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I see that Dress U has posted to their Facebook page that there will be no Dress U 2014. I'm sad but not surprised since there hasn't been any news there recently and the webpage went defunct a few months ago. It sounds like Dress U 2015 may be in doubt too. I hope it happens.
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Has anyone heard anything about a Dress U 2014?

I had a marvelous time at Dress U 2013 last summer and really want to go again, but I'm not finding any information about it. I think this is about the time I registered last year so I'm really starting to wonder...that and the website seems to be defunct.
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The Hallowe'en costumes are finished! I put in the last stitch and immediately turned around to work on the 18th century bodice pattern Carrie Midura draped on me at Dress U. It hasn't been touched since we returned from Dress U four months ago. I've got a muslin cut out and plans to do any refinement of fit with a friend on Sunday.

I made the decision to leave my 1868 dress on hold a little longer while I finish up my husband's cross-stitched lady and make a 1780's jacket. I want the jacket for Holidays at Smithfield and the 1868 dress couldn't possibly be done by Hallowe'en so reprioritization time again. I really don't usually keep rearranging my sewing plans like this, but sometimes things happen.

Now what to do tonight? I can either work on cross-stitching or start doing more quilting on my 1780's bum pad that I made this summer that just doesn't have the oomph I wanted out of it. I'm hoping that more quilting and possibly resetting the waist will help.
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18th Century Pockets

When I started making a muff for the Williamsburg ball, I decided it was time to make some new pockets as well. While the brown leaf brocade pockets are very pretty, they’re too small to be practical or accurate. While these may not be the height of accuracy (after all, they're only linen-look, not real linen), they're a great leap in the right direction.

18th Cen Pockets

And here's what I did... )

Thoughts after wearing:
I didn't actually finish these before I went to Williamsburg so they didn't get their first wearing until Dress U. I didn't really use them that day since I carried a basket, which gives much easier access to things. Their first real trial was on Independence Day.

These are much better than my old pockets. First they’re free on their waist tape so they can be shifted slightly to line up with the pocket slits on different dresses, though I’ll probably tack or pin them in place while wearing them because the one holding my camera, wallet, and cell phone kept shifting around to the front. Second, they’re big enough to hold plenty and so are a vast improvement over the Butterick ones.
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For the court dinner at Dress U 2013 I needed a court train. Since I knew it would be a one-time use kind of item, I didn’t want to put too much time or money into it. Fortunately, I had a gold brocade in the stash that I had bought for a very good price. That gave me something with the gold metallic decoration that I was seeing in museum artifacts without me having to spend months applying gold beads. I think I came up with something reasonable though not particularly good.

Regency Court Train

Here's what I did... )
Thoughts after wearing:
I was surprised at how little trouble I had with the train. I had anticipated it being such a nuisance that I would have to take it off early in the evening, but I wound up taking it off only when I wanted to get pictures taken of the back of the dress at the end of the night. With the large number of trains being worn that night, I suspect people were probably being more careful where they stepped than in normal situations. Still, I was pleased and a little surprised that no one stepped on it, including me.
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1820’s Copper Silk Evening Dress

For the court dinner at Dress U 2013 I wanted something that wouldn’t be enormous (like an 18th century court gown), wouldn’t be ridiculous (like the English Regency gowns worn over silly high hoops), wouldn’t be subject to loads of rules (like the end of the 19th century into the Edwardian period), and that I could get future use out of. I decided on a mid-1820’s gown.

1820s Evening Dress

And here's what I did... )

Thoughts after wearing:
I enjoyed wearing this dress very much. It was comfortable and moved well. The only bad thing is the very wide neckline, which, while fashionable, has an annoying tendency to expose undergarments. Pinning things in place is period, right? Now I look forward to an opportunity to dance in this dress. Maybe we’ll make it to the James Monroe ball this summer.
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At Dress U last weekend, they convinced me that the best way to keep in touch with other costumers would be to get either a LiveJournal or Facebook account. I've opted for LiveJournal, and here's my first post.

I enjoy needlework and reading. My particular needleworking interests are sewing (mostly historical costumes but also some modern things,) knitting (again, mostly historical costume pieces,) and cross-stitching. Mostly I read vintage mysteries and classics.

Dress U last weekend was great. I haven't uploaded many of my pictures to Flickr yet and still need to get copies of L's pictures so that I'll have pictures of everything I wore, but here's my copper 1820's dress with court train that I wore to the formal dinner on Saturday night.
1820s Evening Dress

At the end of the evening I took off the train to get a couple of pictures of the back of the dress.
1820s Evening Dress

Hopefully by next week I'll have a proper write-up of the project. In the meantime, I'm working on a 1947 green linen-look dress, which is getting pretty close to being finished, an 1847 knit bustle which is also close to being finished, a teal linen/rayon blend 18th century petticoat, and a pair of 1857 red cotton knit gaiters. I should be finishing some of those up in the next week or so and will write them up as I get the opportunity. I'm also working on Bucilla's "A Summer Stroll" cross-stitch, but that's not going to be finished any time soon.

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