What a weekend! Part 1 of 2.

Wow, this past weekend flew by and left me in a mound of sewing and dust!

Saturday I spent the day with Hallie and her daughter Samantha, first photographing two of her gorgeous gowns and then sewing and resewing my gown (that is a whole 'nother blog post). The photo shoot was awesome; when I relaunch my portfolio website-slash-freelancing business, it will have three major components: graphic design (print and web), exhibit design, and artifact photography. I've been fortunate enough to get my hand into artifact photography through Pilgrim Hall Museum, and it combines my love of working with objects with my love of photography. Hallie and I were getting together to work on my gown anyway, and she asked me if I'd be willing to be her photographer. A resounding "YES!!!!!!" and I packed up my tripod and Canon 30D to shoot her gorgeous new blue silk sacque as well as her brown damask English gown. I have lights, but Hallie had a set at the shop already so it was one less thing to pack!

Shooting the blue sacque. Photo courtesy Hallie Larkin.

Our set up was as follows:  two large lights with softboxes, one small light behind the gown to backlight it, and a mirror to reflect light back onto the gowns. Plus, white photo paper backdrop that we wrinkled for some texture (it got wrinkled in the cutting/ripping process so we just went all out--it worked great!). I shot on a tripod the majority of the time, but also took the camera off the tripod to get in really close for some details.

Me, adjusting the lights. Had I known *my* picture
was going to be taken, I would have put some
make-up on and dressed better! Photo courtesy
Hallie Larkin.

What I found worked best for the big lights was to have one up higher to light the top half of the gowns, and the second light lower to light the bottom half. If we had had more room, I would have pulled the gowns away from the backdrop (so, closer to me), and also moved the third light closer to the gown to let it diffuse more against the paper. But, for the space we had and for only two gowns to shoot, it was a great set up. You learn something new every time!

Here's my photo shoot wishlist, if I had unlimited funds and could upgrade just my equipment:

• A better quality lens. I was shooting with my Canon kit lens, 18-55mm f3.5-5.6, which is slow and doesn't have the best glass. A 50mm prime lens would be great!
• A Canon 7D body. My current body is a Canon EOS 30D, which I love, but in order to get the better quality lens, I need a better body!
• A remote shutter release or cable shutter release, as pressing down on the shutter with my finger sometimes moved the camera.
• A long USB cord to plug into my camera and my Macbook Pro so we can view photos as they are being taken and adjust exposures, F-stops, shutter speeds, etc.
• Softboxes for my lights, like Hallie's.
• A third light, small, for backlighting.
• A fourth light with a large stand and a boom, to light the gowns from the top (using a softbox as well).

A bigger space goes without saying (and I know Hallie was wishing for it, too!) and for next time, we'll have other backdrops. But the photos came out great, don't you think?

Blue silk sacque, ribbon detail. Photograph by me.

Brown silk damask English gown, back pleats.
Photograph by me.

First two photographs used with permission. Last two photographs are mine, please do not take them or use them without permission!

What's Under Things? Hidden Colonial Clothing, Part II

As Tropical Storm Irene rages on (our power has flickered and gone out twice, but thankfully came back on!), now is the perfect time to showcase the crème de la crème of What's Under Things? I hope my readers along the eastern seaboard are safe and dry!

What's Under Things? Hidden Colonial Clothing, Part I

My apologies, dear readers, for my absence! The procedure on Wednesday went smoothly, and I slept quite a bit. I had to stay off of my feet and when reclining, sleep just happened to come quite easily. Since I had a couple of days off, I'm going to change up the format just a little bit and instead of fly-by posts, talk to you about the exhibit I worked on and am so proud of! Part I begins beneath the jump.

A little teaser

I've been meaning to write up a blog post on What's Under Things? but the editing of the photos took much longer then I thought it would--it is quite difficult to photograph in a dark museum when you can't take off the plexiglass bonnets or have lights set up! It was also a reminder to not trust what's looking back at you on your LCD screen, I didn't realize just how dark the photos came out! It's a good thing I shot in RAW and use Adobe Lightroom.

By the time this is posted to the masses on Twitter and Facebook I'll be having a minor surgery, so I plan on working on the big post about it when I get home, to post tomorrow. I haven't shaped the blank straw/chip hat yet, either, so that's another thing on my list to do! But, this weekend is all about the printed cotton gown, which is exciting, and I'll be debuting it earlier then I thought, huzzah!

Enjoy these lovely 18th century shoes Pilgrim Hall has in its collection:

This photograph is mine. Please do not take it or use it without permission.

Sweetest thing, maybe ever.

Mark Hutter, tailor for Colonial Williamsburg, grants his daughter's wish for a birthday ride around town in a gorgeous 18th century carriage.

Visit the Two Nerdy History Girls for the picture!

Ready, set, SLEEVES! Part 2

The sleeve has been cut out of the fashion fabric and is ready to be put together.

Ready, set, SLEEVES! Part 1

A few days ago, I finally got around to redoing the sleeves for my first ever 18th century gown. I'm now 99% done with them; all that's left is to hem them (and add cuffs, but that's an embellishment, so I'm not counting them). I'm going to wait to do that, though, until after they are attached to the bodice. They are still a bit big on me, but I'm actually okay with that, because then I'll have room to move with poof-y shift sleeves in them.

Below the jump is part 1 of the process with the left sleeve. This is fairly picture heavy and a bit long, so my apologies (and why I split it up)!

All in the sleeves.

For a beginner, setting sleeves into the armscye of a gown is tricky business. Or, so I've been told, as the gown I'm currently working on has no sleeves attached. This is due to my lack of confidence as a new sewer, the fact that I have to have every stitch perfectly in its place (hi, I'm a neurotic perfectionist, nice to meet you), I'm more of a tortoise than a hare in my work, and that I panicked--a lot--over the course of a weekend gown workshop. Had I not sat up until 12:30/1 am, frantically texting friends that had a clue about what I was doing and searching the internet for help, and instead just sewed, well, my gown would have been a heckuva lot closer to complete than it is now. Coupling that with the fact that I was going on vacation a few days after the workshop and probably wouldn't touch the gown until after I got back, not much has been done to it. But this is good news, because now I can document the steps completed and those that are forthcoming, both in the name of research and so that in the future, I will know what the heck I'm doing.