From My Closet - The Better Dresses Vintage Blog

More Regency Regalia: Cobbling a Costume for a Jane Austen Event

More Regency Regalia: Cobbling a Costume for a Jane Austen Event

... I set about completing the outfit. I needed a purse, a hat, and a pelisse or spencer ...
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Belle Poule

Go Big or Go Home: Trimming an 18th Century Hat

... What I discovered was that just about anything goes. Ribbons, flowers, birds, feathers, fruit, wheat. You name it ...
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Repairing an Antique Blouse

Repairing an Antique Blouse

... It was the collar I worried about. The stitches attaching its satin-covered boning framework were mostly gone, leaving the whole thing collapsed and disheveled. I had to do something ... 
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Wearing our cobbled bonnets

Making a Regency Bonnet

... Always looking for new dress-up opportunities, I contacted JASNA to see what Atlanta-area events might require head-to-toe Regency finery ...
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My antique Edwardian parasol

Making a Strap to Fasten My Antique Parasol

... It would need to be attractive but inconspicuous, made of period-correct materials, and not hamper the mechanism or damage the lace ...
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Another Reticule Rescue

Another Reticule Rescue

... I tore away the shattered chiffon lining, wondering why someone would have used such sheer fabric to house drawstrings. I hesitated before snipping the original, tiny, hand stitches ...
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Dirty Lowdown: Why (and How) I Clean Everything

Dirty Lowdown: Why (and How) I Clean Everything

... it shows you just how much dirt can be trapped in the fibers of a seemingly clean dress ...
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Repairing a Vintage Hand Fan

Repairing a Vintage Hand Fan

... The shards had torn through the silk in several spots of nearly every section. Some were hanging from one edge. Others had completely detached. Sob ...
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Finished parasol bag.

Making a Parasol Bag

... I'd seen a single example of a parasol bag, and that was for at-home storage. But that didn't mean a carried version never did or could exist. Surely some enterprising woman had whipped one up back when, right? ...
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Lining an Antique Reticule

Lining an Antique Reticule

...  I was determined to do a fine job and most important to "first, do no harm."  ...
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Marilyn Monroe by Andre de Dienes, 1953

What Can *You* Make From Three Bath Towels?

... It looked like some sort of ultra-plush dressing gown (that's a bathrobe you can wear beyond the bathroom, for you youngsters) ...
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All Washed Up: Salvaging the Green Dress

All Washed Up: Salvaging the Green Dress

... First step: assess the condition, check for damage, and decide how much (time, effort, and money) to invest ...
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