elizabeth_mn

I did end up staying up last night for hours past my usual bedtime, sewing The Girl's dress. It was totally worth it, and it's looking adorable. Just one little bit left to sew: stitching the lining down inside the waist seam.

The pattern is the Mill Farm Child's Gown which has gone together really easily and looks super cute. I made it from an Indian block-printed tablecloth from Ten Thousand Villages which I have had in the stash for ages. It turned out to be just the right size for a 4/5 size gown with a little left over. She has tried it on a few times for fittings and I just about died of the cute.

She's got a small neckerchief and her coral beads to wear with it. I thought about an apron, but I am out of time. I do want to sew caps, though. Today my HB is at home (school's out!) and I have a few hours. F will get a cap and hopefully so will I. No fancy hand-rolled hems, here, though. Machine stitching and a little hand finishing only.

Our event is tomorrow, a picnic at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a big garden outside the city, with an open eighteenth century theme. Rain is predicted. I have been mopey all week as the forecast gets worse and worse.

Best case scenario: the rain holds off during the early afternoon hours. Second best: light showers, we can hide indoors at their lovely little cafe, and if the rain clears a little we can do a quick tour of some of the gardens. Worst case: it's pouring down buckets and nobody even wants to leave the house. If that happens, I will invite everyone over here, but it would mean having to clean the house very quickly (at least the living room!).

I am encouraged by the number of RSVPs we have gotten. Seriously, if 2 or 3 other people come, I will be thrilled. My family group will be four (me, Girl, Man, and Lainey) and six would be a pretty decent number for an event like this in my area. Hopefully everybody who has RSVP'd will come!

We ended up going to the ball despite my lingering cough. I brought a handful of throat drops and just hoped for the best. Overall, I did okay. Five dances is an acceptable minimum!

As usual, I am terrible about taking event photos. I will keep my eye on the group facebook page and hopefully some will turn up. I need to promise myself to make a bigger reticule that actually fits a camera! But here is one from home. I wore the pink cupcake dress again.

ball (6)

I did end up getting it together enough to make my HB's new tailcoat. Now he finally has somewhat proper evening wear!

tailcoat 009

( More about the Coat Adventure )

The other new thing is my hairdo. I’ve been unsatisfied with bustle era hair for a while. People kept telling me “Just put it a little higher,” and it took me until now to realize that “higher” means literally ON TOP of your head, like the tippy-top-top. So I tried, and it worked out much better!

I took these when we got home, so it had slid a bit, but still not bad!

hairdo (4)

( More hairdo shots )

We had the opportunity to attend a costumed barn dance yesterday. This was an event organized by the Living History Society, a local group that does 1860s/Civil War era events.

First we will skip right to the cute: this horse swing they had out by the barn was definitely a favorite activity of the day for my little one!

barn dance 004

( More! More! )

Yesterday we made a totally spontaneous decision to go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. It was the last day of the season, our timing wasn't great, and I was fighting off a minor cold, but the weather was beautiful and I couldn't resist.

The part about the timing came to bite us when we spent over 2 hours in traffic getting there, when it takes 45 minutes if you leave the Cities at 8:00 am. Note to self: Yes, it really was worth it waking up at the crack of dawn for all these years!

Taking F out there is so much more fun now that she is 4. It's only her 2nd year there, but I think she enjoyed it even more. She was SO EXCITED that there was a ride. It was butterfly swings for small people.

ren fest 2013 (9)

I LOVED the fact that there was a guy pushing this thing to make it go. He was so nice to all the kids, too.

The Herpetological Society has a great setup out there every year. We saw cute turtles and petted some snakes.

ren fest 2013 (5)

( More!! )

So glad we went!

This is the rainiest June ever here. Today was supposed to be Victorian Picnic Day, but it's much too wet, even if we hide in the picnic shelters.

So we're changing plans to a conservatory tour and tea. I think we might try to drop by Lady Elegant's tea room, but without reservations, who knows if we'll get in. I might ask people over here, but if so I'll need to do some last-minute cleaning before we leave.

I just hope the rain lets up long enough to run from the car to the conservatory. At this point all I want is to stay dry, get a photo of my girl in her dress, and have some pleasant conversation.

So the meeting last night with the costume group went really well! It was pretty much everything I wanted to do with the TCCG, but I think we can actually make it work this time. SO much easier trying to instigate change from inside an existing group than to start up from scratch.

We all agreed to keep the structure limited, and that a board and elections and bylaws and constant business meetings were just a waste of time. Mostly we discussed what events to have and when to have them. Most of the people in the room had experience planning events and we all know the rule about choosing a date: you can try to find consensus, but at some point you just have to choose and stick with it. And whatever date you choose, SOMEONE won't be able to come, and that's just how it goes.

So, the events we've created for the next year's calendar:

June 9, 2013 (yes this is just a little over a week from now); Victorian Picnic. Yeah, I really wanted it to be 18th century this time, but then I'd have been on my own because nobody else currently has an 18th c getup.

Sometime in June: La Boheme in the park, performed by the MN Opera. I am vague on the details for this one because I am not an opera fan and I'm skipping it.

Sept. 14, 2013: Regency Soiree. Probably an intimate house party. This is on the calendar partly to tie in with the next thing. . .

Nov. 23, 2013: Ball at Netherfield. I would never miss a ball! Still, Regency is still not quite my period, so I'm going to try to make one dress do for both events.

Jan. 11, 2014: Winter Ball. This is the group's big annual event. During years where participation was low and not many events were happening, this is still the one they have always held. It's looking like the Twelfth Night at Balmoral Castle theme is out in favor of a Winter Masquerade.

March 22, 2014: 1880s Ceili. This is one of mine - I've been wanting to host an Irish ceili dance in the 1880s style, reflecting somewhat on the immigrant experience here and also just as a chance to let our hair down and have a dance that is less formal.

June 15, 2014: 18th Century Picnic. I proposed keeping the second weekend in June our annual picnic date, with a rotating theme. I hope this one is planned far enough out that folks will make things to wear!

I am so excited to finally have all these plans in the works!! Exciting costume stuff is happening in MY city! I know we don't have anywhere near the kind of numbers that some other groups have, but I no longer have to feel like EVERYTHING cool is going on somewhere else.

p.s. I plan to take over the old TC Costumers LJ space to adverttise Historic Recreation Society events. Or if you want the real deal, the group's facebook page has more info and contacts.

The ball was fantastic as usual!

The best photos were, of course, taken at home by the babysitter before we left. The ball is candlelit and always too dim for a good photo without a major flash.

There were a good number of figure dances, and my HB and I are getting a little more confident about couple dancing, so that was nice, too.

undycat's husband danced a lovely schottiche with me as well.

I am really a terribly shy person, but I've become well enough acquainted with several of the group members to make light conversation. I spoke with the organizer about the events I would like to coordinate for 2013.

About the dress: I spent about 2.5 hours in the sewing room the day of the ball, doing the last little bits. It was difficult for me to tack the pleats at the top of the bodice tails properly, since a slight variation in the angle totally changed the way the tails hung. It was easier after applying the lower bows, since the weight helped the tails to hang properly. I am seriously in love with the bows. I used leftover white silk taffeta and green floral ribbon from which I removed the wire, then cut 6" pieces and tacked the loops to a small circle of interfacing.

I felt very floral next to all the bling on the other ladies. Everybody was in beads and glitter and jewels. The only jewelry I wore was small pearl bead earrings.

I am not convinced about the lace at the neckline. It felt thick and clunky when I was hoping for something more elegant. I may replace it at some point. I LOVE the skirt, though, especially the tabs. I can't believe I almost skipped them. The tabs are cut from 6.5" strips of teh pressed satin tubes and the top edge is finished with a length of 1/2" rayon grosgrain ribbon.

Overall, I felt not entirely unlike a giant frosted cupcake at 6-year-old's birthday party, but not completely in a bad way.

Side view in the basement dining room at the hall, the only place with electric lights on.

I spent about an hour on my hair, and totally failed to recreat this. I went with plan B, which was almost as good, but the shape was a little too doorknobby. The curls looked great, though!

I just put my Costume College 2013 registration forms in the mail!

Well, we all survived. It was slightly overcast all morning with sun breaking through around noon. It was about 50 F, which means that my fingers and nose were chilly but with all the layers the rest of my body was warm. I really bundled F up under her costume, so I think she stayed pretty warm too.

I was really proud of F all day, this was her first festival, and she walked all day, and didn’t even want me to pick her up much at all. It was great not to have to drag a stroller around out there. She really liked the music and dancing, and she spent the entire belly dancers’ show running around with them on the manor green. It was harder for her with the shows on more delineated stages, because she couldn’t climb up on stage with the performers.

( More photos )

I met a group of folks I used to dance with (that one year I worked at the festival, um. . . 2005?) and one had a son just F’s age, so they spent some time playing together, which was nice. She also talked to an older girl for a while, a daughter of one of the belly dancers, which was sweet.

We had a couple minor meltdowns involving the swing ride and the expensive hand-painted doll she wanted to take home that I said no to, but it was around 1:30, just before we left, so I will chalk it up to tiredness. Four hours is a long time for a little 3 year old to walk around in a crowd.

Also, we were not allowed to sit down. F got hysterical if we tried to. I didn’t mind standing all day, so I let her have that one to avoid fuss.

Everyone loved her costume and she got tons of compliments. I loved the dress; I thought she looked perfectly adorable all day. The coif was pure genius, I think. It kept her warm and gave a nice authentic touch to what might have been an otherwise kind of generic faire costume.

I didn't get great shots of HB's costume or Lainey's either, but she has some photos that I hope she'll share with me soon! I'll probably make separate posts in the next couple days to record all the costume details.

Despite the bumps, I think we all had a great time, and it was so worth it. I am really glad we waited until she was old enough to walk all day on her own and enjoy it. My only regret is that I don’t have more photos of F and me together. Sometimes it seems like everybody other than me has a photo of themselves with my child, and I just want more tangible evidence that I am the mom!

For real this time. Everything is done.

Today I did the hand finishing on the armscyes and a few other little spots on L's dress, so it is done. It's red linen with black grosgrain ribbon trim, and I know I should really share a photo already, but take my word for it, it looks gorgeous! The trim really made it come alive. I had her take home the shift and petticoat bodies the other day because I was just sick of looking at them.

The Girl's last piece was her shift. I made it pretty costumey, though I won't say totally costumey because at least I didn't use elastic. It's cute and blousy and it fits.

I also just (like 10 minutes ago) whipped up a little coif for her. I used the Tudor Tailor diagram and made it the same lawn as her shift on the outside, with white cotton flannel on the inside. The weather forecast has now been upgraded to a high of 56 F and sunny, but I am still worried about her getting cold. I think the coif will help a lot and she'll still be in period.

The only thing left is to go shopping. F needs tights and I need stockings!

If anyone else is planning to be at the MN ren fair this Saturday, do say hello! (I'll be wearing this, but you can also recognize me by having the cutest little 3-year-old ever.)

Victory! All the ren fest costumes for this year are nearly done.

All the machine work is finished, and I just have a little hand finishing (armscyes, etc.) on L's dress.

We're planning to go this weekend. The forecast looks like the weather will be FUH-REEEZING! But hopefully long underwear for everyone will help.

The ball was lovely! I had such a good time. Plenty of figure dances and not too much waltzing. Plus they decided to skip the formal sit-down dinner with wait service and instead had a lovely buffet spread that one could take a plate from at leisure. I like that much better. A long dull dinner is not my style. I'd rather be dancing!

Photos are as expected; it's candlelit and dark and my camera sucks in low light, plus I am usually not very good at remembering to take photos if I am having fun. I didn't get ANY of anyone else, but there were many lovely dresses to be seen. The ball's theme was 1860s at Balmoral Castle, so many ladies were in hoops and there was a lovely couple portraying Victoria and Albert.

Anyway, here's one our babysitter took at home before we left and one taken by an obliging ballgoer.

These are our wedding clothes, which are starting to show signs of wear but still have a few good years left in them. I originally wore this dress over my Truly Victorian bustle, but last night I wore it over my lobster bustle. I always meant to make an evening bodice to go with this - in fact I have one made but for sleeves, sitting in the closet - but never really got around to it and I like the day bodice quite enough, even if not perfectly appropriate. HB wears his day suit as well, because he doesn't like the look of the evening suit.

My hair is done very simply: a half-up wound into a bun, the lower part braided and wrapped around the bun. I've heard this called a 'cameo bun.' I would love to learn how to do real ball hair sometime, but this felt secure and looked nice enough. It also felt good to use just my own hair. Yes, I am vain about my hair.

I think the newly (re)formed Society is a success and I am eager to do more events with them!

The DFWCG picnic was awesome! So worth the minor trouble of lugging all the costumes all that way. We had a lovely afternoon. I was so glad to be able to meet so many amazing people, especially those I’ve been LJ-friends with for years:

jenthompson and

christylee. I also got to meet

nuranar and I know a few more people I met there are on LJ, but I didn't catch anybody else's username.

photo from Jenthompson.

My photos for the event are here. I’ve got more, but I got sick of uploading. My hubby took most of these.

LJ is being stupid and not doing cuts today so I'm going to try to shove everything else under( one giant cut )

I'm so eager to see everyone else's photos!

We didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked, because of the Girl's naptime and all that, but we had a lot of fun anyway.

I'll probably do a couple separate posts tomorrow about the dresses and how I made them, but for now, a few photos of

undycat and I picnicking (with our families).

Looks like Pink Stripes was the theme of the day!

( More!! )

I am happy to report that I finished sewing everything on time. I spent a leisurely afternoon yesterday sewing hooks & eyes and doing the other little handwork while F hung out with me, listening to music and coloring with crayons.

I dorked around a little with her hat yesterday, too, but it was looking stupid so I abandoned it. She can wear her modern sun hat.

I do have one more thing to do (besides packing my picnic): sew a button on the World's Cutest Last-Minute Bib. That is all.

I delivered the new dance costumes at last weekend's practice. It's nice to have them done, but they really didn't feel as burdensome as the last set. Of course, there were only 5 pieces this time as opposed to last time's 33. Good news: our one male dancer asked us if he should wear his kilt for the performance. Obvy, we all said of course! He's got a shirt and vest now that matches our dresses, and with a black kilt, he'll be dapper.

katriniac got us a gig performing in her hometown of Maple Lake this weekend. I'm anticipating chilly (we're performing outdoors) but fun.

Unrelatedly, everybody seems to be talking about Costume College. Sigh. I had really, finally promised myself that this was the year I would go, but my. . um, family situation has prevented that. Oh well. I don't suppose Costume College will stop happening any time soon, and there's always next year or the year after. The best bonus I have for this is family living in L.A. that I can stay with.

I saw that

bustlearound had posted about this. . .

New Truly Victorian bustle coat

Rather tempting to make for the upcoming TCCG Victorian ice skating event!!

My HB and I both forgot to take our cameras to the dance, so I only have a few pictures of my dress from just before we left, and I was in such a hurry to go, I didn't notice my tail was so crooked until we got there. (And for some reason, my man didn't say anything while he was taking the photos.) But you get the idea!

( The crooked-tailed back )

Even more unfortunately, the only picture I have of the front is this super dorky one where I am making a funny face and giving my HB a thumbs-up.

( dorkiness & wing detail )

I hope that some of the other folks who were there with cameras have some pictures thay can share with me! (hint, hint) Actually, the more I look at these, the more I think I just need to get dressed up again and take some better photos, with me paying more attention, and in daylight.

The dance was great fun. We had a good turnout and I think everyone had a good time. Yay!

Yay! It's Halloween!

Finished the stupid bodice yesterday afternoon. I don't know why it gave me so much trouble; it was such a straightforward piece, the type that usually doesn't give me any trouble. Oh well, done now.

Today I need to:

Make some wings (quickly and crappily if need be)
Make some baked goods and punch
Burn a couple CDs
Get myself in costume and get to the Oddfellows Hall with all the crap by 8:00 for the dance!

I hope everyone else likes doing the Twist as much as I do!

Saturday was the Pirates & Njnas event, and I wore my riding habit.

I'll say this: I loved it as a pirate costume. It didn't need to be perfect or clean or nice for a pirate. I just didn't love it as a versatile go-anywhere costume. I think this one is permanently stuck with the pirate label.

However, nobody could see the black splotches (they were mostly at the back/bottom of the skirt, at the underarm, and on the facings) and my buttonholes didn't look too crappy at arm's length. But thanks for the sympathy on my last post, y'all!

Here I am at the event with my hair all crazy and not paying any attention to my photographer-husband (I was looking at how pretty the trees were).

( More photos! )
So, in list form:

Pros:
I got a great pirate costume
I have a well-fitted jacket pattern I can use again
I learned about drafting shapes of this era
I learned a new sleeve placket
I got to practice handmade buttonholes

Cons:
I don't have a versatile riding habit
The pattern I now have is really different from the next jacket I want to do

I think the pros win, making this project mostly a success.

The event was great fun! I'll be posting about it at

tccostumers later.

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Entries tagged with costume events

the girl's dress and picnic plans

Winter Ball, plus a new tailcoat

Living History Society Barn Dance

Minnesota Renaissance Festival 2013

Rain

Events - yay!

12th Night Ball 2103

Costume College

MN Renaissance Festival 2012

Done

Phew.

ball

Picnic!

picnic photos

Our victorian picnic is today!

dance costumes done in the nick of time

Bustle coat

dragonfly dress

Today

Arrgh! I'm a pirate!

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