Francaise Dinner 2019

Also this past spring, was the 2019 Francaise dinner. Doug and I were supposed to go and Janine and Ron were going to babysit for us… and then Elena got sick and I didn’t want to expose them to germs (especially given how Baby Plague 2018 turned out). So instead Janine went as my guest and Doug stayed home with the kiddo. I was pretty wiped out and Janine has an early bedtime so we didn’t stay super late and I don’t have a ton of pictures, but we did have a lovely dinner at our table with Mike and Gloria. AND (even though I was tired), I felt 100% better than last year when I was recovering from Baby Plague 2018 still and felt awful. So bonus.

The dinner was at Gadbys Tavern this year and the tavern advertised it so there was a huge turnout! I love that venue but it was pretty tight and hard to get around too much to socialize as much as I would have liked.









Janine and I both wore chemise gowns (I was basically looking for something easy to wear and to change in and out of!). I had a feather, but it went askew. Necklace by Gloria/ In the Long Run Designs.

The New Kit-Cat Club photo shoot

So Mike & Gloria of In the Long Run Designs have been doing this really cool project called the new Kit-Cat Portraits. When they were at the National Portrait Gallery in London, they saw a room of portraits of men (of course) who were members of the Kit-Cat Club, which was an 18th literary/dining club. The portraits have an interesting aspect ratio, longer than a typical head/shoulders portrait, but shorter than half-length. And all the poses are different, and some of the poses worked in an object relevant to that man’s work.

Their project used that same portrait size, with varied portraits, and a similar brownish background. BUT their portraits (besides being photography not painting), featured women (yay!) and they decided to use the late 18th century rather than the early. (Our costuming group has a lot of costumes of that era, less so early 18th century.)

You can read more in their own words on their blog (and see a pic of the original portraits): https://inthelongrun.wordpress.com/2019/03/09/the-new-kit-cat-portraits-series-1/

Mike & Gloria have experimented with setting a temp studio up in their house and it works really well, especially for a short person like me!

They booked people for a specific time period, that allowed for getting ready, shooting some pics for fun, and then working on the Kit-Cat pic. They were super organized and it was fun seeing them experiment with different lighting set-ups. And it gave me some practice posing, since it’s something I still struggle with! Though sessions like this are helping me get more comfortable.

Here’s what the set-up looked like:







Selfie!



So, what was I wearing? I made a version of the famous KCI dress a number of years ago and it remains one of my favs. I used a sale red/white striped dupioni (not period accurate, but whatever, it’s silk and low slub). I wore antique earrings and a necklace and fan made by Gloria! The matching bracelets I think were from the Downton Abbey collection.



The Earrings:



Here is the Kit-Cat club image - and then I’ll finish with the other images they took.















(This is the original dress from the KCI collection:)

Fort Fred

The 18th century market fair, Fort Fred, was, this year, at the end of April, exceedingly, unseasonably hot. I was pregnant and didn’t want to put myself through wearing a costume with stays, which may not have even fit. (Stays aren’t meant to squeeze the waist, Victorian hourglass style, so I could wear them very loosely laced - but my costumes weren’t likely to fit with them like this anyway.) So I wore muggle clothes, and a lot of my friends ended up changing by the end of the day anyway. Still it was fun to go and see everyone, even if it’s more in in costume.

Big Ass Hat Tea

I was invited to Jenny-Rose’s Big Ass hat tea in April and it was a lovely time. The food was fantastic, as were the costumes, and it was so nice to see so many people! Thanks for the invitation, Jenny-Rose!

I rewore what is now one of my fav jackets - the yellow and white silk I got in Germany. I also wore a petticoat I made and then never got around to wearing with it. Funnily enough I like the jacket better with the cream petticoat that goes with my francaise, which I wore accidentally the another party, thinking it was this petticoat.













Did I mention how good the food was?

November Ball at Gadsby's Tavern

November also brought a ball at Gadsby’s Tavern to which I finally wore the second of two 18th century jackets I made with fabric bought years ago in Germany. I got one meter each of some pretty fabric, and I was able to very carefully turn them each into a jacket. I completed this a while ago but only now wore it. I whipped up a quick petticoat in gold silk taffeta to go with, and grabbed some “dead dino” a.k.a. synthetic fabric for a sash. I believe this is the reverse side of the fabric I used to line my Pirates of the Caribbean gown! The necklace is by my friend Gloria: https://www.etsy.com/shop/inthelongrun, and I wore antique earrings you can’t see very well here.



We had dinner at the Columbia Firehouse. I forget what kind of cocktail this was, but it was good. Also squash soup, and crab cakes. Doug got a pasta he didn’t care as much for. I gave him a crab cake. :-)



At the Gadsby’s giftshop, a chocolate Gadsby’s Tavern!



The traditional cheese hedgehog:













Jess:



Carolyn:

Mini Costume Gala

Carolyn has this gorgeous huge house she is renting in Capitol Hill while she and her husband are here, and she has started throwing some parties to take advantage of it. I’ve been to two of them and she’s also a wonderful hostess. This party was in October.

I was really happy Kat came down and stayed with me overnight to come to the mini costume gala which was awesome. I’m glad she was able to get away for a little bit.

Here she is taking a selfie with Willow!



I wore this little yellow jacket I never got the chance to wear more than once. And I had to take it in, which is great! I got this fabric, which is a pale yellow and cream stripe with a floral pattern, I got in Germany. It was just a meter of fabric, but I managed to get this jacket with ruffly peplum out of it. No extra fabric for trim, so I used lace. I meant to wear a different cream petticoat I had made to go with it but realized later I accidentally grabbed the petti from my cream francaise. It looks pretty simlilar, so that’s fine. I wore a brooch of my favorite Mrs. Russell, made for me by my friend Gen, a Dames A La Mode necklace, and antique earrings and bracelet.



Kat did 1830s. (The party was any-costume.)



Every time I successfully parallel park, I feel compelled to take a photo. (This, after the incident at a Greek festival where, to make a long story short, they outraged me by parking cars based on the gender of the driver because men are genetically better at parallel parking.)



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