MD Ren Faire

I had a lovely day at the Maryland Renaissance Festival last weekend. There was a fair amount of drama and stress getting there (I was seriously thinking about just staying home at one point!) but I had a good time once everyone got there.

Mom and Dad came this year (Dad's first ever Ren Faire) along with my friend Rachel, who is home from England for a few months, in her fun historical Snow White costume. She got a lot of attention and made many little girls happy throughout the day. If you ever want to be treated like a rock star at a Ren Faire dress like a Disney Princess! :> We met up with Isabella and her Mom at the Faire as well and had great fun (as always) doing the Faire together. The day was gorgeous, the perfect weather for Ren Faire - crisp and cool, with a dry ground and blue sky. I was fine temperature-wise in my frock until the end of the day when I was wishing for a muff. :> There weren't many stellar costumes but there were some pretty awesome furs walking around! I love going to a Ren Faire in the Autumn!


I was a good little girl and didn't try to make anything new the week before. I wore my Pink Italian dress yet again and limited myself to two new accessories, a caul/hair net and a drawstring purse. I needed the purse for my new SLR camera (none of my reticules are big enough!) and I thought a thought a new hair net would be fun. I made the net by weaving together about 20 yards of organza ribbon. It turned out to be a much more complicated and time consuming project than I anticipated and I'm not sure how much I really like it in my hair but it was new and shiny!

Umm… so yeah good news is my new camera takes great pics, bad news it takes longer to upload them to Flickr now! :0
more photos @ Flickr

Virginia Ren Faire

My outing to the Virginia Ren Faire Saturday was hot but fun!

I wore the 1560s Florentine dress that I made last fall (aka the Pink Italian). I replaced the lacing rings with hand bound eyelets, which made a huge difference in how it fit. Eyelets are definitely the way to go, especially if you don't want your foundation garment to show. I also changed my under garment from the reed stiffened Effigy Stays to the hemp stiffened corded bodice. Despite the gown being fitted over the Effigy stays it actually fits better and is more flattering over the hemp cored bodice. Who knew?

I hadn’t been to the VA Faire in 5-6 years and it has definitely grown! Isabella and I had no particular plan, other than a goal to not come home with a sunburn, so we wondered about, nibbled on goodies, browsed the shops, listened to great music, did the wine tasting (the Faire is on the Lake Anna Winery property) and people-watch('cause Ren faires are all about the people watching) - it was fun!

The best part of the day was when Isabella decided to get her hair braided, the hair braiding tent being right next to the Winery booth. There was a bit of a wait so I got a glass of wine and we settled back for people watching and entertainment (from the stage across the path). We got lots of compliments on our frocks - my two favorites being told that we "were so pretty and well wholesome!" (at a Ren Faire I'll take that as a compliment!) and being told by the decked-out-in-pink Elizabethan fop that I looked better in pink than he did (I think he was right!). Hee. We also had a quick summer rain shower, which was actually rather nice. Getting wet on such a hot day was a good thing and it cooled things off for a bit.

So all in all a fun day - thanks for suggesting it Isabella!! I didn't take many pics at the faire but they are here along with some pictures I took in my yard.

VA Ren Faire Album