A Civil War Ball

I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! I meant to post this closer to the actual event, but things have been going non-stop for the last several weeks. I'm just now able to sit down and actually attempt to put together enough cohesive thoughts to write up a post. :P 

Anyways. Enough with the excuses and apologies. 

I finally got to wear my blue 1850's day dress! 

The Civil War ball was held at the historic mill in Salem - the perfect location for our event. 

I could live in a house like this.

:cough:

You came to read about sewing projects didn't you? ;) 

Fine...

Here's some pictures from the evening.

I was demonstrating how to do the 'Harriet Smith' pose

When the theme for the ball was announced, I knew exactly what I was going to wear. Especially since I never had an excuse to pull it out of the costume closet. But would it still fit as nicely as it did before? I tried the dress on, and lo-and-behold, it fit like a glove. ^_^ Since when does something not need alterations? Thank you, Victorian undergarments, for keeping my measurements the same. :P 

Since it was a bit of a drive to the venue, I changed into my dress there. I didn't want a squished and wrinkled dress when I got to the party. And I can't seem to drive with hoops and a corset. They make things rather... difficult. Ladies never drove the carriage; they were always along for the ride. I understand that now.

The only issue that I ran into during the evening was my corset... it twisted in the middle of the Grand March. Made it rather difficult to breathe for the rest of the evening. Little did I know what the contraption was up to until later when I changed into my jeans and t-shirt. So THAT'S why things were hurting! But beyond that, the dress worked like a charm!

After looking through pictures though, I'm seeing that I need to make a ruffled petticoat to help with my 'lampshade' skirt. And a bum-roll to kick out the back and show off the angles of the jacket. :adds two more projects to the ever growing to-do list:

Just some porch sitting

And some pictures from the dance 

The lovely Katrina in her Scarlet O'Hara gown. Her sewing blog can be found here. 

This is my favorite picture from the ball. Part of the dance involves turning the lady under, and I loved how the skirts were all swooshing and twirling. Lots of pink dresses, too, I've noticed. ;) 

I've got some more pictures to show you later, but this will do for now. 

Until next time!

SG