The Last Dinner on the Titanic

getting ready

Being a proper East TEXAN, yes I did sleep with my hair in curlers the night before the event.  I put them in about 4pm and left them there until noon the next day.  Maybe just maybe I will still have curls by the end of the night.

(an homage to The Bloggess)

I did have a lot of fun and I got lots of compliments on my outfit!  (Thank you Hannah!) As you can see, I DID still have curls and the ribbons in my hair were lovely.

Granny's Teens Era Wedding Dress (Continued)

 So, for some background.  Granny lived in Browning Settlement, in East Texas, near modern day Tyler.  The dress in made of cotton and the detail on the bodice is (to my best memory) fabric - although it looks like lace over black.

It was a December wedding and the groom moved in with the bride and her father.  Ida was the youngest of eleven (yes, 11) children and the story goes that she promised her father that she would stay at home to care for him and never marry if her promised her the house and the land it sat on.  Grandpa Browning apparently liked Mr. Thompson and approved of the marriage.  Grandpa Browning passed away 2 years later, leaving the home to Ida and Mr. Thompson.  My cousin (Ida's granddaughter) lives in that home today.

For size, Victoria was about a girls size 12 and about 4'9".  Now I'm sure Granny wore this with a corset and petticoat but she wasn't much bigger than Victoria here who was in stocking feet and a tank top and bike shorts.

The dress buttons up the back, although we only figured it out after these photos were taken.  It looks like it has a small train.

Granny's Teens Era Wedding Dress

As I prepare for the Titanic anniversary dinner, I was reminded of some photos I took of my daughter in my great-granny's wedding dress.  Granny (otherwise known as Ida Elizabeth Browning) was born in 1874 and married in 1913 - the fact that she had children AT ALL at that advanced age (> 39years) surprises me - and she had 3 of them!

 

Granny was VERY small.  My daughter takes after her a bit.  These photos were taken in 2009.  My cousin has the dress - I wish I lived closer so I could borrow it and put it in a vintage display...

Ida's daughters - Mary and Carrie

Granny - I think about 1940 or so.

Memories...

So my very first foray into historical costuming was in 1989-1990 when I met a girl in my history class that dressed up for fun!  While I can't remember specifics.  We used historical patterns to make drawers, chemise, corset and shirt.  We made FROM SCRATCH WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS hoop skirts, ruffled petticoats a la Scarlett and skirts...


The photos of us at the Azaela Trail in the spring follow.  As Cady would say "No judgements." 



The skirt and top are made out of very thin (almost lawn). The chemise and drawers were made of muslin.  The corset was made out of duck. The ruffled petticoat was made out of old sheets...

I also remember wearing this dress at a reenactment... There was a Civil War POW camp near where I grew up and while its a long story - I had family incarcerated there.  So I was asked to "come visit papa" and bring him blankets and food...  (I don't know who the actor was - but he totally liked the fried chicken I brought him in the basket.)