Parade of Teapots!

Warning!

This is something of a long, two part post.

The first part is our float from the parade on Saturday celebrating Beaufort's 300th birthday.

The tractor that pulled our float is a 1953 John Deere.

Some of the ladies riding on our float which represented the civil war era of our town.

A reproduction cannon with two civil war soldiers keeping watch.

One of my dear reenactor friends, Louise.

I wore my blue and yellow dress for the occasion.

Soldiers riding on the tail end of our float.

This beautiful antique fire engine led the parade.

Hmmm, who's this talking to the driver?

Yes, it's Gary Sinese.

His band played a concert Friday night to raise money for the Wounded Warriors program.

He rode on the fire truck for the parade.

Now for part two.

There is nothing nicer than enjoying a pot of tea after a parade.

These are some of the many teapots and china pieces from the Charleston museum tour we took a few weeks ago.

I know this isn't a teapot but it had a spout so I thought I would include it:).

I hope you enjoyed the parade and museum teapot and china tour.

I think I'll have a cup of tea.

Care to join me?



Fashion Extraordinaire!

The "Threads of War"

fashion exhibit at the Charleston Museum is amazing!

Some of the dress pictures I posted before but many are new photos).

This is one of my favorites!

Wow-look at that waist!

Even Scarlett would have a hard time getting into that.

It would take both Mame and Prissy to pull those corset strings that tight:).

Detail of above dress.

Short-sleeved cotton dress with gorgeous pin tucks.

This dress has pom-pom style buttons and was worn as a wedding dress.

Undergarments, bodice, wrapper, and a beautiful antique quilt backdrop.

Chemise, corset, and petticoat.

Talk about a tiny waist!

Close-up of handmade lace on a 19th century bodice.

Beautiful wrapper.

My absolute favorite dress with close up of bodice below.

Day dress.

Leather boots.

The toes on these look as painful as the corset waist a few pictures above.

Children's clothing from the 1860's.

Lace baby bonnets.

The cutest little antique boots!

I hope you enjoyed the fashion show.

To view a collection of antique fans visit

http://thevictorianparlor2.blogspot.com/

Seeing Double!

Today Millie (storytelling partner) and I gave tours in our latest dresses.

Christine and I had a marathon sewing Saturday last weekend and we managed to complete two dresses.

Christine made Millie's dress and I made mine:).

You may recognize the frogs on my dress as those from the dress I bought last week at Goodwill.

This fabric was a bit pricier that what I usually buy but I found it on sale at a nearby quilt shop on the $15 per yard rack marked down to $5 a yard.

It is some of the most wonderful fabric I have used for a dress in that it is cotton but feels like silk!

The vintage lace collar was a fun find just under $5 during one of my antiquing sprees.

The blue braided trim on the bodice was found at Hancock's for .99 cents a yard

(it took about 7 yards).

Although the dress is costlier than some of the others it was fun to make and to wear.

Every once in a while I splurge with the money saved on all the other dresses:).

Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Pink Brocade and Lace

Well another dress is finished and made it's debut

at our Pick Pocket Plantation tour today.

The pink, actually it's more of a mauve, brocade fabric was on the discount fabric rack at Walmart for $1.50 a yard (the dress needed about 7 yards plus the lining fabric which was also $1.50 a yard but only required about 2 yards).

I used a Simplicity pattern and trimmed the sleeves with some leftover tea stained lace from a previous project.

The frog closures ($3 for both) are also tea stained and the bodice is trimmed in a pearl trim (also leftovers).

The chemisette is an antique piece found at a local antique store for about $12.

 Altogether the dress has about $35 invested and a couple of days time.

 Don't forget to consider leftovers from previous projects when sewing a new project as it helps reduce costs greatly:).

New Blue Dress

Well Christine has done it again!

My dear friend has created another beautiful dress. We decided to have a sewing Saturday with dueling sewing machines racing away:).

I sewed one dress while she sewed this one.

The fabrics (stripe and blue) came from Walmart off the sale rack for $5 a yard.

About 2 1/2 yards were needed for the bodice and 5 yards for the skirt.

We used one of the Simplicity patterns from my stash.

The lace on the back is an antique piece I found years ago.

The small lace caplets on the short sleeves of the bodice are another set of antique lace I found and kept for just the right dress:).

The chemisette is a lacey blouse I found at a thrift shop for $4. I removed the collar and sleeves and hemmed the collar under. The under sleeves came from a blouse found at Goodwill. I cut off the sleeves and trimmed them with white lace and then affixed them to the short bodice sleeves.

The lace up boots were another thrift shop find for $4.

Reenacting can be a very expensive hobby but a little thrifting and a little sewing can have you looking like Scarlett without breaking the bank:)!