Sunday, August 12, 2012

A Regency Tea Party

Today (yesterday?) I hosted a Regency tea party for my friends and I, and what fun we had!


This is the table set up.  We enjoyed tea, toast, homemade jam (by yours truly), pound cake, cucumber sandwiches, sugar cookies, and, to top it all off, lemon and strawberry ice (sorbetto).  It was quite the spread!


My masterpiece was the pineapple centerpiece.  An article from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath talked about pineapples in the Regency period.  Actually, if you can believe it, merchants would rent out pineapples to the poorer set so that they could use them as centerpieces at their parties, and then finally sell them to the richer customers to be eaten at their parties.  Who knew?


We enjoyed Jane Austen themed teas from Bingley's Teas, Ltd.  The two teas that we had, Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Longbourn Wedding Tea, were both divine.  I can't stress how much I recommend these teas to both the Jane Austen lover and the tea connoisseur.  They are simply lovely!


All of my lovely, beautiful friends looking lovely and beautiful in their Regency dresses.


Some of my friends delighted us by playing the piano--either seriously or as a joke.


And of course, the shoe (or lack of shoe) shot.  AKA I love my Pemberlies and was happy that I had a chance to show them off.

All in all, I had a wonderful time!  If you're looking for something to do, I highly suggest a tea party.  It was quite fun to have an afternoon of elegance!

Love, Melissa

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Exciting Regency prospects...

A ball gown!


A Regency Sari ball gown, to be exact.  I picked up a Sari from an Ebay dealer--only $20 for 5 yards of silk!  Yay!  It was exactly what I was looking for.  I'm thinking of making it in the style of the above gown and this gown...


I would post pictures, but apparently my computer decided I didn't need those photos.  You know, along with the Trevi fountain photos from Rome.  Thanks, computer.  I will take pictures and post them very soon.  Thanks!