Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Wurstfest 2012 and finished Dirndl 2.0

Saturday after racing over obstacles and through mud, we headed down home to good old New Braunfels and went to Wurstfest with my sister and Brendon's family. It was cray cray. Last year (uhh, look how different/young we look!) it wasn't crowded it at all, but dang it was insane this year. I guess it was probably because we went on a Saturday night, but it got so crowded you literally couldn't walk. When we left it was basically one giant mob inside and there was still a loooong line to get in. Where were all those people going to fit??

But before it got ridiculous we had a grand time hanging with family, drinking beer, and eating German food. And of course we were able to sport our new German gear!

Forgive the obscene use of flash in these photos, it gets dark so quickly now! I also didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked, mainly because there were 300 people all up in your grill at all times and busting out a giant camera didn't seem like a logical plan.





Waiting in the three hour line to get potato pancakes with this crazy dude? Worth it, as always. It was so crowded that we had to go sit by the river to eat our food. There was zero seating anywhere!



 Mysterious Brendon.

Because of the massive amount of people, we stopped by the gazebo in the circle to take a few quick pictures. Although I grew up in this town, I don't think I had ever stepped foot in that gazebo until then!



Brendon got a TON of compliments on his get up. I'm not sure if it's because he's super tall (and a cutie) or what but so many random people kept giving him props. He did look pretty dang good in that lederhosen.


Julie sported my dress from last year, and she made it look good! I was really happy with my new dress. Forgive my ridiculous face and the terrible angle (I need a shorter photographer), but this is seriously the best full shot of this thing. Sad, I know. I've become such a lazy blogger.


Sewing details (preview here)! I used this Simplicity pattern and I altered it a lot. Obviously that is not a dirndl pattern, it's like a hobbit costume or something. I had to get a little creative to make it more like a traditional dirndl. I nixed the original "sleeves" that were attached to the bodice and made it sleeveless. I wore a shirt I already had under it. I shortened the dress and lowered the neckline, scandalous as always, and the original pattern was EXTRA wide in the bodice so I took out about two inches from the middle by cutting it down the center and creating a closure with about 8 hook and eyes. Those hook and eyes sucked so bad sewing in, but they were worth it. I added little ribbon loops so I could lace the yellow ribbon through the bodice and actually use it to make the dress more fitted, the original pattern had the option of sewing on some faux-ribbon-crisscross-action across the bodice. No thank you! I made the apron smaller and shorter, originally I think it was supposed to go all the way around the dress, that thing would have been huge.

It was a lot of fun to sew and pretty easy, even with all the altering. It was refreshing to sew on good old cotton after the craziness of my Snow White costume. Although the cotton I used is really heavy. The skirt is extra extra gathered, turned out pretty bulky. Do overs (aka, the 2013 version): Use a lighter weight fabric for the skirt, taffeta for the bodice (ay, ay, fancy!), longer apron ties (maybe just a big ol' satin ribbon), make a short sleeved shirt to wear under it (we live in Texas after all) and cut the fabric amount for the skirt like in half. Way too much gathering.

And I leave you with this oddness:


A German boy creeping on a German girl with way too much messy hair. Look at all that ridiculous gathering in the back of that dress. Overkill.

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