Wool Plaid Bodice

Thanks for the comments on my bodice questions everyone! It really helped me mull this out.
I hope y'all had a bountiful Thanksgiving.

Well, I've been thinking and thinking while I've stitched my bodice together. (Thank goodness for a 4-day weekend!) I think I will use this collar for now on this dress, but add a bias band to it so I can just tack it on. Then, maybe I can make a fine cotton embroidered collar to wear with it more permanently and use the lacy one for either a silk (I have some plaid silk waiting to be made up) or my blue cotton lawn in the spring. But I'll use this one for now since I don't have time to make a collar for it before December 10th.

On the sleeves, I decided on a regular coat sleeve, but a little skinnier, cut on the bias with a ruched ribbon up the side seam. Lacking time to purchase any silk ribbon, I contented myself with using the un-period grosgrain ribbon from Hancocks. Can't have it all, I suppose. I would have waited and gone to the event plain, but the plaid really needed something for trim.

The armscyes seem slightly tight, but I'm able to do everything without being too constricted. I can pick up the baby and move around comfortably. Thank the Lord for small blessings. I loathe armscyes and especially having to re-do armscyes.

Well, I'm off to finish the skirt and attach it to the bodice, then on to baby clothes...

Blessings!

Opinions/Advice?

Astonishingly horrid images, I know. I must've had the camera on manual focus. And, well, I didn't want to put all that corset, etc, back on to take more pictures. I have questions:

1) A friend gave me this sweet little collar, obviously designed for a v-neck. I've been dying to use it on something. Do you think it works for this dress, or will it work better on a silk? Also, the "v" is fine, isn't it? Doesn't need to be deeper?










2) Fitting. Ok, it's been a long time since I made a fitted dress and I've...erm...expanded somewhat since the baby -- most predominantly in the bust area. While I'm not terribly disappointed to have a bigger bustline, it did put me in a lurch when it came to fitting a pattern. I only had one bodice pattern, already cut to size. Tried and true it was -- but not with my new figure. So I enlarged and then pared it down bit by bit. So....do the armscyes look too tight in the back? (It doesn't feel tight because the fabric stretches ever so slightly.) Armscyes are my most dreaded fitting area. I'd hate to cut too much out or I'll have this huge sleeve top.





3) About the sleeve. I wanted to do this type of sleeve (top right of the Simplicity pattern, shown at left), but now I'm starting to wonder if all those pretty gathers would just get lost amidst the contrasty plaid. What do you think? I love the visual effect a lot of these 19th c. patterns have -- and I don't want to take away from it. Maybe it'd work better in a solid?

Hmmm....what to do...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy start to the holiday season. Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday -- even before Christmas! -- simply because it's when the year begins to wind down to a close. The days might technically be going by faster (since they're shorter), but life seems slower to me.

Perhaps that's because I refuse to take part in the hustle and bustle that the holidays usually generate. There was a time when Christians didn't celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving, but I like to think that Christians were (are) still always striving to be in a mindset of thanks-giving -- thanks to God for the great bounty He has given us.

So, in the midst of a commercial holiday season where the hustle and bustle is strong and stress can be high, remember the many blessings, large and small, you've been given this year -- not the least of which is the great blessing of opening your eyes to another morning free to worship our Lord God.

So from our family to yours -- Happy Thanksgiving!

Goings-On

Are you hearing crickets at the "Day In 1862" blog yet? :)

I don't have anything of importance to say, so I'll just update you on the goings-on in our humble home. It has been busy. Tis the season -- in a number of ways. And not just holiday-wise. Apparently this is also the time of year where every franchisee in our company needs me to design an ad for them. Big ads. Not easy, little things. Victoria is teething pretty intensely now -- poor little bugger -- and that creates a frustrating environment for me. Keith has been working lots and lots of weird (and multiple) shifts, so he's been gone a lot. We're in the process of planning/deciding things about building a home. And I have sewing for Ft. Washita to do. I'll get to that in a minute.

To break the monotony (!!) one of the fun things I decided to do recently was enter into a design challenge for Valentine's Day cards at minted.com. Drop by my design studio at minted to look at what I submitted -- and vote when the contest opens for voting! It's a great way to encourage new talent out there, because the top 10 designs win a monetary prize, plus get a chance to have their design be sold on minted.com! Pretty awesome stuff. Plus, it's just all real good fun. I decided to start a blog for my graphic design, Two Leaf Studio, as a sister-site to my Two Leaf Press (a letterpress shop, which is not open yet). I'll be doing more design challenges as they come up in the future.

Here is a fun pic. Found it on the home page of istockphoto.com. I thought it was pretty ingenious, don't you think? Kind of reminds me of us reenactors, trying to be historically correct in a modern world.

Anyway, in other news, I've started work on a fitted wool dress -- thank the good Lord! -- that I can wear at our Ft. Washita event the 2nd week in December. Oh, I've had this plaid wool just sitting on the shelf for about 3 years now, just waiting to be made up into a dress. It's rather pretty (in my opinion), although it's not flowery or girly. It would make up into a wonderful tailored (more modern) dress, but I thought it would work well for a simple fitted dress. At a distance, it seems to look brownish grey. Perfect for the now-matriarchal me.

It's pretty clear from looking at that photo that I desperately need a petticoat for my hoop -- and it probably won't hurt to add a hoop to the bottom of my hoop, either. It shrunk once in the rain and it's had that large "drop off" on all my skirts ever since. I loathe this. And I can't wear my wedding hoop because it's covered (harder to maneuver, imho) and much bigger. I wanted something rather modest. So, I suppose it's a new petticoat for me (that was necessary anyway). Perhaps I'll make it with a nice flounce at the bottom to help hold out the hem. Or maybe I'll go flamboyant and make a flounced petticoat! Woohoo!

Well...that's all for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful (and tasty!) Thanksgiving holiday. God bless you all.

-Amy

Boy's Toddler Dress 1868

Found this picture in my stash on a {really old} calendar of historic fashions. The caption says: "Boy's dress, 1868, USA, worn by Thomas J. Heck of Urbana, Ohio. Brown wool with wide neck, short sleeves, front and back tucks, and faux front button closure, trimmed with black velvet ribbon and glass buttons." There was a photo of Thomas Heck in 1868 wearing it (at 2 years old), but I didn't get that scanned. :(

I liked the geometric nature of it.

Help?

Quick post here -- I'm in the midst of figuring out (ie: madly sewing) something to wear to our event the 2nd weekend in December and I need help with a coat sleeve. I want to make the coat sleeve that has the outside seam of the back sleeve somehow cut fuller so that it can be gathered into the front piece. But I don't have any time in my schedule to try and draft/mock-up something.

Does anyone out there have a pattern they could scan me (even if it's hand-drawn and scaled down) or email me (or snail-mail me)?

Cheers, y'all. ;)

-Amy

Battle For Myer's Landing

At long last, we managed to get to a reenactment where it wasn't raining. I've been feeling a little low, missing out on reenactments while all my blog buddies have been jaunting about, enjoying their season. This weekend we went to McKinney, TX (sort of my old stomping grounds, as I grew up in the metroplex) to the "Battle For Myer's Landing". It had rained previously, so it was a little boggy in places, but we found a place to set up housekeeping near a little tributary (if you can call it that) that was mostly dry.

Didn't get many photos, unfortunately, except ones of Victoria, who has proven to be notoriously addictive, if I may say so myself. Mainly, though, I was too busy trying to get things together around our "house" while handling a babe-in-arms to take any photos outside my sphere. We did manage to watch all of minutes of the battle, though. It was nice, but the organizers wildly over-estimated the participant and spectator numbers, plus they laid down tons of rules for reenactors that really weren't realistic. How can you set up camp when they won't let you drive on the grass? And how can you break down and exit the park when there's only one 1-lane exit for all the participants??

It was a little crazy. Most of us, though, had to break the rules out of necessity. We simply couldn't haul several hundred pounds worth of gear 50 yards to where our "street" was. Especially not with a baby. And especially not over hilly, rocky and boggy terrain, which is what it was. Sigh.

But we still had a good time! Got to see my dear friends Kerri and Paul, and their little munchkins, Sarah and little Andrew. Sarah turned 6 on Saturday. Happy birthday kiddo! It was fun to sit under our fly with our babies on a quilt and just chit-chat. Everyone who walked by were just tickled with our little ones.

Anyway, it was Victoria's first reenactment. She seemed to take well to it -- thank the Good Lord! We had her in the little dress Sarah Jane made, but despite the cold nights and cool mornings, the afternoon got really warm and we had to strip her down. Apparently I didn't get any photos of her in it. What a shame -- she was adorable! That little bonnet is from Sarah, though. Here are some photos, though I'm sure you're sick to death of seeing baby pictures by now. I can't help it. I'm in love.

{squiggly}

{mama and child}

{proud papa}
Tell me she isn't the spitting image of her papa...???

{kicking back on Saturday afternoon}

{little andrew munching on his bonnet strings - 7 mos}
This baby is so pretty! Long dark eyelashes and blue eyes. A total flirt!

{eating new rattle Pop made her}

{daddy teaching her about horses}

1830s Child's dress

This is for my blogger friends (Sarah Jane!) who are in love with the 1830s. Can you imagine dressing a daughter/niece/grandaughter in this? And it's an original, I believe. I found the photos while clicking through Googles regarding dollmaking. Click here for the blog with more photos and description of the dress. Its enough to make me enamored with the 1830s!

From the blog:

Emma is wearing a beautiful late 1830's dress of super thin tissue silk in a multi color blue stripe. The height of the huge full gigot sleeves was 1835-6, after this, they began to deflate, in the form of the fullness being tamed down in the form of pleats~ 1837 the pleats at the top of the arm, and gradually made their way down, 1838 sleeves banded down to the elbow, until just an awkward poof remained at the fore-arm, and by 1839-40, sleeves were tight as a second skin with the armscye seam waaaaay up under the armpit, usually making for a horizontal stress fold as seen in pictures of the era~ anyways, looking at unaltered sleeves are a good way of dating. This dress has matching lined pelerine as well.

Fashion show

Here's some photos of Victoria in her new chemise, her corded stays (they still need straps), and her little booties. I love that first picture. :)

1867 Quilted Baby Shoes/Boots

{ EDITED TO CORRECT PATTERN FILE }

Call me weird, but sometimes I just like the fun of trying to replicate an extant garment from the 1860s for our reenacting impressions. While I also find it exciting to create my own design (staying within period parameters of course), I've often found it to be a delightful challenge to recreate something as close to the original as possible. It's kind of like being able to enjoy wearing the original...even if you can't really own the original.

This pair of baby shoes from the Wisconsin Historical Clothing Museum caught my interest while I was still pregnant. But, since it was 1867 -- past the War years -- I didn't think too much of them, although I always thought they would be fun to make.

Well this weekend was the weekend. I wanted something warm for Victoria at the next reenactment or two, so I decided it's not so far out of the War years to make it impossible that something like this wouldn't have been worn by my baby in the 1860s. Besides...they're also adorable! I mean, look at the tassel! How can you resist that? :)

So off I went. I made some changes: the boot doesn't come quite as high as the original, but because I didn't want them to go all the way to Victoria's knees, I lowered it slightly. I also had bigger buttons on hand than the tiny ones on the originals, so I used 3 buttons instead of 4. And it looks like I've forgotten the little button on the top above the tassel. Oh well.

I made mine out of ivory cotton sateen. Very soft and pretty. I believe these could easily be made out of something other than a quilted fabric -- maybe wool? The top is decorative, but could be altered for a different look. All in all, it tickled me. And they look super-cute on Victoria. Now if I can get her to keep still, I might be able to get a photograph of her in them.

For your sewing pleasure, I am posting the pattern for you. I don't have directions included (since it's pretty easy -- bind edges, sew front, sew back, sew sole in) but I hope it's somewhat self-explanatory. I can always add directions if I need to. Anyway...happy November! Enjoy!