Skipping an event for now.... Onto the Steampunk Ball!

pping over Abbey medieval Faire for now... I think the camera card is downstairs and that is too far away.. :P

Anyway, you'll remember I was working on the Steampunk Ball frock.

Here it is all-but finished..



AND!  Here it is on me..

  

anddddd.  One with the peeps..



We had a great night, although I know I'm getting old, since it drove me MAD getting out through the nightclub afterwards at midnight when everyone was that PERFECT amount of intoxicated.  I'm hoping that the Steampunk Ghostbusters actually get to do this again next year.  I'll have to think about what I'll make for it... 

And these photos made me realise how much I miss having purple hair.. -sigh-

History Alive wrap up

So at the beginning of June was History Alive.  It's an event I dearly love - it was my introduction to reenactment.  This year, I was really excited.  I finally own my own tent, we were back in bustles (and I had two new ones to wear), and it wasn't going to rain.  I was feeling quite unwell on the Friday, partially due to nerves since I was interviewed on one of the local radio stations in a bustle dress.

  

Oh and take note of the new day bodice for the black bustle!! :D

After that we had our usual set up on, lots of puns being thrown around about "holding poles" and tent "erections".  Yes, it's childish, but it's a tradition now, and we laugh ourselves silly through set up.  Afternoon came around and we enjoyed drinks on the ramparts looking out at the sun setting over Brisbane River.

 

There were also MANY comments about feeding my tent more so it would grow up into a real tent.  It's now been nicknamed the baby bell, but I have to say, now that I've put it up 3 times, I think I'm at the point where I can put it up by myself in around 10 minutes.. (obviously dependent on how hard the ground is.. haha).

 

I've said I was madly excited about History Alive.  But there was also some trepidation.  I had been conned into entering the archery competition.  Enter opportunity to make a HUGE fool of myself here, especially given I've been practising with my recurve, and not my longbow.  I'd only shot that bow twice.  Combined with that was the knowledge that I was going to stand out like a sore thumb, being as I was going to be the only person in the competition NOT in medieval.  I decided that I would do the comp anyway, time to show that archery wasn't just a medieval thing.  So I rocked up in my tartan with my longbow on Saturday.  The first thing that happened?  A medieval reenactor asks me about my bow with alot of derision  "So why is it so short for a longbow", I couldn't resist.  "Well for a medieval men's longbow it's short, but it's not short at all for a Victorian era Lady's bow -gesture to the fact that I'm wearing Victorian" in an equally patronising manner.  Go me.  Bloody know-it-alls!  By the way, the new tartan bustle dress.... The first pic taken by another of my photographer friends, Nick.

 

Out of my 5 arrows, I only got one into the target.  Which isn't a terrible thing really - most people did pretty badly on the Saturday.... Here's a photo even of me and one of my arrows, caught by one of my photographer friends, David.



All in all I felt happy that I put myself out there... As you can see, I really do stand out.  On the Sunday, I went back and entered again.  I was running late, so I ended up being in the last flight.  And then managed to get to get a bullseye, one inside the circle and one on the board, landing me in the finals.  I didn't win, but was still pretty stoked with that result.

Saturday night we had a regimental dinner for the first time in a few years, so the ladies went to town on decorating the engine room of the fort with flags, candles and laterns, the atmosphere is always amazing when we do this, it's probably one of my favourite things!  The Captain made me sit at the head of the table this year, which was a huge surprise, and quite a honour.  

 

There was only one really bad thing that happened over the weekend.  We have a room in which we have a static display of historical items, ladies accessories, toiletry items for both men and women, and magazines.  These things are all locked in boxes, and are displayed on tables.  We block off the sides of the tables so we can store some items (including my bow since my tent is often open).  I also had my crinoline and a couple of dresses (depending on what I was wearing at the time) almost behind the table as well.  On Sunday afternoon, I wondered into the room and my jaw hit the floor.  A kid had moved the bench blocking access to behind the table, had my bow (thankfully not strung) and an arrow and was acting like he was going to fire an arrow.  Meanwhile, his mother had her back to him and was wearing my crinoline and my teagown.  I kinda freaked out and went "uh, you need to put down the bow and arrow, and could you please not put on my clothes".  I was gobsmacked.  I pointed out to the mother that her 10 yr old was playing with a weapon, and that even if she wasn't worried, _I_ would be the one to get in trouble if anything were to happen.  Needless to say, we're rethinking how we store things during the event given we can't have someone in the room at all times to supervise the punters.  -sigh-

So that was my History Alive weekend... :D

As per usual, the slideshow!!

Ironfest in Lithgow!

So waaaaay back in April I finally got to go down to Ironfest with W.  I had such a good time!

I caught the plane down to Sydney, met up with W and off we went on the train up to Lithgow.  We were a little excited..



We stayed wtih one of the girls, and she was a fabulous host!  Ironfest itself was fun, although I'm not sure I'll go again, we'll see what happens though.

Straight off the train, we got changed and went off to Ironfest...



I discovered something called "chip on a stick" and that became my lunch staple for the weekend.

On Saturday, before we went to Ironfest (after a toasty warm sleep-in) we checked out some of the sights of Lithgow, including a historical house and the ironworks...





Sunday was a looooong day, but we "twinned" again for half a day before heading back to sydney so I could get a fight to brisbane...





And for giggles, a pic of me doing Joanne's hair in my underwear... ;)



I had a great time with my housemates for the weekend.... :)... And it was good to catch up with all the others from Sydney as well.. :)

An Easter Picnic....

Yes, I know Easter was a month ago... haha... So just over a month ago now, we had a picnic at Fort Lytton. I organised it on behalf of my reenactment group, 19th Century Queensland. We invited a number of other groups as well. It was unfortunate that we didn't have as many people as we had at our October one, but I'm not concerned - we still had a lovely day. The weather was lovely, and once I arrived, snuck my car in and unpacked it into the Picnic area, I got dressed. I had originally hoped to have my pink silk finished, but it still remains unfinished.. :(. Instead I put on my tartan skirt, a blouse and a vest for a summery look. I completed my look with a black top hat. I really need to make some more Victorian hats! Anyway, here's a pic of me...
 

 I had made homestyle chicken pie for lunch, and had also made a seminal cake, since it is apparently the traditional Easter cake. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll make it again... haha... I'm not a fan of fruit cake and it was really really rich. I think I'll find something different for next time! After lunch, we went for a walk, during which this photo was taken of us by James Niland, one of the photographers I know..

Obviously we had a truly lovely day, and I can't wait for the next one. We do these every 6 months, they seem to be quite popular. The next one will be a spring picnic, so I'll have to think of something suitable!

Here's the obligatory slideshow.. :)

Jane Austen Festival 2014

While my Simnel Cake is baking for tomorrow's Easter Victorian Picnic, I thought I'd catch you up on JAFA.

It's been a few years since I last went to this festival, mostly because it's pretty costly if you live outside of Canberra. I was excited to go though, it meant catching up with a number of people I don't get to see very often. And that's really awesome!

So Thursday I met A at the airport while I was finishing the handsewing on my dinner over-bodice. We hopped aboard our flight, and found out that although we booked and checked in at different times, we ended up over the aisle from each other on the twin-prop plane, the Dash 8-400. When we got to Canberra, we grabbed luggage and hopped a cab the short distance to the university, where we would be staying.

We found W and soon we were running around our apartment for the next 4 days squeeing over the 1950s style, decor and sheer size. We wandered up to the IGA for supplies (ie. WINE and snacks) and started getting dressed for the opening night. 



I stuck to my original plan, and wore my favourite open-robe.  I managed some curls, but as per usual, they dropped within half an hour.. -sigh-

  

Up in the hall we caught up with old friends, had a nice supper and tea until we decided to come back to the apartment to work on finishing costumes for the weekend (yes, I went with half finished outfits).

Friday saw me be a little french, although I had "fixed" my spencer, it appears to have shrunk in the wardrobe, so I couldn't wear it. :(... Instead I draped my woolen shawl around me and pranced around being french.. :D

 

We attended some classes as well, where W and I promptly got ourselves in trouble with the president of the Australian Costumers' Guild... :D  That afternoon was a class by A, during which I was far more restrained.. 

 

Friday evening was dinner time.  I whipped out the new bodice for over the top of my existing cream dress, and was very happy with myself.  It fit perfectly and looked stupidly cute!  After dinner, there _may_ have been some shennanigans.....

  

Actually, that could be a lie, there really were shennanigans the whole night.  W ended up sitting at a table at the opposite side of the hall, and apparently we were engaged, seperated, engaged again and then married before dinner was even served as a result of our fan-language..  



There were even zombies!


Saturday came around, and I was back to being demure....Well sort of I guess!  I sauntered into breakfast wearing a teenage mutant ninja turtles skirt made by one of my friends, then raced back to the apartment for some solitary sewing time.  I managed another class (in regency still) run by A, and by the time another one that afternoon came around, I was ready with some handsewing!

 

Saturday night is all about the ball, and I pulled out the red dress I made for the last JAFA.  Granted I had to move all the buttons, but other than that it fit beautifully.  More shennanigans ensued that night, before we whisked ourselves back to the hotel room to finish our outfits for Sunday...

 

After a short night's sleep, since we had to stay up and finish our outfits and hats, as well as packing, we faced the day in our matching outfits, and were soon asked to give an interview, which we did over breakfast.  We didn't get to promenade or picnic with the rest of the festival, but I was quite tired, and had managed to lose both heels off my shoes, so I was content to just spend time with the two lovely ladies I travelled down with.

And the grand reveal of our matching outfits on Sunday?

 

These are 1780s British Archers uniforms.  The original was made of glazed wool, but we opted for polished cotton instead.  It's been a project that has been in the making since last year, but literally only happened on the weekend.  W did all the research, we found and discussed fabric via facebook, used a lining pattern that I put together for my robe a la englaise, and we both ran the sewing machine, the pleater and the iron like crazy on the weekend to finish them.  There's amazing details on this outfit, and I can't wait for it to be completely finished to do some photographs on the mannequin.  We just have two pieces of trim left and some buttons.  We both got to exactly the same finishing spot which is awesome, and we plan to wear them again when I travel down to Ironfest.  Probably the best georgian I've ever made, and I'm considering using the pattern again since it fits perfectly and is flattering.

All in all, an amazing weekend and big thanks to my two girls for sharing it with me... <3

Gruzinkerbell at Supanova Gold Coast

I am a little behind, and I do apologise, but April is a stupidly crazy month for me!

In the first week of April, I travelled down to the Gold Coast with some friends to the annual Popculture Convention, Supanova.

My last post mentions that I was sewing right up to the point I left.  Which is completely true!  I was slightly delayed by an unexpected phonecall, and a little bit of crisis aversion, but I took off for the Gold Coast.  I sang loudly all the way down to my stereo, since I was highly caffienated.. :D

Friday night I donned the Tauriel again, this time with some good eartips.  Of course I only managed a selfie that doesn't show my ears... hah!



That night though, I stayed up long enough to finalise my Saturday for it's big debut.  It's so pink, so froofy, so MUCH, and I was excited, and a little nervous that most people wouldn't recognise it.  I needed have worried, people that didn't recognise it, still thought it was awesome.. :D... Many little girls came up for photographs and hugs, which was THE best part of all.



Unfortunately in these two photos, I wasn't wearing the brooch that finishes off the centre front.  But that's ok, I remembered to put it on at lunchtime.  I was prepared to take this off at lunch and put on plain clothes instead, but I was having so much fun in it I didn't want to get out of it.  I even moved my car in my crinoline.. :D

Finally, on Sunday I decided to wear Steampunk so that I could support a friend that is a writer, and so that I could be in the Steampunk photo for once.


I possibly would have worn my Gruzinkerbell if I was one of those that are happy to wear the same thing two days in a row (it was hot, I was wearing polyester... EWW! Stinky!), but I didn't.  I do wish I had packed my blouse though, I would have been happier in a blouse than just a singlet...

Anyway, we had a great weekend, one that I'm still not really "over", even though I only did a 3 day work week after, last weekend I was down at Canberra for the Jane Austen Festival, for another huge weekend!

Oh the Crazy!

So I have to leave for Gold Coast 'Nova, and I'm still sewing.

Nothing wrong with me.  Add to that the fact that I plan to take regency sewing for JAFA with me, and you might REALLY think I'm crazy.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though.  Another week of crazy, then I'm going to relax a bit..

aaahhhhhhh.... Then I'm planning to not sew much for a while.  In fact, I'm going to Ironfest in Sydney for the weekend, and I plan to enjoy every second... :D

There'll be pictures after Nova of course!