The Serpent King, by Jeff Zentner, is the second book I read for the YA Book Club I joined at my library. (The last book I read for the book club was The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black).
I started The Serpent King at a tender time. I was spending a second weekend at the bedside of my grandmother, who was dying. Many of my most vivid memories of my time spent at her home were from my teenage years, when my friendships with my cousins were one of the most important things in my life and the summer visits, full of new experiences, were larger than life.
The house itself is full of senior photos of the cousins and grandkids, all of us gathered on shelves and side tables, frozen in time as 17 and 18-year-olds, and the home’s interior has barely changed over the course of the time I visited there from childhood until I was an adult.
When I first posted about the Victorian Strolls I was getting ready for, I had plenty of ideas but hadn’t done much other than internet research. Once I got into the actual construction, things got labor intensive, but it was so fun. Click through to see how I dressed each person in the family and where we found the costume pieces.
Goals for our first costuming adventure:
A. To look Early Victorian Era (1860’s) to those who know what they’re looking at, and to look 19th century/old-fashioned to everyone else. B. To have fun and be comfortable.
I spent the entire month of November collecting items from around our house, sewing, crafting, and buying things to put together our costumes. I used a combination of hand-me-down clothes and craft supplies (like ribbon) as well as costume pieces for the kids, as well as sewing several larger pieces for myself and the Chaplain, like a vest, period-appropriate dress shirt, and my Zouave Jacket.
I’ve had Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me on my reading pile for an embarrassingly long time. I was incredibly intimidated by it because I already had an inkling of the pain that is inherent in a Black man’s existence, and I didn’t know if I could handle reading a whole book about it. It’s still sitting on my pile, waiting for that time.
Then, I discovered Coates had just come out with a work of fiction. I felt like that was a format I could handle.
One of the first things about historical costuming is that in order to get each time period’s look right, you have to start with the underpinnings – all the supportive undergarments that give your body the right shape. These underthings allow you to make clothes to fit their shape and look authentic.
For the 18th century, this means stays, and they seem to be the hardest thing to make. To procrastinate on making them, after an overstimulating couple of weeks researching my stays pattern options, construction, and hacks for the pattern I eventually chose, I freaked out and decided to make a set of jumps first.
