One of the best parts about going to the Great Dickens Christmas Fair are the costumes. They are amazing! Yard of taffeta and silk, flounces and ruffles, waistcoats and petticoats. Oh, I do want a hoop skirt.

It’s fabulously expensive to have a period dress made, so I don’t think I can go that route. If I were handy, I could  join the Greater Bay Area Costume Guild and learn to make my own. Or if I were even more handy, I could follow the directions on The Cup That Cheers and with needle, thread, duct tape and a hot glue gun, I could re-purpose thrift shop finds into a stunning costume.

Unfortunately, I am just a painter. Although I grew up in a family of Women Who Sew (my grandmother was a professional seamstress and furrier, for heaven’s sake!), I was never able to catch on to sewing. But sometimes if I want something bad enough, I can learn how to do it.