U.S. Navy Vessel Swarmed in Seattle…

If you thought it wasn’t possible for a dead President to make a reappearance, you’d be partly wrong.  “Teddy Roosevelt” along with more than a dozen swarming members of Somewhere in Time, Unlimited (SITU) were spotted boarding the prestigious Navy vessel, USS Rushmore docked at Seattle’s Terminal 30 on May 21, 2008.

What was all the fuss?  To be exact, the USS Rushmore and USS Preble were in town commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Great White Fleet” which had docked in Seattle on May 23, 1908.

Beginning in December of 1907, then President Theodore Roosevelt sent a fleet of sixteen American battleships on a mission of peace and goodwill. They were symbolically painted white.  It began in Hampton Roads, Virginia, went around the horn of South America to San Francisco with the intention of visiting our “neighbors” around the Pacific Ocean, but was extended into a world tour. It took fourteen months, 46,000 miles, and stopped in numerous countries.  While in the Mediterranean, ships from the fleet helped victims of an earthquake in Italy.  The Great White Fleet was a worldwide sensation!  It put America on the map!  Men fought for a place in line to enlist in the Navy and be a part of it.

Now, 100 years later, the Navy hosted a BEAUTIFULLY orchestrated event.  Examples of dignitaries who were invited on board ranged from representatives of the Navy League, present and former Navy Commanders and Directors, various Consulates/Consuls based here in Seattle representing foreign governments, famous war heroes, the media, to a noteworthy “Teddy” reenactor and of course, members of SITU who were dressed in 1908 attire.

SITU’s gentlemen dressed in formal “tophat and tails”, gloves and walking sticks, while the ladies of the group wore lovely gowns, jackets, elborate hats, gloves and parasols.

The group had been asked and invited to be the official “Welcoming Committee” as dignitaries boarded the vessel.  Members met people at the head of the stairs coming onto the aft deck on the Rushmore, while other members lined up to greet people as they strolled to the enormous tented area on the aft flight deck.  Many, many photos were taken by the visitors and press.

Once inside the tent, a drinks bar serving wine/beer and softdrinks as well as a most lavish meal was spread out for everyone to enjoy.  Servings of roast beef, chicken, jumbo shrimp, rounds of bread heaped full of various seafood mixes or vegetarian delights, cheese and cracker platter, fruit platter, breads, and an entire table dedicated just to desserts awaited the hungry celebrants.  When a young Navy enlisted was asked who the catering company was, he shyly but proudly replied that the staff on-board had provided all the wonderful food and had done the preparations.  A hearty round of applause for a job WELL done!!!

After dinner, everyone was invited to disembark to a tent waiting on the pier where the Navy Band played several tunes.  Guest speakers and “Teddy” made wonderful and moving presentations.  A young enlisted woman was awarded a sort of “most valueable player” kind of honor for the USS Rushmore.  Another young enlisted man awarded from the USS Preble.  The beautiful video presentation about the Navy was so rousing, it caused a mature female SITU member to comment, “Sign me up!”

The finale of the evening’s celebrations was concluded by a barbershop quartet from the Navy Band, NW Region singing the original words to “Stars and Stripes Forever”.  Wow!!!  If I am able to obtain a sound clip of them singing, I shall post it here onto this blog and the SITU website.

Thank you again, Miss Michele, for your efforts to coordinate the celebrations and to invite SITU members to participate in such a momentus occasion.  Those of us who were honored to be invited, were impressed by the honor and kindness shown to our group.  We are truly blessed to have such perfect examples of military personnel and it was a delight to be counted in relationship with such fine American patriots!

“Hats off” too, to the Officers and Crews of the USS Rushmore and Preble.  Well done.  Well done.  Bully! Bully!  Bully!!!!

1920’s Speakeasy Relived – in Seattle’s Georgetown?

Somewhere in Time, Unlimited invited its members and several members of local dance groups to participate in reliving a 1920’s Speakeasy on March 30, 2008.  The event was held at the beautifully rennovated Georgetown Ballroom which looks like it stepped straight out of the 1920’s club scene.

Brick walls, a sign rescued before demolition of a true speakeasy in north Seattle, silk electrified lanterns in various colours hanging from the ceiling, a backbar, a courtyard with an antique car at mid-restoration point parked there (must I go on?) lended to the building and event’s vintage atmosphere.

Women in attendence came as beautiful movie-star-quality ladies, dressed in wonderful 1920’s fashions.  The gentlemen notably also came in tuxedos, spats and zoot suits.  The younger members had the infamous “Flapper Girl” sort of look.

The “totally ficticious and made-up backstory” that was used about Shanghai Lily was:

She was a well known woman of questionable breeding, hung out in the “wrong part of town”, and had opened a dance establishment that (gasp!) served liquor when the cops on the beat turned their heads.

Yes, “Shanghai Lily” was her name.  Her speakeasy establishment was in operation from 1919 to 1933, on and off, but mostly “on”. (In celebration of such a successful party, I will be posting up photos to the SITU website very soon.  When you go into “Prior Events”, Look for a new tab in the 200called “Shanghai Lily’s Speakeasy”.)

 

It was a classy, but raucous sort of place with great musicians, quality food and of course, the mandatory hooch that the folks all wanted despite Prohibition.  When the sharp blow of a whistle was heard or rumour was that the cops were on the way, supplies were dropped into the underground tunnel that ran beneath the dance floor and wound up across the street at a warehouse containing ice in old Georgetown, just south of downtown Seattle.  There were many close calls, but it was seldom that the early Seattle police force (who happened to be located just down the street!) ever managed to capture Lily’s hooch or girls!

This Spring, come visit Shanghai Lily’s notorious establishment and judge for yourself if you are participating in SITU’s Spring Event, or if you’re reliving history by stepping back into time as a “Hep Cat” in your spats, a gangster out of Chicago visiting, a “Modern Millie” from New York, a “Flapper Girl” of Gatsby’s quality, a beautiful vision to rival Ginger Rogers, or maybe just one of Lily’s girls.

We’ll be meeting on a Sunday late afternoon.  The cops will never suspect.  Shhhhhh.

Knock twice and tell them “The Possum sent me“….

The event was a total hoot, complete with “Da Copper” who came to “bust da joint”!  If you’d like to see all the photos of this really fun event and all the lovely costumes, click here:

New Spin – A Classy Victorian Dessert?

Okay, so this blog of mine was SUPPOSED to be about costuming, but I’ve had so many conversations in recent times about what to cook, what to serve, what’s easy to bring along to costuming events when you’re already wearing the costume and have to lug your treats in from the car, train or whatever that I’m adding some dimension to my blog.

So, I’ve made a new entry called “Menu Ideas” and I hope to be able to post up some cool “High Tea” sort of ideas along with dinner menus, after all, even menus in theme are “in costume”!

That said, I was out on the internet looking for other Victorian-like-minded folk when I tripped across this delightful website run by Marye Audet whose website is: www.bakingdelights.com  Seemingly, she is a very talented woman and has just recently posted a recipe for a Victorian Poundcake made with almonds and rose water (okay, she’d add some rose petals too), so I wanted to give her credit for coming up with this cool idea.  Here is the direct link if you’d like to read it for yourself:

As the events coordinator of Somewhere in Time, Unlimited of Seattle, Washington (a costumed historical events group), we hold Teas by attending tearooms around the area that will be willing to host a large number of us.  My friends Miss Bobbie and Miss Joan have done a wonderful job thus far, choosing the locations for SITU to have a Tea.  I personally have an idea on the back-burner to have SITU actually host a formal Tea at a railstation.  The participants could come in Victorian and Edwardian attire, have tea, go for a ride and then drive home to Seattle.  Sounds kinda fun, huh?  If I can pull this together, I intend to use Miss Marye’s Victorian Poundcake as one of the features of the afternoon’s Tea.

http://www.bakingdelights.com/2008/02/25/victorian-rose-pound-cake/ 

Thank you for making the post and giving everyone the recipe to a creative poundcake.  We raise our tea-cups to you in honor!!! 

Auntie Rita in the rainy, but lush and green NW corner of these GREAT United States.

Duct Tape & The Historical Costume – Huh?

I’d never have believed it had not my secretary sent me an email with exactly that as the idea behind how to fit a bodice for a historical pattern!

Yes, it seems that if you have a roll of duct tape, two tee-shirts, scissors and a friend to help you, you can actually create a custom-fit pattern for the person who will very shortly, be modeling the duct tape. (wink)  The article is very simple to read, some pretty easy advice on how to do it and I think a clever way to over come all the problems of having to have technical sewing prowess about altering patterns.

If you’d like to read the article, here is the link directly to the page in which the technique is described.  http://www.reddawn.net/costume/bodice2.htm 

If anyone has done this, lemme know.  I’m curious how well this works out, especially since I happen to be a short-waisted, large-chested woman who ALWAYS has to alter patterns!

In the meantime, have a GREAT week!  It’s sunny today in Seattle, Washington (USA) which is such a blessed relief from all the storming and raining that we’ve experienced for the past 2 weeks.

Happy sewing to you all from Seattle located in the lush and green NW corner of the United States!!  Auntie Rita

A thread of the conversation…

…with my friend Bobbie revealed that she has now enrolled in design classes at Seattle Central Community College!  Mind you, this is a woman who is very precise in her sewing and costuming skills as it is, and now she is REALLY going to have some “amo” when it comes to creating patterns on the fly!

Checking into the description of the class and assuming I looked up the correct one, I see that not only will the 6-credit course teach pattern development and design, construction techniques and design principles, it also brings the 21st century into play by having the students use computers for technical drawings, story boards, presentations and such.

Okay, so you get the idea that this is really a course intended for the younger generation who wish to create a line of clothing and “Ta-Da!” introduce themselves into the world as “Designers”.  However, I think this is really a wonderful opportunity for costumer Bobbie as well.  Unless you have studied a lot of old costumes, are really talented in the sewing arena or have an awareness of clothing construction, most of us have only had access to our make-believe world via the pattern instructions of Folkwear, McCalls, Butterick, Simplicity, etc.

I’ve been out on the web looking for other historical costumers who might be blogging.  I’d even be interested in folks who have used the Folkwear patterns for the sake of cool events!  As the Activities Coordinator (as of this writing) for Somewhere In Time, Unlimited (we’re a historical costuming group based in Seattle, Washington USA), I personally think it’s wonderful to hear about other people and the events they’ve planned, what costumes were worn, where the event was held and so forth.

Should you be interested in seeing some photos of OUR events, hop on over to our main site: www.SITUSeattle.com and click on “Past Events” for photos.  If you go to “Upcoming Events” you’ll see the events in the very near future.  Another tab called “Dress Up” (which shows a little dog) will list other opportunities out in our general area which people can participate in but are not formally put-together events by SITU.

Feel free to respond back if you’ve done a design class, got an idea for an event, willing to share back a link to a site with some cool photos.  Thank you for all the positive comments received thus far.  I’ve enjoyed “speaking” with you!

Wishing you a delightful Autumn from Seattle in the lush and green Northwest corner of the U.S.,
Auntie Rita