Augusta's Journey

A Belated Happy Birthday, Fredrik Wahlfelt!

Paul Axel Fredrik Wahlfelt was born 200 years ago, on 19 February 1817. It is very likely that Wahlfelt might not have celebrated his birthday. The featured image above is one of the few paintings of a Victorian era family birthday celebration. Celebrating birthdays became more common among well-off families at this time, but it was still more common to celebrate one’s namesday. Anyway, remember […]

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Join us for a canal cruise through Sweden, as we recreate Augusta Söderholm’s voyage in 1850.

Join us on May 30, 2017, for a 4-day cruise on the legendary Göta Canal! Augusta, in a diary entry in 1850, describes her journey on the legendary Göta Canal as “one of the most beautiful and pleasant trips one can make.” Augusta’s diary – which she kept faithfully throughout the voyage – provides us with an eyewitness account of her trip: her fellow passengers, […]

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Augusta’s voyage on the Göta Canal – “one of the most beautiful and pleasant trips one can make”

In July 1850, Augusta made a memorable voyage on the Göta Canal. The reasons for Augusta’s voyage was to wave goodbye to her brother August, who was to sail from Gothenburg to Cape Town on the brig Mimer. And of course, Augusta provides a colorful eyewitness account of her voyage. On the outbound trip to Gothenburg, onboard the steamer Götheborg, she spends a lot of […]

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My Valentine’s Dress

A couple of weeks ago, I finished my Victorian laced corset and the corded petticoat. Time to make the 1847 dress using my beautiful fabric from Sweden. All blogs tell you that you should make a test dress first in some cheap cotton to make sure the pattern works. Well, I didn’t even have a pattern. After having tried for a week to create one, […]

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The Illumination of Stockholm 9 February 1853

Stockholm, 9 February 1853     My Dear Adolf: It is evening and on top of all it is the large and remarkable illumination evening. For the last three days, I have missed my Adolf and in vain waited for you at the usual time; in vain longed, in vain complained, but this evening, yes this evening, there are no limits to my sense of […]

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Princess Lovisa arrives in Stockholm 15 June 1850

  “In February 1850, I returned to Stockholm in the company of Mother and Lejdenfrost.  I was forbidden to dance, and when I did not spend my evenings with Ekström or the Bohemans, which was often the case, one could be sure to find me at some concert at de la Croix Salon or in a lodge at the Grand Opera House. In the spring, […]

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How do you make a Victorian laced corset?

When we first started Augusta’s Journey, Kerstin got interested in the fashion of the time – the late 1840s – and decided to start making historically accurate clothes. Her first garment was a laced corset – the must-have underwear of the Victorian era (the original Victoria’s secret 🙂 ). It was beautiful! And it looked really professional. “Here,” Kerstin said, “try it on! And by […]

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How boring it is to be ill … but Wilhelm von Braun writes humorous poems

In the summer of 1849, I was mostly at home except for a few weeks spent at Fullerstad and a few days at Krusenhof. August was very ill throughout the summer and the joy and well-being during that time were rare guests at Loddby. The last days of the year, I had a violent rush of blood to my lungs, and was sick for 3 […]

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Balls, theater performances, and concerts

“I spent the winter and summer of 1848 at home in deepest solitude, sometime interrupted by a visit from and to Krusenhof. In January 1849 I traveled, accompanied by Hanna Schubert, to Stockholm where we stayed with baroness Ribbing. Naturally, we had a good deal of amusement: balls, theater performances, and concerts followed in pleasurable succession. Lessons in singing for Mr. Dannström and dutiful visits in return for the previous […]

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Will 1852 give us clear or cloudy days?

Augusta celebrated New Year’s Eve 1851 with her friends. She was 24 years old and life was still good: Today we were invited to Bååthens1. There were 10 other guests from Norrköping, and of the most boring kind. Luckily there was a tiny Mrs Lundmark from Malmö who was particularly talkative, just like the hostess, and as Gustaf2 and I made up the 3rd and […]

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