By the sea in 2020

In all the hullaballoo over COVID-19 last year, I completely forgot to post about the one other costume that I did indeed make. My cousin invited me along to an outing by the seaside mid-year. Many of my old costumes don’t fit anymore so I was at a loss as to what I could wear. Inspiration hit me and I decided to make a new ensemble. I went with a Regency outfit as I figured it’s something that I will get the most wear out of (it’s the period I do the most with me re-enactment group).

I was determined to make everything completely out of stash fabric, so I went through my collection to see what I could find. I settled on a soft liberty cotton in a blue and green plaid print for the gown. It’s a beautiful fabric with a very soft finish and sheen – perfect for Regency. I hunted around on the net to find a design that I liked. I ended up choosing to reproduce a museum gown that is very adjustable in fit (great when you have weight-loss aspirations). I threw together a pattern, mocked it up and made my adjustments before cutting my beautiful fabric.

 

Now, a Regency ensemble isn’t complete without some accoutrements. I again headed to the stash to see what I had to hand. Some green cotton velveteen that I had purchased for another project and turned out to be the wrong colour provided the perfect match to set off my outfit. Yes to the cotton because despite it being winter in Australia, it’s not especially cold here and I like my gowns to breathe. I drafted up new spencer, reticule, and bonnet patterns to get the ball rolling. Somehow I managed to get everything made in time for the weekend outing.

 

We spent some time taking pics by the shore. 

 

And some bonus shots and a link to the original gown I based my design on:

https://www.thejohnbrightcollection.co.uk/costume/dress-06/ 

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. 

Regency Bust Support

Next on the agenda was preparing for History Alive (my major annual re-enactment event) in early June. While I thought I still had everything together from last year, about six weeks out from the date, I realised that the stays I have been using for the previous years are no longer suitable. They no longer fit well - too small in the bust. But that's not so surprising given that I made them in 2011 and have changed shape quite a bit since then.

For these, I simply upsized the existing pattern. Giving myself a little more room in side seams and adding bigger bust gussets. I also added a bit more boning for bust support this time. They went together quite quickly aside from the eyelets, which need to be hand-sewn.

But it was well worth the work. They give a great period shape and provide a good about of support for my now E-F cups.

History Alive - Regency

History Alive. It’s the focus for so many Queensland costumers who have joined in with the fun of re-enactment. I myself am one such costumer. I’m a member of RIFF (Re-enacting Independently for Fun). So this year, I will show you around the RIFF encampment and what we do at History Alive.

History Alive is a timeline event that showcases many different periods from the re-enactment community across Queensland. As an open period group, RIFF portrays a number of different eras. This year we tackled two different times over the two days of the event. 

First off, we started with the Regency period. (1795—1825). We are set up for the day with a number of tents and a shade shelter. We start out our day with a breakfast buffet at 10am (as would be done in the period). After we’ve assuaged our hunger, we settle in for the day with some genteel pursuits—games, sewing, sketching, reading and promenading. It makes for quite the relaxing day.

And once the public head off for the afternoon, the re-enactors relax for the evening - to a lovely sunset. Stay tuned for day two when we jump forward a 100 years in time...