Wool Quilt

Last week I cut all my wool scraps into big chunky 6" squares and sewed them all together for a quilt top for David.

He is heading out to Shiloh in early spring with his commanding officer, Major Ron. They will share a small tent and take the barest of necessities. I am worried about his being warm enough so I thought a wool quilt would help me use up my scraps and help David stay cozy during the frosty spring nights. Of course, now that he will have a heavy wool quilt to tote along the weather will be warm and lovely and he won't have need of it! Don't things always work out that way?

Beyond the mindless stitching of endless straight seams, I have been taking a break from sewing anything complicated. So far this week I have been working on arranging the boys bedroom for winter, since any painting that had to be done had to be done while it was warm enough to air the room out with the windows open. This past weekend was perfect for that, so I did my painting then. (Note: I really must paint the BACK of their bedroom door! Didn't notice that scrawl mark on the door til looking at this photo!)

I touched up the green paint on the walls, which had suffered severely from kicks from six little feet, often shod in heavy winter boots (are my boys the only boys who like to wear winter boots all year round?) and also from artistic endeavors rendered directly onto the walls with crayons, permanent markers stolen craftily from the desk in the office, chalk and ball point pens. The ball point pen marks were the worst to cover up. Ugh. Those marks show through ANYTHING! I was lucky to find a little can of matching paint in the basement so all those marks are now covered up, the holes have been filled and painted over and everything looks neat and fresh once more.

The older two boys have shared a bunkbed the past year and a half. David, who slept on the top, recently peeled paint and plaster off the ceiling. It looked very bad and dust kept sifting down from the spot he ruined. I had to paint the ceiling but lacked proper paint for that and as I currently have no extra money to buy new paint, I decided to use the leftover blue paint from our kitchen. The ceiling was duly painted. The boys craved white clouds, so I used some leftover cabinet paint to brush on some white fluffy clouds. I was afraid it would look cartoonish but in all honesty, I am pretty happy with how it came out! It gives the room a very airy, serene feel. And yes, that is a dinosaur hanging helplessly from the pull cord on their fan.

The bunk beds came apart, due to the aforementioned reason of the damaged ceiling, as well as the fact the boys have recently been enjoying wrestling matches on the top bunk and using their bed as a fortress out of which they reenact the battle of Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings. Too many times Malachi was a casualty on the Orc side of things and fell from his position of nearly scaling the fortress onto the unforgiving carpeted surface below him. David and Judah now have, what they term, "regular beds".

It was hard to fit three twin size beds into a modest sized bedroom. We have four bedrooms all together but the boys refused any notion of putting one or two of them into a different room. I had to remove their dresser to make everything fit, but now it all works very nicely, I think. David has been enjoying his bed by the sunny southern windows. Here he is reading his science book for school this year, from Sonlight Pre-K 4/5. He adores it!

The boys have grand ideas of having various airplanes and birds hang from the ceiling. I haven't got around to doing that yet,  but we did make a quilted sun yesterday to hang in the east corner of their room. They sorted through my scraps to find several fabrics in orange, yellow and red and they helped me sew it all together.

More floor space is taken up now, but the room actually seems bigger and brighter without the high heavy bunkbed in their, which inevitably blocked a window or two.

Next up - getting more coffee to warm me up on this chilly morning!

Love,
Sarah

Princeton Civil War Reenactment ~ The Last Huzzah

The last huzzah for the Civil War reenacting season. We could not have asked for a nicer weekend.

October surprised us with one last weekend of Indian Summer.

It was a very small event this year. I think a total of six or seven units were present. Very different from previous years but very nice, in its own way. It was quieter. Calmer. More peaceful.

David has, by now, reached some level of status in the medical reenacting community. He rubs shoulders with the elite and veteran surgeons and is respected in all ways. He was in his element talking with the other surgeons, sharing research, ideas and practical advice.

I am so proud of how much he has thrown himself into this impression. Back when we were married, six years ago, he was a staunch Confederate artilleryman and declared he would never don blue. Well, he has. :) And he has found his own little niche where he fits just perfectly. He is so good at what he does.

The boys were delighted to be out. They ran hither and thither, collecting sticks, rocks and acorns aplenty. Since their clothes did not have pockets, they used me as a collection receptacle. I came home with my reticule completely stuffed with various natural things.

I didn't realize how much the boys have grown over this summer. Judah just barely was able to fit into his tunic and trousers. Of all the boys, he has grown the most this summer and he will most certainly need all new clothes for next season.

David still fits into his clothes width-wise, but not height wise. He is such a skinny fellow but he has grown tall, and his wrists and ankles look gangly since trouser hems and sleeves fall short of the mark!

Malachi wore this little button suit that I made for his older brothers several years ago. Yes! He has now been breeched. :D He just barely fit into it but I was glad he got a chance to wear it. He looked so cute, in my completely biased opinion, and very grown up.

I wore my sheer bodice and swiss waist since the day was so warm. I was secretly hoping it would be cold enough for me to wear my red wool paletot that I made earlier this year and haven't had a chance to wear yet! Alas. My secret hopes were in vain.

To be completely honest, I felt rather sad at this event since my dear friend Laura recently moved out of state and I felt her absence very keenly. I will admit I indulged in some self-pity and walked the lovely tree-carpeted paths quoting melancholy poetry to myself and feeling very brave and heroic as I put on a smiling face to the world lest anyone suspect my sad misfortunes of soul.

I just feel more and more out of place as David settles more into his role as assistant surgeon. We both research together and share information to make our impressions better. The more I do this the more I see that there really is no excuse for David to bring me and the children with him. The more I feel absolutely sure that my presence in a field hospital is absolutely NOT excusable, no matter how "family friendly" our unit may be. I don't like setting up our tent alongside the "hospital tent" as if surgeons just happily drug along their families wherever they went and had their wives and children conveniently encamped with them, where just outside my tent threshold I can behold piles of fake amputated limbs and a vast array of medical tools. It just would not have happened that way. I am really not sure where I fit in or even if I fit in at all in the mainstream reenacting community. I feel like I am holding David back from improving his impression. I ruin it just by being there. I wish I had a group of like minded females who would be willing to have their own, separate, civilian area and an impression completely removed from the lame one of "visiting" their husbands while they are in the field.

At least I had my little boys to keep me company - it is impossible to indulge in self pity very much when they are so active and so busy and require so much effort to keep up with!

And it really is a very delightful thing to have such a handsome husband. It makes the battle ever so much more interesting to watch.

The boys were thrilled with the horses.

All in all it was a lovely event and a very good meal was provided in the evening. A nice way to wrap up Civil War reeancting for this year. For more pictures, you can see my album here: Shadows of the Blue and Gray.

Love,
Sarah

Vintage Style Underwear ~ Part 2

The bra is done. I got bored with it yesterday so finished it up quickly before I was tempted to shove it to the bottom of my sewing drawer and forget about it.

It came out better than I thought it would. I really do like it but it's just so darn ugly. ;P I wish I had used prettier fabric. Or a different color. I forgot how much I hate white bras. But I bet I can dye this one if I want to. And now that I know how easy bras are to make, I can whip up a new one whenever I feel like it in whatever fabric I want.

I sewed the binding on:

And added the hooks:

And added the straps last.

It gives a nice shape under my dresses and tops. It is so different from my modern t-shirt bras or the stretch sports bras I usually wear. It lifts and defines each breast into a kind of cone shape, but it actually makes them appear smaller than my modern bras do - which in my case, is a good thing.

Making a bra really forced me to evaluate my body. That can be scary but now I have been reinforced strongly in my theory that I am really very terribly short waisted, and that a higher bustline like the one  my new bra gives is actually better for my shape than modern bras that give a lower, fuller, more rounded line. There is not much space between my underbust and my waist so any hanging boob flesh that obscures my mid-section just makes me look top heavy and fat all over. : / Did you know that when I wear a soft molded cup t shirt bra there is literally ***1 and 1/2 inches*** between the bottom of my bust and my actual waist???

For comparison, here is a picture of a plain sweater I like to wear. This picture is with my "best" modern bra, that is, the one that I feel is most flattering to me. It gives a pretty good lift, but a very rounded shape.

And here is the same sweater with the bra I just finished making. Definitely more pointy in shape, and my midriff area is more visible and less curvy. I doubt I will wear this bra with this sweater, though, since there is too much nipple effect going on. :P (forgive my horrible hair).

But I do like the vintagey silhouette it gives. It seems trimmer, tidier, more put-together. I am so pleased with how it works underneath this white blouse.

I got this blouse, and the silk/linen stripey skirt this summer at a fill-a-bag-for-$1 day at the thrift store. I love this blouse, but with  my modern bra, the pleated midriff section sat across the bottom of my boobs. And then the waistband of the skirt was just below that. It was ugly and horrific and dumpy. To make it work I had to pull down the blouse so the midriff section settled at the proper place, but then I had excessive boob crack issues from the neckline. Now, I don't need to tug or pull anything into place, and the midriff section sits where it is supposed to sit. And because the midriff band isn't straining to encompass boob flesh, the side zipper zips up easily and I don't feel like I'm trying to squeeze into something that is too small for me. And yeah, I gotta loose my belly pooch. ;) No, I am NOT pregnant.

Now I need to finish up my undergarments and make a real vintage style dress to go over my new bra! I'm thinking something fun and twirly and totally girly from the 1940's would be just the right thing!

Love,
Sarah

Vintage Style Underwear ~ Part 1

After making my 1920's dress, I began to wonder what women in the 20's wore *under* their dresses. What did they wear by way of underwear? I began looking into it and by some chance or reason came across an old etsy listing for a 1930s era pattern for undergarments. 

The pattern was sold, but I was inspired by the pictures of the pattern envelope. Women made homemade underwear in the 30's! I have made corsets, but never a bra, so felt like I could use an interesting challenge. My hope is that this set will work for any 30's, 40's, or 50's styles I might make. It doesn't seem like underwear has changed all that much since the advent of the bra.

Lacking pattern pieces, I did what I normally do and wrapped a strip of fabric around my body and pinned and cut and pulled and tucked until I had something that fit and that resembled a bra. I carefully cut it apart and made my first pattern from that. I went through another mock up, and refined the fit a bit more and then ended up with my final pattern pieces here:

I did go with a two piece cup instead of a one piece cup fitted with a dart. I simply could not get a one piece cup with a dart to fit my shape very well and the two piece works much better. I felt safe choosing this style since this original 30's bra from etsy shows what looks like a horizontal seam across each cup.

I cut my pieces from medium weight white linen. I know the material isn't fancy or pretty, but I have a horror of working with slinky, silky, flimsy fabrics and I'm going for plain and practical. No one will ever see what I wear beneath my dresses except for my husband and any interested, likewise obsessed-with-foundation-garments costumers out there, who read this post and who find this kind of thing intriguing. ; ) Here you can see the cups being sewn together. One is pinned and has been sewn, and the other has been sewn, pressed, and topstitched.

Here are both cups finished and sewn together in the center. I finished all the seams by zig zagging the raw edges of the seam allowance and pressing them open. I topstitched them down for the smoothest line on the outside.

Another view of the cups. You can see how pointy the cups are. It is a soft point instead of a hard one (this is definitely not a "bullet bra"!) but it gives a nice, uplifted, perky shape that has not been part of my life since I gave birth to and nursed three babies. The bottom of the cups kind of act like a corset in that the bottom cup is responsible for the uplift and support. The top of the cup makes sure the girls stay where they are supposed to and don't bounce out and away!  

Then I added the back pieces, sewn to the sides.

Here the back is pinned shut.

Next I need to finish the back and add the hook and eyes. After that I will need to bind the edges and add the straps and decide if I want to pretty these up in someway, with the addition of lace or ribbon or other such feminine dainties.

Love,

Sarah

1920's Style Hat

Because every girl needs a new hat, right? I made do with a green felt, rather shapeless hat last weekend, not having time to make a new hat before our outing, but this week I set to work making a proper one.

And here is an original 1920's quilted hat. I loved coming across this one since it looked easy to reproduce. I love the colors and the fun quilting pattern. I also love the wide brim. The brim on my version didn't come out as wide or flared, but I will definitely try this shape for a summer time hat. I would love to make one in off white and blue. From what I've read, wider brims like this one were more popular in the early 20's and the smaller, closer fitting cloches came into popularity in the mid 20's. I think I am definitely more of a wide-brim type of girl. The helmet head look just doesn't do it for me, you know?

I looked around for 1920's hat patterns, but, alas, found almost nothing. I decided to use this bucket hat pattern from Simplicity and adapt it for my project.

I didn't really alter it that much. The only thing I did was to shorten the crown by about 1.5" and shape the brim so it was wider at the sides than at the front or back. The outside is made of quilted black cotton sateen and the lining is of brown taffeta. I kind of like how the lining side looks right side out. ;)

For decoration, I tied a loose swirly bow with a silky purple scarf and pinned it to one side.

I found that I definitely need bright red lipstick to be able to wear this hat with any confidence. It is too bold and dramatic to wear without red lipstick. Believe me. It just doesn't look right.

And here is the back. From the back the shape almost reminds of me of regency era bonnets.

Love,
Sarah

Quick N' Easy 1920's Dress

Last week, I was going through my copy of Costume in Detail for the umpteenth time and while stopping to look at the dress on p. 357, the cream lace and net afternoon dress, c. 1922-1923, a line drawing of a dress style from a Butterick pattern envelope struck me, with just how plain and simple and comfortable it looked, so I decided to make one for myself. Now, I have never been a real fan of 1920's style but I liked how the skirt is longer here, and the waist is not so low. Less extreme than what you think of when you think of the 1920's.

I draped the bodice pattern directly on my body and the back is exactly the same as the front, with the neckline in the front being cut a tad lower than in the back. The skirt is two 45" wide panels of fabric sewn together and pleated at the hips. The sleeves are 3/4 length and cut so they bell out at the hem.

The fabric was some of that wonderful $1.50 "mystery" fabric that Wal Mart offers. :P I got a few yards of it earlier this year since I liked the plaid so much, but I could not discern the fiber content no matter how I tried. I am pretty sure it is some sort of cotton blend. It is a woven, but is still stretchy, and quite thick and heavy and drapey. I am not sure what all is in it. The bodice is lined with plain brown cotton.

To add some visual interest I sewed on strips of off white cotton down the front and used the same fabric to bind the neckline and sleeve hems and for a tie belt. It was a super easy and quick project and was fun to wear this weekend. Here are some pictures of the finished dress.

At Springdale Cemetery. David and I spent Saturday afternoon lounging about in the city while the boys stayed with their grandma, to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. We stopped here and spent a while looking for the grave of my great-grandpa. I found my great-great grandparents and then David finally spotted great-grandpa, here.

He was born in 1919 and died in 1941, when my grandfather was just a baby. It was very emotional for me to see his grave and read his name and feel a connection to him by being there. He was younger than I am now when he died, leaving behind a young wife and an infant son.

I couldn't help but wonder how my great-grandma felt when she was suddenly bereft of her husband. How did she go on? I can't imagine having that happen to me! Yet, she did go on, and married again and had three daughters - my lovely aunties - and created exquisite, daintily stitched quilts and curtains and rugs for my dollhouse when I was a little girl and when she passed on, I was given many of her sewing and crafting items, some of which I still have and treasure. She was an amazing woman.

My orange cream soda. ;) It was very good. Quite the best soda I've ever had!

I am really happy with how my dress came out! It is not weird enough to look terribly out of place in modern life and it does not require any special undergarments (no corsets!) and this material, whatever it is, is fantastic as it does not wrinkle. At all. Yeah.

I love the shoes I found to go with the dress. Goodwill, $4.99. They aren't *exactly* like proper 1920s shoes as the curve upwards is more drastic than the more gently curved 1920's style but still, they have the general right look and they are super comfortable to wear.

Love,
Sarah