Decking the Halls!

Since Thanksgiving is fast coming upon us I wanted to do a bit of Holiday snazzing up. The first thing on my list of to do's is change outfits on my dress form. I've been collecting antique clothes since I was a teenager and my grandmother gave me some of her outfits from her teenage years, I was hooked! My favorite time period is certainly the 1700's, a very decadent time indeed, although articles of clothing from then are very hard to find, not to mention costly and are usually snapped up by museums, I have come across a piece or two. I've found that smaller fabric remnants and passementerie of that period are a bit easier to come by and a little less expensive. One of my favorite ways to spend a Friday night is to curl up and watch Marie Antoinette movies and eat cupcakes!

And so on to the task at hand, I removed the floral house dress and replaced it with the most delicate egg shell toned silk blouse, I'd say circa 1870's or so, I think this piece might actually be a corset cover, the lace is so fine, it is thinner than a sheet of paper and looks much like a spider's web, I'm amazed it has lasted so long. It has the palest blush colored ruching at the waist. And soft robin's egg blue ruffles on the front.

Fastened beneath an iridescent lilac colored skirt (if you look at it in one direction it looks like it is pale mint green) is an old horsehair bustle, seems kind of funny to me that a woman of ANY time period would WANT to accentuate that area! Go figure?!

To create lots of drama I pinned just about every millinery flower in my collection into the form of a cascading sash running all the way down to the side.

A deep indigo blue wide velvet belt cinches up the waist.

And pinned at the hip is a pair of antique spectacles hung from a silver chain.

Draped at the neck are several strands of faux pearls I found at a thrift store for $1.00!

I piled on a few more necklaces for added glamour. In this case more is more!

And to top it all off I clipped a grape cluster brooch laden with paste stones in the middle of it all.

Sitting at the top like a Christmas tree angel is another wire crown, only this one is encrusted with gold leaf and embellished with tiny crepe paper flowers. All the details and instructions to create this piece can be found in my newest book Fanciful Paper Flowers.

And THIS crown is just the right size to fit upon OUR heads, picture yourself pushing a grocery basket down the aisle of the local market!

Well, it is the HOLIDAYS!