Monthly Archives: November 2013

Costume Planning for 2014

Posted on November 26, 2013 by freshfrippery

This is a tentative list of items I’d like to complete next year. Looking at this all typed out it seems a little ambitious, so I’ll have to see how much I get done!

Navy Regency pelisse and matching bonnet

I have all the materials and I cut out the pieces, but stopped when the event (GBACG Tall Ships Adventure) I was making the set for got cancelled. Then I got too busy with work and baby things.

Deadline: TBA

1830s Romantic ballgown

The group of ladies who did the Gibson Girl dresses last year have decided our theme for the April Gaskell Ball is 1830s. I am planning to use the Truly Victorian 455 pattern.

Deadline: April 26, 2014

Vintage 1940s AAGBPL baseball uniform

I haven’t decided on a team, but it will be something cute and comfortable to wear for Saturday classes at Costume College.

Deadline: CoCo 2014 (August 1-4, 2014)

18th century court gown

This is for the Saturday night ball at Costume College. I have no idea whether I will make something from scratch or reworking this gown if I run out of time.

Pastel Regency gown

There is an ice cream social at CoCo, and I would like to wear something that has a dessert color scheme.

Fancy bloomers

I already have a corset, and need some spiffy bloomers for the “Sunday Undies” breakfast at CoCo.

Fantasy Tea outfit

Most likely I will recycle an existing outfit for the tea party at CoCo, but with some new accessories if I have time. I may wear my silk 18th century-inspired cream outfit.

(Photo by Sally Norton)

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Posted in Costume College 2014 and tagged costume, Costume College 2014, sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Quick Cushions for a Vintage Rocking Chair

Posted on November 22, 2013 by freshfrippery

I have this green wooden rocking chair I bought from the Alameda Antiques Fair, 1-2 years ago.

Now that I will be using it in the nursery and sitting in it a lot more I decided it needed some cushions. My original plan was to buy some padding and cute fabric and make a bottom and back cushion set.

Then I realized, I had materials on hand and didn’t need to spend anything. Free projects are my favorite!

I received a thick block of foam as padding material from an online purchase, and used a pocket-knife to carve off the corners to fit the chair. I also had a pillow that my mom made me back in high school, out of a rice sack. (She liked that it was “AA” brand and said it would remind me to get AA grades). The pillow followed me to college and grad school, and I like the idea of using something from my mom in the baby’s room.

I was still planning to make new fabric covers for the cushions until I remembered I had some green, king-sized pillow cases in the closet. They came with my bedding set and I never used them because they were not as practical as plain, white pillow cases. Here’s a photo of one of them, with the foam block inside.

After folding, tucking and stitching excess fabric underneath the cushions, I ended up with a pair of cushions that match the chair perfectly.

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Posted in Home Decor, Nursery and tagged nursery, sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Little Man Mustache Bash Themed Baby Shower

Posted on November 10, 2013 by freshfrippery

A few weeks ago I had my baby shower. The theme was mustaches! My sister and I made our own invitations, gift bags, party games, cupcake toppers and banner, with the help of some online printables.

We bought printable cardstock from Staples, which had little silver borders, and glued on little paper cut-outs of mustaches and bow ties from Etsy. Here’s a picture of the finished invitation (with a little card covering up my personal details).

Our guests were greeted at the door by this sign, which you can get at the With a Grateful Prayer blog, along with some other neat printables from the mustache party she threw for a family member.

Our food table was decorated by little rubber duckies with cute mustaches, that we got from Oriental Trading Company. We also put ducks, chocolates and mustache-shaped gummy candies into the goodie bags we gave each guest when they left.

We got little white paper bags from Amazon for the treat bags, and printed out treat toppers that said “Little Man.” (You can get your own at Printabelle).

We had a matching green and blue banner (also from Printabelle), and I cut the large mustaches free-hand out of black cardstock.

The matching cake toppers were made by sticking printed squares or circles onto toothpicks with little mustache stickers.

(We also had catered Mexican and Chinese food and leftovers for days).

We bought the mustache stickers at Oriental Trading, and they came in super handy! I ended up using them to also decorate the bingo game cards, prize gift bags and seal my thank-you card envelopes.

The bingo cards were made by customizing a word list and using the generator at Print-Bingo.

We also had the guests guess celebrity mustaches. I made these cards on my computer but the graphic across the top is from the With a Grateful Prayer blog.

The mustache pictures I found by Googling. (They are John Waters, James Franco, Snidely Whiplash, Robert Downey Jr., Hulk Hogan, the Monopoly Man, Ryan Gosling, Salvador Dali, Jamie Hyneman, Borat, Ron Burgundy and Charlie Chaplin).