Montgomery Place Picnic

This past Sunday, the Empire State Costumers core group met up for a Victorian picnic lunch on the grounds of Montgomery Place, at Annandale-on-Hudson. We decided not to pay for a house tour and just stay on the grounds, so I don't know very much about the house's history - but it's a Livingston property, like Clermont.

I drove down to Julie's house in plainclothes, and got dressed up there. Julie's man Dan (also dolled up!) drove us over to pick up Rebecca, and then we all went off in the sunshine, in a car stuffed as full of food and bustles as possible.

A handy docent took our picture on the front porch. (I went with an adolescent hairstyle because I am routinely taken for a teenager. And it was simple.)

Ooh, that reminds me. I forgot to post about going to the Floral Fête! There was a big to-do in Saratoga Springs this summer because it was the racetrack's 150th anniversary. To celebrate, they brought back the Floral Fête, a parade and festival that was a yearly event in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I did the math wrong and thought that 1873 was the year, and by the time I realized it was 1863 we'd already decided to go with 1873. These are the same gowns we made for the Fête.

The food was delicious. Despite my corset, I ate quite a bit of it.

We had a bit of discussion about the patterns I was planning to use here on the blog at one point, and I did decide that 1873 needed a proper hooped bustle ... but my budget and my time needed me to be quicker and make a lobster-tail. I did learn a lesson, though - even if you have a lot of reed around, don't use reed to bone a bustle, lobster-tail or otherwise. Part of the problem was that I sat on it in the car to go to Saratoga back in the summer and squished it, but it would have been flimsy either way.

I did end up using the Janet Arnold ca. 1871 pattern. I like it very much, but I would like it even more if I ever got around to making the ruffle to go around the bottom of the skirt. I didn't have the time before the Fête, and after the Fête I just kind of put it to one side to think about other things.

I didn't have too much trouble with it, except for a couple of little fitting issues. There's a bit too much fabric between my bustline and the neckline (unfortunate effect of being entirely too short-waisted); also, the opening of the bustled overskirt is very gappy and wrinkled. However, I realized after all the pictures that the problem there is just that I didn't cut the top of the overskirt with enough curve, so I may get around to fixing that one of these days! Maybe after I wash the skirt.

We had a little adventure in finding several small turtles making their way down to the pond at the bottom of the hill.

All in all, it was a very good trip. You can see some more pictures on our Facebook page, and if you happen to be anywhere near us, I hope you'll join the group and come along to one of our events!

More about → Montgomery Place Picnic

Godey's, January 1875 - Fashion Plates

Recently I've been spending ... probably too much time on eBay, and I've found that while the listed Buy It Now prices for hard-bound full or half year runs of antique ladies' magazines are ridiculously high (I saw one listed at about $1,000), when the market can set its own prices in auctions, they are much more affordable.  So now I have some treats!

Description of Steel Fashion Plate

Fig. 1 - House dress of black silk, made with one skirt.  The side breadths are trimmed with kilt plaiting from the waist, with bands of silk crossing them, bound with silk of the new cardinal red; puff in the back of the skirt; jacket bodice, trimmed to correspond; open sleeves, with puffs on top.

Fig. 2 - House dress, made of two shades of green silk.  The underskirt is trimmed with narrow ruffles; the polonaise fastens over at one side, and is trimmed with a ruffle and band; the neck is cut surplice; open sleeves, at top of arm.

Fig. 3 - Evening dress of pink and white silk, made court train.  The front breadth is formed of apron and ruffle of white silk embroidered, trimmed with wreaths of foliage laid in ruches of lace; low corsage, with bertha to correspond.

Fig. 4 - Dinner dress of two shades of purple and lilac silk.  The underskirt is of the darkest silk, trimmed with one ruffle, piped with the lighter at both top and bottom; three narrow folds head it at the top; apron overskirt of the lighter silk, with two box-plaited ruches for trimming; long pointed basque waist of the darker silk, cur surplice; coat sleeves, trimmed to correspond.  Sash in the back.

Fig. 5 - Walking dress of two shades of brown silk.  The underskirt is of the two shades of silk, the ruffles and plaitings being of the lighter; the jacket waist is deep on the sides and front, and is trimmed with the lighter silk; coat sleeves, with cuffs.  Bonnet of the two shades of velvet, trimmed with a long feather.

Fig. 6 - Dress for a child of four years.  Dark blue silk poplin dress and cloak, trimmed with Duchesse lace.  Blue velvet hat, trimmed with white and blue feather.

Description of the Extension Sheet, Second Side (first side and earlier parts of second are missing)

Fig. 24 & 25 - Girl's cross-over fichu and tablier.  This style of garment, made in woollen materials, will be much worn by girls from seven to fourteen years of age.  Our model is made of blue serge flannel, and is trimmed with a blue woollen fringe, with a fancy heading streaked with color.  The tablier is draped at the sides, sewn to a waistband, and fastens at the back.  The fichu crosses over the chest, and at the end turns back with a revers.

Fig. 26 - Black velvet bodice, trimmed with blue jet ornaments and feather trimming.

Figs. 27 & 28 -  Front and back view of dark blue cloth dress, braided, for child of three years.

Figs. 29 & 30 - Front and back view of dress for girl eight years of age, made of brown diagonal serge.  The underskirt is trimmed with two ruffs; the overskirt and jacket bodice is trimmed with narrow piping folds.

Fig. 31 - Fashionable kid boot, buttoned, and stitched up with white.

Fig. 32 - Evening coiffure, composed of braids and puffs, with a bow of ribbon and a rose at the right side.

Figs. 33 & 34 - Front and back view of black velvet sleeveless polonaise, embroidered with jet and silk, and trimmed with lace.

More about → Godey's, January 1875 - Fashion Plates

A Successful Day

Today I went down to Hudson to have lunch with a school friend (that sounds very 1930s-English, doesn't it?), and after we ate we went around to a few of the antique shops!  As I'd already bought four antique fashion magazines on eBay this morning - three were from the 1920s, so it counts as legit DressU research expenses - I didn't want to spend much, but in the last shop there were boxes of cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards.  They were priced at, respectively, $1 and $3, so I went through and picked out several that were useful research sources and a few more that were just aesthetically pleasing.

I didn't notice at first, but these two have the same backing and the same stamp on the back, so they're obviously from around the same date.  (I've included scans of all the backs with writing/printing, because it's helpful to be able to connect different typography styles with different periods.  And because they're cool.)

 

 

More about → A Successful Day