Brief rundown of What We Did and What We Wore as a late-40s woman and a teen. 

TLDR: we faked a lot, thrifted a lot, left the rest till the last minute, and still had an awesome time.

Schedule: 

* Friday: arrive at YMCA 
* Saturday morning: Promenade 
* Afternoon: downtime - we stayed out till about 3pm, then changed back into modern clothes, had Bath buns, and did some shopping, before getting ready for the… 
* Evening: Ball 
* Sunday: head home.

Outfits: 

**Teen daywear** (mostly covered by a previous post) 

* Modern white dress shirt 
* Neckcloth from old polycotton sheet 
* Brocade waistcoat (Vinted), shortened, collar stiffener removed, collar tacked down to form lapels, jewelled buttons replaced with plain brass 
* Tailcoat (c1960s, ebay) 
* Modern stretch jodhpurs (thrifted) cut off below the knee and hemmed. 
* White thigh socks (Amazon) 
* Black boots (thrifted) 

**Teen at the ball** 

* Clean shirt - cannot emphasise enough what a good idea this was! 
* Black leather ballet shoes (borrowed from dance studio) - there was plenty of time and space to change shoes at the venue, as there would have been in period.

This was all relatively simple to assemble but I still somehow left a lot till the last minute; I even ended up making the neckcloth a tube so it was only one seam rather than having to hem two edges. Could have been improved by: flatter heel boots, fall front breeches, some accessories eg fob, a real top hat

**Mature Lady:**

 I had planned to make a day-to-evening dress modified from Simplicity 4055 (99p clearance pattern bin), possibly with long sleeves that detached and a chemisette.

I had a thrifted 90s brown-velvet evening jacket that has been in various stage productions, and with shoulder pads surgically removed, tacked up with a ribbon drawstring through the hem so formed, it made an acceptable spencer in case it was actually cold.

Sewing-wise I started out by making a **bodiced petticoat** from an old polycotton sheet, based on the Simplicity pattern. I darted it to fit closely and added a drawstring to the front neckline, but didn't bone it and planned to wear it over a modern bra.

This was my first garment fitted on myself by myself without assistance and although I tacked hook tape and eyes on the back to fasten so I could fit the front it was still much more difficult than having either a willing friend or a dress form. I was reasonably pleased with how it came out though, and it turned out to be essential because I really needed it for under the…

**Ball dress** \- the tulle sari worked beyond my wildest dreams, although the blouse shape meant the original back of the petticoat showed a LOT. I took it down by over an inch (on the train en route) and it still peeked out. There was 284cm usable fabric from the sari for the skirt which I machined to a narrow twill tape, gathering the back 20cm of the skirt really densely by zigzagging over fishing line, and hand stitched the tape to the bodice hem. I matched and stitched the border at the back seam, but working with tutus has taught me that on tulle a stitched seam is usually more visible than just leaving a slit. Added a ribbon sash - the thread loops to hold it up went in about 5pm on the day. **Shoulda / coulda**: decorated the blouse neckline, raised its waistline, added bling to the sash, taken off the sleeves and cut new short puff ones. Next year maybe.

Meanwhile it was obvious to me that gorgeous as it was it was going to be way too eveningy to wear in the promenade, so I STILL needed to make a **day dress**. By this point it was Thursday night and I was starting to panic. I dragged out the modern chiffon blouse I'd earmarked for a chemisette, whacked a drawstring through its neckline, and started making a sleeveless dress from my petticoat bodice pattern, gathering rather than darting the front bust and raising the neckline by an inch front and back. I planned a back drawstring closure to save hook and eyes - my 99p/m fabric turned out to be mostly synthetic and horrid to work with, and very bulky to gather, but I didn't have a lot of options so pressed on. Somehow I had mismeasured the skirt length (or the damn stuff stretched on the cutting table) as when I put it on to test length 8pm Friday, expecting to need to hem it by 2”, in a double-edged gift from the universe the selvedge was at the exact finished length I wanted so I… just left it. Thread loops were added as the waistline drawstring looked dreadful drawn up, and the 3m white grosgrain ribbon I'd packed in case of emergency did a lot of cinching work.

Before I went to bed I made two ringlets either side of my parting by rolling damp hair onto drinking straws, folding in half, and using a kirbygrip (aka bobby pin) to keep the ends together - this worked better than I could possibly have imagined, especially as I meant to test it beforehand and completely didn't. With a little hairspray they lasted till lunchtime Sunday and would have gone longer if not for rain.

**Day Ensemble**

* Petticoat 
* Modern chiffon blouse 
* White thigh socks (Amazon - other half of the two pack)
* Flat pointed boots (Clarks Phenia, Vinted, highly recommend if you've not got budget for AD, mine were yellow suede) 
* Dark brown velvet spencer 
* Mid-brown scarf turban (bonnet-making was way down the priority list) 
* Reticule (thrifted 90s crochet evening bag) 
* Phone case custom hot foiled to look like a book (courtesy of teen) 
* Contact lenses for my distance prescription 
* Pince-nez so I could see close up (see previous post!)
* No makeup - completely period, I could wipe my face etc without fear of smudging, but I *did* look elderly and washed-out in photos in the bright daylight. One to ponder.

**Ball Ensemble** 

* Petticoat 
* Ball dress 
* Ivory satin gloves scrunched to meet sleeves 
* Same white thigh socks
*  Modern necklace, earrings, bangle 
* Reticule, phone case, lenses, pince-nez 
* Fan - this was vital, it was roasting, and although I am an active person, 3h cardio in a layered outfit is a lot. 
* Ballet shoes for dancing (my own old leather Blochs with coral bows to match the sash) 
* White cotton voile wrap 
* Ringlets off my face, they had driven me mad all day. 
* Silver ivy leaves and ostrich feather in hair. 
* *No make-up* \- no regrets here, the chandeliers were super flattering, and I'd have sweated it all off by 8.30pm anyway.

V2 will have reviews and pics of outfits we saw!

Jane Austen Festival Report v1 - Outfits Assemble