Costumes Inspired by "Wives and Daughters"

On this page, you can find links to other people’s projects based off of the different costumes from Wives and Daughters. Lord willing, I will be adding to this collection over time. I am sure these links will be an inspiration to you as they have been to me! 🙂

Molly’s White Ball Gown ~ made by Aubrey L.
Molly’s Blue Sprigged Dress ~ made by Maggie S.
Molly’s Berry-Picking Dress ~ made by Melanie A.
Molly’s Blue Jumper ~ made by Maggie S.
Molly’s Black Jumper ~ made by Maggie S.
Molly’s Apron ~ made by Maggie S.
Molly’s Grey Coat ~ made by Maggie S.
Cynthia’s Pink Floral-Print Gown ~ by Ashley P.

last edited on October 8, 2010

Fun Fur and the Future

Before Christmas when I went shopping at Macy’s, I found this scarf…It was about seven feet long and eight inches wide, and I figured it was knitted with double-strands of Fun Fur (or Cello). It cost $40. No, I didn’t buy it – but I did get a good idea for making a FUN scarf like that for MUCH less than $40.

This week, all the yarn at Jo-Ann Fabrics is on sale, so when we went today, I picked up four skeins of Fun Fur! They were $2.99 apiece, from $3.99 – not bad, considering. But that’s a total of $12 for who-knows-how-long the scarf will end up being.

The other thing I needed to think about before actually buying the yarn was how I was going to make the scarf. Knitted scarves are much more drapey and stretchy than crocheted ones. If you know me well, you know I don’t like to knit – I like to crochet. But I was going to try to pick up knitting again for this scarf anyway. But then I was flipping through a fashion crochet book and read that knitting is so drapey and stretchy because it picks up only one loop while crochet picks up two. So the answer is to work in the back loop only – PERFECT!! So I’m going to crochet this scarf! 😀

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Tote Bag for Marianne

Since Marianne will be starting up teaching piano lessons again in January, I thought it fitting to make her a bag to carry her music books in! I made it from scraps from my stash. There is a pocket on each side, for pencils, lesson planners, etc. 😉 It was fun making when she was away, playing the piano at the Villa…

I got the pattern from Sew, Mama, Sew.

Here’s the girl herself, all ready to go! 🙂Merry Christmas, “Marianne”! 🙂

What I’m Wearing Part 2 +PLUS+ Today’s Project +PLUS+ a Christmas gift :-)

Okay here is what I am wearing:

Hat: K-Mart. Amanda picked this up at K-Mart today for herself but she decided it didn’t suit her. So she gave it to me and will go back and get a different style later this week. 🙂
White Shirt: K-Mart.
Corduroy Vest: a friend.
Denim Wrap Skirt: a friend. I’ve had it for a while and had put it on my list of things to alter because the hem kept curling up (denim, you know 😉 ) and I wanted to add something to “spruce it up”. Finally today I sewed lace to the hem. What do you think? Worn with the right combo, it looks kind-of cowgirlish! I like it! 😀

Here’s the back of the hat:

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all from (left to right)
~Marianne, Elinor, and Margaret!~

What I’m Wearing… Just for Fun

I love dressing Christmasy! This is what I wore today to my grandparents’ for our extended-family Christmas celebration.

I don’t remember where the skirt, shirt, or sweater came from, but probably all from thrift stores. 🙂 I did not make anything I am wearing…

Shoes~ WalMart 😛
Necklace~ gift from my dad
Earrings~ gift from my sister

And here are me and my dear younger sister (who is taller than me):

Backgrounds

Hey all,
I’ve just been playing around with backgrounds. What do you think of this one?

Inspiration

Below is a picture of my grandma and grandpa at their wedding in 1957. Isn’t my grandma’s dress lovely? (This is the same grandma that I talked about in this post.)

I am not sure whether we have this dress anywhere, but I would love to make one like it for my wedding, if the Lord ever brings such an event about in my life. 😉 I just adore the styles from that decade!! 😀

Today’s Project

One of my special little friends, Kaylyn, was in need of a khaki skirt, so I made one for her for Christmas!! 😀

This was the best picture I could get; sorry for the computer chord in the bottom right corner. 😛
It was very easy to make without a pattern. I cut it in two squares, 29″ by her skirt length + a few inches for the hem and waistband. I borrowed a pocket pattern piece from another pattern and inserted those on both sides; then I sewed the panels together, hem it, and then did a large “hem” on the top, through which I inserted the elastic. I left a 5″ space ungathered in the front, as you see in the picture above.

It was a delight to make this for Kaylyn! Hers and my friendship is very special– her mom has been a great spiritual mentor in my life, and I have been blessed to be a sort of mentor in Kaylyn’s life. This last spring I had the opportunity to visit her and her family several hours away for a week-and-a-half, to help around the house and their church, and just spend time with them. It was a fun time, and funny too, seeing how much her and her little siblings are like me and my siblings when we were little! 😉 Kaylyn is a special little girl and I love making things for her! 😉 (To those of you who have little sisters or little friends, I am sure you understand! 🙂 )

This has been my most successful homemade Christmas gift so far this year. All the other I have tried (except one) didn’t turn out due to narrow fabric width. (Grrrr!!) *Sighs* Oh well! 🙂 Need to get to the stores later this week…

1890s Doily

The pattern for this doily I got from an Old-Time Crochet magazine, and the editors of that magazine got it from an 1890 magazine. 🙂

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This doily ended up being about 10 inches wide. It was supposed to be 8 1/2 inches, but I had to use size 10 thread instead of 20 because I didn’t have size 20. 😛

The most challenging part was those boxes in the middle. I had to do them three times in order to get the first two to point the correct direction, but I did master it! 🙂

I’m looking forward to making another one of these. 🙂

Tag!

1. Thank the person who gave the award.
2. Copy the award.
3. Post it on your blog.
4. Tell seven things about yourself that your readers don’t know.
5. Link seven new bloggers as recipients.
6. Notify the winners with comments on their blogs.
7. Keep being awesome!

Thank you, Elinor, for tagging me! 😉

Here are “Marianne’s” seven random things about herself. 😉 Let’s see if I can think of ones you don’t know already…

1. I love coffee – I have a morning cup, a breakfast cup, an afternoon cup, and an evening cup. (Beat that!!!)
2. Of all creepy-crawlies, the one I hate the most is the centipede, and that dates back to a long time ago.
3. If I had the choice of a continent to tour, I’d probably take South America.
4. My favorite period drama (that I’ve seen) is BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice.
5. I like fine-point pens.
6. I am in the middle of reading Persuasion (Jane Austen) and Great Expectations (Charles Dickens), and really need to finish them both. 😛
7. I am allergic to those air conditioners that are in hotels.

Random enough?

Now I tag:

• Bug, at Life in My Own Words
• Ana at Ana’s Corner
• Grace at Bethany’s Thoughts
• Rosebud at Amanda’s Journals
• Ring Family at Count Your Blessings

I think Elinor tagged everybody else I know on our following list. 😛 If any of the rest of you wants to do the tag, do it! And be sure to let us know that you did. 🙂