COMMENTARY

So last Sunday the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild had our annual planning meeting. I’ve been somewhat waiting for this in order to plan my costuming projects for the upcoming year, and I’m glad I did! We have some FABULOUS events coming up (and some great workshops too) — in early December we’re going to Dicken’s Faire, to which I’ll be wearing my currently-in-progress 1830s day dress. Then next February we’ve got the Currier & Ives Skating Party — I’ll wear my 1858 day dress.

But then we have in April The Gibson Girls, an Edwardian picnic at Shinn House in Fremont, and then in June the Traveller’s in Tuscany 18th century picnic/tour/wine tasting at Viansa Winery — and for both, I have nothing to wear! I’m going to wait until the costume period dates are announced for the Edwardian event — there’s a beautiful 1908 dress in a Danish museum catalog that I’ve been wanting to make, but I’m not positive if that will be too late (the dress is one of the straighter silhouettes that’s closer to 1910s than 1900s). Alternatively, there’s a fabulous mid-1890s suit in the same catalog, but I’m not sure if it will be too early! For the Traveller’s in Tuscany, I want to make something 1780s — either the Pierrot jacket in Cut of Women’s Clothes or a redingote — out of this beautiful green/orange changeable silk taffeta I got in Toronto last year. And I want one of those gargantuan hats!