Nine days ago, a handyman came to our house. He replaced five broken panes of glass, and two broken storm doors.
Today, I got my answer to the unspoken question, how long will our house remain in one piece?
It’s time for the outer layers and accessories from my Jane Austen Tea 1790’s costume. Click through for pics including inspiration period fashion plates and extant garment photos. (You can see the underpinnings for this outfit here.)
I have been kind of quiet here lately, but I have been living my life behind the scenes, and one of the things I did was make a mid 1790’s outfit for a Birthday Tea for Jane Austen’s 249th Earthstrong.
It felt kind of serendipitous: I’d already bought some fabric and several period patterns and had just completed the first and arguably most intimidating piece, short stays, when I was invited to the tea.
It was just the motivation I needed for six weeks of paced sewing to create a look worthy of Jane Austen.
I used a combination of resources, which I link throughout, along with fitting and construction notes. And if you’re just here for the pictures, that’s fine, too.
A few years ago, I wrote a post about a high school classmate of mine and what our friendship had meant to me.
This fall, that classmate passed away.
He wasn’t the first of my graduating class to cross over, but he was the first that I knew well enough to feel the loss.
He had married outside of our friend circle and most of us didn’t hear about the ceremony that was held in his honor until after it had taken place. Grief circled around me with no place to land.
My habits are pretty deep trenches right now. I’m home almost all the time. I do the same thing every day, even when I don’t really want to. Changes to the routine are difficult to make, especially when I’m the only one who wants the change.
I have hope, because we made a positive change this year by adding Morning Announcements to the roster. Since this has become a part of our routine, I come downstairs, wait until there is a critical mass of awake kids in the room with me, and then we start.
