Dear Venturers, I have started my third ever 100% hand-sewn project and it is… drumroll please… a cap! The 1745 “Lappet Lite” cap from the American Duchess 18th Century Dressmaking book to be exact.  Now following instructions is not something I’m used to with sewing. Generally I’m the trial and error type, so naturally I had intended to use the pattern shapes from the graph in the book and just ignore the rest, but I’ve actually found the instructions to be quite useful. They even specify which stitches to use and where! It almost feels like cheating!  Part I: Drafting  I started out by transferring the little picture on the page to a big picture on my white cotton (argue all you want about what the material should be, but this cotton just so happened to be free and available) with an authentic 1700’s ballpoint pen. I then discovered that the dimensions the book gives do not fit my head and so I had to add about 1.5 inches all around to make it the desired size and allow for some pouf

  Hello, Venturers! I have developed a newfound interest in this strange blog of mine, and I have decided to make some changes around here to keep it updated with my unstable personality.  The first change will be the font that I use. That swirly “dancing script” crap is impossible to read and everyone knows it, so I have changed to this. It may still be hard to read and Blogger might continue its attack against me with formatting issues, but at least it’s beautiful to look at.  Next I have levelled up my sewing skills. I’ve switched to almost entirely hand-sewing as it produces a much cleaner result and is more satisfying. I am also putting more effort into patience and research. Silly “shortcuts” (looking at you, mustard cotehardie!) are now looked down upon and when I do decide to make things that I know will not end well, I won’t be posting a long, rambling essay on it.  I have also given up my rants on all things HA and the miniaturing hobby. This will mean no more cringey posts a