More Historical Fashion Inspiration

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Back in November 2004, I was lucky enough to be in Chicago to witness the Field Musem‘s exhibit Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years, Selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. However, the Field Museum doesn’t allow you to post any of their photos from the exhibit online, so I had to be resourceful and use photos from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose copyrights and terms of use are slightly less stringent, and their website for the exhibit is just as good.

Here are my favorite dresses:

Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister, Lee Radziwill, during a daytime boat ride on Lake Pichola, Udaipur, India, March 17, 1962. Dress (1962) in apricot silk ziberline by Oleg Cassini (b. France 1913). John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.

Evening Dress, 1961
Oleg Cassini (b. France 1913)
Shell pink silk-georgette chiffon embroidered with sequins
Worn by Jacqueline Kennedy to dinner at the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, where she met Soviet premier Khrushchev, June 3, 1961
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

Evening Dress
Oleg Cassini (b. France 1913)
Celadon silk jersey
Worn by Jacqueline Kennedy at a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize Laureates of the Western Hemisphere, April 29, 1962
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

Evening Gown, 1962
Oleg Cassini (b. France 1913)
Azure blue silk crepe Giselle by Asher
Worn by Jacqueline Kennedy to a Foreign Ministry reception, Mexico City, June 29, 1962
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

After a few more years of learning to sew, hopefully I’ll be brave enough to attempt an evening gown. Even if I can’t make one quite this complicated, it would be fun to make a dress made of some fancy silk.

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To Do List

Priority: Urgent
1. Paint bay window exterior, by order of HOA.
2. Finish painting replacement moulding & trim, because The Dog chewed it when he was a puppy.
3. Replace screen on upstairs bedroom window, because The Dog stuck head and almost entire body through it during crazy warm December night.
4. Finish 2 more purses for (late) Christmas presents.
5. Make birthday gift for Mom.
6. Finish making a wedding gift for early February.
7. Replace Roof. (OK, I’m not actually doing this one myself, but since it is in the forefront of my mind, it has to be on any “to do” list I make)

Priority: Before I get around to doing homework

Sewing, Needlecrafts

1. Learn embroidery using Sublime Stitching.
2. Make another (better!) skirt from Built By Wendy.
3. Make myself this apron, Simplicity 4987. Maybe I’ll cook more often if I have an apron.
4. Make myself this shirt, Simplicity 3887.
5. Make myself this dress, McCall’s M3584.
5. Learn to make a quilt and successfully complete one.
(Note: quilt has to be modern and not country looking)
6. Learn to make pajama pants (to be next year’s Christmas presents)

Other Crafts

1. Make myself a clock. (I’m still collecting the best ideas for what to use as the background: book, record, photograph, fabric)
Inspired by the craftzine blog, which I check several times a day, for projects like this children’s book clock, which is perfect because I am a bookworm, and I never part with any books. The craftzine project is “from mdhaworth via Instructables.”
2. Make Valentine Pop-Up Cards using Robert Sabuda design.
3. Etch some glass. Because I’ve always wanted to try.

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I’m a Fashion Designer

Thanks to Wendy!
I made the skirt from her book Sew U. It was my first real sewing project since graduating from making belts, and getting my first sewing machine.

It was quite easy to make. Although I would caution others that the pattern sizes aren’t great, I wear a size 4 in street clothes, but am on the large end of Wendy’s Medium by the measurements, so you might have to alter the patterns a bit to make the clothes in your size.
The best part about the book is that it gives you tons of ideas for making your clothes unique, making hundreds of skirts from the one pattern. I used a drawstring at the top, a ruffle at the bottom, and some ribbon to embelish (and cover my seams). Next time I’ll use better fabric, and muster up the courage to try the darts and zipper.

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