Goldfield Days 2017

Just like last year, Goldfield Days fell the weekend after Costume College. So, again, we had fun road tripping all week and ended up in Goldfield just in time to open our building for the event. We open up the John S. Cook Bank Building as a bar for the day and sell beer and shirts and mugs even have a ghost hunt! With all the proceeds going toward the restoration and upkeep of the 13,000 square foot building. 

And of course, it is thee perfect excuse to get dressed up! Actually a lot of the town gets dressed as Cowboys and the like. It gets really festive. We even got our best friends to dress up this year with us! 

And we had a bank robbery!

And music!

I started my outfit after last year and HATED the shirt. But I wouldn't let it die! It ended up with big ol' gussets under the arms, and it still fits a little funny around the shoulders, but its amazing how, once you get the rest of the outfit together with accessories and hair, the things you don't like disappear into the whole picture. Now, actually, I really like this outfit!

It's the 1903 Plain Blousewaist Pattern and Circle Skirt and belt from Truly Victorian, made up from white cotton dimity. I didn't change really anything about the pattern, but did add a couple nun tucks to the skirt to add a bit of interest. And I tried to make collar stays, but need to investigate better wire. I tried to copy a period set that I have, but the wire wasn't strong enough. Must sort that out when I get home. 

I went for about 1903-1905. I accessorized with a hat, watch on a neck chain, skirt lifter (which was so necessary!), and period parasol and bag. I have seen an article from 1905 that calls this type of ensemble "the new shirtwaist suit." I'm not sure if that means it was a new term, or it was just advertising the newest looks in shirtwaist suits, but I'm going to refer to this as a shirtwaist suit for future reference.

The skirt lifter was an absolute must! Of course, it was my stubborn self that decided to wear a white sweeping skirt in the dirt, but I made it work! There is a great postcard that my husband has from Goldfield from 1911 where the sender remarks on how everyone just gets so dirty and thats just the way it is! 

In the UNLV Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years collection, there are lots of pictures from the area where women are wearing light colored dresses and just blouses. A lot of them wear no gloves and some no hats. It must be the weather, which is part of the reason I picked this particular outfit to make and wear for this. Where in pictures from other places, people from this era can look so put together, a lot of the ladies in the pictures from this area are kind of a mess. But if you spend any time in the Nevada desert, you know how the elements get you: sun, wind, dust and dirt. 

Below, I remembered to take a couple pics of the skirt down, without the lifter. It is a really pretty skirt!

Under it all, are basically the same layers I wore under my 1902 gown: chemise, corset, petticoat, bum padding. I did add a second petticoat, since everything was so sheer, and omitted the bust padding, but added a corset cover. Finally got a chance to share pics of the petticoat:

I experimented and made the tucks with a pin tuck foot. It worked great! And was so fast!