I've been sewing lately. A lot. After the pajamas I made for Jude a couple of weeks ago, I made a pajama set for Noah with race cars on it, as well as a button-down T-Shirt with Lightning McQueen print, and am currently over half finished a set for Jabin with little froggies on a camouflage background--so cute, and fitting for him, since he likes to pretend to be a little frog. (I finished the pants last night, and he's been wearing "his fwoggies" all day.)

But that is nothing compared to the project I am about to start. In a couple of weeks, the local home schooling association is having a Masquerade Ball, where the adults are actually requested to dress up, too. Noah gets to be Captain Hook, so that costume will get another public use. Jabin is thinking of being the crocodile (since we already have a cute little alligator/crocodile/dragon/dinosaur costume--we can just hang an old-fashioned alarm clock around his neck, and his costume is done!), and Jude is going to be a knight, which was a costume we just picked up from the well-stocked Halloween-season shelves. So, since I don't have to make any costumes for the kids, I decided that I would actually finish the Captain Jack Sparrow costume for Jason--it's just been gathering wrinkles in my sewing basket for the last two years. And, for myself, I am going to make a c. 1750 formal gown, somewhat inspired by Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean. This is no small task--I have been spending a good chunk of my spare time over the last week doing (very slow) research on the internet, trolling eBay for trim and props, and trying to figure out how exactly fashion ever got to such extremes!

The challenge is what is inspiring me. Also, I have had an interest in 18th century clothing since college. I did some research on it way back then, but as a poor college student, did not have the funds--not to mention time--to actually go through the physical reproduction part of learning the dress construction.

That is partly why I enjoyed creating the Captain Hook costume a couple of years ago, and why I am so excited about the Jack Sparrow and Ms. Swann costumes. I just hope I have enough time for everything!

For anyone else out there who may ever want to try this, one of the coolest, most helpful sites I have found for Elizabeth Swann's dress is www.willofasparrow.com.