Are you one that scrambles as you pack for a costume event? Stress levels go up. And that gnawing feeling that you’ll forget something important. Many years ago I discovered a handy way to keep track of all my costume ensembles for Costume College in both the prep and packing, as well as the wearing Read More...
Category: Jen’s Musings
Book Review: The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty
After their wildly popular first book: The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking, Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox have delighted us again with another publication to up our 18th century ensemble game… The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty: 40 Projects for Period-Accurate Hairstyles, Makeup and Accessories. Yipee!!! Get your copy here (will Read More...
Making the Tackiest Costume
Now that we’re pushing a mere nine weeks until Costume College 2019, I’m in full sewing mode to get a few things completed. With a toddler, this turns my usual “Month of Insanity” (aka July) – to a Quarter of Insanity. You may have read about the new group – BUB: Butt Ugly Brigade – Read More...
Using KonMari to Declutter the Sewing Room
So, in case you haven’t heard, there’s the classic New Year’s trend of cleaning out your house going around, and currently it’s using the KonMari Method (thanks Netflix!). KonMari was created by Marie Kondo from her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Her follow-up book, Spark Joy, addresses all those hanging questions that Read More...
2018 Review and New Year Projects
Welcome to the end of 2018! I don’t often do end-of-the-year costume reviews. Not sure why. It IS a good way to recap your creativity from the year, however. Maybe because I see so many other bloggers and those on social media showing off their gorgeous costumes made over the last several months, and here Read More...
Sewing Gift Guide 2018
Sometimes we spin our minds trying to come up with a cool gift for a costuming/sewing friend. Aside from the “generic” gift cards to the fabric store (online or in town), an actual box of a neat, useful tool or notion is just the thing for the pretty paper. I’ve searched around and compiled a Read More...
Sewing Subscription Box from The Sewciety
Now that’s an interesting idea! Back in September a call went out in a pattern testing group I’m in on Facebook. It was for a subscription sewing box full of goodies like fabric, a pattern and notions. Sure! I’ll try that out. Full disclosure: the gals at The Sewciety picked me, among several others, to Read More...
The BUB – Butt Ugly Brigade
In the last year or so conversations have come up regarding bullying and unkindness happening – more often than before – in our small community. My post on perfectionism touched on how striving for the (elusive) perfect costume project can blind us in applying our own rules of historical accuracy to everyone else’s creative work. Read More...