wanted to try drafting a bifurcated skirt out of a period tailoring manual. I’m still doing that, sort of. Except, I’m also kind of cheating, because I realized that if I enlarged this one:
…so that the front measurement (line C-G) was the right length for my models, it worked out that the waist was also right (in other words, the measurements I needed to draft to are pretty much correctly proportioned to the book’s draft).
For those in the reenactment/costuming/history world, this is a year of –ennials. The bicentennial of the War of 1812 (and my alma mater’s founding). The Civil War sesquicentennial’s second year. The centennial of the Titanic. And, likely other things outside of America/England.
I told you about American Duchess’ regency shoes last month. They are a very good reproduction for Regency/Jane Austen/1812 reenactors/celebrators. I fully intended to purchase a pair myself, however life and priorities got in the way and I couldn’t justify the money for only one expected wear. One of those priorities is buying their latest shoe: The Astoria (in ivory).
