SoCal Dickens at Winterfest Fashion Show

I thought my blog was done for the year but this past weekend I was in a fashion show put on by CGW (Costumers Guild West) at the brand spanking new Dickens Village in Costa Mesa, CA. I want to get the word out about this event so everyone can plan for it next year. The Winterfest there https://winterfestoc.com/ has gone on for years but this year a new addition of Dickens Village was added. It runs for 18 days, ending on January 6. They also have a Facebook page. Some of the CGW members took on the mantle of managing, planning, and running the events and demonstrations at the Dickens Village there. Many of us have visited the Great Dickens Fair in San Francisco, which is a huge indoor event and recreates the streets of old London and the many shops, along with all the Dickens characters. I’ve been there about 5 times but it is a long trek during a busy time of year and I’ve missed it the last 3 years now. So, it was exciting to all of us costumers to hear about this.

One of the events was going to be a fashion show with costumes from 1830-1870, the Dickens time period, on December 29. The planner and narrator, Mela Hoyt-Heydon, asked me if I could be in it. I love being in fashion shows and being able to wear my costumes more. So, I threw in my 1837 Turquoise & Cranberry dress to the schedule.

The event is held in the Orange County Fairgrounds, and when I arrived, it seemed very much like any other fair but I could see there were many huge Christmas and holiday decorations ready to light up when the day began to darken. The event begins at either noon or 2pm, depending on the day, and goes until 11pm. I think on New Years Eve it goes even later. It was nice not having to leave at the crack of dawn for the two hour drive up there. There are also Winter-type rides, like a snow slide and an ice-skating rink.

The inside of the Dickens Village had similar storefront facades like the SF one has. I took these photos just as it was starting to open. The shops weren’t too focused on Dickens-type items, more like things you find at Renaissance fairs, but they did have a hat shop and a kilt shop, and some costumed Dickens characters. I hope next year the focus is more on costumes and Dickens-related items. There were demonstrations of weaving, lace-making & spinning (Priscilla), and sewing (Shelley Peters), and a display of historical reproduction gowns made by the coordinator of the Dickens event, Lana Lily.

Our fashion show began with Mela telling the history of each dress and all our accessories. She didn’t read a narrative but uses her own historical knowledge to talk about our outfits, just getting basic information from us on what we’re wearing. I could never do a show like that myself but we all have our own styles.

I was the first one out, and later I went back out to help dress one model from her underpinnings out. This is always a favorite at fashion shows. Mela told us not to expect too big a crowd since it was it’s first year but I think there was about 30 in the audience at our 1:30 show, and just barely 20 at the 3:30 show. We had lots of photos being taken, including this from photographer Andy of The Shotwell Collection. 

My friends, Jody & Tracey, also took photos and shared them with me. And yes, I showed off my quilted petticoat at Mela’s request to show our underpinnings.

We had a father and son go out, where he made both their costumes. Our other models were Priscilla, Shelley, Trudy, Colleen, Nancy & Russell, and Diane. 

Here we are helping Diane dress from the underpinnings out, with her three petticoats, and into her Victorian day dress. 

After the first show, I met up with friends Jody & Evah for tea at Cuthbert’s Tea Shoppe. It’s the same company that does the SF Dickens venue, and also give out a souvenir teapot. But we went to the earlier Plaid Hatter Tea which didn’t include that. We were entertained by the Plaid Hatter, along with Alice, while we had our tea. I thought the scones a bit hard, as was the fruit tart, but both the sandwiches and tea were very good. 

Jody even had a visit from Mr. Scrooge, who offered her a loan with questionable terms.

After the final show, we all realized many of us were wearing blue gowns, and Tracey took a photo of us all. Maybe next year we should send a memo out about color?

 I didn’t take any photos of the outside area but these two are from Trudy. 

I hope the word gets out about this new event. There’s still time to visit before it closes Jan 6. Check different ticket sellers for discount prices rather than pay full price if you can. Or consider next year volunteering as an extra in costume for passes. 

                                   Happy New Year!    ~~~Val~~~

FASHION SHOW AT RIVERSIDE DICKENS 2014

I’m just back from the weekend’s Dickens Festival that’s held each February to celebrate Charles Dickens’ birthday in Riverside, CA. For the past 4 years I’ve been in the fashion show, and most of the time I’ve worn two outfits. This year due to having come down with stomach flu the week before, I had to cut it back to just the one.

Due to another change in the venue location, this turned out to be even a better decision on my part as the fashion show was staged inside a large tent and our dressing room, a smaller tent, was quite small. But physically I don’t know if I could have handled changing in and out of dresses either, as my energy level was extremely low. All in all, it was a better choice for me this year.

I spent a couple days hand tacking the fabric ribbons to my bonnet and basted in the pleated white lining on the inside. Since the inside wasn’t going to show, for right now I left the very bottom open and will later stitch a round piece of the fabric inside to finish it. Then I tacked my vintage brown and aqua leaves about the crown. I first thought of having them stand up as you see on many period bonnets like this but just ended up having them tilt up in various places. Sometimes you have to let your bonnet speak to you while you’re working on it. I use straight pins to hold them in place, just sticking them straight down into the bonnet until I’m ready to sew. That way I can move them as I go if I don’t like where they are. You just have to be careful not to poke yourself as you sew, which I guarantee you will as I do.  

I finished up my bonnet on Thursday evening and was able to have a leisurely day making sure I had everything I needed before leaving Saturday morning. I just drive up in my costume and hubby was able to hook up my dress before I left. On arrival at my hotel instead of stopping at a mirror to put my bonnet on, I parked my car, got out and put it on- with no mirror. So it was tilted a bit too far forward but you got a good view of the top of it. The next day, with it in its proper position, you can see the underside of it.

I always have to share the “oops” parts of my outfits, and one was my belt. The gown has a slightly lower waistline, which is marked by the piping, and my belt  wanted to ride up to my waistline that my corset gives me. But when I get time I’ll be putting some belt loops on it, hopefully invisible since I don’t think they used them, and it will stay in place. 

I spent a good part of the day finding a bench to sit on and rest to conserve energy but did march in the Characters Parade through the event. We’re separated into different Dickens book catagories and carried signs of the character we are. At the end of it “Mr. Charles Dickens” introduces and describes each of our characters to the crowd. On Saturday I was part of “Hard Times” and the next day I was with “Great Expectations”. Here we are lining up ready to start our parade.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the tent to start the fashion show. Our models sat outside in the back waiting to go on. The theme for the show was Women of Dickens World so we portrayed either women in his life or his books. I was Miss Betsey Trotwood from David Copperfield.

On Sunday we repeated the show again with a few changes in the line-up. I believe there was a total of 17 outfits modeled with just a couple ladies having to change into another one.

I was very happy with my antique lace pelerine. I had it pinned at the neckline and during the fashion show I was able to lift it open to show the pleating across the front of my bodice. I had both a corded petticoat and a tiered ruffled petticoat on under my skirt but the ruffled one is kind of limp so I think it needs a stiffer fabric than the one I used. But I still had a nice fullness to my skirt. I wore my watch chain and pocket watch with it stuck under my belt. During this time period I haven’t found any evidence of the ladies having a pocket but mine kept sliding down past my belt. So I think I’m going to do one of my famous “fudgies” and put a little pocket on the backside of my belt to slip it into.

Being inside the tent, a smaller venue than the previous auditorium, there wasn’t any space for all of us to come out at the end of the show for people to take photos of us. So we went outside and lined up for them. When they came out, cameras began popping up, and many came running over to take closer looks at the details. I think everyone enjoyed that! The cars in the background weren’t so great but all the greenery was.

This is from Saturday.

And these are from Sunday’s show. 

This is one of my favorite souvenirs from the festival. A young lady apparently was sitting across the walkway while my friend April and I were seated on a bench for a while. She came over and showed us this quickly drawn ink sketch she’d done of us. I asked if I could buy it from her so here is my favorite “photo”. I hope she continues with this idea because I think it would be a wonderful addition to this event and to any costumer’s album. 

*Josephine Roberts/ website- http://4hireart.com/  and on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/4hireart 

                                                                                ~~Val~~

A Squirrel Report

For those of you not familiar with the term "Squirrel", it's used in describing as being sidetracked by all things pretty. My husband has even called me Squirrel a few times, so either I'm that bad, or I can consider it a Badge of Honor.

I continued working steadily on my Cranberry 1830s Project, and once that was to a point where I knew I could comfortably have it ready in time for an upcoming fashion show, I was able to start on my other two 1830s gowns. And herein lays the Squirrel. I normally refer to it as my Assembly Line Sewing, aka, cutting out 2 or more gowns from one pattern; sewing parts of them all at the same time; and doing all the easy mindless parts (like the plain ole skirts) all in one sitting.  If it's a hard-to-do part, by the time the 2nd or 3rd round comes up, I have all the bugs worked out and I know it's ingrained in my brain now.
So the Cranberry in theory was done except for the hem and belt.

 

It was really hard to decide which of the other two I wanted to do next, the Persimmon, or the newly named, Midnight Mourning. Since I wanted to wear Persimmon in the same fashion show as Cranberry, it won. The silk taffeta was harder to pleat than the cotton one but after lots of fiddling I finally got them to be smooth across the front. 

Although now that I've laid the piece of antique lace across the front that I'm using, I wonder why I was so worried. But at least it will look good, especially if I wear it without the lace sometimes.  

It was then that we discovered our computers had been infected with a very nasty malware called spigot, and all three were taken away to be cleaned out, including our wallets. 

This could have been a good thing because then I could sew more instead of spending so much time on my computer. I spent all day sewing piping for my bodice which went on the neckline, armseye, waist, and cuffs. I pulled out the skirts for both Persimmon and Midnight and sewed those up. The next morning I woke up with a screaming spasm in my back shoulder blade. I spent two days whimpering and whining, hardly being able to move. I had some hand sewing I could do on these so I spent time with my heating pad and watched marathons of Ghost Adventures. By the end of the second day I was able to stand and cut out one of those chemises I needed, but found out my 45" inch cotton had shrunk so much it was only 37" wide and I was only able to cut one chemise out of it. Arggh! 

Just because I can't physically sew doesn't mean the Squirrel in me isn't at work. So now I'm staring at my black dotted Swiss cotton for Midnight, and dreaming about what it will look like. Something like this! 

It won't have the big balloon sleeves because I'm doing the later 1837 style. But look at the trim used along the edges of the neckline, and down the center front. I have a long chain with pocket watch like she has and the belt buckle. I'd love to do that hair but I doubt I can find a wig that would do it justice, so I've ordered a straw bonnet form from Timely Tresses, and will cover it in black silk taffeta. I do have some cute little curls that I can wear under it though. 

So here on my third day of recovery, and having gotten our computers back, I'm in business again. I still have to limit my time at the sewing machine but do have my pleats pinned in the black bodice, and it's hook and eye tape is in. Which finally after doing it a third time, I got it! 

This photo was taken using my flash since black doesn't show up very well, and what can you say about black? It's black, but I think once I have the trim sewn on, possibly velvet ribbon, and a belt with buckle, it will shine.