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Wednesday 30 March 2011

Jane Austen Festival...Or Bust!!!


After the mad rush to get both our costumes made for last years Jane Austen Festival in Bath, we both arrived late...in costumes anything but finished!!
My spencer was quickly 'finished' off, but without the embellishments that I'd planned...piped straps at the wrists, and other trims, so the sleeves gaped. The fronts were badly gathered onto the waistband, etc., and the whole looked bloody awful!!
Robert's shirt and waistcoat were made, followed by the tailcoat, but the pattern used was anything but perfect, and most of it had to be made up as I went along...which took a lot longer than I had anticipated. It's not perfect, but as a first attempt, I can't complain.
Then there were the trousers to make...I've never made men's trousers before!! No matter what I did, I just could not work out how to make them fit right. In the end we had to cheat big-time!! Almost at the last minute, we decided to pin and tack the trousers onto a pair of cut-off cargo pants. It worked, and no-one knew...unless we told them! :-)