A Blister in the Sun

It is another blistering day in the Great State of Ohio - 103 degrees Fahrenheit! It's not a record, though. On July 21, 1934, the mercury hit 113! How our ancestors lived through this, I will never know - it wasn't like air conditioning was a common convenience in that day. However, relief is in sight. I cannot believe I am anticipating a 93 degree day, but I am, and it's tomorrow, along with some much needed rain. Ohio is also experiencing a drought, as are many other states in the Midwest.

I have been keeping cool by spending a bit of time in my sewing cave working on some much needed underthings for my Regency costumes. I began working on a set of short stays using Sense & Sensibility's short stay pattern - I am afraid this pattern is not for bigger busted gals, and even though I attempted to make them twice and adjust here and there, they were not coming together to fit me properly. I will have to draft my own, and this is preferred. There is a set of short stays at the Victoria & Albert constructed for a larger busted woman - the body of the stays sets lower on the ribcage (they are longer than traditional short stays) for greater support. I will using these stays to model mine after (yes, I just ended the latter sentence with a preposition - I like doing naughty grammatical things - lol).

Although the short stays did not work out, I decided to drape and fit a new set of Regency long stays. I do like my current stays, however, I want a corded pair. 

~Experimenting with cotton cord and scrap linen~

And finally, I constructed a simple sleeveless petticoat from a soft bleached linen to wear under a wrap dress I am making for this year's Regency picnic in September.

I would like to start working on my Regency wrap dress this week - I am constructing it from a pea-green voile, I just need to get over to the fabric store for thread. (I have drawers of thread, so you'd think I'd have something close in color - nope! What's one more spool, right? lol!)

Keep cool and stay well, my friends! Blessings and happy sewing!