Gearing up

Our Civil War wall tent came this week.  Three very large and glorious boxes awaited us on the porch when we got home from work.

Along with my corset boots and stockings.

It is now sitting in various piles in our bedroom.

This is my first time wearing a corset.  I have never been so excited to take my clothes off as soon as I got home so I could try it on.  I lost two inches from my waist and it greatly hindered both my breathing and flexibility.  I felt so 19th century.

I wonder how tight I can go before I pass out?

Then I realized I needed to put the boots on before the corset and hoop skirt.  I have always been a fairly flexible person.  I took gymnastics for years.  This was the first time I could ever remember not being able to bend over and touch my feet.  J helped me lace up the boots which I found limited my mobility even more.  I could not even begin to imagine how the pioneers crossed the plains in these boots.  I cannot move my ankles and they are very slipperly.

Now that I finally have my period correct underclothes I will no longer be ashamed of flipping my skirt up for the crowds to show how many layers of clothing women of the Civil War wore back then.  No more must I apologize for my modern yet oh so comfortable sneakers.  No longer will I hear random strangers call out, "Your wearing the wrong shoes." or "I see your sneakers under there."  I even had one person, in all seriousness, ask "Were they bell shaped back then?"  No.  They did have stunted legs though, and because of this rode giant chickens, but were so embarrased that they invented hoop skirts to hide them.  Which is what I should have said instead of automatically flipping up my skirt and showing off my hoop and worn out sneakers.  But with my boots I will no longer be riding that chicken, but dining upon it.