I Love Half Boots (my first attempt at shoe making! :D)

I know it seems like I've only got small things going on, but they are still a sewing/reenacting necessity.  My last project (just finished today!) was a pair of Regency half boots. They were made of silk, leather, and even linen during the 1800's, but mine are made from faux suede.  I got it for free from a friend of Bascha's, and it seemed pretty durable.  I'll be wearing them in the Latta house and cabins.  

This was one time I didn't make a tutorial of how I made something.....and then last night I had a friend tell me she couldn't wait to see how I made these so she could make them herself.  Bummer.  If you want to know the details just send me an email and I'll do my best to explain :).

I've put green laces for now, though I'm going to put brown ones just as soon as I get out to the store :)

these were my favorite boots, thus my wanting that color brown laces.  They were also the only ones I found that did not lace completely shut, and mine don't lace shut either.

I thought the bows would be a little corny, but they turned out ok :) They are silk.

the inspiration for my silk bows

inside of the boot

toe and tongue of the boot before the bows were attached

for the eyelets I just punched out holes and sealed it off with nail-polish.  I finished off some other fraying parts with nail polish as well....:)

There's my bootsies, and now I'm off to eat a Thanksgiving dinner :) Happy Thanksgiving!!
~Theresa

Hip Hip Hooray for Suspender Skirts!

Just a note: some viewers have been having trouble with our blog when they use Internet Explorer, but with Chrome no one has had issues yet.  Sorry about that, so far we haven't been able to fix the problem.

I love suspender skirts.  I absolutely think they are the cutest things.  And to have four of them all in a row? Lovely :D  This past Saturday we had a WW2 living history event.  I had an outfit planned, Bascha had an outfit planned, and well Caroline had an outfit, but she had just bought new shoes and really wanted to wear them.  The shoes didn't match the outfit of course, which meant-guess-I was supposed to make another outfit :D  And so one suspender skirt for her turned into one for me which turned into one for Bascha.  And then for Caroline's BFF, Ann Marie.  But before I get carried away... :)

The majority of suspender skirts I saw were flat fronted, like 3 panels.  I did however see a few images of skirts that were pleated.  This one, with the small flat part in the center front, was my first inspiration:

                                                       

And this was my real inspiration.  You can read her whole post here. I just thought this suspender skirt was adorable.  So we copied it.  Bascha came over after lunch on Tuesday and we finished up one for Caroline by that evening!  I probably would have messed it up terribly had Bascha not come over and walked me through the whole thing.  It's SO nice to have a sewing buddy! :)  And Bascha makes everything much more fun :D

                                                       

To begin  we cut a large rectangle, and sewed it up.  This was the skirt.  Then we hemmed it. It was really pretty basic :).  

the one and only seam-up the back.

we made a 3 inch hem

suspenders wrong side out

suspenders!!! :)  The suspenders are 1.5 inches wide

making the waistband

the waistband is approx. 2 inches wide

pleating the waist

Because the zipper I had was too long, I needed to shorten it.  To do this, I used my thread and make a thread zipper stopper.  

front-waistband view

button placement

suspender attachment

And now on to the fun part-finished pictures!!! :D  and I'm throwing in a few more from yesterday as well....just 'cause :D.  And I want you to meet some of my friends. :)

from L to R, me, Brittany, Bascha, Caroline, Ann Marie

we all match!!! :) :) :)  and Brittany, I'll make you one next time so you don't feel left out! 

the back of my suspender skirt

the "shoe shot" :)

most of us

two brothers and a sister: from L to R, Joel (11), Ann Marie (12), and Paul (14)

lovely Bascha

Caroline's best friend, Ann Marie

My little brother, Stephen

a really good friend of mine, Brittany

One of my favorite ladies, Laurel, who gave me that wonderfully ugly fur coat

Ms. Maureen, who keeps us all in order :)

fun-loving Hannah

                                      

Hope you enjoyed the suspender skirts as much as I did!

~Theresa

Pretty Little Pumps

Let me just tell you, the thrift store is awesome.  No, it really is.  We have 3 Value Village thrift stores near us (my cousins and their friends call Value Villages the VV boutique....:P) and on the last Wednesday of every month everything is half off!  So things that would normally be $2, $1.50, $3.75 and stuff are HALF off.  For example, we bought a muff for $1.75 that was real rabbit fur, a $1 regency bonnet for Caroline, and some sheer-ish--netting-ish stuff for my civil war bonnet that was only $.75 this past Wednesday.  That is AWESOME!!! And a month ago I bought a pair of heels for $1.50 that were my size, and they will work for WWII re-enacting. :D

One thing you have to do when shopping at the thrift store is keep your eyes open for things that can be turned into something else (sheets that can be turned into a ballgown, a curtain into a shirt, a pillow case into an apron, buttons of a hideous leopard print dress for a civil war buttons, shoes that can be cloth covered for a certain time period, hats that can be re-shaped or re-trimmed, pants that can be re-fitted, etc.).  When I saw these shoes they didn't look like 40's shoes.  They had this huge velvet ruffle (two velvet ruffles actually) on the T strap.  But because of the way we shop, I saw them and thought "hmmm...nice heel shape, T strap, all black, my size...$1.50" and so I bought them.  But they needed a little work, so here is what I did.  

Sadly, I don't have a before picture.  But the ruffle was obnoxious. 

Obviously, I seam ripped the velvet stuff off.  Once I had done that I realized how beat up the strap looked and realized I needed to cover it. So....

Shoes and ribbon

First I found some scrap black ribbon, just wide enough to cover the front of the T strap.  Then I cut it a little longer than the T strap.

ribbon lengths for T strap

I sewed it over the strap but not actually to the strap.  (On first shoe I did sew it to the leather and it puckered a bit)

needle in on one side of ribbon (not through the leather)

needle out on other side of ribbon (not through the leather)

this is what it looks like on the back-you can see the cris-crossing
thread

after and before

both straps covered

 Now that I had the T straps covered, I had to cover that messed up part at the base of the strap.  When I removed the velvet, it removed some of the "leather" covering on the toe too.  That needed disguising.

I  made little ribbon bows to put over that spot.  To do this, I made a ribbon loop, and then gathered it up the center.  After I stitched it down to the shoe the project was done!

making the bow

Tada! Finished bow

doesn't the lighting even look vintage? :) We had a lot of rain which made the
humidity so awful that it fogged up the camera lens and made it look
like this.  We only snapped a few pics 'cause we didn't want the
camera to get messed up.  But the fog really added to the dynamics of the
pics!

There you have it! Pretty little pumps! :D

~Theresa