18th century hairstyles

This is the next train of thought . . . 

The question is though can I do it myself or should I purchase a wig?

18th century stays

The next big project looks like it will be a 1770s polonaise for the pirate fair up north in Vallejo.

The event is still about a month out so I'm not in any sort of rush mode which is why I think I have started looking at making a real set of 18th century stays to go with this dress rather then wear the old 16th century stays I had intended to use. 

After reading this review from The American Duchess I realized I have the same pattern in my stash. So the possibility grows . . . 

http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2009/05/butterick-18th-c-stays-in-progress.html?m=1

Then I came across this nice post using this Simplicity pattern: 

http://patternedhistory.blogspot.com/2011/06/cinch-it-making-18th-century-stays.html?m=1

Which I have also in my stash ( I guess I have more patterns then I think I do). I like this review as she makes almost no design modifications but a few construction ones, which I don't have to do. 

So next step I think is to lay out both patterns side by side and figure out which one I am going to use.

I also need to choose my fabric, I'm thinking about trying to make them reversible with a nice plain white on one side and a bright solid color on the other. I have seen lots of extant examples for red stays. 

Avalon - or a weekend on Catalina Island

It's been a really long time since I was last on Catalina Island, but this weekend was like a vacation on a tropical island for me! We had so much fun and all the vintage events were great! 

The house we stayed at with friends hosted the cocktail party Friday evening. Though many of us were dressed up for the occasion, many wore their period lounge wear which was so much fun.

Michael broke out his favorite smoking jacket :)

Saturday was really only about the ball, or at least getting ready for it ;) we had dinner before hand at a great restaurant called the Catalina grill. 

Walking down from the house to the grill and then over to the casino sure did turn a lot of heads :)

The ballroom was nothing like I had ever seen before! It was huge and can hold over 1000 people and had windows nearly the whole way around. 

The center piece on the ceiling was stunning and all the art and architecture just screamed art deco! 

The balcony was great for pictures, strolling and cooling down between dances :)

On Sunday those of us still on the island met for lunch at one of the beach clubs. Many showed up in their period vacation fun wear and even a few in period swimsuits though the water is still much too cold for swimming. 

Catalina

This weekend was the Avalon ball on Catalina island. It was a great event and we had so much fun, but more on the specifics ( and pictures) of that later :) 

Michael and I made this event into a little mini vacation, by staying an extra day on the island and coming back this morning.

Hello from the ferry in Catalina! And good bye to my vacation ;)

Sanity Break!

I found this picture to be incredible hilarious and I think the disproportionate level of my hilarity is related to my lack of sanity currently ;) So I thought I would share! 

The picture, if a few of the really hot men from the new Avengers movie, comes courtesy my friend Trudy from Facebook via my sister (as I am not on Facebook). 

Happy motivation!! :)

18th century cooking

Michael and I often attend a lot of period picnics in the summer and we have been lucky in finding 19th century recipes for making sandwiches and sweets. Period food is just one of those details that adds so greatly to the overall effect when one is trying to recreate another time period.

At Anza last weekend we had some really great food and as I am already making plans for next year in my head I started thinking more about food. In the past for 18th century we have used the cookbook companion to the Master and Commander book series called Lobscouse and Spotted dog, with great success though a little hard to come by all the ingredients the end product is very authentic.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393320944/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1336657274&sr=8-1

Then Michael found this site that I found to be full of new recipes to try for future events.

http://recipes.history.org/

I hope you enjoy!!

Anza Napoleonic war reenactment

Okay here it goes: 

The event is over and all that's left is a lot of dirty laundry and melting ice.

It took us two fully stuffed small SUVs to get everything there. Tent, two chests, an ice chest, two folding tables, five chairs, queen size wooden bed, numerous bags of linens, bedding and food, and all our clothing and accessories. And it was all totally worth it!!!!

The event was small but a ton of fun. The battles looked great and I loved the sound of the guns firing and the report echoing through the valley. I didn't get to see too much of the fighting as most of it took place at the high end of the valley out of our line of sight. 

Our tent, which was very kindly lent to us by a good friend up in the bay area, was huge in comparison to the majority of tents. So as a result of all that space we had a very comfy space to lounge about in and relax in the shade. 

The group we were participating with was the English officers group and they had their club called the pelican club where we took all our meals, served on real china and silver. The cooking was very good and fairly period and served by candle light in the evening, which was so much fun :) the company was the best part, the group president is an old friend who made us feel welcome and I made friends with two of the other wives.

(me in my dinner gown) 

The weather was perfect, especially during the day when it was clear and warm with out being too hot, though the evenings were quite cool and the nights down right freezing ( note to self - pack long underwear next year). This weekend also happened to be the full moon and the largest and closest full moon of the whole year. It was so bright that it cast shadows and allowed us to wander around in the dark with out aide of any sort of light.

( the day dress)

(complete with bonnet and spencer) 
It was a great event, so much fun! Even if I wasn't able to get everything made I had planned or that it was a whole lot of effort for such a short time, I would definitely do it all over again in a heartbeat :) in fact we are already making plans and notes for next year!!!

(Michael shooting - my favorite picture so far!)

A regency poke bonnet

Since the main source of information and online tutorial for making a soft crown regency poke bonnet comes from The Oregon Regency Society  I figured that's where I would start. So I decided to try their regency poke bonnet tutorial on an old straw hat I have. The brim on that hat is smaller then I would have liked but this is a first attempt so it's a learning experience.

Following the tutorial step by step I started by marking where to cut my hat in half, then cut it ( measure twice, cut once). Okay maybe more then once, as it needed a little shaping at the edges to make everything smooth and shapely.

Then came the binding of the outer edge. I chose to use the same fabric as I was going to use on the crown which was the chocolate wool for my spencer jacket. Some folding and ironing turned it in to bias tape.

I glued the bias on with fabric glue because the weave of my straw was too thin and spaced out to successfully sew through to start. As I put the bias on I also incased in hat wire to wire the brim and give it structure. I'll go back at the end and hand stitch down the edges of the bias for added security.

I made the bag for my crown out of the wool and cut the length as twice the circumference of the crown so that I had fabric for gathering. I cut the width of the bag too tall initially and when I tried it out it was too baggy and droopy due to the weight of the wool so had to trim the edge down till it measured just an inch higher then the actual crown and that worked out perfect. 

I set a two inch band of wool around the crown at the edge of the brim. I think it helps hold the structure and gathering of the bag while also giving it a finished look.

I made my ties out of the wool as well, and they are about two feet long.

The bonnet is kinda plain, which is okay  as I think it will look really good with the new printed linen dress that already has that more "homespun" look. And the bonnet will match the Spenser jacket perfectly :)
All in all it was an easy to follow tutorial and I am happy with the results. So I would totally recommend this to anyone. No need for fancy sewing skills just a little bit of a craft nature should do the trick. And the whole thing can be accomplished in an afternoon. 

Regency spenser jacket

I made my Spenser jacket for Anza over the weekend. I am happy with how it came out even though I wasn't able to get to adding the long skirt to it as I had wanted. Again I used the sense and sensibility pattern, her directions are so easy to follow. I chose the double breasted front closure as I am partial to anything with "military-esk" style.

I like that the sleeves in the pattern have a slight gather. Also the deep dropped shoulder line in the back is very flattering. It's very plain but it's a good jumping off point for a new era for me. 

Tent practice

On Saturday we took a break from the frantic sewing to practice setting up our tent for next weekend. The tent is on loan to us from a very good friend up in SF and it is HUGE!! It's a 16 x 16 foot square. We only set up the top for practice but it has full exterior walls and even an inner wall.

The tent was actually very easy to set up! I was worried about this as I have never set up a tent like this before. But it wasn't bad at all, very simple and straight forward, just going to have to wrangle a little extra muscle to help with the big center pole. My sister helped us practice the set up and she took all the pictures :)

Now that I have seen it set up I am extra excited for this event, it's starting to feel very real :) 

Stay tuned for pics next week of the full set up complete with furnishing and decorations ;)