Jane Austen Picnic Dance -- finally!

Yes, the day had finally come for the Jane Austen themed picnic . It seemed like we had prepared for it forever, but when the morning of the event came -- after an excited, but sleepless night -- it was hard to believe that it was here. We had some minor costume fails -- turned out that my husband couldn't get his riding boots to fit around his trouser, so he wore opera pumps -- but for the most part everything went smoothly as planned.

First things first -- set up the picnic.

Then prepare to enjoy the picnic.


And the most important part of the enjoyment -- champagne!


I tried to keep the menu as authentic as possible, so fixed an egg, cheese and leek pie (a.k.a. quiche), a roast joint of Tofurky, mixed pickle, stilton, apples and walnuts and strawberries. We also had lemon tarts from Miette, which I ran the gamut of tourists at the Ferry Building to pick up on our way to the picnic. I even risked our Wedgwood service to fit the period.


The quiche in progress.


Colorful mixed pickle.


Robert even handwrote with pen and ink special labels for the champagne and dessert wine. Sadly, we forgot to take pictures of the champagne bottles and managed to polish off all three and discard them, but the vintage was the very good year of 1811. I did snap a picture of the Constantia when we got home though.


So enough about food, let's talk about clothes. From the top, my costume consisted of a bonnet that I made by reshaping a fine straw hat that I got at a fleamarket trimmed with blue grosgrain ribbons with a vintage lace cap underneath which would have been appropriate for a married woman of the time. I loved the red and white striped Spencer jacket that Fanny Brawne wore in the movie "Bright Star" and decided to make a similar one.


Attempting to match the stripes in such a complicated construction was an adventure though.


Underneath the jacket is a dress of white self-striped voile that I ordered on the good advice of a friend. She also pointed me in the direct of some perfect little flats from Target of all places, to which I added black grosgrain ribbons. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of just the dress without the jacket, but I had trimmed the neckline with antique lace. Contrary to popular belief, Regency women did not walk around in see-through muslin dresses though, but had several layers of underpinnings underneath, so I also made a short sleeved chemise and bodiced petticoat with vintage eyelet lace at the hem as well as the short stays I featured earlier. Vintage yellow gloves and my reticule completed my ensemble.


Now it's time to discuss my handsome husband's ensemble. I made the frock coat for him from some vintage linen he had in his fabric collection and the waistcoat from vintage striped silk from a fleamarket. It's difficult to see from the picture, but I made bound buttonholes for all 14 buttons on these pieces. Underneath, I made a batiste shirt with a tall collar and full sleeves and a matching cravat. However, I was so proud of him, because he rose to the challenge and actually made the drop-front trousers himself. This was his first full sewing project and he did a fabulous job! He topped off his outfit with a straw tophat and made the watch fob with an period style ribbon backing for his antique pocket watch. His outfit was completed with a goldstone cravat pin and gloves.


Such a dashing gentleman!


He even went so far as to grow Regency style sideburns for the event, but couldn't wait to shave them off when it was over.


I also put some effort into my hair style by setting curls in the front and wrapping a fall into a braided bun in the back. Sadly, I didn't think to take pictures of it until the evening, so please forgive the flash.


The picnic was held at a lovely park in Alameda which had a tiny Victorian cottage in it and...


...a small rose garden.


We estimated that over 100 people turned out for the picnic, most in period appropriate attire. Here is the scene around our picnic spot:






This was my favorite costume of all though.


I was a wonderful picnic filled with sweet people, tasty food, plenty of champagne and much dancing. Yes, there was dancing and I even got my non-dancer husband to join me for about half the dances. While we didn't feel confident enough to join in the waltzes, after our lessons at the Sacramento library a few weeks ago, we did do most of the long line dances which were briefly taught first and then called throughout. A couple were still confusing, but we had fun doing all of them. Since we were dancing, there are no pictures, but I'm keeping an eye on the pictures popping up on line and will post some of us if I find them.

While we arrived at the picnic at bit before 11am and stayed until the last few were packing up at about 5pm, six hours still wasn't enough time to fully enjoy what had turned out to be a lovely day, so we decided to drive over to Mountainview Cemetery in Piedmont for more photos in an appropriate setting.






And thus ended our day with Jane Austen.


Thank you for joining us!