FINISHED AT LAST!- 1911 Blue Embroidered Dress

 

This is yet another dress out of the “Black Hole” of my closet that I’ve been talking about for a couple years. The bodice was done and waiting for its skirt. I had tried to finish it in 2024 at the last minute for a tea I was going to the week after Costume College in August, but I was just too tired after that. So I went to Plan B and put together another outfit, as Edwardians might have done. Having a couple of different skirts, blouses and sweaters to choose from made it easy, and I wondered why I don’t do that more often.

I also thought then I could try and finish it for a fashion show in October for a fundraiser tea at the Fred Harvey (Harvey Girls) Museum, at the Southern CA Railroad Museum in Perris, CA. Except about a month before, it was cancelled due to a couple members’ illnesses. So back it went into the “Black Hole”.

The fundraiser was resurrected for a Mother's Day Tea & Fashion Show in May this year, and I swore I would finish it but again had a couple backups, just in case. All this was going on just before I started working on the Port Townsend fashion show and finishing the almost completed dress for that, which had priority. *See my previous post*. So here is my post on the skirt completion part of it. And yes, I did finish it in time.

When I last shared my plans for the skirt, I had decided I wanted an A-line shape one and used Butterick 6610 for it. In looking for ideas of how to add interest to the skirt, I came across this 1910 pattern by Wearing History. I liked the diagonal panels in front, so I drafted a couple of them along with a center front one to see what I liked best. I stayed with only the two panels and the pointed edges turned to the outside.

 

I also wanted a belt to combine the bodice and skirt together and keep with the high waist look of the period. This dress sample from a Folkwear pattern gave me my idea and I used a waistband pattern and enlarged it. I covered four buttons with my dress fabric and just put buttonholes for two of them on the end that closed.

I had lined the skirt with white cotton because it was very lightweight and sheer and didn’t need a petticoat for it then. But I wanted to have a “slippery” finish so it didn’t catch and pull on anything so I wore a pair of modern petti-pants as my slip.

My accessories were the stretchy polyester lace blouse I’d bought on Amazon to wear as my under blouse, and thought I would end up cutting my throat as the temperatures that day rose to 95d. But fortunately with the a/c in my car for the hour-long drive, and the museum cranking up their a/c, I was very comfortable. I decided to wear the hat I had purchased from my friend, Jeanette, a few years ago, and she had included a matching reticule. I loved the shape of the hat, and I felt great wearing it. She used a Lynne McMaster’s pattern for it.  

We’re still waiting for photos from the photographer who took them during the show but I took these backstage as we were waiting to go on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our “stage” during the tea where we walked down the side and around the tables so everyone got a close look at us. Later we heard comments that it was so much better than the previous year one had been done, and another said it was the best show she’d ever seen. 😊

After all the guests had gone to take a ride on one of the trolleys, the tables were cleaned up and then we were served an excellent afternoon tea ourselves. By this time we were all very hungry. There were even leftovers we were encouraged to bag up and take home. 

 

 

 

 

If you’re interested in learning more about the Harvey restaurants and hotels along the railroads across America and the Harvey Girls, this has a good history. Also look for the Harvey Girls movie that Judy Garland was in. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-harvey-girls-increasing-opportunity.htm#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20the%20hotel,the%20Fred%20Harvey%20Company's%20establishments

One of the restaurants used to be in the Santa Fe Train Depot in San Diego, CA, and another is the El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon, where I’ve stayed before. 

 

 

 

 

 

2025 Port Townsend Victorian Festival & Fashion Show

This was our group photo from the 2025 Port Townsend (WA) Victorian Festival. 

This was a busy month for me finishing two dresses and being in two fashion shows within a week of each other, and at opposite ends of the country. My first one was in Port Townsend (WA) where I wrote all 16 model's descriptions and modeled in it myself. This was my 12^th year being in it and my 9^th year writing it and it’s always been a labor of love for me. The main theme of the 2025 Festival was “The Spirit of Innovation” and our show theme was “Innovations in Fashion”. Originally our outfits were supposed to relate to inventions and technology but in continuing discussions, it was agreed we would go back to just being a fashion show with some information given in the opening narration, which helped us stay in our one-hour window. But I did manage to add a bit of history to each model’s outfit following the theme.

This year I think many of us all struggled to get our outfits done, right up to the last minute. Which is about normal for many of us getting ready for any other event. But when you’re trying to encourage your troupe to get those outfits done and send me details on a deadline, without being rude, you can see why we refer to this as herding cats. But you really have to be a cat owner to truly understand that.

Drawing by Louis Wain (Hey, that middle kitty is wearing  a dress similar to the one I wore in my next show!)

The models weren’t the only ones trying to finish last minute. I was also trying to finish mine in between getting those narratives written. But I did finish my dress with a few days to spare.

Each year I fly up to Washington from San Diego to attend the Festival. In the past, when my Mom lived in Sequim, I would stay with her and drive the 45 mins over to Port Townsend each day. Now I stay at the Swan Hotel in Port Townsend that has cute cottage rooms.

If you read my last blog post on my dress, you’ll know this was one I started in 2020 for the event but was cancelled during the Pandemic. So at least I didn’t have to start from scratch. There’s nothing like an upcoming event to get a fire going under you. Even though it’s “finished” I still want to make some adjustments to the lower overskirt portion to pull it up more to the sides. I wished I’d had enough fabric to add something to the skirt hem too. “sigh”

As per my usual pattern, I like taking candid photos backstage as we’re all waiting to go on. This helps if we don’t get any of ourselves during the show, which has been a struggle in the past. But last year and this year, we had a photographer, and this year my friend, Marilyn, attended, and took some for us also. We received lots of compliments on our show this year, and many are excited for next year’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were taken during our show by Marilyn &  another photographer.

 

 

   

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

The organizers are already coming up with ideas and planning for next year’s event with it being the 30^th anniversary of the Victorian Festival and the 175^th birthday of Port Townsend. I’m working on my own ideas too for it. Planning, plotting, and shopping have to be the best part of making new gowns.

I had also put out some flyers on the entrance table to the fashion show that we were looking for a couple new models interested in being in our future shows, and I’ve had some responses already.

**************************************  

Earlier in the day, I had attended the Lacemakers presentation, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The two ladies took us time traveling to earlier lace-making, and shared photos and samples of antique lace pieces. The Irish lady lace maker told us tales of her Irish grandmother teaching her along with their own lace-making, all the while working on her own bobbin lace piece.

 

 

 

As I was walking down the street I ran into these two ladies and really admired the polonaise the one had made from a Chinese brocade. I forgot to get a back photo but it was gorgeous. We all three had a photo taken by a roving photographer so I hope to come across those soon.

 

*************************

The following day, my friend Agnes and I met up with some of our ladies for a fundraiser tea at the historic Starrett House, which is also a B&B. We were welcomed by the docent who told us the history of the house and the work they’ve done preserving it to its original appearance. Plans are to restore the exterior back to its white paint and trim someday. 

 

Every room inside was amazing and the wall colors and borders were gorgeous. I had to remember to keep looking up at the ceilings too, which were so beautiful. 

 

 

 

(Apparently there was a memo going around that blue striped dresses were required today so quite a few of us accidentally wore them. It was hilarious.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ceilings and circular staircase looking up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a little wood house about 6 inches high that was painted to look exactly like the Starrett House. If there weren’t stairs, I’d love to stay here sometime.  https://www.starretthouse.com/