Tuesday, July 23, 2013

July 20th: The Jane Austen Festival in Louisville

Just a small note: I did not take all the pictures that are in this post. This is a collection of pictures that my mom and I took.

Over the weekend, my parents, my two dogs, and I took a little trip. We took a drive down to Louisville to attend the Jane Austen Festival. I had read about it in Miss Laurie's post and it seemed like such a fun thing to do. I had decided that I would attend the festival in the Regency dress I made last year and the bonnet that I made about a month ago (bet you were wondering why I made it).

My mom and I met up with Laurie and her father and we walked around the festival. My mom and I couldn't stay as long as we would have liked because it was pretty warm, but the time we spent there was well spent indeed!

First, we looked at the Navy Encampment

This was the first person I took a picture of at the festival. His character was that of a marine.

Some stuff at the Navy encampment

Ah! a naval officer! He was kind enough to tell us about the Navy during the Regency era.



Here is his profile with his Navy hat on.

He also talked about how to use a sextant. The sextant was used to find out which line of latitude you were near. It came close within about two miles, but really could only be useful at noon.

Update: I received a comment from the lady in the green spencer, Miss Emily Waterman. She helped me to identify the identities of the people in the following four pictures. The updated bits will be italicized. Thank you so much, Miss Emily Waterman!

Here are two Regency ladies and the Naval doctor.
Pictured here are the doctor and his two daughters, Lucy and Molly.

After leaving the Navy encampment, these fine ladies in character walked in. I forgot the names of their characters, but they were being introduced to the Navy officers.
Lady Caroline Linnington, Dowager Baroness Cranston being introduced to the naval officers by Miss Emily Waterman.

The older lady in the red reminds me of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She had that kind of air that Lady Catherine also had. And I love the younger lady's green spencer!
Lady Caroline Linnington and Miss Emily Waterman

And gotta love the details on the bonnet! 

 Most of the people (both men and women) who attended the festival were in costume (myself included). My mom and I took a lot of pictures of the costumes.



This was also a picture of one of the shops at the festival. There were plenty of tents at the festival that sold anything Regency: teas, bonnets, fans, parasols, even fabric and sewing patterns.




This reminded me of Cranford.

A Regency Gentleman

A Regency couple

At the park, there was a house that George Rogers Clark lived in during the Regency Era. There were a lot of neat things inside of the house.

There was a bobbin lace demonstration that I was interested in. A couple of months ago, I took up bobbin lace and it was great to talk to another person who also did bobbin lace.

 There were plenty of Regency costumes all around the house.


A Regency Redingote

This dress was made out of an Indian Sari. It looked very lovely!

A dress with appropriate Regency accessories.
And who could forget this bonnet?

This lady was on the second floor of the house talking about the costumes. She made most of the costumes that were on display. She hand stitched each dress, but the bonnets were made by a friend of hers.

I also took a picture of the afternoon tea. I didn't attend it, but it looked absolutely lovely!

There were also silent auctions in the same room as the tea. I didn't bid on anything, but a lot of the packages being auctioned were very cool.

And apart of one of those packages was a framed picture of Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy!

And of course I bought souvenirs:

I bought this very nice black fan with painted flowers on it.

And I also bought this parasol.

Before I left, Laurie and I took a picture together.

And my mom took a picture of me running down a hill in my Regency outfit.

I had a very fun time at the Jane Austen Festival. I'm sorry that I missed the Regency Fashion show, but I had a very fun time. I was very happy that I got to meet Miss Laurie after all these years of blogging and E-mailing back and forth. 

(By the way, today is Miss Laurie's birthday: Happy Birthday, Laurie!)


 God Bless,
God Bless, Miss Elizabeth Bennet

24 comments:

  1. Eeeeep! So exciting seeing you and Miss Laurie together, even if it's just from the back! :)

    Someday I shall attend the JA festival. I shall. :D

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    Replies
    1. You shall conquer the festival... YOU SHALL! hehe!

      But yes, you should attend the festival! It was a lot of fun. :-D

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    2. Haha, that is exactly what I was thinking. About the Mr. Darcy quote, I mean. :) Great Janeites think alike...

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  2. Ehehehehe, Miss Elizabeth, your reply to Melody's comment made me giggle... *I* shall attend the JA Festival someday too. I SHALL. Preferably with a blogging friend. *smirk* I LOVE that last picture of you running down the hill... very P&P95. It looks like you had such fun!

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    1. Thank you! I did have fun. If you have an opportunity to go, I would recommend it. It would be great if you, Melody, Miss Laurie, Charity, and I could meet up there someday. :-)

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    2. Ohhh. That would be simply divine. :D

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  3. Oh, it looks so wonderful! How fun! I desperately wish I could have gone, but alas, Louisville is such a very long ways away....*sigh* Someday I hope to go! Does it happen every year?
    Your fan and parasol are so beautiful! I've always loved parasols, but you can't really find them many places anymore. I enjoyed seeing pictures of all the dresses! I especially love the one made from an Indian sari, it's so gorgeous! And your outfit is lovely as well. : )
    I'm so glad you had a wonderful time!

    ~Emma Jane

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    1. I think it's a yearly event. There was one last year that Miss Laurie took pictures of.

      Thank you! The parasol was reasonably priced. It was a table cloth that was re-purposed as a parasol. The pattern on the parasol was cross-stitched and looked very nice!

      Thank you! I did have a very nice time! :-)

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  4. I know all of those people! I happen to be the lady in the bright green spencer. The two young ladies are the Doctor's two oldest daughters; Lucy and Molly. I was introducing some of the officers and sailors to Her Ladyship, Lady Caroline Linnington, Dowager Baroness Cranston. The two young ladies are the Doctor's two oldest daughters; Lucy and Molly. I was also seeing my beloved Fiance, the Doctor again after his many many months at sea. I am very glad you captured such an important moment in time.

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    1. Thank you so much for the clarifications! I'll update this post right away. If you notice anything that needs to be corrected, let me know.

      Thank you for visiting my blog! I loved your spencer at the festival!

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    2. Blarg, I just noticed my giant redundant comment where i forgot to delete something I moved around. Pooh, forgive me!!

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  5. Ooooh, I'm interested in the lace making. Is it hard to do?

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    1. Not really. It might look daunting when you're using 18 bobbins for one project (or if you see pictures online of people using 200), but it's pretty easy. The hard part is keeping the bobbins organized, but you can separate them with pins. Basically, you work with four bobbins at a time and braid them together. There really are only two actions to do with the bobbins: twisting and crossing. Once you get twisting and crossing mastered, the stitches that you use are a combination of the two.

      I started with this kit that I got from Amazon called the Lacis Bobbin Lace Kit (http://amzn.com/B003W0O2MW). It comes with 24 bobbins, a booklet, a stand and "pillow" to work the lace on, pins, and a couple of patterns. The only issue I had with this kit was that there weren't a lot of patterns with it (only four). I did find this book to be useful as well, though for a couple more patterns (http://amzn.com/1844481085).

      Let me know if you have any more questions. :-)

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    2. I''m the lacemaker at that event - may I copy your picture of my work? I forgot to bring my camera to the 2013 show, regrettably. Hayden - the pattern I had on the go there was 50 bobbins, but it's always only 2 pair at at time. I've worked patterns with over 300 bobbins, and it's still just a pair in your left hand and a pair in your right. Like reading music, the dots tell you which pin to place next, and that pin tells you which threads to move next. Lacis' kit is not considered the easiest to learn from, but depending where you are, there are quite a few guilds around the US now that may be useful to you.

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    3. Tn Lacemaker,
      Sure! Feel free to copy!

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  6. I need to get to this one year! I'm too close to Louisville not to go. That's so neat you met Miss Laurie :-)

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  7. It was so delightful meeting you at the Festival m'dear Lizzy! You got some lovely photos of the costumes and delightful scenes! Oooh, and I love the photos of you running through the field (I wondered what you and your mom were taking photos of at the end, now I see :)!

    How neat to have Miss Waterman comment too, her costumes are the most delightful at the Festival!

    Thank you for the birthday wishes! I count the Festival as part of my birthday presents and meeting you made it extra special this year! :)

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  8. These photos are lovely! It looks like such a fun festival. I love seeing all the beautiful costumes!

    ~Vicki
    Decked Out in Ruffles

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    1. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the Regency Fashion Show or the Promenade, but I still got to see a lot of great costumes. If you have a chance to go, I would recommend it! :-D

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  9. What a lovely post! I would love to go to something like this (and preferably meet up with internet friends), but as far as I know there's no such thing in The Netherlands. I do hope to go to one in England someday.

    I love the picture of you running down the hill. It could've come right out of a Jane Austen movie!

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    1. If I ever go to England, I would definitely want to check out the Jane Austen Center in Bath; I think they hold a festival there every year.

      Thank you! I really like that picture too. :-)

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    2. Oh yes, that is thé festival for Janeites I believe. I've been to the Jane Austen Center in Bath outside of that festival a few years ago. They have a wonderful shop with all things Jane Austen and Regency!

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  10. I am so glad you were able to make it to the festival. It is always so much fun and anyone who is interested in Jane Austen NEEDS to go. I look forward to it all year. The last picture of you running down the hill is perfect. It looks like a still from a movie. Were you able to attend the promenade and Ball at all? If not you have to go to the ball next year. It is my favorite part of the entire festival.

    ~Miss Littlefield
    (My post about the festival)
    http://costumesandcompanions1.blogspot.com/2013/09/jane-austen-festival-part-1.html

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    Replies
    1. I had such a good time!

      I wasn't able to attend either the ball or the promenade. I signed up for the promenade, but it was a bit hot that day, so I left early. I would have liked to go to the ball, though. :-)

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