Jane Austen Convention - Part 3

The second full day at the booth (Friday) was a bit different. Instead of having steady stream of customers througout the day, there would be about hour long lulls, and then all of a sudden, rushes of about 30 minutes where we might have 15 people in the booth at once,.....then another lull. It was kind of crazy, but fun!

During some of the quiet periods, we found time for a little exploring and photo-taking.

These 'Greek' collumns complete the Regency classical feel!

Wool tartan shawl - stolen from my 1860s reenacting wardrobe....

New dress on display!

We brought my sewing machine so we could make alterations on the spot.

Handpainted sign in bright pink and deep aqua.

Rebecca started making drawstring reticules while at the booth after getting lots of requests! Aren't they darling?

Table full of frilly wares.....

A lovely ruffled cap, again by Rebecca.

Various dresses on display.

Now I would like to introduce you to some new friends!  

In our Emporium room, we were blessed to be near some lovely ladies with Bingley's Teas.

Now, I had heard vaguely before about the Jane Austen Tea Series, but I had no idea how delightful it really was. Each tea in the series is carefully concocted to correspond with a character from Jane Austen's novels. How fun is that? I knew I had to have some, but had a hard time deciding on which to choose! I finally settled on the 'Emma' which is a 'Young Green Tea, Full of Romantic Ideas. Strawberries, Roses, Flavoring Unite to find a Matchmakers Blend' and the 'Elizabeth' which is 'A Strong Black tea with Sassy, Smart Cranberry Rounded with Sweet flavoring and Flowers of Opinion'. Both are absolutely wonderful! I also want to try 'Treasures from the Colonel' and 'The Patience of Miss Price'.

I have to confess that Rebecca bought 'Wicked Wickham'! *gasp*, shocking!

Angela and Julia were so much fun - full of sweetness and laughter! They were constantly brewing teas at their booth that filled the room with delicous aromas - lucky us- we got to try scrumtious samples all week!

The teas come in adorable boxes with character vinettes that look like antique Jane Austen books!

Shhh!

Don't tell my Jane Austen-loving friends and family....

but I'm thinking these would make fabulous Christmas gifts.....

We were all four wearing various shades of blue and white Saturday, and thought it merited a picture!

The beautiful tea blends out for a colorful display on china saucers.

Next up......Part 4, in which we become famous

......sort-of......

Jane Austen Convention - Part 2

Well, the first day of the convention had come!! We woke up early - 5:30 am, got dressed in our costumes, unrolled our rag curls and jumped into the pickup for the hour drive into downtown Ft. Worth. The traffic was pretty heavy, so we got there a few minutes later than the 8 am opening time for the Emporium rooms.

There were already customers in the booth waiting to purchase items, so we were rushed in right away to a flurry to shop-keeping and meeting new people! That whole day we had a pretty steady stream of lovely people coming through the booth, and were very pleased with our shrinking inventory list at the end of the day. :)

The adorable Rebecca in ringlets....

At the back of our Emporium room, there was a fantastic vintage book booth. You can imagine that any spare time I had was spent there! During one time as I was deep in a book, a fellow came up and told me that I looked 'just like a picture out of another century'. By his accent I could tell he was from the UK, and it turns out he was part of a crew from the BBC that had come over to do some filming at the JASNA convention! Rebecca and I were so excited to have met someone from 'across the pond'. That same day I also met a lady from Edinburgh, and several from Canada, and even Australia.

We though it was quite exciting!

How I wish these were on my self at home! A 3-volum set of leatherbound Scott novels from 1850!

Godey's Lady's books from various 19th c. years.....

We didn't have time to experiment with hairstyles as we had planned, so these were what we cam up with at 5 am! It felt very strange at first to be wearing Regency clothing and hairstyles for a whole day together!

The hotel was so elegant! This double stairway is what we saw when we first came through the door. Very impressive!

After a very busy day we went home exhausted, but our work wasn't over yet. We had some minor alterations to do on several dresses that had sold that day. (shortening the hems and such) So we worked up in Rebecca's charming upstairs sewing room until late, while watching/making fun of the most recent film version of Jane Eyre. Went to bed at 1 am for a few hours of precious sleep, ready to begin anew for the second day of the convention.......

 (to be continued)

Jane Austen Convention, Part 1

Hello everyone!! It's good to be home again, I feel like I've been gone for weeks, not just 5 days!

The Jane Austen Convention was amazing!!

 I can't wait to tell you all about it in the upcoming series of blog posts....

Last Tuesday, my brother and I drove up to Rebecca's house. We went up a day early as we had a few errands to run, and wanted to get settled in nicely before we headed into the big city. On Wednesday, we had such fun doing a photoshoot at Rebecca's lovely house and grounds. I wanted to be sure I had good pictures of several key items for my Etsy shop in case they sold at the booth.

First, our "Molly and Cynthia" dresses, inspired by the beginning year of Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Wives and Daughters'. A tad late for Jane Austen, but not much. :) My dress bodice and sleeves are patterned from a Janet Arnold pattern 1827-29. Both are cotton prints.

Our white dresses! I like to think of them as our 'Emma and Harriet' dresses. Rebecca's is a delicate cotton voile, and mine is a swiss dot worn with a lacey chemisette.

A couple of outerwear items I made for the booth. I am wearing a simple dark brown wool pelisse, lined with brown linen. Rebecca is wearing an intricate plum purple and cream silk spencer with slashed and piped sleeves and a fold-back collar.

The sleeve details are copied from a museum dress c. 1810

A lovely apron front style ballgown in brilliant red cotton lawn, trimmed in gold silk. This one sold at the booth, but look for a custom listing soon in the shop.

My pale blue cotton lawn 'Anne Elliot' dress, inspired by the Amanda Root 'Persuasion':

And......last but not least. Our 'Gossipy Old Maids Drinking Tea' photo session.....

Inspired by the Miss Brownings from Wives & Daughters, Mrs. Bennet,  and Cranford.....

The Stern Old Maid and the Forlorn Old Maid

After this delightfuly hilarious photo shoot, it was time to gather up all the last details and head to Ft. Worth to set up the booth!  I was extremely nervous, as it was my first time to drive in Ft. Worth (or any city of comparable size), plus my first time for drivng in a confusing down-town......but we mangaged to arrive all in one piece, and on good time.The hotel was very posh and impressive - quite elegant! Everyone was friendly and helpful as we got set up.

 Our booth was in a good situation, just inside the door of the middle room of the  three Regency Emporiums.

It was quite fun decorating and deciding which items to display on the dress forms....

The red ball gown made an eye-catching display

Rebecca arranges a ruffled cap

Finished!

Chemisettes, chemises,  caps, weskits, and corsets

Very excited for our first day of selling on the morrow!

Part 2 to follow.....