Category: Wearing Reproduction Clothing

1940 Schiaparelli Inspired Dress: Finished Ensemble

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I’m very pleased with my finished 1940 Schiaparelli Inspired Dress! The relatively simple style is set off by the pink and green sequined appliqué on the front of the dress.

This post is going to be all about wearing the finished dress. There is a separate detailed post telling all about how I made it that you can read here.

This dress is dramatic, yet simple, and completely different from anything else I have. And, it lends itself to elaborate and large hair which always amuses me.

I chose to do victory rolls, which I’ve posted about doing with my curly hair type in the past. (Not all rolls are technically victory rolls, but if they make a V there is a good argument for calling them by this name. In this case, I’m arguing that the dip between my two rolls makes a V and that’s why I’m calling them victory rolls. You can read lots more about the history of this hairstyle here, on the Bobby Pin Blog.)

The particular roll pattern and shape I chose to do was mainly inspired by this. My hair has enough volume to sustain the rolls on its own, but I cheated a bit on the teasing and stuffed the larger roll with small hair rat to help maintain the height and shape.

I’m very pleased with how the rolls turned out. They were dramatic, just like the dress and they made me super tall looking in combination with my trusty American Duchess black Seabury shoes and the columnar dress.

The V shaped rolls of hair complemented the V shaped sequins on the front of the dress AND the V shape of the back bodice with its V shaped pleats. There are all sorts of V’s in this outfit!

And, not only did I get to wear a fabulous, formal dress with large and fun hair, I was able to have a great time at Club Drosselmeyer with friends while wearing both!

(If you’re in the New England area and you haven’t heard of Club Drosselmeyer before, I suggest you check it out! I’ve been performing at and/or attending for years. It’s really special and fantastic for all sorts of people and interests. Personally, I really enjoy the live Christmas swing music, puzzles, and fabulous clothes, but there are also interactive actors, special performances, an open dance floor, and more!)

Proof Of A Regency Picnic

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Historically clothed events continue to be somewhat sparse on my calendar, but I have photographic evidence of having gathered with friends last summer to partake in a Regency themed picnic. We were rained out of the original date and the alternate date was very hot, so we decided to mostly stay indoors. But we did go outside for a few fun documentation-of-our-gathering photos.

Did I mention it was hot? I was kind of melting. But I did really enjoy getting my 1815 Tree Gown out of the closet and giving it a wear. This continues to be one of my favorite early 19th century dresses! I still love the patterning, which creates a comfortable and elegantly shaped dress, as well as the lightweight block print cotton fabric. At least I had a cool fabric to wear in the heat!

Made in 2013, this dress has held up to 11 years of wear very well; however, I did notice that the forearms are very tight these days… so tight that they don’t let the armsceye seams sit where they should, causing the shoulders to constantly be pulling down my arm! And sadly, even with the 1/4″ French seams I originally made, they don’t have enough circumference to be let out.

On the bright side, though, I keep everything and I have scraps of this fabric in my stash. So for now, the forearms have been seam ripped and the dress is, metaphorically in the pile of things-that-need-alterations, awaiting my action of actually digging out the fabric scraps so that I can adjust the fit (it’s metaphorical because it’s actually hanging in the closet not in a pile!). This will assuredly become a When-The-Dress-No-Longer-Fits post… someday!

GBVS Newport Weekend 2023

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Just as with my post about the 2022 Greater Boston Vintage Society Newport Weekend, I’m posting about an event from last summer in the middle of winter. Sometimes it takes awhile to get to posting! Well, as before, late is better than never.

This year the weather was not as cooperative as in the past. It was raining on Saturday, the only full day of the event. Nevertheless, we made the best of it, choosing to still picnic outside, but in the covered areas of the porch.

It was a bit cooler than summer usually is, also due to the rain, so we added hot tea to our picnic spread. Yum!

Who doesn’t carry around a teapot in a picnic basket?

There was a break in the rain long enough for a few outfit photos. For Saturday I chose to wear my 1928 Egyptomania Inspired Dress and American Duchess/Royal Vintage Ginger shoes. The pop of color was nice on the rainy day.

I also added my 1917 Knitted Sweater of Angorina while sitting still. You can see it in the first photo of this post.

For the Saturday evening ball, I wore my 1927 Blush Sparkle Evening Gown and black American Duchess Seaburies. It’s always neat to wear these shoes in Newport — they are designed based on shoes in the collection of the Newport Historical Society!

On Sunday, I decided to go to a behind-the-scenes tour of The Elms. As with all of the Newport mansions, this one has a grand facade and all sorts of interesting (and expensive!) details to learn about.

For example, the rounded area of greenery (below) actually conceals a sloping driveway to the basement and servants’ entrance. This is where deliveries were dropped off, as well. With the greenery growing on a lattice above this area the family could carry on without needing to see the servants or delivery people come and go.

The servants had very nice quarters on the top floor of the house. They also had access to roof space that ran around the entire house — but of course this was concealed by a parapet. Just as with the servants’ entrance, the family wouldn’t want to see the servants taking leisure time on the roof.

For modern tours, there is a platform that lifts you above the level of the parapet so you can see the view of the grounds and harbor. It’s quite lovely!

Back at the entrance, I was very amused by the shaped trees. They reminded me of mushrooms!

So instead of the usual outfit photos, I chose to take some highlighting the trees and pretending to be a mushroom! The weather had completely changed from the rain the day before! It was warm, and I chose to wear my 1953 Dot Dress with comfy Crocs flats.

In addition to the servants’ area in the basement and on the upper floor, we also toured the boiler room in the house. It’s massive, with multiple boilers! Well, I guess it is a huge house!

Along the lines of the concealed delivery entrance I already shared, this house also has a tunnel that runs from a side street to the boiler room in order to move coal without the family seeing. This is the entrance to the tunnel in the boiler room. Look at the floor! They had ways to turn the carts around and everything!

Finally, after lots of walking around the house and up and down stairs, I finished the trip with a picnic lunch by the water in a new-to-me area in Benton Point State Park. It was lovely, breezy, and the geologic formations in the rocks are beautiful.

And that’s it! After that it was time to head home to await another future adventure.

1830s Holiday Cheer

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For the holidays last year, friends and I decided to have an 1830s-clothed dinner at a local historical inn. We had a lovely meal, enjoyed the company, and had fun looking around at all of the lovely seasonal decorations!

There were new vignettes around every corner, with everything from human-sized nutcrackers to animals and greenery. These owls, perched up on a rafter, amused me very much!

In another, more modern part of the building, we paused to take photos with a tree whose decorations matched my 1832 Velvet Gown and 12 Days Of Christmas bells & berries hair accessory. This dress is always fun to wear–lightweight, despite the velvet, and with a silhouette that is always entertaining.

I hope your holidays are full of joy, friendship, and gratitude!

1875 Reception Dress Photo Shoot

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I was really excited to spend lots of time working on and finally completing this dress during the summer of 2020.

At that time, there was no option of finding a fabulous indoor place to take photos, so I had to make do with the outdoors. Don’t get me wrong, I have lovely photos from that short outing, but they didn’t have as much background ambiance as I was hoping to find, someday.

But last year, I had the opportunity to actually wear this dress for an activity! And I was able to convince friends to take oodles of photos so I could better document the dress in appropriate surroundings for its reception status. So now, I present many photos of this dress.

There are dramatic back views, of course.

And front views showing the bust, waist, hip dimensions I worked very hard at in the patterning stages. This is created/augmented with padding. You can read more about that in this past post.

There are also views trying to show both the front and back. A side front view, if you will. This also captures the hat very well. I wrote a detailed post about making it, which you can read here.

And a few more sitting photos, as well. These are great for showing off the train and the layers that support it (this is my past post about constructing the skirt and this is about the balayeuse that supports the skirt, if you’d like to know more).

It was hard to choose favorites! I’m very pleased to have so many photos that capture the glory of this dress in an appropriate location.

Gilded Age Weekend Portraits

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As I shared in my last post, friends and I planned a historical weekend away that had a Gilded Age theme. Part of the idea was to document some of our older and recently made clothing in a fabulous setting. To that end, I have many photos of our outfits that I would like to share!

To start, some daytime outfits, worn for afternoon tea and amusements.

So much detail! Fabulous fabrics, beautiful trims, eye catching hats and hair ornaments… the list goes on and on!

And to follow that, a few of our evening outfits.

Thanks for appreciating and enjoying these with me!

Gilded Age Weekend Highlights

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Last year, friends and I decided to treat ourselves to a historical weekend away. With a number of bustle (1870s and 1880s) and 1890s dresses languishing in our closets, the chosen theme was the Gilded Age. We planned a very busy weekend of parlour games, afternoon tea and amusements, informal dance practice, and a formal ball.

Regular blog readers already saw a hint of this event in my last post, When The Dress No Longer Fits (1896 Evening Gown), but I have a few more posts to share, as well. Today’s post captures some of the amusing highlights from the various weekend activities.

To start, a behind the scenes shot of partially completed hair for my 1875 dress (which you can see in the photo after the one below). The photo below also shows off My Favorite Winter Things Skirt! Yes, I continue to wear this during the winter. The penguins, polar bears, and foxes participating in winter activities–skiing, ice skating, sledding, etc–continues to bring me amusement and joy.

And here, a still of theatre-adjacent people trying to create an amusing atmosphere while not making absolutely ridiculous faces. It brings me such joy to have well dressed friends!

Friends who also enjoy creative pursuits, such as creating homemade tabletop croquet! Not only is this absolutely adorable, but it’s also playable!

Our afternoon amusements also included a stereoscope.

Here is another view of the lovely ensembles at the ball.

I wore my 1896 dress, as you can see in the photo below. This is a classic for us. Moose pose!

And, to wrap it up, this is the bronze 1896 skirt after being stepped out of. The canvas is so stiff it literally stands up on its own, a fact which I’ve found to be amusing ever since I first made this over 10 years ago.

Thanks for joining me in the adventure!

There are more photos to come… a selection of outfit portraits and better-than-my-backyard documentation of my 1875 Reception Ensemble.

Plum Pants Photo Shoot

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When I made my vintage-inspired Plum Pants With Pointed Pockets in 2020, I didn’t have a great opportunity to get photos of them right away. I made do with photos taken in my yard, with my phone balanced on my lawn mower in lieu of a tripod!

Since then, I’ve worn them relatively often in warm months for ‘real’ life and historical events. I thought I would intentionally wear them for the GBVS Newport Weekend in 2022 because of their comfortable nature but also in order to get pictures of them in fabulous places that have far more glamour than my backyard!

The opportunity presented itself on the grounds of Rosecliff. The grand windows and patio with the lion statue were too much not to pass up!

Accordingly, there is a whole serious of photos showing off the wide legs of pants in the bright summer sunlight.

I can’t decide which pose is my favorite! I do like the ones where the points of the pockets are in the sun rather than the shade, such that you can see them. But some of the photos with the points in the shade have such great attitude!

The side of Rosecliff is beautiful as well, in terms of architectural details and gardens. It was also a lovely place to get photos.

And a closer view with the sun highlighting the pocket points.

Thanks for enjoying this summer-y photo shoot with me!

Mid-Century Birthday Croquet At Roseland Cottage

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Finally, a break from stay-related blog posts! (Slow sewing progress is being made, but not enough to post about…)

In the meantime, I have an armchair peep into a lovely birthday outing with friends on a gorgeous autumn afternoon.

The location of the outing is Roseland Cottage, in Woodstock, Connecticut.

Built in 1846 in the newly fashionable Gothic Revival style, Roseland Cottage was the summer home of Henry and Lucy Bowen and their young family. While the house is instantly recognizable for its pink exterior, Roseland Cottage has an equally colorful interior, featuring elaborate wall coverings, heavily patterned carpets, and stained glass, much of which survives unchanged from the Victorian era. The house is a National Historic Landmark.
(from the Historic New England website)

We made special arrangements with the staff to picnic and croquet on the lawn in mid-19th century clothing, followed by a house tour. Some of us had seen the house before, but the details never cease to amaze and hold our interest. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit!

The grounds of the house are well maintained and provided an excellent area to set up croquet.

We enjoyed serious croquet as well as a few silly rounds of our own invention. The shadows made for fun photos, too!

The day was sunny and beautiful. There was a slight bit of chill to the air, but it was quite comfortable in full length sleeves and long dresses.

One zealous croquet ball whacked me in the ankle and caused a small scene. Thankfully, it wasn’t too bad after the initial pain wore off (no bruises or anything worse!)

In fact, the croquet ball whack didn’t stop me from enjoying the gardens in Sophie, my 1861 reproduction cotton print dress.

The gardens are maintained with the same plan and variety of plants that would have been evident in the 19th century. They were in full color during our visit!

I greatly enjoy this photo, which was completely unintentional. I just started running around because it was fun, and then was told to go back and do it again because the photo opportunity was so exciting. So I suppose in a way it was intentional?

Croquet was followed by a house tour, during which the staff invited us to remain in historical clothes and take photos. This was my favorite! There’s a little built-in seat with a bay window in one room. It was well suited to sitting in hoops. Looking for friends arriving, perhaps?

An exciting, beautiful day! Thanks for enjoying it with me!

Genevieve At A Spring Fete

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Genevieve, the name I gave to my most recently constructed mid-19th century sewing project back in 2019, was only able to be worn once before all events ceased. So when friends and I decided to gather for a private ball earlier this spring, I knew that of the multiple ball gowns from this period in my closet Genevieve was the one I most wanted to wear.

I was having such a lovely time dancing that I didn’t take any photos of that activity, and the dress had already been documented, so I didn’t take photos specifically for that purpose, either. Refreshments, however, were definitely worth taking photos of, because we decided to cut our cake with a sword.

Why? Because it is amusing! We had been at a ball a number of years ago in which no one had a knife, but someone did have a sword! We used it at that time and it’s been a running joke ever since. In this case, we did have knives… but swords are far more dramatic!

The beautiful and delicious cake was made for us by a local bakery, Dolce Amar. Friends contributed flowers and vessels to add to our springtime theme.

If you’re interested in learning more about Genevieve, my 1863 apricot silk dress, I documented the creation of the dress in nine separate blog posts over the course of 2019. All of those posts can be viewed here in the project journal for the dress.