New Summer Sheer Plaid with Low Body

I posted a few photos of this dress in my last post but thought that this dress deserves its own post! ;) 1. I really, really love this dress and 2. I don't really have anything else to blog about since I have done absolutely nothing, sewing-wise, this week (unless you want to count 5 garments that needed various mends or new buttons after last weekend. I just finally got everything finished up and put away yesterday.)

Now, a low body on a grown, adult woman? Wasn't that neckline usually reserved for very young women or for evening wear? Well, yes. At least, that's what I've always been inclined to believe and that is what a lot of primary evidence supports. Usually, it seems, the most common bodice neckline for a grown women, during the day, is the high neckline, whether jewel, or V, or slightly squared. But after getting back into seriously perusing fashion of this era after a few years of apathy and then a few years of no reenacting, I have found that the general consensus now is that women, even those of a "certain age", can wear this neckline during the day, if the neckline is covered up with a fichu (which can be, and often were, quite sheer). It is suggested that women who were more well to do could, and sometimes did, wear fashions that are normally considered more "youthful".

This intrigued me and on a whim I pulled some fabric off my shelf that I have had for a number of years. I bought this sheer plaid cotton from Wal Mart a very long time ago and never used it. The plaid was really big but I liked the colors so I brought it with me during my move and planned to make it up someday, but, sheer fabrics are harder to work with so I had never touched it.

It worked well for this style of dress, though. I made a fresh mock up of my basic bodice pattern, drew a new, low (though not deep) neckline, tweaked it and used it to make the lining. The outer fabric was cut wider, to give me a few inches on each side to gather at the waistline and neckline. Once that was done the dress was finished like any other day dress with the waistband set on, skirts gauged and whipped to the waistband edge, the armscyes piped and the sleeves set in.

I was running seriously short of fabric when I got to the sleeves. I didn't realize when I started just how big this plaid is. Plus, it's an uneven plaid so even more of a pain in the butt to work with. So instead of piecing and pulling my hair out over sleeves that didn't match up quite right, I went with another period practice of just not caring. ;) The plaid is not matched on the sleeves and the upper puff sleeve and loose lower sleeve have the grain running in different directions, but I decided to not care and in the finished dress it's really not too jarring, right? The upper sleeve has a lightweight lining to support it and the lower sleeve is simply hemmed all around the edges and left open at the inner arm.

For proper full dress undersleeves would be needed (possibly not during really hot summer days) and a fichu worn. I made my fichu out of the skirt of a cotton organdy dress that had seen better days. After wearing it last weekend I've decided that its too wide at the shoulders and I had a mishap when the edging on the front caught on my belt buckle and was torn for a few inches. I think I will cut it down and edge it instead with a puffing or ruching of the organdy (which was my original plan, anyway, so I already have the strips cut and sewn and ready for hemming) and hopefully that will improve it.

This was a really comfortable dress to wear last weekend. It is far more comfortable than my other dress and easy to move in, even with the low on-the-shoulder neckline. Among other things I was able to drive my vehicle to the event, change diapers, nurse my toddler, play baseball with my older boys and some others, run, jump over puddles and dance with my daughters to some wonderful live music! ;) This is definitely my new favorite dress!

Soldier Training Camp

Yay for an amazing weekend, spent with amazing people and in a beautiful location. I'm so blessed to have such a great group to reenact with! Warning: a little picture heavy!

Saturday: Still extremely wet and flooded from the severe storms on Friday.

Oh, so many puddles. They played in the puddles all day, came home soaked
and filthy and very well pleased with themselves. 

A very big thank you to the curators of the village for letting our group stay
in the meeting house. It was quite a godsend! The storms flooded the camp area through Saturday.

Apparently camels and horses can get married. Or so he informed me.

Taking a break from puddle playing to have tea. 

Dollies need tea, too.

My little flower-child is drawn to flowers like a bee. She usually destroys them but
this time she was gentle. She is two, now, you know, so maybe she is finally growing
out of her stage of mass flower destruction. 

Corn cooked in the husk - he said it was great!

Judah tested the keys on the piano in the meeting house. It was unfortunately in very bad
shape. 

Puddles, puddles, and more puddles. 

Anne took a turn at trying to play a tune. 

One of the rolled dolls we made Rosie for her birthday. We made these from the instructions
in the American Girls Book  by Miss Leslie. (1831). 

Union soldiers at drill. 

I have not heard my guitar played so beautifully since I was a little
girl and my dad played for all of us kids. A huge thank you to Pvt. E
for his music!

Sweet little Rosie. 

The paths were muddy but the bridge was relatively dry. 

It's great fun to swing on a rope. 

Downtime activities, just like the soldiers of the 60's. 

David only consented to photos if I took a picture of him eating. So, here he is eating a roll!
;)

Sunday: Much drier, breezy and beautiful. So we broke out our best dresses in honor of the day!

She stayed out of puddles for about five minutes! Haha ;)

I made this dress for her birthday but it was too cold for her
to wear it on the actual day. She loves her pink dress!

Anne made a necklace of pink glass beads and I made a
little crown with paper flowers and wire for our birthday
princess.

Anne's dress! I love how these turned out. I got the dotted swiss
on a fabulous sale for just under $2/yard from FFC. It was bright bubblegum
pink so I used dye remover to tone it down. The color came out just right. 

Those curls!

Playing tic-tac-toe with our chaplain. 

Surgeon outside the commandeered hospital. 

Drill

Slightly unhappy toad, very happy Benjamin. 

They think it great fun to wrestle with their older brother. Judah is
so good with them. 

Malachi made a ring out of a dandelion stem and bestowed it upon Rose.

Boys making the rounds. 

Sunday lunch: I made these meat pies and brought them up Sunday morning.
I roasted a big pork loin and shredded it, and slow cooked it with onion, bacon fat and
one lemon overnight.

For dessert I brought up lemon cake, made from an original 1846 recipe. This
cake was very simple but certainly rich! 3/4 lbs of butter, 1 lb of flour, 1 of sugar, 7 eggs and
the juice and peel of lemon.
These cakes were in celebration of Rose's and Benjamin's birthdays, which are only 10 days apart.

Camp

Excuse my horrible hair - I had been playing baseball and my
hair went crazy.

Wild onions/garlic (can never remember how to tell which is which)

Cabin that later hosted the music and dance

Her favorite place!

Playing checkers with the chaplain at the general store.

Anne curiously watches the musicians.

My sweet baby! (who is not really a baby anymore! She is still breastfeeding though, so,
I can count her as a baby til she decides to wean. She is now officially my longest nurser!) 

Punch.

Her very first dance! She was absolutely thrilled!

And, Malachi!

So looking forward to the next event at the end of the month! We've really had a great start to the season.