I’ll sing you a song, a good song of the sea!

Tags

18th century clothing, Lake Michigan, sailing

At the start of September, my friends and I had a most magical opportunity and we took it! We, along with some other living historians / reenactors, climbed aboard the sloop, Friends’ Goodwill and sailed out on Lake Michigan for an afternoon. This 1810 replica sloop is at the port in South Haven, Michigan at their maritime museum. We drove over from Wisconsin to make the 1:15 sailing excursion. Here are some photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2015 Year in Review

Tags

18th century clothing, 19th century clothing, Historical Sew Monthly, sewing projects

I really love the end of the year when all the seamstresses post their “year in review” with all their photos. It’s great to see everyone’s hard work. While I’m proud of the work I’ve accomplished, I feel bad that two years in a row, I had very ambitious plans, but did not finish much. I think after three years, I’ve figured it out. I am on Christmas break for two weeks. School is in the background – it practically no longer exists once I step out the door on the day before break. I look at pinterest and get all these ideas. I think, yeah with my skill level, I can totally whip that out. Except in the past two years, I’ve forgotten that I work 12 hour days (6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m), with the hours of 3 – 6 spent coaching. When I get home, I eat and fall into bed and do it again the next day. I spend all of my Sat from mid Jan to the start of April at Forensics tournaments and these are 8, sometimes 9 hour days. I get home, sleep for 12 hours and grade whatever I can on Sun. From Jan to April there is zero time for sewing. Zero. I think after 3 years, I have finally come to accept that. It is what it is. So given that a quarter of my year is spent not sewing, I guess what I accomplish in the other months is pretty darn good.

Finished projects:

May – Corded petticoat (for 1830s/40s dresses)

May: 1830s Dress

June: 1815 Dress (for my sister, who wore it at the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo)

 

August: Two 18th century jackets (and not pictured – re-done/fixed waist band on brown wool 18th cent petticoat)

Linen

 

Wool

 

November: 1840s Blue/white striped wool gown

Quilted Petticoat

 

I didn’t think I had made that much this year because not many (or most) of my projects fit with the Historical Sew Monthly Challenges. Because of that, I felt like a wee bit of a failure because every one else was cranking out these awesome projects that fit all the challenges. As a result, after three years of trying to make things for challenges and then getting frustrated because I feel like I’m not keeping up, I will, as usual make my start of year list for what I want to complete that will fit the challenges, and whatever gets made, gets made. Whatever does not, does not. It’s not the end of the world. I just have to do what works best for me, my historical clothing wardrobe and my living history needs.

Then I struggle with wanting to make more of the same garments for the centuries I’ve sewn for already because I want to make a better product, but at the same time I want to make more accessories, but at the same time I want to branch out more and try more eras – even though I have zero events in my area for that time period. It’s such a conundrum!!!!!! 🙂 But in a good way. #thesewingstruggleisreal

Here is my proposed list of projects for 2016 that won’t get started until after April 1, 2016.

Jan – Procrastination: Regency short gown

Feb – Tucks and Pleating: 18th century cap

March – Protection: Mantilla Cloak for Mid-Victorian OR 18th century pinner apron

April – Gender Bender: Regency Pelisse

Aug – Patterns: 1920s dress (will most likely make this because I have patterns and fabric all ready to go; more to come in later posts!)

Nov – Red: 1920s Middy blouse

 

I’m for sure going to bite the bullet and make myself a new 18th cent cap. I only have one, and while it’s okay, sometimes when I see myself in pictures I think woah, my head looks weird in that thing. Vain – perhaps, but a good enough motivation to make my own finally!

 

Conundrum: what to do with beautiful fabric

Tags

18th century, future sewing projects, hand sewing, sewing projects

I think many of us have been there: we are wandering around the fabric store, not really looking for anything in particular; more so we are waiting for the fabric to choose us. My husband laughs. A few years ago I found a bolt on the sale rack that screamed 18th century. I pulled all of the fabric off the bolt to see how much was there. Exactly enough for a petticoat.

This fabric is lightly quilted cotton with a dusty pea green and dusty “colonial blue” pattern. I LOVED IT. I also lovingly bought all of it.

My hand from wrist to middle finger is about 8 inches long.

So here is the conundrum. I found ONE example (so far in my initial pinterest search) of a quilted petticoat with a pattern printed on it. And I’m having trouble finding the original source for that one even. I’m not exactly one for just “inspiration” pieces when I’m at events. As I get more involved in my hobby/passion, I want to wear garments that are as close to an original as possible. I know that not every detail can be perfect, but if I can come close, I feel better.

My options:

• make it anyway and whatevs…I wear it saying it is inspired
• think some more about this and keep researching
• toss aside petticoat idea completely and make it in to a caraco or quilted jacket of some sort

I just love sewing large rectangles together…ya know?

Warm Clothing for Cold Weather Finished (for now)

Tags

1770s jacket, 18th century clothing, hand sewing, sewing projects

Almost a year ago I set about making some cold weather clothing for my 18th century impression. Read about that here. The petticoat was finished immediately for an event last Oct because sewing two rectangles is easy. The jacket was not finished on time because the entire process took a lot longer than I had anticipated / had patience for. I also needed to set sleeves about six times in order to get the hang of it.

Last week I finished this jacket. And today I finished my “warm weather jacket!” Hurray!!

Here it is:

I debated about the style of sleeve. I used the same sleeve pattern as I did on the previous striped linen jacket and my gown. It fits me well enough and there is one seam.

The only fiddly thing I did was make the sleeve a wee bit larger around. I followed this tutorial.

Here is my pattern piece laid out:

And a close up of the exact space between the two pieces:

I didn’t want it huge, but I wanted some wiggle room (because it’s wool and thicker with the lining). In the above pic, I cut out my lining first, then used that as the pattern piece for cutting the wool.

I used the same technique for attaching the lining and wool. Here are the pieces attached and “fileted”:

The wool is a little stiff so is laying funny at the shoulders which really bothers me because when I look at other people’s beautiful work, the shoulders on their garments don’t stand up like that. Because this is only the third or fourth set of sleeves I’ve done, I’m thinking it could be that the wool plus lining makes it bulky (what is the period correct way to get rid of that?); it could be I have too many pleats (is there a proper number?); it could be that my sleeve head is too big (how do I trim it without chopping too much off?). I have a lot to learn yet, but at this point, I’m just happy to have a lined wool jacket to keep me warm!

 

Two different types of lining:

The pinky red is just on the bodice and is worsted wool. The sleeves are natural colored linen. Between the wool and worsted wool is a wool batting interlining. I knew flatlining this to the striped wool would make things bulky in some spots, but I didn’t realize how bulky. You can’t really tell from the pictures or if you were just standing in front of me, but when you handle the garment…yeah. But it works. And it’s all hand sewn. And it’s done.

 

And now my little cold weather ensemble:

It’s all ready for an event Sept 12 – two weeks ahead of time!!!!!! (almost 3 – wow!) No deadline fear here!

The wool for the petticoat, wool tape for petticoat hem, and all fabric for jacket was purchased from the most wonderful, WM Booth Draper! (For this petticoat, we miscalculated the amount of blue wool tape and at the next event I got the 10 inches I needed and Mr. Booth sewed it on my petticoat himself! Now that’s service. 😉 )

 

 

 

 

New 18th Century Jacket

Tags

1780s Jacket, 18th century, hand sewing, historic clothing

Gotta love when you start something a year ago and finally finish it almost exactly a year later. Such is life I suppose. Since beginning my “career” as a reenactor/living historian, I’ve had one plain blue jacket. It’s nice; it doesn’t show the dirt. Before I fully jumped into sewing, I purchased one because I thought making a jacket would be “too difficult.” I guess you could say I took my time with this one, though it feels more like some little bumps in the road to smooth sewing set me back. But there is no greater feeling than putting in that last stitch and slinging the garment on your dress form to take photos!!! Yay!!

Here it is!!

My main role at most events is a middling class impression. Therefore, all of my garments are wool or linen. (I’m easing out the cotton “for now” ones I made when I started the hobby). For now I’m leaving this jacket untrimmed. But I can see adding some embellishments in the future. I used the JP Ryan Jacket pattern view D and ended up adding an insert to each side because even though I’m narrow/slender, whatever size I cut for myself somehow did not fit me. I added about an inch on each side of the front opening to give it some overlap. It pins with straight pins down the front. Originally view D was supposed to have a stomacher and lace up the front. But that just seemed like too much work. Ha. It’s entirely hand sewn with linen for the fashion fabric and lining purchased from WM Booth Draper.

 

 

 

I loved the pointed tails on view D. I also love working with stripes and getting the lines to match up in the center back!

 

 

Here is a view of the side bit that was added. At least it looks nice with the stripes.

It’s fully lined. Also evident in this pic: me too lazy to even put my stays on the dress form.

 

 

I’m also really proud of myself because last year a friend told me about this neat way to line sleeves by sewing just one seam. I was a little hesitant because I really did not want to mess it up. I looked at a few pictures online and visualized everything and what not. Then I just pinned and double checked the fit and everything and then started sewing away. When I went to flip the sleeves – it worked!!!!!! It was seriously the easiest way to line sleeves for 18th cent garments and I can’t imagine doing it any other way now.

 

 

And now a bit of preliminary research for embellishment…

I love the matching fabric pleated trim and contrasting color ribbons. I really do. A lot.

From Costumer’s Guide from Manchester Collection

 

 

 

Year in Review in which I ruminate about past and future sewing projects

Tags

18th century clothing, 19th century clothing, future sewing projects, historic clothing, Regency, sewing projects

 

The past week and a half of 2014 has resulted in cloudy skies and zero sun. The Monday after Christmas in the UP, there was a ton of sun for our drive home. I had to capture that sun through the snow-covered branches before we left town in case I didn’t see sun again the rest of the winter.

Despite the sun, the kitty was not a huge fan of the icy temps and only spent a few seconds outside.

 

I did not meet any of the challenges for the 2014 Historical Sew Fortnightly, except the first one. Woops. But I finally got to wear my creation a year later at an event! Hurray! I’m a little disappointed in myself, but by now I should realize that Christmas break is deceptive in that I think I have all this time to sew and then forensics season starts and I coach every day from 3 – 6 p.m. and when I get home, I barely have enough time to make dinner. By 8 p.m. every night, I’m washing my face, brushing my teeth, and then crawling in bed to read. Sewing until midnight – totally not feasible. I’m still determined to finish my projects though that would have fit into the challenges from last year. Though I won’t post them on the HSF fb page, I’ll still post them here eventually (aka once they’re finished).

Unfinished projects:

I think many of these did not get finished because I ran into roadblocks. Sometimes I don’t know what stopped me from just pushing through and figuring it out on my own. Maybe fear of getting it wrong and not having enough fabric? I don’t know. It’s frustrating to say the least.

Yellow Regency Half Robe – which would have fit into “bodice,” “yellow,” and “political” challenges

– Roadblock: I was worried that if I didn’t have a proper Regency corset, that if I sewed the bustline in place, it would be wrong and I’d have to take it out and redo it. That’s not a huge deal at all because it’s a simple, straight seam.

– Why it’s still not finished: Sleeves are sewn together, just not attached because I’m lazy. And I wasn’t sure how to properly line up the seam for the sleeve, but I figured it out with the brown gown and now I’m just lazy.

Wool Jacket – which would have fit into “black and white” and “bodice” challenges

– Roadblock: I ran out of time. I decided to flatline the outer pieces of wool with an inner wool lining and that took an exorbitant amount of time to cut out the pattern for each piece a third time. I still have to cut out the sleeves, but I’m waiting on that because I still never figured out the exact size for the sleeve pattern from when I jumped into the blue striped jacket.

– Why it’s still not finished: The event I needed it for came and went back in mid November so now I don’t have a real reason to finish it except maybe for an event in April when that winter chill is still in the air. I’ll shoot for finishing it over spring break? Ok so I lost motivation and was lazy again.

Pink Bedgown – which would have fit into the “pink” challenge

– Roadblock: I thought I lost the last bit of pink fabric I needed for gussets and insert for collar. I found it.

– Why it’s still not finished: Other projects took over my life/living room. This was one of those, it’ll be nice to have when it’s finished garments, so I tend to work on it slowly at an event because it’s a nice conversation piece. (Except when I’m tavern staff, there is zero time for sewing).

Miss F’s Dress

– Roadblock: Time. Midweek since summer, I would casually daydream about working on this dress and then all this other stuff got in the way: mainly back to back weekend events for about a month.

– Why it’s still not finished: See above. Considering this will be the 4th time working with this pattern, I don’t have an excuse at all. We need it for June. June. Deadline is in 5 months. I *think* I have time.

Blue striped Jacket

– Roadblock: I gained weight (but not a lot) since I first fit this pattern and stopped lacing my stays as tight as I used to. I didn’t remake/remeasure my mock up – woops – and so I had major fit issues (which almost brought me to tears) until friends came to my rescue at an event and helped me magically fit a piece into the sides. Oh yeah and then the first sleeve pattern I used for my rose gown DID NOT fit me at all (huge muscles right here), and attempting to fit the mock up sleeve on me was akin to stuffing gobs of sausage into a too small casing. Ha.

– Why it’s still not finished: Sleeves have yet to be refit. Other projects took over. I got lazy – again – gee….is there a pattern here?

 

Finished Projects Review:

Brown striped regency gown – this gown is delightful to wear once I recut the sides and hemmed it in front and added loops to the back to hold up the ties. I want three more like this. But I really should branch out. First wore it to Years of Napoleon in June. This one will go to Waterloo with me.

Grey wool petticoat – I needed another wool petticoat simply for warmth. Normally I always wear just one because I’ve found that the slightest breeze or drop in temps at events makes me cold. (I’m such a baby, I know). Because I love making petticoats, they now take me about 5 – 6 hrs (depending on life), when I was getting ready for the event in mid-November it was either struggle with trying to line the wool jacket and cut out sleeves and line them and sew them and attempt to not cry OR sew two rectangles together. Rectangles it was! I’m all about binding the hem with tape and I chose a dark navy from WM Booth Draper…..well somehow we mis-measured and I was short by 10 inches. So Mr. Booth kindly gave me the missing tape and sewed it on himself!! Wow such service from the draper. I first wore the grey petticoat to The Gathering where, upon dressing and skipping about in my new garment by the fire when I went to fill the coffee pot, Mr. B the elder, accidentally splattered bacon grease on me; my apron caught most of it, but there are a few spots on the petticoat – not super visible except to me. Christening by fire?

Regency cotton petticoat with shoulder straps – I couldn’t wear my flannel petticoat to an event in June, so I needed this one. It’s heavy duty so it actually puffs out my brown Regency gown a tad. This is not a super flowy-graceful-go-to-the-ball petticoat. I still need one of those. But it’s not see through either so at the end of the event after it closed to the public, off came the gown and I sat around in my petticoat and drank wine with my friend. It was very lady-like.

1920 Robe de Style Prom (chaperone) dress – I really wanted a period appropriate dress to wear when I chaperoned prom. I’ve always really wanted a purple prom dress. While I had major shapewear on underneath the dress, the style was oh so comfy!!! It’s just a basic shift on top with a super poufy skirt that could be embellished multiple ways, so many in fact that I just couldn’t settle on one type of trim! I would love to make another dress like this.

 2015 Insanity Sewing

My goals for this year are simple: at least by the event for which I want to wear them, have the unfinished items finished. If I get any more specific than that, it may lead to more laziness. I also realized that most items don’t get finished unless I NEED to wear them to an event. Isn’t that how it is with most of us?

After a very successful first person immersion experience, a group of us here in SE WI/N IL are stepping into the 1830s. We are outfitting ourselves as well as assisting volunteers at the Macktown Living History Center in IL in full 1830s period clothing. Our goal is to sew a bunch of wardrobes for a handful of us who will put on a Christmas first person immersion experience open to the public. (I think that’s our goal the last I chatted with everyone, but plans morph as the year goes, and we are open to all possibilities).

A bit of background about me to get up to my new found love: the 1830s. When I first truly started historical clothing research, I was 19. I was obsessed with the 1890s. I love the graceful feminine lines and the sleek way the skirts fit at the waist and then flared out down around the ankles. I stared at countless images of antique dresses online. Then I had a 1920s dress made for me. I picked the fabric – a pretty blue check – and while it wasn’t the 1890s dream dress I wanted, it was a fun style. A few years pass, college finishes and my teaching career launches. I drag my then boyfriend to a Rev War reenactment north of Milwaukee and I fell in love with the style of the late 1700s. The lines were so simple. The women walked so gracefully. I had to have it!!!! I joined a unit and I taught myself to sew. At the beginning of this time, I did not particularly care for the Regency era. Something about the empire waists weirded me out. Then I was invited to several Regency events. Well I sat down and learned how to use my Viking Turissa. I loved the dress I produced. The Regency style was soooooo comfortable. It was a new kind of graceful. Not having heavy petticoats tied around my waist WAS freeing. Wow!! New time period adored.

As I jumped on pinterest and started looking at images, I was disgusted by the 1820s through 1840s. The odd poofy sleeves. The bell shaped skirts. Ick. I couldn’t stand it. I don’t like droopy shoulder lines at all in dresses. I have a small upper body and while I don’t want 1980s pointy/pouffy sleeves or 1890s leg-o-mutton sleeve insanity, I prefer some structure. But then my group said, hey we should really stop interpreting the 1780s at this site because that’s not historically accurate and we really need to be true progressives and get our stuff together for a full blown 1830s impression. Excuse me? Ummm….search pinterest, interesting – some tasteful styles are not too over the top. I like the colors and patterns of most fabric. Hey! I think I adore the 1830s!!!!!! When do we start sewing? 🙂

This brings us back to the present: my 1830s wardrobe. I have stunning pink cotton fabric that I really want to make into a fancy day dress or more simple Christmas party dress. I also acquired American Duchess Gettysburg boots for this time period (courtesy of my mother-in-law’s Christmas present). (I’m breaking them in slowly; the other day when I was tidying, I slipped them on and they are divine!!!!). This wardrobe will literally be built from the bottom up….or is it the inside out? Like all of us who have been doing this for a while know, you can’t really make that gorgeous Christmas dress until you’ve completed your foundation pieces. Patience is key!!!!

1830s Wardrobe Checklist

Have:

– 1 white cotton petticoat

– multiple cotton stockings and one silk pair

– chemise (technically it’s for an earlier time period, but I think it will work)

– one white linen apron (that is very dirty from incessant almost daily use for the past two years)

– boots

Need:

– corset!!! (The ladies in our group are torn on making our own or just biting the bullet and ordering from a company who will custom make them. The big question: does the $400.00 trump the time / frustration of sewing your own?)

– another 2 – 3 petticoats, at least one of which must be wool if we are first wearing these items at a Christmas event (WI could be deathly cold as early as Oct so one never knows!). I also think one of these must be corded.

– knitted bosom friend

– new cap

– new bonnet (I’m not sure if my Regency era bonnet will work for this time period. I kind of want a different style just because you know….why not?)

– two dresses – one for house work and the other for the party!!! woot! I think the day dress will be wool – again because our first event will be in winter and I will not freeze in cotton, but the pink cotton fabric I have already will most likely turn into a Christmas dress!

– dress patterns

– fun Christmas dress up shoes (I have the shoes; I intend to trim them with pink embellishments to match my dress – hurray!)

And lastly, my “general sewing dream project list for the way off sometime future provided I have an event to wear it to” list

– Downton Abbey 1912 – 1918 style dress

– Chemise a la reine with a royal purple silk sash (to be worn at my oh so fabulous Regency style birthday tea party that I am still planning)

– late 1700s linen working class gown

– quilted petticoat

– Regency era white ball gown

– some type of 1790s style gown

 

Fingers crossed for a mostly successful 2015. I’m not going to be overly optimistic so that come September, I say, “oh gee, I was going to do that…but yeah woops.” I want to be pleasantly satisfied with my achievements.

Warmer clothing needed for colder weather

Tags

18th century clothing, hand sewing, historic clothing, living history, Ox Bow Tavern, sewing projects

Do you ever find that you want to make one garment and you start making that one garment and you rather enjoy your time with needle and thread? Your mind imagines the finished item and how it will look at this oh so wonderful event in the future. Then everything comes to a screeching halt because one the event you wanted to wear it to is in just a week and two this item is no where near finished and three obviously wearing linen in 40/50 F degree weather is the silliest thing ever.

I am slight of frame, which makes it difficult to regulate my body temperature. While working in period clothing several days a week in the summer when it is 90 – I sweat a ton. Once the sun goes down and the temperature drops to below 75 – I freeze. If there is a slight wind – I’m cold. I wear knee socks the majority of the year both for living history events and in every day life because they keep my feet warm.

Though I’ve only been participating in living history events since 2009, I have been very lucky to experience most in lovely weather; a few have been rainy or cooler, and one was in subzero temps, but we were in a building and I stood in front of the hearth for the three days. Specifically, the second weekend in Sept dawned rainy and cool. I have lots of wool items: long mitts, stockings, a petticoat, a cloak and a hat. However I do not have a short gown/jacket. I have a fitted lined linen jacket which, when it’s 80F, makes me too hot, so I made an unlined bedgown for a looser, more freeing feeling. I was wearing this jacket and a *million* petticoats and I was cold. I couldn’t get warm for almost a week afterward. While I was at this event, I bought wool for a new petticoat and a new short gown/jacket.

The petticoat will be grey with a navy blue worsted wool bottom hem. The jacket is a grey/black stripe interlined with wool and lined with worsted wool. I’m proud of myself because my interlining and lining are from items in my stash so I did not have to buy anything new/extra!!!! I’m using the JP Ryan jacket pattern, view A. With my three layers, I have 18 pieces. GAH!! They were all cut out this morning (about 3 hrs time) and I started to flat line the outer fabric to the interlining.

Oh and I need this new jacket and petticoat for Oct 18 because I’m anticipating subzero temperatures.

Thank god for crock pot cooking on Sundays.

There are lots of tutorials on both short gowns/jackets and flat lining etc, so I will only post finished product photos.

It makes me laugh

Tags

18th Century blue striped linen jacket

You know what makes me laugh? Going back and reading posts where I write things like, “I’m going to totally just focus on making our dresses for Waterloo.” (Okay that’s not a direct quote, but that’s the gist of it). A month after that post, what am I working on? A jacket to wear by Aug 30. It’s a basic 18th century jacket, not needed for Waterloo and not appropriate for any other time period except the 18th century and because as I’ve mentioned before, I crave the rush of sewing right up to the last minute. Ha.

Yesterday I washed my fashion fabric and lining – both delightfully lightweight linens from WM Booth. Then today I started to cut out the pieces. I’ve yet to cut out the striped fashion fabric; so far I only have the lining cut out. However, I’m very excited to work on this *hopefully* simple project. I can’t decide yet if I want to dress up this garment in any way. I really like the style of self-made ruffly ribbon trim from the fashion fabric like these:

And then a neat black little silk bow right in the front center at the top would look really smart. My other jacket is a darker solid blue linen and more of an every day/work/middle class garment. Therefore, I wouldn’t mind having a little bit fancier jacket. But then I think, oh no, I really want/need another working garment. I can’t decide!!!!!

Macktown – The Gathering – An early spring event

Tags

18th century tavern life, independent women, Macktown, reenacting, The Gathering and Macktown

A much needed girls’ weekend. The tavern proprietress and I were in charge of the tavern this weekend. We were husband-less. But we relished in our independence; we made tasty meals: porridge and bacon Saturday morning and common stew for the midday meal. We were lucky to have had a building to shelter us from the wind/drizzle because living in a tent would have been slightly unpleasant. By 7:30, the tavern was open and full of business Saturday night. Our soldiers made it home safely from the war and graced us with their presence later Saturday evening. The following morning, the soldiers took it upon themselves to cook a hearty meat-filled breakfast too. How kind of them.

Just a few photos from the weekend….

The lovely tavern

 

Visitors

 

Part of the kitchen

 

Patron seating

 

taking a break

 

other part of the kitchen

 

Hungry soldiers

 

Owner (cream colored gown) and servant (blue jacket)

Terrible Halloweens, mitts and a trip to Gloucester, VA

Tags

battles, Gloucester, mitts, reenacting, traveling

Last night, my husband and I were reminiscing about Halloween costumes from our childhood years. I had been a princess, a nurse, a witch – the usual. He had been a dinosaur and an astronaut. Then I remembered 6th grade. By that age, American Girl dolls had become very popular. There were only five on the market: Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, and Molly (the classics). I was already reading tons of historical fiction by age 11 and I loved everything about Addy and the Civil War time period. I begged my mom to let me be Addy for Halloween. I desperately wanted her pink dress too. But historical clothing patterns were not hugely popular at Joann’s. And I wasn’t African American. My mom didn’t think anyone would “get” my costume. Bless her for trying to protect me. I didn’t care at the time. I WANTED to be Addy. So mom and I cobbled together a blue skirt (which she sewed a black ribbon around the hem, just like Addy’s), we found a white blouse and added a little black ribbon bow tie, and then I think I had some type of bolero style jacket or shawl (similar to Addy’s). I really wanted her lunch pail because that’s what she took to school. But my mom was not keen on the idea of searching every antique store in the Detroit area just for a tin pail. Boo.

So the day of Halloween in  small Catholic school begins with every student in the 6th grade class going around the room and making each child “guess” that person’s costume. Most costume’s were easily guessed. Finally my turn came. I was really proud. I was Addy – an American girl – surely all the girls in my class knew Addy!!! I stared blankly back at everyone’s faces. No one could figure it out. Then my teacher, for the sake of further embarrassment and moving along to the next person (whose costume was, I’m sure, much more easily guessed), asked me to explain mine. I said I was Addy, though I did not sound as confident as I had once felt. Everyone just kind of looked at me and went “oh” and turned to look at the next person.

Since that time, I continued my obsession with historical clothing. Now I’m living the dream. Only not as Addy, but as Felicity!!! haha. Felicity was my sister’s favorite. But somehow since college, I fell in love with the Revolutionary time period and I now own a closet full of Felicity clothes that are historically accurate. Yay me!!!!

I had the most wonderful opportunity yet: to attend a huge reenactment in Gloucester, VA. I’ve never been out that way before and almost every/any person obsessed with the time period knows, it’s worth it. And it’s close to Williamsburg (another must and another post). There were 1500 registered participants. We were camped at the grounds of the Inn at Warner Hall.  The Brits were camped on one side and the Americans on the other side. The French troops were at the back corner of the house, right near the river.

Looking down the driveway at Warner Hall.

Standing in the French camp looking back to Warner Hall

Saturday was a bit overcast/drizzly. But my red wool cloak kept me very dry and very warm. Fighting a battle in the rain and a muddy cornfield must be less than stellar. I would not know though because I am not a soldier. The battlefield was huge, maybe two football fields long and two wide? Though I’m not good at judging distances so I really have no idea. All I know is that there were soldiers entering the field from every possible corner. Battles lasted almost a full hour. The British still march in wonderfully precise rows.

Saturday afternoon battle – Lauzun’s in blue coats with yellow facing.

British marching

Saturday morning the French participated in the boat landing. I would become a soldier just so I could ride in the boat. However, that means there is a possibility of falling out of the boat! I think the French/American forces won the battle.

Boats!

More boats!

Here are more battle photos because, well it’s fun to take photos with lots of smoke and ponies!

Conditions on Saturday were perfect for smoke rings!

Calvary makes any battle instantly better.

One thing I find very odd is that when I’m watching the battles going on, I’m constantly searching for “my men.” They are easy to spot because of their light blue coats with yellow facing. No matter how far away they are, if I catch just a glimpse, I think okay they are safe. I panic just a wee bit when I can’t find them. Then I think, wait, they are shooting blank rounds. No one is actually dying.

The big event of the weekend was burning down the house. A historically accurate house was built in just a few short weeks, so it could be burned to the ground by the British. We waited all weekend to see this happen. It was worth it. I wish we could burn something at every reenactment.

From afar – oooh black smoke makes for a dramatic battle

Close up view with a zoom lens – pine sap and creosote burn extremely well!

It kind of looks like the British are on fire, but it was because of my position in the crowd. The fire department was on hand and no one got hurt, which made for a very successful end to the Sunday battle.

In between battles and meeting new people, we went shopping. It is fun to visit the sutlers in person after just looking at their websites – such wonderful people and all very helpful! Thank you to The Silly Sisters and the Virginia Floor Cloth and Textile Company for displaying so many wonderful fichus!!! (When I started compiling my wardrobe four years ago, I had plain white fichus that were appropriate and just fine. However, one did not suffice. Two white ones did not suffice. Nope. I had to make myself an embroidered one. Then I had to go and buy four this weekend! Ha!).

Lastly, it isn’t a good weekend with friends if the men don’t cook.

Ian making rice pudding

Stan making bacon and eggs

Here are some more in camp shots. We can’t wait to experience it all again in five years. Vive le roi!

French camp with multiple cook fires going

Almost paying attention during morning role call

Sunday morning inspection

Although I ran around all weekend and took near 600 photos on my camera and a friend’s camera, these were the only photos of the female French camp women!

Anna and baby Violet

It was chilly both Saturday and Sunday mornings and in the evenings. About a month before the event, I asked my mother-in-law if she could knit me some full length arm mitts. And she did!!! I was the most excited about wearing these because they are the newest handmade addition to my wardrobe. They are 100% wool and super warm. By midday on Sunday, my arms were actually sweating.

Me wearing my awesome mitts knitted by my mother-in-law!

Not sure who the gallant soldier is, but I had to pose near a pony!

“Father” and I before he goes off to battle in the morning

Now we all must wait another five years and I must start sewing more clothing so my sister has clothing to wear when she comes with me!!