The "Bee Dress"!

This is what started it all.  Then fabric.com sent me an ad with their "Bee" fabric.  Of course,  since we have a bee family in the back yard I had to get it.  Then I thought, Yah, I will make the pink plaid bustle dress out of the bee fabric!

1875-1878 Pink Plaid Bustle Day Dress

I started with drafting the skirt.  I used the TV

I had decided to use my fluffy bustle petticoat under this skirt.

Then I cut out the skirt lining.....if it didn't come out right, it could be fixed without showing.

Then came the skirt and adding the ruffle on the bottom.

The draped apron was a bit more tricky to get the drape just right.  Here it is in the drafting stage.

Then, like always, I forgot to take pictures...but here is me in the middle of creativity all around, working on the bodice.

 And here is what I ended up with:

Since I will be wearing it for the first time at Sheep Shearing on March 17th, I had to add some glitz and green for St. Patrick!

The Start of Ardenwood's 2018 Season!

Today I spent dusting the Victorian mansion "the Patterson House" in the San Francisco Bay Area, Fremont to be exact, in the middle of a Victorian Farm at "Ardenwood Historic Park, Fremont, CA.

We will be opening one day, Sheep Shearing Day, March 17th which is before the actual season starts.  It was so warm this time last year that the sheep were stressed to have to wait until April 1, out opening day.  So, they moved the haircut day up a couple of weeks.  The sheep are ready! so we had to have the house ready too.

We are going to have more "exhibits' this year with the basic idea of making the house more "Lived In".  In this vain, I took the silk dress I had started back in October but forgot about when I when to visit my sister.  The skirt is a burgundy velvet 1989 draped skirt.  It has an overskirt of my burgundy/gold plaid.  The skirt and overskirt are finished and I put the on the Victorian dress form in the sewing room at Ardenwood.  The bodice outside layer is cut and sewed together.  It is on the dress form also, pinned front edges together.  The sleeves though are not cut out, but are pinned to the plaid silk to show that step of putting the bodice together.  The lining is partially together and is on the treadle sewing machine like it will be sewn.  As weeks go by, I plan to have the dress slowly become finished.  I will try to remember to take pictures.

There was a little talk about our possible September tea theme...Clara Patterson did tons of traveling around the world so we may do something with that in mind. Possibly with a fashion show in mind.

I will be wearing my latest project "The Bee Bustle Dress" for Sheep Shearing Day.  It has a bit of a train on it and is a little dangerous to give tours in.....modern people to not know how to walk behind a dress with a train.  Sheep Shearing Day will be a flow through so I will be able to stay in one room.  I think I am assigned to the Guest Bedroom.