Quick and Not-so-Dirty 1915

So as you know, I was frantically going to make a 1915 outfit in 3 days.

Well it happened. is it completely finished and perfect? NO! Do I care? HELL NO!

It's something that I know will need some refining before I wear it next, and I'm ok with that, I did at least have something to wear that I think looked quite smart.

The event itself was smaller than I think they originally planned, considering they had thought they would have 100 horses. The original idea was to have about 100 horses march from around the city to Fort Lytton and then to have a canon firing commemorating the Lighthorse Brigade that went to WWI. We thought we would attend and kinda wave at them. There was some confusion for some time as to whether it would go ahead, but it did, albeit without the march from town, and with 10 horses instead of 100.

But we went anyway! I only have like four photos....





The 4th is of my outfit on it's own..



The blouse is great, although in the breeze, it kept flipping up like a hood. The skirt is perfect, I just need to make the waist. The hat is kinda huge, but I feel like it works! I also wore my new Jade jewelry from our trip to New Zealand.

June is rapidly approaching, and I'm freaking out about how much I have to do before June. I'll have to write a list so that I really know what is going on!

Newstead House Little Historians Festival

So on the weekend (and I'm still doing pretty well with keeping things updated in time this year so far!), we were invited to Newstead House for the Little Historians Festival. Basically it was a family day at Newstead House with lots of activities aimed at littlies.

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!

Why brain, why?

I REALLY just want to sew, and right now, it's going to be difficult given we have visitors in the house.

Probably WHY my brain says "You want to seeeewwww!"

Supanova Gold Coast - a tale of being unrecognised!

So Gold Coast Supanova has been and gone.  I'm kinda still a bit "meh" about it this year.

I went with different people this year for a variety of reasons, which was amazing since I enjoyed the company immensely. We had a great trip down, made good time, checked into our awesome room, and settled in.

Probably the worst part of the weekend was the fact that I had an allergic reaction to something, and I caught a flu, so I was itchy and kinda flat. I had blamed the kitten on my itchies, thinking that she had left fleas in my bed (which is stupid, since she's never had fleas, and we'd be able to see them a mile away). So I was treating what I thought was bites, which is the opposite of what you should do for an allergic reaction. The cold and flu tablets helped keep the itch down, while the heat on the weekend made it worse. Thankfully, they were all in places you couldn't see them. Long story short, it's taken over a week and some pretty hard core tablets to get rid of the spots.

Friday night is often kinda "meh" to me down the gold coast, you don't really see alot of people, the only year I have been to the opening ceremony was the year they had Richard Horowitz, so I didn't bother even putting a costume on.  Probably a good thing, I was exhausted since I stayed up late a number of times during the week to get my costume finished.

I CRASHED on Friday night, and had possibly the very best sleep in about 3 weeks or so.  Saturday I wore my newly completed version 2 of Missy from Dr Who..  Turned out perfectly, and I love it. Only problem is that people think I'm Mary Poppins.  Yes, it lead to some funny moments, but it's also damned annoying!


I had some serious stocking issues, and at lunch I had to buy some superglue so that I could repair my PDA device and glue my cherries back on my hat. By the time Saturday finished, I also broke my hatpin. Not my finest day. Also was really bummed that such a Dr Who heavy bunch of people didn't really recognise Missy. None the less, it's done and I'm pretty happy with how it looks.. :)

Saturday night we kicked back with ciders, cheese platters, chips, and while I restyled my wig, one of the others worked on her costume as well. We went to bed semi-late, and I woke up early, probably a result of sleeping so much the night before.

We were off and running again in the morning, I was a little stressed out, trying to get us all out the door and checked out of the hotel so that we could get a park. We got there, but I managed to leave my pillow behind, which is devastating! I also almost had an altercation in the carpark, which made me overheat a little as well.

But. Besides all that, I give you the Snow Queen from Once Upon a Time. NOBODY recognised it. NOBODY. I got heaps of compliments on how beautiful the dress is and how good I looked in it, but even people in costumes from Once Upon a Time didn't recognise it... -sigh-

 
I had ordered some better lace for around the top and sleeves, but it didn't turn up in time.  I made do with some I found locally, but now I'm going to go back and redo the lace, I think it'll make the whole thing look a bit better.  So it was all a bit disappointing, even though I had a great time I feel like the atmosphere was a bit lacking this year.  Potentially it could be because I wasn't really very well and had the allergies, but we'll see!  I certainly missed wearing an iconic costume that everyone loves and wants to cuddle (ie. Cinderella!)

And.... Here's the slideshow!

Picnicking with 19th Century Queensland

Today I picnicked with 19th Century Queensland for our annual Easter Picnic. I made a new frock in about a week, since it had rained and threatened to be unseasonably warm. I didn't have much that was cool, yet would take having to trample through damp ground.

There does need to be a few alterations, including making the bodice fit rather than being FAR too big. But that will come.  We had a fairly short day out thanks to the humidity, we just couldn't stand being in our bustle dresses any longer.  We didn't have anybody join us (we usually get at least 10 extra takers!), but we still had a lovely time eating Shepherd's Pie, Brownies and drinking tea...

So anyway, here's a couple of pics of my frock, bearing in mind that I plan to change it a bit.. :)




And... The obligatory slideshow..

Off to the Museum in my underwear!

Today we went to the Museum to take a look at the V&A underwear exhibition.  I've been a bit grumpy over the last week (back to work blues?  Anxious about wearing underwear in public? who knows), and I don't really like the person I am when I'm grumpy, but I tried to shake it off today for a fun day.  I had been with some of my girls already, but did see some things in a different light, and I talked to alot of people as well (joy of wearing the thing that people have come to see I guess!). 

I didn't take that many photos today, partly because you aren't allowed to take photos inside, but I do have a few...


All of us, most had opted for Vintage....



My partner in underwear!

First event of the year done and dusted!  And I'm posting directly after - go me!

It's a new year! And I had a birthday!

I had a birthday yesterday, so I not only made my Birthday Dress, I had a tea party!



I don't have many photos, although the paparazzi was there as you can see.... And I don't really have a pic of the full dress, but that will happen soon enough!  I made most of the food for my tea party, moved my sofas, put out 4 tables, 19 chairs, and decorated the tables with a variety of my teacups.  I have 4 sets, and a bunch of singles, for a total of over 30 teacups. 



I made a gluten free, dairy free champagne cake with champagne frosting.  It as delicious!  There were cupcakes, and brownies, and so many more noms.  I love tea parties, and would have another in a heartbeat, but I'm not doing ALL of the cooking.  It's too much!  My calves are killing me today.... But at least I have party leftovers to nom on!

Finally, the whole tea party!