Having successfully completed the first day of the Regency Dance Weekend and then archery on Sunday afternoon, we hurried off to prepare for the Grand Reception and Ball on Sunday evening. These events were held at Hamilton Hall in Salem, MA. This hall that was built in 1805: perfect for our Regency events!
The reception was to include a toast with sparkling cider, so we pre-filled glasses to have ready to go at the right time. In addition, we worked on laying out the refreshments in pretty glass compotes and on silver trays as well as making the punch and laying out all the necessary silverware and dishes. Preparation was a bit hurried and I have to confess to getting super grumpy at one point…
The alterations I made to my skirt to fix the rip created a new issue. Sigh. See those horizontal wrinkles on the rib area? Because the front of the skirt hangs differently now, the front skirt wants to wrinkle. I can fix this problem, but ugh! It’s so much easier when the clothes just fit perfectly!
It’s convenient for these sort of events to have hair that is easily made poofy. I don’t have any short bits of hair around my face (aside from frizz…) so curly tendrils for Regency hair styles don’t work for me. This had become my go-to Regency style: center part in the front with the front bits of hair saved for last; the back part of the hair put into a pony tail and brushed out to be super poofy, then rolled on itself to create a self rat and hide the ends. The poof is then pinned in place, the front bits are wrapped down and around the back which creates lovely lines on the back of the head, and finally the tiara is added to define the area between part and poof. The whole thing is finished off with a liberal douse of super hold hairspray to contain the frizz and keep the style in place.
But enough pictures of my dress and hair! After these reception pictures we all descended the stairs to the sidewalk, where we watched a celebratory champagne bottle be opened with a saber. Neat!
When the cider was beginning to dwindle (which didn’t take too long), the time had come for the dancing to begin. And my, what dancing there was!
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 
I still can’t get over how amazing it would be to get to do all those things! To have all the fine balls, the servants with the cider! Delightful!
I’ve been enjoying these posts very much. What an event!
Yay! I’m so glad! I very much enjoy sharing them. 🙂 Thanks for commenting, too!
PICTURESQUE GRUMPY FACE!!! I love it. Perfect 🙂
Aww, I totally understand the grumpy face! I have such a hard time staying pleasant under stress like that.
On another note, how are you planning to fix the skirt (again)? I am *paranoid* about getting that particular wrinkle myself! One of the ways I tried to avoid it is by curving the center front waist.
You’ve got the solution already! It requires a curved front instead of a straight front. The fabric is creating wrinkles where it wants to have less fabric.
I do not plan to take this off the waistband again, though. *insert head shake!* I will just pinch the total wrinkled amount up under the waistband and hand sew it down on the inside and the outside. There will be more at center front and it will taper as it gets toward the side. Sort of like a horizontal dart… Or like I had curved the waistband earlier… 🙂
I was actually poking those wrinkles up under the waistband while I was wearing the dress, because tummy wrinkles aren’t super attractive… but they moved every time I did, so that didn’t really work out so well! It’s not a huge alteration and it won’t take that much time… I just have to decide to do it! Thanks for asking! 🙂
That sounds perfect! I think it’s a good solution anyway, because you still have neat edges and and enclosed seams. Back then they weren’t so paranoid about having immaculate insides!