So the plan for us was to be there in historical dresses, do a reverse strip, wander around the house, play some games, and generally look pretty.
I also offered to bring a couple of my gowns into the house to add a bit more colour to the house.
We had had a monsoonal deluge (oo big words!) on the Friday night, my normally 45min drive home took 3 hours, and quite literally, our suburb had a moat in the form of some very serious flooding. While for most people, it was nowhere near as bad as 2011, for us it was WAY worse. Our house was fine, but like I said, we had a moat around the suburb, so it was a little hard to get home. But, much to the surprise of the American in-laws, the monsoon was gone by Saturday morning, and really the only evidence was the cars that were literally washed of the roads, the debris in fences and the tide marks and debris on the roads. But Sunday it was a bit humid, but looking magnificent! I woke up early and was greeted with this from the back deck of the house....
Although we were being fed, I felt like making brownies, so I did, and then I packed..... Picnic gear, my two mannequins, Marie and Francoise, a bustle dress and a crinoline, graces..... Man I pack too much for a day out.. :/
I had chosen to wear my blue bustle, thinking it would be cooler to wear than any of my other dresses. And it hadn't been worn in quite a while, so it was time! Originally I had planned to dress at the house, but since my mother in law has only ever seen photos of me in costume, she wanted me to get dressed at home. Which is great, if not a little awkward for driving!
Between 2 of the other ladies and myself, we did a reverse strip, getting dressed in front of the crowd, who apparently thought it was great fun. The interesting this is when we first started doing the reverse strip, I used to email everyone furiously and tell them to send me all the layers that they were planning to wear so that I could research madly. These days I just wing it. But then, we've been doing the reverse strip for 5 years, so you'd hope I'd know the material by now!
I have to say the highlight of the day for me was meeting the descendent of Kate Leslie..... Whose husband originally owned Newstead House. I've recreated a dress that Kate Leslie had worn in a photograph portrait from the late 1850s, and she was so very excited to talk to me about the dress, and it turns out that another of her relatives probably lived over the road from my grandmother in Mackay, a city 12 hours north from here. Small world! I loved seeing two of my best work in the house, looking like they just belonged. I wanted to just sit and look at them both, but sadly I have to make do with pictures...
All in all it was a great day, and I hope we get to do it again next year!
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