Heritage Village Civil War Weekend 2017

It's been a while since I posted here. Summer has been so full, so busy, but so pleasant so far. It is bittersweet for me since my kids are growing older and I know that these golden years will be the ones I look back on when they are grown. My oldest boys are around the 10 year mark. How fast the next 10 will go by! It takes my breath away and pulls on my heart a little. It's such a great thing to witness my babies growing into strong, independent and unique human beings full of so many different ideas and interests but it's a little sad to experience how fast this time goes by.

When I had my oldest son I was only 20 (ohmygosh that seems so incredibly young to me now) and really didn't think farther ahead than cuddling my newborn baby in my arms. But now I know that the role of a parent is so heavily based on learning to let go, and giving your kids the foundation to be compassionate, strong, happy adults; to survive and thrive. And it's so SO SO a 24/7 job. And it's exhausting and challenging (in good and bad ways! haha) and pulls every bit of you out and stretches you in a million directions. So, less time for both sewing and blogging. I kinda feel like I need to apologize but I know that everyone understands this! So here's some new pictures, anyway!

This past weekend we attended the Civil War weekend at Heritage Village. My oldest son is currently visiting his grandma so I had just five of the children with me. I wasn't sure at first if I would camp since the village is so close to our home but decided, what the heck, let's do this. And I'm so glad we did. It was the first overnight camp the two littlest remember and they were absolutely brilliant.

Judah, Saturday morning before the gates opened.

Malachi

Confederate soldiers marching to drill on the lawn across the street from us.

We brought 2 A-frames. This one was for the girls and I.
I was pretty happy with how nice it was!

Sweet Rosie watching the soldiers drill.

Union troops across the street. That's our friend Scott in the background!

Union troops lined up for quinine call early Saturday morning. We had a really
great medical staff this year.

Rose and Anne at the train depot. We took a photo in this same spot last year!

Benjamin had so much fun playing in the trees behind camp.

PHOTO CREDIT DAVID BURNS

Judah and Malachi had a tournament game scheduled for Saturday so I thought

I'd have to leave the event for a little while to take them. It was cancelled due to rain the day

before, though, but they still got to play baseball! The Cincinnati Red Stockings (post

war team) and the Cincinnati Buckeyes (pre war club team) had a more pleasant battle

on Saturday morning. One of my sons played for one team and one for the other. Truly brother against

brother. I cheered for both. ;) Definitely a highlight of the weekend!

PHOTO CREDIT DAVID BURNS
Judah up at bat.

Medical camp detail. I was up late the night before the event making
labels for their "whiskey" (diluted tea). I copied these from an 1859
whiskey label from the Library of Congress. Still need to refine the design a bit but
it's close to the original, minus the flourishes and embellishments surrounding
the text that the original had. (It was midnight, I was tired, and felt like plain labels
would suffice for one event!)

Malachi sharing pretzels with Rose. She is passionate about food.

Anne taking time to stop and smell the flowers.

PHOTO CREDIT DAVID BURNS
Doing some laundry Saturday afternoon. This was Rose's favorite activity, because it combines two of her
favorite things: cleaning and water!

Judah playing with a Jacobs ladder while visiting at the field hospital.

Federal troops on the road just beyond our camp.

Talking over war matters.

Confederate infantry during the Saturday battle.

Our brave boys in blue!

Scott, very much looking the part.

David, Shawn and Anthony, the core of our great medical staff. 

The field hospital and camp across the road from ours.

Saturday nap time!

Judah and Rose on Saturday evening, on the porch of the house behind camp.

My two last babies. I loved wearing this sacque and petti outfit on Saturday!
I will be posting about this outfit soon! 

Federal camp across the way.

She was delighted to discover my chap stick. It quickly became
Rose's chap stick, instead of Mommy's.

Flowers along the picket fence.

On the way to dinner.

Yes, it was 11 o'clock and  yes, they were still awake playing with their dollies.

Judah and I sat outside at the table til the babies were asleep. Malachi campaigned
it with the medical staff and slept under the stars with the guys. "It's quite fun, actually." He told me that night,
as he grabbed a blanket before heading out. He's definitely got passion for this.

Melting wax is fun. It really is.

Sleepy boy early Sunday morning.

She vowed she wasn't tired as she ate her favorite part of a hard
boiled egg, the yolk. 

Anne was up early to play with her new friends from our neighboring
camp.

Officers call early Sunday morning.

Mandy feeding the chickens. She let Benjamin help, which delighted his heart greatly.

Judah and Benjamin visit with the chickens.

They were very friendly.

This kid!

Rose preferred seeing the chickens from afar.

On our way to church.

Church. Rose played quietly with her doll for a little while before deciding she
greatly enjoyed the acoustics of the building and started screaming happily.

Rev. Powell delivers a sermon that was actually preached during the Civil War in Cincinnati.
Anthony later offered a prayer from the Soldier's Prayer Book.

He disappeared with his friend Ethan most of the day on Sunday. I came across him every once in a while!

Judah and Benjamin just before the battle.

Anne and her new friend, Harrison.

Confederate troops on Sunday.

Oblivious to the wounded and dead.

Anne and Ethan watching the battle. Ethan kept looking for his dad on the field.

Our boys!

Brent, looking weary with war.

Jefferson Davis, visiting with us a bit during the battle. He was
so kind to all of us, I felt bad I could not in good conscience call
him "Mr. President". 

Benjamin looking very delighted with the card Mr. Davis gave
to him.

Anne plays her friend Arden after the battle.

Kevin

And Malachi! 

A huge thank you to all the volunteers and staff at Heritage Village for making this event happen. We can't wait til next year!

Makeover Dolphin Dance Outfit

The past few weeks have been so full, so guys, I think I'm going to have to accept the fact that over the summer I won't be sewing nearly as much as I was earlier this year. I keep thinking "today I'll sew!" But I never do. I haven't really been inspired to sew lately, either. Our reenacting wardrobes are okay for now and nothing pressing is coming up.

Yes, she picks out her clothes herself. I would never have guessed
just how beautiful hot pink and black plaid is with a fuzzy black leopard
print vest with black vinyl frog closures. 

I did take about an hour lately to remake a few things I've had sitting around. For starters, I've had this. . .thing. . .for over a year. It was given to me with a bunch of other things when my neighbor moved away a while ago and I thought I could make it into some sort of Halloween costume. Yeah. . .no. But the quality of the fabric, the construction and the fit were all great! So I held onto it. 

It was a good candidate for a remake! Now, don't laugh but over the last year I've started to really get into belly dance. At first it was just a fun little break for the days I do not work out with a kettlebell but now I love it for itself; it's so relaxing, liberating and just a beautiful celebration of being a woman. It has really benefited me physically and mentally. I sure know I needed a pick up after recovering from my last c section and this has provided that and more. And the black bodysuit of perpetual ugliness was destined to become a belly dance outfit. 

It was so easy and quick. The top was just cut off below the bust. The blingy edges of the slit bell bottom pants I sewed into a band for under the bust. Once the band was attached I put 2 hooks at the back to close it and done!

The skirt is so fun. I found this large purple scarf at the peddlers mall. It is printed with dolphins and has fringe at the edges. Love!!! To make the skirt I folded it into quarters, cut an oval for the waist opening the same circumference as my hips and added a stretchy black fold-over waistband cut from one of the legs of the bodysuit. Since I sewed the stretchy waistband to the skirt with a zig zag stitch I didn't even have to finish any seams. And since the scarf is already finished on the edges, no hemming either!

My little fashion designer artistically sticks pins into the
mannequins rear end. After each one is inserted: "I DID IT!"

For dance use I have another scarf bought at the same peddlers mall striped in black, purple and white. It's not as blingy and jingly as other hip scarves but I like it's subdued hue very much. 

A long process of learning to celebrate myself, c section scars, stretch marks and poison
ivy patches and all!. Well, maybe not the poison ivy. 

I will probably use the skirt for modern wear as well. Because, dolphins! I should make a few more of these scarf skirts. But now I'm running out of time to even write this blog post. Summer is here! 

A Dress of Yellow Lawn

I made up the yellow lawn I got earlier this year in anticipation of this summers Gettysburg trip, as well as for something relaxing to do after the 1940's experiment. (Love the vintage styles but it is SO FAR out of my comfort zone!) 

This dress went together so quietly and easily. Really no problems whatsoever and I was surprised when I realized that yes, wow, it's done and wearable. That was easy. I didn't even have to think about it. I guess that is one good thing about sticking with this time period for over 15 years. Construction gets easier. I know if I try vintage style again it will eventually become easier. But this was a nice project to relax with before I tackle something new again. 

This dress is inspired by the popular Peachtree Mercantile Dress Pattern as well as a few original gowns, including one in Costume in Detail, that have the bodice with gathering at the shoulders and waist. While the Peachtree dress has only a partial lining that goes under the arms, I made my dress with a half high lining so it can be worn without a corset cover. Since my material is so light and rather sheer I don't want my corset showing through. 

The lining is of white cotton recycled from a thrifted sheet. The hem and waistband facings are from the same sheet. 

To keep things simple for myself I made the bodice and lining as one, except for the lining neckline and darts. The lining is attached to the outer bodice at the side seams, shoulder seams and the waistline. To create the extra width for the gathered shoulders I slashed up my basic bodice pattern through the dart lines, spread the pattern pieces apart an inch or two, and redrew the shape. Then the extra just gets gathered back to the original lines of the pattern at the shoulders and waist. Easy.

The outer bodice has no fastenings and is pinned shut at the base of the V neckline. For these pictures I just used a straight pin; a brooch could work but the one I have is too heavy for this material. So a straight pin is fine. The lining closes with hook and eyes and the skirt has a dogleg closure. 

The skirt is cartridge pleated and it was convenient to use the checks as spacing guides for the pleating stitches. They came out fairly large, so the pleats are softer and bigger than on previous dresses. I still like it. It adds to the overall loose, airy feel of the gown. 

The sleeves are full bias sleeves with a little bias ruffle at the top to help conceal the chemise sleeve worn beneath. They hook closed at the wrist. These sleeves are SO COOL. They catch the slightest breeze. 

Despite all the good things about this dress I still am not sure if I like it. I mean, it's pretty and it's lightweight but it's definitely not my favorite dress. Maybe it's the color? From a distance this dress looks like a pale blob and I guess I've grown to prefer dresses with very sharp, defined patterns. But the paleness goes with the style, maybe. It will be good for summer and very comfortable in the heat. I'll wear it. But I'm still not sure if I like it yet. Definitely not in love with it. 

I had the chance to wear this dress at Camp Dennison, which was the site of a training camp and hospital during the Civil War. Though most of the buildings are gone now there are still a few remnants of this interesting history there and close by is a small cemetery. The particular home in these photos, the Walschmidt Homestead, was built in 1804 and was used as headquarters by General Joshua Bates. 

For fun, here are some edited photos I have been experimenting with in Photoshop. While I definitely need more practice I was so excited to get these pictures looking a little more like real period images!

Hope you all are having a blessed June! Much love!