A new blog!

Hello everyone who happens to come across this site...

I've started up a new blog to work out my costuming ideas, to show pictures of my sewing projects and to drool over paintings and images of historical fashion. Case in point, the lovely image to the left. :D

Although I also like Livejournal a lot too and I already actively post there -- and I might get more sewing newbie help there too. I wonder which would work better. Hmmm.

To be honest, I know very little French (German or Japanese is more my racket!) so I apologize if the name of this blog -- Nouvelle Romantique -- is totally wrong. I just like the word "nouvelle" and I will admit to being an unabashed fan of the new romantic music of the 1980s. I also like its connotation with history!

Another note: I am pretty new when it comes to sewing. I didn't have anyone to learn from since I was a youngin'; my mom always says sewing "skipped her generation"! So obviously I'm going to have to overcome some bumps and curves, but I'll do my best!

Now, onto projects. My first historical project will be a set (?) of stays. In my quest to make myself a nice 18th century wardrobe, obviously this is where you gotta start! I've been doing a lot of research -- I'll be using cable ties for boning (cheap & available, you can't go wrong with them if you're a newbie).

The pattern is more of a quandary. I've scanned in one from Jean Hunnisett's Period Costumes for Stage and Screen book. But I don't really like the look of it, so I've also been thinking about doing one from MaraRiley.net. I actually like drafting my own patterns and she links to a generator that teaches you to draft your own.

After the stays, or during, I'll be making the chemise (shift, excuse me -- left over from my 1855 days) of course -- again fromt he MaraRiley page. I also will be trying to get my library to buy or ILL the Janet Arnold book -- why they only have the one that covers 1560-1620, I'll never know. One thing I want to keep working on throughout this are the pockets. I've never embroidered, so it'll be an interesting experiment. The pockets look like a fun and easy job, though!

Dream dress for the far off future: A robe a la anglaise polonaise and/or chemise a la reine.

Anyway, all this will take place (we'll pray) this summer -- which is in less than a week. School be gone!

Note: Stupidest name for a knitting book with plus size patterns? "Style At Large"! Good grief. I came across it while searching for the name of the book mentioned in this post.