Hello sweet friends. Welcome to a fun historical Fashion Friday. Last November I spent A Weekend Of Wonder with some very special friends. There was music, dancing, feasting and so much more!
From England To Houston
Fresh from returning from a two week trip to England in which I visited wonders such as Highclere Castle and Leeds Castle I was so inspired to teach a class on Georgian Gardening. While at this November event I took over 300 photos and videos that needed to be edited. 
Upon my return home I jumped right into the holiday season with endless decor, baking. and creating content for eight Little Women Holiday themed posts and videos.
This is the first opportunity I have had to edit all the footage. But better late than never I say!
A Weekend Of Wonder
The Tournament of Defense and historical Material Culture classes were held at the fantastical Newman’s Castle in Bellview, Texas.
This event was organized and graciously hosted by Tim and Eide Guerinot.
There was of course a fencing tournament held at the event. I quickly watched one match between classes and you can see it in this week’s video. It was quite exciting!
Instructors and performers came from all over the world. Federico Marangoni is an fabulous reenactor advisor who traveled from Italy to teach.
My class on Georgian gardening was the first of the day.
I then attended a wonderful class on smocking taught by the talented Courtney of Opus Elenae fame.
Next, I learned the art of making aiglets from Francis Classe. He was extremely patient as I was a bit all thumbs.
Meg Duffy Vaughn of Tied To History gave the most interesting class on embroidery.
The amazing Whitney Rowlett (in green) taught a historic dance class and somehow even my two left feet were able to make sense of it.
I hung on Gigi Coulson’s every word as she spoke about Caterina Sforza, an Italian noblewoman and chemist. We recreated some of the Countesses beauty recipes and it was fascinating!
Chevalier Event
On a side note, I wanted to mention that Gigi, along with Christine of Sewstine, is currently organizing an 18th Century Chevalier event to be held on October 5, 2024 in Seattle, Washington.
My last class of the day was with dear friend Cheryl of Palmer House Designs. Cheryl is a milliner extraordinaire and it is always a delight to learn from her.
It was then time to look at the wonderful offerings from all the fantastic vendors such as Stitchin’ Addiction.
This was followed by an amazing feast and live music. You’ll have to take my word for it that it was truly delicious. I was so hungry that I forgot to take photos.
Tournament of Defense
This year’s Tournament of Defense will be held on Saturday November 4th at Newman’s Castle. There will once again be several fabulous Material Culture classes offered. The content of the historical workshops should be listed very soon.
This Week’s Video
I hope you will enjoy this short video featuring a weekend of wonder.
I’ll be taking the next few days off to move my daughter into her new apartment and travel to the Houston area for an event.
See you next Friday!
Laura
This look like it would have been a lot of fun!
What a fabulous event! And I have to say, you do do the most interesting things! I can see why it took so long to write about this — the photos are terrific and you’ve have more than a full plate. But it was worth the wait!
So cool to be a part of this event. thanks for sharing Laura