I have no more costuming events for the rest of this
year/month, so now it’s that time of year to look back and see what I did in
the way of sewing new dresses. But I’m nearly at the point where I have at least
one dress already for just about any time period I like that comes up. Goal
met! **Ack! I noticed I still write
“gowns” and had to go back and replace that with “dresses”. I’m never going to
be able to stop saying that even though I was told that word wasn’t used until
the 1930s came around.**
But wait, you can never have enough dresses! Who wants just
one dress in one color? Or for just one season or time period? Throw in my
Squirrel and you need a bigger closet.
Just for a bit of explanation on The Squirrel- it comes from
being distracted very easily by new and shiny things. If you’ve seen the movie,
Up, there is a talking dog named Dug who, while talking, is constantly
distracted and yells Squirrel! when he sees something. That’s me. Even my
husband calls me Squirrel. I just think I’m observant.
Ok, enough about me. Time for the countdown. I checked my
list of things I wanted to finish or make this year, and looks like only one
got done. But other things not on the list WERE made!
FEBRUARY: I was invited by a couple ladies in the Los
Angeles area who call themselves The Occasional Bustle Society, to a tea at the
Langham Hotel in Pasadena, and we all wore bustle dresses. It was a beautiful
location and I had a great time. It was actually cool enough to wear my 1885
Autumn Bustle dress too.
The
Riverside Dickens Festival is my annual event that I look forward to and seem
to be making dresses especially for this and the fashion show. I was able to
wear my 1837 Jewel Tone Plaid dress that I wore to the San Francisco Dickens
Faire the previous December.
MARCH: Started
this month off with a fashion show for the La Jolla Women’s Club and wore my
Autumn Bustle for that too.
I
again wore it while I was up in WA visiting my Mom, and going to the Port
Townsend Victorian
Festival, being in that fashion show, then doing some
touristy things with my friends in the area.
APRIL: Our costume guild did its mass attendance in
Balboa Park for the 1915 Centennial of the Panama/California Exposition, and
made a very impressive sight. I used a reproduction pattern of a 1914 dirndl
skirt and blouse in green stripes. Even though the blouse was too big, I loved
the dress with my bright orange parasol.
MAY: I was asked to do a repeat performance of a
fashion show for the Alpine Women’s Club tea and fundraiser and came up with a
new theme of “A Day in the Life of Queen Victoria”. I’m having fun being
creative with them now. I wore my favorite 1837 Persimmon Dress that I wore to
Costume College last year.
Right after I got back from there, I got to dress up as
window dressing for the grand re-opening of the Villa Montezuma historic home
in San Diego. It was a mite warm so out came my favorite 1870s white cotton
with black polka dots polonaise dress.
JULY: Finally got to make and wear another new
dress. I organized a Downton Abbey Tea for my guild at the Aubrey Rose Tearoom,
and made the “new” Butterick pattern dress for 1914 to wear to it. A nice
cotton purple plaid made for warmer weather, and then it poured buckets of rain
on us.
AUGUST: August is
of course Costume College in Los Angeles and I planned on wearing everything
that I’d already made, but of course had to make at least ONE new dress for
it. The dress lineup was my 1837 Jewel
Tone Plaid, my 1885 Autumn Bustle (which I wore for teaching “Watches & How
Women Wore Them”, because it had a watch pocket), and my new 1885 Pink Polka
Dot bustle dress. I loved this one, even though the pink fabric was an
extremely lightweight polyester. Lots of
lining helped that.
SEPTEMBER: I joined the Ladies of the Traveling Tea
Society and went with them to Barbara’s Teahouse in Rancho Cucamonga, and wore
my 1914 Purple Plaid dress, which was good because it was again bloody hot.
OCTOBER: My second historical fashion show was for a
church fundraiser, and I used my “100 Years in Women’s Fashion” theme for it.
After filling all the time periods, I took the one left for 1900 and wore my
1903 Pink Floral dress. Sadly we haven’t found any group photos of us all.
Not much else was going on this month but when I was
told about the “Tales from the Victorian Crypt” being held in a cemetery in
Riverside as a fundraiser for the Dickens Festival, I jumped at it. It was
still hot so my cotton 187 3 black polonaise was needed. I did buy a new hat
for it that had some amazing feathers on it.
I had planned a Picnic in Tissot’s Garden at Balboa Park for
our guild, and even though in the past years at this time the weather was very
nice, it decided to rain. Not a lot but enough to make the ground wet and
possibly threatening more. So sadly I had to cancel the picnic, even though I’d
made a new dress just for it. I used another pattern reproduction from Ageless
Patterns to make an 1870s loosely wrapped bodice, with big froofy skirt and
apron, and lots of lace. It was a white cotton voile with green Swiss dots. One
of my friends came up with an idea of an impromptu tea party at a tearoom so we
could still dress up. After calling all the places she found one tearoom, Tea
Upon Chatsworth, which had one table available. So we called a bunch of friends
and managed to get 5 together for tea. So at least I got to wear my dress I’d
worked so hard on for the picnic. I’m rescheduling the picnic again for later
in the Spring; once the rainy season has stopped.
My final event was our costumed walkabout at the Del Mar
Antique Show. The theme was Alice in Wonderland and if you read my previous
blog, you’ll know the story behind my dress. And I realize without the
accessories and bunny, I can use this for Mary Poppins if ever need be, since
even my hubby thought that's who I was.
Once the hoopla has settled down getting ready for the
holidays, I hope to get back to work on my Romantic era bonnet I’m making in an
online class with Jennifer R. at Historical Sewing. http://historicalsewing.com/classes I’m finding it really easy with her step by
step videos. I’m covering mine in a cream or off white silk taffeta so I can do
a variety of colored trims on it. I still haven’t decided what dress will get
this but I have some ideas of what I want to do. I think it needs some lace coming off the crown.
The first dress I’ll be working on is my 1853 purple silk
for the Riverside Dickens Festival. It’s off a fashion print that made my jaw
drop when I saw it. While I was at a sewing workshop with Shelley P. she
noticed some details in it I hadn’t seen at first, and visually deconstructed
the dress to help me make it. And there’s a bonnet with it that needs making
too.
Another project I’ll be working on is a 1905 dress, and
probably start some of my projects for Costume College next August because it’s
never enough time to make all the dresses!
Chloe &
I wish you all happy holidays!
~~VAL~~
