July 24, 2007 Harry Potter Madness

I decided that it would be an absolute crime to miss dressing up for the very last Harry Potter book, so I whipped up a quick Professor Trelawney costume last week to wear to a midnight release party. You can see pictures and read more about it here. This outfit was so much fun to make, and I really enjoyed taking a break from the serious historical stuff for a change. I have a feeling that you'll be seeing more fantasy and movie costumes from me in the future.

May 30, 2007 New Victorian fashion plates

A friend of mine from the DFW costume guild let me borrow one of her Demorest's pattern catalogues from 1880 to web. It has some really cool garments in it, and best of all, there is a front and back view for everything. That is so helpful! I hope some of you find it to be useful.

April 29, 2007 Diaries, 3-hour dresses, and a bit o' personal news

First of all, I want to direct your attention to a new website called GarbCloset.com. It's an amazing new resource for dress diaries, and although it hasn't gone live just yet, you can already sign up for announcements or help out with the beta testing as the creator puts the finishing touches on everything. I am so excited about this site, and I hope you take a minute go there and contribute your work so we can all enjoy a bit more dress diary madness!

Next, I'd like to direct your attention to my costume gallery where I've added a quick little 1910's outfit. It's nothing fancy, but it's always nice to have a new dress to wear.

And last, but not least, I wanted to let everybody know that maternity dresses and baby clothes are in the future for Festive Attyre! I am expecting a baby in October, and Mike and I are really excited. Although the first trimester pretty much wiped me out, I'm starting to feel better now, and I'm really looking forward to exploring some new territory, both in the realms of costuming and life in general!

February 21, 2007 An 1868 day dress

I actually made this new dress last November/December for several Victorian Christmas events in the area, but I didn't get all of the details finished until just this past weekend. Sorry there aren't more pictures, but I guess this is better than nothing.

January 28, 2007 Links update and a few new pictures

I've updated the links page with several new (to me) websites containing fabulous pictures for costume research. I love, love, LOVE people who share their collections of artwork, fashion plates, or photos of extant garments. If you know of any other good ones that aren't on my links page, please let me know so I can add it to the list.

Also, I recently went to the Texas Civil War Museum in Ft. Worth. In addition to all the guns and swords and manly bits, it also has an excellent collection of Victorian womens' clothing on display. I took some pictures while I was there, and I've created a new Flickr account where I can start posting random pictures from my local adventures. Anyway, I highly recommend this place if you are in the area!

December 30, 2006 A new addition to the fashion plate archives

Also, I wanted to reassure everybody that even though the costume-of-the-week Featured Attyre was going on hiatus, this larger website, Festive Attyre isn't going anywhere! I'm hoping that I will still be able to update this site at least on a monthly basis with new fashion plates, pictures of my own work, and maybe even some new diaries and articles. Also, if case you haven't figured this out already, there is a navigation button at the top of each page for the "Featured Attyre" where you can continue to access the all of the old FA archives.

November 25, 2006--Goodbye, Featured Attyre.

Well, it breaks my heart to say this, but I think it is time to say goodbye to the Featured Attyre costume-of-the-week (biweek, month, whatever). As much as I have loved doing it these past 5 years, I just don't have the time or energy to keep up with it anymore. Luckily, there is a brand new site in the works (created by a web designer who is much smarter than me!) that will allow you to post your diaries and costume photos on your own. I will be giving you more info about that whenever it is complete, and I hope that it will provide a fun new place for us all to continue sharing our work.

To those of you who were still on the waiting list to be featured - I offer my sincerest apologies! I hope you will take the time to post your beautiful pictures on that new website once it is up and running so people can still see your costumes. I also want to thank all of the previous Featured Attyre volunteers one last time for contributing to this ongoing project. You all have been such a great inspiration over the years!