So now that the hard part is over

The stays are a bit short waisted for me but they are okay. The waist is a bit big too but since it fits fine in the bust, I'm not worried. Today, I'm going to make the shift (is muslin okay for an 18th century shift?), pockets, and petticoat. These shouldn't take too long. I have a ton of red silk for the petticoat to match the stays.

The stays aren't perfect but they aren't horrible either. I'll upload the pictures tonight. If I'm lucky, I might be able to assemble everything and get my brother to take a picture of me wearing it. (16th c chemises take me a 1/2 hour to make. That includes cutting it out. The only big differences I can see in 18th century shifts are the necklines and length of sleeves so I don't think it will take me too long. The petticoat is relatively easy to assemble too...)

I'm not sure if I'll have the dress done by this weekend but I will have my undergarments all done. From what I've seen, that should be fine on hot days. ...or I can just throw on my 18th century men's outfit that I've had for the MDRF Pirate days. :-) ...I might still wear the frockcoat because it's pretty.

More updates

The shift is done. The kitchen is clean. The red silk I have is too bright to match the stays for the petticoat. I'm going to run up to Joann's (I have uhh...a few coupons) and see if they have the darker red or I might just go with basic white or black silk instead. Either way, I'll get a few yards and make the petticoat too.

Petticoat

I made the petticoat too big so I'm going to have to take it in in the back, I think. It's a lovely butter cream because they didn't have any dark red at Joanns. Buttercream, bright red, white, and black were the only colors and the buttercream kind of goes with the dark red and green I already have. Yes, I'll look like a Christmas tree but that's period! Honest! You should see this one court dress form the very late 18th c....

Last post of the day, I swear!!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jubileel/3457224749/

Me! Any comments or suggestions are gladly accepted. Now that I have semi-proper 18th century underwear, I can work on the gown! Like I said before, it's the whole corset/stays thing that always holds me up. Once that's done, I can make anything else for the outfit pretty quickly.