This July I attended the much-dreaded Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. I have to admit, after the initial mis-step, making the dress for this thing wasn't so
bad. They do provide you with
directions, after all. Sewing is kind of
like making cookies in that respect. And it doesn't make you fat. The worst part for me was when I tried to do something
called a flat-felled seam. I think I
goofed up and did some other type of seam instead. But no one inspected it, issued a grade, or
even frowned, so all in all I was pleased.
I even put the dozens of pleats in without crying.
The dress was so heavy in the back that the front part
kept riding up high over my chest - instead of UNDER the boobs it tried to
creep up near my neck. Tons of safety
pins solved that problem.
So, what did I wear, exactly? I wore a chemise. Overtop of that, I wore a hand-made corset
(really). Then, overtop of that, I wore
a petticoat. And at last, overtop of
that, I wore the gown.
Et, voila!
I swear, I'm actually much skinnier than this dress makes me look. It made me look twenty pounds heavier than I
actually am, and since I am currently carrying an extra twenty pounds, this was
not a good thing. All in all, when my
sisters and I (and a new-found cousin) finally got together in Kentucky and went
to the festival, we had a wonderful time.
And in the end, that's all that matters.
