Party like a hobbit

It was quite the eventful weekend for me. I spent Saturday cracking onto all my sewing and uni work, making a lot of progress. But the next thing on the list was my attendance at a Tolkein themed 21st Birthday Party for a fellow member of the Australian Costumers Guild. The party organisers (the Birthday Girl's mum) put on an amazing spread of food for the big day. I had a great time with my fellow costume buddies and meeting a couple of other people dressed up. I did feel a little sad for the birthday girl as so few of her other friends had gone to the effort to dress up, but I am glad that the ladies of the ACG made the effort.

I made the trip over with my cousin who was dressed as Tauriel from the latest Hobbit movie. We made such good time with traffic that we were early, so we decided to spend our time snapping a few shots. It was a warm day, but the giant industrial fan came in handy for a few photos. Later on we were joined by a few more ACG members, dressed as the most adorable hobbits, hairy feet included. And our birthday girl was dressed as traditional Galadriel.

For the occasion, I decided to make up spelled Galadriel from Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. For those not in the know, it's a costume that is in the film for all of 15seconds, when Frodo offers the ring to Galadriel and she turns all grey and evil for a split second. I'm not a fan of medieval fashion which is what so much of Lord of the Rings is based on, so I really struggled over my choice. In the end, I am really glad that I decided to go down this route. It gave me experience in working with making costume armour (tutorial to come soon) which I plan to use in the future. And I was so pleased with both my lace front wig and my latex elf ears. I am really looking forward to wearing this one again.

Vintage Fashion Time

It's been quite a while since I last went to a vintage fair, so when a discount coupon arrived in my inbox, I decided it was high time that I made the effort again. And I managed to convince a couple of my friends to make the trip with me.

So, on Friday evening, I got all frocked up in my 1930s dress and victory rolls, picked up my girls from work and made the trip over to Mount Gravatt. I was actually quite restrained and didn't buy anything for myself this time, but it was still lovely to wander around and check out all the amazing clothing (that will never fit me) and beautiful hats.

One thing that I like about this particular vintage fair is that they always put together an exhibition of some sort. This time, it was 1940s wartime fashions:

Before we headed home for the day, we made a stop off at the tearoom for a spot of tea and cake. There were also a few vintage magazines on the tables for our viewing and giggling pleasure.

ANZAC Exhibit

Last Friday night, the ACG were invited along to the opening of a museum exhibit at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum. A friend of ours, Michael, has a quite specific interest in NewZealand and Australian military history and quite a collection of items which were featured in the exhibition. For those not in the know ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Armed Corps and is the name of the forces involved in the wars during the Victorian period, especially during World Wars One and Two. 

Aussies have been involved in many wars over time from the Napoleonic Wars, throughout the American Civil War and conflicts in New Zealand. Apparently there is a very strong tradition of Australians and New Zealanders working together. Facts which were discussed during the opening speeches. I was quite fascinated to learn new facts. I took some photos of the very impressive display which included very rare period uniforms. 

The ACG in particular was invited along to provide a bit ambiance. We wandered around in our costumes ranging from 1850s - 1870s providing colour and chatting to the attendees about how fashion changed over the periods of time. I had a lovely evening and it was nice to be able to pull out one of my existing costumes. 

I say existing, but I did make a couple of changes since I last wore this one. When I originally made this bodice, it was too big in the shoulders. I have since taken it in. I also took off the original trimming and then reapplied it with some new trimming to give a different look. I'm still not sure if I like the bodice though. I think the should straps might be a bit too narrow and the bodice a bit too low at the bust. There's just an awful lot of shoulder on show. The other change I made was to remove the sewn in apron on the underskirt - it allows for all the lovely ruffles to show through the white chiffon. 

My biggest problem though is that my costume shrunk in the wardrobe. ;) Unfortunately it meant that I had to lace into my corset a little tighter than I would have liked and was a bit uncomfortable for the evening. I am now trying to remedy the problem.