What would a girl be...

Without a pair of fabulous looking shoes?!

Perfect for those going to a ball, or who just like the style in general. Hop on over to American Duchess' shop, and buy yourself a lovely new pair!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Mr. Bingley, how do you like my flowers for your Ball?

I liked this updo better than the previous  photo I had posted but I still wasn't satisfied with this style either.

I played around with my hair a few more times before the Patriot's Ball and finally decided on a few simple braids brought up and pinned to my head. I really liked the simplicity of the look AND I knew it would look even cuter with some flowers looped in at the back. I was very happy with the way the whole look came together :)

I did all of the work on the over-dress, the under-dress, the stomacher, the underthings, and the corset by myself with the exception of the hem on the overdress. I couldn't seem to get it to cut straight because of the silkiness of the fabric. I took it to the tailor who was altering my brothers suits/tuxedos and she zipped it out very nicely!

The dress held up well for dancing. I lost a few straight pins that were holding the stomacher in place so I was thankful I used multiple pins with each tab! The only real issue I faced was with the back of my underdress continuing to slip out of the top of my overdress. I had pretty much created the dress pattern on my own and had forgotten to take into account how high the back of the underdress was compared to the back of the overdress. If you view the video posted on my facebook page from a week ago you will see what I mean :)

Our family had a wonderful time in Bristol. We made many new friends and already have plans to visit with several of them over the summer. Plans are to make the Patriot's Conference and Ball and annual event and I am already excited to hear more about the plans for next year!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

What to do with this moppet called hair...

Trying to figure out different ways to do my hair in a Georgian or Regency style for the Ball WITHOUT having to buy a wig or padded/wired forms and use them... Good thing I have a history book that includes hairstyles from throughout the century's!!

I tried this one first, and then another style... but didn't have time to take pics of the second style.

And then... my attempt :P 

Any suggestions? Any tips? Any tutorial links or blog post's you think might help me out? ANYTHING???? (lol)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

A Georgian Gown for the Ball..

Since I am still waiting on boning to finish off my corset, and reading far too many books, I have decided to go ahead and start on a new gown for the Ball. It's next month, and Georgian/Regency costumes are encouraged :D Since I already know what my inspiration is, and have a photo ready to share with you here, I shall... 

Isn't it B-E-A-utiful?!? The floral that you see is actually Brocaded silk, and the gown really is from the 18th Century. I think it the perfect mix of Georgian and Regency and just right for a young woman who would've been around just as the fashions were changing. Even as you sit and watch Pride and Prejudice (2005, sorry dears) you will realize that Mrs. Bennet (and other such women of her caliber or more, for example Lady Catherine deBourgh) were still wearing the Georgian gowns they grew up with; while Jane, Elizabeth, and Georgianna where wearing modest and comely gowns in the new style - which suited their personalities just fine and seemed so sweet amongst their characters. And, even still the younger girls (such as was found in the characters of Kitty and Lydia) were extravagant with their "it's all the rage in London" 's. 

Since I am noticing the lack of hoops in the photo above, I am relieved of another fear... I have neither the time nor the funds sufficient enough to include a set of hoops into my grand ordeal of a costume. * whew *

It sounds so lovely, I can only hope it works! Pray for me friends, and hope I don't mess up my stitching! At least I have some assurance of hope in the fact that I can use a new machine that works and not have to go at it by hand, which  would be sure to be a disaster in the making... Oy vey! 

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

For my first set of stays; My true love gave to me...

2 yards of muslin, and a new, working sewing machine ;)

When I was in Colorado visiting my fathers parents, my parents went to visit my mothers father for Thanksgiving and he sent two of my granny's sewing machines and a Serger home to me! Thank you Papaw!!!

 I really want to try and make a Georgian dress but need stays for that, even more than I do for my Regency dresses. I looked through my stash of patterns and found this one from McCall's. I am making it out of a plain white muslin, and eyelet's instead of grommets for lacing (since I am HORRIBLE at putting in grommets). I am almost done (but for attaching lining to corset once the boning is in). While waiting on the chance to get my boning, I  have decided that I will add a little decorative touch to one or two of the front panels. I started earlier today on the embroidery and will post a pic as soon as I have one. Though I fear my stitches are always very poor I think it will be all the more lovely knowing that I did it with my own hand, and hopefully one of my children can enjoy my toils many years from now when it gets passed down from myself to some dear little girl... 

If you have any tips for corsetry (yes, it's a "new" word :P), please share them if you can spare a moment here. I am very new to this, and though I am using a modern pattern for my stays this time, I hope to learn from it and make a set of 18th Century stays somewhere in the near future. (Hopefully with the help of your tips, and also a little guidance from the quick hands of my dear friend Laura at Tryon Palace...)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Quoth the Raven Nevermore....

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -

Only this, and nothing more.' "

~Edgar Allen Poe

A Vote for Kate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please stop by Kate's blog, see her stuff, fall in love, and vote here for her :D It's so worth the trip!! She will definitely appreciate the votes I'm sure....

(photo courtesy of Kate's blog)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Hand Sewing & Weekend Plans

Folkwear Sewing Patterns, Edwardian Underthings

I have been wanting to practice my hand sewing for a while. I found this pattern in a box in my closet along with a huge stash of patterns that a friend from church had given me. I had completely forgotten that I had them :) I thought the Edwardian underthings pattern was the perfect thing to practice with because the fabric is lightweight and the stitching is delicate.

My first day of sewing did not go so well, even though I sewed for about 9 hours straight. I am OK at keeping my stitches small, but I have a problem with keeping them straight. And, to top it all off, I discovered at the end of the evening that I had actually sewed the lace insets into two right sides instead of a left and a right. I have to very carefully detach the lace from the second piece because I do not have enough of it to make two sets! 

I am spending the next few days with my mom at a démodé fashion weekend sponsored by one of our favorite local historic sites, Tryon Palace. The weekend will be full of 18th century fashion!! I met the young lady, Laura Poppe, who is the seamstress for the Palace, this past weekend at another event. She is very sweet and knowledgeable, plus I learned she is a fellow homeschool graduate! I can't wait to take part in all the activities this weekend and learn more! I hope to take lots of pictures to share with you next week.

J'espère que vous avez un bon week-end!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Silly boy....

This... is Jesse. It looks like he was having fun over the July 4th holidays. Heck, We all were :D

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Do YOU think He'd make it??

I think so :D

My brother's Noah (pictured above right) and Jesse (not shown) were goofing around in the kitchen last week when I grabbed the cam. and took the shot! Such a fantastic moment.

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Pincurls meets Marie Antoinette & Rachel McAdams...

I decided to give pincurls another go around. Hopefully this time it works!!


The last time I tried, I put just enough product in my hair but somehow (even after being pinned up from 12 pm to 10 pm) they must not have had enough time to dry. I was doing them because my beau, Justin, was coming in late that night after work for another lovely weekend visit. Well, I tried... and when I took them out to brush them into their proper place my hair felt ... well, just... ICK!! :(


I was putting them up tonight and when I had one left, I looked in the mirror. As I was brushing the 2" strand of hair out to make it silky smooth before curling up and pinning, I was reminded of the single little curl left down in the hairstyles of Marie Antoinette's time (and this post I had seen last night before bed. For some odd reason whatever I read an hour before and up to getting into bed I remember very clearly the next day, but never anything else. But, I digress) ... and I just smiled. As any silly girl who loves fashion would, I quickly went to work on my make-up... completely setting aside that last pin-curl for now. When I did my eye-liner I had a chance to glance down at my desk, and guess what I found?!?! An issue of Vogue magazine, with Rachel McAdams in BRIGHT pink lipstick on the cover.....


So, here's how it all ended up :D

The lipstick isn't as bright in the photo because of some color fixing thanks to the dang camera... but, hey.. it works.

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Casey's 50's Tutorial in practice

So, I said I tried the style out the next morning, and here is how it looked! (These pics were taken about the middle of the day when I finally got around to it)

Left side twist

(And, a sweet little over-the-shoulder pose.. very Vogue)


Rear-view


Right side twist

Front view

My general silliness.. such a poser :P

It turned out very nicely as you can see. And, I'm sure by now you've noticed I decided to go with a chic bun as opposed to the ponytail.. love it!!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

50s style faux bang and ponytail tutorial

Thank you SOO much Casey for having such a wonderful blog!! I found this video VERY helpful, and I tried it the next morning. I also have been applying my make-up w/ a 50's style look (it only added one more step surprisingly.. eye-liner .. go figure it's the one thing I never could get right, until I had a reason to practice daily) and have loved it ever since. Your tutorial on applying it was extremely helpful for a few extra tips as well.

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

My Recent Trip to Maryland and Washington DC

Inside the Smithsonian Castle

Outside the National Gallery of Art


A shot of Justin and I reflected in the mirrored artwork outside the National Gallery of Art, while touring the museums in DC.

The inner garden at The National Gallery of Art

I had a GREAT time on my recent trip to the DC area, and I can't wait to do it again...

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Spencers and Gostwicks... expanding the family tree

I recently posted a fan image of my family tree extended out 4 generations. I said in that post that one of our lines is Spencer, but that it was a different English line than Princess Diana. I thought I might post a bit more about this line today.

(photo courtesy of my family)

Virginia Spencer was my great-great-great-great grandmother. The Spencer's, and marriages within that line, are some of my favorite parts of our family tree. There is so much history tied up with them :-)


For instance, Moses Spencer, who was Virginia's great grandfather, was a soldier in the Virginia Continental Line during the Revolutionary War. He received 100 acres for his service to his country.


Farther into the line we find Col. Nicholas Spencer, who was married to Frances Mottram. Nicholas served as President of the Council of the Virginia Colony. His cousin was Thomas Colepeper/Culpeper. Nicholas played a major role in securing the land grant for what would become Mount Vernon. I have an opportunity next Saturday morning to perhaps see Mount Vernon and I am very excited about that!


Nicholas' mother was Mary Gostwick (my 12th great-grandmother). Mary's father was Sir Edward Gostwick/Gostwicke. He was the 2nd Baronet Gostwick of Willington. He was also the Sheriff of Bedfordshire! I have always found Edward very interesting and is probably the tomb I'd like to see the most of all my ancestors (how morbid is that?!). I have read in several places that his body is laid in a glass or marble tomb in a church in England. I don't know how true that is but it would be interesting to find out for sure!!

the crest of Gostwick of Willington

(image courtesy of http://www.british-history.ac.uk)

I will post other family lines in the future but I thought this one was a good place to start :-D

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

-- William Shakespeare

More Pics from Tryon Palace with L.L.P.E.

OK, So.. I said I would have to split it up and put it into two different posts.... VOILA!! Here it is :-)

I thought this was a cool pic. He snapped this one of the candleabra and ended up getting me in the background... the reciprocal of this (the one of him I snapped at the same time) is in the original post...

Someones first Pepsi... LOL

Pepsi-Cola Birthplace

More Pepsi-Cola

...Mr. New Bern Bear...

The Iron work on the 2nd Entrance Gate was beautiful... Just had to get a pic.

Pretty flowers at a Lilac house in the Historic District/Downtown New Bern

...Another pic of the flowers...

The wedding I was speaking of in the original post

....RUN....
LOL

Me, at the Guards Watch Station at Tryons entrance

Justin, at the Guards Watch Station...

A bench and the cool tile/brick walkways inside the Carriage House

Above the entrance hall outside of Tryon Palace

The brick work on the walkway, near the Guards Watch Stations...

--A Victorian Cowgirl

Tryon Palace With Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Elegance

I recently (... ok, so I was supposed to get all this up like 3 weeks ago right after it happened, but I was being lazy...) went to Tryon Palace with Justin. So, here is me putting up all of the pics ... FINALLY!!

I know I posted this pic the other night, but I just love it!!

I was playing around and being silly with the camera, and so was suprised when it turned out like this. I just wish his shadow wasn't in the flower bed... LOL

The "Butterfly" Garden

The carriage house. We realized that they designed a way to keep the entire mansion very semetrical by making something as simple as a carriage house, have the same look as the other side where the kitchens/laundry rooms are.

I caught this one by accident,

but I love the way the suns rays came through.

God really does some amazing things!!

"Dutch Angles" are Ahhh-mazing :-)

Didn't this one turn out to be a good one?!?!

This really is one of my favorite pictures!!

Reading about the different gardens at Tryon right

before we entered the "Butterfly" Garden.

...Early Spring flowers...

I really like the iron detailing on the brick water well here.

I wish there were more flowers when we went, because I went back about a few weeks later and it was in full bloom, with tulips and roses everywhere!!

We sat here for a little while, and had a nice chat, while we took a breather from walking...

I think somebody was having fun with the all the photo-taking. :-)

All of the photo's here today actually are from both of our camera's so it was a very good day. Thank you Justin for the pics!!

I love this how this pic turned out... This was the good one. And, I am glad I was able to catch a view of both gardens!! We had a good time in the garden shown in the background through the gate with the statue. Unfortunatley, we were having too much fun (ok, so not so unfortunatley.. LOL) to remember to take any photos.

Statues in the Center Garden...

Beautiful early Spring flowers!!

More flowers...

BTW, all of the candelabra's you see are from a wedding

being held at Tryon that day.

So, I realized this morning that I am going to have to split this up into two seperate posts because of all of the beautiful pictures I want to share!! LOL

-- A Victorian Cowgirl