Belvidere

This past weekend was Victorian Belvidere - it's a cute little town in north Jersey that has a Victorian-themed sort of festival every September. They have house tours, teas, a baseball game, a fashion show, and lots of vendors. Oh, the shopping. That was about 90% of the reason we showed up. ;)

It's very much a "wear something Victorian! Ish!" sort of event, so Robin and I wore hoops, and Alice her mid-1870s (all very impractical for shopping in tents, natch). We were very bad with the photo-taking this year (partly because nobody wore anything new, partly because we were having far too much fun to remember to take pictures), so the only one of all three of us is from some helpful person who shared it on Belvidere's Facebook page.

courtesy Marianne Meyer-Garcia

Our primary target for shopping was the silk vendor - we got there early, but not early enough to snag the big rolls! Well, Alice did, the lucky thing. I didn't see any that really spoke to me, so I didn't end up with any dress-length pieces. These are all still very nice though! And the quilted silk has enough on the roll to trim my 1860s wrapper for Gettysburg...which means I don't have to buy it online for $25/yd. Everyone wins!

I wore my 1862 summer dress, partly because it's Robin's favorite, and partly because Belvidere's usually the last gasp of summer weather. Well, I could have worn wool or silk and been perfectly happy, because it didn't go above 70F all day, I think. And it was so nice and overcast and breezy - a few raindrops, but we were under a tent fly at that point anyway. And that poor skirt...I shouldn't be allowed to wear white dresses! There are marks and spots all over that skirt, and a great big stain right on the front. From what? Haven't the foggiest. I'll have to have it cleaned before I wear it again, though, because it's pretty bad.

Yeah, you hide that stain with strategic purse placement!

Alice and Robin also hit up the Victorian jewelry seller - they always have lovely things, but I'm not as much of a magpie as you might expect (silk is a totally different animal), and I'm pretty well fitted out with costume jewelry. Lots of fun to look at though!

Check out that Victorian trashcan!

My 18thc tea demonstration is Saturday at the Indian King Tavern, and while my bird dress doesn't have all the trim I intended to put on it, it's quite presentable, and I am So. Tired. Of Gathering. Still got a few more days, but I don't know that I'll get any more put on at this point. Oops!