Mia and I got our outfits prepared for the “Tudor Family Reunion Feast” held by the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild. We’d been working on these garments for months. I helped Mia (center of photo above) sew the black trim on her red, linen English gown – on the sleeves and hem of the gown. Our friends Sahrye (left) and Gloria (right) are on either side of Mia. Sahrye made the gable hood she’s wearing and Claudine made Mia’s French hood.
The Guild organizers had a lovely and authentic multi-course meal that we ate by candlelight. We also had a woman performing songs on her harp and singing songs from the Tudor era. We brought our own cutlery and candles.
Here’s a photo of Claudine, as we were setting up:
And here’s yours truly next to Helena and Deborah. Helena and Deborah, below, are both wearing outfits that Claudine made. Mia inspired me to join her group at this event.
My friend got a plain, green bonnet form to match her new outfit for the Dickens Fair. She’s making the rest of the outfit so she asked me to decorate the bonnet. Here’s what I did.
M. and H. talked me into going to the PEERS event in Alameda for Halloween. I hand sewed the silk covering on M’s hat with scraps of white silk from Betsy and some silver lacey trim from M. I think it came out well. It went well with her midnight blue outfit that she completed completely by herself. (She also made an outfit for her friend R.)
I completed making R’s wedding veil and a hair ornament to go with Claire’s matron of honor dress. Here’s the dress we found for Claire at Dolled Up Vintage:
I am altering some garments that I found at the flea market– and also resurrecting a skirt I completed sewing a few months ago– to wear to ‘Space 1889: A Victorian Steampunk Ball in Space,’ happening in just a few short days.
The folks with Period Enactments & Entertainment Recreation Society are at it again. Their monthly soiree will be all about Steampunk: gloriously anachronistic Victorian technology and it’s derivatives. The event features a performance by the Legion Fantastique.
Team Rachel hit the East Bay pavements looking for accessories for Rachel’s wedding. We went exclusively to thrift and vintage shops and had lunch with our friend Charlotte and her charming pup Foxy Lady. We all felt like foxy ladies that day eating lunch at my sister’s restaurant, Sea Salt, and chatting with proprietor of Dolled Up Vintage, Karen. She helped us find the PERFECT dress for Ms Claire so she can be Rachel’s maid of honor. We hit Icon vintage, Pimlico Place, Discovery Shop and J. Sahadi for ring advice for R&R’s big day. Note: R&R aren’t just a couple. They are also sing, play and record with in the band they created, “Plot Against Rachel.”
At lunch Charlotte was trying to decide which parts each of us would play if she were casting “Sex And The City.” She wants to be Samantha and none of us want to be Carrie. But who would Foxy play? I told them I’d be Stanford Blatch.
So, Pete doesn’t really have a kingdom. But he was one of the Explorers who built La Legion Fantastique at the Great Dickens Faire in S. San Francisco last winter. Pete (who in his own way is related to Dickens Faire “royalty” — the owner of Overstreet’s) put out a call on his blog for a seamstress who could make a squid.
It sounded challenging and intriguing to me. He said, “It doesn’t have to be accurate…just close enough so it is visibly a squid. So natural colors (pinks and magentas…with gold eyes and black beak). Size…18″-24″ for the body, with tentacles to match proportionately…”
I made a (virtual) stepped forward to accept the squid mission as my own. I reported back to Pete: “Squid fabric/materials purchased – the squid is in the works. Repeat: We have Squid lift-off.” I confirmed the dimensions, so we wouldn’t have a SPINAL TAP Stonehenge incident. (to avoid a possible problem of proportions..)
Missive #1 about squid & other projects a go-go
Okay, so now I am making a model of a squid for some of the folks at the Dickens Faire! Jules Verne fans, all, the Legion Fantastique will have their squid. Yee-haw
squid tentacles
squid tentacles
squid body
tentacle attachment
And I’m making cravats. If you need a new, stylish cravat, I will custom-make one for you, once I have the squid situation under control. Oh, and I’ve completed Betsy’s short cape.
Bonnet-obsession may be dangerous and cravat-obsession is downright archaic, but you knew I was obsessed. You just didn’t know it would be an additional squid obsession.
II
It’s all about the squid.
Greetings earthlings,
Well, the squid project is turning into The Thing That would Not Get Finished. Hopefully it will not take as long as my (BLEEEP) undergraduate degree. I was on the 11 year “plan” for that. Not that there was a plan. There was just a lot of, oh, rent to pay and food to purchase and bus passes, and day-jobs. Umm, not so different from now, I guess. Pre-degree days. But I digress. It’s all about the squid.
For those who went to use the loo during my last post, this squid is a project for the Dickens Faire folk who are enamoured with Jules Verne and Under Sea Adventure, Journeys to the Center of the Earth, Steam Powered vehicles, steampunk aesthetics, etc. The cutting edge of Victorian technology and science. SCIENCE!
Yes, said squid is in stage 2.5 out of 4 — the tentacles are being filled with stuffing but not at a fast enough clip to keep me sane and not slow enough to stop the seams from ripping on the terry- cloth members. (get your mind out of the gutter, you weirdos.) Tubes. We’ll call them tubes.
Anyway, once we have achieved Tentacle Stuffage, we shall move along to Assembly of Body to Tentacles and then final (artistic? frosting?) touches- attachment of beak, painted nautical/splooched details of suction cups, and the dreaded gold eyeballs.
Who knew this would take so long??
In other Dickens news — I found a wonderful pattern for a fichu in the wonderful book by Frances Grimble – and it turns out that I “already got one1” (just like in “Holy Grail” where the French soldiers tell King Arthur that they don’t need a Grail — they already got one. heh.) Actually I already MADE one, I just have to learn how to tie it on so it doesn’t fall off like it did last Sunday at the Faire. Several times. Thank you KC3 for retrieving my wood-shaving-covered lace fichu several times from the floor of the Cow-Palace. I shall make use of a pin to hold it fashionably in place, this weekend.
Key to stuffing squid: have new episodes of Project Runway on in the background.
So, check back here, adventurers, for photos of the squid as it develops — umm, when I find my camera, again. I did find it and it is now elusive, once more. Did I say I am moving? Yes, well, the camera is now disguised cleverly among my belongings. I will find it, darn-it.
So, I took a break to move my possessions to a new apartment, and got back to the squid…
III
Found Telegram:
Squid nearing completion. stop.
Roo cat controls my brain. stop.
Send more chocolate. stop.
IV
note to Pete: “The Squid is about 3/4 done, with just another bag of stuffing and some applique or gold paint for the eyes.”
Squid Delivery:
On a Sunday late last December I took the BART train, carrying the squid, to San Francisco to meet some friends who were driving to the Cow Palace. It was time for Squid Delivery. On the train, I sat next to some young men who were going to a football game. They were intrigued by the squid and one young man admitted that he had been in art college for some time, but then the scholarship money ran out. So he switched over to a new field: criminal justice. Wow, I said, that’s quite a different field. “Yeah,” he said, “but I work at a paint-ball place and I get to design their uniforms and signs, so I still do some designing.” Bravo. Keep that creative dream alive! I mean, I’m carrying a squid on a train and my day job involves spread-sheets, not models of Natural Wonders from Victorian novels. Keep the create fires aflame!
Squid Delivery Accomplished!! Met Mr. Fogg (Pete) and saw the MAGIC LANTERN SHOW at La Legion Fantastique!
The moral to this story: the squid is worth every effort. We have met the enemy and he is not squid. (though calamari are tasty when they are not made of fabric.)
