Where would be a good place to find clothes of 1912 and Titanicnautical party favors

[Stacie Crowther]

Hi Everyone, Who can tell me where I can find these types of things (1912 attire, Titanic-type party favors, Titanic invitations, etc.. for a Titanic party? I am starting a Titanic club for my students this year and plan to have a Titanic party.

 

[Geoff Whitfield]

Stacie, Best place to look for out of date clothing is Pat Cooks' wardrobe!

 

[Pat Cook]

Hey, it's a fashion statement! People use me as a sort of vogue barometer. They look at what I'm wearing and say "Well, THAT's out!"

Also, let the record show I was voted 'Best Dressed' at the welding school I almost graduated from. The voting committee saw me in a swim suit and said I was at my 'best dressed'.

(Oddly enough, when I saw this topic I was going to suggest to Stacie that a few hours in Geoff's closets might do the trick)

Best regards,
Cook

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Pay no attention to these naughty boys- this is SERIOUS stuff- parties and fashion! SO many places to go. Of course for refreshments you can bake the White Star themed cakes we discussed ad nauseum on another thread- the Queen Mary cookies, etc.- and for CLOTHES-go no further than your fabric store or Walmart's which has Simplicity patterns from the Cameron film including Rose's Jump Dress and sinking attire in adult or child size. TONS of Edwardian patterns abound in the costume section as well as bridal section of the catalogue. AMAZON DRYGOODS is a ready-made catalogue supply, local costume rental places are a good source- and if you want to keep costs down- a little ingenuity and adapting can be done. Let me dig out some references online for you. Boys clothes are fairly easy to modify to 1912- men- being the unoriginal creatures they are- have changed garments very little over time. Every library has a section on fashions- The Way We Wore is a great reference book. Stay tuned more is coming -for now
http://amazondrygoods.com/
Thrift shops and consignments shops are not to be ignored! Found an Edwardian gown for my daughter for 50 cents last week! Oh- then the ACESSORIES- HATS(as BIG a brim as you can find)- gloves, parasols, wish I lived closer-we would terrorize your town for threads! I have done this sort of party for 8th grade- WONDERFUL fun and a teaching without pain experience!

 

[Mike Herbold]

Shelley:
The model in the website has given me a new appreciation for drygoods. Wow!!!! Seriously, though, I'll bet I could get you a $200 flight out here on priceline.com if you want to come out and help.
Stacie:
How many kids will be in the class or club? Would like to arrange some kind of book deal for them. My first thought was autographed copies of Muffet Brown's great coloring book. Is softball season over? I'll bring one to the next Queen Mary meet to see if it's appropriate age-wise.

 

[Kyrila Scully]

For excellent Titanic party decorations go to www.shindigz.com and search for Titanic/Prom stuff. Even if you can't afford the stuff you can get an idea on how to create your own.
There are also some great websites for people who want to buy Edwardian costumes, (i.e. repros of "Rose's" gowns) but they don't come cheap either.
J. LaConte's costumes are the most reasonable, and there is a German website (English subtitles) that is reasonable, but I lost the addresses in my bookmarks. I'm sure you can find them through any search engine. Type in Titanic+costumes and you'll find hundreds of seamstresses.
I myself bought some patterns on E-Bay and made my own costumes for my school exhibitions. Some fabric and craft stores currently carry the pattern for the "Flying" Dress and other gowns from that era. Good luck.

Kyrila Scully

 

[Colleen Collier]

Gasp.. At that price, I think I would walk behind a paper cut out!

Colleen

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Stacie,

You've been given good advice already. I too suggest Amazon Dry Goods (http://amazondrygoods.com/) whose catalogs of vintage patterns, reproduction shoes & hats, etc are superb. And eBay (http://www.ebay.com/) has a trove of good things - search under "Edwardian" (though don't be fooled; some dealers haven't the foggiest what that means!)or "1912 dress" or any other year you're looking for, etc.

Shell has suggested Douglas Gorsaline's "The Way We Wore" which is certainly a good starting place for familiarizing yourself with the general line and feel of clothes (men's as well as women's) of the era. I would recommend in addition Lucy Barton's classic "Historic Costume for the Stage." It gives great overviews of every period of dress from the Egyptian to the beginning of WWI, complete with detailed line drawings of all manner of styles for men, women, and children. There is also practical advice on how to reconstruct costumes.

This book has been through many printings over the years though I believe is now out of print. Still, try some of the online book search stores - bibliofind.com & bookfinder.com, etc - and you should be able to find it reasonably priced. Also any large library should have it.

One more book may help - Norah Waugh's "The Cut of Women's Clothes," first published in the 60s but is now out again - contains scale patterns for costumes from the 17th century till the 1930s (I think), including patterns for designer dresses now in museums, such as one for a 1911-12 gown by Lucile, Lady Duff Gordon in the Museum of London.

Randy

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Forgot to mention that NOW is the time to haunt Halloween displays for props- wigs, beards, fake moustaches, spirit gum,etc. in case your children would like to portray a real person from Titanic. Local department stores and chainstores as well as Halloween specialty stores like Fifth Avenue stock many items like those as well as straw boater hats, canes and walking sticks , hat forms, gloves and the like. Accesories can really be a cheap way to transform an outfit to fit the era. Ladies small sizes work well for young girls (size 4-6) and shealth style skirts can be made to resemble the 1912 hobble skirt with little to no effort at all. The tailor made suit-waist, cropped jacket and skirt worn with the lace up boot, boater, and gloves with bar pin is an easy style to throw together for daytime attire of secondclass or steerage. Shawls are good too and can be recycled from tablecloths, curtains (shades of Scarlett O Hara!)- fringe, little evening purses with chains- all good fodder. Never miss a thrift shop- I found at least 40 Nilani Edwardian blouses recently for 2-4 dollars- very Edwardian-looking- especially the small sizes abound as not many gals I know wear a 4-8- perfect for children aged 11-14! You may want to sponsor a Titanic Contest of some kind. When I was teaching up until 1997- we had Titanic Day at school and a poster drawing contest with prizes. Books, videos, models to build- one year a postcard with survivor autographs... One child- who died a year later from leukemia- won First Prize in 1987 with his crayon drawing of the ship impacting the iceberg-Philip had great promise as an artist. His Dad asked me for that picture back to keep. It is a wonderful vehicle for teaching history.

 

[Tracy Smith]

My local mall has a temporary shop each year called Halloween Express. I noticed that this year they have black bowler hats, which would also be perfect, and several of the sheath type dresses Shelley mentioned.

I'm sure most areas have their own version of Halloween Express.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Forgot to mention- for party invitations- save money and make your own- A plain White Life Ring with RMS TITANIC LIVERPOOL on the front, cut out in the circle, then opens with the information inside or a Red White Star Burgee with a bought white star sticker in the center is effective as a cut out. A "Boarding Pass" is also an enchanting way to invite guests. Lots of nautical clipart is available online free. Make paper nautical signal flags and string them on cord instead of streamers. OK enough for tonight...!
http://www.arttoday.com
Go to Clip art and click, type in TITANIC for a zillion bits to use!

 

[Stacie Crowther]

Thank you all very much. I am sure things will go great with all the kind advice you all gave me. Now I will go cry because summer vacation is over and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Thanks again.

Love Stacie

 

[Kris Muhvic]

Stacie-
Something I tought of, which can be (hopefully!) easily done and might be a source of amusement for your students-
Why not make a "Nickleodeon"? Find a VHS copy of, maybe "Keystone Cops" (introduced in 1912), Charlie Chaplin (began w/ Sennant in 1913), or whatever else is out there. The old films are short, by today's standards (won't take up too much time), and with a TV, a "puppet show" type curtain, darkend room....have the kids pay a nickel! Could be easy- and fun!
More importantly, could show the students a little history on motion pictures, and to see "old-timers" moving about...as opposed to the still, formal portraits like those at Grandma's house.
Just an idea...actually I feel doing the same in my own living room! (still a kid!)

Yours-
Kris

 

[Amanda Denning]

Hi! if you can sew, you can try "Past Patterns" or "Attic Copies" have a lot of stuff too. I wouldn't go with orgional Titanic dresses.
You might be able to find dresses in second hand stores or in retail stores that do have that Titanic flair, but isn't as historically accurate.

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

Hello Amanda,

Please note that this thread is almost five years old and according to Stacie's profile, she is no longer a member of the board. Therefore, she may or may not see your message.