Bits & Pieces, and Costume College 2022

Here it is two months after my last blog post, and what have I done? Only bits & pieces of a couple different outfits. Real life had a habit of breaking up my days and weeks so it was hard to focus on doing much.

First off, I’m sorry I didn’t even write anything about Costume College this year. I ended up spending most of my time this year running the costume exhibit there. Due to the reduced number of attendees this year, and half of them being new, we didn’t have very many volunteers to help us run the entire college. Since there weren’t too many classes I wanted to attend (and there were less of those this year too), I was ok with that. Due to my Covid fatigue, and problems with my knee, this turned out to be a good fit for me this year. With the help of my friends there, we were able to set up the exhibit how I visualized it.

Instead of just asking for submissions of whatever people wanted to send, I created a theme of "Inspirations: From Start to Finish". My idea was the exhibitors would share a photo of something that inspired them to make their costume, be it from a movie, book, fashion plate, or extant clothing, and in any genre, alongside their finished outfits. The sign included an explanation of their inspiration and how they achieved it. Then I placed them in the room according to their “theme”.

 

This 1850s dark purple dress was my own contribution. I hadn’t worn it to CoCo yet, so I may need to in the future.

By choice, I didn’t attend the Gala dinner & dance, or the tea, mostly because I can’t taste anything so it’s a waste of money for me. But I did join my friends for dinner at our favorite Maggiano’s Italian restaurant and wore my 1890s Mulberry dress for that.  And on Friday night I wore my Carmelite Nun outfit while sitting outside the Exhibit during the Passport to the End of the World scavenger hunt, where everyone learned where everything was. Neither of these photos were taken there, so I just have previous photos to show the outfits I wore. I made it easy on myself this year, not having to sew anything new.

The one outfit I did get a photo of onsite was my 1890s wrapper, which I finished recently, that I wore for the Sunday Breakfast, and then during the rest of the day. It was quite comfortable wearing it.

I did teach two classes this year; Accessories: 1800-1850, and Accessories: 1850-1900. I had mostly full rooms, and the majority of attendees were new to CoCo, and I loved hearing that. I’m always happy to see new interest in the historical stuff.

 

Here is the theme announcement for the 2023 Costume College, if you haven’t heard it yet, "Cosplay: Fairytales, Fiction and Fantasy". From the Dean: What is Cosplay to me? Cosplay is the act of dressing in any COStume and PLAYing a character from any period, book, movie, or graphic art. So, in essence, it is what we as costumers do. This includes all types of costumes, such as historical dress, fictional characters, book to screen characters, anime, fantasy characters, and even woodland creatures." No dates have been set for next year yet, but its always the last weekend in July, sometimes going into August.  

Of course, I came home all excited to start sewing again, as happens whenever I attend a costume event. But during the weeks prior to Costume College, my hubby had decided it was time to pull the carpets out of my sewing room and his office, which meant everything had to come out and packed up. Afterwards I was able to get my computer & TV set back up, and also my sewing table. I hung some of the costumes I’d been working on the last two years in my closet and could stare at them each day, waiting to see which one called to me first. The first thing I pulled out was my 1887 Autumn Plaid bustle dress that basically just needed its trimmings, buttons/buttonholes, and hemming. It was a small step but I sewed the red soutache trim around the lapels & cuffs, and around the plaid overskirt hem. The buttons on this are just pinned on at this point. Then I had to pack up my Mom’s senior living apartment and move her to an assisted living apartment, so that got any more progress stalled.

When another sewing workshop came up, I got enthusiastic about starting yet another dress, this time copying an 1880s polonaise (not an 1870s). I’d been saving this brilliant blue plaid rayon acetate fabric just for this. I had 14 yards of this soft fabric, and bought it really cheap on ebay due to some tiny holes in the fabric, which I’ve been able to cut around. Because of the type of fabric it is, I’m flatlining it with a black cotton. Its kind of thin so it needs the cotton support behind it. I was able to cut out the bodice and skirt at the workshop, and am cutting the flatlining now.  

During the last two weeks, I suddenly felt like I needed some hand-sewing to relax and de-stress over everything life was throwing at me, so I brought out the three 1860s dresses I had started on my “assembly line” way back in Aug 2020. They were pretty much constructed but still needed the waists cartridge pleated to the waistband. So, my assembly line came out for those, and while bingeing on “Breaking Bad” on Netflix, they now all have their waistbands attached. Still left to do on those are the buttons/buttonholes and hems.

 

At this point I don’t have any events that any of these outfits are needed for so that may be a determining factor what gets done first, or I move onto something else if the mood strikes me. Its better than doing nothing, even if its just bits and pieces.