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Dress U 2012
In short: Amazing! I'm already looking forward to next year!
And then you have the long version. With pictures mostly stolen from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jennylafleur, madamekat, and quincy134,and a few from sadievale!
Ended up leaving my parents' house later than I meant , then had to go a bit out of the way to buy cupcakes, so between traffic on the Schuylkill and construction on 202, it took me two hours to get to the hotel instead of one. Ugh. I fully intended to wear a vintage 50s dress and wander around saying hello to people after unpacking - but while doing so, I realized I'd forgotten one very important thing: the only thing I'd managed to finish for the weekend, the 1860s ballgown!
So instead of socializing, I sat in the room, sulked, watched telly, and tried to figure out if there was any time I could spare a few hours to drive back home and get the damn dress!
(Oh, and I don't know why we got the stupid closet...
)
Got out of my sulk well enough when my roommateblackcat452 (Jess) arrived and it was time to dress for the Welcome Picnic - which was relocated inside because of the torrential rain! We were fashionably late, at least partly because of me having to sew myself into the pink sack (unevenly), and as usual forgetting how long it takes (forever). I wore the sack with day accessories, mainly because I didn't want to worry about having to do my hair in a wretched pouf.
After the Welcome Picnic, I got changed to a more appropriate dress, and took me and my mini cupcakes to a private party, where I had absinthe for the first time, and being a fan of licorice, liked it immensely!
Me and cupcakes!
Cupcaaaakes!
Absinthe!
This photo says all you need to know about the absinthe party. Well, that and this:
The earliest class I went to on Saturday was "Choosing Period Fabrics", at 10am (no, I did not overindulge at the party, but 9am is just a bit too early for me to be learning! Also went to Jenny-Rose's "Survival of the Fittest: Fitting by Yourself" (which was really, really helpful!), and "The Lazarus Dress". After that, a couple of car-loads of us decided it was time to get some Chick-fl-A, which was a most excellent idea - except that my soda cup decided it couldn't handle being knocked off the table. The bottom fell off and soda went everywhere on the hotel rug. Whoops. I'm sure the hotel carpet has seen worse.
There was also a really good class, "Dressing for the Titanic", an overview of 1911-13 fashions, that a bunch of us went to in the afternoon, and whose teacher proved to have a lot more patience than most of us! I don't know what I'd do with such a rude person if I were a teacher - good thing I'm not! Having Opinions On Everything that you feel you have to state loudly every two minutes is not a good way to endear you to anyone in the class! I'm just sayin'.
And I have found one (half) picture of the "medieval" dress I wore Saturday during the day - I didn't take any pictures and neither did anyone else! I don't blame you, it's not very exciting, hah.
Saturday night was the Titanic dinner, which I did not make a Titanic dress for, and so wore my old "1890s" dupioni silk evening dress. Looked fine when I dressed it up with jewelry and (naughty) black leather gloves, but I noticed after taking it off that the seams are starting to split in places (wtf), so if I'm going to wear it again it'll need a couple repairs. (Yeaaaahh - more likely to take it apart for the fabric, but whatever!)
Needless to say, everyone else looked wonderful, and it almost makes me want to finish my corset so I can make a faboo Titanic dress for myself! I'm lazy, what can I say.
^^ Oh no she diin't! Biiiish...bring out the hairpins!
Oh yes she did. That one. Over there. Don't everyone look at once!
We were The Loud Table!
Sunday morning I woke up at 6am, drove back, picked up my 1860s dress, cuddled and fed my cat, et a popsicle, and drove back to the Sheraton by 8.30. Dedication!
I wore my yellow silk gaulle, another "this old thing" to the crepes breakfast (where I forgot to actually get a crepe). Took nearly as long to do my hair as the amount of time I spent wearing it, but that's all right.
Chewing!
Then while everybody else was at the Mad Hatter tea (the only event I'd decided not to get a ticket for), I took a nap! After naptime, I dressed in my 1870s stripey bustle dress, which, again, I didn't get a photo of, and no one else seems to have either! Oh well. It's my first attempt at a bustle gown, and not that impressive.
I only went to one class that day, "From Revolution to Civil War: Extant Gowns Close Up", which was fun, and very cool of Isabella to let us poke and prod her collection! I did mean to go to a couple other classes, but ended up hanging out with friends, getting infested with tiny spiders from sitting outside, and going out for McDonalds instead.
Had no idea what to do with my hair for the Tiaras and Jampagne partySunday night, and we couldn't get the bodice laced all the way closed (I loudly blamed McDonalds all night, which is a more fun alternative than blaming my fitting skills!), but apart from that I was pretty happy with The Dress. And everyone told me how crazy I was to make the triangle trim, which pleased me inordinately!
Lacing gap! Ugh!
The party itself was great fun - so many pretty tiaras and gowns! It eventually turned into a dance party, but I and a group of friends were fairly wilted by then, so we all plopped down in the hallway and chatted instead.
frau_elsebeth - down for the count!
After the party, we hung out in a semi-comatose state, watched My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, bemoaned the lack of pizza within the immediate vicinity, and took the final shoe shot of the night in the hallway:
Monday was The Sad Day: packing up and leaving! Not before an unofficial breakfast in the hotel restaurant, that several of us indulged in, and a server who must have thought we were the most obtuse group of women she'd ever come across! Glad I didn't pay for their oatmeal; that stuff looked nasty. Not an impressive breakfast buffet.
Then of course the extended leave-taking and making plans for our next get-together - and then my hour-plus-long drive home, most of which was spent driving 35mph on the Schuylkill in torrential rain, whith a rather clenched grip on the steering wheel! And then I took a two and a half hour nap on the couch (most of which my Willow spent next to me, curled up - I suppose in appreciation for having fed him the morning before). And then back to work the next day! "How was your weekend?" "...Good." "Do anything?" "Ah...saw some friends." I don't bother explaining my hobby to most people outside of it.
In conclusion: great conference, fun to hang out with old friends, get to know some better, meet some new people (who we hopefully didn't scare off!)...let's do it again!
And yeah, that write-up took forever. Link to album if, for some reason, you want to see all your photos again!
And then you have the long version. With pictures mostly stolen from
jennylafleur, madamekat, and quincy134,and a few from sadievale!Ended up leaving my parents' house later than I meant , then had to go a bit out of the way to buy cupcakes, so between traffic on the Schuylkill and construction on 202, it took me two hours to get to the hotel instead of one. Ugh. I fully intended to wear a vintage 50s dress and wander around saying hello to people after unpacking - but while doing so, I realized I'd forgotten one very important thing: the only thing I'd managed to finish for the weekend, the 1860s ballgown!
So instead of socializing, I sat in the room, sulked, watched telly, and tried to figure out if there was any time I could spare a few hours to drive back home and get the damn dress!
(Oh, and I don't know why we got the stupid closet...
)Got out of my sulk well enough when my roommate
blackcat452 (Jess) arrived and it was time to dress for the Welcome Picnic - which was relocated inside because of the torrential rain! We were fashionably late, at least partly because of me having to sew myself into the pink sack (unevenly), and as usual forgetting how long it takes (forever). I wore the sack with day accessories, mainly because I didn't want to worry about having to do my hair in a wretched pouf.
After the Welcome Picnic, I got changed to a more appropriate dress, and took me and my mini cupcakes to a private party, where I had absinthe for the first time, and being a fan of licorice, liked it immensely!
Me and cupcakes!
Cupcaaaakes!
Absinthe!
This photo says all you need to know about the absinthe party. Well, that and this:
The earliest class I went to on Saturday was "Choosing Period Fabrics", at 10am (no, I did not overindulge at the party, but 9am is just a bit too early for me to be learning! Also went to Jenny-Rose's "Survival of the Fittest: Fitting by Yourself" (which was really, really helpful!), and "The Lazarus Dress". After that, a couple of car-loads of us decided it was time to get some Chick-fl-A, which was a most excellent idea - except that my soda cup decided it couldn't handle being knocked off the table. The bottom fell off and soda went everywhere on the hotel rug. Whoops. I'm sure the hotel carpet has seen worse.
There was also a really good class, "Dressing for the Titanic", an overview of 1911-13 fashions, that a bunch of us went to in the afternoon, and whose teacher proved to have a lot more patience than most of us! I don't know what I'd do with such a rude person if I were a teacher - good thing I'm not! Having Opinions On Everything that you feel you have to state loudly every two minutes is not a good way to endear you to anyone in the class! I'm just sayin'.
And I have found one (half) picture of the "medieval" dress I wore Saturday during the day - I didn't take any pictures and neither did anyone else! I don't blame you, it's not very exciting, hah.
Saturday night was the Titanic dinner, which I did not make a Titanic dress for, and so wore my old "1890s" dupioni silk evening dress. Looked fine when I dressed it up with jewelry and (naughty) black leather gloves, but I noticed after taking it off that the seams are starting to split in places (wtf), so if I'm going to wear it again it'll need a couple repairs. (Yeaaaahh - more likely to take it apart for the fabric, but whatever!)
Needless to say, everyone else looked wonderful, and it almost makes me want to finish my corset so I can make a faboo Titanic dress for myself! I'm lazy, what can I say.
^^ Oh no she diin't! Biiiish...bring out the hairpins!
Oh yes she did. That one. Over there. Don't everyone look at once!
We were The Loud Table!
Sunday morning I woke up at 6am, drove back, picked up my 1860s dress, cuddled and fed my cat, et a popsicle, and drove back to the Sheraton by 8.30. Dedication!
I wore my yellow silk gaulle, another "this old thing" to the crepes breakfast (where I forgot to actually get a crepe). Took nearly as long to do my hair as the amount of time I spent wearing it, but that's all right.
Chewing!
Then while everybody else was at the Mad Hatter tea (the only event I'd decided not to get a ticket for), I took a nap! After naptime, I dressed in my 1870s stripey bustle dress, which, again, I didn't get a photo of, and no one else seems to have either! Oh well. It's my first attempt at a bustle gown, and not that impressive.
I only went to one class that day, "From Revolution to Civil War: Extant Gowns Close Up", which was fun, and very cool of Isabella to let us poke and prod her collection! I did mean to go to a couple other classes, but ended up hanging out with friends, getting infested with tiny spiders from sitting outside, and going out for McDonalds instead.
Had no idea what to do with my hair for the Tiaras and Jampagne partySunday night, and we couldn't get the bodice laced all the way closed (I loudly blamed McDonalds all night, which is a more fun alternative than blaming my fitting skills!), but apart from that I was pretty happy with The Dress. And everyone told me how crazy I was to make the triangle trim, which pleased me inordinately!
Lacing gap! Ugh!
The party itself was great fun - so many pretty tiaras and gowns! It eventually turned into a dance party, but I and a group of friends were fairly wilted by then, so we all plopped down in the hallway and chatted instead.
frau_elsebeth - down for the count!After the party, we hung out in a semi-comatose state, watched My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, bemoaned the lack of pizza within the immediate vicinity, and took the final shoe shot of the night in the hallway:
Monday was The Sad Day: packing up and leaving! Not before an unofficial breakfast in the hotel restaurant, that several of us indulged in, and a server who must have thought we were the most obtuse group of women she'd ever come across! Glad I didn't pay for their oatmeal; that stuff looked nasty. Not an impressive breakfast buffet.
Then of course the extended leave-taking and making plans for our next get-together - and then my hour-plus-long drive home, most of which was spent driving 35mph on the Schuylkill in torrential rain, whith a rather clenched grip on the steering wheel! And then I took a two and a half hour nap on the couch (most of which my Willow spent next to me, curled up - I suppose in appreciation for having fed him the morning before). And then back to work the next day! "How was your weekend?" "...Good." "Do anything?" "Ah...saw some friends." I don't bother explaining my hobby to most people outside of it.
In conclusion: great conference, fun to hang out with old friends, get to know some better, meet some new people (who we hopefully didn't scare off!)...let's do it again!
And yeah, that write-up took forever. Link to album if, for some reason, you want to see all your photos again!