Jane Austen Festival 2010 Day #2

Day two of the Jane Austen Festival dawned and we all crawled out of bed to start getting ready. Thankfully day wear usually involves a hat of some sort, so the hair tends to be very simple buns, but the hot rollers were still pulled out and fastened into place. The iron was turned on as we slipped out of our modern PJs and into our chemises, stockings and stays. A quick press to remove the worst of the crushing (hotel irons tend to be a little lacking in the quality department), some primping in front of the mirror and we were ready to head out to the church for our day of workshops and tutorials.
Donna looked lovely in her brown cotton gown and linen spencer, G was adorable as always and quite stole the hearts of some of the ladies, and Kerry in her cotton gown with detachable sleeves, while I donned my white cotton gown and bonnet and the new robe that goes over it. The comments of the day ended up with the description "Grecian" and "nautical". It makes sense really as the fashion plate that I was inspired by had the young girl positioned by the water. I think that is what appealed to me about it. I was very happy with it though, and of course I love the tassels. I must have been a cat in another life, 'cause I just adore playing with my tassels.

I started my day with learning how to tie a turban. It's quite simple and just requires a bit of practice and a similar amount of luck and dexterity to get something that looks quite presentable. They are great though, in that if trying to do a hairstyle and failing or having very short hair, it is quite easy to simply hide it all. I am thinking though, that I would like to make an outfit of some sort in the future and work a contrasting turban into the look. I have seen some very inspiring fashion plates around with turbans involved. After lunch, we tried the waltzing class, where I discovered that I really have a natural ability to screw up the waltz. As soon as the twirling starts, I step wrong and stuff it all up. Maybe it was because I was trying to learn with someone inexperience though. It bears consideration, because I have waltzed quite creditably with Kerry before.

We finished the afternoon with a class on all the layers of a female regency dress (most of which I was actually wearing at the time). And a talk on Jane Austen's Craft, which was done by the lady who actually wrote the book (I have seen it available around the place - ie Big W). I am not quite considering getting the book to add to my collection because there looks to be some very neat crafts in there. Donna was particularly taken with netting (you can make little coin purses) while I simply adored the tambour work and can definitely see me working something up in the future.

My photos of the day (including the trendy turban workshop) ...