18th Century Tea

On Saturday, the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield was kind enough to let me host an 18thc tea with some of my friends. And my friends were kind enough to show up for it! And at least a few people members of the public thought we were interesting enough to listen to us ramble. Always good.

The traditional 18thc shoe shot. ;)

 I did not in fact get all the trim I intended put on. Partly due to a terminal case of being really, really sick of hand gathering, and partly due to a custom hat order with a very quick turnaround popping up (business first, you know!). But at least I got the white voile on the edge of the gown, which does enough to break up that dense print. Enough for me to deem it quite wearable. I'd still like to get the rest of the trim on at some point...but not this point!

So demure. (Also, v. pleased with the amount of fluff from my new silk petti underneath!)

Oooh, is that a dead spider on the door latch?

Can I see through the keyhole? Whatchoo doin' in there??

I have wiiiiiings! But you can see the construction of the dress very well here, actually! Not that I meant to do that...

Silly face again, but you can see the loose fronts without my arm in front of them.

And I quite like my cap. It's from the Country Wives Beribboned Caps pattern, which I recommend, insofar as the pattern pieces go. The directions said something about cutting two band pieces, but I like to ignore directions and just hemmed all the pieces and whipped them together.

Mah cap has wiiiiiiings too! *flap flap flap*

Right, almost forgot a back view!

Since I've been working on it on and off for a couple months, just a quick overview of it again:

All hand sewn, made of cotton block-printed fabric from India. Bodice is lined in white linen. Trim is strips of white cotton voile cut on the bias (I don't think that was done in period, but since it meant I didn't have to hem ten thousand miles of voile? Don't care). Worn over 1770s stays, small rump, and silk taffeta petticoat.
Cap is also hand sewn, made of silk organza, from the aforementioned Country Wives pattern: the pieces are hemmed and then whipped together. Trimmed with a blue silk ribbon.

And yes, those are American Duchess shoes I've painted pink. ;)

And now, 1860s for Gettysburg in November!