2019 Costume Year in Review

(I'm behind on updating events for the second half of the year, but you'll get some of that within.)

I… pretty much did nothing this year. Ok, that’s not totally true, but going through year two of motherhood + working full time leaves not enough time for me for sewing. At least, not enough big, contiguous chunks of time. I used to take a whole free weekend (when I had them) and spend all day on a project. I don’t have that anymore. And my evenings are for relaxing and recovering, and they are just enough time to take stuff out before having to go to bed. It’s just not working for me now, but I know that will change. And someday she will want to do her own thing, and I’m going to wonder what to do with my time!

Knowing all this, last year I said, “ Since my sewing time/drive has been so low, I think my main goal for 2019 will be to have as many of my older costumes photographed as possible. At least I’ll have a good record of them that way! So it’s accomplishing something.” and “ So next year, I’d like to finish the mending pile, to include actually assembling that new regency dress. Trimming the francaise would be good. As would doing literally anything else. I clearly need a bustle gown. Other than that, I think I’ll just try to rewear stuff that never was well-photographed, and get as many pics as I can.”

Since I set the bar so very low, I can say that yes! I accomplished this! I rewore stuff, I had photographs taken of old stuff. I did not trim the francaise, though that’s not because I didn’t try. The trim I had envisioned just didn’t look right with the fabric I had, so after trying a couple different ways to pleat the fabric, I put it away for another time. So I did at least try. And I did finish my mending pile!! I did not assemble the regency dress. I took it out a few times and just wasn’t into it. And since the Pumpkin Tea this year was bustle era and not regency, I figured I can do it next time I need a new regency day dress. So I deprioritized it.

I did go to quite a few costume events, which was nice. And I bought two Victorian gowns on FB, so I finally have things to fill in the gaps where I have not had time to sew. One of them still needs hemming, though I hemmed the first one I bought.

So here was my year.

February: Victorian Tea at Dupont Hotel



The lighting was terrible but Mike and Gloria did do some pics. I wore my old 1840s watered silk gown with an antique pelerine over it just to do something new. Here’s their pic of me:



I participated in In the Long Run Designs New Kit-Cat Club photo project. Here was my photo from that project. I wore an older gown, but one of my favs. Red and white striped silk and a take on the famous gown from the KCI collection. I got some nice photos of it from that shoot!



More below the cut!

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:)

1780s "Hair" Ball

I'm terribly belated on this post, sorry!

A few weeks ago, Gloria, Mike, Amber and I went to the 1780s "Hair Ball" at Gadsbys Tavern in Alexandria, VA. We had such a fun time!

I wore my red and white striped gown, which I love and I'd only worn one other time before. I also wore my miniature of my "18th century boyfriend," courtesy of Stephanie's mom, Victorian repro star necklace, and my Sweet Romance bow/rhinestone earrings. Which you can't really see.

Another Georgian picnic photo

Here's one of Merja's pictures from the Georgian picnic that I liked.

Georgian Picnic Video

Squee! Cynthia's husband made a video of the DFWCG's Georgian picnic. So fun!

More Georgian Picnic

Cynthia and her husband both posted their Flickr sets (Christopher's are a selection of Cynthia's, punched up for color).

I loved every single pic! And it made me happy all over again to see them.

Look at this one - it's our group shot. And we posed in chronological order. As you do.

Here are a few more pics from Cynthia and Christopher:

Georgian Picnic

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Dallas Forth Worth Costume Guild's Georgian picnic. We had a gorgeous day and everyone looked wonderful.  It was so fun to see new and old friends, and especially to meet Merja, who came all the way out from Finland.

Here are some pictures. Full set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maggie42/sets/72157632046555318/

Red & White Striped gown

I finally finished my red & white striped gown, which is modeled on (but not an exact replica of) this gown from the Met. (http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/80002250?img=3)

It was the first time I tried this style of bodice. (It fits me better than the dress form.)

Progress post

How about something other than jewelry?  I hadn't been sewing much because I was busy doing some cleaning and organizing, but then I got to work on this striped zone front gown, modeled after a gown at the Met.  Everything has mostly been going well except the sleeves, which have been causing issues. Mostly because I tried something new that didn't work.  I hope to finish this gown this weekend!

Here are how it looks so far (though now I've got shoulder straps on).