1790's Spring Tea

Hey everybody. Now that Spring has finally arrived, it's a perfect time to celebrate with the first tea of the spring season. 

This past Sunday, I attended my good friend Carolyn's 1790's themed tea party. I have never been to one hosted by The Modern Mantua Maker before, but I'm so glad I made it because it was so much fun. I particularly enjoyed how everything was set up: Food and libations in the dining room, card games in the smaller dining room, and a space for lounging /conversing in the living room; music by Bach, Vivaldi and Handel were playing in the background to give the ambiance of the time period... It was perfect. Plus, everyone present was gorgeously dressed out in the decade between 1790-1800. 

Ladies playing "Marrying Mr. Darcy" 

Catching up on the latest gossip

 

Emma and Chelsea in candid conversation 

Carol and Ginger donning their pink 1790 and 1800 variants

In preparation for this event, I made some changes to my green pierrot jacket and petticoat ensemble. When I previously wore this, the petticoat was double flounced (which turned out to be too heavy to maneuver around in), the wig didn't seem to fit the ensemble, and the jacket was blah...it needed something; a little extra "oomph".  After looking through some examples of fashion plates and the Kyoto book, I found my solution...So days leading up to the morning of the event, I began "operation upgrade 2.0". 

 

Ripped out the original tiered flounces and replaced it with a much longer one (14-18'').

Added ruffles to the cuffs, as well as vintage kid leather gloves and a decorated top hat to finish the look 

So much better than perriot ver. 1.0  

Later in the day, a few of us went out for a walk around the neighborhood; we came across a local outdoor market fair. While the items being sold grabbed our attention, it was mostly the inquisitive eyes and questions from people who grabbed us the most which sparked plenty of requests for photos from attendees, which was a lot of fun to participate in. Later we took our own photos near a wall covered with Ivy which served as a great backdrop and really brought out the spring colors in our gowns.  

Cait's gorgeous iridescent green round gown

Chelsea in her beautiful Indian sari open robe

Emma in her beautiful 1800 regency gown

                                              

                                                      Ladies taking a turn around the block

In retrospect, I had a really great time reconnecting with everyone I hadn't seen since my last outing with the gang. I am definitely looking forward to the next one in May for the Edwardian Tea, which leads me to my next big project, an 1890's walking gown (still collecting the materials needed, so that's an April project). 

Until then....