...Next trip I'll bring you some green silk for a frock to match it~

...Rhett says to Scarlett as she wears the green plumed bonnet he brought her from Paris.

As some of you may recall, I had Scarlett's Green Christmas dress made. To see the development and Scarlett's dress from the film, click here. Though no watered silk could be found, the fabulous jacquard made a lovely reproduction. It turned out beautifully! Thank you Christine!! Pics to follow!

I recieved it just in time for a Gone With the Wind event in St. Louis, MO. "Gateway to the Wind." Author Sally Tippett Rains wrote a book about Margaret Mitchell's GWTW titled, "The Making Of A Masterpiece". Sally put on quite a soiree~ In collaboration with actual stars from the film and many special guests, you were pea green with envy if you did not attend! Check out this recap of the three day weekend!

Day one was at White Haven, Ulysses S. Grant's home at Grant's Farm. Costume was not called for this day, but since I had spent the entire week previous to the event revamping a white ruffled dress I found on eBay; sewing on over 50 YARDS of lace... I had to wear it!
Here's a before pic of the dress as purchased~

I removed the red buttons and added white satin bridal buttons, adjusted the belt and added a vintage buckle, made a brooch, sewed lace to the bodice and tiers...

...added a hoop slip and voilà! Scarlett's white ruffled prayer gown~

On the eve of the second day, there was a charity ball for Rainbows for Kids. This my friends, is where I got to wear my green Christmas gown.... do you want to see?? OK!

Here I am giving that dyed hair woman Belle Watling a piece of my mind!

Hobnobbing with the guests...

Standing next to Sally Tippett Rains~ thank you so much Sally, for everything!!

Oooo, and a red taffeta petticoat!

I had a wonderful time and met so many new friends. SO much to tell!
This post has become quite *windy* so I shall share more later. Afterall, tomorrow IS another day!

BOO!

I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!!


I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!
Nova told me almost two months ago that he wanted to be a bat. So I got right on ebay and found this cute costume for only $10! It was a really chilly night, so it worked out perfectly.

He loved his wings!

It was also Nova's idea that I was to be a witch, and Daddy a ghost.

Cool.

Nice, cheap costume year!

Oooooo, creeeepy!

Glad I had this black vintage coat, I was cold! Had this nice hat to keep me warm too~

My son is really into skeletons. It's kinda making us wonder about him! LOL! He begged for this guy from Walmart, but I'm totally creeped out because it's "his" size~

I'm glad Nova shares my love for costuming! Unfortunately for him, he is just as anal about details as I am. He wanted me to look EXACTLY like the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz, and was NOT happy with my hat of choice. He kept showing me to pull my hair back like hers and that it should be black. Too funny!

The witch was fun to do. I'd never used liquid latex before, cool stuff!!
By the end of the night I couldn't stand it any longer tho... only because my nose was running inside the fake nose, LOL!

All good things must come to an end....


I can't believe it's been a year since we were Captian Hook, Peter Pan, and Wendy! WHEW! The time is flying by!

Ahoy Maties!

As some of you may know, Saturday (September 19th), was Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Lucky for us, the Pirate Fest was going on in the St. Louis area.

First, the wee lads and lasses were to make a booty bag to keep their treasures in. Loot could be found throughout the day at various merchants.
Here I am tucking Nova's bag into his pocket.

Next up we saw some beautiful parrots and parakeets. This one was looking for a cracker, but Kevin's pocket was empty~

Isn't he pretty? I forget his name, but he is six years old. They can live to be 120, so they are a huge responsibility.

Shake a tail feather!

Avast! It is finally me turn at holding him!
The lighting is weird here and it appears I have no eyebrows... I look like a Muppet~

He liked to play and was a very good listener. He also liked to be scratched under his wings.

I wore me best pirate garb. I don't have a full shot, but I wore the same outfit a few years ago for Halloween, shown here~
Only I couldn't find my coin belt and it was too hot to wear anything on my head...

And instead of boots I wore my funky Demonia coffin heal shoes~ with striped stockings of course!



This couple had exquisite clothing! I had to go in for a closer look. I definitely wanted to sew a new frock after looking at so many fine garments all day.

We were to stop at the Leathersmith to pick up some booty. Here Nova got to stamp a small leather medallian with a scull and crossbones.

I had asked Nova if he wanted to wear his Peter Pan costume, but he turned me down... which was suprising. We looked for a pirate hat there, but no luck within our budget!
You can click HERE to see us dressed as Captian Hook, Peter Pan, and Wendy last year.

We enjoyed the music. These ladies did a fine job! The one sitting played various drums, and in this photo she is playing a sickle. (Some folks call it a kayser blade, but I call it a sling blade...) Err... sorry, wrong blade!

*Ahem*

They are Shillelagh Law.

Follow Me Up to Carlow was a good song.

The song I am playing for this post is The Queen of Argyll, a folk song. (The version playing is by Silly Wizard)
A group called 3 Pints Gone sang it at the fest and I just fell in love with it. They were really good!

Here are the lyrics,

Queen of Argyll
Gentle men it is my duty
To inform you of one beauty
Though I'd ask you of a favor,
Not to seek her for a while
Though I own she is a creature
Of character and feature
No words can paint the picture
of the Queen of all Argyll.

cho: And if you could have seen her there,
Boys if you had just been there
The swan was in her movement,
And the morning in her smile.
All the roses in the garden,
They bow and ask her pardon
For not one could match the beauty
Of the queen of all Argyll.

On that evening that I mention,
I passed with light intention
Through a part of our dear country
Known for beauty and for style
Being a place of noble thinkers,
Of scholars and great drinkers
But above them all for splendour
Shone the Queen of all Argyll

(cho.)

So my lads my needs must leave you,
My intention's not to grieve you
Nor indeed would I decieve you,
Oh I'll see you in a while
I must find some way to gain her,
To court her and to tame her
I fear my heart's in danger
From the Queen of all Argyll

From singing of Silly Wizard
RG
oct97

Here are some scurvy pirates enjoying the music,

We missed the belly dancers, but I've seen them several times during the Renaissance Fairs.

Nnotty Bits put on a fun little show. Two guys did lots of fun juggling tricks.
This guy was on stilts with a wooden spoon in his mouth. The other guy passed out bean bags and we were to *toss* them so that stilt man could catch them on the spoon.

Yeah, he got pelted.

Back home, Nova was eager to sift through all his loot~

....so were the cats...


It was a fun family day!

Arrrrg!!

Welcome to the Gone With the Wind Ball!

Warning: My posts can be very "windy".... this one is especially long but I assure you I could go on forever! Much of my collection has been packed up or on the back burner for years, so I am thrilled to be getting everything out!

Thank you for attending, I'm so glad you are here!

Our dear Margaret Mitchell had no idea she would create such a stir with her incredible talent. We are celebrating 70 years of the film Gone With the Wind (1939), but the book was published in 1936.

If you have not read the book, you simply must. You don't know what you are missing. So much that they could never fit into a movie, and they tried their hardest!

We took a GWTW southern vacation before Nova was born. We visited the Margaret Mitchell House, the GWTW museum in Marietta, and the Road to Tara museum in Jonesburo.

It was SO amazing to stand in the same room that Margaret created the novel in. She sat in the corner by the windows. None of the furniture is orginal though.

While there I also got to see the front door from Tara, and the actual painting of Scarlett from Rhett's bedroom. This brought tears to my eyes. And for a long time, it had hung in an elementary school and has a lot of damage from kids poking holes in it, etc. WAHHHH!!!

In Marietta, one of the actual film gowns was displayed. I tell you, I was in heaven on this trip. It was the honeymoon/shopping spree outfit. Just phenomenal. So tiny, and such detail. The sleeves were amazing.

Margaret herself said that the film had the PERFECT cast. I love these photos of Margaret and Vivien Leigh~ both avid cat lovers. Just like Scarlett, Vivien was from French descent. Viv was so passionate about wanting to play Scarlett and it was an absolute miracle that she was discovered for the role.

I had to include a photo of Clark Gable without his mustache. Be still my heart...

I've been hard at work getting things ready for the Ball. Our home is 100+ years old and we have been working on it for 6 years. This is our stairway. We only recently took down the safety gate for our son. There is still much to do in this area. No trim around the windows but I just had to dress them up for the occasion!

I found the sage velvet drapery panels for $10 each. Here is Katie (Katie Scarlett), overseeing my progress...

I am the queen of cheap and when I saw this trim at a fabric store that was closing, I waited until the price dropped very low! It was originally $11.99/yard and I got it for $22 for 25 yards! It was fun to "pet" the whole bolt, so soft!

I just swagged the panels over the rod. I attached the fringe trim with safety pins. Yes, that's what I said.... it's just pinned on!

I went ahead and pulled the drapes to the side because I couldn't stand how dark the hall looked with them down. But I wanted to have something on the windows to protect my framed art.

These botanical prints are coming down.........

And my Walter Plunket costume sketches are going up!

These are each personally signed by Plunket, who designed the costumes for the film. He put out a 1000 copies~ my set is number 226. It is one of my most prized gwtw memoralbia. You can still find them sold separately, for around $125 or so each.

His work is amazing. He did a version of the velvet party gown in green as well, as it was described in the book.

There was another version to the drapery dress too, but it was deemed to exspensive to make.

There were also other variations of the BBQ gown... but this one won out. I'm so glad!

Now let's see.... whatever shall I wear for the BALL?

I've always dreamed of having a wardrobe like Scarlett....

And slowly, my dream is coming true! Let's go in for a closer look~

The drapery dress? Naw... much too bulky.

The blue mill bustle gown? Uh-uh. Too constricting.
And naturally I can't wear a red robe to a ball either!

(God's Nightgown!!)

White ruffles? Hmmm... too frilly.

Ahhh, the blue portrait gown. Nope, too heavy.

The jewel encrusted velvet?? My heavens NO!
Only a jezebel would wear such a thing!
Scandelous!

Green sprigged frock? YES, just right!


Mammy, be a "doll" and help me put on my dress~


I just took this Timeless Treasures Scarlett Barbie out of her NRFB state yesterday. What fun! Mammy is a World doll, they were sold in Cracker Barrel restaurants for the 50th Anniversary.

I had better get into my corset first~ custom made by Christine Hall.




This dress is actually a work in progress. The skirt is replica fabric from Pegee of Williamsburg and cost around $600 for the bolt, all of which is needed for the gown. I bought the dress pre-made from my friend Dee of Scarlett Online. She had had the dress made for herself many years ago and the seamtress butchered the fabric and made a very ill fitting garment for Dee. She wanted to have another gown made by a new seamstress, so I took on the task of fixing the frock for myself. I will have to make new ruffles for the neckline, the original gown from the film had over 1,000 buttonholes for the velvet to weave through! ACK!

Dee then found *the* GWTW seamstress extraordinaire and is very happy. If you want a screen accurate, museum quality garment, please visit GWTW4Ever, she does phenomenal work and is a long time gwtw collector.

So, for this picture I am actually wearing the Pegee fabric skirt with the top from this "naughty Scarlett" costume, LOL!

Most of my gowns need some sort of revamping. I need to find about 50 yards of lace to add to the ruffle gown. I have fabric stashed for the paisly robe and calico war dress. I need to finish the velvet party gown and the blue mill. All of these will be blogged about over the next several months! Christine Hall is making the green Christmas dress for me, which we put on hold for now. I have been learning how to sew and I'm anxious to tackle those BBQ buttonholes!



Scarlett wore 35+ costumes in the film. When the Franklin Mint came out with the 16" vinyl Scarlett doll years ago, I had to have her and all of her clothes. Some of the outfits I had made by Alana, as the mint didn't offer them at that time. Such as the wedding gown and the shanty dress; both of which the mint put out later.

Then in recent years, Tonner has come out with a GWTW line as well. Of course I had to buy one of their Scarletts! She can wear most of the mint's clothes and they have put out a fine wardrobe too.

The Franklin Mint Scarlett doll case was fashioned after the hat box that Rhett brings from Paris.


Here is Melly, (Melanie), laying on the bed while I took all of the ensembles out of their boxes and put them in the doll cases. (I have Rhett and Rose from Titanic too.) I don't even think Melly was full grown here. She has been doing fine, BTW. Still on the special cat food diet.

OY! This was before we redid the bedroom. I hated that Cookie Monster blue carpet!

Here's a collage of some of my dolls and the intricate little dresses~
click to enlarge, then click the back button

This is a 21" Madame Alexander Cissy doll, dressed in the red staircase robe made by Alana. She needs a new wig. I have the wig from the plaid mill dress, but not the dress.

I think I had better stop there, whew!

Here's a few links before I sign off. I run two yahoo groups if you are interested in learning more about the costumes or dolls, Gone With the Wind Garments and Scarlett O'Hara Vinyl Portrait. If you'd like to see more of my collection or better photos, click here. The tags at the end of this post will direct you to other gwtw posts here at The Scarlett Rose Garden.

Remember, I'm having a GWTW give away! So please leave a comment so your name can go in the drawing.

All of the GWTW Blogland Ball participants are below and in my sidebar, be sure to waltz on over and see them all! We are so glad you came!

(If your blog is not listed or you want it removed, please let me know!)
A Southern Rose
All the Queen's Chocolate
Angelic Accents
Beansie Babbles
Christine's Home and Travel Adventures
Colleen's Quilting Journey to Oz
Edie Marie's Attic
Fantasy and Fancy
Florence and Mary
Hooked On Houses
Loveleigh Treasures
Monkeyshine Business
My Enchanted Home
My Suzy Homemaker
Rose Vignettes
Rue's Peanut Butter and Jelly Life
Sassy Mini Dolls
Sherri's Jubilee
Simplistic Life in a Small Town
Soul Talk 777
Southern Sass
Tea With Miss Janice
The Pawsh Poodle
The Sunny Side of the Sun Porch
The Way We Are
Todas somos reinas
Unshelved Words
Yellow Rose Arbor

HAPPY 70TH ANNIVERYSARY GONE WITH THE WIND!