History Alive 2018

In the Queensland Re-Enactment World, June heralds the annual event History Alive. I have been attending for a number of years with my group RIFF (Re-enacting Independently For Fun) and this year was no different. We play part of a massive two-day timeline event. Our group is an open period group, so we can do any periods that we choose.

Our longest running period is Regency, and this year we again dug out our Regency kits to spend the Saturday of the event dressed in our 1800s finery. We pass the day with handcraft activities, card and letter games, picnic luncheon and picnic games. It’s a pretty relaxing way to spend the day and the weather was just beautiful for it. This time, I wore my Yellow Gingham Muslin transitional dress. I’ve only worn this dress once previously so it was lovely to be out and about in it again.

For the Sunday of History Alive, our group jumped forward about 90 years in time to the 1890s where we portrayed Queensland Suffragettes, marching and petitioning for the vote. Our set up is an information stand with a petition. There were a number of petitions put forward to the Queensland Government in the 1890s, so I recreated one for members of the public to sign up and help us win the vote. It was actually wonderful how many young children came up to say that they had been learning about Queensland Suffragettes in school. It’s not something that I ever learnt about in my schooling days so it’s quite marvellous that this piece of history has made it into our schooling system. But this was the last year that we plan to do Suffragettes. Thankfully the costumes were simple this year – I just had to open up my costume tubs and pull out my skirt, blouse and hat. Unfortunately I took along the wrong set of stays so it was quite a challenge to lace my waist down enough to fit the skirt. It’s amazing how a different shaped corset can make the difference in your costume fitting or not.

I am looking forward to History Alive next year, I’m planning to convince the rest of my group to try out a new time period. We have somewhat discussed it, but it is high time. It gets a bit stale doing the same thing year in and year out. I enjoy the research part of re-enactment and tackling a new period gives us the opportunity to try new things and to make our display more interesting to the attending members of public.

Suffragettes at History Alive

Once again, June brought to us that annual Re-enactment event at the historic Fort Lytton in Brisbane, History Alive. For those who don’t know, History Alive is a timeline event run by the re-enactment community in Queensland. We all collaborate to put on period displays and encampments for the public for one weekend each year. This year, unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse and we were rained out on Sunday and sent home amidst the bursts of showers. There was three inches of water pooling through the eating area, the fields had turned to slush and the entry roads became slippery mud puddles.

But despite the wet turn of the weekend, Saturday was a beautiful sunshiny warm day. I was re-enacting with my group RIFF (Re-Enacting Independently For Fun). I started out the morning with three of my fellow members dressed as Queensland Suffragettes from the 1890s. We greeted the public at the gates, asking them to join the cause before proceeding to march the grounds with the call “Votes For Women”.  (PS: I'm the blonde one below)

By midday, we had switched back 100 years to the regency period and joined the remaining members of our group for a picnic lunch and games. 

I had a wonderful weekend, event though we were only able to participate for the one day, but there will always be other opportunities to get the kit out and spend time in our costumes. I thankfully was able to re-wear my costumes this time, but there were a couple things that I did have to make in the lead up - two regency petticoats (as I tore my old one last year), one tablecloth (it always gets dirty on the first day), 1890s blouse (the one I wore last year is actually a 1900s style one). But I'm incredibly pleased with how the blouse looked - it was a fabric grab from my stash and butchering two patterns to get something with the correct shape and seamlines for the period. Let's just hope that when next year comes around I am a bit more organised and don't have to make anything new the weekend before. 

Time for Tea - Regency Style

Gosh, time really flies when you are busy. And that’s what I have been. So busy that I have become a bit lax in my blogging over the last month, and it’s about time that I played catch-up. First up, early in November, I attended a Regency tea hosted at the home of a fellow re-enactor and costumer. She invited us over to enjoy tea and put on a spread of food using recipes collected from cookbooks of the period (of course, taking into account our various food intolerances). It was lovely to try out some of her period baking creations. It really makes me want to have a crack at some of my own historical cookbooks.

Unfortunately, the day turned out to be one of the hottest days in November. Not really a surprise given that we live in sunny Queensland. But this day, the humidity was right up and the heat was cooking us all. You would think that given how flimsy regency gowns look that we would be cool enough. Unfortunately you never really consider the layers that go into regency - chemise, stays (made of a 3 – 4 layers of fabric), petticoat, gown (lined). And even though they are all natural fibres, it can still be quite warm. We spent quite some time fanning ourselves and sipping cold water as we wandered the shady gardens of her home.

For the occasion, I decided to finish my new regency stays – created from Jill Saleen’s book Corsets. I made the 1790s transitional stays. I don’t have any photos of them worn as they are VERY low cut at the bust. In fact they don’t really cover much at all, but they do provide the correct support for the new gown that I made. Earlier this year, I was gifted a chunk of yellow gingham muslin which I just knew would be perfect for a Regency gown. I decided to use a pattern that I had made previously but with a couple alterations (buttons and elbow length sleeves). I love how soft and pretty this gown has come out. The only disappointment I have is that the bonnets I currently have don’t really match too well, so there might be a new bonnet in my future to really make the outfit pop (yellow?).