It's Almost Festival Time!

As I write this, my laptop is perched on a corner of the dining room table that is also covered with pattern pieces, bits of tulle, entire rolls of tulle, 6 last minute things to be sewn, a bag of poly beads, several bags of fiber-fill, a canvas and wood sign, several pairs of scissors, my Janome, a pin cushion and a tote full of fairy making supplies.  (It's a big table.) ;)

I'm just a few hours of hard work away from being ready!  Come on out and see me at the 5th Annual Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival!  It will be great fun!  I have new designs, including:

Cayla

And, with $10 of his $25 purchase being donated to the Autism Society of America for autism research:

Jesse

Don't forget, I'll also have "Hannah", whose purchase/order also donates $10 to benefit a good cause, the Lupus Foundation of America.  There will be summer themes and Army themes and Hydrangea themes too!  Oh, my!

So come on out and say hello!  See you there!

~ Lucy Jane

Striped Regency Gown

It's finished and ready to wear next weekend! :)  What do you think??

It wrinkles if you breathe on it wrong,
but it's still pretty. :)

I'll wear a petticoat under it.

Sneak Peek!

I thought you might enjoy seeing what I'm doing this week.
Besides running around half mad because it's so close to my deadline.

Steampunk Lucy

I finished the concept board for a Steampunk style costume.  I'm hoping to start prep work on this in earnest sometime in late June.  There are still lots of accessories that will be added here and there, but this is the first draft.  What do you think?

The concept board, with a little room on the
left to add extra inspirations/changes.

The shirt is a grey cotton (breathes!) and
the sleeves are light-as-air black chiffon.

I am in LOVE with this suiting.

Various and sundry trims

Not sure if I'm going to stay with pewter or
change to brass/burnished gold.  I have a
while before I have to make a decision.

The honeybee holds a sentimental significance for me.
This will go at the collar closure.

That's what I've acquired so far...  Here are a few more "I want this!" images:

Double buckles will match the ones on my bodice.

I want a mini top hat kinda like this one, but
mine will have more gears and a set of
Brass Goggles.

Now that I have all of this on the concept board, I can focus on getting finished up for the Hydrangea Festival.  Not too many more days left to be ready!!! :)

In My Defense, I WAS working...

Yep, been kinda like this in the studio... ;)

So it's now a week into May and I am sorry to have
a) not been able to finish the A-Z Challenge on time like I had intended.
b) gone completely AWOL from this blog for so many days in a row.

But I hope these random tid-bits of recent goings on will pique your curiosity and entice you back every few days as I try to get caught up and get into a more regular posting schedule:

• Costumes don't ever fit the same way twice when corsetry is involved.  EVER.  (on a related note, I'm shedding pounds.  Which is good.  But it makes fitting frustrating.)
• My ironing board looks as though I'm attempting to transform it into an acoustic guitar with strands of embroidery floss.  Photo to follow in a few days. (You can't tell me you don't want to see that and find out what it's really for.)
• There are about 457 more steps for creating a business plan than I realized. (My notebook hates my guts now.)
• Micro-suede takes an average of 14 more minutes than fleece to navigate through the feed dogs of a Janome Sewist 500.
• Booth design seems like a straightforward process- until you discover that a) you can't make up your mind on the type and size of signage and b) how the heck are you going to suspend 4 dozen fairies from a canopy ceiling, anyway?? Ummmm.... yeaaahhh...

As of today, there are 3 working weeks left until the big hurrah and to-do of the Hydrangea Festival!

So I promise I will try hard to check in here once or twice a week for updates, but just know that I'm either in front of the Janome, coaxing it to work overtime and get all of this done, or I've got a needle and thread in my hands and am making stitches the old fashioned way.

Lots of handmade goodness going on, either way! :)