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1830s Strawberry Gown

I’ve adored the craziness of 1830s fashion for years: the ridiculous hair, the big sleeves, the delicate ballet slippers. Then last fall I bought a set of fat quarters from Moda’s Little Miss Sunshine line. I fell in love with all the strawberry prints, but the green colorway in particular caught my eye.   It’s not
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Costume College Classes

Costume College class confirmations went out this week. I’m happy to announce that I’ll be teaching two machine embroidery classes this year. The first is a repeat of a class I taught last year, Getting Started with Machine Embroidery. I cover the basics of choosing a machine, designs, thread, fabric, and stabilizers with particular attention
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7 Tips for Perfect Wool Embroidery by Machine

In my previous blog post I showed you the new crewelwork design I’ve been working on. I love wool threads for their texture, but they can be tricky to work with. I’ve created a list of 7 tips for perfect wool embroidery by machine. I hope these tips help you get perfect wool embroidery the next
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Regency Crewelwork Gowns

I have a fascination for Regency crewelwork gowns.  The combination of sheer fabric and bold, heavy wool embroidery is unexpected and charming. It’s a nice departure from the white on white seen so often in Regency dresses. I was reminded of this holiday gown when it was shared by Two Nerdy History Girls earlier this month.
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July 1891 French Swatch Book

Some years ago, while mindlessly browsing eBay, I ran across a listing for a swatch book of French silks from the 1890s. The seller had included nearly 100 photos of the pages within the book, and I was in heaven. Not only that, they were selling multiple books, all listed with dozens of photos. I spent a
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Musings on Regency Waistcoats

Do you have one of those friends who will come over and ask the exact question you’ve been trying not to think about because it will slow down your project? Well, I do, and his name is Christopher. It’s always that question I know I should do something about, but it’s difficult or tricky or
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Coming up in 2016

Thank you to everyone who voted in the design poll!  It’s closed now, and I’m happy to share the results with you. #1: 18th c. and Regency borders:  I admit I was a little surprised by this, since I had worried you might be bored with borders by now. However, it was clearly the winner, so
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2016 Design Poll – Early Results

First off, thank you to everyone who has voted in the poll so far – I really appreciate your input! I’ve added several of your suggestions to the poll, so that others have the chance to vote on them, as well. They are great suggestions, so keep them coming. I have to admit that so
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Small Business Saturday 2015

First off, thank you so much for your support this year! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know people through the blog and Facebook page, and I love your excitement about what I’m doing. We’re coming up fast on the holidays, and it seems like everyone has a sale going on. I’ve never been a Black Friday
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