Kristen: Jane Austen's Birthday Party!

Let me preface this post with the following statement: I need sleep. If at times my text is confusing, I apologize! Within the past week I've participated in a Civil War Christmas "party," Jane Austen's birthday party complete with Regency dress and underpinnings, wrote /edited a 15 page paper, and finished a website for class (http://18thcenturyclothing.weebly.com/). Yet it was all worth it! You've already read my post here about my Civil War party...now for Jane Austen's birthday!

 I am a proud member of JASNA, the Jane Austen Society of North America. This fall I went to a tea party/book discussion that I mentioned in a previous post. I was ecstatic to be invited to a birthday celebration for Ms. Austen with such a lovely group of women, and at the Inn at St. John's, a former seminary!

The chapel itself was gorgeous! I was one of only a few women who dressed in Regency attire, so there was a *gasp* when I walked into the room! After a short blessing we headed down to the banquet room, where a party was set to honor Jane Austen's birthday!

We first started with a toast...and since I didn't have my license (left in the car) they wouldn't serve me champagne! My 26th birthday in one week, and I toasted with sparkling grape juice! Everyone at the table had a good laugh at that one...After our meal, we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate some cake.

Our host had little prizes for the tables if we could answer enough trivia about Pride and Prejudice without the use of modern devices. One of the women at my table could nearly quote the book! We didn't win, but I did learn A LOT about the text itself, and that I truly was in a room of Austenites! They also had a little lending library and games that we could admire. Did you know Jane Austen has an action figure????

Did I mention that everyone kept snapping pictures of me? I was quite a novelty; one women even commented that I looked like dear Jane herself! I take pride in the time/research that I invested in this ensemble. 

Finally, I had to return home. Along the way I stopped at my Aunt's house to hem my cousin's choir dress. I made her take a few pictures, since the lighting at the party was difficult. I'm reminded of how well everything fell together. Seven yards of light yellow cotton voile fabric, several feet of embroidered leaves, a set of short stays, a sleeveless chemise, white stockings, dainty black slippers, perfectly curled hair with grecian hair band, my own teardrop pearl earrings, reproduction ring, and a silk/wool shawl imported from India...so many pieces had to fall together *just so* in order to make this work. I'm glad it did! As my first Regency wardrobe, it certainly displays the advancement of my sewing skills.

It has finally happened...I am an Austenite! It's not enough to read her writing...I needed to spend some time in "her clothing" to truly understand her. 

Now I shall SLEEP! That is, until I start sewing for The Historical Sew Fortnightly...more on that later, you nosy reader you...

~Kristen

Kristen: My First JASNA Meeting

As if my time wasn't so precious; between work, master's classes, reenacting, sewing, soccer, and sleeping, I decided to join JASNA. You are probably wondering what JASNA is, and I'm going to give you a hint...

I want

JASNA stands for Jane Austen Society of America, a proud organization of Austen-lovers and pursuers of early 19th century everything. Needless to say, I was psyched to attend my first meeting!

We met at the home of one of the members, and it was obvious she loved Austen! I noted several designs that decorated her space, ones that I envied quite a bit...

We began by discussing Pride and Prejudice in multimedia forms, which included the three movie interpretations. My favorite is still the one with Keira Knightly, though that might be because I watched the movie religiously on weekends during my trek through high school. 

She seemed most like me!

Our facilitator asked very thoughtful questions, and I truly bonded with the lovely women who are kindred spirits! Our conversation continued, covering our favorite English television shows, and of course my opinions of Regency style!

I already bought the kashmir shawl...

We adjourned to tea and snacks. I ate my fill and then some; the tea cups were quaint and the table setting gorgeous! I tried a tea I can't remember, but it was quite delicious. The quality of the conversation surpassed all expectations! 

After eating too much and conversing quite freely, I left...already feeling Austen-withdrawals. My next meeting is coming up on October 27th already! If you are interested in knowing more about JASNA, email barbJA@comcast.net. You have to first join the national organization, which can be found at http://www.jasna.org/. As for me, I need to get sewing! On my agenda first, a pair of Regency short stays!

My sewing list this week:

1. Finish short stays

2. Finish 1 thing for Becky's baby shower

3. Finish another surprise thing for baby shower 

(Aren't you so curious Becky?)

~Kristen