A Victorian Birthday Bash

Back in July, I attended a rather significant Birthday Party for one of my re-enactment / costume friends. She had decided to host a Victorian Tea Party.

The day was filled with sweets and savouries, tea and punch, chatting and croquet. We all had a splendid time and it was lovely to see friends that I hadn't seen for some time. And everyone looked beautiful. We all pulled out the stops and dressed up in our victorian bustle finery for the day. Oh and in case you are wondering, the red tartan bustle is indeed mine (I loaned it to the lovely Christine to wear for the day as she hadn't been able to make something in time).

The croquet battle begins...

For the occasion, I finally finished my late 1860s Bustle. The bodice design and hat come one of my Frances Grimble pattern books. The skirt is of my own drafting, while the apron is butchered from a Truly Victorian pattern. The beauty of this whole outfit is that it was made entirely from stash fabric. The main floral fabric was originally an 1830s day gown that I made a few years back. I hated how the dress looked on but I loved the fabric so much I wanted to re-use it. I pulled the dress apart and it sat there for a few more years until I finally decided what to do with it. I had enough fabric for a bodice, apron and skirt trimmings.

And boy did I go to town on the trimmings this time. The skirt has a pleated trim, and then a gathered rouche (which is straight off the old 1830s dress) with bias trimmings. The skirt is made from a soft hailspot white rayon, which I also carried throughout the costume for it's trimmings. The apron is trimmed with the same pleating from the skirt, blue velvet ribbon, tiny lace and silk ribbon bows. And it's all carried through to the bodice with lace sleeve ruffles, tiny lace trimmings, velvet ribbon and more silk ribbon. I also took the time to make a balayeuse (or dust ruffle) for my skirt. It was the first time making one, but I will definitely be doing them for my trained dresses in future. This one is made of scrap cotton with scrap cotton ruffles and a bit of scrap laces. It's quite pretty but it is also functional. It helps keep the train of my dress out beautifully, and it simply buttons on so. It worked a charm and just went straight into the washing machine saving my skirt from any dirt.

Now, I don't have any close up photos of the costume worn. At the time, I was about 4 days out of dental surgery. I had all four of my wisdom teeth out at once and puffed up big time. There was even some charming yellow bruising going on. Needless to say, I couldn't eat anything at the party, but it was still lovely to socialise. (I'm in the first photo on the very end). But I will definitely be getting some photos the next time I wear this.

Christmas Carolling in Ipswich

Christmas Carolers. On Saturday afternoon, I traipsed my way over to Bec's parents house in Ipswich so that we could go to the Ipswich Christmas Carols. And of course, we were wearing our Christmasy crinolines. We were a little worried earlier in the day because of the heat and then the rain that came over but we were lucky. I had a nice cold shower and dressed slowly in the air-con. I didn't lace in as tightly as I normally would either so that I was less likely to pass out from heat exhaustion and restrictive breathing.

But the main event of our evening was handing out candy canes to the children. Though, next year we are thinking we might hit up the Brisbane Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols.

I am actually really happy with how everything came together. The skirt, blouse, sash and bonnet I had already worn at Proclamation Day at Newstead House. But this time I had my capette (also made out of the green velveteen and lined with the skirt tartan) and my basket. I spent about an hour hot gluing bits and pieces onto an old basket that I found on top of the cupboard in the sewing room. I put the white lace trim and white velvet ribbon around the edge and then added the berries that Bec found and the leftover flowers from my bonnet. I also lined the bottom of the basket with a bit of my tartan fabric. (Gee that really went a long way). But more to the point, photos... (the top one is my ruffled petticoat over my crinoline - so happy with how it is sitting now that I tightened the ties and added a bum pad).

Proclamation Day Part 2

Now, as I mentioned in my previous post, Wednesday night was the Proclamation Day celebration at Newstead House. After dressing at work and squeezing into a Taxi, Bec and I made our way over to meet up with Erin and her family. We took a bunch of photos and received a lot of compliments for our outfits. Then we were alowed inside the house, and I have to say WOW. What a stunningly beautiful home, and best of all the let us into the roped off sections for some photos with a professional photographer.

Overall I had a great time. The weather was beautiful with a nice cool breeze (great when you are wearing a heap of layers). I am really looking forward to our next events. And I am really happy with how my outfit turned out. I even got a compliment from the daughter of a milliner about my bonnet. A huge compliment, but I wouldn't want her to look too closely. I am looking forward to going again next year. And it was fabulous to have a christmassy outfit to go along with it.

Proclamation Day Part 1

I am starting to get very excited about tomorrow. I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, and tomorrow I am going to the Proclamation Day event at Newstead House. Basically it celebrates 149 years since Queensland separated from the rest of Australia. So, I have been busily working on a partially new outfit to wear. Bec and I decided that we each wanted a Christmasy Crinoline outfit. So far, I have made a tartan skirt to go over my elliptical cage, replaced the purple cuffs on my garibaldi blouse with white cuffs, made a matching reticule / bag and started work on a bonnet. I have also made a capette to wear on Saturday to the carolling out at Ipswich, but I want to save that. At this stage everything is pressed, hung and ready to go, though I will need to get out a heap of stuff tonight that I will be taking to work with me tomorrow. All I need to do now to finish it off is decorate my bonnet. Last night I finished gluing in the lining, so I just have to put the flowers and bows on it. Huge relief that I am not left right to the very last minute, so it makes for a stress-free evening tonight. And I promise that I will post up photos of the day and our new outfits.

Twilight Tea

Sorry these have taken so long to get up, but I have actually been working on our Queensland ACG DVD. If I haven't mentioned this, I borrowed my brother's macbook and have started working on a DVD which is made up of slideshows from the photos of all our costuming events etc. this year. I really didn't realise how many there were until I started listing them out, though I am happy with how it is coming along, though, I am thinking that when I do it up next year, I will start it early and then just add on to it after every event. At least that way, I will not be trying to get it all done in one hit and it will hopefully be easier and less time consuming.
But back to the reason for this post… Last weekend (Sunday to be exact) a bunch of us went down to a small town called Legume (just south of the Queensland border) for a Twilight Tea, hosted by a fellow that we met at a couple of the events we attended this year. We rolled up, (a bit late due to the way we went) dressed in our crinolines and were presented to the audience and interviewed about our outfits. But onto the photos that I managed to get. Granted there aren't that many, but I do like the ones that I got.