Embarking on a new Adventure

Mademoiselle de la Croix needed a new covering.

June 11, twenty-fifteen

For my seventh birthday I received my first sewing machine and have been sporadically stitching up a storm since. Yes, sporadically. Its one of those things that happens when I become inspired by something I've seen but don't want to pay the exorbitant price.

Attempting to drape mademoiselle without damaging her original covering.

 OK so, I've never actually sewn clothes, unless it was a gathered skirt with an elastic waist or pantaloons, and have mostly made pillows, drapes, and little crafty things. If the truth be known I'm intimidated by the thought of sewing a zipper, attempting to make button holes, and where in the world to place a dart. Other than that I'm pretty comfortable sewing just about anything.

About a year ago I discovered costume blogs. Did you know there were such things in the blog world? Neither did I, but let me tell you, I was so excited to find this other realm that I became completely obsessed. I merrily hopped down one rabbit trail after the other in search of costume inspiration, and the more rabbit trails I hopped down the more excited I became. Finally I'd found that there are other people on this planet who enjoyed playing dress up as much as I.

Mademoiselle's original covering is coming apart at the seams so I added a bit of trim.

 About the same time I started volunteering at a local historic park and needed an appropriate costume to wear...that's when my research began!!  While looking on-line for patterns.

When Mademoiselle overheard me having a conversation about this new adventure she begged to be included. Of course I was hesitant at first, as she tends to be a costume hog and covets all my best pieces, however after much convincing on her part I agreed that she could come along for the ride...or more appropriately, the fittings.

Mademoiselle spied a piece of lace in my bin and thought it would look lovely around her neck.

We would have to start with a new covering since her old one was stained and embedded with rusty nails. And then there is the other problem...while she and I were born on the same year and are both the same size, as you and I well know, a size 10 then is not what it is now.
Do I expand her waist or diminish mine? This is a difficult question to answer so we will ignore it for the time being and carry on with our plans.

I have this gorgeous Edwardian blouse and once Mademoiselle's new covering was stitched together and sewn in place she insisted on trying it on. HA! it didn't fit her either...so sorry Mademoiselle!
I bought it on a whim, knowing I would never be able to wear it but loved all its delicate details. The inside lining is made of the most fragile silk and is in terrible condition while the outer lace is perfect except for one spot on the neck and a few rust marks from the hooks.

It has a linen flounce around the lower edge.

Detail of the front yoke.

The sleeve has a slight curve to the lace.

So the two of us began our adventure and this is our current project. It's based on this pattern and for some insane reason I decided to do my own thing by reworking it. Uhm, not too smart on my part. I turned it into a wrap dress to eliminate the side zipper, which caused more problems than I ever imagined. Plus the pattern was too large and since I'm just learning to fit garments I had to modify it yet again, which explains the drawstring around the waist.

Am I done with the dress (or should I saw we)? Not quite, but we're almost there. I still have to make a belt, add some lace to the sleeves, and figure out what to do for the collar. For now the White Ladies Edwardian collar will suffice.

After so many years Mademoiselle was more than excited to have the stolen collar back from the White Lady, but why the two of them insist on wearing it backwards is beyond me. I guess it's because they can't see :-D.

Images courtesy: movies.yahoo.com The Everett Collection

Emily Blunt is staring in a new movie called "The Young Victoria" which is opening this Friday... in limited engagement, and I'm hoping it will be playing at a theater near me.
Have you heard about it and are you planning to see it?
If so, I'd love to know what you thought.

Here's a little info on her life from Wikipedia:

Victoria ( 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India of the British Raj from 1 May 1876, until her death. Her reign as the Queen lasted 63 years and 7 months, longer than that of any other British monarch before or since, and her reign is the longest of any female monarch in history. The time of her reign is known as the Victorian era, a period of industrial, political, scientific and military progress within the United Kingdom.

Fabulous Flea Market Finds!

Hello my sweet darling bloggy friends! I have missed you all and feel like it's been forever since I've been here...I say that a lot don't I? Anywho, I've been trying to get this post up since Wednesday morning, but Wednesday came and went and then there was Thursday and I had no Internet. After spending all morning unplugging wires then plugging them back in I finally got hold of someone with an American accent who told me my entire block was down. What a relief! I was hoping it had nothing to do with our wiring. You see, there was a skunk in the neighborhood and I think he had something to do with it all. That was when I noticed I couldn't post. I'm sure this all sounds very strange, but it is indeed why I've been missing from bloglandia. So, here is Wednesday's post on Friday.

I don't know if you remember, but a few weeks back I attended the Paris Flea Market and came home with some fabulous finds. Well, after much begging and pleading with Mamselle she finally agreed to model my new scarf for you. The woman who I bought it from said that her father purchased it in the forties and who knows if it's true or not, but I love the softness of the colors and the curly fringe around the edge. Mamselle says it's her favorite piece of gypsy wear...we won't tell her that it's really mine as it's better to let her believe what she wants ;-). She tends to think that all my pretty things belong to her.

Mamselle was reluctant to allow me to remove her Edwardian collar since her friend the White Lady has been eyeballing it of late, but when I told her she couldn't be a gypsy and a proper Edwardian at the same time she acquiesced to my request. We just finished watching the Pirates trilogy over the weekend and are still in our "Pirate Speak" so to speak...giggle.

A little flower at the hip is the perfect finishing touch to her...uhhhm...my gypsy scarf, don't you think? Oh that I looked as good as she who wears my pretty things.

Old table linens have become one of my favorite passions lately and I'm finding all sorts of new ways to use them. This one is going to become a divider of sorts between the mess that has collected on my closet floor. Oh Yes! There is a mess! And I can't figure out what to do with all the extra stuff. While planning my perfect little storage space I failed to make room for my ugly printer so it's laying on the floor, but really...who wants an ugly printer in their pretty closet anyway...certainly not I. Oh, and during the time that my Internet was down I actually hung the cloth and took pictures, but I'll leave that for another post.

Have I ever told you that I'm dyslexic? Well, I am and one of the worst ways it affects me is when I'm counting. I can't count, I can't do math, I can't even add in my head. All the numbers dissipate like the morning fog under the heat of the day. It's terribly inconvenient especially when you think you've purchased 8 salt shakers only to realize you've really bought 4. These little beauties will some how be transformed into tassels for my Chocolate Brown Curtains if I can find 4 more at a great price. If not I'll just have to make due with what I have.

It has been so hot lately that I haven't the energy to do a thing. Needless to say my bolt of chocolate brown fabric is leaning against the wall just waiting patiently for the day when I feel the desire to start cutting away.
At work we had been planning a tea for August 8 and I designed the prettiest invitations where I used one of my favorite tea quotes. The tea is one of our annual FUN-Raisers and best loved by all the ladies, but alas, my boss isn't a real tea person and decided that we didn't have enough people signed up so she canceled it. And wouldn't you know the Monday after canceling we had women coming out of the wood work to host tables...impatience never pays and good things come to those who wait. All my lovely invitations were dumped in the trash and I won't be able to use my new tea cups. I picked these up for $1 a piece.

While Mamselle was looking at herself in the mirror the White Lady stole the coveted Edwardian collar. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was on backwards, but then when you have no head it doesn't really matter now does it?

The Floating City

These are some of the highlights:
the image above is Rachel Brice who is one of the best loved
Tribal Fusion Belly Dancers and we got to see her in person...
She's amazing!!

Well, it wasn't really a floating city, but felt more like a quaint village of colorful characters selling their wares beneath ornate tents. There was my favorite little costumer from last year (who I didn't get a picture of this year) selling what Kathy and I dubbed "Prison Pantaloons." They were SO CUTE! If you like pantaloons that is (which I do) ;-) They were knee length gray and white feather ticking fabric finished at the hem with drippy black lace and of course there were sweet skirts made of layered tulle to wear over them. If you click on the link above, my favorite little costumer is the fourth image down.

Faizeh of Hiplash in Lancaster.

This was the first year that Cairo Caravan was held on board the Queen Mary and it was a perfect location. The weather was overcast and the three levels of the boat remained comfortably cool.
This was my first time on the boat and I wasn't sure what to expect as I'd always imagined it as an empty floating shell of nothingness.
There were three floors of vendors selling anything from Kuchi jewelry, silk scarves, elaborate head pieces, and entire Egyptian costumes. If you could imagine it they had it!

One of my favorite things about attending these events is checking out all the different styles of costume. As you can see by the picture above belly dance has taken on a new or old American favorite...Vaudeville! Many of the Tribal Fusion Troupes have moved in this direction and it's always entertaining to see what choreography they come up with. Some of it is down right silly, but so much fun to watch and the costumes are really outlandish.
Gotta love those socks and granny boots.

This was a lovely troupe made up of 8 ladies who moved like a tightly grouped swarm of fish. I'm not sure how they'd feel being compared to fish, but if you can imagine all these beautiful colors and skirts flowing together while moving as one from one end of the stage to the next, maybe you'd think fish too ;-)! Beautiful fish!!!!

Kathy and I had lunch on the boat and while the food was good the service was s-l-o-w.
I don't think the management considered that there was going to be an extra 2,000 people on the boat which left the restaurants under staffed and the waiters running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But, we were able to eat and that alone made us happy and ready for a few more hours of shopping.
By the end of the day we were exhausted, penniless, and ready for next year.

OK, now I'm looking at the above picture and maybe these ladies are the beautiful fish with all their shimmering golds and taupes while the ladies further up are gorgeous flowers swaying in the breeze... ;-)

Cairo Caravan is floating into Town

These are pictures I took at the last belly dance event I attended, but did I ever get around to posting them? No! I was there by myself and for only a short time, but the costumes I saw were some of the most elaborate...so gorgeous!!!

This weekend is Cairo Caravan being held at the Queen Mary in Long Beach and Kathy and I are going to be off on another belly dance extravaganza. They're so much fun and there's so many beautiful jingly things to feast your eyes on. Not to mention the great dancing. So if you're bored this weekend and have nothing to do you might want to head to the Queen Mary for an afternoon of great shopping and dancing. Who knows, they might even let you up on stage :).

Here's a link: Cairo Caravan

This is me and I'm ready to go for another exciting Tea and a Fashion show. I thought it best to paint my toes since I'd be wearing my ever fashionable flip flops to the event. It was held outdoors and the day was expected to be hot and it was.

Do you remember Natalie Meyer from last weeks tea? Well, here she is again. She's in charge of all the costume events that are held at Heritage Square...what a fun job!!!!
Her gown was so beautiful and in my favorite shades of taupe's and creams... be still my heart!
Did I remember to take notes of the gowns...NO! I thought for sure all the details would stay neatly tucked in one of the crannies of my brain so I'll have to see how I do.
Natalie's gown was from around the Civil War.

This is Natalie dressing Cookie in her proper under garments for the Victorian Era. I talked with Cookie after the show and she was telling me how wonderfully comfortable her corset is. Have you ever worn a corset and did you think it was comfortable?

See the funny little contraptions at Cookies hips? Those are called Pannier's and were placed under women's skirts during the 1660's. They were used to stash a woman's car keys, her cell phone, credit cards, make up, and whatever else she needed to carry about with her for the days activities. But in reality it would have been more along the lines of hankies, bits of ribbon, and other such things. This was one of the first pockets. Pretty creative way to conceal your accessories don't you think? Me to!

Do you see the lovely little garland of roses across Cookies fanny? I placed it there to hide her flesh. She is after all, putting on the under garments of any proper Victorian Lady and all proper Victorian Ladies wore crotchless drawers. I'll bet you didn't know that now did you? Could you imagine having to make a mad dash to the ladies room and lift up who knows how many layers of petticoats and a chemise and then get under your corset to pull your drawers down? I would imagine there may have been many embarrassing moments so the simple solution...drawers without crotches. And by the way, it was only the ladies of ill-repute who wore stitched up drawers. Go figure!

A front view of Natalie's gown and her darling bonnet.

This is a Bustle gown from the 1880's and would have been worn when a woman was either receiving guests in her home or was visiting at a friends. This particular gown is from a Historic collection owned by one of the models. If you look at her left arm she has a small bag that matches the gown. It's known as a "ridicule" and is the precursor to the hand bag. Women were often teased when they first started carrying them, thus the name.

Now ladies, how is this for a bathing beauty? This guy was so funny and kept doing his muscle man poses for us all in his lovely woolen bathing suit. Now why can't guys wear those now-a-days? I think they're rather cute!

Now this is my kind of bathing suit!!! Up to the neck and down to the toes. Why I'd even wear the shoes in the water and look at that exposed leg...very scandalous!!

This was one of the most beautiful vintage pieces modeled. It's from the Edwardian Era about 1912. The linen fabric was in such excellent shape and the detailing along the hem was exquisite. You can click on the picture to get a better view.

I don't remember a thing about this piece other than it's vintage and has beautiful detail work.

This is what a typical young service man would have worn while enlisted. His calves are wrapped to protect the hem of his pants and I would think to keep him from getting tangled in who knows what.

A young girls Edwardian gown.

I loved this little Regency gown made of butter cream yellow and the sweet little Bonnet to match. Those of you who love Jane Austen will probably recognize this gown as the style that was popular during her day. Napoleon had just discovered Pompeii which caused all things Grecian to become popular during this time in history.

Another beautiful example of an Edwardian Tea gown with all its tucks and pleats. Don't forget to click on the picture for more details.

A close up of the sweet little Bonnet. For some reason Blogger isn't allowing me to move my pictures where I want them so many of them are out of order. I'm so sorry!

And a closer look at the beautiful pleating and lace work on the tea gown.
I took a million more pictures, but didn't want to bore you to death so for now this will be enough. I don't know about you, but after seeing all the gorgeous gowns and fabrics I think I'm ready to enroll in costume college!

If you come back tomorrow I'll share some of the Architecture and tea treats we were able to sample.
Until then have a fun afternoon!