Galesburg Heritage Days 2013

Our first year at the rendezvous was very pleasant, although perhaps not altogether successful. Because, you see, it seemed that we spent most of our time on the Civil War side anyhow; due to the fact that most of our friends were over there and, well, so we were over there too.

It was still very exciting to dress up in our early 19th century attire. The children were happy and adorable in their new clothes and David stalked around in his tailcoat and breeches, receiving many compliments and being often asked for photographs. He enjoyed that, I think.

And also the fact he was wearing linen while all his other friends were in layers of wool. From what I saw he was the only gentleman present in early 19th century dress; most of the others wore earlier or later period garments.

The weather was perfect. It was quite mild (for August) and sunny.

There were plenty of shady spots to retire to when the sun became a bit too warm and since we were by the water the air was cool and fresh.

I remember going to this event back in 2004 for the first time. 9 years ago! I never would have guessed then that 9 years later I would still be going and I would be married with 4 children. . .

The only outfit that caused me some frustration was Anne's. Despite putting another tuck in Malachi's old dress it was still a bit too long for her. And, well, Malachi was two and a half when he wore this and Anne is barely 13 months.

Since she is starting to walk this was problematic for her as she kept treading upon the hem. I really ought to have made her a new dress but I just did not have any time at all. Still, I feel guilty about not providing her with clothes suitable to her needs.

We picnicked by the playground where the boys expelled some of their energy. It was all I could do to convince them to shove a hasty bite in their mouth before they resumed their play.

Anne sat with David and I and methodically ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. Sausage and cheese and bread and ripe peaches, which she then doused with a healthy amount of water (soaking herself, and her clothes, in the process).

And after that, she nursed. . .and then refused to take a nap. Therefore I carried her in my arms and slowly walked up and down the camps with my friend Peter while David stayed with the boys. When she was nearly asleep I stepped squarely upon a wasp and was stung in the arch of my foot. I gasped and shuddered and said to Peter, "Peter, I think I've been stung." Therefore Anne awoke and was determined to remain awake for the rest of the day.

The remainder of the event was passed in pleasant company. David's sister came down from Iowa to visit us, along with her husband and two of her children. The boys were thrilled to see their cousins and Anne happily ate the food they gave her.

Anne, having smashed several bananas into her clothes after the aforementioned dousing of herself in water, of necessity had to be stripped and washed and her clothes rinsed and wrung. So she sported her necklace and her diaper covered with a linen cloth and was supremely happy in her scanty attire.

She was SO tired. . .but so determined to stay awake!

The boys were allowed to pick one thing they wanted from the merchants area. They all got bows and arrows.

Malachi especially enjoyed his and I kept having to enforce the rule that no, he could not aim at people. or goods in the merchant tents. We found an open grassy area where he shot and retrieved his arrow to his hearts content.

David and Judah enjoyed making loud noise with the sliding whistles their aunt got for them.

There were activities for the children, including a candy cannon. . .

. . .and a sack race.

In the evening, we headed once again to the Civil War camp for the dance. David and I took turns watching the children so the other could dance. The boys ran off onto the battlefield and played with their bows and arrows and the baby finally succumbed to her weariness of the day and fell asleep at last.

The dance was on the street. It is one of my favorite parts of the event. The dim evening shades, the shadowy people in the fringe of lamp light. The fiddler fiddling and the people dancing, feet stomping in time and whirls of skirts and bright flashes of laughing eyes. For me it is one of the best moments; the coming together of all kinds of people from all walks of life, bound together by a common love of their heritage and a plain old fashioned desire for a good time with good company.

And it was!

On a different and selfish note, I was really happy with how my hair came out. I have had the worst luck with regency hair styles. My hair is either too long or too short, or it won't hold a curl, or it just looks frizzy and bad.

I began planning my hair a few weeks in advance. I wanted curls around my face with a neatly braided chignon smoothly knotted in the back. Not so difficult, right?

Well, it seemed it would be. I have had great luck with pin curls in the past but even so, they loosen and flop over the course of a day. Especially in humidity. In the past I've tried to preserve the pin curls with the use of pomade or styling gel but it just ends up making my hair feel nasty and it still doesn't hold the curl very well.

So a few weeks ago I had the brilliant thought - you know what? My hair is naturally curly. So let's unleash the Natural Curl. To that end I stopped washing my hair. I dabbled in the Curly Girl hair philosophy a few years ago and saw great results at that time. No frizz! Lotsa curl. So I gave my hair one good final shampoo to strip everything out of it, and then I stopped washing it.

I also gave myself a hair cut. Pretty much just a trim, since I'm trying to grow my hair longer and its just below shoulder length right now. I layered the ends and then dealt with my growing-out bangs. I trimmed them up evenly, to about earlobe length.

My hair immediately started getting curlier and the frizz disappeared. It took over a week to get rid of that nasty dirty-hair feeling but by the time of the event my hair was good to go! That morning I got up and took my regular shower (not shampooing my hair in the shower, but rinsing conditioner through it) and let my hair damp dry. I scrunched my hair in my hands to make it as curly as possible. I got the kids up, bathed them, got them dressed, got them breakfast and made a cup of tea. By then I was ready to dress and do my hair.

I left my hair down around my face and it was curly enough as it was. The back hair I put into a low chignon. I really wanted to use the hair extension I got so I cut off a portion of it and braided it and wound it into a bun to pin at the back, but it ended up looking odd. .. and you could see the weaving strip at the top of the hair, which was totally not cool. So I unbraided it and just sort of pinned the length into a curly mass at the back of my head, and it mingled with my own curls. I was really happy with how it came out. Little David told me "your hair is camoflauged mommy!" so I think the hair piece really worked well!

To finish it off I twisted a piece of blue-green fabric around my head (we won't discuss the fiber content. . .) and pinned it in place. My sister gave me a pretty blue and green brooch for Christmas so on impulse I pinned that to the bandeau. And that was it! My hair stayed perfectly in place all day and my curls didn't droop at all and it was all good and wonderful and I was very very happy.

Me and Petey-Boy

And seriously, someone called me "Empress Josephine." I will love that guy forever.

I wore my cream checked gauze drawstring dress that I made last summer. It was very cool and comfortable. Underneath I wore a bodiced petticoat, my shift and my stays. And that's it! Gotta love this period. I wore red leather pointy toe shoes at the beginning of the day but soon discarded them and went around barefoot. It was too nice to wear shoes, and I'm a country girl.

And now, one last thing before we go. . .THE BUSK.

I use a paint stick for my busk. For some reason this busk snapped in half at about rib level when I bent over to pick the baby up. Therefore for half of the event I had pretty much no bust support. I felt very self conscious and awkward, so later in the day I had David run me to Wal Mart where we got a new paint stick and I whittled it to size in the car. Instant relief and improvement of appearance! See:

NO BUSK

WITH BUSK

So yes. The busk is so very, very, very important to get a good look, especially for ladies who are perhaps endowed by their Creator with certain unspeakable attributes. . .the busk keeps it all up and in and minimizes things. For someone who normally wears DD, this is good.

So I'll conclude this ridiculously long post. . .I LOVE DRESSING REGENCY!!!

Love,
Sarah

A Blue Linen Regency Skeleton Suit

My beautiful boy is 4 years old. I cannot describe how much I love this little fella. He delights me and amazes me with his personality, his plain common sense and his deep maturity. Is he only 4? He acts as though he possesses a spirit much older. His eyes are wide and far seeing. He has a beautiful soul.

For his regency outfit I wanted a distinct "little boy" style. I was very tempted to make a frock and matching pantalette's/drawers but at 4 Malachi is a bit too old for that. Together we looked at our inspiration images and Malachi decided he wanted a skeleton suit, which consists of a little jacket or bodice buttoned to trousers. The original suit Malachi liked was blue, with a very plain long sleeved, boat-necked bodice and broadfall trousers.

I used the blue linen to make some loose fitting trousers with a deep hem and an easy fitting waistband. I have no idea if it is period correct or not but I took a cue from the 1860's and made a little convenience slit in the front seam, so Malachi can use the potty without having to unbutton all those buttons around his waist. That is the only thing I don't like about button suits - they're awkward that way.

a huge thanks to my friend Jackie for all these silver buttons. A vintage 1950's find at a second hand sale - and there were exactly the right amount to make this suit.

I had a small bit of the linen left over and though I was going to make a long sleeved yellow linen jacket to go with the trousers, Malachi decided he wanted a matching jacket of the blue linen. I did not have enough to make a long sleeved bodice, but I did have just enough to make a short sleeved one. There are examples of short sleeved skeleton suits from this period so it is a nice period correct option, especially for summertime.

For the bodice I used the Sense and Sensibility Girls's Regency Gown pattern. It has the 3 piece back and the neckline I wanted, so I decided to go for it, changing the opening to a front opening - and it came out brilliantly! The sleeves were copied from several sleeve styles from the late 18th/early 19th c. in Patterns of Fashion 1. I made it up unlined, with facings at the front opening, and finished all the seams with hand felled seams.

The little shirt was a bit of a puzzle to figure out. In many paintings from the era one sees little boys wearing ruffled collar shirts. Some of the shirts appear to be regular men's-style shirts with ruffles at the collar and no collar button, others have plain collars and yet others appear to have shaped collars with ruffled edges. It's hard to know what artistic license was taken and usually impossible to see seam lines in paintings.

In the end, I made a little square cut shirt with a ruffle in place of a collar. An original c. 1800-1825 boys shirt from Augusta Auctions was made the same way, only with long sleeves instead of short ones. The neck was left to fall open. I'm not sure how I feel about the collar on this shirt since it seems a bit too full and clownish. I will probably make another shirt when I make the long sleeved yellow jacket.

Malachi was very happy with his finished outfit and immediately demanded that I take pictures of him in it. He appraised his reflection critically in the mirror and then delivered his verdict; "Oh Mommy, it looks so healthy."

Considering boys in the earlier 18th century wore restrictive clothing and these little skeleton suits were considered free and healthy for boys to wear, he is not far off on his remark, though it still puzzles me how he thought to use that word in this instance.

Tomorrow is the big day! The boys have been eagerly looking forward to it the past few weeks. I am looking forward to it, too, and quite content to think that now, at last, I have a Regency Family.

Love,
Sarah

18th Century Shirts for My Boys

The last few days I have been sewing up the new shirts for David and Judah. I took my time with them, which means I have not been able to start Malachi's clothes yet, but I still have a week. I've got this.

The shirts are very simply made, based these off the diagram and instructions in Everyday Dress of Rural America 1783-1800 by Meredith Wright. Every piece is a rectangle or square. The neckline is cut as a T shaped slit, gussets are inserted at the neckline to shape the head opening, and the neckline gathered up to a rectangular collar. The sleeves are set in with gussets and are gathered to a fitted cuff. There is a single button at the neck, and one on each cuff.

These are made with plain white cotton. Linen would have been nicer to use but I don't have any light enough for shirts like this and don't really have the time or money to order in new fabric at the moment. So cotton it is. I even had a 25% off total purchase coupon to use for it, and it was on sale for 30% off to begin with.

The cut is roomy as is, so I think they will fit for quite a while. The length is about mid thigh.

Because David and Judah like to know whose is whose, I cross stitched an initial on the inside of each collar. David picked red thread and Judah picked blue.

The thing that took the longest was finishing all the seams by hand. The baby for some reason has decided to be extra clingy and possessive lately so I had to steal bits of time to sew when she was napping or otherwise occupied. Last night I was finishing up the buttonholes and she yanked my sewing out of my hand and threw in on the floor. She doesn't like to share me, apparently.

In spite of her, they were finished and Judah (since David hates the camera) modeled for me this morning. A little waistcoat would not be amiss but I am not sure if I will have time for that or not. Anyway, I'm really pleased with how these came out! I'm strongly considering going to the Faire at New Boston at the end of this month so perhaps I can get waistcoats made before then.

Oh and yeah - look! I ordered a hair extension to use to make a regency hairpiece since my own hair is just below shoulder length and not really long enough for a good style. I ordered it off the internet from Hair Stop and Shop and it came within 2 days, was only $10 and I could not be happier with it! It matches my hair almost exactly and feels so nice, much nicer than the synethetic braid I got at Sally's a few years ago for 1860's styles. Love it! Can't wait to play around with it!

Love,
Sarah

Early 19th Century Boys Fall Front Trousers

So we are going to Heritage Days this year as early 19th century citizens. And we will bivouac on the rendezvous side and David desires to wear his linen tail coat and go fishing. We have always visited the rendezvous before, walking over to that side of the lake from the Civil War camps, but we have always been outsiders looking in. This year we will be in. It will be different and casual and hopefully not too hot.

David and I and the baby already have things to wear (Anne is wearing the olive voile gown of Malach's toddlerhood) but I procrastinated dreadfully in making the boys something to wear. Namely because I wasn't exactly sure what they should wear. The older two are at awkward ages (almost 7 and almost 6) so they aren't really little anymore. Malachi is 4  and is too old for the little dresses and tunic outfits that very small boys could have worn.

After asking some knowledgeable people, looking around online at original garments, paintings and fashion plates I decided it was most practical to dress my older two boys in adult style clothing. *sniff* Thankfully, Malachi is still little enough to wear little boy style clothing, so he is getting a button suit, aka skeleton suit, with linen trousers, a short linen jacket with a white shirt and lots of silver buttons.

The older boys outfits thus decided upon, I began researching the trousers. I was a bit surprised at the diversity I saw in the trouser images I was able to come across. I assumed all the trousers would be quite similar; close fitting with a fall front. And while this was true to some extent, certainly not all trousers are created equal and I saw trousers with a broad fall (falling from each hip) variation in the size of a narrow fall, diversity in the number of buttons used and varying degrees of tightness in the leg. In paintings and other illustrations where the waistband could be seen, the level of the waist varied quite a bit, too; anywhere from the natural waist to slightly high to very high indeed.

I combined what I thought were the best features for trousers that I hope will be both accurate looking and long lasting, my two most important priorities. Because, of course, while it would be awesome to make every garment for my children an exact fit, it is, truthfully, very wasteful of both time and materials to do so. Because, of course, children grow rapidly and usually this happens right before an event, leaving a distraught mother with 3 options:

The "baggy butt" was a defining period feature for many trousers of the era

1. Have them wear too-tight, too-short clothes, which often results in uncomfortable and unhappy offspring, torn seams (especially the crutch seam. . .don't ask me how I know. . .) and popped buttons.
2. Endure a panic filled day-before-the-event sewing spree, which renders the mother miserable and incapable of enjoyment of the event because she is too tired to do anything but grumpily follow her wildly cavoriting children around, praying desperately that seams don't bust and buttons don't pop off.
3. Let the child go forth naked and unashamed.

Therefore, these trousers are made to last. The crutch seam is cut extra-long, resulting in a high waist that, as the boys grow, will sit lower on their torso. The legs are cut loose and the hem is wide, and can be let down several inches as needed. The waistband is cut 6" larger than needed and the excess is taken up in the back with eyelets and a tie (which is also a period method of controlling fullness, so double win!)

To keep everything up and in place the boys each got suspenders (a better term is braces) made of slightly stretchy wool tape, and finished with wool buttonholed tabs to fasten to buttons on the trouser waistband. The suspenders are taken up 1.5" in length via a small and unobtrusive tuck above the back tabs, so as the boys get taller the suspenders can be let out, too. (In the photos shown, Judah is wearing his suspenders before they received the tuck - so that is why the waist band is sitting lower than it ought to.)

The trousers are of 100% linen, unlined, with all seams finished by hand. I wavered back and forth on whether or not to add a lining but I decided not to. I am not sure if that was a good idea or not, because lining something does extend the wear so much. But I wasn't able to find much information about lined trousers vs. unlined ones. . .so I went with unlined.

The only thing left to make the boys are little shirts. I started them today so I have hope that within the week I can finish their shirts and start on Malachi's outfit. Then, if I have time, maybe I can make them each a simple waistcoat. But if not, their shirt-and trousers outfit will be perfectly fine for a casual day of fishing at the lake.

Judah was very happy to model his trousers for me today. Poor kid had to deal with too-small trousers at the David Davis Civil War event last month and the seams popped and his blouse kept coming unbuttoned from his trousers and he was embarrassed and self conscious the whole time. He likes his suspenders because now he is "just like Daddy" and he can "run around without my pants falling down."

These fall front trousers will work right up through the 1840's too. . .I love making clothes that are dual-era! It's hard to do that with women's things, but mens clothes change so slowly it is easier to get away with making something work for more than one time period, especially when you are not portraying high fashion.
Can't wait for the rendezvous!

Love,
Sarah