Last night I went to another ball at Gadsby’s Tavern Museum with Mike, Maggie, and Isabella. This dance was in honor of the meeting convened by Major General Edward Braddock of five colonial governors at the Carlyle House in Alexandria, VA in 1755. As usual, the dancing was a great deal of fun and there were a number of beautiful outfits to behold. Lots of francaise gowns in a variety of fine silks. I was able to meet several other local costumers and a number of reenactors.
Maggie with the fan I made her!
All of my photos are here.
In the Long Run 
Your pictures have been lovely and makes me pine for my costumes events of the past. Would you mind a little suggestion? Back in the days I found cutting the sleeves of my gowns and the uniforms on the bias gave the opportunity to take them in and get a nice skin tight fit with the ability to still move. Give it a try on a short gown and see how it works, I think you will like the effect. With wool its a no brainer! Cheers!
Thanks for the comments, Theresa! I’ve usually been happy with the sleeve fit on my dresses, but on this one I actually have a different problem. I put too much width in the bodice, with the problem increasing towards the waist seam. I need to take in the dressform that I draped the bodice on. I exacerbated the problem this wearing by pinning my stomacher about 2 inches too low, removing some support that would normally come from the fabric at the neckline edge. Hence the shoulders slipping out. That’s what happens when you pin on your gown with no access to a mirror!
PS – wearing of feathers in ones hair signified messages. For instance – wearing three white feathers signified your allegiance to the prince of wales. Language like in flowers…cheers
Hi Gloria. It was very nice to finally meet you at the Ball. The pictures you took are absolutely amazing. Will you, Isabella, and Maggie be going to the Bread and Butter Ball in June?
Hi Nastassia! It was nice to meet you as well. I didn’t know if they were doing the Bread and Butter Ball this year, do you have the info? But the three of us are probably going to do the Jane Austen Ball in August regardless.
I just found out about it yesterday while in dance class. They were seeing how many people were interested. I’ll ask the dance instructor for more information about it.
Cool, let me know what you find out.
Also, Maggie and I are organizing a trip to Riversdale House on June 1 if you are interested: http://fabulosityclub.livejournal.com/22864.html
Sure! I’ll mark my Calendar. Also, will it be regency attire or street clothes?
Sorry for the delayed reply, I was out of town. But to answer your question, we are aiming for regency day wear. Hope you can come!
I’ll be there 😀