Fancy Fair- Small handmade items

Want to know more about me?
I've been sewing since I was 9 years old taught by a talented mother. When I took Home Ec. in high school my teacher wouldn't let me slack off with an easy project I could already do. She bullied me into trying things I had never done before like making tailored coats, and creating patterns of my own. I owe much to these two women. My grandmothers gave me a love of embroidery and cooking. Skills that had gone long by the wayside were common in my family from gardening, to handling livestock, to feeding a harvest crew. Today I like to say I participate in active archaeology. There is only a finite amount that can be learned in history without experiencing it to some extent. It is easy to say "I would never wear a corset" without wearing an appropriate corset and learning about the support it gives you for your dresses and ease it gives your back.
I am in a large amount self-taught. My great joy is research. Pouring over old volumes, collecting photos of other peoples relatives, examining the patches in a work dress from the 1870's. My research library consists of not only other's studies of the Victorian era, but volumes printed in the time frames I study. I collect dressmaking systems (there are around two dozen in the cabinets), fashion magazines (my preferred magazine is Demorest, but I have a good selection of Peterson's), antique photos (err... around 5000?), and Butterick Pattern catalogs (because if you are going to know what the average person is wearing- check the pattern available!) I have an eye for detail that easily lets me put together clues in clothing that many might miss.