Pennypacker Mills' Victorian Christmas
Dec. 15th, 2014 12:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwIt did not turn out to be as costume-filled a weekend as anticipated; the plans were to do Pennypacker Mills' Victorian Christmas on Saturday, and then Pottsgrove Manor's 18thc candlelight tour on Sunday, but it turned out no one but Robin wanted/was able to go to the latter, and it's rather a far drive for no especial reason. And I didn't want to have to pay PA prices for gas, which I'd've had to do if I drove out to Pottsgrove! Thanks but no thanks. And then Robin and I were going to go to the much closer 18thc farm, Peter Wentz...but then we were watching the version of A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart, lost track of time, and missed the few hours the site was open. Oops.
So today my most efficient use was for downing pots of tea and eating way too many gingerbread hearts. And sewing a very few eyelets on my wool 1770s stays. I hadn't planned to try and finish them for the colonial ball or anything, but they were the only handwork project I had ready to stuff in a bag and go...
But anyway, PPM was a lot of fun: it was an 18thc house that was added on to and remodeled in 1901(ish?), and they did a great job of decorating for the season. Everything was lit by oil lamps, and they had Santa, a bell choir, and a candymaking demonstration in the kitchen. And free hot cider after the tour! I'd like to go back sometime in warmer weather and walk around the grounds (good location for pics of our sooper seekrit plaid project, eh wot, partners in crime?).
As for pictures, we basically just made sure to get photos of my new dress and that was it. Most of the tour was too dark for my poor old camera so I didn't bother taking it out the whole night...at least til we got to Taco Bell afterward! That was well lit, haha.
And I was having a Bad Hair day, so the bonnet never came off...which means the ties are in the way of the front of the bodice the whole time, oops. And it was cold, so same with the shawl! Good thing I do plan on wearing this again... ;) Also that is a rubbishy collar and is coming off before I wear the dress again. I suspected it was rubbishy when I tacked it in, but didn't feel like making another one at the time.
But I'm quite happy with the dress itself! It's swishy. You might notice the wool band at the bottom looks maybe a bit out of place? That's because the back ended up just a liiiiiitle bit too short (argh)...but not short enough to go to the trouble of adding a piece of silk to the bottom, or a ruffle, or chopping off the bottom foot of the skirt and adding in a strip of skirt on the bias. Which is a neat bit of trimming I've seen, but not something I necessarily wanted on this dress. So my wool binding is completely flush with the bottom of the silk in front, but going round to the back, it only encloses about a quarter-inch of the silk. It's not a GREAT fix, but was definitely the easiest! I only feel a little guilty about it because as much as I like to play in the 1860s it's not quite "my" era the way 18thc is. Though I probably have a better figure for 1860s...one of the only ones you don't need much boobage for. :P
And we got a lot of weird face-or-blurry pics, so these are the ones that came out - not too many. There was a hill. Naturally I had to stand on itfor our "artistic" shots. I did contemplate running down it, but I thought doing a face-plant in front of the line of people waiting to tour the house might be bad for my ego...
That last one I've got a derpy face on, but it's such a nice display of shawl, and I am very fond of that shawl!
And then once we were tired of the cold (my wool shawl plus silk actually kept me quite comfortable; only thing that actually got cold were my feet) and inflicting our warbling along with the bell choir's songs, we invaded Taco Bell. No, I didn't eat tacos in my silk taffeta; we were smart and got carry-out!
Dude in the background thinks we're weird...
And I neglected to take photos of my new boots on my feet, oops. I didn't buy a buttonhook yet (borrowed Robin's little one and killed it, the poor thing!) so I can't put them on to get pictures now. I would not call them an unmitigated success, so getting pictures of them wasn't top of my list. I was a bit annoyed with them, really.
First off, they are very comfortable! I didn't wear them out and about for all that long (though I did leave them on when we came back from PPM, almost til bedtime), but they seem like they'd be good for an all-day event. Unless it's an event at which I want to wear two pairs of stockings, because that will definitely not fit. (That's the advantage to my ugly clunky old boots, they're just a bit too big, so they're great for stocking layering! Perhaps I won't retire them just yet.) And they look very nice on, I do think. However, this had to happen to put them on:
I don't know if you can tell the serious frustration that is happening in that photo, but ohmigawd. I think I got three buttons done up by myself before wailing for help. There was a theory that I moved my buttons too far over, but after wearing them for a few hours, they stretched enough to fit a finger down the front of them, so I think any looser would be too loose. I reserve final judgement til I get my (long!) hook, but if they're this much of a pain to put on, frankly I'm not going to want to wear them very often. (Not that I would wear them every day...but you know what I mean!) They're much spiffier looking than the lace-up style, but jeez.
There was another theory that it's also the fault of the buttons, which have a flat bottom and a domed top, and therefore a sharp edge that didn't want to come all the way through the buttonhole. We looked at the buttons on Robin's original button boots, and their buttons are much rounder. Also probably helps that the leather on those is over a hundred years old, and thus not stiff at all!
Since I don't want to leave you on a "waaah at my expensive boots" note (and I really do like them, honest I do!), here's Robin's pictures from the afternoon...
This is how much crap I need for a costume weekend...
Collar angst...but hey, trim without shawl!
Driving selfie! ...not actually driving at that moment, don't be too concerned.
We made up our own words to the tune of "Here We Come A-Wassailing". It starts out "Here we come a taco-ing..." We just find ourselves hilarious. (Which is good, because I doubt anyone else does. But hey!)
There will be sewing tomorrow! I almost promise!
So today my most efficient use was for downing pots of tea and eating way too many gingerbread hearts. And sewing a very few eyelets on my wool 1770s stays. I hadn't planned to try and finish them for the colonial ball or anything, but they were the only handwork project I had ready to stuff in a bag and go...
But anyway, PPM was a lot of fun: it was an 18thc house that was added on to and remodeled in 1901(ish?), and they did a great job of decorating for the season. Everything was lit by oil lamps, and they had Santa, a bell choir, and a candymaking demonstration in the kitchen. And free hot cider after the tour! I'd like to go back sometime in warmer weather and walk around the grounds (good location for pics of our sooper seekrit plaid project, eh wot, partners in crime?).
As for pictures, we basically just made sure to get photos of my new dress and that was it. Most of the tour was too dark for my poor old camera so I didn't bother taking it out the whole night...at least til we got to Taco Bell afterward! That was well lit, haha.
And I was having a Bad Hair day, so the bonnet never came off...which means the ties are in the way of the front of the bodice the whole time, oops. And it was cold, so same with the shawl! Good thing I do plan on wearing this again... ;) Also that is a rubbishy collar and is coming off before I wear the dress again. I suspected it was rubbishy when I tacked it in, but didn't feel like making another one at the time.
But I'm quite happy with the dress itself! It's swishy. You might notice the wool band at the bottom looks maybe a bit out of place? That's because the back ended up just a liiiiiitle bit too short (argh)...but not short enough to go to the trouble of adding a piece of silk to the bottom, or a ruffle, or chopping off the bottom foot of the skirt and adding in a strip of skirt on the bias. Which is a neat bit of trimming I've seen, but not something I necessarily wanted on this dress. So my wool binding is completely flush with the bottom of the silk in front, but going round to the back, it only encloses about a quarter-inch of the silk. It's not a GREAT fix, but was definitely the easiest! I only feel a little guilty about it because as much as I like to play in the 1860s it's not quite "my" era the way 18thc is. Though I probably have a better figure for 1860s...one of the only ones you don't need much boobage for. :P
And we got a lot of weird face-or-blurry pics, so these are the ones that came out - not too many. There was a hill. Naturally I had to stand on itfor our "artistic" shots. I did contemplate running down it, but I thought doing a face-plant in front of the line of people waiting to tour the house might be bad for my ego...
That last one I've got a derpy face on, but it's such a nice display of shawl, and I am very fond of that shawl!
And then once we were tired of the cold (my wool shawl plus silk actually kept me quite comfortable; only thing that actually got cold were my feet) and inflicting our warbling along with the bell choir's songs, we invaded Taco Bell. No, I didn't eat tacos in my silk taffeta; we were smart and got carry-out!
Dude in the background thinks we're weird...
And I neglected to take photos of my new boots on my feet, oops. I didn't buy a buttonhook yet (borrowed Robin's little one and killed it, the poor thing!) so I can't put them on to get pictures now. I would not call them an unmitigated success, so getting pictures of them wasn't top of my list. I was a bit annoyed with them, really.
First off, they are very comfortable! I didn't wear them out and about for all that long (though I did leave them on when we came back from PPM, almost til bedtime), but they seem like they'd be good for an all-day event. Unless it's an event at which I want to wear two pairs of stockings, because that will definitely not fit. (That's the advantage to my ugly clunky old boots, they're just a bit too big, so they're great for stocking layering! Perhaps I won't retire them just yet.) And they look very nice on, I do think. However, this had to happen to put them on:
I don't know if you can tell the serious frustration that is happening in that photo, but ohmigawd. I think I got three buttons done up by myself before wailing for help. There was a theory that I moved my buttons too far over, but after wearing them for a few hours, they stretched enough to fit a finger down the front of them, so I think any looser would be too loose. I reserve final judgement til I get my (long!) hook, but if they're this much of a pain to put on, frankly I'm not going to want to wear them very often. (Not that I would wear them every day...but you know what I mean!) They're much spiffier looking than the lace-up style, but jeez.
There was another theory that it's also the fault of the buttons, which have a flat bottom and a domed top, and therefore a sharp edge that didn't want to come all the way through the buttonhole. We looked at the buttons on Robin's original button boots, and their buttons are much rounder. Also probably helps that the leather on those is over a hundred years old, and thus not stiff at all!
Since I don't want to leave you on a "waaah at my expensive boots" note (and I really do like them, honest I do!), here's Robin's pictures from the afternoon...
This is how much crap I need for a costume weekend...
Collar angst...but hey, trim without shawl!
Driving selfie! ...not actually driving at that moment, don't be too concerned.
We made up our own words to the tune of "Here We Come A-Wassailing". It starts out "Here we come a taco-ing..." We just find ourselves hilarious. (Which is good, because I doubt anyone else does. But hey!)
There will be sewing tomorrow! I almost promise!
