Woohoo, one item crossed off my pregnancy sewing list! Obviously, an accessory like a reticule does not involve my waistline at all, and is super handy for most of the Victorian era for carrying your stuff (like cell phones, keys, flasks, all the important things…)

The instructions are from Bunny and Catherine, who taught a class called Reticulous at Costume College last year. I didn’t take the class, since I figured I could get the instructions from them and make the reticule on my own time.

I started this back in February intending it to be a quick little handsewing project that I would finish on the 3 plane flights I was taking. But yeah, I kept reading books instead of sewing on those flights and here we are in June.

I used the leftover blue/black shot shantung from my sacque gown, and it’s astounding how different the colors look in photos depending on the lighting. On the front, I added gold lace, because everything is better with gold lace (and I have so many yards of the stuff). This would also be lovely with some kind of embroidery on one of the circles.

Finished reticule, probably the most accurate color of the fabric.

Shiny silk in the sun! There is probably a cat lounging right off screen.

This shows off the cartridge pleating which looks so nice here I don’t really regret how long it took! Amazing how the fabric looks completely gray in this photo.

This was supposed to be much quicker than it was – the instructions have you whip gather the long edges to the circles. Since I lined the taffeta with dupioni, the 4 layers on the edge was way too thick to whip gather, and I wouldn’t have been able to gather the fabric down enough, so cartridge pleating (which requires two rows of stitching) was the only solution.

Onto the next item on my pregnancy sewing list, because I only have 3 weeks left until there is a small human and all sewing time goes away for a while 😮