1860s in New Castle...aka I think that looks familiar

Why yes, that would be my rational dress bodice with a long skirt. I did mention I wanted to make the outfit as versatile as possible in the last post, I think!

Like many places that have cute little historic-y towns in The Great Suburbia of the Northeast, we have a nice selection of Christmas-themed events to crash in the Philly area. My favorite is still the one in New Castle, Delaware, because the setting is so perfect for a "Dickens Christmas"! Pretty places rank high in my book.

Of course, this time, the forecast was for rain all day, which might have slightly dampened (ho ho ho) the enthusiasm of potential attendees, including in our own little group: we just ended up being Robin, Mr Dedicated, and Yours Truly. Usually for An 1860s Christmas Thing I like to wear my cand-stripe-plaid taffeta dress, but considering the wet, plus this was an outfit I hadn't worn yet, I decided to wear this outfit. It felt a little drab for Christmas to be honest, but oh well. Win some, lose some.

He looks like he'd run if we let go of his arms. I promise that isn't true. Probably.

We actually lucked out, considering the weather. It was one mass of fog the further south we drove, and by the time we went over the Delaware Memorial I was like, what bridge? And that's not really a tiny bridge...

 

It was mizzling when we got there, and for a while afterward, but it didn't get quite into full-on rain. And the weather cleared later in the afternoon; by sunset you could even see the sky! It got chilly and quite windy, and I sternly told Mr Dedicated that if he lost his hat out on the very windy pier, he needn't expect another one. It was stuck on pretty well though. Happily.

Mr Dedicated Holder of Umbrellas

Plenty of puddles, though, even post-rain...through which I dragged my skirt. I deliberately made this skirt a couple inches longer than I usually make my 1860s skirts, because sometimes they come out on the borderline of too short. Well...this is too long!

If it were going to be kept as an indoor skirt it would probably be alright (it's juuust brushing the ground-length), but I have very very few costumes that are indoor-only, and a plaid wool 1860s skirt that goes with a jaunty little bodice is not going to be one of those items! So before I wear it again I need to hack off the hem guard and re-bind it. Trimming off the hem binding will probably make it an acceptable length.

Being that it was only the three of us and the two things we chose to do (choir concert, lunch) took about four times as long as anticipated, we didn't actually do very much! No house tours or anything. Still, I really like New Castle, and next year we might go to the ball on Friday and stay overnight in town, as it's not a Gettysburg year so it's more manageable.