Costume College Part 2 - Pirates of Penzance Tea

On Sunday afternoon of Costume College, I was the tea mistress for the Pirates of Penzance tea!  I don't normally blog about the events themselves, but I wanted to show a few pics of other guests' wonderful outfits.  The subtitle of the tea was "A Victorian Seaside Romp".  We had a mix of Pirates and Victorian Seaside dresses, and other fabulous costumes.

I would like to share some of my favorite costumes with you.  I wish I could post everyone that came, but I can't.




















First, I will start with some of my favorite pirates!

Cute Debbie in pink and black with striped stockings.

Joanne (tea assistant) with the awesome red curls.  She will be tea mistress next year!

April in her beautiful blue coat.  She will be tea assistant next year.

Audrey and Shawn brandishing their pistols below.

Now for some seaside dresses. Again, lots of pretty ones, wish I could post them all!

For my tea dress, I wanted a Natural Form style gown, as the Pirates of Penzance takes place in 1879.  To save time I decided to use the white underskirt I had previously made to wear under my seafoam green skirt, but never used. Here it is again.  The pattern is is Truly Victorian 1878 Fantail Skirt.

I covered it in sheer white voile ruffles, yards and yards.
Over the ruffled underskirt, I made an overskirt from the 1880 Hermione overskirt pattern from blue and white striped seersucker.   For the bodice, I found a white on white striped voile and used pattern 1881 Dinner Bodice with some modifications.  I didn't want a solid white bodice, so I made a faux vest front by adding inserts of the striped fabric from the center dart up to the neckline. I made 3/4 sleeves with a band of the striped fabric at the cuff.  I lined the bodice (not the sleeves, which remain semi sheer) with the remnants of a white sheet I had in my stash.  When I go to thrift stores I buy flat sheets for $1-2 which are great for linings.  The white underskirt is a sheet as well!



Here are some photos of the finished outfit.

My pirate man Jerry and me!

The trim is little alternating navy blue and white flowers. There are two navy bows down the front where the pleats gather, and one navy bow on the back at my waist.

Cost Breakdown for dress:

$6.00   3 yards white voile ($2 a yard in LA)
$1.00   White sheet underskirt and bodice lining
$9.50   2 1/2 yards white stripe voile for bodice
$3.20    12 blue buttons
$2.50    5 yards trim (50 cents a yard at swapmeet)
$20.00  5 yards seersucker @ $4.00 a yard

TOTAL   $42.20