Sabrina

It's been over a month! I need to get this recap wrapped up.

Saturday was mostly a socialize with friends day. I wore my old 1883 print polonaise during part of the day. Not very exciting, thus no pictures. Several of us had lunch in the hotel restaurant. I had a pretty tasty tomato and white bean soup. Then I was SO ready to get out of my corset. The only class I took was Cynthia Settje's (RedThreaded) "Measure of a (Wo)Man" class. I was in a group withquincy134 and Christine (who I had met the last time I was at Costume College, but, silly me, I didn't realize it was her until the evening!) and we took a very thorough set of measurements. I did mine with my corset on, so I'll be able to adjust some of my patterns to fit better. Very useful! And you really do need someone else taking your measurements. How else are you going to measure the length of your arm while its bent or across your back from armscye to armscye?

Then it was time to get ready for the Gala. I was feeling pretty bored with my 1871 lavender silk gown, just because I'd finished it so much earlier, but it was really fun to wear and I loved it. There were lots of other early bustle gals, which added to the fun. I was ready pretty early because the hairpiece made doing my hair SO easy. I just put my own hair into a braid and pinned it into a loop. Then I stuck the curly hairpiece just behind the braid and then curled my bangs. Done! I also remembered all my accessories, like my silk neck ribbon, white gloves, and Dames a la Mode earrings. I headed down tokoshka_the_cat andllyrafantasyfae 's room to bug them about taking photos. ;) They were still getting ready and I was able to help them out with a few things. Then I wandered down into the lobby to see all the people in the line for the red carpet. A picture of me with Christine and her husband in their incredible embroidered suits (once I finally realized who she was):

bauhausfrau looking awesome in her Fox habit inspired by The Duchess with bonus Alyxx in the background.

And Taylor and Jenny-Rose looking fabulous, as always!


Taking pictures outside meant that we didn't end up doing the red carpet, which I was fine with. I got some good pictures of my dress, a couple of Katherine in her beautiful hand-beaded dress, and Amy Lee in her Captain America. We had fun!

Also, I thought it was funny to take a picture of them both looking at pictures:



Even more pictures taken of people after dinner, including a couple of Empresses, other bustles (with butt bows like mine!), a couple takes on Captain America, and beautiful friends in creative and wonderful costumes:


I somehow missed all the dancing. A bunch of us were lounging around outside the room and chatting. And afterwards there was another quiet hangout in a hotel room. With delicious cheese and crackers and olives! Fun times with friends. :D

I took a lot more pictures, but they're kind of awkward because they're more "documenting people's costumes" and having them stand alone and pose in a hallway with bad lighting than actual good photos. I need to try and get more pictures of people in pairs/threes next time. As always, please let me know if you prefer to have a picture of you taken down. :)

I really just want to go on and on about all my potential plans for upcoming sewing, but I was determined to get started on recapping today. So here goes...

Wednesday I got up at (what felt like) the crack of dawn to catch a flight down to LA. It went smoothly. Mostly I just slept. However, my shuttle took forever and a day to show up. Apparently there was a conference going on and that was using all the shuttles. Whatever. There's no way I should have had to wait for over an hour. I met some nice Australian people who were also waiting. Finally reached the hotel and immediately saw friends. Yay! starlightmasque , cavalierlady ,fleurdelysa , quincy134 , and Cindy (RedThreaded) were the people I first encountered. It was so great meeting some of these people after having known them so long online and great seeing old friends again. First up was a trip to Whole Foods for food. Then bed. Not very exciting.

Thursday was our epic trip to the Fashion District. (Picture courtesy of Angela)

Our first stop was Home Fabrics because duh! $6 silks! It was super overwhelming. There were also $10 silks. I wanted EVERYTHING. I didn't buy everything. I had to make decisions. I think I made good ones? It was all a blur. We also went to Memo because I didn't find what I was looking for at Home Fabrics. helenwinfield got an amazing deal on some gorgeous blue silk. I got the things that I wanted. Solid silk taffetas for $10! When I was there 2 years ago, they were $12. (It's where I got the lavender silk for my 1871 Gala gown.) Overall, I checked off almost everything on the list I had made before going (the list I neglected to bring along with me). I think Memo might be my favourite place for solid taffeta; I always find exactly what I want there. The haul (the mauve/taupe stripe on the bottom left is for a local friend, but the rest is ALL MINE):


I had a scary moment in the Fashion District. I was in a trim shop browsing and when I turned around everyone was gone! It wouldn't have been so bad, except that my phone was having severe issues in downtown LA. It kept losing its signal and shutting itself off. Seriously, every time it got its signal back it would get a text and then when I tried to look at it it would die again. Not impressed. So for a little while I was wandering around, I couldn't connect with anyone, it was hot, I had no idea where I was, and it smelled like urine. Um, not pleasant. However, I eventually I was able to see a text that said they were heading back to the car, which I figured I could find because we were in the lot directly across from Home Fabrics. We ran into each other en route and it was all good.

We went to a British Pub for an early dinner, where I got to eat a fresh artichoke for the first time (instead of ordering British food, it seemed appropriate for California). It was delish! (Picture courtesy of Angela)


The evening was the Pool Party. I dressed up in my old Snow White costume. It was fun because there were 3 other different kinds of Snow White. theladyrebecca  was Designer Disney Snow White and two other ladies were a 1950s and a 1920s Snow White.

It was awesome to see other friends again! The 60s bad girls were a riot. I didn't get a lot of pictures. Too busy socializing. :) Needless to say there were a ton of wonderful costumes and fabulous people.



Next recap will be about Friday and the Social!

Note: If there are any pictures of you that you don't like, please let me know. I'm happy to take them down.