Regency Christmas at Daughter’s Cafe, Reno

First course – mushroom and leek soup, a cheese scone to accompany, and currant juice.

This past Saturday evening members of the Great Basin Costume Society, and several new additions, gathered at historic Daughter’s Cafe for a lovely Regency dinner party.  We enjoyed a period-accurate menu of mustard-crusted ham, fried potatoes, pickled vegetables, mushroom and leek soup with a cheese scone, and a number of yummy little desserts.  Everyone looked wonderful in their costumes, and I think we even had some “converts” at the end of the night, my dad among them, who has decided he would like to get into costuming and period events so long as he gets to buy and carry historic, original firearms! (that’s my dad!)  Here are some photos from the evening, taken by the wonderful Mr. C:

Debbie, of Vintage Dancer, who organized the dinner.

Our happy table.  That’s my mom on the left, and my dad on the right.

The ladies.

You can see the lovely decor at Daughter’s Cafe.  It was very intimate, cozy, and the chefs are wonderful.

Our desserts 🙂

The green robe.  Well I will be the first to admit it’s not splendid.  I ran into some trouble with the sleeves, and the straps, er, not fitting.  I spent all of Saturday, before the party, fiddling with them, setting and re-setting, and trying to get things to lay smoothly and fit.  I could not adjust the pleats on the shoulders because they were embroidered over, although lesson learned, now I know to perhaps do the sleeve first and then pleat the shoulder straps!

View from the back, with everything on for going outside – I used an old Victorian bonnet I made years go, and wore it high up on my head, so the crown stuck way up.  Seemed to work quite well, though I felt naked at the neck, then, so added the fichu.

From the front – I extended the voile gown underneath.  Man do I need a new basic Regency gown!  You can also see how off-the-shoulder the robe is.  (Pineapple by The Dreamstress.)

As a general verdict, though, I find the robe to be very pretty.  I love the fabric and the trained skirt, and I’m glad I went with the long sleeves, fasted with fabric-covered buttons at the wrists.  It’s not an easy thing to wear, unfortunately, and my shoulders hurt mightily at the end of the night, but I did learn a lot from working on this piece, and I will wear it again for sure.