Antique Autos returns to History Park!

Vintage car in the park in 2012.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

Some of my costume group in 2009.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

 I've been getting ready for the 14th Annual Antique Auto event at History Park, where the tea guild will be joining me for a picnic tomorrow afternoon.  It's such fun to research recipes and costumes -- because I always want to do something slightly different from what I did last year -- that I often find myself hurrying the morning of the event, and not finishing whatever costume or recipe I'd been working on, and pulling out something wearable from the costume closet, or something ordinary from the pantry, and going with that.  I'm hoping that this year will be different, since -- at the request of one of the guild members -- we are having a potluck picnic, and at least I don't have to make all the sandwiches.  I have decided to bring dessert -- a cake and some strawberries that I got at the farmer's market yesterday -- as well as the iced tea.  Then there's my costume; I could wear the 1920s frock that I've worn before, but I don't have a hat to go with it, or I could wear one of my Edwardian skirts, although I don't really have a good blouse to wear with them, or a proper hat, either -- just a modern straw hat with a ribbon on it.  I have all these plans to make blouses, and even some fabric to do it, and I want to make a tailor-made suit, and - and - and ... 

Anyway, while I decide, and work on my things, here are some suggestions from the readers of the _Woman's Home Companion_ magazine from 1916, so you can put together your own "motor picnic" in the next month or so: 

Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge #1 for 2014

Production photo of female
Hobbit for inspiration.

Challenge #1: Make Do And Mend.  So, I thought I would actually finish one of the challenges within a reasonable time period from its due date ... Besides the replacing of the waist drawstring on my hoop petticoat (detailed in the last post), I also spent some time arranging some items to make my 1580s Elizabethan working-woman costume into something Hobbity for the GBACG fashion show on Saturday.  I put my hair in curlers and asked my friend to lend me her pointy ears and everything!  And then (while at the fashion show venue) ... I read the fashion show script that the narrator would be reading, and had to "make do" to change it back to (relative) historical accuracy!  

San Francisco International Tea Festival!

Ferry Building in San Francisco.
Wikimedia Commons.

I just heard about the San Francisco International Tea Festival from a tea friend.  I had no idea that this event even existed, and now I totally want to go!  It will be held at the Ferry Building on Saturday, February 25 and admission is $25 per person.

Is anyone else going to this event?  I've never been to this kind of event before, but it sounds like such an interesting and fun experience. 

Some fun Bay Area autumn events.

Need ideas for things to do?  Just in case your schedule isn't full enough already ... 

1. Who Do You Think You Are? Intro to Genealogy: beginning Saturday October 2, 2010 from 11:00AM - 12:30PM.  At the California Genealogical Society and Library, 2201 Broadway LL2, Oakland, California 94612.  Phone: (510) 663-1358. “Volunteer members are available to help you use our extensive resources and online databases. Bring information about an ancestor's family and we will help you find them in the 1920 or 1930 census. Everyone is welcome the first Saturday of every month. Open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  Join us for a FREE Introduction to Genealogy Class every FIRST SATURDAY of the MONTH from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.”

2. Sing Me Your Story, Dance Me Home: Art and Poetry from Native California:  October 2 - December 5, 2010, Tues. – Sun., 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053.  Phone: (408)554 – 4528.

3. Meet Author Mary Jo Ignoffo: Thursday, Nov 11 6:30pm at Barnes & Noble Stevens Creek, San Jose, CA.  “Come meet local writer Mary Jo Ignoffo as she talks about her new book, Captive of the Labyrinth, the first full-length biography of Sarah Winchester, the eccentric builder of the mystery house that bears her name.” 

4. The San Francisco Fall Antique Show: October 27-31, at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.  This year’s theme: “Chinoiserie: Rococo to Eco.” “The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show is the oldest continuously operating international antiques show on the West Coast. The Show features approximately seventy dealers from across the United States and Europe, offering for sale an extraordinary range of fine and decorative arts representing all styles and periods including American, English, Continental, and Asian furniture, silver, ceramics, glass, jewelry, rugs, textiles, paintings, prints, and photographs.”

'Teens costume for late-summer!

Getting ready for two local events coming up: a croquet picnic with the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild, and the Antique Auto Show at History Park, both in September. A group that I volunteer with, Portraits of the Past, attends the Antique Auto Show in costume to provide ambiance, and coordinates a costume contest there each year. Usually I wear 1920s frocks to the Auto Show, because they're easy to wear and cute as all get out, but this year I think I'll do mid teens, say around 1916 or so. I have a dress, but I need a better hat, so here is an image from my antique print collection that I am thinking about using:
antique fashion print ca. 1913.
I think I have a modern sun hat in a similar shape that I can use, and I have a lovely vintage lace scarf that I will probably drape over the brim like some of the examples in the print. My dress is a sheer white with a woven windowpane design, and I wear it with a wide blue ribbon sash that I found in my grandmother's sewing box (which I inherited) after her death.

Here are some other Edwardian, 'teens and 20s costume images for my inspiration and your enjoyment. They include various members of Portraits of the Past at past Antique Auto Shows as well as the historic fashion shows that we perform in each month.

catalog image ca. 1915. From the Costumer's Manifesto.

Sears catalog image ca. 1917. From Costumer's Manifesto.



















At the Harris-Lass House, June 2009.

photo ca. 1918. From the Sense & Sensibility website.

at the Antique Auto Show, September 2006.

Did you make it to the Antique Car Show in San Jose last weekend?

image from ClipartETC.

If you didn't, a couple of nice people took some video of the event and posted it on YouTube.

This clip is about 7 minutes long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sPNLmRM9js&feature=related

And this one is about 3 minutes long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sPNLmRM9js&feature=related

Fun! Wish you were there!