Alice in Wonderland Tea 2012

Finally, some pictures of the Tea!  I was awfully sick, and should not have gone (I hope no one caught my cold!!), but I am so glad I did!  It was so fun to have a large group of friends there, including Jannean all the way from CA, and Holly, even though she had so many other obligations that day!

Here are a couple of quick pics from my phone:

Quite a blurry pic, but honestly the best one of the bustle!   Melia makes quite a fine Queen of Hearts, does she not?!  Jannean and Holly make an accidentally matching pair - CUTE!  Jannean had the most AMAZING hat - she's lucky she made it home with it in her possession, I was planning a liberation.

There was a professional photographer, Pete Hanson (who is really awesome, btw) hired for the event and he got some really great pictures.  (See here for the full album)

Here are a few of my favorite pics:

The (Short) Tale of the Last Minute Pansy

This is by far the most theatrical thing I've made in a very, very long time, but heck it sure was fun!  I really wish I had occasion to make more pansy hats, as I have some ideas on how to improve the method.

Basically, what I did was this:  (And by "I", I mean, directed Melia and Holly on what to cut out, while I sewed button holes and sniffled through a head cold)


Cut 2 large petal shapes of one shade of purple
Cut 1 large petal shape of another shade of purple
Cut 2 small petal shapes of yet another shade of purple

The pieces look like this:

 The pieces, when assembled, should look somewhat like this:

I zig-zagged down the center, attaching all the pieces, like so:

I put some hot glue in the center and shaped the flower.  After that dried, I put a drop of hot glue in the center of the yellow circle, and squished it all together, and then glued that in the middle of the flower.

A couple of things I would do differently if I ever have the occasion to do felt pansies again: 

-Take the time to stitch the petal shaping, rather than using hot glue (hot glue works, but it's messy, and not quite as exact as I would like)

-Make the yellow center just a teeny touch bigger

-Potentially do more shading on the petals, either with embroidery, markers, or layers of different colored felt layered.

To make the hat, I glued each flower facing outwards on the outer edge of a fascinator blank, making kind of a 'top hat' shape out of the natural shape of the flowers.  I stuffed some green green netting in some empty spaces, and filled in the center of the fascinator with some more of the flowers.  As a last-second addition, I threw some green tulle as a veil at the back.  (Which totally makes the whole thing, IMHO!)

Alice in Wonderland Tea - Melia's Dress

Sis and I started in on her Tea gown in earnest last night, and got amazingly far!  The plans (as they are wont to do) got bigger the more we looked at stash options (we're both still very much on a from the stash kick!), the more ideas came together to make a whole new outfit.....mostly because I happen to have this red silk, and an awesome patterned and textured red and black organza fabric that has been waiting patiently for the perfect project......

Can you guess who she is going to be??  :D

Doing a whole new outfit is less scary than it sounds, as we've already figured out the patterns that we're using, have already gone through all the fitting hullaballoo, and all the underthings are done and ready for wear.  Last night we got as far as cutting out nearly all of the bodice, and the entire skirt is sewn together (it just needs waistband and hem!)

Event PSA - Alice in Wonderland Tea!

There is a lovely be-costumed Tea scheduled for the 10th of next month!

I've been thinking off an on again about hosting my own Tea, since the last one was such a success, but this is even better! 

My good friend Jannean is visiting for the weekend, and will be in attendance as well as my sister and her Hubs!  If you'd like to go, buy/reserve tickets ASAP - the host is getting nervous that there are not as many attendees as hoped.  (It will be a fabulous party, no matter how many people are or are not there!!)

Please note, costumes of any sort are encouraged!  The photography alone is worth it - if you've never been to Thanksgiving Point, you certainly should go!  (And what better time to go, than with fellow costuming enthusiasts?!)

From the event listing:

Tickets

Come out and enjoy the beautiful gardens of Thanksgiving Point through the doorway of Alice and Wonderland Steampunk style!

Partake in the delightful and delicious treats and sweets picked by The Hatter himself and dance around with the March Hare and the darling Door Mouse (should she wake up.)

The menu is:

- Assorted Petites Croissants
- Fresh Seasonal Sliced Fruit
- Garden Vegetable Crudites with Herbed Ranch Dip
- Petite Fours
- Assorted Tartlets (Chocolate Raspberry & Lemon Berry)
- Flavored Cheesecakes (Vanilla & Raspberry Swirl)
- Lemon Bars
- Dozen Cucumber & Cream Cheese Canapes
- Sparkling Cranberry Juice and Hot Tea


Take pictures with Alice or BE Alice, the White King or Queen. But whatever you do, however you are, just don't miss out on this scene!

- Costume contest for the best Steampunk'd Alice in Wonderland Character.

- Door prizes by the Door Mouse.

- Marvelous Music

Tickets are $20.00 per person, which includes food, drink, and photography in the gardens.

Anyone else craving a Tea?

I’ve found a very nice location – the only catch is, it costs.  As all the best locations do, unfortunately!

There are two different historic properties at the “This is the Place Heritage Park” under $300, providing we use the home between 9am and 3pm.  (The price skyrockets after that, but if there is a) enough interest b) a costume sympathizer on staff I could get to knock down the price, we’re stuck with that time.

If there is enough interest, I’ll contact them and get some more information, perhaps even see if I can get them to knock down the price a bit.  But that still leaves the question – would you be willing to cough up $20 to have a costumed tea in a beautifully restored historic home?  (Provided you lived on the Wasatch Front and/or would make a special trip to attend.

The $20 estimate is based on 15-person attendance, and if it ends up happening, I would need people to pay for “tickets” up front.  As with the last Tea, I’m pretty sure it’ll be potluck, to reduce over all cost.  (If there is enough interest in a catered affair, there are some pretty amazing ‘preferred’ caterers so I guess the second question would be – would you be willing to cough up another $10-20 for a professionally catered affair?)

Soooooooo……..let me know, OK?……………….And spread the word ‘round – let’s see if we can make this happen!

 

 

p.s.  They have goats there.  Just sayin’.

Multiple Things

 

Thing the First:  I will be going up to Kingdom Collegium on Friday, Nov 5 - staying overnight at a yet-to-be-determined motel/hotel, and then potentially booking it home again the second the event is over Saturday Nov 6  (actual return date TBD, depending on tiredness/sleepiness level and how long it actually takes to make the drive, and how long the event runs).  I'll for sure be going, The Strid is most likely coming along as well.  I'll have room for 1-2 (comfortably) more people if anyone else wants to get in on the out-of-area action.

ETA:  the estimated drive time is 7 hours.  (WHOA)  I will need to reschedule my class on Friday night and leave directly after work instead.  With a 7-hr drive, I may have to stay the night Saturday (I don't really want to, but we'll see what happens.)

ETA 2:  There are a plethora of hotel/motel options in Missoula.  I'm a snob, and will pay the extra $40 to have a relatively nice place to sleep.  That being said, if anyone wants to carpool, please let me know what your hotel/motel preferences are, and we'll work together to get appropriate lodgings.  (Rooming together will reduce cost.....just sayin')

Thing the Second:  I'm feeling that my wardrobe is decidedly lacking for someone who is going to be teaching classes.  I'm thinking about attempting to whip up something new in time to take to Collegium.  This project is TBD.  Hm.

Thing the Third:  TEA!  I'm holding another tea - scheduled for November 14.  Site is TBD, but it's definately on the 13th, and it'll most likely be in the SLC/Layton area.  The theme will be "Literary Charachters" - so please start thinking about how you'd portray your favorite character from literature.....any genre, any time period!  (Hurrah!)  Paper invites forthcoming......(waiting on site - if you have a suggestion, please let me know and we'll get this ball movin'!)  Uhm.  The Kingdom calendar listsT4T as the 13th. d'oh.  Ah, c'est la vie.  bodice_goddess - as that is the weekend that you're going to be down here, do you want to go to an SCA event??

Tea Pictures!