Dress U started off on a pretty sad note for me. My planned roommate, Lisa, couldn't make the con due to a sudden illness. Sucky, both because she was sick and because I had no one I knew at the con and no one to room with. I was determined to not let it faze me, though so I headed off for Pennsylvania. After a 6 hour drive I arrived at the hotel a little late but in plenty of time to get dressed for the Welcome Reception on Friday night. I decided not to, though, because I was a little scared of not knowing anyone and being the only person dressed up (crazy, I know) so I went in my traveling clothes. I'm kinda glad I did, too, because my hoop probably wouldn't have fit in the room when it got packed with people.
 |
| The Welcome Reception and all the pretty dresses! |
A lot of the days and events seemed to have an unspoken dress code, and Friday night's was 18th century. There were many pretty dresses!
 |
| A "Costumer's Handshake" at the Welcome Reception |
After a successful night I headed off to bed and a restful night's sleep. The next morning I got up and dressed in my Regency dress. After a fitful walk up to the classroom I found someone to button me up in it and started listening to my first class: Choosing Period Fabrics. I followed it with Fitting Yourself by Yourself and Taming the Stash. After taking a break and skipping the Gibson Girl Pool Party for lunch I joined a workshop on Making an 18th Ct. Silk Muff.
 |
| The muff making class in progress |
I followed that by sitting in on the 18th Century Bonnet Workshop:
 |
| Bonnet Class |
Neither class finished the project, but I think they were both very successful and got students projects they could finish on their own. After that I had my own class, History of Western Fashion in an Hour. I talked way too fast (faster than I practiced) and finished a bit earlier than I expected, but I still think it was successful for the people who attended it. Afterwards we all dressed for the Titanic Dinner. Learning from the night before I wore my Steampunk Beetle gown but without the hoop, deciding it would be more manageable than Historical Cinderella hoopless. There was a great photo barrage near the staircase outside the dinner room:
 |
| The picturesque staircase at the bottom of the hotel . . . |
 |
| . . . and all the people taking advantage of it :D |
Dinner was fairly good for hotel food, and the desserts were excellent. A few of my table mates shared a bottle of wine to make it even more enjoyable, so I went to bed a happy camper. The next morning I skipped the Crepe breakfast and took a drive to get Starbucks. Then I dressed in my Stripey Steampunk and went to "How to Search Online Auctions for Costuming Items" before the Mad Tea Party.
 |
| Enjoying Tea |
After that I stacked some more classes. The first was "Extant Gowns Up Close, which was very successful.
After that I went to "19th Century Parasols and Umbrellas", "Characteristics of Civil War Fashion", "Costuming in the Internet Age", and "Good Movie, Bad Costume".
 |
| Parasols! |
A little sad that everything was gearing down, I went to the Tiaras and Jampagne party with the last few holdouts of the conference.
 |
| Tiaras! |
Everyone was wearing Tiaras and drinking jampagne and it was a great time! In all Dress U was a pretty good time! I'm glad this con got off to a great start!
