I have been working on saving all my Moonlight fan-fic and hope to be able to share here soon.
My Fanfic Story Titles

Just finished my latest attempt at restoring an antique gown and this one was a challenge! I was drawn to it (1) because it was a wedding dress and (2) it’s one of my favorite colors-mauve.   A note was also included that gave the names of the bridal couple and the year.  I’ll tell you more about that in a minute.

The bad news was that the poor thing had been used and abused as a fashion show item for Lord knows how long before it came to me.  The fabric is a tissue silk and is just that fragile.  I didn’t know if it could withstand any sewing.  The hem of the dress had gotten wet at some point so that was entirely rotten and I had to remove about 5″ all the way around, still were two large vertical stains that I didn’t know how I was going to deal with.

The dress was one-piece but the seam was coming apart anyway so I separated the bodice from the skirt to make it easier to work on. The fabric across the shoulders was light-rotted, nothing I could do about it but cover it with a lace collar.  The sleeves were the real nightmare.  Not only were the underarms rotted away but they had been enlarged and repaired once before, in fact the side seams of the bodice had been let out all the way down.  I decided the only way to tackle this was to take the sleeves completely out, resew all the seams back to where they were originally and patch.  Since the dress will only be displayed, it just has to look decent.  I removed some fabric from the back closing of the skirt (there’s yards of  it in the gathers) to use for patches and found that they blend very well.  I did the same for the stains at the hem.

I basted the torn lace trim on the front of the skirt and mended piping that was hanging loose (frankly, everything was hanging on this dress)  The result is a fair approximation what the dress originally looked like for a very short woman with long arms.  Granted the skirt is 5 or 6 inches shorter than it originally was but it comes to mid-calf on my 5′ mannequin.  And the sleeves are about 5 or 6 inches too long on her arms, go figure.

 But I feel some statisfaction at saving another little piece of fashion history from oblivion. Remember I said I knew the name of the bride and her husband? She was Eilzabeth Abbott and she married Horatio A. Hall in 1850 in either Michigan or Iowa.  If anyone recognizes these names or has any further info, I’d love to hear from you.  I’ll post some before and after photos once I get that part figured out.

Thought it about time to make a new post. I’m still learning my way around this thing, it’s all to new to me.  Truthfully there hasn’t been anything I’ve really wanted to talk about recently, not a lot of good news. 

My main focus this last month has been involvement in a campaign to revive my favorite TV show Moonlight that was unceremoniously canceled by CBS.  The show has an enormous fan following, rightly so, and we are working tirelessly to find it a new home. I have never been so caught up in a TV show before, I’m certainly no teenager but this makes me feel like one!

I’ve even been inspired to write Fan-Fiction which I hardly knew existed.  I have filled two spiral-notebooks and every spare piece of paper with stories involving the main Moonlight characters of Mick St. John, Josef Konstan and Beth Turner.  Oh, did I mention that the two guys just happen to be vampires?  Once I know what I’m doing here, I may start sharing some of my stories.

 I have made only two vintage clothing purchases in the last few months. That’s how you tell how really broke I am if I can’t find a way to buy some old thing!  I got my oldest bonnet to date, from about 1840.  It’s almost identical to Queen Victoria’s bridal bonnet in shape and style but was in poor condition. I restored it with vintage silk ribbon and antique lace and it looks quite nice if I do say so myself.

The other item is a mauve silk gown from about 1850, won on Ebay just today.  It has provenance as a wedding dress and will need some TLC but I enjoy restoring something to some semblence of prettiness and I’m getting rather good at it!

The summer heat has begun here in the Midwest and I dread it. Will have to insist that my husband install the air conditioner in my studio upstairs tomorrow.

the first in a series…

Now here, I’ll talk about things I just enjoy like historical romance novels, writing  and receiving letters, cats, old paper ephemera, miniatures, old houses, antiquing, chocolate!

Now here we will get into my other passion, collecting!  I have loved historic fashion most of my life and began seriously collecting vintage and antique clothing in 1983.  I’m particularly fond of the Victorian era, so most of my collection is focused on that, but I have things as far back as 1820 and as recent as the 1980s.

I’m also an avid collector of hand-colored fashion engravings and have about 200 years’ worth of them.  I like to look for those done by either Jules David or the Colin sisters, and those portraying wedding or mourning fashions.

 I’m a bride nut as well, I have about 20 or so actually wedding gowns from the 1850s to the 1940s, headpieces & veils, shoes, cake-toppers, photos, you name it.  Never outgrew the fondness for playing bride!

 I collect just about anything with lilies of the valley on it. That’s my birth flower.  Currently have a china cabinet full of stuff & will soon need another.

As my primary calling is that of an artist, this area will be for all things relating to that. I will be talking about my specialties in paper dolls and fashion art, and also share of my other unrelated pieces.  I might even reveal a secret of two of the trade!

My very first post to what I hope will be an exciting project.  Maybe not quite up there with Mick since it’s about me and not him.  This is all new to me to please forgive any goofs, gaffs or glaring mistakes.  So here we go….