Shirts for Anne & Rose from Ragamuffin Patterns lil Rebel Raglan

I applied for testing a pattern earlier this year, in the spring when a pattern designer posted a call for testers for a cute raglan pattern for girls. I was accepted and over the next month or two sewed up a few versions of this pattern while it was in testing/tweaking stage. It's been a little while now since the final pattern was released and here are some photos of Rose and Anne modeling their finished garments!

The pattern is the Lil Rebel Raglan by Ragamuffin Patterns.

The pattern is super versatile, with length options (from crop top to maxi length), sleeve lengths (from cap to long sleeve), neckline options, hood options, pocket options and sizes from baby through girls 12. While Anne just fits into the 12, the large sizing range will make this a definite go-to pattern for Rose through the next few years, and the ladies Rebel Raglan picks up where the girls pattern leaves off, so I can use that one as Anne grows into those sizes (how is she this big already?!)

While it's been a few years now since I started working with knits, it still is always a challenge. While I feel pretty confident with my serger now I struggled a lot with hems on knits. Double needles break in my modern machine and although I could probably take time to adjust all my machine settings to get a nice double stitched hem with a twin needle and wooly nylon in the bobbin, it seemed a huge headache to have to do that every time I need to hem on knits. 

I found a second hand coverstitch machine through Facebook marketplace and decided to get it. It was not love at first sight, or for a while. I soon learned coverstitch machines are super sensitive and I will never be able to just pop my stretchy fabric under the presser foot and merrily stitch away. I have to sew samples first, adjust the settings, make sure the needle and thread weight are correct for my fabric, etc. BUT! Once all that is done, the results are really nice. 

Although, I think my frustration with initially getting to know that machine has been partly a cause of me sewing absolutely nothing by machine since then - all hand sewing the last few months as I continue progress on my Bronze Age clothing. 

I am glad I did this test sewing and happy to have a good, basic, versatile pattern for my girls. They definitely wear these kinds of clothing much more often than any other kind. They like clothes that are cute and comfortable and that they can play and run around in. No little-house-on-the-prairie style dresses for these girls, alas! 😂 

School starts in less than 3 weeks. It's been a fun, full, busy summer and I look forward to blogging more and having time to share what has been going on once the kids are back in school. 

Much love,

Sarah

End of School Year

Today I woke up a little before 6, as I always do and went through the morning routine of fixing breakfast and waking up the kids - first the oldest, and then an hour later the little ones. Today is their last full day of school and as I snapped a quick pic of the youngest three before we walked to the bus stop I felt that familiar bittersweet ache as I reflected on how much bigger they are than they were on the first day of school last August. 

These kids went back to school during a time full of uncertainty and many strange, new routines and precautions. They had smaller classroom sizes, spaced desks, wore masks every day and yet - well, they did it! They learned things and made friends and created beautiful art and sang songs and played on the playground at recess. At the beginning of the year their teachers weren't sure if we would have more than a few weeks of normal school before we had to go remote but even though we did have some cases of covid, the school never shut down. Benjamin had to quarantine last fall when someone in his school tested positive for Covid, and then David had to a few weeks later but they did their online schoolwork just fine and after 10 days transitioned back into a classroom setting with no problems. 

They are all immensely excited for summer break! I'm a little overwhelemd! Haha. They will all be home all summer this year so we have been making lists of fun things we can do locally and that are cost effective. Free movie day in a neighboring town each week, plenty of places to go swimming, fishing and hiking and Judah has a full schedule of baseball games over the next month and a half. There will be VBS and reading programs at the library and preparing for 4H judging this summer and the fair in September! We will be busy. 

I've been working on a few modern sewing projects as part of a test group for a girls pattern that will be released soon. I was feeling pretty apathetic about sewing so signed up for testing as a way to kind of force me to get back into it a little. I'm glad I did. It's been fun sewing things for the girls and using modern materials and sewing methods. While it's often cheaper to buy second hand clothing for the kids instead of making them from scratch it's nice to be able to sew something special for them from time to time. And the pre cut knits from Wal Mart make these kind of projects pretty darn affordable! Once the pattern is released I can share my makes! 

I think I've been so stressed lately and have lost so much interest in things because my mom has been so sick. A few weeks ago my sister messaged me that she was in really bad shape and it was definitely possible we could lose her. The hospital only allowed my dad and one other person (my brother filled that role) as visitors so it's been extremely frustrating and heartbreaking to be stuck here unable to even visit my mother. My uncle did fly out from Rhode Island and was snuck into my moms room by my brother just in case it was the last time he could see her. That same night I called my dad in a panic and he had a very rational, calm, realistic view of things that really helped me feel a lot calmer and more optimistic. Sure enough, my mother did begin to get better very soon after that. 

She continues to have her ups and downs but she is, I think, on an updward trend. So many people worldwide are praying for her! She has improved enough to be moved to a different hospital where her rehab will be more focused on. So that is a good thing! The new hospital will only allow my dad to visit so I will need to hang tight til my mom is well enough to either transfer to a facility that allows extra visitors or (most hopefully) she can go home and continue physical therapy on an outpatient basis. My sister in law, Heidi, set up a CaringBridge page for my mom and posts updates often: CaringBridge for Pam Edwards

I do have some historic sewing goals for 2021. I guess I'll make a list here as now is as good a time as any to write things down. 

1. Finish my 1890's ensemble - all I have left is the actual dress! And I have the fabric and patterns and the mock up is fitted. I just need to actually sew it! 

2. Make a Welsh costume, probably styled after late 18th/early 19th century fashions. I have been researching this since the start of the year and have everything I need, including some dark blue wool for the ubiquitous Welsh cloak! I just need to actually start. I have linen laid out for my shift and a pattern printed for a late 18th century lightly boned corset/stays. I just need to start. 

3. Make a European Bronze Age era costume. I've been researching this the past month or so. My interest in the Bronze Age really took off as I listened to YouTube documentaries over the winter and realized, damn, I never learned about this in school. I'm super excited about this one and it's probably one that I will begin sooner rather than later. 

Last week I did take out the tablet weaving cards I made a few years ago and finally took the time to thread them up and begin weaving, using the directions from Earth Guild. For the Bronze Age impression I am going for, tablet weaving in a colored pattern is likely not the most accurate choice. I will finish this piece as a practice piece and am making a backstrap repp weave belt in two shades of grey for my Bronze Age outfit. For later periods, colored tablet woven patterns are accurate. 

4. Make an Iron Age era costume, consisting of a linen underdress or tunic and a wool peplos type of dress. This is something I've planned since making my Druid robes a few years ago knowing that eventually I'd want to make a more historically accurate version. For this outfit, a tablet woven belt will be just fine. This isn't as high on my priority list as the Bronze Age costume but it is so simple it wouldn't take long to make at all. I think for this one I will order some reproduction fibula to pin the shoulders instead of trying to make my own. Etsy has some really beautiful reproduction pins!

Besides that, I want to continue to learn Welsh (have been doing so daily since January!), go on lots of hikes, visit state parks I've not been to yet, play my instruments, cook lots of good food and grow beautiful tomatoes. We aren't have a regular garden this year since Lucy, our dog, wouldn't respect it (lol). So we have 12 tomato plants where she can't mess with them and I hope they do well this year. I also want to go to garage sales and  visit my mom when she is well enough and in a place where I can go see her!

We did go to a Civil War event at the beginning of the month and we had a great time! I was all enthusiastic about 1860's stuff again for a week or two before and after. However, that enthusiasm was very short lived. 😂 It just feels stale to me right now. I know this feeling won't last forever. But I'm way more interested in the projects I listed above. 

I got my second Moderna shot at the end of April and now, more than two weeks out, I am fully vaccinated! I am so thankful for that. In June Ohio is dropping their mask mandates and currently fully vaccinated people can go into stores without having to wear masks. I still feel extremely exposed and weird not wearing one. I generally just automatically put one on. The girls plan to repurpose their old masks from the school year into doll hammocks. 

Much love,

Sarah

An 1860's White Waist and Shaped Belt

 

As the end of April is already here and we are getting ready to go this weekend to our first small living history / Civil War reenactment since the fall of 2019, I wanted to share these pictures of a finished ensemble I made a month or two ago. Not that I will be wearing this outfit this weekend (I won't - rural, poor, working class is definitely my favorite!) but as Rose just turned six years old recently I thought these would be nice to share. We took these pictures on a warm, windy day in March and she is wearing the pink dotted swiss dress I made for Anne several years ago. I made this particular outfit in coordination with a friend of mine who wanted photos of more upper-class shoes. Which I am wearing in these pictures, but shoes are hard to see in most photos!

Rose is the only child that hasn't needed new 1860's clothes. It's been so very long since I've made any of the children any clothing for Civil War events that even all the hand me downs were too small for all but Rose. I've known this fact since the beginning of the  year but it took me almost four months to make trousers, shirts, braces (suspenders) and waistcoats for the big boys. I just can't sew as fast as I used to. I only made two vests since the pattern I bought for the boys two years ago the oldest two mostly outgrew before I had a chance to make it up. Oh well, Malachi will have two vests that will fit him awhile, David can squeeze into one of them for this weekend and I am ordering the next pattern size up for Judah! How did all three of my little boys become as big as, or bigger than, grown men?!

I listened to all of the videos from Fall of Civilizations channel on YouTube while making these. I really enjoyed that and was sad when I came to the end of the last one, about the Inca civilization. Damn! I love history and although I learned a lot about American history during my years in (home)school, I didn't learn as much about world history. And I feel like I am discovering SO much I never knew about or even had the knowledge to wonder about before. It has made the hours sewing these clothes, bit by bit, really fun and interesting for me. 

The podcast/sewing time has also been one of the only things that has given me a few minutes of calm the past few weeks as my mom was very sick in the days leading up to Easter and shortly after a covid test came back positive. I was really upset when the hospital sent her home after diagnosing her with pnuemonia and giving her an antibiotic pack. A few days later she had to go back due to critically low oxygen and she has been fighting for her life ever since. Now that she is doing better I feel like I, too, can breathe easier. She is by no means recovered yet but thankfully( she is still with us and seems to be improving. It will, however, be a long road to back to normal, or perhaps the finding of a new normal. If you feel moved to, please pray for her as well as for my father as he is recovering from covid too.  

I go tomorrow to get my 2nd moderna shot. I'm hoping that I feel well enough to go to the event this weekend. I had no side effects from the first shot except a sore arm for a day or two but I've heard the 2nd one can be a bit harder to bounce back from. 

I have no idea that this year will look like but I am grateful that there is hope. I am grateful for little moments of "normal". I am glad my hands remember how to sew clothes for my children - who aren't so little anymore - so that they can enjoy activities they remember fondly from what they now call "BC" (before covid). 

Now school is in its final weeks and I am grateful that they had a good year. Benjamin and Rose are in their 10-day stretch of being the same age between her birthday and his and Judah started baseball. Four of the kids are in 4H this year and our county has received permission to host a normal, full fair this September. Also in September, my oldest son starts highschool. 

Life goes on and there are so many things to be thankful for. 

I realize this post has very little to do with the actual construction and details of this outfit. I will write another one with all the details soon!

Much love,

Sarah 

Short Sleeved Scroop Robin Dress

 It's been warm enough lately to wear this dress again and I thought I should probably blog about it, especially since I made this last summer and took pictures of it for my blog last fall!

This was my second dress from the Scroop Robin Dress pattern and I love it just as much as the first one I made, if not more. I do not like ironing it every time I wash it but I invested in a clothes steamer and it makes getting wrinkles out so much easier and quicker. 

This version was made with my own modified pattern (adapted for a low bust point) and the short flutter sleeves included in the pattern. I used wooden buttons down the front and they seem to compliment the blue and brown feather print fabric quite well. The fabric is from Wal-Mart and not the greatest quality, but hey, it's great for an everyday dress!

I first wore this dress to a local tent revival last summer (I have been to plenty of those in my life and feel no need to be re-saved, but, it was fun and I enjoyed going with Rose to listen to familiar gospel music and hear some fire and brimstone preaching. It was interesting seeing how I enjoyed some aspects of it very much (the old hymns and the (socially distanced) socializing, but how I was horrified and appalled at a lot of the violent preaching. 

I wanted to make this dress full length but didn't have quite enough fabric for it so the shorter version it was. It does take quite a bit of fabric to cut the full length princess seam panels. I will try that version sometime this spring, I think. Making this dress will be even quicker now since I have learned to work with the buttonhole attachment on my 1920's singer treadle. It makes such perfect buttonholes each time!

Look how little Lucy was in these pictures! She is a giant puppy now. I think she will be a fairly large dog when all is said and done. She is still just as sweet and curious and cuddly now although she no longer fits in my arms. 

I hope you all are enjoying these first stirrings of spring as winter winds down. I sure am! I love having my windows open today and going outdoors barefoot and with no coat. 

Much love,

Sarah

A Red Wool Flannel Welsh Dragon

 This winter has been so extremely difficult. Anxiety and restlessness and despair settled into, it seemed, my very being. Logically I know there is no justifiable reason for this and it is probably related to lack of sunshine and the cold weather (warm days and sunshine put me into an immediate cheerful mood) but the last few weeks have been so, so hard. It has been hard to force myself to become very interested in anything and the smallest tasks have seemed exhausting.

Since I know this happens, to some extent, each winter I kind of plan for it. In January I ditched social media for a time (I did reactive Instagram, but am much happier and calmer being off of facebook). I picked up work again on my family tree on Ancestry.com and started researching more into my fathers direct line - the Edwards - a hard line to research and such a common name! - but felt it was the right time to do that. My 3x grandfather immigrated to America from Wales in the 1880's and was, himself, born in Wales in 1854. 

I had been reading a book about Welsh superstitions / folk stories around that time in relation to my studies in OBOD - British Goblins: Welsh Folklore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions by Wirt Sikes - and felt it was a cool connection to be reading about an area my family came. The more I read the book and researched my ancestral connections the more excited and interested I became. I was so grateful at the time to have this to kind of hold onto, to carry me through the dark days of winter and give me motivation to do more than just sort of exist and mechanically go about my days. 

I fell down a few rabbit holes I'm still fascinated by and continuing my research in - Welsh National Dress (yes, there will definitely be a Welsh outfit in my future!) and Welsh cooking - and discovered that Wirt Sikes wrote another great book about daily life in Wales, Rambles and Studies in Old South Wales and once I'm finished with my current book I will begin that one. 

Anyway, I have had little motivation for sewing lately. I have plenty I could and should be doing but it's been hard to even think about threading the machine and getting to work on anything. I did, however, briefly feel interested in making a little stuffed dragon from some red flannel scraps I've had forever. I found Jennifer Carsons etsy shop and fell in love with her whimsical and lovely patterns for all kinds of fantasy creatures. I sensibly bought what seemed to be an easy pattern and what she calls a perfect choice for a first time dragon charmer and I printed it out. The Laying Western Dragon pattern would be a nice little project to work up during the cold dark days of February, or so I thought. 

It took SO. LONG. for me to finish this project. I ended up feeling completely overwhelmed by it and I had to break it down into so many manageable chunks to get it done. This has nothing to do with the pattern, which is well written and clearly illustrated, but everything to do with my own mental state at the time. Little by little though, I kept at it. A seam here, turning a sewn piece there, stuffing later, then sewing the stuffing hole shut a different time.

I used my 1920s treadle to sew together the main pieces and the rest was done by hand. I ended up mostly sewing Dewi - for so I came to call him -  in various half hours of dark evenings after dinner and while everyone else was watching tv in the living room. 

The past week the weather has warmed up and the snow has mostly melted and I feel 100% better and completely different than I did at this time last week. I want to start work on more serious projects so yesterday I sewed the back legs and attached them - something that probably would have taken me a week to do when I was still struggling so much with the winter. 

The red dragon is featured on the Welsh flag and is symbolic of a folk tale in which a red dragon (the Welsh, or Cymry) fights against a white dragon (the English). Red wool flannel is itself very symbolic of Wales, as wool production was extremely important to the Welsh economy. (Even the shifts rural women wore in the early 19th century were often of wool flannel, rather than linen or cotton!) 

If you have never heard the story of the Red Dragon, I highly recommend this Youtube video (and the channel itself  is definitely worth a subscription!) The Story of Lludd, Llyfelus & Y Draig Goch 

Dewi the dragon seemed to evolve into his own sweet  natured person as I stitched him together. He is certainly not a fierce dragon like the one prancing across the flag but I adore him as he is. He has blue eyes, for my father and grandfather Edwards and his name came from the youngest son of my great-great-great grandfather Edwards who came to America with his wife and oldest son in the 1880s. I remember when I first read the names of his children I was suprised to see Dewi at the end of a long line of traditional, "sensible" names. What kind of a name was Dewi? Then I came to find out that Dewi is a common Welsh name, which is a form of the name David. My grandfather Edwards was David and David is my own fathers middle name. 

The background in these pictures is a painting my own son, David, made for me. I want to do a post on all David's paintings soon. He is an amazing artist and I love his work so much! This particular scene of a still lake with trees and hills, in shades of blue and white and green, is so calming and serene. 

So very happy that spring is in a few more weeks! I am so happy to be going into a warmer time of year. 

Love,

Sarah

A Red Floral 1860's Wrapper

 There were no Civil War events for me to go to in 2020. Even though I have gone to fewer and fewer as the years have gone on, I did miss going to events last year. As the year wound down towards its end I did make one 1860's dress - a red floral wrapper, my first 1860's garment for myself in three years. 

My grandma passed away in July of last year and I felt I should make a mourning gown as I did when I lost my grandfather in 2013. However, I never made much progress on the black wool dress I halfheartedly began because it was too depressing and didn't feel quite right at the time. Finally, in September I found some red floral fabric  by chance at a local shop and I bought five yards of it as well as a yard of a coordinating print that was in the $1 pile. When I got the fabrics home it felt to me that they ought to become a wrapper. 

I love wrappers because they don't need to be worn with a corset and are useful for working-class scenarios (although, to be sure, fashionable, fancy wrappers worn by upper class ladies certainly existed too!) Many years ago I made a wrapper as a casual dress option for events when it was very hot or I didn't feel like wearing a corset or if I was pregnant or breastfeeding and dealing with the figure changes those conditions bring. Also, wrappers can be fun and loud and colorful and bright and all those things are what I think of when I think of my grandma. 

I began my wrapper in September and took a few weeks to make it. I took it very slow as I had to, in some ways, reacquaint myself with sewing techniques I hadn't used in quite some time. Finally, in October it was finished and my son Malachi took some photos for me at a local wildlife area. (My kids, as they get older, are less and less enthusiastic about taking pictures of my finished projects for me! 😂)

The wrapper has a fitted back and sides with a half fitted front bodice lining and full length loose front panels from the shoulder to hem. I carefully cut and pieced my trim fabric and sewed it on by hand. The lining fastens with reproduction hook and eyes from NJ Sekela and the fashion layer fastens simply at the neck and is tied shut at the waist with a self fabric belt that is inserted into the seam between the side and front bodies. 

The fabric probably isn't quite correct for the 1860's, but at this point in my life I am do not care so much about being exact. The overall effect is pleasing to me and the rich, warm red makes me feel happy and alive. I love thinking of the many hours I spent working on this and all the memories of my grandma that I thought of as I stitched. 

Had to include these pictures of Benjamin because he is just TOO. ADORABLE. Here is wearing his older brothers outgrown wool overshirt and short trousers. 

And oh my goodness Lucy was so little. She is 3x that size now.

It was a good project for me to ease back into 1860's sewing. In the several years it has been since I last made an 1860's dress my figure has changed enough to warrant a whole new base pattern (or bodice block). I had to alter my wrapper a bit as I made it to fit and it still doesn't fit exactly as it should. Since it's a loose, casual garment though, it's fine. Once the wrapper was done I did go ahead and take a few days to modify my pattern and come up with new, better fitting base. I also adjusted a copy of this base into a base pattern for a later 19th century basic bodice, too - so that whenever I have time or inclination to make that 1890's dress, or the 1880's work dress I have been wanting to sew on my (new! old!) 1880's treadle machine, it will be easy to start. 

Mock up from base pattern from 3 years ago.

Final mock up after adjustments were made!

Pattern for late 19th century bodices

Mock up of late 19th century bodice. This shoulder line works for earlier 70s and 80s but needs to go up higher onto my shoulder for later 80's and 90s things. 

I do need to do a post about that treadle machine! I love her so very much. She is an 1880's American No. 7 and she is just waiting for me to stitch up a plain 1880's petticoat and that work dress. I will get to it soon, I hope. I have my pattern, fabrics and my book of pattern diagrams for the skirt/sleeves out and ready to go. 

Much love,

Sarah