Ironfest and Sydney!

So one of the things that I love most about Costuming, is that I've met some amazing people.  Obviously, Dinah is high up there as one of those peeps.

One of the things that she has introduced me to, is Ironfest.  I've now been two times, and both times I've had a great time.  This time, we didn't catch the train up, opting instead to take a car.  Which turned out well, we came and went as we pleased, and instead of staying with one of our friends, we found ourselves a little hotel room nearby.  

Our hotel room wasn't what most people would have chosen, but it was clean, and it was cheap, so we were happy! Once we checked on on friday, we were going to head off to get our weekend pass and have a good look at stuff before the rush on Saturday.  We had originally planned to costume up, but you know, that all got a bit hard.  That turned out to be a good thing though, and I'm glad we did that.

Saturday we turned up in costume, and we had a great day.  I was disappointed though that there was no chip on a stick.  Ironfest ruined!  (Not really, but it did make me sad!) We generally walked around, found lots of neat stuff, and we kept in the back of our minds that we really needed to put my crinoline back together for the ball on Saturday night.  I went with Medieval (ish), and was incredibly comfortable.  Ms Dinah went with Game of Thrones.  This is a dress I don't get to wear much, so it was fun to wear it, even though my sleeves keep wanting to fall off.. :/ I need to fix that.



We went off earlier than close so that we coudl get me some electrical tape to fix my crinoline.  We even went the local shopping centre still in costume.  My goodness the good people of Lithgow had no idea what to make of us... heh heh heh.  I got my crinoline back together, which was aweseome.  I was really glad to get to wear my giant froofy dress of doom again, I have to say.  I don't think I'll be able to wear it again, it's just too fragile?  I'm always worried that people are going to rip the floofs off.  I doubled the number of them on the dress for this ball, and I still managed to lose a few of them.  Very disappointing! But the dress was still a hit!  I went with a black wig this time, and I bought a new fascinator that I wore with it.  The night itself was amazing.  Great entertainment, a bit of dancing, a few drinks... Princess Deadpool.  Great night!  The only two concerns I had was (a) getting in and out of the car, which was hilarious, and (b), there was a fire breather, so I moved way away from that! haha

 

Sunday we woke up, cleaned up, packed the car and hit Ironfest!  Ms Dinah entered the Cosplay competition, and she rocked it! Since it is often SO cold at Ironfest (last time I was freezing!) I took the opportunity to wear my pleather riding habit skirt, a blouse, and my Tauriel bodice (which I've worn more with steampunk than Tauriel!)... I also put on some kitty ears that I had bought on Friday in my shopping. The below photos is mostly because of the Autumn leaves, and leading lines and stuff.. haha! But I think I look good in this photo as well.. :D

 

We were "done" a little bit early, so we left Lithgow and headed back to Dinah's house, where I crashed.  The next day I got to run around Sydney and her neighbourhood, which was awesome!! 

 

But before too long it was time to board the big bird and head home.  I'd kinda love to go again this year, but, I really need to not travel this year if I want to do CoCo 2018!!  

Boo!

April Firing Day at Fort Lytton

You'll notice I go to these alot.  Well i try to go to them all, they're on the first Sunday of even months, so not a huge committment, but one I stand by.

A few of them are a bit warm (actually most of them are other than the June and August ones! And June is when I'm there for History Alive anyway).  So cool Victorian outfits are a must, as is sun protection.  After a bit of a failure to launch with my February outfit, I felt like I really wanted to make something nice for the April firing.

You'd think that I would have said "oh hey, why don't I just fix the other one and wear it", but no, I started something from scratch.  I delved into the stash (hindsight: this is a recurring theme for 2016), and found something neat.  A sheer stripe.  It's SHEER!  AND STRIPED! and then started looking at reference material.

In one of my books, I found an imagine that I squee'ed over.  It was PERFECT! Easy, patterns, I already have, and it was even striped!



I got done in plenty of time, and I think it's an outfit that just works.  Super happy with how it turned out.

 

19th Century Queensland goes a little bit Country

My Victorian reenactment group this year learnt that there was a Historical Fesitval taking place in Highfields, which is just outside of Toowoomba, which included a very big display of historical bicycles.  We're not a group that says no to these sorts of opportunities often, and although there was only 3 of us, we decided to go anyway.

This was a weekend long event, however, we only planned to go on the one day.  It was excessively hot and dusty during the day, and we were on our feet, walking up and down on the slight hill being fabulous.  We were kinda forced into the costume competition (and honestly, I thought we shouldn't since I didn't think it fair being as we are reenactors!).  There was another girl in the comp as well, and I gather that she has previously won, and assumed she would again since she was a local.  She was very friendly.... Until they gave me the prize.  I felt horrible, her face changed from sunny to dark and angry, and I said to the other lady in our group, "you know, this is why I really don't like going into competitions".... And honestly, costuming to me shouldn't be about competition.  Unless you're solely competing with yourself.  Which sadly many people are not.  Don't get me wrong, it's lovely to have my skill acknowledged, but it isn't something I "need" to feel good about myself.

I also managed to find myself a Beau, he attempted to flirt with me every time he saw me, despite me mentioning that I had a husband that i was really rather fond of.  But all in all a lovely day, with many great opportunities for some lovely photos...  Afterwards, when we had stripped down and decided to go into town for dinner, we were treated to a massive thunderstorm, while we were in town.  Which meant of course that we all got a little bit wet, but it was worth it, because we had a tasty fish and chip dinner.

This was an awesome event that we're planning to do again in 2017, and we may even camp onsite, pending the construction of our marquee.

The photos below are by the lovely Donna Howard.. I took none!

March 2016 - A 1920s train ride

Really the first thing on the calendar for me for 2016 costuming wise (other than my birthday), was a ride on a steam train in 1920s.

I have unrequited love for the 1920s. I LOVE the stylings, and I love the clothes. They just don't love me. The styles are mostly not flattering, I had 2 dresses that are largely a success, one in voille, which I have worn ALOT (so much so that I didn't want to wear it for this event), and an evening dress that would not be appropriate for a train ride.

So I thought I'd try something different. A more masculine style that was becoming popular during this era. I pulled stuff out of the stash for it, thinking that if it didn't work, oh well, at least I've used stash!

I decided on some plus-fours. Baggy pants usually work for me, right? Sure! Lets go for some culottes! I had to self-draft the pants, and while execution-wise they worked, on me, they aren't flattering, and they don't sit up on my waist, which on me isn't a great look, since I'm already long in the torso.

The train ride itself, was SO much fun, and while my outfit isn't overly flattering, it's ridiculously comfortable, and I didn't swelter in the heat. Only four of us went along, but we all agreed, that despite that, we had an immensely good time. We rode the teens era steam train out through some scrub, and on our return, we ventured over the road to the pub for a counter lunch. Which was DELISH! Especially since I had an icy cold cider with it... nom nom nom. I took very few pictures, but following are the photos I took.

The new sewing room!

I have been growing out of my sewing room in this house for some time, and there really wasn't any way for me to expand in the room I was already in.  One wall had the built ins, which is very useful, but kinda full. The second wall had a sliding door, and it isn't a pocket door, so you kinda lose space there unfortunately. The other two walls had windows. Great for natural light if you are sewing during the day, but kinda sucks if you want to put up shelves.

My wonder-hubby suggested that perhaps we could switch me out from what WAS my sewing room into what was orginally the computer room. Before deciding on it, we mapped it out. One wall for storage up to the ceiling, two walls for the sewing/cutting bench. Shelves above the bench. Storage options for under the bench. Lots of power, lots of light. We went and priced everything out, and we painted over the top of the original blue feature wall (there's now only the feature wall left in the master bedroom. It's days are numbered also..). So this was happening. Of course I have so much stash that there was no way ALL of it was going to fit into the new room. So I've retained the wardrobe in the back bedroom (originally the sewing room) to keep more of the stash. As I use up what is currently in the sewing room, I'll transfer out of that wardrobe.

But what does it look like now?? Please see the following pics. Of course, right now it looks FAR more lived in than this (read: IT'S A GODAWFUL MESS!), but it's so much more inspiring, and it is far more usable. I can find things! Everything has a place! No more buying things I already have because I can't find it!

So I'll do these in order, a 360 degree from the door so you kinda get the full picture of my room. I love it so much and I'm constantly thankful that I have such a useful husband.. :)









 

The Unfinished Natural Form at a Firing Day

In January, I was working on a natural form dress, which was based on this:



Well it's still not totally finished, but I did manage to wear it.  As of January 2016, it remains unfinished, it's just not inspiring me at the moment.

I made it for a picnic at the firing day, and if I'm honest, I really wasn't feeling well (I couldn't even put my Victorian boots on, so I was wearing ballet flats).  The dress needs some significant adjustment (I need to make it smaller!) before I can wear it again, and I need to finish all the trims.  I had a minor meltdown before I went to the event, and in all honesty, I shouldn't have gone.  I didn't feel pretty, I was grumpy, and I ended up dropping and smashing my phone.  I ended up feeling a little cheerier after I left despite everything going wrong, so that was a positive, but, I wouldn't even let anyone take a photo of me in this dress.  But I DO have a picture of it on my mannequin, despite it being a little crumpled (I left the firing day in a hurry really, so the dress ended up rolled up in my bag), you'll get the idea!



I'm still not convinced I like the dress, but I imagine it will look FAR better on once I take it in (it'd swim on me at the moment) and I put the poof trim on the bodice, and trim the sleeves, but I think given I've come this far with it, I may as well finish it off.  So you can chalk this one up as a "needs more work"..

A 40th Birthday to Remember

It must be about time I filled you in on the last 6 months right?  This may take a while......

One day, I'm GOING to get better at updating stuff.. :\

The only and only event I had during January, was my birthday!  It was a significant birthday, one that had an "0" in it.

What did we do?  why we went on a paddle boat in Bustle dresses of course!!

I had planned to make a new frock, but what with work commitments, and then going away for a couple of weeks to the Hunter Valley over Christmas, I just didn't get it done.

I was working on matching a fashion plate, and I have the base dress made out of a beautiful silk/cotton blend taffeta, but it just didn't look like the plate.  Sadly, a month later I worked out why I didn't like it, I just have to go back and revise the dress to make it look right!

Anyway, on my birthday, we all met in town at a Hotel, and checked into our rooms for the evening.We had nibbles and champagne to start the afternoon off, while some of us were still sewing.


Then we started getting dressed.... And someone thought it an ideal time to take a photo of me in my undies.  Because there are never enough photos of me in my undies.. haha



Once we were all dressed, we ordered a giant cab for the 7 of us to fit in, and off we went!  The cab driver was somewhat surprised I have to say.

Then we walked down to the river, and I have to say, we looked pretty smashing beside the boat.





We caused a bit of a stir as we got on the boat, since we took up so much room, and the crew of the boat were wanting to take photos of us...

We were a little squished at our table, which, given the heat, meant we all felt a little warm pretty soon. (Note the fan in this shot?  I didn't do much, although I'm told that sitting under it was better than NOT sitting under it)...



But this just meant two things...

1. Walks on the deck in the breeze...



Annnnnnd......

2. Keeping oneself hydrated.. ;)




Then, you know, as a result, things may have gotten a little sillier as the night went on.  One of us (incidentally, one who didn't partake of espresso martinis (or any other variety of cocktail either for that matter!) mentioned that for a group so well dressed, we were so poorly behaved... GO US!



But the hightlight for me (other than of course having a great night out with my girls), was getting to drive the boat for a bit.  And we didn't die!  Surprising though that is, since the wheel was directly at eye height.  I had to hunker down so I could see...



And finally, a slideshow....