Tea stained/dyed stockings.

I've been doing "minor" work lately. I'm looking for stockings these days, and as much as I love the American Duchess ones she's about to release, there isn't any colour that really fits the 18th century outfits I'm working on. I'm thinking about buying the white ones and try to dye them as they're almost all silk material and a very low percentage of synthetic stuff; it may work but I haven't made up my mind yet.

Meanwhile...

I bought these here in a local shop. But, as always, they're far too bright white. Even more than you see here in the pic. So I gave a go at tea stain them. Like this:

Aaaand ta-da!

I'm very pleased with the result, and again, the white ones are far more white, and the dyed ones are just a bit golden. These are stockings worn in Majorcan traditional costumes, and girls dance in them, I think that's why they have that "historical" seam in the ankle. Also, this stockings were just 75% cotton and the rest was synthetic so maybe the AD ones will come out this nicely too.

I used black tea and I have another tea that makes the water pink sooo.. I might do more experiments soon :P

Elizabethan trim.

As I can't finish the Regency ball gown at the office, instead, I took this trim to be used on an Elizabethan gown's bodice and worked on sewing to it these pearls. I haven't decided yet in which part of the bodice it will go (and probably on the sleeves too), but at least I'm making some progress!

There are some similar trims at Renaissance Fabrics and they call it "Leicester", which I don't know if it's a legit name or they just chose it at random. However, I bought mine at the Medieval Fair here in Majorca. I love the final result, can't wait to start with this project! :)

Regency ball gown

 Sorry for the terrible pics but I just arrived from work and didn't have the time to work more on them:

Well, it's not finished yet but it just lacks the final touches, such as finishing the back and sleeves and some decoration. And of course, washing it to remove the chalk haha.

Hopefully it'll be done by the end of the week and perfectly wearable for the Regency event we're organizing. Also, I'll be able to start new stuff; I have lots of projects in mind but little time!

Stunning!

So happy I got this! The new edition of  Kirsty Stonell Walker's Stunner. She's also the owner of the wonderful blog The Kissed Mouth.

I'm re-reading, revising and just plain reading various Victorian books these days in order to achieve a wider knowledge for a subject on Victorian literature I'll be doing next year at uni. I'm very excited about this subject so I want to get as much as possible from it. Once I've ticked all the books in the list I'm to read this two next months I can start with Stunner, although I don't know if I'll be able to wait!

For more info about the author and the book, just visit her blog, obviously!

I spy with my little eye...

No, not a granny! It's William Morris' Medway (1885) used as a wallpaper in a Spanish TV series (Aquí no hay quien viva).

So there are some elderly ladies who live together and they have some gorgeous wallpapers, I think they also have Willow Bough (1887) and others, but I couldn't find any pics. I'd like to check the rest of them anyway.