Patterned Stash Additions!

February 3, 2013 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 2 Comments

If you look at my clothes, modern and historic, you might notice that I usually wear solid colors. Yes, I do mix solid colors in outfits. But there it is: I hardly ever wear patterned fabric. I want to branch out a bit, at least in my historic wardrobe, so when I saw these patterned fabrics on sale I couldn’t resist.

So here they are: my most recent stash additions. On the left, a rayon challis with a slightly lilac tinted grey background and little teal clovers all over. On the right, a super lightweight cotton lawn with dots in shades of purple and pinkish/redish/orange. What for? I’m thinking 1930s or 40s for the challis and a 50s summer dress for the lawn. I’m pushing the envelope, thinking outside my normal eras! Of course, these projects are pretty low on the list of things to get done… so don’t expect to see them again soon. But maybe this summer the 50s dress could be a fun project. We’ll see. In the meantime, I’ll know I have patterned fabric in my stash, and that’s enough for me!

Details Of The 1928 Green Silk Dress

November 1, 2012March 25, 2018 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 6 Comments

Back in August, at Newport, I wore a whole lot of new dresses. One of them was this 1928 green silk evening dress based off of an image in Norah Waugh’s The Cut of Women’s Clothes.

It was recently requested that I share more information about this dress, and maybe some extra pictures. This dress was lovingly placed in my closet upon my return from Newport, but as you’ll soon see, the silk charmeuse just LOVES to wrinkle! I didn’t steam the wrinkles out to take closer pictures, so you’ll have to bear with the wrinkly silk.

This dress may look complicated, but it’s actually just an L-shaped garment with neck and armholes.

The bottom of the L-shape is stitched together on a diagonal to keep the drape-y bits from showing too much leg.

Here are the drape-y bits hanging down, but folded open so you can see where the stitching stops. It’s about mid-thigh, but I didn’t have any problems with too much leg showing because it tends to hang closed all the way to the hem.

All of the bottom hems and drape-y edges are narrow hemmed by machine, like this. The hem is about 1/4″

This is a back view of the top of the dress. You can see that the front neck is a scoop and the back is a V-shape. The trim is from Heritage Trading on eBay. It’s is gold metallic threads/wires with sequins. Originally I had thought to trim the skirt as well, but decided against that because I didn’t want stitches to show on the inside when the skirt flipped around while dancing.

A closeup of the neckline. I stitched hug snug around the neck and armholes then turned the hug snug and stitched again to enclose the raw edges of the silk. I then zig zag stitched the metallic trim on. It caused some puckering of the silk, but that’s not very noticeable when I have the dress on.

The dress is a basic tunic with no waist, as you can see in one of the first pictures. I used my measurements to determine the basic shape, then held it up to myself (super scientific, I know) to determine arm and neck openings. I cut them, sewed the shoulder and side seams, then put the dress back on to make changes.

I didn’t want to put closures on the dress, but I did want those horizontal folds around the waist. Without a waist, the dress just droops and pulls on the side with the drape-y bits. So how did I fake a waist while still allowing easy access to the dress with no closures? Well, I took an elastic hair tie and scrunched the dress up while wearing it so that it sat the way I wanted! Then I pinned a (modern, ahem) sequined flower (left over from my beginning ballroom dancing days) to hide the scrunch. The sequins are bronze and gold, so while it didn’t match perfectly, I think it worked just fine.

It was a rather down-and-dirty sewing job. I wasn’t out to have the most beautiful interior of a dress (as I almost usually am). I was simply trying to get the dress done as quickly and easily as possible, so I could spend time making my other dresses really lovely, inside and out. As I have mentioned before, the 1920s aren’t super inspiring to me, so I didn’t have a whole lot invested in this dress, except that I wanted to look great at the Gatsby Ball at Newport with minimum effort. (My original thought was to hand bead a dress… but I didn’t have the time or interest for that, in the end.) However, I’ve got another 20s event coming up next year… and I plan to make a new 20s dress. And this time, it will be beaded. You’ll have to wait for a future post to hear about my plans for the new 20s dress!

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“Vintage in Vogue” Finds

September 17, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 2 Comments

In August for each of the last eight years, I have been blessed to be able to enjoy an annual trip to Cape Cod. By this point the trip feels just like going home: I know the places I like to go, that I like to eat (and they recognize me, even though I’m only there one week out of the year!), that I like to shop… and I only deviate from these things when I want something new–a sense of adventure.

Well, a few years ago I was encouraged to visit a new store, which I did, and since then I have returned on every visit to the Cape. What store, you ask? Vintage In Vogue. This unique vintage clothing store is run by the wonderfully passionate Maureen Leavenworth. Truly, Vintage In Vogue is a unique vintage store. Maureen really cares about the stories behind the items for sale and she takes the time to share those stories with you when you are interested in an object.

The store is full of fun things like shoes, hats, jewelry, furs, patterns, fashion plates, and of course, dresses. There are some pieces from the 19th century, as well as many items from the 20th century. There is also has a whole area devoted to vintage wedding gowns and accessories. This year as I was poking around looking at the fun things… I found a few things I decided to take home with me.

First, a 1950s vintage Vogue pattern!

Useful for when I find time to make a Mad Men inspired dress. The ruching on the shoulders is an interesting detail in this pattern.

Then, a fur collar, separate from any garment that it once adorned.

I have a vision of turning the collar into a fur trimmed 1860s hat one day.

And, lastly, a framed fashion plate from 1894!

“La Bon Ton Et Le Moniteur De La Mode United” Published by S. T. Taylor Co., New York, October 1894.

I was very pleased with my finds. The pattern and fur collar have been put on the far back burner, but the 1894 lady enjoys a place of prominence on top of my dresser. I know that doesn’t sound very glamorous, but she has a light above her that I can turn on so it looks like she’s in a spot light, and she’s in a place where I see her every day as I’m getting dressed. It’s kind of perfect for me and my interests, actually, to see an image like this each morning.

Newport Vintage Dance Week Part VII: Glen Manor Continued

August 25, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

At the very end of my first post about the Ragtime evening event at Glen Manor, I had just shared with you our series of pictures of the “young set” spelling out our most recent acronym: TNG. You’ll have to read the captions in the pictures of the that post to see what it stands for, because this post is moving on to pictures of the Ragtime ball. Before I start on pictures, I just have to share that this ball had the most fantastic food catered for our dinner. I don’t know what company catered it, unfortunately, but it was spectacular and delicious! We all ate generous first and second helpings and were super full… but it was SO good!

The light was fading as we returned from our adventures down by the water and on the dock… This is the back side of Glen Manor with the lights on in the downstairs rooms and the twilight sky behind.

The orchestra for the night. I believe this is the New River Orchestra.

IMG_1627 (2) — The doors were thrown wide open to the patio and gardens, which allowed for picturesque viewing of the dancers.

IMG_1635 (2) — This was one of the venues in which the dancers progressed through a series of small-ish rooms.

It was fun to look in and watch people dance. Because they were traveling through different rooms there were always new people to watch.

There were lots of really beautiful gowns to admire.

The interior of one of the beautiful rooms.

The fabulous red carpeted staircase. Not quite as grand as Rosecliff or Ochre Court, but still beautiful.

Most members of TNG lounging on the stairs.

One of our faithful cameramen caught lounging without a camera in hand!

None of the young set danced very much, but there were a few times we stood up and danced. This is one of them.

And another, blurry, picture of members of the young set actually dancing.

Photographic proof the Scott the Portsmouth Policeman danced (and with one of our own young set–as well as many other dancers).

On the left is Scott the Policeman. Elsewhere are other wonderfully dressed dancers.

We may not look like we’re dancing, but we had just finished a tango. One of the few times the young set danced.

And we basically had the room to ourselves, which meant we could be super silly!

A silly Charleston figure called something like “shine your shoes.”

The traditional TNG “raise the roof” Charleston! (It’s like patting your head and rubbing your stomach… to Charleston while raising the roof! You should try it!)

Follow the leader. Now everyone is doing the “raise the roof” Charleston!

Double trouble! We caught one of our TNG faithful photographers and Bill Cunningham in the same picture!

I believe at least some of us are doing the “flying Charleston” in this picture.

We’re all laughing and smiling! Doesn’t it look like a wonderful time? Don’t you just want to jump in the photo and join us?

The fearless leader of TNG and the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers. What a fabulous fan! Doesn’t it just scream for sillyness?

Well, here you go! Sillyness! (Can you tell that it’s her tail? Like a peacock?)

Okay, I’m not actually asleep… but the stairs were a pretty comfy place to relax… Clearly, it is nearing bed time.

“Follow the moon path!” I said, knowing you can’t actually follow the moon path over the water. It’s a good metaphor for life though, to follow your dreams.

Last view of Glen Manor that night, with the lights on and the rising moon. So lovely!

Final tally: 72 pictures between 2 posts out of a total of 1,266 pictures total for this event. Not bad, I say.

Newport Vintage Dance Week Part VI: Ragtime Dinner and Ball at Glen Manor

August 23, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 2 Comments

The next formal event at Newport was a Ragtime Dinner Reception and Formal Ball held at Glen Manor House in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Glen Manor was designed by renowned architect John Russell Pope to resemble the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Construction began in 1921 and the house was completed in 1923.

It is truly lovely inside and out, as you will soon see in the photos! I have 1,266 pictures from that evening… and even though I’ve slimmed down the number I’m going to share with you I’m going to have to break the evening up into two posts. The first part will be before the ball and the second part during and after the ball.

One of the ladies’ changing rooms just off of the entrance hallway.

Once I passed through the rooms, this was the view that greeted me.

The magnificent garden was also behind the main house.

Before dinner we took some group photos. While standing in the group I took the opportunity to snap a shot of Bill Cunningham taking photos of us! We were a little afraid for his safety on the ladder, so you can see people keeping careful watch.

This is Scott, from the Portsmouth Police. He has worked this particular event in years past and really loved it; indeed, he jiggled his work schedule around to join us again this year. He was so excited by the historic clothing that he had purchased a historic uniform to wear just for the event!

After the group photo the four of us and our faithful photographers set out to be silly and take beautiful pictures.

One of our faithful photographers caught Bill Cunningham (another of our faithful photographers) taking photos of us! It was really magical to have Bill Cunningham hurrying to catch our pictures! At one point he said he would “stop bothering us for five minutes” and then five minutes later he was back again, saying “I couldn’t resist, it’s been five minutes!”

The picture Bill Cunningham was trying to capture included frantic waving of the arms…

Running around is a returning theme for us. This time we were just enjoying the beauty and being silly.

Striking theatrical poses under the trees…

There were so many lovely flowers in the garden! We found some to match each of our dresses!

Flowers to match the burgundy in my dress.

Looking the other way. I think I like the first one better, but this is lovely as well.

Those hibiscus flowers were huge! And they matched so well!

There was also this lovely hydrangea bush that looked so droopy we just had to imitate it.

One more panorama of the garden, because it is just so lovely!

After being in the gardens awhile we began to be drawn toward the water…

But decided to turn and take another picture before heading down the hill.

At water’s edge. Literally, the water was lapping at the rocks just a few feet away.

Looking to our left, we noticed that enticing dock…

So naturally we had to go and investigate!

Diving in! With a red moon rising beyond the water.

The sun was obviously setting as the moon was rising. We stood on the end of the dock, thinking of the Great Gatsby, pointing across the water at the moon, and talking of West Egg and the green light.

Looking off into the distance and enjoying the twilight.

The sash on the left was another of my last minute creations.

There was a breeze and we just had to soak in the atmosphere. So magical!

Don’t you just want to jump into the picture and join us?

By this point in the week the “young set” had taken on the name TNG “The Next Generation” (of the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers). We’re trying to spell TNG, but the N is hard to see and the G is a little like a blob…

So we tried again with all caps. Can you see it?

32715_f520 — The new name sparked many bouts of Star Trek references… I hope that you see the connection!

I leave you for now, in a magical twilight world with TNG.

Newport Vintage Dance Week Part IV: Mid-Nineteenth Century Ball at Ochre Court

August 19, 2012August 19, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

As you may already know if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, the 1860s are my favorite period. I get super excited about them–especially the clothes! So you can imagine my absolute joy at being able to attend an 1860s ball during Newport Vintage Dance Week. But to make things even more amazingly wonderful, this particular ball was held in one of the most beautiful places we visited during the week! You can see pictures of last year’s 1860s Ochre Court Newport ball here, in an earlier post. In fact, Ochre Court is my favorite of any Newport venues I have ever entered, except maybe the Breakers… but we didn’t have a ball at the Breakers (because it is no longer open to the public, as far as I know), so for Newport 2012, Ochre Court was my top most favorite place!

Ochre Court was built in 1892 as a summer home for Ogden Goelet, a wealthy New York banker and developer, for $4.5 million. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, who also designed the Breakers, which is just down the street. In fact, Ochre Court is the 2nd largest Newport “cottage,” the Breakers being the largest. (All of this information came from the Newport Mansions website, which you can access by clicking the link at the beginning of the paragraph. It also has fantastic pictures, which you should check out if you’re at all interested!)

We came up the side road to enter Ochre Court. This is the side gate.

As you walk in the side gate you are greeted by the grand front drive to the right.

Looking down the main drive. Directly behind the camera is Ochre Court.

The grand main drive is just to the right. To the left is the entry to Ochre Court.

Looking up at Ochre Court. The arch at the bottom of the picture is the front entryway from the last picture.

This is the grand ballroom: the first room reached upon entering Ochre Court! It is three stories high with arched galleries on the second and third floors, which are reached by means of a fabulous red carpeted staircase (pictures of that are coming soon).

Pass through the grand ballroom and you emerge onto the back lawns which slope gently down toward the cliff and the water.

The neat thing about many of the balls at Newport is that multiple rooms on the same level of the mansions are open and available to us, and we are able to dance between rooms during the course of one dance!

This is the library, which is just off of the grand ballroom.

Another view of dancers in the grand ballroom.

This room wasn’t open last year! In my head it is the white room. It is also just off of the grand ballroom. We are dancing the Newport 2012 quadrille: Les Rats.

We’ve just finished a figure of the quadrille! Yay us!

IMG_1572 (2) — Taking a break in the entryway.

Okay, this next bit takes a bit of explaining. Antonia expressed it very well in her post “Speed Virginia Reel at Ochre Court.” You can read the whole description by clicking the link, but here’s the short version: “The Virginia Reel is an interesting dance…there are always people who refuse to wait for the music and push the speed…Speed Virginia Reel doesn’t even try that hard, and instead strives to be insane. It was invented by teenagers a couple of months ago…and it doesn’t even pretend to be dancing to music.” Is your interest peaked?

I hope so, because it was some of the most fun we young people had at this particular ball! It included many sweeping hoop skirts showing scandalous views of ladies’ drawers as well as a slide and fall on her bottom by none other than me! Unfortauntely, there are no pictures of me actually on the floor, so you’ll have to take my word for it (and I’m sure my fellow dancers would back me up!). Lucky for me I had two factors in my favor such that I didn’t hurt myself at all: 1-I wear a pretty hefty bum pad with my 1860s clothes to help my hoop stay paralell to the floor (I’m pretty sure I landed on this, because the floor is marble, and the fall didn’t hurt) and 2-there was so much adrenaline going around that even if it did hurt I didn’t feel it…I remember lying on the floor thinking “Yikes, I am lying on the floor,” and then jumping up again and continuing the dance! This dance was so much fun I really couldn’t rule out very many pictures, so I do hope that you don’t mind seeing a lot of Speed Virginia Reel, the all new 1860s dance craze!

Hoops and tails are flying! This is part of the grand ballroom, looking toward the dining room. We stationed ourselves in an uninhabited section of the room so as not to endanger others…

The corner people dance (or run…) various things together to begin the dance.

You can see the momentum in the swinging hoops!

This part of the dance is called strip the willow. It involves the top couple turning each of the people below them till they meet at the bottom…

The top couple is just beginning to run to the top to start follow the leaders.

Even more is showing in this picture. I think this is the highest any skirt went…

The top couple runs down the middle of the other four couples, and the other couples have to spring apart to make space!

Really, the top couple just goes all out down the middle and hopes for the best (at least in the speedy version of this dance).

This picture is pretty awesome. The wind is ruffling my sails (skirt…) and I am clearly running, as I wouldn’t be able to stand at that angle without falling over otherwise…

Another favorite running picture! I’m sure you can see why!

I had to include this, because look at how high my skirt was swinging! It’s pretty epic!

Clearly, there was a lot of running and momentum in this dance.

Forward and backward, all while running.

This is what was happening while the top couple circled the people below them.

Evidence of my fall! You can see one of my flower clumps on the floor that’s about to be picked up so it is out of danger!

Follow the leader around the column…running as fast as possible and missing a flower clump…

We made it, corsets, falling and all! I’m obviously excited, because look at how far off the floor I am! I LOVE this picture! Don’t you?

There was nothing sedate about this dance. What else is there to say? I have more fabulous pictures from the end of this event… but I think I’ll do a second installment post about this event to share them. So stay tuned!

Newport Vintage Dance Week Part III: Formal Tea on the Lawn at RWU

August 16, 2012August 16, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ Leave a comment

As I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted pictures of the Seaside Dance at Easton’s Beach, I failed to include some interesting information that I am going to include here, now! Other ladies in the fabulous young set at Newport maintain their own blogs and have also posted pictures of the Newport events with their own unique commentary. If you’re vicariously enjoying the fun of the week, I encourage you to check out their posts and extend your fun! #1: Antonia’s Experiments in Elegance “Speed Virginia Reel at Ochre Court,” for example; #2: Raven’s Plaid Petticoats “Project Newport,” for example; or #3: Barbara’s Recreating the Nineteenth Century Ballroom “The White Ball at Rosecliff,” for example.

On this blog right now, however, we are going to continue the marathon of awesome-ness that was Newport and reminiscence about the Formal Tea on the Lawn at Roger Williams University. This event, being an afternoon event, did not have a specific time period, so you’ll see a variety of clothing styles. Here we go!

On our way to the official lawn for the tea, we stopped to take pictures here by the boats.

Here I am: 1903. The blouse was made last year and the skirt earlier this summer (though I haven’t posted about that yet…). The bolero and hat were additions to complete the look.

A side view. You can really see the silhouette.

It’s like Where’s Waldo. Can you spot one of our faithful photographers caught on camera? He blends in with the boats.

Another beautiful distraction before we even made it to tea.

I wish there weren’t modern buildings behind the pond… but there were fish in pond!

Looking picturesque. Again with the modern buildings…

Close up. Such a lovely line with the skirt and all! And the buildings are much less obvious.

IMG_1540 (2) — Finally we stopped getting distracted and made it to the tea, where we saw this lovely group of people playing croquet!

This is only the beginning of the croquet poses…

So we didn’t actually play croquet… we just borrowed the mallets for our photos!

Hard to see that they are different lengths in the last photo, but not in this one!

The long one was great for striking a pose that didn’t involve bending over.

I’ve whittled it down to just this one close up hat picture…

We got our young ladies together to take pictures in a line. We do love back side photos!

Swirling skirts and stunning backgrounds. What more could we ask for?

Silly moment! We like to try and walk toward the camera slowly, which always means walking like we’re either zombies or underwater, depending on your inclination.

Awww. Aren’t they lovely together? Look at those trains!

IMG_1534 (2) — The neat looking knot-thing to finish off this particular sash–finishing off sashes in neat ways this was a theme of the week for me!

Sitting with one of the little girls for a photo. We had to bribe her with lemonade… shhh!

It’s possible that we were also distracted by cattails on our way out…

I really wanted to reach them, but they were just out of reach.

We had to return to reality–the modern world. But did we walk on the sidewalk? NO! Up the middle of the road is the only way.

More silly! Lifting the skirts and walking is always essential for sillyness. We are on our way to get ready for the evening 1860s ball at Ochre Court!

Final tally for this event: 27 pictures out of 298 total. Whew!

Newport Vintage Dance Week Part II: Seaside Tea Dance at Easton’s Beach

August 13, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 2 Comments

Here we are again, for the second installation of the Newport marathon of awesome-ness. If you missed it, you can view the first installation, the 1920s Gatsby Ball at Rosecliff, here.

The Seaside Tea Dance took place on Tuesday. It was held at a venue right on the beach that also houses a operational carousel! In fact, the carousel was shut down for the public so that those of us at the ball might ride it with our other costumed companions. If you’ve ever been to Newport, this beach area is the one just down the hill from Bellevue Avenue (where many of the mansions are). Actually, many of the mansions along the left side of Bellevue Avenue actually have a view of the beach area where this event was held. The day events did not have specific time periods, thus you’ll see a variety represented in the pictures. It’s nice to be able to choose, but I enjoy the atmosphere most when everyone is wearing clothes from a short time span (as is the case at the formal evening balls).

It wound up being a rainy afternoon, which caused some stress, but we managed to overcome our various situations and have silly, fun time anyway. You’ll have to look through the pictures to see the adventures! Onward!

I hardly danced at this event–I wasn’t in the mood. BUT, I did ride the carousel!

Hm… not actually smiling, but with the same look on their faces.

IMG_1124 (2) — Being proper ladies, we were obligated to ride side saddle! (And you can see the back of my newly decorated hat.)

IMG_1127 (2) — Now you can see the front of my hat.

IMG_1254 (2) — This was ride number two. I was practicing my princess wave.

IMG_1365 (2) — As I mentioned in an earlier picture: we didn’t dance much. We did spend a lot of time sitting and discussing things (I don’t remember what things… I think mostly that we didn’t feel like dancing…). You can also see the fabulous knot I made on the blue belt! It was all pinned in place at the last minute, but I do like it.

IMG_1366 (2) — We, the young set, might not have been dancing, but that didn’t stop other people!

IMG_1291 (2) — If you’re going to wear matching bathing suits, you must take pictures on the beach!

IMG_1301 (2) — Oh no! The picture has been crashed by a random modern guy! Eep!

Single occupant pictures are always essential.

Here I am: 1900. New skirt, blouse from 1913 (shhh…), new belt, and newly trimmed hat (that appears to be listing to one side… oh well, it’s jaunty, right?).

Close up. I love that I finally have a picture of this blouse that shows the details!

Another good blouse shot. I can’t resist including lots of pictures of new clothes!

Silly fun! We went wading in the ocean, in the rain! It was pretty warm, so the water didn’t feel cold.

It is for spur of the moment events like this that it is always useful to wear historic underthings… You never know when your combination legs might be seen!

Look, you can see one of our faithful cameramen!

After getting our feet all sandy, we had to hose down a little bit.

My ostrich feathers were rather bedraggled when we finally went inside… but I fluffed them and they dried looking just as wonderful as before the rainy sea adventure.

Walking to the car. More petticoat ruffle is always better!

Final picture tally: 22 pictures out of 655 total from this event… You made it!

Newport Vintage Dance Week Part I: 1920s Gatsby Ball at Rosecliff

August 7, 2012August 7, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 8 Comments

Remember I recently promised you lots of awesome pictures and recounted adventures? Last week was the 25th annual Newport Vintage Dance Week hosted by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers. The week includes vintage dance classes during the day followed by fabulous afternoon events and formal balls in the evenings. All of the events are held in lovely places including some of Newport’s famous historic mansions!

My friends and I took a whopping 4,796 (ish) pictures during the week!!! Yikes! I promise I won’t put up ALL of them… but even after sorting, there are still mounds of great ones to share. Get ready, because a marathon of awesome-ness is beginning… right now!

Part I: the 1920s Gatsby Ball at Rosecliff:

Commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899, architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles. After the house was completed in 1902, at a reported cost of $2.5 million, Mrs. Oelrichs hosted fabulous entertainments here, including a fairy tale dinner and a party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini. (From the Newport Mansions website about Rosecliff. The site also includes really beautiful pictures of the mansion. I encourage you to click the link to look at them!)

The setting: Rosecliff as we arrived in the twilight. (Rargh, lions!)

Ready Newport? We’re here and it’s the 20s!

The yawning red carpeted grand staircase just inside the entrance.

It turns out that we were wearing complementing shades of green and gold!

I made a new green dress for this ball–my first 20s dress. I’m not really a huge fan of this particular period, but it was fun to branch out and build something different. In fact, I know at least 4 of the 5 dresses we were wearing were built new for this ball (some were finished just before the ball…). It’s really neat that without realizing it we all coordinated, but each of us managed to incorporate different design pieces into our dresses: one has panels, one has beads, one has asymmetrical draping, one has fringe, and one has an overskirt. All similar 20s shapes, and all totally different and entirely unique!

The staircase required lounging and looking elegant.

More lounging… we lost a few people from the last shot. Oh well!

Just practicing a bit of Charleston before entering the ballroom…

I’m not sure what we’re discussing, but we look rather intent on the topic…

The live orchestra (I believe this ball had music by the New River Orchestra).

Looking in on the ballroom from the lovely patio.

Contrary to the impression in the following pictures: there were actually lots of other people at the ball in addition to us…

We really enjoyed the Charleston and more importantly, we enjoyed Charleston-ing together!

Kicks and flying Charlestons were not to be left out! I am particularly amused that this picture captured some of us in midair!

Look, we’re all kicking the same way at the same time! How cute!

This became one of our signature dances for the week: Charleston in a line!

It accompanied one of our other signature dances: the Raise the Roof Charleston (which I don’t think I have pictures of at this ball–but perhaps at another ball I’ll find some). Raise the Roof Charleston is simply regular Charleston footwork while raising the roof with your hands–it’s super silly and super fun!

I think we took most of those Charleston pictures during mid-ball refreshment time, which is why the ballroom is empty behind us. But here is more proof that there were other people at the ball, too!

There were other lovely rooms in addition to the ballroom that we could wander through… isn’t this one cosy?

And this one, which is grand and fabulous! I love the curtains!

Okay, part of my love of the curtains is related to my love of tassels, especially giant upholstery/drapery tassels!

It was, of course, essential that I have my picture taken with the fabulous drapes!

There were a lot of poses… this is only a few!

Trading places: I’m behind the camera now…!

Another view of the same room. Isn’t is wonderfully fabulous???

Here I am, be-feathered, be-pearled, be-gloved, and enjoying the mirror doors!

Mirrored doors are mesmerizing and fantastic photo opportunities! More feathers! More jewels! More pearls! More gloves! More awesome! (*More* *adequate*! Inside joke…)

Just one of the many fabulous chandeliers hanging from one of the fabulous ceilings!

It was essential that every day include at least one super silly moment. Most days, of course, there were many silly moments…

IMG_0928 (2) — This was just one silly moment from this ball (in case you can’t tell what’s happening–and I don’t blame you, because honestly, I can’t really tell either… I only know because I was there–we are attempting to imitate the statue behind us).

Another silly moment, diving into the fountain!

IMG_0962 (2) — Ok, so we didn’t actually dive into the fountain… but we did briefly consider it!

Strike a final pose before the night ends!

Congratulations! You made it through all the pictures!

Final tally: 35 pictures out of 890 from that event.

I leave you with vicarious memories of a window into a glorious evening of the past–tonight, the 1920s.

Edwardian Gown Eye Candy

July 28, 2012 ~ TheQuintessentialClothesPen ~ 5 Comments

This fabulous vintage Edwardian dress was recently brought to my attention by one of you fabulous readers. It is for sale on eBay for $2,250! I certainly won’t be purchasing this original, but I absolutely think it is something to add to my body of inspirational images of clothing for future projects… The seller has included many pictures of the dress as well as background information on the dressmaker and a detailed description of the garment. I have included some of that information in addition to pictures for you to view here in this post.

The lace is exquisite! The rhinestones add even more sparkle! I love that there are pictures which show the closures and construction details. I classify this gown as “drool-worthy.” What do you think? Do you like it? Or not? Why?

Some of the information from the eBay seller, labellevintage_inc:

“This was created by Mrs. Catherine Donovan who was originally from Ireland (b.1826) and studied fashion in Paris. She owned the couture shop “MRS. C. DONOVAN & CO” which was located at 29 East 55th St.in New York. Her dresses in 1910 were billed at $100 and up which was extravagant as a gown from her would cost over $4,000 today!

Many of her garments are found in Museums throughout the world. There are 4 dresses at the Metropolitan Museum of Art alone. But the detailing and workmanship of these garments are worth every penny in my opinion.

FABRIC:
This is made of peach satin (formerly peach silk) and covered in exquisite ivory lace with re-embroidered patterns done with silk thread. The lace gives hints of Orientalism (which was made popular by Paul Poiret ) with its Royal Pavillion shapes on the back panels. The rosette and belt details are done in peach silk.

This enchanting garment features a fitted satin strapless bodice covered with a blouson bodice of lace. The bodice features a low square neckline and the dolman sleeves are short. Both the neckline and arms are decorated with cream glass and gold painted cut steel beads. There is an inner netted bodice which helps with the weight of the dress.

The empire waist is decorated with a ruched sash which is adorned with rhinestones, each individually sewn on a gold lame’ backing in the shape of a buckle.

The straight satin skirt is covered in two tiers of lace at the front. Each tier is decorated with cream glass beads and gold steel cut beads in a chevron shape. The tier is separated with a silk band featuring a large silk rosette. The top tier is adorned with crystal cut glass beads around the hemline.

The back has a surplice detail on the bodice with the silk band closing at the back decorated with more rhinestones.

The lace skirt is made of 3 tiers with one extra panel which attaches to the finger as a drape or can be left hanging as a short train. The top tier and second tier are both decorated with crystal cut glass beads.

This closes with several snaps, hook & eyes and tiny crochet buttons at the back.”