Holiday Tea at Gore Place

I only seem to have attended two costume events this year, the 1830s picnic, and the holiday tea, which we again "held" at Gore Place. And by "held," I mean, we just sort of show up at their tea in period dress!

The only unfortunate thing was that we got a ton of snow over night and into the morning of the tea. Of course! This meant I couldn't wear my festive red canvas boots, but I'm just happy the snow ended and was cleared in time for the tea to still carry on! I'm also happy that I've lost enough weight to fit into some of my things so I didn't need to scramble around and make something new. In fact, I had options. I laid them out and of course, a cat happened!



In fact, I had so much time to spare, not having any last-minute sewing to do, that I actually curled my hair and tried to do something with it! I never have time to bother about hair! I ended up doing a curly, glorified ponytail with the ends pinned to hide the fact that it was a pony tail, and added some vintage millinery trimmings I had in my stash. Sorry for the lousy bathroom picture, but this was apparently the only picture I got in which you can come close to seeing the back of my hair.



I still haven't managed to get my husband pumped for dressing in historic costume, but I love that he's willing to go along to this event anyhow! So off we went. . .



How beautiful is this?!? I am seriously in love with Gore Place. If you've never been, it's totally worth it.



I braved the cold for a snowy picture outside. I have yet to make period-appropriate outerwear for this era, which is a fact I only recall once per year, on the day of the Gore Place tea! I really must make it one of my 2017 costume goals. . .



My handsome fella and I!



We were among the first to arrive, and waited in what was once the Gores' laundry area, but is now a little gift shop. It faces the driveway so was a good place to watch other guests arrive!



I took no pictures of the actual tea part of the day! You'll have to take my word for it that all the food was delicious and beautiful, and the setting, perfection!



Afterwards, we snapped a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree, which, while not something the Gores would have had, does add a festive feel!



Look how big a group we had this year! A few established friends, plus a few folks I'd not yet had the chance to meet. I think this is our largest group at a tea yet. Don't forget to add one, since Glenn was too busy taking the picture to be in it!



And then it was time to go and return to modern life! I am already looking forward to next year, and maybe by then, I'll be able to convince my husband that period clothing is the best. I think it helped that he got to see a gentleman in period dress at this tea, which backed up my promise to him that this era can be done without tights or lace. I think I'm just going to make an ensemble and see if the whole "if you build it. . ." philosophy applies to period costume!

1830s and the Crazy Sleeve Day!

When I first started making historic costumes, I swore I'd never want to do 1830s. I just thought, who would ever want to make that? The crazy hair! The odd waist placement! The sleeves! But somewhere along the line, I just developed a huge fascination and love for it, and finally, there came along an event that gave me an excuse to make an 1830s something. As it turns out, this is probably one of my favorite things I've yet made! It's a very silly era, and it definitely brought out my silly side. . .



I found a printed cotton fabric that I thought looked the part, with its serpentine and floral pattern, and a silk that brought out the pink flowers to use as a sash at the waist. I had a rake around in my stash and found this antique mother of pearl buckle/slide that was just the thing. For a pattern, I picked out Past Patterns 003 (the "Full High Gown") because I felt like it would pair nicely with my fabric.



I agonized a bit over when to start this project. It seems like it would make sense to start as early as possible, but because I was actively losing weight, I was afraid to get the fitting done and then have it be baggy by the time the event rolled around. So I procrastinated until late August, when I decided I simply couldn't wait any longer. Unfortunately, I didn't quite fit into my old stays yet, so I had to squeeze in the making of new stays before moving on to the dress! (I used the Laughing Moon stays pattern, which is a fantastic pattern that I'll be posting about as soon as I finish binding them so they are presentable!) So that ate a chunk of my time, and then there was drama when it came around to fitting the PP003 bodice, which burned even more of my time.



The really long story short is that the day was saved by my friend reminding me that there are 1830s bodices in Hunnisett's reliable Period Costume for Stage & Screen. Of course! I quickly scaled up the "B" bodice from the 1830s section, and made a test of it. With just a few pins, I had a fitted bodice lining! Hooray! However, I was still totally married to the idea of the PP003 design. So what I ended up doing is using my fitted Hunnisett bodice pattern for the lining, and then altering the very same pattern pieces to be just like PP003, using the PP003 pattern pieces as a guide. For the sleeves, I used the PP003 sleeves as is. By some miracle, I pulled this off!



So this was all very good news, except for one thing: The above picture was taken the evening of 9/29, and the event was to be on 10/1. Oh yes, you read that right! And, I had to work on 9/30! Yikes! But after all, I'd once sewn an entire 18th century jacket - lined and everything - by hand - in only a day. So I thought, if I do this one by machine (except for any visible stitching), I should totally be able to do it in a day!



I got everything cut out and marked between the evening of 9/29 and my lunch break on 9/30. Also, I worked from home on 9/30, which was great, not only because I was able to put the lunch break to good use, but also because it meant I didn't have to waste three hours of the day commuting as I usually do, so I was done with work and ready to start sewing at 4:00!



4:18 pm. Under the watchful eyes of two of my cats, the sewing begins. . . And carries on until my friend Taylor arrives (my houseguest for the weekend!) and we take a dinner break, which involved going out to one of our favorite restaurants because even when there are things needing sewing, there is sometimes also a need for good queso. Ha ha ha!!!



11:19 pm. Taylor puts finishing touches on her dress. Of course, her kitties had to stay home, but Woody was all too happy to step in as kitty supervisor for her.



11:58 pm. This was my stopping point, because I knew if I stayed up all night, I'd be too exhausted to enjoy the event. So I decided to roll the dice and get a good night's sleep and hope I could finish the bodice and add skirts/waistband in the morning!



7:12 am. The tea kettle is warming up, and I'm getting under way again. Taffy is unsure of my ability to pull this one off, and keeps a watchful eye. . .



7:56 am. When I realized that you could see blue washable marker everywhere on the bodice! So into the sink it went, and then on to the dryer, while I switched gears and made the waistband and skirts. . .



10:08 am. The skirts are ready and set aside, the bodice is out of the dryer, and I'm sewing some piping on the neckline. Because a dress on this tight of a time crunch is the perfect time to do things like pipe the neckline and the armholes, right? HAHAHAHAHA. . .



11:51 am. A wearable dress!!!!! After this picture, there was a lot of scrambling to climb into undergarments, deal with hair, and somehow I made the pink belt as well. Then it was into the car and on our way to the pre-dinner tea and hanging out part of the day, where I multi-tasked and hand-sewed the hem of the skirts and sleeves. While wearing the dress. It is no easy thing to hem sleeves while you are wearing them, but now I know I'm capable of that!



And, I made it! This is actually the first of the Popeye-esque pictures I posed for, and I swiped it from Taylor (also known as Dames a la Mode, who incidentally made the necklace I am wearing with the dress!) I don't know. The dress is very silly, and also, I'd tippled a wee glass of champagne. ;)

I absolutely love this dress!!! The only thing that was disappointing was that I didn't have time to do big 1830s hair. Another time, I suppose! In attempt to not be completely boring, I pulled some pink flowers out of my stash of vintage millinery trims and arranged them in a fan shape sticking off my head. Because really, when else in life is it totally sensible to have all kinds of flowers sticking out of your head, right?

And now, here are a handful of pictures I took at the event, followed by a group shot that I swiped from Carrie (who organized this event and did an incredible job of it!)





















And a bonus picture of Woody's new 1830s tent. . . ;)

Embellishing 17th-Century Dress at Plimoth Plantation (and THE JACKET!)

One random afternoon, while wandering around Plimoth Plantation's web site, I noticed something I hadn't before: an advertisement for a 17th Century Dress Embellishment conference weekend. I think there was maybe about a 90 second gap before me finding that and me enrolling, and that's only because I had to pull my card out of my wallet! Ha ha ha! Then came several weeks of waiting, but this past Saturday, at last, the day had arrived. . .



The main focus of the weekend was on 17th century embroidery, and we would be making a small wall hanging using the same techniques used to make The Plimoth Jacket. There were several designs to choose from, but of course, I had to go with the most technically difficult, because it was part of the design used for the jacket! I was lucky enough to already have one of the Plimoth Jacket thread kits in my stash, so I brought that along, and used several colors of that for my wall hanging (along with a coral color that was not in the kit, but is similar to the coral color used in The Jacket).



Much of my embroidery time Saturday was spent trying different techniques for making the detached buttonhole stitch, and learning through trial and error the perfect distance to put between stitches to create something I liked the look of. I did a lot of ripping out stitches, as one always does when learning something new!

We managed to take some of lunch break to pop down to the village!





I love getting to wander into the houses and see how life was in the 1620s. . . I also loved the chickens who wander freely, even into the houses!







Back inside, we saw more demos of 17th century stitches. . .



And we got to see the blacksmith demonstrate how he made the spangles for The Plimoth Jacket!



At the end of Saturday, Plimoth Plantation had organized a wonderful cocktail hour for the attendees, at which they were going to present to us THE JACKET!!! Carrie and I wore tiaras because it was Carrie's birthday! (This picture came out blurry because I had a shaky hand. . . Excitement over The Jacket? Probably!)



They had made a special cocktail for us, called the Pin Cushion! I wish I could remember exactly what was in it. . . I know there was grapefruit something. . . But at any rate, it was delicious - and pink!



And then, The Jacket was about to appear! Here is a picture of me as it was coming out:



Ha ha ha, okay, that's actually girls screaming for The Beatles. . . But it's what I looked like on the inside! And then. . . THE JACKET!!!





I thought they did such a lovely job of making this a real event! The lighting, the music in the background, and a really lovely speech that preceded it. And of course, getting to see it! In person! And on a person!



After the excitement, we found we had worked up an appetite, so Carrie and I headed down to the Plymouth waterfront in search of food. Of course, we had to first take a walk down to see the newly-arrived Mayflower!



And then we had some delicious, giant, stuffed pretzels at Driftwood! I got the veggie pretzel, and it was delicious, but so filling that this is what I took home as leftovers!



After getting some sleep, it was back to Plimoth Plantation again Sunday morning, to see a lace-making demonstration!



After lace-making, there was more embroidery time, and finally, we got to tour the wardrobe department! This involved getting to study The Jacket in daylight, up close and personal! I don't actually know with 100% certainty what I can post for pictures, so until I check on that, here is a picture of the mock-up that was made for the jacket. It used the pattern that was used for the actual jacket, and the same construction techniques, but of course, no embroidery! However, the pattern for the embroidery was all drawn in, so that they could be sure it would work out nicely on the real deal. . .



I had so much fun getting to talk to the people who make and maintain the wardrobe at Plimoth Plantation! We got to see a variety of pieces used throughout the years by the "pilgrims," and ask all kinds of questions. I didn't take any fabulous pictures, being too much absorbed in listening and in poking around, but here are some plants from which dyes would have been obtained in the 17th century. . .



By the end of the weekend, I had a start on my wall hanging, (not as much progress as others, but then, I spent a good amount of time messing around with different stitches and techniques and subsequently ripping and re-stitching things, and I also left a little bit early because I was fairly worn out and wanting to beat the Cape Cod traffic), and also, two thread buttons. I realized I did not take any pictures at the button making demonstration! Rest assured it was another super fun part of the weekend, and I learned to make two different styles of buttons that you see here. (The blue woven button is not quite finished yet, but the one with both blue and red is ready to be popped onto a project of some sort!)



And of course, in between all the crafting and related adventures, I had to make multiple stops into the craft and gift shops!



I have a little collection going of these Oliver Pluff teas from historic sites, so I was happy to add Plimoth Plantation to that. I got the Bohea tea, and had it for breakfast this morning. Delicious! I also have a serious crewel addiction right now (more on that in my next post, I think), so I could not resist this very pretty tree of life kit. And finally, I was so excited to see this relatively newly published Plimoth Plantation knitting book!!! I have the previous book from the 1970s which is mostly words with a few low quality black and white pictures. This one is many more pages, typed up very clearly, and includes color pictures of the projects, as well as a few charming pictures of the village sprinkled throughout, which I thought was a nice touch. Also, spiral-bound! YES! All craft books should be spiral-bound like this, because then they behave nicely, and lay flat on your workspace while you knit/sew/whatever!

I knew I was going to come away with new embroidery tricks, and exposure to other 17c embellishments, and I knew I was going to be swooning over THE Jacket, but this weekend also allowed for a blossoming friendship and meeting new possible future friends, and it inspired me to dive deeper into the intricate details of 17th century fashion! I definitely have added some new projects to my endless sewing/crafting to-do list. I still have school sucking up much of my time, but I'm determined to make sure I squeeze in little pockets of time here and there for both research and actually making things! I would declare the weekend a fabulous success, a wonderful time, and something I hope to do more of in the future!