Costuming Events – Fashion Through Herstory

18th Century Light Feast at Ljungs Castle

Published on October 4, 2017 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

So, in late August is was time for the event I’ve been working (sewing) like a mad for.

The “Light party” at Ljungs castle (webpage).
It was an evening in honor of the parties van Fersen d.y. used to host in the late 18th century.

As you now know I had a bit trouble deciding on what to wear (as I always do).
But the theme for the party was “light”, and called for light/white 18th century costumes.
So after some to and forth (read about it here) I finally had my ger ready.
Gown with skirt and bumpad.

The only trouble was that the party was on the same day as “Söderköpings medieval fair“, which caused me to be in a bitt of a hurry to change from one costume to another, and get myself to the party in time.
But after a quick pit stop at home where I handed over the toddler to my fiancé, jumped out of my Elizabethian gown and quickly laced myself up in 18th century stays, skirts and gown (gulping down a sandwich at the same time) I was ready to once again get on my way.

I made it with 10 minutes to spare…“Before event” selfie

The party itself was held at the beautiful castle of Ljung perish about 30 minutes from my hometown.
The day was warm sunny and the slowly setting sun gave a lovely air to the place (and some of my pictures).

Once there I started by walking around talking to people and admiring everyones outfits

I only knew a few people there and one of them was maud from my dance team (who also done the fast-forward in time from medieval to 18th century an hour before). Picture by Ljung Castle

Some costume candy from the other ladies attending…

After an initial toast and speech from the hostess we where all invited upstairs for some fine dining.A lovely dinning-room, with lots of food and drink being served. And for once, the vegetarian food was both delicious and plenty-full 🙂
After dinner there was a lovely concert (with music from the 18th century of course) played by some really talented muschians. Then it was time for dessertby this time I (and surely a few others with me) was pretty sick of sitting down (after all we had done so in over 3 hours – in or corsets!) and was really happy when it was announced the dancing was about to start.

First there was a small dance-recital by the Ljung castle sociaty, and then we all got to dance a few of them.
Picture by Ljung castle
As a dancer myself I was a bit disapoined by how little there was time for, and would have wished for quite a lot more. But a least we could fiest our eyes on the spectacularly good dancing of one of “Menuettakademins” recitals, who was projected on the wall.

After the dance we had some fun looking trough some of te rooms (all very dark by this hour) and taking some photos and selfies.A newly made friend and me.

Keit makes the most amazing 18th century dresses, and acted as the dance master for this event. IKEA dresses unite 😀
Our costumes are all made from different flowery IKEA fabrics. The evening ended with some champagne and a toast down in the main hall.

I had a really good time, and I wished it could have lasted longer.
Especially since the most fun (for me) begun after the dessert was finished and it almost was time to go home…

And I do hope they will host more of these parties in the future.

Söderköpings Medieval Fair 2017

Published on September 21, 2017 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

It’s almost been a month since the yearly Medieval fair in Söderköping, and I just now gotten round to post about it, but better late then never right:-).

I’ve been attending this fair with my sister for a few years now (2014, 2015, 2016) and this year was no exception, only this year I didn’t joined the dance recital, but instead had my hand full taking care of my 1 year old son.

As always I had a bit of a trouble deciding on what to wear, but finally settled on the Elizabeth I dress l made last year.

My sister borrowed my red renaissance kirtle.

And baby Charlie wore the Henry VIII coat from last year, pared with an old red velvet hat to match.

I promised my fiancé I wouldn’t dress him to weird, and in my defence I can only say I (partially) held that promise. Besides from the coat and hat (which he needed for head covering), he wears a regular gray long sleeved t-shirt and pants pared with his autumn boots.

*Disclaimer: This post will be full of cute (faceless) “Henry VII” baby pics – so consider yourself warned;-)

**I’m sorry about the “Floating ruff”, but the partlet was simply to hot to wear, and I’ve forgotten to bring my necklace and/or black-worked smock, so I figured it was better then nothing…

We begun the day by touring the market place.
And I got a beautiful feather fan, and a book about medieval clothing that I’ve never seen before.

Then we walked the 500m or so to the camp and Medieval playground.
There was a lot of “follow the toddler” happening.

Then we meet up with the dancing team and baby C got introduced to the whole gang for te first time.

My sister joined the dancing

And me and C watched(At least for a little while), then he was of agin… I do think we made for quite a sight.
Lots of people commented on how cute he looked, and some even wanted our picture.

After the dancing we went to get some food, and encountered the knights on our way to the restaurant.After lunch we stopped to take a break and to play a bit in the parks playground. The slide is by far his favourite.
The we did even more exploring the townHa ha, I love that my sister tries to play with him and how he’s much more interesting in the gravel:-D Trying to get some nice photos together… It’s harder then you’d think
Before we headed home we took another round of the market and listened to some music, Met a knight of the crusades and looked at some more pretty things (that we didn’t buy). Renaissance ladies.
It was such a fun day, and a perfect “first event” for C (who was in the best of moods during the day, and then slept the whole car ride home). What more could you wish for 🙂

The Day of the Big Crinolines 2017

Published on July 15, 2017July 15, 2017 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

After months of “planing” (which included me asking around for interest, sending a few emails, and making a quick poster/flyer), the “Day of the big Crinolines” (2017) was finally upon us :-).

A quick poster made from a photo from last year.

Some of you (especially if you follow me on Instagram) might recall, I’d had a bit of a clothing dilemma the weeks leading up to this event.
But after lots of answer, and I really mean A LOT, (Thank you to all who took their time to give me their thoughts and opinions 🙂 ) I came to the decision, of which you’d probably already aware – To wear the white plaid dress with the white bonnet (pic 2 & 6), disregarding the fact I wore that exact dress last time.This pic was posted to my Instagram together with the question of which outfit I should choose, and generated about 50 comments. Surprisingly many of you picked matching outfits (green dress with green bonnet and so on), even though I originally made the bonnets to go with the dress right above in the picture (1 & 4..).

*Ok, so this post contains a lot of picture (all taken by me or my sister, if nothing else mentioned), and I will not speak so much about everything. Just a warning 😉

The day started at 10am when me and my sister meet up with so me of the other early participants to get dressed, a endeavor that took quite a while.Clara helping my sister securing the hat properly.

And by the way… Yay!
And with no last try on before the event I was relived to se that the outfit worked.

The day officially started at 11am with a picknick in the green, but the previous days heavy rain made us les inclined to get down on the ground, and instead we opted for a spot by the outdoor dance floor with several benches.

The “low class” people helped sett the tables 😉

One interesting element in our picknick (which I’m sure amused us as much as the other party) was the stride of runners from “Linköpings Half-marathon” passing us by. I found it particularly funny, since I originally planned to enter the race, (yep, I’d doubled bocked myself) but a sore knee forced me to rest for the past month. My boyfriend however entered, and ran past us in one of the front crowds, to my, and a few more of us high applause and encouraging shouts.

Despite taking photos, looking for my hubby amongst the runners and making sure all newcomers was welcomed and everyone was comfortable, I did actually had a few moments to sitt down and have a bite to eat (and drink).

Kerstin and Sara visited the event as part of their project (or perhaps despite) their project to re-create their long past relative Agusta Lundin’s (a well known Swedish mid 19th century lady) travels through Sweden and Europe. Read all about their trip and project at: Agustasresa.se

A severe case of “Hairnet stuck to PomPoms” 😀
Photo by: Kerstin of “Augustas resa” (more photos from her can be found here)

Some mingel

Pernilla and Denise in their beautiful new dresses.

This is how happy Pernilla is about her recently finished crinoline 😀

Sis 🙂

Fixing some hair before the dance-recital

After the picknick we all headed onto the dance flor to get a lesson in 19th century dance.

Not everyone likes to dance though, sometimes it’s just enough to sitt and enjoy it instead.

Then the dance-team showed us some more complicated moves I opted to stay sidelined since we were uneven to match the formation (besides No dancing = more photos)

Before it was time to “hit the town”, and for everyone to wander off as they liked we gathered for a group picture.

Pic by: Janne

I also got some pictures of all of my 3 dresses attending the day. “The brown ladies”
After finally deciding on my dress, and finishing my sisters outfit, I got an email from one of the new girls in the dance team, asking for advice/help on what to wear. After some questions about her approximate size, and armed with lots of safety pins, I dug my brown Paisley gown out from my basement, gave it a press and lent it to her for the day.

Then we all spent a few hours drinking coffee, walking around and shopping

My sister had a “dress-twin” in this lady (That fabric is divine!)

Maria and Ruth resting their legs

Apparently this event was sett on “The Knitters Day”, and since it was a bit chilly I made good use of my beloved mitts, that was gifted to me a few years back.

Just like last time, we all gathered again before dinner to play some “Pinn-ball” (or is it Bowling?) on the old course.

Clara in her beautiful lilac dress (and don’t you just love her bonnet – perfection!),
and Sarah who changed dress (and decade) before dinner, to a gorgeous natural form gown.

“Have you heard the latest news…”

Then it was time to head in for the dinner.

And that was that. Testing out my new selfie-stick with some of the amazing ladies from the day.

I’m really happy about how the day turned out (even though the weather wasn’t exactly the nicest, but hey! No Rain :-)), and so grateful to all the wonderful people who took their time (and Awesome costumes) to come here and help make the day such a success. Hope to see you all next time… 😀

And as a bonus: Check out this video made by one of the photographers who joined us in the beginning of the day.

1750-1850s Spring Ball (2017)

Published on June 20, 2017 by fashionthrougherstory3 Comments

Wow, It’s already been more then a month since the spring ball (and summer arrived) but I just now finished my blogpost about it.

As you might recall, I had quite a bit sewing done before the ball, both for me (1825s bonanza)
and my sister (a whole 1860s costume with underpinnings and everything).
Thanks to good planing (he he, right;-)) I managed to finish everything in time,
and didn’t even have the panicked last minute finishes that always seams to be my lot.

The day of the ball was a bit hectic though.

As I needed to turn the mandatory dance rehearsal down, in order to get to a friends babys christening instead.
But since I still had my sisters dress at home, I had to make a pit-stop at the dance-hall to leave it to her, before I stuffed my (relatively) clean baby in the car and drove 1 hour to get to the church. After a quick stop, leaving our present, and eating some cake I rushed home to get dressed in record speed for the ball. My outfit ready and awaiting.

Thank good my boyfriend (who happened to have a book-release that same day) had already come home, and could take the baby and help me close the dress.
Even more thank good, I’ve already done the dress-rehearsal (or more exactly the hair-rehearsal) so I managed to get the hair done and the dress on in not more then 30 minutes.
Beat that!
Does this lok like a fast and easy hairdo?

Arriving (in time) to the ball, I had some time to calm down and to find my sister.Hiding out by the fire-extinguisher

The evening started with a mingel and everyone admiring everyone else dresses/costumes.

Selfie with a big digital camera is not as easy as it looks…

Beautiful girl – terrible lighting…
I’m not kidding, this is how bad the lighting is in the dance hall.

Group picture, with awful resolution
Pretty bows on the shoes 🙂

Then it was time to head upstairs to get some dinner. unfortunately me and my sister dragged a bit behind to take some silly pictures, and once we got upstairs there was no seats left.

They managed to get out a few extra chairs for us, but since all tables was full, we was seated on the table flanks far away from each-other.

pretty far away…

The dinner started with a soup made from peas, which was really good.

The main course was basically beef, chicken and bacon combined.

As a vegetarian there wasn’t to much to eat, unfortunately. “Can we pleas call for a pizza, cause I’ve only had some cake since breakfast…”

During dinner one gentleman got up and started singing an “humorous” old song, which was kind of musing, at first, but 78 verses in I was not the only one rolling my eyes at the (inappropriate old sexist jokes in the song and) man taking up to much space.

Once we finished the dinner I took the opportunity to take some picture of pretty dresses while the tables cleared to make room for the dance.

Beautiful regency sisters

Mirror selfie

Then it was time to dance

We had one break for dessert later in the evening I’m still starving, thank you very much 😦

Then the dancing continued Somebody knows how to pose…

Then it was time to say goodbye and go home.
I had lots of fun dancing and fooling around with my friends, making some new friends as well, but to be both hungry and really tired made me a bit cranky at the end.
At least I got lots of compliments for both my hair and my dress(es) 🙂

Got an Event coming up – but no costume?

Published on June 3, 2017April 10, 2019 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

We all face this dilemma one time or the other.

You get invited to a fancy party/wedding/themed birthday-party ect. and you got noting to wear.

For us in the costuming world however, it’s not as easy as taking at tripp to the nearest department-store.
We need to create our costumes for ourselves.

Here’s a few tips and trixs for looking the part(ish) for your next short-noticed costuming event:
For the sake of this post, lets pretend yo’r going on a mid 19th century picknick (1840-1860s)

*Disclaimer: These tips are for the average “Not strictly Histotical correct evets”. If your Event calls for Historical accuracy or “as close to accuracy as possible” you really need to go the extra mile.

Got Time and Sewing Skill but short on Cash?

Here’s some of my dresses made on really limited funds:
(Two words for you – CHEAP FABRIC)

Look for suitable fabrics:

– On sale:
Bough 5m of thin plaid cotton on 70% of from a big fabric store for this dress.

– At Goodwill:
I used 1 cotton beedsheet that I got for 50Sek (5Usd) on second hand.

– In unexpected stores like IKEA and Walmart:
Two sets of cotton beddings made up this dress. The duvets was enough for an additional evening bodice.

Use “bad” material and scrimp on fabric:
(This must be the worst advice ever but knowing how to do it well is GREAT when funds are lacking.)
1 set of polyester curtains 140 x 250cm (bought at IKEA for 100 Sek (10 Usd)) was just enough for my sisters 1860s evening gown. (And yes I used up every scrap of the fabric)

Short on Time and/or Sewing Skill?

Here’s some example on costumes made with minimum sewing and time:

Buy the items you need:This blouse are currently up for grabs in my shop.

Or rent them:This skirt and bolero was made by me to be rented.

Make Fast and Easy items:
This costume (skirt, blouse and belt) took me about two days and is made mostly from rectangular pieces (the belt/swiss waist are really easy to make as well).

Use pieces you already have:
This is a combination of 18th century cap, 1860s blouse, 1840s skirt and early 20th century apron.

Use modern pieces from your wardrobe:
A children’s boater, paired with a modern high collared blouse accessorized with a brooch and umbrella works in a pinch.

No appropriate underwear?

This era (mid 19th century) calls for pretty spectacular underwear
But don’t worry if you’r lacking some of them
Here’s some ideas how to fix the fashionable silhouette without to much of a trouble, Starting with the corset:

Use a Corset from another era:
I just recently made myself a 1860s corset, and used to use my 1880s one for everything from 1830-1900s.

Use a modern corset:
I made this corsets from a 1880s pattern but my sister uses it as modern party clothes.

No crinoline?
No worries why don’t you simply…

Use a modern hooped wedding petticoat:
My very first petticoat was a bridal hoop that got lots and lots of use (notice the regency stays with the hoop for my very first 1840s event)

Make yourself a quilted petticoat:
Made from a pre-quilted fabric, this gem took me about an hour to make and have seen every era from Tudor England to 18th century and the 1850s. It’s just Perfect!

When everything else fails – Think outside the Box:

Go down the hierarcy chain:
Maybe you can pose as a commoner using shawls, old blouses and aprons.

Focus on the accessories:

Two bonnets with about 50 hours difference in time spent on them.
The green one is a piece I made from scratch using silk and hand-sewing, while the right one is a modern straw hat where I cut parts of the brim, and added a lace-ribbon and called it a day.

Borrow from a friend:
If you’r going on a event, chances are that you know at least one person there – see if they have something that would work on you.
Here my sister’s wearing my green 1840s gown for a winter photoshoot we did a few years back.

Bend the timespan:

Perhaps there’s not such a big deal if you show up wearing costumes from 10 years to early/late.
After all everyone just there to have fun, right?
You might even get away with 100 year wrong if you think strategically…
18th century peasant can almost work in the mid 1800s.

Crossdress:
Bend the gender barrier and dress as a man (or lady).

Or maybe you even got a national costume laying around…
Most of our Swedish national costumes comes from the mid 19th century, why not use that as an excuse to wear one.

But most of all, don’t sweat it if your not wearing the perfect costume, chances are no one will notice the modern tidbits or, lacking bloomers.
Go, have fun, and don’t over think it.

Best of luck on you’r costuming event this summer 🙂

Medieval Fair Söderköping 2016

Published on October 17, 2016 by fashionthrougherstory1 Comment

A few days after I finished my “Borgia dress” it was time for it’s first outing – To the yearly medieval fair in Söderköping.

This year I had a hard time deciding whether or not I should go, and if I did, then in what way would I attend.
Because of the new baby…
The first thing I needed to decide was If I should go at all, and should I then take him with me?
And If I took him, should I breastfeed or give him the bottle (this is the million dollar question when it comes to clothing decision), and would it be better to wear something old and easy to wash (because, baby spit) instead of my new princess gown?

I had three dresses that I could wear to the event:

1. Italian renaissance
Pros:
New dress!
Never worn
Soo pretty

Cons:
“Booberella”
Difficult to wash and thous breastfeed in
Never worn….

2. Medieval Cote
Pros:
Comfortable and opportunity to wear a whimple
Perfect for the Fairs time period
Easy to breastfeed in
Well tested and trusted

Cons:
Thick wool = super hot
Difficult to wash
Worn a lot

3. Tudor Peasant sidan-sol Pros:
Easy to wear
Easy to wash and to breastfeed in
Cons:
Simple on the verge to boring

In the end the choosing was made easy by my boyfriend insisting he take the baby for the day and I go alone (well not alone, my sister was to come to).
This was to be the longest time away from Charlie I ever been, so lets just say I was les then focused when dressing in my gown (New Borgia gown for the win, because – New dress :-)) and kissing my boys goodbye.

The familiar scenery of Söderköping.

We meet up with the dance team and participated in the show (with only a handful of on-lookers)

I really need to do something about that neckline (or work a bit more on my posture)…

Ha ha, love this picture.
Some people do take the dancing a lot more serious 😀

After the dance recital me and my sister took a walk around the market.

Mmmm fabric….

We also took a few minutes to take some pictures by the big church (while trying our best to ignore the other visitors taking our picture).

Medieval selfie 🙂

Before heading hoe we did a pit-stop at the fabulous fabric store, where I got lots and lots of cute baby fabrics.

City Cultural Festival with Dance Recital

Published on September 4, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

By now it’s been two weeks ago the annual cultural festival in our town.
And just like last year me and my dance team was there to do a little performance.

This year the theme/time period on our dance was “Anything goes” or “All decades unite” to promote the upcoming Ball with the same theme.

I had some trouble deciding on what to wear (such a luxury problem, right), but in the end I decided to wear my new 17th century outfit. Mainly because I (correctly) guessed no one else would be wearing 17th century, and because I really wanted to try it out properly, to decide how I felt about it (stomacher and all)

Me and Maud

The weather was perfect (maybe even a bit to hot), and the stage had been set up in the perfect spot in the middle of the park, with lots of market booths and activities close by to help draw audience to us.

The performance went well, even though all our memorys was a bit rusty after the summer break.Lots of decdes in one dance: 1780s, Medieval, 1850s, regency and 1660s.

I used my thin fichu to cover my scooping decolletage from both uncomfortable eyes and the scorching sun.

Between the shows we had a short break to watch the other teams dance, and to take a short turn at the market (where we handed out information about our ball)

Swedish folk dance team

Lindy hopp

The Swedish Polska dancing team.

The historic dance team’s resting in the shade.

Carl and Shakila from my sewing course, sporting medieval and 1850s evening wear.

Maud in er fabulous 18th century Anglaise.

We performed right beside the old cars exhition.

We also meet the mascot for our local Hockey team – I do not envy the poor hot person inside…

Before it was time to go home I got a few minutes to talk (and take some photos) with my childhood dance teacher Katarina.
I joined in her kids folk dance team at the age of 6, continued as assisting dance teacher at age 15, and still frequent the same summer dances, festivals, and barbecues. 17th century meets Skedevi national costume (summer edition).

I totally adore this woman.

Once home again, my fiancé helped me by taking some photos of my outfit (sans the fichu).

After the day ended I can truly say that I really love this costume.
I felt so pretty and stylish in it, the shape it gives me and the way it makes me feel really petite and like an Amazon at the same time is just so great (sorry, can’t describe the felling any better)
But I must admit it was quite a relief to get home, unlace and put on some sweats…
(I’m curently working on some big plans for this costume…)

Söderköping’s Medieval Fair 2015

Published on September 1, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

This weekend it was once again time for the annual medieval fair called “Söderköpings Gästabud”.
And just like last year I talked my sister into going with me, to watch and help with the dance recital.

And of course she needed something to wear…
So after a week of intensive sewing we were finally ready for the fair.

Sis and me in our Medieval garb:
Blue Burgundian (24 hour) dress, and g reen wool cotiehardie .

Once at Söderköping we hurried to find the rest of the dance team to get some last minute practice before we were to perform.

My sister also got to partake in the dancing (even though she only watched the performance once before, (a task she performed perfectly, of course).“OMG – how I’m I to keep my hats on while dancing?”

Medieval dancing…

Othilia and Maria (sis) catches their breath after the performance.

Since we then had a 3 hour break until next dance-performance, me, Clara and Maria headed of on our own.

First stop, “Jofotex fabrics” – the by far best fabric store in our area.“Price the lords for fabrics”

You could clearly see the influence the Medieval fair had on the store (and the well dressed clientele), with special prices on wool, linens, and everything slightly medieval. And the staff didn’t even bug an eye at our walking in in costumes.
A for effort but some what lower scores for historical accuracy…

Once again out of the store, somewhat poorer, (I bought some lovely ivory lace and fabric for a new skirt to my 17th century bodice) we headed back to the market to see everything. We found:

Knights practicing their fencing.

Maria and Clara listening to lovely music.

Knights and horses.

And a coffin…

The town of Söderköping really is the perfect place for this kind of events, with the rivers, cobblestones and old houses it looks so beautiful.

I managed to get some pic of the new gown:

The market place lay beside the old church in the middle of the city.

There was lots of great things to shop for any historic/fabric nerd:Natural Furs

Colored furs – note the leopard and zebra colored ones.

Ribbon bonanza

Linen fabrics

Silk and velvet

And of course rows and rows of lovely wool.

Then we returned to the place for or next dance performance just in time to enjoy a great band playing medieval music.

Karin and Dan relaxing in the grass enjoying the music.

Sis in a sea of dress.

I didn’t get any pics of the dancing itself (since both me and my photographer was dancing), but it went really well and we had lots of folks looking and clapping.

Afterwards we had some final chat before it was time to say goodbye for this time.

The musicians Lena and Eric and dance master Sievert.

Maud and Othilia having a cozy moment.

Karin and Solveig both looking great in their dresses and headwear.

And that’s all folks…

“America day – Those who Stayed Behind”

Published on July 22, 2015July 22, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

This weekend I attended the “American day” in a small village called Kisa.
The theme for the day was the Swedish emigration to America during the later half of 19th century, with a closer look at the Swedish society, clothing and food for all those who choose to stay behind (mainly the rich).

The old In (Wärdshus) in Kisa hosted the day, and me and a group of volunteer ladies held the costume and fashion “show” including a presentation of 1850-1900s fashion.

The first thing we did after arriving was to set up our dress forms with fashions from 1850-1900s.
Unfortunately we ended up with way to many bustle dresses and lacked both 1850s and 1900s dresses.
We also totally lacked mens fashion.
Lesson learnt for next time I guess.

Our “Showroom” – you can see my 1900s S-shaped corset to the left and my 1850s corset, crinoline and bonnet to the right.

Accessorizes

After the “showroom” was set, and we all gotten into our chosen garb, it was time to meet the guests.Group pic (missing two of the ladies who came a bit later)

We were supposed to walk around chatting with the guest, but since everyone was seated listening to the orchestra playing we didn’t had the chance to present ourself, but just stayed in the background as to not disturb the musicians.

Sara is wearing her fabulous military inspired 1880s bustle dress.

Helena in yet another lovely bustle dress.

I went a bit outside the box and wore my Downton Abby 1914s dress.

Gossiping 1850s ladies…

When the music was over, Sara got to show the resemblance between the orchestras uniform and her dress.Twins?

Then we all went inside for our costume presentation.

Helena held a great presentation, illustration the past fashions using both the dressforms and us as mannequins.

Then it was time to get seated for the 1870s style dinner, made by the Ins own chef from an old recipe.Salue! Cheers! Skål!

This pic cracks me up – just look at Mauds face watching me play with my food…

After dinner the guests had a little bit of time to ask us questions and take our photos.Susanna posing for a guest.

Before it was time to head home we all decided to take the time to get some nice photos
(my sister joined us the whole day as a photographer)

Group-pic

The obligatory crazy group pic

Sara and Helena in beautiful blue bustles

Barbro in lovely 1870s dress – I love the stripe work

Maud and Marie just cant stop laughing in their 1850s garb

Josefine, Susanna and me chatting about some scandalous things.

“No way! I’t was you…”

Lovely Edwardian elegance

Then it was time to pack up and go home…

I’m not super impressed with the arrangement of the event (no PR, no schedule and strange activity clashes),
but I’m definitely happy and thankful for all the lovely ladies who turned up in costume and high spirit to make the day a success.

That pretty much sums it up…
All photos by: Elin Evaldsdottra

The Day of the Big Crinolines (part 2)

Published on June 26, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

Here comes the rest of the pictures from “The Day of the Big Crinolines” (part 1).

As the day progressed we walked round the old town of Gamla Linköping, visiting small shops and gardens, taking lots of photos and buying some new stuff.

IMG_6950_zpsylgylebb Maud, in the sun with her new umbrella/parasol.

Maria, with her Southern American flair.

Fan fighting!

Ladies walking of to the distance…

Sara of “A costuming Engineer” in her stunning new 1860s gown.

Clara reading “the bible” in the shadows.

I love the color and shape of Claras bonnet, and she matched it perfectly with the lilac in her dress.

IMG_7007_zpsmror4nbk One giant skirt on the bench…
…four giant skirts on the bench.

Oh naughty!

Love this flimsy, of focus photo – that’s what the whole day felt like.

Pernilla and Denise in their lovely new cotton dresses.

Pernilla (in red) was my co-arranger to his event, and an angel at making everything work out perfectly.

Such a great color on Denise.

I love the sheer fabric on Pernillas bonnet.

On the town square we ran into the patrolling policeman, and convinced him to join in some photos.

20150613_154632_resized “Hm, you are very strange madam…”

When the shops closed (and the tourist headed home), we all went to the old times skittle-alley for some resting and playing in the shadows.

20150613_160802_resized

IMG_7185_zpsfjtvuw9h Barbaras jacket are made out of a tablecloth, can you believe it.
The whole outfit looks so smashing.

Helena’s playing ball…

Strike! Eh, No…

IMG_7259_zpspmzu8ppr Just general fooling around.

Some of the guest devoted them self to reading “the bible” – Not really
(they’r watching the live streaming from the royal wedding).

Group-pic – with some added and some lost through out the day.

Newlyweds – Congratulations again!

We ended the day with a nice dinner at an beautiful old restaurant next to were we sat.
The food and the company was great, but we were all a bit exhausted by the long and hot day.
Then it was time to say goodbye.

Hopefully we’ll be able to do this again next year.

Just awesome!

***

I probably should have stopped at the crazy group picture, but since this is my blog/account of the day, I will also show you the les glorious pics from after we said our goodbyes.

At the buss ride home, hot, tired and sweaty, I encounter my other sister – all fresh and styled for a night on the town.
I just had to do a un-glamours bus-selfie. 20150613_203506_resized After a long day of costuming in the sun…

Once home I finally got to take the boots of, and take a look at my sad feet and socks – the blisters will stay for quite some time I’d wold think, but mu bellowed stockings are lost to all hope of saving.
Goodbye my friends, We had some good times together.
You could make any historical costume look better and would always stay in place (above the knee) even without garters.
I will miss you, and have a really hard time replacing you.