Farewell to Summer

Dear Everyone,

as you may have noticed, I haven't been around for a while. Summer and things, but mostly work and a little travel but now, at the end of August, everything seems to be pretty much back to normal so I expect to post more regularly, and that includes "It's Caturday!".

So, what's new? Not much in my case. I haven't had the opportunity to attend even one costumed event whole summer and sewing has been slower than a dead snail. Sad, but there it is.

However, that will change now! Just the other day my sewing nerve finally got struck and I pulled out my barely half-finished Pierrot from this old post, that had been hiding in shame for way too long. I even have new plans for it, but more about that in another post.

Well, I did go to one event this sumer but it was last weekend, on Friday.

A handful of girls had arranged a Midnight pick-nick in the gardens of Drottningholm Palace, and although I had known about it for months in advance, I never planned to make anything new to wear.

Instead, I settled for my 1790s roundgown that I made waaay back but never had any pictures of.

Here it is, anyway:

It's made from a sheer curtain fabric with a printed sprig design. I think it is so pretty, but unfortunately it won't last much longer. I've only worn it a few times but the fabric is so delicate and easily torn and already shows some damage in random places.

Oh yes, I did make one thing this Summer - the sash. It's a lovely silk remnant I found. Two lengths of fabric joined at the middle and painstakingly hemmed by yours truly and trimmed with a little fringe (polyester/lurex-something, don't tell!).

My hair... was quite a disaster. I had it on curlers for one night and half a day. The result was a mess so in the end I just improvised. Thank Heavens for turbans and feathers!

The gloves? Yeah, that was a little experiment of mine... They are just cheap, ugly masquerade gloves that I wanted to spice up so I tried to dye them with some of my screen print paint. The result is... interesting! Not what I was going for, but I think the green looks pretty fun with this ensemble nevertheless (and before everyone send in their congratulations - I am NOT pregnant, but the stays/dress combo certainly makes me look so!).

But, the funniest thing about all this is that I could just have worn a plastic bag and Crocs, because when I got to the pick-nick spot (about 9PM) it was already so pitch dark that it was rather impossible to tell what anyone wore! Too funny.

It was a lovely night anyway. It was still warm and calm (although very moist, so if I had managed with curls, they would have gone straight within 10 minutes!) and I heard that the yongsters stayed until the sun rose.

I, on the other hand, was offered a lift home around midnight and it was so tempting that I accepted on the spot! That's it, I'm officially Old.

And just a few more, since my husband was so nice as to take pictures of me right in front of the neighbours again: