Finally! Photos from the Historical Ball

Would you like to see some photos of what we wore to the Historical Ball this year? Out of respect for my hubby who likes to guard our privacy, I am not showing the beautiful faces of my offspring. You will have to take my word that they are all gorgeous and handsome!

The first are of the costumes I was working on for the last month or so. Here is my 10 year old daughter and her colonial dress:




The only thing I am less than happy with is the trim. It is really lovely, wine-colored braid, but I fear that from a distance and in photos, it looks like I used rick-rack. Don't get me wrong. I really like rick-rack, but not necessarily on a dress that is supposed to look like it came from the 1700's.

Here is a photo of what I made my 15 year old son. Everything he is wearing was made by me. The color of the doublet is not showing up well...it is really a dark, olive green. I made it using some sort of faux suede and it came out great! I lined it with black fabric and I am very proud to say that it looks as neat on the inside as it does on the outside. The pants have some great detailing that you can not see. I give the pattern company a "C" for pretty crummy instructions. I had a friend who used the same pattern for some pants and she had some struggles due to lack of clarity. Otherwise, I am pleased with it. I even made the knee boots using pleather. There are no patterns out there for knee boots, so I made it up myself.



Here is a photo of my oldest wearing his dress kilt I made last year. The jacket is made of wool and fully lined. It was a bit of a challenge for me. I did not sew his shirt or bow tie, but the coat, and kilt and shoulder fly plaid, I made. I can't show you any good photos of him from this year because every picture I have of him is surrounded by s. Hmmmm...should that worry me??



Here is my very dashing 2nd son looking very "Mr. Darcy." I made his Regency outfit last year. The broad fall pants were a unique challenge, as well as the coat with tails and very odd tailored sleeves. We won't even go into the challenge of making bulky fabric sew up into nice points in collars and such.



He also wore a top hat.



This is my youngest son in his colonial outfit. This is a good example of how you can get the "look" on a shoe-string budget. The linen shirt is from goodwill in the ladies section. The brocade vest is also a goodwill purchase. I altered a pair of pants into knee britches. And I made the "frill" at the neck. Next year, he is promised a real costume made from scratch.



He wanted a tricorner hat and that is not something you just find at your local department store. Well, I got creative and found a woman's wide brimmed black felt hat all trimmed out with netting and feathers and flowers. I removed the trimmings. folded up the brim and applied some gold trim and viola! A tricorner hat:



Here is my oldest daughter in her grandmother's wedding dress:



Here is my sweet little 5 year old in a borrowed dress. She had such fun playing "dress-up."



Here I am in a lovely Baroque gown I borrowed from a friend. I might add that she is 16 years old and she made the entire gown herself...including the hand beading on the stomacher. I could not believe she let me wear it. And yes, I had very high hair in an attempt at being true to the time period.



I really wanted to work up something for my dear hubby to wear, but alas, time ran out. So, he was in a nice shirt and tie. I figure you get to see that often enough so no photos of him. He was very handsome and danced with all his s in spite of a knee injury. What a good sport. I was able to dance at least one dance with each of my sons. Needless to say, we all had a "ball!" (Sorry, couldn't resist!)