Apparently keeping a blog going just isn’t my thing. I tend to write a few posts then go on hiatus for a year or more. Well, I’ve done it again. It hasn’t been quite a year yet since the last time I updated, but it’s getting pretty darn close. On the bright side of my inconsistency is the fact that now I have a backlog of costume experiences to catch up on so I shouldn’t be in need of content, just initiative.
My most recent post from August of 2019 was a recap of the creation of a wrap style gown and chemisette, both created basically from scratch. I was pretty pleased with the results and at that time, the wrap gown was my favorite creation to date. That dress is still well loved but I think it is now my second favorite ensemble.
In the fall of 2019, the Jane Austen Society of North America held their annual AGM in the perfect setting, Colonial Williamsburg. Some of the more intrepid JASNA costumers went all out and created 18th century gowns to complement the location, but though I admire them and hope to one day branch out in that direction, I’m not there yet, so I stuck to what I know.
Let’s start with a picture of me wearing my second favorite costume on the first day I wore a costume in Williamsburg with my FAVORITE hat by far.
I bought this vintage bonnet years ago on Etsy when I first started this costume journey. I was never quite sure what to do with it and it was never quite the right color for anything, but it matched the green in this dress enough that I finally got to use it. I purchased the pink cockade in a shop in Williamsburg and the ostrich feathers in the emporium at the AGM. I was thrilled with the result and so happy I was finally able to use the hat.
Now I will move on to the second gown I wore at the AGM was my ballgown. This ensemble was a bit of a struggle for me. My aunt had given me this really striking fabric that she found at a thrift store, but there was a fairly small quantity of it so I couldn’t make a gown out of it.
So I started with and idea just to make a bodice out of it which morphed into a spencer which became an open robe and so on and so on, until I decided I wanted to do a play on a man’s tailcoat. Don’t ask me why, that’s just what came out of all my thinking. Of course I needed a gown to go under it as well. I always try to make my gowns out of second hand repurposed fabric so the search was on at various thrift stores for something that would work well under this stripe for a ballgown. Alas, with the time constraints I was under, I did something I’ve never done before, I bought brand new fabric at a fabric store to make the ballgown.
I purchased the smallest amount of fabric I possibly could and still make a gown from it. So the undergown is VERY simple. It turned out okay, but it’s nothing special. I was pinning my hopes on the black stripe fabric open robe. As I started to create it, I had trouble deciding what I ultimately wanted it to look like. I kind of wanted a stand up collar on it, but I’d never done one before so didn’t know what I was doing. I first thought I wanted a tailcoat but then changed my mind and didn’t make the split up the back.
Then of course, because I like to make things difficult for myself, once I got to the AGM, I decided I DID want a split tail so I made a cut up that back and sat in my hotel room and did a rolled hem by hand to finish it. For the final ensemble I used some of the extra striped fabric to make a little turban and added some black ostrich feathers also purchased in the AGM emporium. I am okay with this costume, but certainly not thrilled with how it turned out. I felt compelled to use the stripe fabric which then forced me into finding a fabric to make a gown from and with time constraints, and the lack of a focused idea, I just don’t feel like any of it was really well done. But it is what it is and I learned from it.
I did, however, enjoy myself at the ball and danced my butt off, so it was all good. My next post will feature the third costume I wore at the AGM and my new favorite wardrobe addition.
In other exciting news, I will soon be creating all kinds of new items. I have a new pattern to try out, a pile of fabric to use up, and yesterday this beautiful baby showed up on my doorstep.
I can’t wait to put her to good use. And who knows, maybe I can get into the habit of posting regularly as I’m IN THE PROCESS of creating something which would be far more informative.