Finally, the last day of the retreat, Sunday. Since the majority of the programming is on Saturday, Sunday has a more relaxed schedule, so I went with a “casual” costume, which if you don’t costume probably seems silly when you see the photos.

I wore my periwinkle bodiced petticoat with a dressing gown and turban. The turban is my favorite shade of faded red, a super soft cotton scarf from this Etsy seller. The blue necklace is from this seller.

For the dressing gown, I used India cotton with a metallic gold block print. For the bodice, I used the same Laughing Moon spencer pattern I used for my purple velvet spencer. I added a skirt to it with a drawstring closure at the front where the bodice and skirt meet. The double thickness ruffle to go around the bodice opening meant I wouldn’t have to hand finish reams of hem. Better yet, because I was whip gathering, I didn’t have to sew a tube of fabric, either. I ironed in the edges inwards a quarter inch and basted it together, then whipped it to gather. I feel like I’m saying things are simple when they aren’t, but it sure did feel like a win at the time.

I constructed the bodice by hand, but machine sewed the long seams in the skirt. I lowered the gown at the back, and didn’t think to adjust my ruffle. The ruffle got gradually taller towards the back, right where the neckline was lower than it was originally. If you’ve guessed that means there was a giant ruffle sticking straight out the back instead of pointing up and looking stately, you’d be right. I had to take the whole back apart, make the ruffle the same width all the way around, and re-whip gather it and attach it back to the dressing gown.

The thing I said earlier about not having sewed the fabric into a tube before gathering it made this correction much easier, but it was still a lot of hand sewing. It made my heart bleed but was worth it. I wore the dressing gown with a ruffled chemisette underneath, which gave the effect of a double ruffle without the work of a double ruffle… although I did make both ruffles, just not at the same time. Maybe it just FELT like less work.

I don’t have much to say about the last day of the retreat. We were all sad to say goodbye and go back to regular life, but also ready to do both. We can’t hold the retreat the same weekend next year due to logistical issues with the retreat venue. Several people won’t be back due to a huge historical event in their area that conflicts with the timing of the retreat.

After two really nice years of many of the same people and some truly good times, it will be very different next year, if I’m able to make it on whatever new date they choose. That made for a bittersweet ending. Everyone being busy and tired, we didn’t really make plans to hang out again. Many people who attend live hours away. Who knows when I will get to dress up with friends again. I’ll just keep sewing away over here and occasionally dressing up for photos in my backyard, and hopefully we can all see each other again before too long.

The last picture is with my friend Hope, an endlessly interesting human being who is compassionate, knowledgeable, and has amazing Regency fashion sense and an incredible eye for detail.