Something Old, Something New. . .
. . .something borrowed, something blue; and a sixpence in her shoe. This famous wedding day rhyme is said to have started in the mid-1800's, after Queen Victoria broke with the tradition...
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A Bit of Math to Light the Way
Not every girl is perfectly proportioned, myself included. Luckily, very few people ever get to see what's going on underneath the layers of clothing we use to camouflage our imperfections. Felicity is...
Protected: An 1864 Horticulture Journal
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Maddie Visits Grandmere for Tea
Spring has arrived, and with it all the excitement of planning this year's garden. Maddie has just received the most recent gardening journal and is eager to discuss some new flower hybrids...
Painter to the Queen
If you look closely at the photos of Maddie's first dress, you'll see a wonderful piece of art on her wall. I chose it specially for her because I thought it was...
Seventy-Seven Stitches
The ruffles are done, the hooks and thread loops have been sewn, and the gathering threads for the cartridge pleats have been stitched. There are seventy-seven pleats. Which means there are exactly...
Maddie’s First Dress Completed
The moment of truth has arrived, and the news is not good. The dress gets about a C+, which isn't the most auspicious beginning to a costuming blog but there you have...
Crazy for Flowers
When Georges-Eugène Haussmann began his renovations of Paris in 1853, the effect on her residents was immediate. However, nothing impacted the public more than the explosion of light and flowers created by...
The Dirty Little Secret of the Paris Opera
The Palais Garnier was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875, at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III. Like many of Paris’s newly refurbished establishments, what it offered to the public was far...
The Best Old Things Money Can Buy
One of my very favorite humans in the world was Diane Cucci. Not only did she love, love, LOVE old fabrics and trims, she knew where to get amazing stuff. She was...