A Fair Prospect

We've lost a tooth!

2011-06-24T15:06:00.001-07:00

Not much sewing has been going on around here but there have been a lot of loose teeth! Noah finally lost his first one, and the top two are scheduled to come out next week via the dentist. We definitely could have used the Lord of Portland house around here this week!

The reason not much sewing has been occurring is that we have been out enjoying the sun and preparing for my surgery next week. I'll be having my 3rd ear surgery, and while I'm grateful for modern medicine that can correct these problems, I'm nervous about being out of commission for a couple of weeks. So, I will be offline for a couple of weeks while I recuperate, but prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated. When I come back, summer fun, reenactments, and sewing can begin in earnest! I can't wait!

Wordless Wed. - Gladiators!

2011-06-08T14:22:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wed. - Figures in Motion Ashurbanipal fights the Greeks

2011-06-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Queen Victoria's Birthday Party

2011-05-31T16:07:00.001-07:00

What would Spring be without the celebration of our Glorious Queen?

The day started out with the men saluting the Queen with musket fire, and a flag raising. (Here they are checking their weapons and setting up for the ceremony.)

The ladies passed the time chatting and sewing in the Parlor.

Some of the most interesting activities of the day were in the Granary. The boys spent a lot of time shaving planks and came home with handfuls of sawdust for their "collection". They also started asking for axes, tomahawks, and knives for whittling. Any thoughts on what age a boy can be trusted with these?

Both boys love to participate in the musical performances. I can't wait until they can fiddle, but they need to learn to read music first. Noah starts piano lessons in the Fall and I'm so excited for him!

I just love pictures of the boys in suits. It makes all their behavior seem impish rather than naughty no matter what they do. Of course, there is so much to do at the Fort and they have so much fun that they rarely misbehave there anyway.

I wish there were more meaningful work opportunities for them to do in modern life. When they have wood to help chop, gardens to tend, and places to run they are far too occupied to cause trouble!

Here's a close-up. Do you see that tooth sticking straight out? It is so loose that we may have a new post soon! I'm sure its a complete proud-mommy moment, but it is the first loose tooth in our house and so it deserves its own celebration worthy of a queen (or king in this case :)!

We had a lovely time and can't wait to return for a 19th century Cooking Competition next month! Enjoy the start to summer!

Back online!

2011-05-24T14:28:00.001-07:00

I am back online with a new laptop, thanks to a wonderful, loving husband. I have missed all your blogs and am sure I have a lot of catching up to do! Here is what has been new with us the last month or so:This is modern Spring Wardrobe piece #1. Its a double circle skirt in a cotton lawn from the same Hip Skirts pattern I used in the fall. Man, I love this pattern! Lots of versatility and very quick and easy to make. I was in a vintage mood so I bound the edges with bias binding, and added some at the top for decoration too.

We also have two new additions to our family! Meet our fish Jaune and Sol. Noah has been wanting something to be responsible for, so we decided he could try out big kid responsibilities with some fish. He is very excited and has an interest in foreign languages lately, so they ended up with French and Spanish names. They certainly brighten up our fish-themed bathroom!

I had an mid-19th century underwear weekend this month, sewing drawers for the boys and an underbody. I've never made an underbody before, but one of the tunics I plan to sew for summer is a sheer lawn, and it seemed best to have an additional layer underneath that. We'll see how that works out once it actually gets sewn (boys tunics are the next project on the sewing table).
I finished a boy's wool jacket from an original Godey's pattern just in time for our Queen Victoria's Birthday celebration. Combined with the vest and trousers already sewn of the same material, this makes up Noah's formal suit for the season.

I am also working on a yoked summer sheer (design post to come soon), we are putting together research for a historical "Ghost Tour", I have several more modern Spring pieces planned and/or cut out, and we *may* actually camp in period style for the first time this summer!!
It should be a fantastic summer of history and fun - can't wait to share it all with you!

Sewing to Sowing event - Living History season opens!

2011-04-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

My computer is having issues, so I apologize for my infrequent postings. We're trying to get it fixed, but until can get a warranty replacement, my access will be spotty. Darn technology - its such a blessing and a curse!

We did get out to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend at our season opening Living History event. We spent most of the event playing Graces, Fox & Geese, picnicking, and just generally enjoying the day so we didn't get a lot of pictures of this event, but we had a great time, and here are a few snapshots.

It was so great to see friends and spend time outdoors in the sun, which has been all too rare this year. It also made me realize I need to hit the sewing room to get going on our summer wardrobes! Here's to the opening of reenacting season!

The Musicale!

2011-02-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

Our reenacting season is underway and we had a delightful first event last weekend at the annual Musicale! We began with tea at a Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage on the Waterfront.

We shared tea, light refreshments, and socializing in the cozy cottage.

The day was lovely, but freezing with gale force winds. Still, we put on our outerwear and braved the outdoors for a few moments of the the view!

Then we hustled to the Ballroom in our carriages where we all changed into our finery for an evening of dinner and dancing. These dance cards graced our tables.

We were serenaded with delightful melodies by a talented pianist as we dined on ham, roast beef, and salmon, as well as buffet of salads and other sumptuous treats.

After dinner, the dancing began! We started with the Grand March and Quadrille and proceeded down the sets. In between sets, we enjoyed performances of song & poem from various guests.

My husband looking handsome in his Ball attire.

We were so pleased that the "Mama and Papa" of our group could join us and I was honored to dance with Papa.

In the end, we retired, satisfied but happy and very desirous of another Ball in our future.

Thank you to our incredible sponsors and all the effort they put in to make this event a wonderful success!

Boy's plaid shirt

2011-02-18T13:41:00.001-08:00

The first item on the crazy long Spring historical sewing list has been completed! This is a plaid cotton work/play shirt for Noah, complete with underarm gussets just like Dad's.

Shirts should be a fairly simple project, but to make them authentic, there is actually quite a bit of hand sewing. The final result is worth it, but it can be time consuming to flat fell all those seams. He'll wear this with some wool trousers & braces and a collarless wool vest.

We are headed out to the first Tea and Ball event of the season this weekend, so I should have some lovely (hopefully) pictures of actual reenacting soon! It has been a long, gray winter, and I am ready for some gaiety and fun!!

All I need to know I learned from Jane Austen...

2011-02-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

My Mom found this gem and picked it up for me. It contains such witticisms as:

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."
- Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey

And:

"If things are going untowardly one month, they are sure to mend the next."
- Mr. Weston in Emma

There's just nothing like Jane.

Projects from Christmas

2011-02-04T12:59:00.001-08:00

Alright, I know it is way past Christmas, but I don't think my brain has fully caught up to 2011 yet. So, here are a couple of projects I completed for Christmas, but never got to post.

The first is an imitation Anthropologie scarf made from a peachy cotton voile as gift for my very hip sister-in-law from L.A. I loved this project from Presser Foot because it seriously went together in 20 minutes and taught me the value of elastic thread. Elastic thread can gather fabric beautifully?!? Who knew?

The second is that I finally finished my second attempt at the 1930s Past Patterns skirt! Ok, it really only needed a zipper, but I find myself zipper challenged since I never use them for period clothing projects. Fortunately, this zipper tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew came to my rescue, and I am no longer so scared of zippers (although using a glue stick on fabric does seem a bit weird).

As you can see, the skirt became my Christmas wear this year. The design is surprising modern, and I guess the classics never go out of style!

I'm thinking I need a new project now - it is the doldrums of February and I need something to brighten my mood. Unfortunately, I have a pile of menswear that needs making up for Spring reenacting season and I'm stuck with a vest on the top which fails to motivate me. (I realize I'm always saying that I'm making a vest, and that is because it really is true - I've made at least 5 now!) At least this one is silk, but I think a good dose of men in waistcoats is in order to invigorate me - something gothic like Jane Eyre. Yup, that'll do.

I'm off to enjoy the vivid, stark deliciousness. Have a lovely, gray day!

Not so wordless Wednesday

2011-02-02T14:11:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly slogging through the backlog of pictures I have to post and I realized I never posted the child's version of the Mother/daughter apron set I made for our auction basket this last fall. Although Nate was not the most willing participant, you can get the general idea :).

I'm a very guilty feeling blogger, and I really miss my preschool schedule with the kids. It was so peaceful somehow. This year's crazy schedule that I'm currently maintaining of working at home, supplemental schooling and driving kids everywhere is not conducive to a lot of blogging, although as we get back into reenacting season I'm hoping to get some updates (oh and sewing) in, even if infrequently.

All the busyness is motivating me to think about unconventional lifestyles though, and what might be the best pace and choices for our family. If I can ever collect my thoughts on the issue, I might post on it, but the basic jist is that I'm starting to realize that some really creative things can come from unusual choices, and I think that is what I'm wanting for our family for the future.

I'm about to head into my binge sewing season, so I'll be updating the projects list, and then reenacting season will begin! Oh, and if anyone wants to hit the Sew Expo with me, I'd be delighted!

Merry Christmas Snowshoe style!

2010-12-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the beautiful Northwest! May the light and love of Christ fill this special day!

Hip skirts

2010-12-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

This year is ending somewhat disappointingly, with lots of illnesses and obligations. But I'm trusting that life is lived in seasons, and that this too shall pass. Because of all the sickness and responsibilities of a business, we haven't been able to make it to many events this year. So, for the time being I have turned my focus toward some modern sewing.

I really enjoy sewing now, and I don't want to set it aside simply because we have to take a hiatus from reenacting due to life circumstances. In fact, if anything, I need more creativity and beauty in my life right now! I've been busy attacking the unfinished and wish project list and I sewed up this "Hip skirt" in the last few weeks.

This is a cotton corduroy from JoAnns that went on an awesome Black Friday sale. The fabric was printed on the bias, which was how I would have cut it anyway. And did I mention that I love all the accessories that are in style now? Such a great way for a recessionista to change it up with out going broke.

Pattern is Hip Skirts by Favorite Things. Very nice, simple pattern and I think I will try it again soon in a button up wool version.

Wordless Wednesday - Ancient African painted hands project

2010-11-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

Totes for Teachers

2010-11-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

My pettiskirt is turning into one of those never-ending, fiddly projects, and when that happens, I need to convince myself that I can still sew by completing an easy project :). This tote tutorial from Sew Mama Sew did the trick. And since it is that time of year, I thought it'd double as holiday teacher gift. Now just don't spill the beans if you know one of our lovely teachers!!

ALHFAM conference

2010-11-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful time this weekend at the ALHFAM conference! We had some great classes on research & creating personas, as well as how to cook from period receipts, firearms and more. It is always so much fun to meet other living historians and exchange ideas! We had everyone from Medievalists to Mexican/American historians. And it was fantastic to catch up with friends from previous conferences as well!

I especially enjoyed the clothing presentation by Kay Demlow of Lavender's Green. She had re-created this 1840s silk dress from the Tasha Tudor auction awhile back and it was simply stunning!
Her daughter, Kelly, was equally resplendent in this black silk frock. It was lovely to meet both ladies, and they had some great ideas for historic clothing fixes, both in the mid-19th century and Regency.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too busy enjoying all the conference had to offer and chatting with attendees. I did return home to purchase some more patterns (Thanks, Kay!) and it is getting close to crunch time with sewing for our Christmas event. I actually heard my first Christmas carol this morning and I am nearly ready for that season to arrive! Let the mad rush sewing begin!

Halloween - the Mummy & Darth Vader

2010-11-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks ladies for all your sweet comments! They are lovely to hear as I head back into the off season for reenacting. I really need the motivation to get sewing!

These are the Halloween pictures from before we headed out to our church's Harvest party. I made the mummy costume which Noah picked since we had been studying Ancient Egypt. He hates things wrapped around his neck and head and refused to allow me to do bandages there, so we settled on a "skeleton mummy" costume with a mask instead. Nate would only be Darth Vader, for which I could find no patterns, so we went with the store-bought kind instead. I think they had a good time and now we have way too much candy! At least I'm set for my chocolate fix for the month!

Candlelight photos, finally!

2010-11-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Alas, October has not been a good month for blogging. We have finally gotten all modem switches online, as well as a new computer, since ours decided to fritz, so all technical issues should now be fixed. But the real reason I have not had as much time to blog is our news that this month we decided to open a business! Hubby has gone into private practice, which we hope will be great long term, but is a lot of work for us both in the meantime!

It has been a few weeks since Fort Nisqually's annual Candlelight Tours, but here are a few pictures of the event. This is an event that goes "live" in first person, so pictures are always set-up and pre-event. Enjoy!

Ugh, Technology...

2010-09-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Of course as soon as my sewing machine gets fixed, there is water damage in the cable lines to our modem, so our online service has been spotty at best, and non-existant at worst. The tech can't make it out here until at least the end of the week, so as soon as I can I'll be back to report on Candlelight Tours!

The Machine is back!

2010-09-23T13:02:00.001-07:00

My sewing machine is finally back out of the shop, and I've been able to get some progress done on a couple of aprons. I was drafted to make a Mom/Daughter apron set for a Moms Club auction basket, and I decided to use the Sew Liberated Lola/Lolita pattern. The pattern is based off a homemade vintage apron that originally sold on Etsy. This is the Mom version, I've gotten about a third of the work done on the girl's version. I love the skirty bits, and this was my first time using bias tape for binding, so it was a good challenge for me. I'm also too young to really remember the rick-rack phase of the 70s, so it was fun for me to use it to get a vintagey feel.

And since I've been in an apron researching mood, I came across this new Vintage Vogue pattern that I can't wait to make up at some point:

I love the idea of a silk apron, especially if I had fabulous dinner party that required a silk apron for myself as hostess. Ah well, a girl can dream can't she? :)

Wordless Wednesday - Mummies!!

2010-09-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

Change is in the air...

2010-09-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

It is fall, and school is starting for the little ones, which means changes for me! Nate is attending a Montessori preschool this year (which is small, peaceful, and adorable). After much soul-searching and prayer, we decided to enroll Noah in half-day kindergarten this year. We will do our homeschool in the morning and then he will go to afternoon K. We are going to take it day by day, and it is by no means a final arrangement, but we decided to give it a try. So far, so good and I am amazed at his maturity now that he has turned 6!

We also may have some bigger changes coming for our family, but for now we are just waiting and praying. Please keep our family in your prayers as well!

I have been sewing off and on (it is a fantastic stress reliever - and I never, ever thought I would say that when I was learning how to sew :), working on a pettiskirt for a friend's daughter. I wanted to do something girly, and now this is my sewing chair:

That is strips of about 100 yards length, but it makes such lovely, frilly fluff! Too bad it also broke the tension on my sewing machine, which is now in the shop. I still think it was worth it :).

I'm off to get in an episode of my new favorite BBC show, Lark Rise to Candleford before school pick-ups. Have a lovely day!

Wordless Wednesday - Building the Nile River

2010-08-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday - Go Huskies!!

2010-08-18T13:16:00.001-07:00

Pattern enlarged...

2010-08-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've been working away on the Naim Cloak, which I have sized up and fitted. Here are the final pattern pieces. I have cut out most of the fashion fabric and am just about ready to work on the quilting. I did discover that I will need both more fabric and more wool batting for the final product, so I may be a bit hung up until I can get to the store later in the week.

Meanwhile, I did get some good time to sew while the boys went to Seattle this weekend for a special event. Look for those photos for Wordless Wednesday!

Mostly I'm just trying to stay cool, since we have had a crazy heatwave here, and none of us in the NW have air conditioning. It is kind of pathetic how badly we all react to heat here! I'm thinking it might be time for a nice, tall glass of iced tea. Have a lovely day!

Wordless Wednesday - Our First Science Experiment, Crayon Cookies!

2010-08-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Design Post - Naim Cloak

2010-08-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I caught a nasty cold just before the weekend, so we were not able to attend Brigade Encampment this year. Despite feeling under the weather, I was able to spend some wonderful time visiting with my parents and designing new sewing projects (oh, and I heard the event went beautifully as well). First up on the new sewing list is the Naim Cloak for Fall.

I have wanted to make a fitted coat for awhile now, but the problem I kept running into is that this style was not very popular in the 1850s. Far more popular for outerwear, was the tiered mantle or loose cape (which I don't find particularly flattering). After spending the weekend couped up on the couch watching Daniel Deronda with Mom, I decided to research fitted jackets and see if I could come up with something that would be appropriate for 1855, but retain some of the lovely elements of Gwendolyn's silk jackets in the movie, set in 1874.

While scouring some French fashion plates from 1855, I came up with these design images. The bottom right image shows a long, fitted back on the coat along with some fringing I'd like to do. The top right image shows tabs to close the jacket as well as an open bell sleeve that I'd like to incorporate. Both are evidence that while not perhaps the most popular style of outer garment, that the fitted coat was at least a fashionable option in the mid-1850s.

Next, I had to decide on a pattern. I found an original pattern for the Naim Cloak from an 1863 Peterson's on The Graceful Lady website. The artist's rendering shows the fitted coat style in a nice long length, and the magazine included the original pattern diagram. I've never sized up an original pattern before, and they can be kind of tricky to decipher, so this project will be a new challenge for me!

Here is the pattern diagram after I have traced all the pieces and accounted for individual sizing in the measurements (broad shoulders, long waist, etc.):

The green piece is a coat sleeve, which I won't be using, since it makes its first appearance in the early 1860s. I'm going to change that to a pagoda, or a funnel sleeve, and add some fringing trim to take it "back" in style to the 50s. I will however use the body of the pattern to get the fitted silhouette. One aspect that is not apparent in the artist's drawing is that the front of the coat is a two piece, so I am thinking of doing a quilted silk lining in an accent color there.

As for colors, I am going with a Harvest theme - the paprika colored wool will be the body of the jacket. I am thinking of doing the front quilted panel in either a gold silk taffeta, with brown silk trim & fringe, or using a brown wool for the panel and trimming it with gold silk fringe. I haven't decided yet, so please leave me a comment on which you think might look more fashionable!

I have also updated the sewing list with links, so if you are interested, you can now click on an item on the costume project list and it will take you to the design inspiration image.

I'm off now to work on the actual pattern drafting of the cloak - I just have the back piece to finish and then onto some mock-ups to see how the pattern actually makes up. Have a creative day!

Cooking has taken over my life!

2010-08-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

While I get used to being gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free and egg-free, cooking and baking have taken over and bumped sewing from my life (temporarily, I hope).

That's how I ended up with these Peanut Butter-Banana mini-muffins. I started with a cook book recipe and tweaked it a bit, but the end result was yummy.

Peanut Butter-Banana Muffins

3-4 bananas

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup rice milk

2 cups white rice flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a food processor, add bananas, applesauce & peanut butter and pulse until smooth.

3. Add rice milk, flour, baking powder & baking soda and pulse until combined (this actually did not work well for me in the blender, so I ended up mixing by hand in a bowl). Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Bake until golden (around 13 min. for my mini-muffins)!

Enjoy!

Besides baking, I've been planning a few sewing projects, and researching pettiskirts since I really want to make one for the daughter of a friend. We also have Brigade Encampment this weekend so some event pics should follow. Have a delicious week!

Wordless Wednesday - Boys and their toys!

2010-07-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

19th Century Family Fun Night

2010-07-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Whew! Last week was VBS week and it totally overwhelmed me! Our anniversary, Noah's birthday, Family Fun Night and VBS always fall with a 1-2 span during July, and chaos inevitably takes over.

We did have a fun week though, culminating in 19th Century Family Fun Night which my dad was able to attend with us.

The boys did their usual tour of the bastions...

and Hubby showed off his new summer picnicking suit, including a fabulous linen frock coat and trousers made by Tailor Jim Ruley. The hat doesn't quite fit, but we're working on that (we still need to get a hat stretcher and stretch it a bit).

Family Fun night is all about games, so we started the evening by playing graces & an early form of badminton, while taking a moment to dine on ice cream and lemonade.

Nate was finally big enough this year to participate in the sack races, and to his credit, he did make it about halfway down the race before falling so much he gave up and handed his sack to another child. It was so cute to see him try!

Noah, being the big 6 year old that he now is, had better luck and he finished the race with Grandpa as his partner.

Noah posed for us with the ribbon he won from the sack race (along with all the other guests and participants).

Then, of course, it was time to line up for the firing of the candy cannon, which shoots out saltwater taffy for the children to run and gather.

We went home tired but happy. Family Fun night is always one of our favorite events because it is so geared to families. The weather was lovely, and has finally gotten warm here, so I have a few items I need to finish before our next official encampment in two weeks. And then, if I am on the ball, I will need to start work on Fall items as we have several cold weather events. We will see how motivated I can be!

Wordless Wednesday - Summer Vacation in the NW!

2010-07-14T14:56:00.001-07:00

A Linen Summer Waistcoat

2010-07-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

We are back from vacation and I have finally scratched an unfinished object off the list!! I began researching and working on this vest last summer with this post. It has only taken a year, but by golly, I did finish the vest!! It is made of white linen with a white pima cotton lining & back but without the goat hair interlining, so it should be cool in the summer weather (assuming that summer ever arrives here to stay that is - today's high was around 70 degrees).

Next, the plan is to work on a summer tunic and short pants for Noah. I really like the look of the tunics that Sarah Jane has done in this post, and I have some reproduction lawn, so I may try a short-sleeved tunic. I have the mock-up done so we will see how far I can get this week. Next week is VBS, which should give me a good chunk of uninterrupted time to sew.

We had a great time at the lake and perfect weather, so I will have some pics up tommorrow for Wordless Wednesday. We also discovered over the course of vacation that our kids can't swim and are terrified of water, so today they completed their first swimming lesson! We finally found a private pool with very small classes and despite my stress over it, the kids did fantastic!! I'm so excited for them that they will now be able to enjoy the fun of swimming! Lack of swimming lessons has been one of my biggest "mommy regrets" over the years since we have so much water nearby. I'm glad to have the safety aspect of swimming addressed and I'm hopeful that the kids will burn off some of that endless energy in a healthy way!

Our 10 year anniversary is also this week, and I can't wait to share the memories of that day! Also, if you get a chance, please be praying for Noah this week as he undergoes allergy testing. He has so many allergies (including very high responses to dogs, which we have) and so he will be starting allergy shots. As anyone who has a 5 year old, or has been a 5 year old, knows this will be a very difficult weekly experience. However, we want him to know the joy of pets & animal companionship, and allergy shots seems like the best option to allow him this possibility.

I'm hopeful that summer weather is just around the corner, so here's to the sun!!

The best of intentions...

2010-07-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I had good intentions of posting about new projects and plans for the summer, now that I have finished next year's lesson plans, however, even the best of us get laid low by sickness sometimes. I'm hopeful that I will recover just in time for our family lake holiday, but that means posting will have to wait until I get back. Until then, enjoy the summer weather!

Wordless Wednesday - Ahh, Summer!

2010-06-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

19th Century Cooking Competition

2010-06-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we competed in our annual 19th Century Cooking Competition at the Fort! The rules were as follows:

1. The entry must be created from a mid-19th century primary source receipt.

2. All ingredients for the entry must be available at the Fort during the 1850s, with bonus points available for use of regional ingredients.

3. The entry must be cooked on-site (over an open flame, in a working cook stove, or in the outdoor bake oven).

4. All entries must be accompanied by a story (the taller, the better!).

There were 7 or 8 entries, including the winner, Victoria (above), in her new work dress who was victorious (sorry, couldn't resist) with her contribution of a Victorian 6-layer wedding cake, complete with bridal bouquet and calligraphied copy of the recipe. Who could compete against that?!?

Our entry was fresh-brewed root beer from an 1864 recipe from the Feeding America website. We had several challenges with the root beer, not least of which was a train derailment in the midwest, which prevented our sassafrass and wintergreen oils from arriving in time for the event! We perservered by making a reduction tea/syrup from sassafrass root instead. And while we didn't come close to winning the competition (the root beer turned out very hoppy, and quite strong, although we did get bonus points for using regional Cascade hops), we had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit for our next attempt at brewing later in the summer!

Thankfully, we had lots of help from the other Fort laborers to chop & haul wood, stoke the fires and keep the bake oven hot (getting that to an even 350 degrees is a very tricky proposition!).

The second place winner, Mr. Thornhill, showed off his culinary skills while preparing braised Kale, German-style carrot and veal, pork & beef suet sausages, all from the cook book of Mrs. Beeton.

Other entries in the competition included a beef stew, dutch-oven bacon cornbread, a snared rabbit, a Puget Sound cod & crab chowder and the best rosemary biscuits you ever ate. Mr Eckrom persuaded guests to churn some butter, which was later molded and used for the biscuit entry.

We are tired today, but happy. We did quite a bit of intepretation at our station, which we had set up with all the different roots and ingredients for guests to smell & feel - we used Yellowdock, Burdock, Spikenard, Sarsaparilla, Sassafrass, Dandelion, Cascade Hops & Spruce oil. I haven't gotten to do a lot of interpretation lately, as I am usually busy with the children at events, so that was a nice change of pace. If it wasn't for the rain, it would have been a near perfect day!

I'm looking forward to the week ahead as I'm going off the grid this week - both kids are going to a day camp, so for the first time in 6 years, I will have a bit of time to myself during the day! I'm going to read novels, drink coffee and maybe play with some pretty fabric! So on that note, dear readers, Happy Father's Day and have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday - Yes, it is still raining!

2010-06-16T13:17:00.001-07:00

A Brewer's Apron

2010-06-14T13:33:00.001-07:00

Although looking suspiciously like a skirt on my mannequin, this is actually Hubby's brewing apron. Instructions are from The Workwoman's Guide (1840):

"Common Aprons

The simplest kind, and that generally worn by working men, is a yard wide or more, hemmed at the bottom and at the top, with a string run through to tie round the waist. It is thus worn by brewers &c."

I used linen fabric and linen ties from Wm Booth Draper. Aprons are one of the simplest sewing projects and a great place for any budding seamstresses to start!

We are very excited about our new brewing impression to be debuted at the next event, and spent much of the weekend tracking down Burdock root, Dandelion root, and Yellow dock root which, surprise, surprise, are quite difficult to find.

In the midst of this root research yesterday, we were interrupted by screams from the backyard. Upon investigation, Nate was crying and whining that Noah called him a "British guy". That's right, when our kids want to insult each other, they make historical references to the bad guys of the American Revolution.

I guess we really are that geeky History family and our poor kids don't stand a chance!

Original Work dress

2010-06-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is my original 1860s work dress which is now 4 years old and has been re-made countless times. We have actual working events at our site, so we need period clothes that can also work hard. This year's updates include china ringer buttons, waistband hook & eyes, and the patching of 3 bodice holes. With all those holes I seriously considered cutting it down and turning it into tunics, but I just have so many wonderful memories of events in this dress, that it would be hard to give it up. Besides, tears only add to the charm of a working class impression, right?

Wordless Wednesday : AKA, what happens when school is out

2010-06-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday 6/2

2010-06-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Plaid tunic and short pants

2010-06-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

In good faith that the summer sun will eventually make it to us here in the Pacific Northwest, I've been working on the kid's summer wardrobes. This is a transitional 1850s tunic style for a youngish toddler boy who is breeched, but not yet into mini-man clothes. You can see that the top still has many characteristics of a dress, but the beginnings of short pants are there underneath to show the male gender :).

And for all this talk of masculinity and boys in dresses, he sure does enjoy spinning the skirtiness!

The plaid tunic is a cotton madras plaid hand-me-down from older brother, and the pants are cotton twill. I'm happy to have tweaked the short pants pattern sufficiently to get the proper fit this time (including re-drafting the crutch seam) which took several efforts to achieve. Hopefully, he will be cool and comfortable through the summer events, which is the whole point anyway!

Cars are a necessary evil!

2010-05-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

This lovely little part is the cause of our most recent round of car troubles. Our van has now broken down three times in the last two weeks. That has to be some kind of record!! Each breakdown has occurred within hours of picking the car up from the mechanic for the last problem, and have been totally unrelated!

Cost of latest starter repair - Estimated $200

Total cash put into the car over the last 2 weeks - $2500

Piece of mind that comes from a Dave Ramsey emergency fund = Priceless!!

Seriously, we are very blessed that over the last two years we have done a Dave Ramsey style Total Money makeover, and even on our one income have been able to pay off major amounts of debt and stash savings. If you haven't checked out Dave Ramsey yet, do it today!!

Wordless Wednesday 5/26

2010-05-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try something new that I enjoy on other blogs called Wordless Wednesday. Obviously, it will not be wordless today, but I will try my best to restrain myself in future posts. I may post a pic of what we are doing during the day, the progress of a sewing project, or even just something that inspires me, but I'll let the the picture speak for itself. So without further adieu, Wordless Wednesday!

Queen Victoria's Birthday!

2010-05-24T19:45:00.001-07:00

The event begins with a bag-piped procession...

our resident Scotsman opens the ceremony...

there is a gun salute...

and a military salute...

the young gentlemen raise the Hudson's Bay Company flag...

we toast Queen Victoria's health and long life, and the celebration begins!

This event is always so much fun because it is just a party, rather than a working event (which is fun in a different sort of way). Everyone dresses in their finest, sips lemonade, snacks on ginger cakes, dances and plays lawn games. It is a real lark!

The boys always enjoy the woodworking tools, and this event was no exception!

Noah was thrilled to get out in the fresh air and sunshine (except for a passing shower, the predicted rain did not occur).

He did stop just for a moment for a picture with me.

The young ladies in their frocks chatted and sewed some finery.

Nate played jacks with a young visitor on the veranda, while Noah scribbled away on his slate.

Both boys tried their hand at croquet as we looked on. As a side note: croquet was not a popular pastime in the U.S. until after the Civil War period, but it was commonly played earlier in England, and as a British outpost, we portray it as a British custom.

Lark in the Dark arrived to play, and we all settled to watch the dancers, just like Sophia and her adorable sisters in in the precious clothing she made for them.

The dancers danced most of the afternoon, and it was a lovely, leisurely celebration of talking about costume dramas and enjoying the outdoors. Our next event is sure to be quite different with a fierce 1850s cooking competition (and the unveiling of a new brewer impression for our family) so this was a nice change of pace!

To the Queen! And to the Honorable Company!

Accessories

2010-05-21T20:12:00.001-07:00

I just have a minute to pop on the computer before I go back to checking all our gear for our event this weekend (we haven't been out as a family to an event in nearly 6 months so there is a lot of polishing, packing and preparing to do), but I wanted to share these lovelies that I just completed today. It is so much fun to sew lace that I'm now contemplating adding some to the new sheer I'm planning!

A costume drama + hand-sewing = heaven!

Despite the forecasted rain, I'm hoping for a relaxing time celebrating Queen Victoria's Birthday. Have a wonderful weekend!

An interesting few weeks!

2010-05-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

We've had some adventures the past few weeks and blogging has been getting the short end of the stick.

My oldest was diagnosed with some significant food allergies (dairy, eggs, & wheat) awhile back, and I finally decided that I should stop pretending they would go away, give up cooking two dinners every night, and get serious about Whole Foods allergy cooking. So, I have spent a lot of the last few weeks looking into substitutes for mayo, wheat, eggs and other staples. It has been interesting to say the least, and I think Trader Joe's and I are new best friends! Fred Meyer's organic section rocks too. All of this is hilariously funny, because if you knew me growing up, you will know that I couldn't even cook canned soup back then, and now I make mayo substitutes and gluten-free pizza crusts from scratch. Just another example of how God has a sense of humor!

I'm getting us ready to head out next weekend to our Queen Victoria's Birthday Party, and while most of the sewing is done, I am attempting some open undersleeves with Belgian whitework this week. This should be interesting because I don't really have a game plan or a pattern. At least I have the lace...

Oh, and our bathroom is being remodeled too, so I'm not exactly sure where to put the sewing machine...(not that the sewing machine was in the bathroom to begin with, but all the contents of said bathroom are currently strewn across the bedroom which is where the sewing machine lives). I'm also craving this fabric badly right now, and I may not be able to resist the temptation all week. Especially since our car broke down in a big way, I'm thinking some online retail therapy might help. Don't you think :)?

And the other child...

2010-04-23T15:32:00.001-07:00

was being a silly goof and didn't want to be photographed (despite being bribed with candy). I did get his clothes done, just in time for our first Living History event, which now will most likely be without children due to various circumstances.

I'm actually not even sure we will make the event tomorrow because of some sports draft (NBA? NFL?) - one of those many compromises we make for marriage and the best way to ensure hubby's compliance at all other Fort events this season :).

The back of the vest & buckle, which was my first version of a child's vest copied from an original plate with many thanks by Originals by Kay. This is (I think) the pattern that KayFig is putting out, hopefully soon. The pants are Period Impressions fly-front and are far too big for him, but I was trying to cheat going with a vest and no braces, so I'll have to correct that as soon as I have the time.

He finally smiled once I told him he was done. I hope to have some reenacting event shots for you soon, but either way, have a lovely weekend!

One down...

2010-04-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

Life is finally starting to return to normal, and we are busy preparing for Spring re-enacting season to start, although we did have to cancel our first Regency event due to some family health issues. I'm hoping to return to that period at some point, but for now at least we are back to working on our mid-19th century clothing!

The past couple of weeks I have been working on Nate's wool tunic. Somehow, the whole ensemble reminds me of Fievel from An American Tale but I know its accurate, so it'll have to do. Speaking of which, the kids would probably love that movie...I must remember to put it on the Netflix list :).

It is one of the first lovely Spring days here in the Northwest, so we invited some friends over today and took our History project outside. We were working on making wigs like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington wore in the colonial era.

Not exactly living history quality, but tons of fun!

Life is crazy...

2010-03-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

My last 2 sewing projects were completed with major errors that require fixes, which usually means my brain needs a break to keep my creative juices flowing. Hopefully I will get to one of them soon, but...

Hubby's workload has also upticked majorly, which means I am running all day to keep on top of his needs, house, kids and everything else, which equals no fun time for sewing and blogging. So...

I'm going to take a bit of a break, enjoy some Spring weather, and hopefully refresh my creativity to where I want to work on some new pieces. The beginning of re-enacting season usually kicks my bum in gear, so I'm sure I will be back to sewing soon. In the meantime, I will look to you and all of your blogs for some inspiration! Happy Spring!

Brown wool work dress done!

2010-03-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

My brown plaid work dress is done! I actually finished it a few days ago, but I had quite a bit of trouble with the skirt. While it is completely wearable, my perfectionist self had a quarrel with the dress overall, and it took me a few days to get over it and move on :). It was only my second time sewing an off-set closure, and obviously I still have a lot to learn!

The fabric is perfect for working in the dirt and fields out the fort, so I think it will be very suitable for the type of reenacting we do. The antique buttons, however, are so old that the fabric started disintegrating while I was sewing them on, so I don't know how long they will last.

And now I must quickly switch gears and start working on my Regency things for the Spring Ball next month! Wish me luck! I am so not a corset making girl!!

Sew Expo finds

2010-03-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

I love the Sew Expo! Not only is it one of the largest Sewing shows in the country, but it also brings the coolest vendors with the best fabric, hard to find notions, and great classes. I actually spent the entire weekend there last weekend, Saturday looking for mid-19th century things and taking an Heirloom sewing class, and returning Sunday with Lauren, The Lady of Portland House, and new friends Angel & Connie to soak in the Regency era.

Here are a few of the great finds!

This jabot comes from the booth of one of my favorite vendors, Stitches in Time, an antique dealer who always has a lovely booth at the show. Sadly, it is destined to be cut up and used for 1850s cuffs, but it is so hard to find antique lace, and it will make fantastic cuffs to compliment the black lace collar I found at her booth last year :).

I also found these great covered buttons at her booth, which the seller suspects were from the 1920s. I decided they are meant to adorn my new wool dress :).

Speaking of buttons, there were several vendors with calico buttons, which are generally expensive, difficult to find and used on all types of 1850s cotton wash dresses and wrappers. My own wash dresses are looking decidedly peaked, so I scooped up some for when I happen to take on the project of replacing them.

Some lovely buckles - the brown for an 1850s belt buckle and the rhinestone for Regency use in the hair (some aspects of Regency sound so fun!).

Our friend, Luc, from Cotton laces was sick, but he had a friend working his amazing booth filled with goodies from the Netherlands and Europe.

There were, of course, great silks (although a lot of them were gone by the weekend, given that the show opened on Thursday) and I can home with some lovely peacock silk for an 1850s belt.

And since Lauren is rubbing off on me, some lemon yellow batiste and light blue silk also made its way into my bag for a 1795 round gown with a silk sash.

And last but not least, a great Regency print for a day dress. It was so lovely to have Lauren to help me pick it out, since I have not yet trained my eye to late 18th century fabric prints.

I'm slowly working my way into Regency costumes as well as mid-19th century. I do like both ends of the era in terms of styling, so I'm going to be starting with the mid-Regency date of 1810 for a ballgown (in another post) and then working towards the earlier side of the 1790s. I'm also working hard to finish up my wool work dress this week. Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs. Casey's Tea

2010-03-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

This post is long overdue, but I was too busy having fun at (and recovering from) the Sew Expo. It will also likely be picture heavy, but there are such a variety of really good impressions and activities at this event that I want share them all with you!

This event is all about the Ladies, with the exception of a few select gentleman, including this handsome guy. Isn't he adorable? This year's tea included a Fashion Revue as well, so this young chap came along to show off 1860s fashions for a growing boy.
Candied flowers adorned Easter cakes (I can't recall the name or story of these, but they were well documented to the period) . Also on the menu were pickle, salmon and ham sandwiches, along with marmelade tarts and pound cake, and of course, a variety of teas.
We were fortunate to have our servants returning this year to bless us with their service skills. Here we have an excellent example of a mid-19th century wrapper and cap. While caps were far out of fashion by 1860, they did still appear on older women who clung to the fashions of their younger years and in some laboring or service occupations.
The cooks also graced us with their talents in the kitchen as well as serving during the main event. The Fashion Revue began with children's fashions - a girls party dress with chemisette and undersleeves, and boys plaid trousers, silk waistcoat and cravat.

While this is not a great picture, it is a great example of the next part of the fashion show - teen party dresses. The white lawn dress and silk sash are typical of a special occasion dress for a younger teen and the red flounced silk taffeta is an amazing example of fashion popular for all ages in the 1850s.
Anna modeled a lovely teen summer sheer dress in a white windowpane with a half-high lining, and a silk ribbon cravat.
Cassie, our narrator for the Fashion Revue, wore a wool riding habit and cap to demonstrate the variance of mid-19th century clothing for occasion.
We then moved on to women's day dresses - with Mrs. Casey and I wearing the plaids of the era.
There were fine examples of solid colored wool day dresses as well...

Mrs. Tolmie came over from Fort Nisqually in her finest wool plaid and shawl straight from the region of Kashmir along with Janet in a very suitable calico. (And if you are headed to the Ladies and Gentleman of the 1860s conference in Gettysburg, look for Kashmir shawls in the vendor hall.)
Another example of tea-time loveliness - a lightweight silk broadcloth dress and an original cashmere paisley shawl.
Mrs. Gove, wife of Steam Ship captain Les Gove modeled our evening ballgown ensemble, complete with floral headdress and a sheer wool shawl.
After tea and the Fashion Revue, it was time to visit the exhibit room- this year's theme was underpinnings. We did make some references to "le cage" as a suitable birdcage a la "Cranford", but a mostly civilized demeanor was maintained throughout.
Another feature of the underpinnings room was this incredible corded petticoat created by Miss Sophia's mother. There are at least 75 rows of sewn-in cotton cording, reproducing an effect that would have come pre-sewn in the period and taking an incalculable amount of time and patience!! This beautiful original tucked petticoat was also on display including a Broderie Anglaise whitework trim. The gentleman and Officers waited most patiently to take guests on guided tours of the historic buildings after their repast. And finally, the entire company gathered for photos and parting comments. The event was a great success for the Fort, a lovely afternoon and an enjoyable experience all around. Many thanks to Mrs. Casey and staff for bringing back the tradition of tea!

Brown wool bodice done!

2010-02-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

February is a short month, and a busy one with so many fun events, that who has time to get to the sewing?!? I really should buckle down here soon though or I will have nothing to wear to our Spring adventures. The brown wool dress is coming along, and the bodice is completed.

The sleeves are bishop sleeves, cut on the bias, pleated and backstitched at the sleeve head. They are common enough for a work dress, but add a little interest. I'm a such a girly girl, I have a really hard time leaving *anything* plain.

A detail of the cuff. The pleats are actually piped at the rim of the cuff to finish them off.

On another note, my sewing has also suffered because I am completely loving the Winter Olympics! The opening ceremonies were so Pacific Northwestern and included so much of the Canadian & Metis history that we interpret at the Fort.

I also can't get enough of the events. We love to watch Alpine skiing and Short Track, and of course, the Half-Pipe. Snowboarding is special to me because my brother is an amazing snowboarder and actually almost went professional. He even set up one of the Olympic Trial courses. I'm glad he's not insane enough to attempt some of the stunts you see on the Olympics (because they are crazy dangerous) but I am reminded of how great he is when I watch the snowboarders compete.

Ice dancing in particular has created some interesting fodder for costume inspiration.

Some of the costumes have been just plain gimmicky, like this Russian Aboriginal routine, which even included foliage sticking out of the ice skates...

And others had beautiful ethnic detailing I would love to incorporate into my modern dress, like this Indian routine performed by one of the US pairs. One of the men's skaters even had an incredible medieval inspired vest trimmed with fur!

Watching figure skating makes me realize that I missed my calling and I should have become an ice skating costume designer! Really, they do have a lot of fun, flowy fabrics and interesting interpretations.

I'm hoping that tonight's Ladies Figure skating will motivate me to finish my own dress as the projects are piling up behind it, and Spring reenacting season will come whether I'm prepared for it or not! Have a lovely day!

Valentine's Tea

2010-02-20T11:08:00.001-08:00

February is the month of tea! We are back from a lovely mid-winter break, which included an afternoon at the Oregon Regency Society tea.

We had tea in a gorgeous Victorian house, circa 1874. We were also treated to a Regency magic show, including an orange trick I cannot for the life of me figure out, and a ring trick I saw later in the week at the Children's Science museum. Very sneaky!

Lauren (The Lady of Portland House), who entertained us all with a beautiful rendition of a period appropriate song.

The Lord and Lady of Portland House.

The Lady of Portland house and myself. It such a delight to pass an afternoon in refined society with great company!

Hubby and I (although the only Victorians at the tea) learned how to play whist, which is surprisingly fun! It was also a treat to play cards in an era where it is appropriate for both sexes to play together - frequently I am confined to the parlor with the ladies, while the gentlemen talk politics in the dining room. It was a refreshing bit of time travel with less conventions and more frivolity!

Well, I am off to Mrs. Colonel Silas Casey's tea and Fashion Revue (this one firmly planted withing the Victorian period). My wool dress is also coming along and I should have an update to post soon. The end of the month also brings the long awaited Sew Expo and more time with like-minded fabric crazies (Did I say that? I must have meant enthusiasts :)! Februrary is anything but droll around here! Bring on the tea!

Nursing covers

2010-02-11T14:52:00.001-08:00

Well, the sewing has gone slowly around here lately due to some other real life issues, but I did have a blast making these nursing covers for some recent baby showers.

I made them similar to the Bebe Au Lait type covers, which use (of all things) corset boning to stiffen the fabric so you can see the baby. Of course, yours truly just happens to have tons of this on hand :). I love this concept, although they became fashionable too late for my boys to benefit from them. But, for those of you nursing moms, this is a fun little project that goes together really quickly and helps you feel beautiful while nursing on the go!

A wool work dress

2010-02-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it may not be as exciting as a silk dress, but my wool work dress is in need of upgrading. My current model is made of such scratchy wool, that it probably should not ever have become a dress, and to their credit, many of my friends warned me it was not suitable for such, but I failed to listen.

As we have a work day in April, which is still notoriously cold around here, I am working on this lovely brown plaid. I'm doing a pleated bodice for a change, so we will see how the final product comes out! I'm also working on some Regency undergarments, and my silk arrived yesterday for my Regency ballgown. I must get back to sewing...in between ordering fabric that is. I wish Fabric.com would stop having such wonderful sales this winter (well, not really, but they are very tempting)!

Thank you!

2010-02-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

Thank you, dear readers, for your lovely compliments. Truly, they were very generous!

I have been sewing quite a bit this week, but they are all gifts, so I can't show them to you yet lest I spoil the surprise.

I'm off to watch the new BBC adaptation of "Emma" to get some inspiration for my Regency ball wardrobe. Have a very happy Monday!

And the final product...

2010-01-24T08:34:00.000-08:00

Hubby and I had a grand time at our annual volunteer dinner, and I magically finished the dress 2 whole hours before the event! It was so refreshing to see all the wonderful people in this hobby since it has been a couple of months. There were so many lovely new gowns there it was almost like a preview of next month's upcoming fashion show. And kudos to the Fort and staff, they have created a lively event calendar that should make for an incredible 2010 season. Our family is so excited to participate!

Here is the official full-length of the dress. I wish I had a mysterious Victorian house to photograph myself in, or a deserted old ballroom, but our suburban home will have to do for now. Maybe someday we will get to restore something more antique :).

This the first dress I have made in 2 years, so I am simply happy I finished it! Having a customized toile fit by Carolann Schmitt of The Genteel Arts Academy, certainly helped inspire my confidence! Now if I can only make about 3 more to upgrade my dresses that no longer fit...ah, the joy of winter is sewing!

The trim!

2010-01-21T20:18:00.001-08:00

I've been pondering trim options, colored cotton lace like that on the original being out, and settled on this version. It is strips of bias fabric, fringed and double box pleated, and then tacked up in the center. The 1850s were all about fringe and frou-frou and while I do feel slightly like a cupcake, it generally suits my girly side just fine.

A sneak peek of the dress...and that's all you'll get to see until after our dinner this weekend!

Edited to add:
Interesting research tidbit - I talked with the owner of the original dress, and she said that the trim was added on the sleeve to cover the sleeve hemming which was done on the right side of the fabric. The original dress was really quite poorly constructed by modern terms (skirt plaids not matching at all, sleeve hemming on the outside). So while I don't have the same need for disguise, trimming is one of my favorite aspects of design and I can't imagine not augmenting in some way!

Sometimes I win...

2010-01-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

...and sometimes the dress wins, as is definitely the case right now. I think I finally have the skirt gauged after 3 tries, but there is still the task of attaching it and figuring out how to do an off-set closure. Wish me luck!

It's back on!

2010-01-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

The sewing machine is back and working beautifully. I always love how my machine sews right after its been tuned. It actually was really broken this time, so I'm glad I took it in.

The weekend rain afforded me some time to finish my plaid silk bodice. I'm pretty happy with how the sleeves turned out. The top sleeve is a two piece shirred down to a fitted lining on both sides. I'm a bit crossed-eyed, but the plaid is mirror-imaged on sleeves and bodice, biased and matched (with the exception of the underarm sleeves and side seams), whew!

The bottom bell sleeves are lined with white silk (not sure exactly what type, probably chiffon or habotai, courtesy of the Sew Expo remnant table) so as to show off the eventual white undersleeves. This is my first dress using custom and/or completely drafted patterns, and wow, does it ever make a difference in the fit! The bodice is drafted with 1/2" ease, compared with 2-3" of ease in a modern garment, so it can be tricky to get a good fit with that little wiggle room!

Our Northwest winters are quite rainy, so we headed out with the kids to our local museum's family day this weekend. The kids loved the fossils, dino footprints, replica dinosaur teeth and toys!

The rowed in their very own Native American canoe, inside the local tribes exhibit (which also had a nice display of various Hudson's Bay Company beads I wished I could use for reenacting).

The museum also had a furnished 1886 classroom (our school district is one of the oldest in the state, and while I'm not certain, I believe this was an original classroom). The kids found their seats and Nate started doing his "work." The books on the shelves were many that we have in our own home for study.

There was also a "pioneer" area with half a covered wagon, a general store and a place to try on some clothes. I almost wanted to volunteer to sew them some things, but I can't even keep up with my own projects! It was a fun family morning though, and the kids had a good time.

I'm off to keep plugging away at my dress, I'm gauging with tiger tape this time, so the stitches and gauging "pleats" should be my most even yet! Hopefully, this dress will be finished soon!

Drat!

2010-01-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

My sewing machine broke! It is in the shop until the end of the week, so while I am doing a bit of hand-sewing, these developments are slowing down my overall plans. It may be for the best, since the machine broke and forced me to hand-gather the sleeves on my plaid pink silk, which created the exact look I was going for, and in all honesty, machine gathering probably would have been too bulky.

Instead of sewing, I've had to content myself with researching Regency gowns instead :). I've ordered a slew of patterns from Sense and Sensibility to get me started. I'm thinking of aiming for around 1810 with my first look and was inspired by these images at The Victoria and Albert Museum:

I love the color of this one, but all that embroidery! Who knew there was so much hand embroidery on Regency dresses? Since I do not know how to embroider (nor do I need to add major time absorbing details to my sewing list), I'm not sure that fact will affect my planning.

The flounces on this one are fantastic, and since we have multiple flounces in the 1850s as well, I'm more comfortable with the sewing techniques. I'm thinking this may be an inspiration for a 2nd gown though, since I need to get something made quickly so I can attend some events.

Oh, and is it completely sad that I am now scheduling schooling around events? There is a tea I want to go to for Valentine's Day, so voile - I created our very own mid-winter break so we can travel and enjoy the event. *Sigh* My kids will benefit much more from time with Grandparents, right ;)?

Puget Sound Regency Society

2009-12-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

I think we are finally beginning to get over our house of illness and I am starting to recover from the holidays which means I can soon get back to my sewing lists. I love Christmas and all that it brings but housefuls of laughter do require lots of preparations and baking!

One lovely beginning for the New Year is that we in the Puget Sound region are getting our very own chapter of the Oregon Regency Society!

You can check it out here:
Oregon Regency Society Puget Sound Chapter

If you are interested in elegant economy and refined society, join us for our first planning meeting in February and keep on the look out for more announcements of future events! I guess this means I will need to do even more sewing...:)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Beginnings of the Plaid Silk Dress

2009-12-21T17:39:00.001-08:00

I've begun working on my first silk dress! I decided after working with the silk yesterday (while watching Gone with the Wind I might add), that I am so spoiled by the fabric I may never sew anything else again :). My inspiration is the dress above. The sleeves on this one may be a bit tricky and I'll have to draft them myself, but I'm excited for the challenge.

This is my progress on the bodice so far, I'm rather petite in real life, and I can't get my dress mannequin to go small enough to properly display the bodice, but it fits beautifully. It did take me a couple of hours of planning and frustration (made all better by a snack of chocolate peppermint bark), but I managed to "mirror image" the plaid on the bodice fronts, just like the original dress.

One of the many tips I learned at our conference last Spring put on by Carolann Schmitt of The Genteel Arts Academy, is how to do a faux 3-piece back. This back is actually a one-piece, but with tiny tucks that appear almost like piping. I need to finish up the bodice boning and piping, and I'll be ready to tackle the sleeves!

I am encouraged by how fast this went together now that I have a base pattern toile. Once I get a good basic sleeve draft, I should be ready to produce several dresses which will be very much used this busy season. I should be updating the project list soon with a slate of new lovely things for the New Year. Merry Christmas to all!

The Best of Intentions...

2009-12-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

We really had intended on going to the Fort's Christmas event, but our littlest one came down with a nasty chest cough, and the temperatures weren't predicted to rise above freezing all day, so we decided in the best interest of health to skip it. That left me with this predictament:

I created this coat for Nathan after drafting the pattern for his summer jacket. Don't be fooled by the color on the monitor (hubby has the camera set for photographing stars right now and I can't figure out how to change it :), it is actually a darkish gray wool with a black lining.

The dilemma is this; a lot of work and materials goes into making a jacket because of all the quilting (like these 1 " squares) and the fact that I use real sheep's wool for wadding. That makes a lovely, snuggly warm jacket, but kind of a bust when you can't go the event and the 3 year old will be sure to grow before next year's events. I'm not sure yet what to do with it...

The other thing I discovered while entering events into my Palm Pilot is that next year's (2010) living history season is quite a busy one, possibly including an Oregon trail event as well as a regional conference of AHLFAM along with our regular slate of events plus a couple extras. I'd like to squeeze in at least one Regency dance too. That means lots of new sewing in addition to all the fun. At least I'll have an excuse to buy fabric :).

Journey to Bethlehem

2009-12-13T17:18:00.000-08:00

What is Christmas really? This is what hubby and I have been considering this season. We love our traditions, gatherings with friends, and decorations and baking, and yet, despite all these preparations, which can even be overwhelming at times, we are still left wondering what it was all about.

Hubby and I were not happy with how Christmas went last year, in that we felt like it just "happened" to us through the media and consumerism and we didn't feel like we communicated clearly to ourselves or our children the true meaning of the holiday and the significance of Christ's birth in our lives. We discussed and prayed how to change that this year, and we heard about something called The Journey to Bethlehem.

The Journey to Bethlehem is a 10 church, hour-long living Nativity tour hosted in our area. There are 325 actors involved and numerous livestock, including camels, donkeys, sheep, goats and doves. The host church has actually, permanently, built the entire city of Bethlehem and added authentic sets and clothing. It is living Biblical history at its finest!

Somewhat ironically for me, the history nut, I have never really been particularly interested in Biblical history, because I sort of compartmentalized it away from the context of Ancient Roman history. However, Journey to Bethlehem beautifully situated the birth of Jesus within the greater culture and brings it to life.

Our dear friends joined us with their children, 5, 3, & 1 for our journey, so there were lots of kids and family fun. We bundled up and headed out to the country to see about this production.

Upon arriving in the tour station, we met our "family" guides and being informed that we would need to travel as a family to Bethlehem to pay our taxes to Caesar, we entered into King Herod's palace where he discussed with his guards the danger of a threat to his throne in the form of a new baby king. Our family guide was instructed to take us all on to discover this new king and to come back and inform Herod of any danger. We were given a medallion to show the Roman guards at the gates to let us pass.

Our next stop was the tent of the traveling Magi. They told us of their studies and how they were seeking a Messiah.

They explained they were bringing gifts. Gold because the Messiah was a king.

Then they showed us the Frankincense and the Myrrh.

Next to the Magi's tent, were their camels, which they graciously invited us to pet. Camel hair is much, much softer than I ever would have believed!

We then went on to the house of Zacharias and Elizabeth. They were hosting a feast celebrating the birth of John. Here Zacharias shows our children the tablet where he wrote (in Koine Greek, no less) "He is name is John" and immediately his speech returned!

As we traveled the roads towards Bethlehem and we encountered many beggars and lepers crying "Unclean, unclean!" as we passed. We came up to the gates of Bethlehem and the Roman guards blocked our way. This particular soldier loved children and let both our boys hold his spear as our guide negociated our way inside the city walls using the medallion he was given by King Herod (a real brick castle wall too!).

Once inside the city walls, the market was bustling with merchants and Roman soldiers. Our family guides supplied us with coin marked with Caesar Augustus's head for our purchases and to pay our taxes. We began at the city synagogue with the Pharisees proclaiming that we would never see the Messiah and our travels had been in vain.

We tried to bargain for this donkey, but the seller wanted 30 coins and we simply didn't have enough money to purchase it and pay our taxes!

There were many, many merchants and stalls selling all imaginable sorts of things. There were fish sellers, goats, spinners, blacksmiths, potters and weavers. These merchants sold baskets and held out their coffee beans for the children to inspect.

Nathan and I stopped at the grain seller's to try some of the flat bread that had been prepared in the nearby bake oven and to check out all the different types of grain available. The bread was quite tasty and unleavened (of course)!

We came to the Inn, and the Innkeeper announced that due to the census, there was simply no room for our family at the Inn. We would have to go on.

We were ushered into the room of Cornelius, representative of Caesar and the man who would collect our taxes.

He spoke of Roman politics, the importance of the Roman Empire and how grateful we as Israelites should be for all the improvements Rome had brought to our land. He referred to taxes as our duty to Rome as our rulers.

The Roman soldiers protected Cornelius and obeyed his every command, even when our family did not have the required amount for the taxes and they drafted one of our party into slavery!

After some intense negociating, our guide signed for our family on the census scroll and we paid what taxes we had.

We left the gates of Bethelehem then and went out into the surrounding fields. The night was clear and cold and the stars were so vivid out in the country away from the city lights. We could perfectly see Orion's belt and sword. We came upon the shepherds who had penned their flocks up for the night.

We heard a loud "crack" and then suddenly a host of angels appeared in the sky, telling us to fear not and go to Bethlehem! Then they started singing Glory to God!

Our last stop, of course, was the manger of the baby king, where a very tiny (real) baby lay heavily swaddled in his mother's arms. A dove looked on and a donkey lay in the hay nearby. The kids were in awe of the baby and oblivious to the late hour.

We returned home with some coin souvenirs, and the hope of a new family tradition.

It was late, and we were all tired, so I wasn't sure of the impact on the kids until the next morning. Then, just as we were getting ready for church, Noah came in our room with his baby blanket over his head claiming he was an angel and said word for word, "Fear not; for I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all the people; today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." And Nate piped up that Mary had the baby Jesus and he had petted the donkey she rode in on!

So when it comes down to it, Christmas is a story. A very powerful, life-changing, true story. This is what Journey to Bethlehem perfectly illustrated for our family, accessible (just as Jesus desires to be) even to the littlest ones because of its sheer reality. And in our modern lives with our Christmas lists, it can be so easy to lose sight of that story - the story of a baby, born in a manger, on a hillside out in the country, perhaps on a cold, clear night just like ours, when the angels sang.

Winter cap and Saint Nicholas

2009-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a blessed time of Thanksgiving with family and friends! Ours was certainly a restful time filled with laughter, food and gratefulness. We are so blessed with our family!

Over the break I worked on this little cap, with the pattern designed by Sarah Jane at Romantic History. I am so grateful to Sarah for posting that pattern! I used some lovely wool from the Pendleton Wool outlet, and some scraps from a shawl. I love that it covers the ears and will hopefully be much warmer for Nate when we go to our 19th century Christmas event this weekend.

(By the way, Nate is giggling because every time I tried to photograph him in his hat, he decided to jump on the trampoline and laugh because I couldn't get a shot. Ah! To be 3 again!)

It is almost December 6, and that means it is time for Saint Nicholas day! We don't do Santa in our house, but we do remember the person of Saint Nicholas, so for history we have been studying Saint Nicholas, the bishop, and how his love of Jesus led him to do great acts of kindness for the poor. Noah, ever the one to love dress up, immediately made himself a beard of paper after our lesson (I guess that is his "old" face :), and decided to wander around the house looking for toys to give to poor children. He seems to understand the concept of secrecy this year, so I am excited to see what he will come up with for a kind act to do in secret!

I was able to hit the Black Friday sale at the Pendleton Wool Outlet, so I refilled the stash and now have lots of creative ideas swimming around in my brain for the New Year. So much fabric and so little time!!

Fall at the Fort & in the Northwest

2009-11-11T14:51:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday was our fall work day at the Fort, and so although the weather was stormy and freezing, we dressed up and headed out to make the best of it.

The boys had fun running around at first, but quickly got soaked despite multiple layers of wool, and their hand and faces became cold as ice. When Nate's lips started turning blue, we decided to call it a day and left the event early.

Sheltering in doorways was the order of the day :).

I did get to pick up my pumpkin bonnet that the lovely Miss Cassandra made from the Past Reflections pattern, so all was not lost :). Now if I can just find another occasion to wear it soon...

Ah! Fall in the Northwest!! Rain, rain, and more rain! (Don't let my attitude fool you, I really do love the rain!)

We are comfortably settling into our fall routine, which of course includes lots of Pac-10 football. Nate in particular has taken to this and has decided he only will answer to "Husky's Jake Locker" on game day. He is in fact dressed head-to-toe in University of Washington Husky gear, and yes that is a Husky beanie baby he is holding, and no I did not dress him, he did it all himself! I'm afraid that one may be a football player!

I'm off to the sewing table, I must whip out some cute warm weather gear to keep the kiddos from freezing if I want to get them outside at all this season (which I desperately do as they express themselves as the wonderfully, active boys that they are :)!

I love orange!

2009-10-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

It is autumn and the stunning fall colors always inspire me to love the color orange. I was fortunate to purchase some luscious coral orange silk taffeta in the Great Taffeta Sale of '09 from Fabric.com.

I have a couple of ideas for making it up, I have 11 yards or something, so I'm thinking I should give a tiered skirt another try (although the math from the last one, made me promise myself never to try it again :). Here is my inspiration image from a German museum:

Another stunning orangy dress is this confection:

Hmm...I may need to ponder this a bit longer before I'm actually brave enough to cut fabric.

I was also honored to receive a Kreativ blogger award from Anna Kristine at The Art of Clothes. Anna Kristine is a fantastic blogger and amazing costume designer who consistently keeps me awed by her creations. Thank you so much Anna!

I may be blogging intermittently for awhile here as I am trying to get good study habits for school and life in place for the boys as we enter the beginning stages of education. They also are giving up naps :( so that greatly limits my computer time when I have to keep putting them back in their rooms!

I'm working on a couple of things for the boys for the cold weather season and our event next weekend, so I will get some pictures up once I am brave enough to actually try sewing fly-front trousers. Yikes!!

Candlelight Tours 2009

2009-10-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

It is always so hard to get pictures of this event, since it is a first person event that goes "live", but here are a few before shots :).

The ladies in all their loveliness!

Outside camps

I just love the way the setting sun hits the bastion and fort walls!

The Granary

The gentlemen

I am so not fond of that last shot of me, but in the interest of showing you what I was wearing, I thought I should post it :). The hairstyle is completely unfortunate-looking but was very popular in the 1850s. We can only assume that the same fashion theories applied to hairstyles; making the hair wider to make the waist appear thinner!

We had a great time at Candlelight (hubby really enjoyed himself and can't wait to do it again next year) and for the most part the kids weren't too horribly behaved.

First person reenacting with children really is an experience though! They did not buy into the game the first night and kept asking to go home, but by the second night they were playing along and calling each other Willie and Johnny and accepting that I was supposed to be their "auntie". Hopefully, with a few more years under their belts they will be pros and maybe they will learn not to shoot the pop-guns at the guests in the window (whom they are not supposed to see)!

I'm woefully behind on sewing for our cold weather events, and have loads in the sewing pile, so look for more sewing/inspirations posts later this week! (And project posts, if by some minor miracle I stay on track and get the clothes done :)!

Gentleman Hubby

2009-09-30T15:10:00.001-07:00

We did the final clothes check on hubby last night and here are the results! I love how the starched collar turned out and it reminds me of Mr. Thorton's clothing in North and South. Those big collars were a huge trend in the early 1850s!

The frock coat by Mr. Jim Ruley is truly a work of art, and it fits perfectly! I'm so glad since I am definitely not talented enough to attempt such a tailoring feat. I didn't get permission to post the top hat pictures since hubby still thinks his height makes it look goofy, but I'll try to sneak some pictures at Candlelight. I still have lots of ironing and prep to do so I'll be off, but I'll be back soon with photos of the weekend's events!

Peter Pan nightshirts

2009-09-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend finishing up the boy's nightshirts for our upcoming Candlelight weekend. Hubby says the boys now remind him of John and Michael in Peter Pan and I quite agree. I think the striped wool stockings add a little something as well. The nightshirts are made of canton flannel and are square cut with gussets under the sleeves. I hope they stay warm enough as we will be out way into the night hours and we are supposed to have chilly fall weather this weekend. I do love fall!

And lest you were wondering what our house looks like the week before an event, here it is! Yes, those are my starched petticoats hanging out to dry over our organic garden. I'm sure our neighbors think we are nuts (not to mention that we all frequently pile into our minivan in odd assortments of funny clothes) and maybe we are just a little bit. But we sure have fun!

Must get back now to hemming trousers and the frock coat - pictures of which will come soon. Looking forward to Candlelight!

True love looks like...an igloo!

2009-09-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

Why else would a full grown man stay up until 3:30am building a marshmallow igloo so a 5-year-old can learn the concept "I says ih" in a hands-on way? I love my hubby :).

Silk is here!

2009-09-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

My silk trim arrived from India today! I'm so excited to see what the plaid will look like on the bias. The colors are so vivid I think it will really liven up the gray wool.

One of our other major projects recently has been a fledgling vegetable garden. It took us the better part of a month to complete, since we could only work on the weekends, and it required multiple trips of stones, dirt and plants, but we are now the proud owners of a small backyard garden!

It is late in the season, but we managed to get some vegetable starts, so we have cauliflower, broccoli, kolrahbi, cabbage, cucumber, chives, fennel, carrots and radishes! I planted some lettuce seed, but I think it was too hot the weekend I planted because they never sprouted. I may try them again here soon because it has cooled off considerably the past week. It is a nice sense of self-sustainability, however small!

I should wrap-up now since I can hear the boys screaming in the backyard, but I had to share with you all, because the days silk arrive are the best of all days :)!

Men's Formal Silk Waistcoat

2009-09-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! I have had so little time in blogland this summer! We are starting to school kindergarten, and that and character/behavior correction with the boys seems to take most of my time lately. I'm hoping to get into a groove as we go along and find more time in the day as the seasons turn and we spend less hours outside.

I've been slowly but steadily working on hubby's formal silk waistcoat all summer, since I know that he will have an official event in early October. I still have to finish the shawl collar neckline and add handsewn buttonholes. The front facade is tan silk jaquard, and the lining and backing are polished cotton (although the cotton has lost its polish already). Once we receive the Frock coat from the tailor, he should be all set to play the groom at our event (I of course am the blushing bride :)!

I also picked out the pattern for the boys' nightshirts and I hope to spend most of this weekend sewing. Once I get through all the boy's & men's things I might be able to get back to dressmaking. I've been sort of burned out on sewing this summer since it seemed all my projects were must-makes instead of want-to-makes. Hopefully that will change soon as the sewing project pile is diminishing and must be replenished! I'm excited to get back into the blogs and creativity!

Mount Rainier

2009-08-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to do more Nature Study a la Charlotte Mason style, so last weekend we went up to Mount Rainier National Park. We are all sick again (it has been a rough summer around here healthwise between Noah getting mono & croup and now our second round of colds) so as I sit here nursing the sniffles, I thought I'd share some pictures with you :).

Nearly as soon as we arrived, Noah spotted a small beetle on a Mountain Daisy, so we pulled out the magnifying glass to take a closer look. We have been starting a nature collection (so far we are up to a peacock tailfeather and a pinecone) but flower picking in national parks is not allowed, so we came home with only pictures from this trip.

Nate had to try and figure out this magnifying glass thing too. The Pearly Everlasting was so beautiful!

There were hundreds if not thousands of people in the park, but since about 95% of visitors never leave the parking lot, once we were up on the trails it was nice and peaceful :).

The Mountain was covered in clouds naturally (it is WA after all!) but we still got some beautiful meadow views.

I am such a waterfall girl! I have been known to hike some crazy steep and difficult trails to get to a waterfall! Luckily, we have lots of them here in the beautiful Northwest! I love the way the mist was rolling in over this ridge too.

Mount Rainier is also home to a host of unique wildflowers that can only be found in a few locations worldwide. Here by the creek are some Monkeyflowers and Jeffrey's Shooting Stars (so named because their black tips and pink petals look just like a shooting star). I was also able to pick up a couple of wildflower and bird identification books at the gift shop. I can't wait to start ID'ing the birds at the bird feeder!

We did just a short hike up to Christine Falls (another waterfall!) of about a mile.

Noah and I climbed around in the rocks and waded a bit (Nate was in the backpack with Dad) and we came home refreshed for the week and looking forward to our next nature hike (which will now have to be postponed a week while we all recover). I hope you all are enjoying the winding down of summer!

Brigade Encampment!

2009-08-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely time at Brigade Encampment! It was very relaxing to get out and have fun and just "be" a family! We were having so much fun we forgot to take many pictures, but we did snap a few :)!

The event began with the Booshway announcing the arrival of the 1855 Fur Brigades. They included Kanakas, French-Candian Voyageurs, Russians, Umpqua, Snake River Brigades and others.

Dr. Tolmie and the other gentleman of the Honorable Company welcomed them to the Encampment.

The Booshway spoke to the Brigaders and guests reminding us all of the diversity of the region and its history.

He ended with a chiding reminder for the various Brigades to get along (mostly for the benefit of those French-Canadian voyageurs :) and the Brigade was opened!

The piper played us out to our various activities.

There were Trapper's races- which included setting a trap, running an obstacle course, loading and wheeling barrels, firing a firearm, throwing a tomahawk, running a gauntlet of laundry women with wet rags, starting a fire with flint and steel, and loosening the trap. All timed of course, and even some of the kids got in on the action!

The cooks were busy in the period kitchen preparing all day for the Saturday evening meal. Visitors could stop by and help churn the butter and grind the coffee for the supper.

My boys were busily being boys - playing games and trying to break into the chicken coop...

They tried to get their friend to help them get to the chickens...

Caught in the act!

5 year old + chickens = giggles!!

Sunday morning we had a church service led from the 1855 Book of Common Prayer. Micaila and Heidi from The Sewing Academy joined us (for this event and all of Brigade Encampment) and we were so happy to spend time with them again! These women are great friends and wonderful living historians!

As the guests emptied out and Brigaders began to pack up, April was hitched to her cart and driven around the Fort - giving us all the real flavor of an agricultural HBC site.

Another Brigade Encampment was history. And I was left with this image that reminded me of what so many women and mothers must have seen as they walked along the Oregon Trail. The joy of their family and the hope of the future...have an eventful day!

Hello again!

2009-08-07T21:08:00.001-07:00

Whew! I think I have finally taken care of some of the business of life that has been getting in the way and I am ready to head back to my sewing and blogging and a more relaxing way of life! We have made the difficult decision to pull the kids out of preschool for this year which hopefully will allow us to be more creative in our schooling and lifestyle! It is not without some regret, but I am pushing forward! We will be out at the fort this weekend for Brigade Encampment, and I will be updating posts this week on our 150th Celebration of Faith in Oregon. Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Paperback swap

2009-07-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on my technical kinks (see what comes of frugality and not upgrading your computer!) so I thought I'd share a site I discovered this past week: Paperback swap. If you are a bibliovore like me, this website is the best thing since sliced bread! You can upload gently read books you no longer need simply by typing in the ISBN# (can we say Twilight anyone?), and then when requested, mail them to another member and get credits for books you want to purchase. Other than the cost of shipping, which is just media mail, it is free!! You can also buy additional book credits if you get caught up in all the wonderful book offerings online for less than the cost of shipping at Amazon or Bookfinder. It is used book selling/trading at its best! Economical and fantastic for the environment!

Amazon also has a great sale right now on Live Butterfly Gardens, which include a coupon for the caterpillars, and since I mentioned them in a previous post, I thought I'd better let you all know! We will probably wait for next Spring to get our caterpillars because I'd like to let the butterflies go in our backyard after they change (metaphorphize? - I'm so not a science girl :). They might even be good for our garden!

Speaking of gardening...I've gotten very inspired by those of you who grow your own vegetables, so we are thinking of trying it out next year since I've managed to keep the herbs alive this long :). If you had only minimal space - say 6-10 feet for a garden, what would be your choices for home grown veggies?

I'd best be off, I'm stealing time as it is from birthday party preparations for Mr. Noah who is turning 5, and I'm needing to make dirt and worm cupcakes for a bunch of little boys and a girl. We're also prepping for a couple of big reenactments events at the end of next week -including a 1859 celebration of faith for Oregon's 150th anniversary. Pictures to follow soon - I hope! Have a great weekend!

Don't let my silence fool you...

2009-07-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

...we are having technical issues. As in all of our SD cards (and maybe the card reader) have gone out so uploading photos is a real challenge as of late. Add to that a nasty case of croup and some bad colds and we are just feeling under the weather around here. Hope to be back up and blogging soon!

The Big Huzzah!

2009-06-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it has only taken me a week to recover and wade through the pictures, but here is an account of our Big Huzzah last weekend. The kids adored the event flags and the rock candy was sweet!

The boys, as children have for time immemorial, mostly made up their own games. Here they are "working" in the wood workers area.

We had an official ceremony with the Mayor of Tacoma, most of the Metro Parks staff and even Congressman Norm Dicks to open the two new museum buildings. This is our new gift shop & exhibit building. The construction was done by a Ukrainian construction team with jointed beams to match the construction of the original 1850 Granary building already on site. (You can also slightly see our HBC flag, and lots of graces & hoop rolling too!)

One of our new exhibits features a collection of Native American basketry. We also frequently offer hands-on demos of basket weaving for guests.

Our canoe now hangs above the new collections and conference building.

The talented Fort musicians taking a break after playing for a vigorous group of dancers...

The dancing led by our illustrious Apprentice Interpreters (who won a City of Destiny award for teenage volunteerism this year!).

We tried to picnic quietly in the shade by the buggy and then the boys were off again...

To their favorite place within the Fort walls; the Bastions, where they are Kings of all they see and all sorts of imagined dangers lurk around every corner...

The highly-qualified Fort staff tried to help me keep up with them...

And in the end, their exhuberance spent running up and down the ramps of the Factor's House, we retired to rest and reflect on the adventures of the day. We can't wait for Family Fun Night in July with 3 -legged races, sack races and a candy cannon!

Whirlwind week

2009-06-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! This week has completely gotten away from me!

We went to our homeschool convention and wound up with loads of books. I ordered a science program from Sonlight so we will get to mess around with experiments and read about bugs, botany and physics next year. (I think we might order caterpillars and watch them hatch into butterflies!) I also ordered RightStart Math. This is a very light, hands-on math program that uses mostly manipulatives and games. I don't want to push the reading thing, so while we are doing tons of reading aloud, we won't be doing any "official" reading teaching. Noah shows no interest and is still really young, so I just want him to have fun learning without a lot of pressure.

Friday night our church rented out the movie theatre, so we saw Disney-Pixar's UP in digital 3-D. Noah was less than enthusiastic (what did I really expect from a kid who tells me normal life is "too real"?) and spent the whole time sitting by the exit. Nate, on the other hand, put on the 3-d glasses and said "I like it." Two minutes later, he shouted "I LOVE it!" in the silent movie theatre :). It was a cute movie and a fun family time.

Saturday brought our Big Huzzah at the Fort and we had a blast with the new camera. I'm still sorting through all the pictures but they will follow soon! Hubby actually said he was really glad we had gotten into reenacting because we have been spending more time together just being a family and helped him to feel closer to us after being gone so much at work. That comment made my day! I will bring him around yet! (We've started researching a new impression for next year and he is super excited about it!)

Saturday night we had tickets for the Broadway tour of the musical RENT in Seattle, and it was amazing! The two male leads of Roger and Mark were the original Broadway cast members and had some of the most incredible male vocals I've ever heard in a show. Everyone in the cast put on a fantastic show and I don't think you could have seen a better performance west of NYC.

We spent Father's day celebrating with my in-laws, although my poor father-in-law had to run between the lightening strikes to the BBQ! Everyone was safe and we had a good time, but it was some pretty crazy weather! The thunderstorms rolled in out of nowhere from a perfectly sunny & warm day, and you could see the sailboats down on the Sound scrambling for cover!

This week is Sports camp for Noah, and after one day, he has already declared that he would like to play soccer (which will probably change tomorrow when they play basketball :). For now, we are catching up after the events of the past week, and learning to work our new camera, so keep an eye out for photos soon. Hope you all are enjoying the early days of summer!

Summer Waistcoat Inspiration

2009-06-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well, life has been getting in the way a bit around here lately, with wee ones getting sick and causing accidents (who knew a 4 year old screaming in your ear could burst an eardrum?) and so the hobby sewing and reenacting has been a bit slower lately. We are quite alright with that because it is now the lazy days of summer!

I'm finishing up the details on the boys linen dress suits for this weekend and hubby is working on a barter deal for a new camera to better the photos in this little spot on the web. In the meantime, I am doing some research for my next project, a mid-19th century Men's Summer Waistcoat.

Here are some fine examples from various museums as inspiration:

This is an early 19th century example of a waistcoat from the Museum of Fine Arts. It is a wool twill weave, but because it is light-colored, I'm including it as an example of potential summer wear. This stand-up collar is not appropriate for my period of 1840-1860, but I like to see the evolution in men's styles. This vest is also identified as early 19th century due to the presence of only 2 welt pockets on the fronts.

Another fine example from the MFA, this waistcoat is definitely mid 19th-century as evidenced by the 3 welt pockets and the fold down shawl collar. This waistcoat is made of a white silk daisy brocade and was probably a dress vest. The buttons are covered silk.

This is a blue and white dotted cotton waistcoat dated 1850s from the Tasha Tudor Auction and is probably the closest example stylistically to what I want to make. Poor, accommodating hubby will never go for polka-dots, however, so I am going to go with a less-threatening all-white :).

Here is the white cotton backing of the dotted waistcoat. I am so intrigued by the variety of textiles used in men's summer wear. Lightweight wool, silk, cotton and linen all appear in extant examples. I also like looking at the various backs. This example appears to be a buckle, which is what I also plan on using, but lacing is another common form of ties on waistcoat backings. Waistcoats have been called the "men's corset" and were often quite fitted in the 19th century. Some were even padded in the chest area to make the chest appear broader!

This last example, also from the MFA, is a white linen dress vest. I will also be using white linen, so it was nice to see an existing garment, although this waistcoat is probably post-1875, due to the 4 welt pockets on the fronts. It is also double-breasted. I'm still working on research, so I don't know how common double-breasted waistcoats were in comparison to single-breasted during the mid-19th century, but if anyone has an opinion and more info on this I would love to hear it! I have seen a few double-breasted examples (including the polka-dotted vest above) dated to mid-19th century, so I know it was at least an option, if not common.

That is a glimpse of my upcoming project, once I get motivated to return to sewing more white fabric! Why are all dress items white? Is there a history there? The boy's dress shirts made from an original pattern arrived last week from the seamstress and the pintucks are exquisite, so as soon as I finish altering the cuffs, I will post pictures. Have a lovely start to the week!

Older Boy's Linen jacket

2009-06-08T15:23:00.001-07:00

Here is the older boy's version of a linen jacket, completed at last! The pattern is an original from Godey's Ladies Book and the trim is based off a fashion plate in a private collection. The jacket is bag lined with polished cotton, although I learned post-project that a summer jacket should be unlined. Fortunately, it doesn't get really hot here, so even with the extra layer, it should still be comfortable. I'm finishing up the pants as well, so the boy's suits will make an appearance at our Big Huzzah event this month.

Did I mention there is nothing more amazing than a strong man who is also a loving father? Summer time means lots of family time and I so love my boys! All three of them!

Herb Garden

2009-06-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well, its no Victory Garden, but a few weeks back the boys and I planted our very own herbs. I think the boys were a bit *too* excited about this, however, because they seemed to think it was great fun to mix up the labels and until the plants grow a bit and get more distinctive, I can't really tell which is which :). I even caught one of them attempting his very own brand of "watering" and was fortunate to be in time to divert him into the house :). Ah, the joy of little boys!

As for sewing, I have been buried under a pile of petticoats that need resetting all week, once that is done I hope to progress onto projects that are more fun! We currently have a NW heat wave that is zapping all my energy, as no one here has A/C. So anyhow, I'm off to melt into a puddle in front of a fan and watch some kind of snowy movie. Stay cool!

Awe-summ

2009-05-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to have received my very first blog award from The Art of Clothes (who by the way is a very talented seamstress with a killer blog so you really should check it out if you haven't yet) and I am incredibly honored! Thank you Anna Kristine!

Along with this award, list 7 things that make You Awe-Summm then pass the award on to 7 bloggers you love.- Tag your recipients (so they know they've won) & link back to the Queen that tagged you.

1. I can get just about any stain out of clothing using either 21st century or 19th century laundry methods.

2. I can talk on the phone above any level of kid noise in the background and still follow the conversation.

3. I can read most novels in a day (Twilight, by the way, I'm not lovin' it - sorry teens).

4. I can block a play all on paper.

5. I have a photographic memory and can remember where I have seen a certain word on a specific page or screen and how it is spelled.

6. I can recite a full theatrical audition in under 5 minutes with varying monologues, including Shakespeare.

7. I can command the attention of a classroom of 30 students and keep them engaged for 45 minutes of history lecture (well, on a good teaching day anyway - 4 year olds, however, now that is a different story :)

I pass this award onto:

Romantic History

Pastoral Symphony Farm

The Lady of Portland House

Congrats on your great blogs! I enjoy reading all your posts and sharing your lives in some small way :)!

Memorial Day Musings & John Adams

2009-05-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

The upcoming Memorial Day holiday has me thinking about the many sacrifices made for our freedoms and our liberties. A friend's husband and the father of her 3 sweet babies under 5, was killed in a Blackhawk helicopter crash in Iraq a couple of summers ago, and each Memorial Day since, I can't help but reflect on how much more liberty has cost some than others, and how grateful we should be everyday for those in service to our country. Taps was played this morning at church after a moment of silence, and each time I hear it brings tears to my eyes because I will never forget the moment the single bugler sounded those forlorn notes at Corry's memorial and how much that family gave in defense of our country.

I've been watching the HBO series "John Adams" in honor of those who took such great risks of life and property to found our nation. Although it is not my period of choice (if I lived on the East Coast it would be!) and being who I am, I cannot fail to appreciate the fantastic men's costuming. This reproduction of a Continental uniform was based off an original in the Smithsonian, and is an incredible work of art.

John Adams and Benjamin Franklin dressed in their finest to beg France for aid in the revolution. The cravats and waistcoats are stunning!! I'm getting ready to work on a couple of my own waistcoats and these are definitely fodder for inspiration even if they are nearly a century too early :)!
The embroidery and rich fabrics of Jefferson's ensemble belie his status as a wealthy landowner of the South. Colonial Williamsburg worked on the details of the production and costuming to produce a result focused on historical accuracy.

The Great Coat is one of those garments I have always admired but never had enough courage to undertake. I'll have to settle for the beauty of admiring this example.

May you have a meaningful Memorial Day, and as we celebrate with family and friends, may we all be humbly grateful for the many men and women who have given and will give their lives in defense of the liberty we enjoy in our great nation!

Queen Victoria's Birthday

2009-05-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely event this weekend out at the fort for Queen Victoria's birthday party! Pretty much the only pictures I get of the boys anymore are as I am running after them - actually this is a great metaphor for my life in general lately: running after the boys. I never imagined that mothering would take so much energy or that I would be so busy while accomplishing abosolutely nothing on my list at the same time!!

Nate loves to shoot anything moving!

The boys did try out some new historical toys. The Flying machines and Ninepins were favorites of the bunch!

We did get some wonderful family snuggle time in the heat of the day under a cool, shady tree while listening to musical group Lark in the Dark. It made me wish that I had a period reproduction book of read-alouds. We have been doing a lot of reading aloud at home recently, and I think it would be a great rest activity when we are out at the Fort, so now the quest is on to find a period correct version of Mother Goose nursery rhymes or other stories for young children!

John Salicco, professional reenactor and proprietor of There Was a Time... provided a perfect afternoon atmosphere with his music.

The young people taught period dancing to the music with our guests and whiled away the day playing croquet...

We did scuttle the children home in the mid-afternoon for naps, because it reached nearly 80 degrees - downright HOT for the Pacific Northwest :). We had a great time, and now it is back to our reality of rain, loong sewing lists and responsibilities.

I'm hoping to get more time to sew and post as the preschool year wraps up and as hubby's busy season eases off at work. I am so ready for him to be home more!! It is very difficult to try and run a busy household of two active boys by yourself. I'm sure this is just a season and this too shall pass, and hopefully in those moments I will be grateful that I spent time on my children even if my house is never again the same!

Boy's Linen suit

2009-05-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

This week has zapped me of energy due to a blast of wintry, cold weather. It's been 40 degrees and raining for days; unbelievably, we even got some hail and ice one day! It's supposed to go back to sunny tomorrow so maybe that will give me some impetus to actually get something done!

I did manage to get the buttonholes and finishing done on Nate's linen suit. I picked up the fabric at JoAnn's a couple of weeks ago, and it screamed boys' suits! Now if only it would get warm enough to wear linen!
The short pants are from the ESC pattern, the buttons are black tin from Abraham's Lady. I'm actually quite proud of myself on the jacket, because it is my first attempt at pattern drafting. I drafted a pattern from an original in Godey's Ladies book. It took 3 muslin tries, but it does fit with the silhouette I wanted. Maybe someday I'll learn how to draft after all! We'll be out at the Fort this weekend, so I should have some more event pictures soon of Queen Victoria's birthday. Enjoy the sun!

Little Dorrit Top Hat

2009-05-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Because I am still infatuated with the men's costumes from the BBC's Little Dorrit, and because I have been in a hat mood lately, I have to share our latest acquisition of a mid-1850s top hat.

The curve of the brim,*sigh*, the quality of the felt, *drool* and the overall look just makes one want to swoon.

The interior is lined in red silk and sewn with 16-18 stitches per inch!! A true work of art created by legendary hatter Tim Bender.

Which brings us one step closer to a Little Dorrit impression. Well, a girl can always dream :).

We're off to Seattle tomorrow to the Symphony and the Children's Theatre production of Goodnight Moon. Have a great weekend!

Boy's Prince Edward hat Part 2

2009-05-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

Once I purchased some leather glue, the hat really began to come together! The crescent moon brims are glued together, and a leather binder is ironed into a curved shape, glued onto the brim, and then stitched in place to secure it. Next, the brim is hand sewn onto the straw hat, through holes pre-punched by a leather awl. The hand-sewing was due to the fact that I couldn't fit the hat under my machine :p, but at least it was a relatively small seam :).

Then, I sewed in a linen tape sweatband placed just over the stitching line of the brim.

Finally, I glued in a linen paper liner with a stamp of the Crown jewels (being that we are Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Nisqually, and therefore, British subjects) and voila! Done!

I still may tack down the upper edge of the sweatband, but otherwise it is ready for summer reenactments!

Here is a front view:

And one from the side:

I learned a lot from this project, about boy's hats and how to work with leather. I think I will be going in a different direction for my younger son's hat, simply because the size of this hat is pretty large once you get the crown cut down. But, on the upside, we can use it for years to come!

Crinoline brilliance

2009-04-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on my hat, but in the meantime, I am totally digging this dress by the J. Peterman Company.

If I had the $$$, this dress would definitely be mine. It looks to me like a more wearable version of this Maid Marian dress from the BBC's Robin Hood that I have long been admiring:

I admit, I was not a big fan of the corset on the outside of the dress look at first, but it has grown on me. It does create an awesome silhouette, in making your waist look smaller as it goes into the larger skirt, which is of course, the same objective as mid-19th century dresses. Makes you think all fashions really do return, doesn't it :)?

Making a Boy's Prince Edward hat Part 1

2009-04-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

My current project is a Prince Edward style boy's hat like the one propped up on the book in this 1865 CDV. (Please note: I saved this image off of Ebay, if you are the owner of this image and would like it removed from public view, please let me know and I will do so as soon as possible.) This style straw hat, with a leather brim was a popular one for boys during the mid-19th century and can be seen in many CDV's and fashion plates of the time. I got the inspiration for this project from a very talented lady over at The Sewing Academy. I'm documenting it, because I think its a nifty little project, and I hope you will too!

I began with a $3 straw hat from a thrift store that had been crushed. I pulled off all the ribbons and hot glue (don't get me wrong, I love hot glue, it just doesn't belong on historic reproductions :) and I cut off the brim. Then I reblocked the hat on a casserole bowl using hot water and craft glue, leaving it to dry around the bowl. After it was blocked into the right shape, I trimmed the crown to 2 1/2 inches.

Next, I am hand sewing a brown cotton twill tape over the raw straw edges.

I cut crescent moon shapes out of a brown leather, and as soon as I can get to the craft store for leather glue, I will be in business building the brim. Pictures of that process to follow in part 2!

April Living History Day

2009-04-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Living History season has officially begun! Our first event at the Hudson Bay Company's Historic Fort Nisqually, circa 1855, was "jobbing about the Fort."

We set up our historic toys and picnic in front of the Factor's House so the kids could play and enjoy the volunteers and guests. This was our first time picnicking authentically, and aside from the amount of pre-planning/baking, it went well! I don't know how those women did it all, it really was "So Much To Be Done" as one aptly titled book puts it!

Sharing gingersnaps baked from an 1845 recipe from Feeding America website.

The boys built block towers with some of our youngest guests (and enjoyed knocking them down equally as much!)

Nate quickly made friends with Zoey, Nona's niece, and together they were double trouble!

The boys actually did help a bit with the chores, weeding the garden and such.

Nate could not be separated from his beloved pop-gun (which, I might add, is loud enough to be heard across the entire fort, and garnered many chuckles from on-lookers).

He even got "firearms" instruction from one of the officers of Fort Steilacoom (a nearby historic American military post)!

The fiddler began to play, and the children began to dance...

Then Noah picked up a dried out squash from the garden and shook the seeds to play percussion...

For those of you who know about these things, this was an entirely third person event, so we did not disturb anyone's experience by using a modern video camera. We had a great first event and can't wait for Queen Victoria's Birthday Party next month! I hope your weekend was equally as enjoyable!

Redesign

2009-04-24T01:10:00.000-07:00

From time to time we all need a little boost to our inspiration. Thanks for your patience while I experiment with design options!

Historic Toys

2009-04-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

I'm packing up some surprises for the kids for this weekend and they include lots of new historic toys! The boys already found the pop-guns I was trying to hide and immediately began shooting each other with those, but I'm also bringing blocks, tops, a Jacob's ladder, pick-up sticks, flyers, marbles, jacks, dominoes, an endless landscape puzzle, pick-up sticks and nine-pins (aka table top bowling). There is a slate and a slate pencil for drawing too. Between these and the livestock that will make an appearance (we're expecting horses, sheep & chickens), they should be happier than a lark!

I also found reprints of McGuffey's Original Primers from 1836. I'm intending on using them for some homeschooling work, but they can double for some reading at the Fort.

I was pleasantly surprised to turn to Lesson 5 and see that it was the word CAP and right there was a picture looking suspiciously like our cap. Maybe integrating some of this history and education into our lives won't be so hard after all! What an adventure it will be to see what new skills they take away from our hobby!

Drawers, tucks, edging, oh my!

2009-04-20T08:51:00.001-07:00

Drawers are ready for opening day! Three tucks each, with a cotton lace edging and bone buttons. I had to try and shoot some of that beautiful April sunshine in the background. Its not something we see everyday around here!

You'll probably see lots of posts from me about event prep this week. It always seems to be such a task getting ready for the first event of the season. This year we are going to try baking as well. Hubby is working on a flat bread, and I am going to whip up a gingerbread. I'll keep you posted!

Embellishing a petticoat

2009-04-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

When I begin embellishing, I just can't stop! I started out sewing edging on drawers (pics tomorrow), but then I decided my top petticoat could use some beautification too. This is the result! (Note to self: don't sew on lace after heavy starching - the result was quite interesting :)

Close up of the cotton laces and edging

This is what became of those lovely laces I brought home from the Sew Expo and even if no one sees my underthings next weekend, at least I will feel pretty!

A Little's Boy's cap

2009-04-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a Blessed Easter! We had a lovely time filled with reflection, worship and family. There was also a very cute discussion about how God made clouds amongst the boys :).

Before we started our weekend celebrations, I finished up Nate's cap.

The cap is from The Workwoman's Guide, made of wool and wadded with cotton batting for warmth. The trim is green cotton cord (with a little bit of rayon thrown in, but really, it is nearly impossible to find 100% natural fiber trims these days, so I do my best while still keeping to the "look" of original images).

The interior lining is silk from a thrift store blouse. Frugality and sustainability combined! I love this concept!

There is no brim, because after reading applicable sections of The Workwoman's Guide, and consulting a couple of reputable sutlers, the general conclusion is that brims were not common for very small boys under the age of 5 or 6 in the the mid-19th century.

Nate seems satisfied with the result! The wool suit is courtesy of Marta Vincent at Originals By Kay, combined with the tucked shirt I made previously. The suit is a reproduction from an original 1855 pattern and is completed with the cutest antique silk buttons.
Of course, even the most period correct attire will not prevent a two-year-old from displaying his true colors. Lets hope he won't make mud angels in this one!

Opening day is less than 2 weeks away and there are piles of tucks calling my name. So much for the fun sewing, now back to the basics! :P

Crunch time!

2009-04-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

It is crunch time! I finished Noah's wool button suit this week and am ready to move on to the other projects on the crazy list. (I'm not sure what the stick is about, he thinks he is an explorer or something :) Our Spring events are always the hardest to predict weather-wise so we end up needing twice the clothing for either warm or cold!

We have a little less than 3 weeks until event season officially begins! After that it will be a whirlwind of camps, trainings and of course events.

Still on the long list of projects are:

Wool cap for Nate

Straw hats for both boys

A Wool overshirt for hubby

A hoop for me

Linen suit for Noah

And I'd love to get a new dress for me done, but I can't figure out when!

In the midst of that we have end of the year/wrap up transitions that are already beginning! If you don't hear from me, I'm probably sewing! I'm so excited for warmer weather and events to begin again!