• A Day in the Year 1812 •

I think I have officially set a new record in the area of blog neglect!  It has been a crazy, wild, stressful, eventful, heartbreaking, amazing 10 months or so.  Since I last posted (in March!!), I changed jobs from being a home seamstress for a local historical reproduction company to being a customer service rep at a local pharmacy/home medical provider.  Needless to say, working full time definitely cuts into sewing time, but I'm looking forward to sewing up some great winter separates as I have time, and hopefully will be able to blog about them too!

In any case, today I'm sharing some pictures from an 1812 event we went to back in October.  It was an absolute blast, and the amount of reenactors that were there was incredible!

There was lovely period music being played all over the place.  Sounded delightful!

One gentleman had the most incredible carved gourds for sale.  The artwork was just amazing!

So many ladies in beautiful outfits!!!  :) 

I kind of wanted all of these hats, but unfortunately didn't get any of them.  Great inspiration though for "someday"!

That little number on the left with the pheasant feathers reminds me of Miss Pole in Cranford!  :) 

The battle is beginning!!

There were SO MANY soldiers, it was crazy.  The battle was noisy and glorious!

Later in the day there was another battle on the river.

All the mommas with their little babies melted my heart <3

My mom whipped up her first regency dress the week of the event, and it came out so good!  She looked absolutely gorgeous.

I helped her out by trimming her bonnet for her.  I used a picture of an extant 1810s bonnet for inspiration.

I love the little bow detail on the back of the bonnet.

She used Simplicity 4055 as a base for her dress, and modified it to fit her liking.  It closes in the back with drawstrings, and we just pinned it shut for the time being, since we did not have time to sew on the hooks and eyes.

I had plans to make a new regency ensemble, but didn't have time, so just wore my trusty calico regency gown, this time without the undersleeves, since it was HOT out.  

I had purchased a pretty block-printed scarf at the same event a couple of years ago, so paired it with my dress for a slightly different look.  

I had drafted this post about a month and a half ago (LOL!), and just now am getting around to posting it.  I'm excited to report that over this past weekend, I dove right into sewing a UFO 1930s dress that I've had sitting around in a sad pile for over a YEAR, finished it, and started into several other projects!  I had been in a major sewing funk for 3-4 months, and got to the point of having thoughts of selling my fabric and just giving up on the whole idea of sewing.  I just could not get into the mood, or make up my mind what to make or anything, but I FINALLY got over that, and it feels AMAZING.  I'm super excited to sew up all sorts of fun things for not just myself but family and friends as well!  I'm feeling very encouraged about the new year and what it may be bringing.  Lots of sewing, becoming an "adopted" aunt to two precious new babies, and whatever else the Lord brings my way.  Happy New Year to all of you!  <3

• 1812 Reenactment •

Hurrah! I'm back, with a refreshed eagerness for blogging, and in a much better mood! :) Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers!!

This past Friday I went to my very first historical reenactment! It was an amazing time!

The reenactment was held on a huge site along a pretty little river, with tents set up everywhere. There were enough tents set up to make your head spin!! There were something like 140 merchants, plus a whole village of Indians, soldiers, and all the reenactors.

Unfortunately for me, the battle took place while I was wandering around in the wilderness looking for my car. It was scheduled to be at 1:00, but they ended up doing it at 12:00, unannounced, so I got back just in time for them to walk off the battlefield. Very exciting. :|

It was still a lot of fun though! There were more merchants than you could shake a stick at, including this lady, who was weaving fabric for towels. She was explaining how it was done, and talking about her dress, which she had made from her own woven fabric. She made that fabric on a 45" loom, which takes about 8 or 9 hours per yard to weave. And her dress took 5 yards! Whew! It sounds like fun though!

Another lady spinning wool.

I was surprised to see that there were no other people in period clothing that were not reenactors! I wasn't a reenactor, but I would have felt pretty funny wearing (in my case) a 1950s dress! ;)

This lady was the proprietress of Regency Remembered. She had on the most exquisite outfit! Her hat was amazing.

There was a "schoolroom" set up in one area! I loved seeing the Bible verse on the chalkboard! There were TONS of schoolkids there since it was field day for them, so it was quite the zoo for a while.

Watching little boys try to split great big logs. :) So cute!!

Now for the reallllllllly good part. The fabric stores!! The first one I came to was Wm. Booth Draper! I was very happily surprised to see a "big-time" company there! They had a ton of gorgeous fabrics; I could have spent SO much money. But somehow I only came out with velvet, which you'll see in the pictures later on.

The fabrics in this picture are available on their website. I just about died over that red and blue block print.

More fabrics.

These gorgeous block prints were for sale at Regency Remembered. I alllllmost bought that one at the top center. To me, $50 for 5 yards seemed quite reasonable!

My sweet friends Bekah and Jolene, who invited me! (Oh, and Sake, the dog). ;)

They were both wearing lovely dresses that Jolene made.

And now for the loot! :)

I bought this gorgeous scarf/fichu/shawl/neckerchief from one of the merchants. I just loved the pattern and the colors! I almost went for the all-blue pattern, but decided to be bold and try some other colors instead.

Nicely enough, it's 44" square, so it can be worn as a fichu or a shawl!

Ahhh. I bought 2 yards of this gorgeous velvet from Wm. Booth Draper. It was only $10 per yard, which seemed like quite the good price for a very good quality cotton velvet. And it's 60" wide!

To my very great happiness, I found when I got home that it matches one of my regency dress fabrics perfectly. I'm already plotting my spencer jacket!! :)

I wore my calico regency gown, which I revamped a bit beforehand. I'm happy to say, my new undersleeves worked perfectly! Thanks for the tips, Lily!!

I removed the original sleevebands and made them much more fitted and wider. I'm so excited that I finally have undersleeves!! :)

I bought my bonnet from Regency Austentation on Etsy. I really like it! It's very well made, and you can decorate it up in a variety of ways. Since I was going for a working-class look and not a promenading-in-Bath look, I decided to just do a simple ribbon decoration instead of silk, feathers and flowers.

When I originally made this dress, I assumed that it would somehow magically stay closed in the back with just a drawstring at the neck and waist, but for some reason it didn't! I wonder why! Ha!

Needless to say, I added some much-needed hooks-and-eyes, and now it really does stay closed. Hurrah!

And now for the good part; I made garters, and they held my socks up the entire day!! I didn't have to pull them up once. :) Now that is a good thing!!

My stockings are from Jas. Townsend.

Wait!!! I forgot my reticule!

I started this reticule ages ago, and it had even ended up in the drawer of shame (aka UFO drawer). I got it out in anticipation of this reenactment, however, and actually finished it! I really love it; it looks small, but it holds an amazing amount of stuff!

Unfortunately, I can't find the embroidery pattern I used, but I'm pretty sure it was from Needle 'N' Thread.

I lined my reticule with some gorgeous reproduction cotton (an 1860s reproduction, incidentally, but who's counting?!). It is the same fabric I used for my garters.

All in all, it was a very fun time, and I can't wait for next year!! :)