gwendolyngrey | Entries tagged with 1820 evening

As always, I'm a little late posting about it (and am cross-posting from the blog), but Jenny-Rose's Regency gaming night was rather wonderful! It was particularly nice to finally meet

padawansguide, with whom I've been LJ-friends for ages.

Although tables were set up for several different games I ended up only playing Speculation, and game which relies heavily on bidding and gambling for any true entertainment... something all of us who played it seemed far too lazy to engage in!

The company was delightful, the rooms prettily decorated, and good times were had by all!

Before the gaming commenced, we all milled around the back-yard taking pictures of each other. I didn't get any of myself with my camera, but plenty of others did, and I have happily stolen the ones that I like best.

Courtesy of Gloria... I think...

I wore my old(ish) 1820 silk evening gown, though with new jewelry and a plume in my hair.

Courtesy of Nicole

Courtesy of Maggie

A selection of my pictures of the evening's company-

After the card playing had died down for the evening we just sat around chatting and snacking and drinking Good Things. At one point, I pulled out my trusty drawing box, and did a quick sketch of Taylor as she sat across the table from me, lit by candlelight only.

I am *tired*. If I could curl up here in the computer lab and sleep through my shift at work tonight I'd be... well, not happy, but at least asleep!

This is partially because I stayed up quite late last night taking decent portfolio-worthy pictures of the stuff I've finished recently, and partly because I haven't been sleeping well for a week. I lie in bed and my mind whirs and whirs frantically, and it's all I can do to STAY in bed and not leap up at 3am and sew that seam or look up that detail or do anything. But still, I just have three more weeks to push though... it'll probably go much faster than I would like anyway.

Sent in applications today for several summer-season jobs... we'll see if anything comes of it!

And thanks to my self-timed photo session last night, I have pictures of the 1830 dress, the 1810 spencer, and the new Victorian corset! (plus decent-er ones of the 1810 and 1820 dresses)

I quite like the shape of the skirt (which you can clearly see in this photo). I just have a (fairly skimpy) corded petticoat and little ruffly bustle underneath, but it seems to work really well! That, and I think my stab at 1830's hair wasn't too terrible either. I have no hairpieces (need to remedy that at some point...) and my curling iron is, at a 1" diameter, too large to make cluster-y curls.

( And here's everything else! )
I'm in the middle of updating my website(s) with everything. Official "portfolio-y" website has everything up already, but I'm still working on Behind the Tapestry.

Any you know what? In spite of being exhausted, I am somehow enjoying all this. We'll see how I feel in three weeks though!

I just have to make the 1840 dress now, and then finish the paintings.

Not a very good picture by any standards, but here's proof positive that the dress is finished at last! (well, sort of) I'm far prouder of this than anything else I've made in the past. For one thing, I've never sewn a whole dress by hand before this (alright, alright... so I cheated a bit! The long skirt construction seams were done on the machine, but that's because I got bored one day. It didn't happen again) and I've never done so much little detailed work on one garment. It's the first really pretty dress I've ever made, and I can't wait to get all dressed up properly with appropriate hair and wear it to an event! I still have to add fasteners to the back and bind a couple inner seams, but still. I can psychologically put it behind me and get cracking on the King, Queen, Prince, and several other projects that have all piled up. Oh yeah, and I guess I should probably try to focus on school a bit while I'm at it!

( And here's some bodice detail... )

Of all the things I needed to have happen during this last week before school begins, getting a horrible cold was not on the top of my list. It somehow becomes much harder to zip about the place and get things done when all you really want to do is hole up in bed with plenty of kleenex and a non-stop supply of tea and watch comfort movies. At least my throat and ears are no longer trying to stab and scratch their way out of my head... total congestion somewhat of an improvement (being less painful).

On the brighter side of life, even with this depressing turn of events, I shouldn't have a problem finishing the 1820 dress within the week. The sleeves are half done, and once they're finished, I just have to attach them to the bodice and attach the bodice to the skirt. The Cool Extra Hem Decoration will be left until next summer... it's still a wearable, complete-looking dress without the extra gingerbread anyway. I just need to be able to stop thinking about this dress (and others... I CANNOT start seriously thinking about Mary Beale for at LEAST eight months) and pour all my energy into my senior project.

Women wore REDICULOUS things on their heads in 1820. Funny cylindrical turbans with huge frothy feathers and flowers and lace... although there were a couple fashion plates with nothing in the women's hair but huge flowers; that wouldn't be too distasteful. I will just have to get used to looking rediculous if I want to do this properly. And I realised that I need proper gloves and a fan and dancing slippers.

No, the dress is not finished yet, and the next Regency event isn't until next February. However, it is never to early to amass all the proper accessories.

I've been progressing steadily on the dress though, and have the bodice put together and the neckline trim attached. I kind of love the trim; it's two strips of bias edged with piping that are twisted around each other giving a somewhat rope-like effect.
Like this:

Fred isn't wearing my regency corset and her shoulders are slopey-er than mine, so the bodice doesn't quite fit her properly here. And those white dots are the pins holding the trim in place.

Did I mention I'm sewing it entirely by hand? If I'm going to do this right, I'm going to do it RIGHT. This is the first time I've ever attempted hand-sewing a whole dress, but it's going really well so far. I've already watched Anne of Green Gables II, The Other Bolyen Girl, Stargate: the Ark of Truth, and Cousin Bette... one of the perks of hand-sewing is that I can do it in front of the TV. I even broke down and bought a thimble.

Of course, all this means that I haven't been working on my senior project, but I badly needed to indulge in some "me" sewing.

No new apartment yet... but I did find the perfect house. It's ivy-covered brick, is surrounded by a wrought iron fence and droopy trees, and is simply dripping with romance and mystery. It's even right in the area I'm looking in. It is, of course, not for rent. One can dream however, and I assure you, one does. I might or might not drive past it every day in the vain hope that a magical "For Rent" sign will appear on the lawn, although I doubt there is any such thing as a real, live Patty's Place senario.

I started work on the 1820 evening dress, and am filled with quiet satisfaction at the idea of making something for myself again. I got to drape on my brand new dress form for the first time, and have a good, working muslin for the bodice.

Life continues to be fairly quiet and regular. The most exciting events of the last week were attending a Very Bad 18th cen. reenactment with Katie, and, later in the week, a leisurely walk to the local zoo with Adrianne (who I hadn't seen in over a month). The Very Bad reenactment had an unexpected side effect though... Katie and the "Mackinac crowd" and I are probably going to start our own reenactment group (French and Indian era, as opposed to Rev War). We have grand plans which basically consist of being a lot friendlier (and better researched) than the folks we saw and talked to there. Who knows though... we could all get jobs across the country and nothing might come of it.

Still looking for an apartment. I found one on Craigslist just now that LOOKS ideal, and am trying not to get my hopes up.

Critique is in an hour, and I'm appallingly behind. And illustration stuff is all due next Mon (I have to finish three illust.s yet), as is a paper for renaissance and reformation history, and I have to catch up in my French workbook and spend several hours in the language lab and I have to go to work every evening this week. And you know what? I'm content for the first time in over a week... it's as if my brain needs the pressure of deadlines I can barely hope to meet to properly function.

Last night a few of us busted out of the illustration studio, and went to see 3:10 to Yuma which was a LOT better than I was expecting. Each line was Just Right, and even though it's kind of tragic, we had gotten into the habit of laughing on the drive down, and we laughed so much during the film! I have, however, discovered that I can't spin a gun properly...it keeps catching on one of my fingers. I need to practice...

And I badly need some fabric advice! My poor little brain in running around in circles and REFUSES to draw any sort of conclusion.My next big project is going to be an 1820 evening gown, based off one I saw at Killerton House this past May. The original (which I fell in love with) is a medium blue (almost periwinkle) silk taffeta. My problem is that I can't find any silk taffeta of any (suitable) shade of blue for less than $20 a yard. I did find a gorgeous silk charmeuse in the perfect color blue (although a satin type fabric doesn't terribly appeal to me), and a dupioni in a lighter more slatey blue (but I don't care for slubs) that are both more affordable. My heart was set on getting taffeta, but I have hardly any money for fabric, and even $10-15 a yard will take some saving and setting aside. If this was your dilemma, what would you do?

I've been bitten by the Regency bug... bitten badly. Of course, it might have something to do with having watched Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Pride and Prejudice all in the last two days. However, I think said movie watching is a symptom rather than the cause of my newly re-kindled passion for the Regency. I have to finish my sister's outfit, finish the VB dress, and make the Tsugiri costume before I can start a new project. The earliest I can see getting to Something New is December and Christmas Break. But I CANNOT seem to concentrate on anything else! All I can think about is the fabulous 1820 evening dress I saw at Killerton House this past May, and how I might go about constructing it and what fabric I should get... I'm even excited about making new stays (my old regency stays are too fugly to even be considered... they ought to be binned) and I normally hate bothering over underpinnings!

I wish I could switch my brain off and just focus on the tasks at hand. But the siren song of the Regency is strong, and it's getting harder and harder to resist... after all, it's been nearly two years now since I've done anything from that era...

I need my practical brain back to put me firmly back on course, in other words, if

rvqavalon doesn't get back from Mackinac soon, I'll never get anything worthwhile done.

I'm not a total waste though; I actually did make my sister a pair of pants last night. I'm wearing them right now, and I have to admit, they are terribly comfortable (even if they do resemble karate pants). Now I just have to draft and whip up the tunic/bodice/shirt-thing. If only I could concentrate!