Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Finishing Up and Getting Ready

Thank you for your kind words about the soldiers package! I am really very excited about this and hope that this weekend will go smoothly as far as the impression goes. It is always an uncertain thing to start a new impression, especially when you have three little ones to keep an eye on at the same time and especially when you are at a mainstream event where The Spectating Public desires to walk around and look and talk. One must decide for oneself if the impression will be more of an authentic rendering of a period correct activity in first person, or more of a display, talk and inform type thing. Judah broke in the quilted hat this weekend when we went picnicking and walking in the woods. He could not find his little black wool cap and refused to wear his "tent place clothes" without a hat of some sort! He thought the quilted a hat a very satisfactory substitute for his cap but informed me that he likes his cap better because the "wind does not blow it off". The quilted hat was a few sizes too big! ;)

I am still getting items ready for the package and am also working on those inevitable last-minute projects that come up before an event. Since my old gowns do not fit me very well I decided last week to try to make a new one. I have been working on it briefly every day and so far I have the bodice completed and the skirt pleated and ready to attach to the bodice. This will be an everyday, common, wash dress. The fabric is a very lightweight blue cotton printed with a feathery vine pattern in white. It reminds me a lot of my very first reenacting dress which was also a blue and white print!

You can see how the bodice and skirt are two separate elements. The bottom edge of the bodice is completely finished with a faced, piped waistband and the top edge of the skirt is turned under and then pleated to fit the waist. The next step is attaching the pleated edge of the skirt to the waistband with a close whipstitch, whipping the pleats to the underside of the bottom piped edge of the waistband. Then I will need to hem the skirt, add hook and eyes and make a white collar and cuffs.


Peter is going with as as a hospital attendant and was over this weekend for a final fitting for his new trousers. The trousers are not the regulation sky blue but are a civilian style in the same brownish-yellow cotton twill I made David's regency breeches from. I used Past Patterns Light Summer Trouser pattern for these and was happy with how they came out, although I wish Peter had provided me with better measurements, as the final trousers are a bit baggy. Better too big than too small, though! And yes, he is wearing a modern t shirt in these pics since he left his other shirts at home when he came over this weekend. We won't let  him be that farby in real life, I promise. :)

He was willing to pose for a few photos outside. I still need to hem the trousers to the correct length (he told me he "thought" he was a 36" inseam, but when I measured him after he tried these on it came out to a 28" inseam. .. sigh. . .) But we are getting there.

I also made breakfast caps for my friend Laura and I with the last scraps left over from my regency ballgown. The swiss dot makes such a cute cap, I think! I found a pale pink silk handkerchief at the thrift store this weekend to cut into strips and hem for ribbon to decorate the cap. It will be nice to have for early mornings at events when I wear my wrapper to make sure the fire is ready to cook breakfast. I hate having to get up extra early to rush and wash up, dress completely and do my hair without waking the children. It is so much easier to put on a few petticoats, tie a wrapper and put a cap on over hastily-smoothed and pinned hair!

I also have a shirt yet to make for our friend Gary, and a number of various size bags to contain oatmeal, rice, beans, coffee and peanuts for our own consumption this weekend. The week before an event is always a busy time!

Love,
Sarah

6 comments:

  1. Judah is such a handsome little fella! :) He wears the hat well. :)

    Your dress is going to be really pretty. :) I think me and Michelle will finally get to debut our new sheers correctly. :P I'm so excited. :D

    The breakfast caps are so dainty!!!! I love them. :) (The picture of you and the kitten is so sweet.)

    The last week always is busy, isn't it?! I just cut out a dress for my cousin yesterday. Its coming along nicely, but I'm quite stressed trying to get it done. I think the hardest part is that I'm trying all kinds of new things I've never done before trying to spice it up. :P We're also finishing up another dress for another cousin. So then the main thing that's left is trying to tweak the neckline on my dress because I think its alittle lose.... :-/

    Can't wait to see y'all. :)

    Love,
    Brooke

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  2. Sarah, I have seen many lovely pictures of you but never have I seen you look as beautiful as you do in that last picture. You look like a Vermeer painting.

    Mrs. G

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  3. Mrs. G, thank you! Wow. That is a very nice compliment.

    Brooke, you sound very busy indeed! Aw, so you are wearing your sheers? I can't wait to see them! Now I feel like I need something nicer to wear so I won't look too dowdy around you gals in your lovely gowns. :) Maybe I'll wear my swiss belt outfit. That is really the only other thing I currently have that fits like its supposed to. . .then I can wear the new blue gown on Friday night and again on Sunday since we usually "dress down" after church anyway to start packing up. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!! :D

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  4. Hello Sarah Jane:
    I LOVE the bottom part of the sleeves on your wrapper. I would like to do the same on a dress I am making for myself. I see the bottom part is not gathered to the sleeve 'band', but it flares out a bit.Any tips on making the bottom part? Thanks, Lisa

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  5. Lisa, the sleeves are just one piece sleeves that have a slight bell shape at the bottom. I cut a strip of fabric with the stripes going horizontally and added that as trim at elbow level, so, the sleeves are all one piece with the trim added on top by topstitching. If the sleeve were laid out flat it would look like a bell shape, with the curved sides being sewn together and running along the inside of the arm. Hope this helps!

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Thank you for your lovely thoughts!