Crimson Cinderella Wars

I had my yearly pilgrimage to see the Oscar costumes at FIDM. The museum does a wonderful job of displaying the costumes and there is a nice assortment. That means there is just a smattering of your favorites. Whichever those might be. I'll let them speak for themselves.......with captions.

Lovely in person, which is not always true of a costume meant to be photographed.

Step Mother and sisters, who wouldn't want to be evil if  so well dressed?

The back view, because I know someone is already making it-you're welcome.

Crimson Peak, a movie too scaredy for this cat, but wow!

I love the clasped hands!

The pair on the left is an original in the FIDM collection, the pair on the right are the ones copied for the film.

In the words of Ralph Wiggum, "I'm a Star Wars!"

D'oh! Rey! Me!

The Danish Girl, you can really see how big the dude is. Oh Eddie, you so pretty.

The Winner!

This movie was great and the costumes, wonderful post war wear!

Brooklyn- she looked like a sunny day, I'm inspired.

Some nice natural form Thomas Hardy action.

 I have to say, I've been inspired by the sunny, punchy candy colors of Brooklyn. I'm well on my way to making a skirt or two in happy color ways. El Nino has left us in the lurch (worst boyfriend ever) and Spring keeps on trying to come in like a lamb. I'm mining the stash for colorful cottons. I'll post.

Every Your Thimble Servant,
Miss Brilliantine

I Went to a Thing

Maybe it's because I never got a new calendar.
January seems to have slipped by, a little unsettled in the beginning, then hopeful, finally meh. I say we have a do-over and start anew in February.
I did manage a little frankenpatterning and have a blouse to prove it. I can't seem to get fired up about any more ambitious project. I usually have something on the hob.
I did go to an event where I finally wore my late 1940's black suit. As Time Goes By, A Casablanca themed dinner and dance at the beautiful Whilshire Ebell in Los Angeles, here's proof.

I was going to tinker with filters, then, meh. Here it is, warts and all.

The debut of my "new" 40's suit.

Dean Mora's fabulous orchestra complete with boy and girl singers. 

Then these nefarious characters showed up!

It was a swell time! Great music, great atmosphere, great friends. I know I should have tons more photos. I know. 

In my defense, I am still looking at December hanging on the wall.

Ever Your Thimble Servant, 

still living in the past, Miss Brilliantine 

I Jump on the Bandwagon

This year....... not so much. I must say I am always grateful for the time I'm allotted. But events have been a mixed bag. I did manage some fun projects and since I'm visually driven, I thought I'd have a little review. I bring you,
Miss Brilliantine's Conceptually Not Very Original, Loving Hands at Home Year in Review! 

Ladies tea bustle day dress, made from men's wear foulard silk found on a roll in a dusty shop.

With Chantal F. of hat fame

Picnic dress made from an embroidered sari. Re-blocked straw hat found a flea market.

I called it macaroni, cross barred silk 1780's jacket.

30's frankendress, with 3 different patterns pitching in.

.

Outdoorsy 1940's jeans and blouse

Frankenskirt, from a 30's dress pattern.

1880's ball gown for the SDI ball in Nov. Silk satin and velvet.

Quick day vest added to an old ball gown skirt for the Great Dickens Christmas fair.

Vest made from left over silk and plaid pants, because nothing says fun like plaid.

 More than I thought considering tumultuous times, all in all not bad. On to the new year, as my friend said last night "12:05, so far this year has been all hugs".

Ever Your Thimble Servant,

Miss Brilliantine

Parson Brown

In the morning it was there again, the snowman with a piece of blue rag tied around its neck. If his windows hadn't looked out on the meadow he wouldn't have minded so much. But every morning there it was, the snowman with the blue scarf. He could see it from every window at the back of the house. If it had just been a snowman without any identifying marks it wouldn't have bothered him. The blue scarf made it plain, it was supposed to be he. Effigy in snow, hilarious.

It was his only luxury, a blue cashmere muffler given to him by a parishioner and only after she had bought it as a Christmas present for a husband whose untimely death had made it superfluous.
He didn't really have nice things, first because his congregation was too poor and second he deemed it unfitting for a man of the cloth. But it was the cloth that was getting him down, a raggedy piece of blue he threw on the fire daily only to have it reappear the following day tied between the snowman's head and amorphous blob of a body.

He hated the snow. Not the Christmas season but the snow, the cold dark days wore on him, there wasn't enough hot cider, eggnog or forced Christmas cheer to animate him. The whole Eastern Currier and Ives-ness of it dashing through the snow was depressing.

'Lucky Pointsett' was all he could think. First Ambassador to Mexico, bringer of botanical oddities and even Secretary of War  for a while. Mexico, how he'd love to have a congregation there. Not much call for an Episcopalian parson in Mexico,  New Mexico or Arizona  had lots of people who wintered in the Southwest. Why couldn't he be their shepherd? It would be hot and maybe he would wear sandals and the bright relief of red potted flowers would look at home, not out of place in the snow.

He could take a joke he told himself. The growing impulse to knock the thing back into the meadow, to exorcise it as the Catholics would was tempered by his desire not to look ridiculous. It was enough that he marched out every morning to get rid of the scrap of blue, stuffing it into his while looking furtive.

Yet he knew he must live in concordance with his snowman as a personal trail and example. Plus he thought, 'The Winter can't last forever'.

Merry Christmas, may you live in concordance with your snowman.


Ever Your Thimble Servant,
Miss Brilliantine

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Victorian Mash-up and a little Dickens Christmas

Sometimes one just can't face a crinoline. The press of crowds and the closeness of the venue make it sound less fun, not more. And more fun is what we're after. Since it's not my show I figured I could wear what I wanted and I wanted to wear a bustle. So I did what they would have done and made a day vest for a ball gown skirt to wear to the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco.
Looky.

Lets break it down

Ball gown skirt

Sleeveless day vest.

Black velveteen bolero, with added embellishments, bought from a TJ Maxx years ago. 

 Is the bolero a cheat, sure. But the remade silk velvet one I had in the works went all sleevil on me. It was an armscye thing mostly- all bindy and that's no fun either. I had made my brother a vest and pants so my plate was full already. That's my story anyway.

Canny readers may recognize the vest fabric as left over from my tea dress from last year.

 

He is the best brother, he and his wife have been so lovely to me this past difficult Summer. He is always ready to indulge me in dress-up road trips. So I can indulge him in new togs, win/win!
The Dickens Christmas Fair is really worth a visit, all the characters come to life with fabulous food, drink and shows. It isn't Christmas for me without a visit.
As  matter of fact our London pals fly over for our Victorian Ball in Pasadena, a legendary Christmas party the next weekend and a quick trip to the Dickens fair. It's worth it.

Simon and Mark, at the SDI ball and ready for frolics!

And finally my ball gown.

May all the lights shine for you this Merry season. However you celebrate, may it be with love.
Ever Your Thimble Servant
Miss Brilliantine

Thanksgiving, Redux

Thanks for petticoats and redingotes, gigot sleeves and rococo slippers. Fancy dress and hand sewn stays. Embroidery- hand and machine. Crinoline cages and lobster bustles, paper patterns and scaled up grids. Lids, hats that is, all kinds, even paper ones. Stockings with stripes and silk with clocks. Cloaks! Dolmans, lace shawls, pelerines and pelisses. That crazy 18th c. hoodie, the Brunswick. The humble Sontag. Gloves, gauntlets and mitts. Under-sleeves made of lace-suitable for so many periods. Hedgehog wigs and horsehair (stuff it in the sofa or wear it on your head). The Directoire! The actual one and the revival. Cork rumps and mouse brows and white face paint. Tudor doublets and Jacobean ones. Farthingales and cheesy plastic bridal hoops. Nylon netting for all our bombast needs. Parasols. Pierrot jackets, caracos and hot coco. Skating costumes, bathing costumes, tennis costumes. Casaquins and Harlequins. Liripipes, fun to say and to wear. Ouches, rosettes, and fontanges. Shoes! Every single kind. Corsets and pairs of bodies, chemises and shifts. Kilts, chitons and cummerbunds. The fabulous fibula.
In short, every single dress-up thing that gives us joy, online and in real life. And the lovely community that fuels the fire.
Ever Your Thimble Servant,

Miss Brilliantine

The Old Computerola and the Cutting Edge.

Say, chums!

The old computerola went down, seriously down. It was about 100 in computer years and was a Edison brand computerola. "Tired of old computerola rolls leaving wax residue on your keyboard? Edison electrified computerola roles are guaranteed not to and no more taxing hand crank, let the hired man get to the real work!" ( Homes must be electrified for computerola to function). I think you get the picture.
In the mean time the netbook I was using was as slow as dial up so instead of looking at pictures and reading blogs, I sewed!
I had some paisley velveteen waiting in the queue, it was meant for last February's Tea and was abandoned when the silk I ordered for it never arrived. But Renaissance Fabrics to the rescue and we have ball gown!

This thing came together so slowly, I mean I started it in the Summer, complaining it was too hot to sew velvet. I broke it down into it's component pieces and like eating an elephant took small bites.
Less talky, more showy-

The front drape was done free hand and the back portion franken-patterned from TV 364. It's meant to have little side drapes but I pleated it all into the waistband. I'll be wearing it to our Holiday Ball in Pasadena, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I'll try and get some action shots.

The cutting edge part is new super-fast computey, which is great except the touch pad is so sensitive it reads monkey fingers hovering and jumps to it. A little over eager. Windows 10, the same yet not the same.......
I have a vest and trousers to make, I'd better jump to it.

Ever Your Thimble,
Miss Brilliantine