Slat Bonnet

Hey all! I know I haven't been around at all in the last few months. I had stopped all work on reenacting just cause things got a little crazy. But i'm back!
This past weekend there was an event at Walker Tavern. Sadly I was not able to attend due to work =(
So not being able to go kicked my butt into gear. I started a mock skirt. I know skirts are super easy but I wanted to make a mock one just to see if I have the basic enough knowledge to make one. I think I got it down but it's not finished.
Tonight though I just finished a mock slat bonnet! It looks really awesome. Especially  since I have this outrageous fabric that I will never ever use for anything else. I used this pattern . Which took me forever to find. Friday night I started with a different pattern but it just was not coming out right. So after I found this pattern last night I knew that I was going to bust it out.
After taking my mom to the village for mother's day I came home and got to work.
I cut the first outline and it was just wrong,wrong,wrong. Cut again and again wrong. So of course 3rd time is the charm! I am so glad I did a mock first. Cause I used up soooo much fabric. I would have been crying my eyes out if I started with the real fabric.
The only thing I may change is to make the brim about half an inch longer. But I just love how it looks. I'm so excited to by the fabric and make it for real.
So enough with the chit chat and here are some pictures for ya!

Side view 

Yeah that was a horrible smile 

Didn't feel like putting my hair up.lol 

So now since my mom is letting one of her co workers use the sewing machine for a week I will be knitting some hand warmers from here. I kinda messed up so I have to either start over or just kinda wing it.
Also I will probably cut out a mock bodice and maybe hand sew it? Depends on whats going on with and all that.
Also I will be getting more fabric for new petticoats, chemise and for sure drawers. Also I would like to take a stab at making a corded petticoat. Probably work on that next with one of my horrible make do petticoats.
Well know I have a giant mess to clean up. See you all soon! 

Side Project!!!

This post has nothing to do with reenacting, but it does have to do with sewing!!! 

As of late I have had this new obsession with owls. I have always had a love for owls, but as of a month ago that love has blossomed. I belong to a site called Pinterest.com. It is a wonderful site full of fun foods and crafts, and many other things. 

With the help of Pinterest I have been able to feed my owl obsession. I found this little owl cushion and decided to make one up using some scrap fabric I have. The pattern is there for you to print out and trace but my printer is acting up at the moment so I just free handed the whole thing. I feel that it didn't come out so bad. 

I hand stitched the whole front side, but I would really like to use the machine to stitch the front and back together. And since it is so late it will have to wait until tomorrow night. But I will post pictures as soon as he is sewn and stuffed. 

I plan on making more of these little owls, because they are a fast project that I can do while watching tv. And since I am now experienced on the machine it will take me all but two minutes to sew it all together. The only thing will be having to buy stuffing. I am not looking forward to that. That will be what will hold back the making of my owls. I will probably have just husks of owls laying around. 

His little mask

Whole body minus the belly piece.

The belly piece, not to happy with it, but this is my first one. 

So tomorrow he will get sewn together and stuffed. I am looking forward to finishing my first owl!!! 

A little project

Well this has nothing to do with reenacting but it has to do with sewing so I thought I would post it here. I made a little neck warmer for my boyfriend. He works outside in a parking garage and this time of year it is super cold. So instead of him having a scarf to wear, which is just a tad but to girly. I got some fabric remnants from Joann's and made him a little neck cuff I guess you would call it. 

It has black cotton for the outside because everything he wears has to be black then I found some fleece that was blue and decided to stick it on the inside to give it a soft feel and to keep him warm. I did it in about a day really hand sewing. I didn't have my fabric scissors so I had to use regular ones that didn't cut the fabric so well so it's uneven and choppy looking. Also it's not perfect. I have to wait for him to test it out to see if it needs another layer of the fleece or if it's to big. So this is like a prototype. I even added his initials inside of it just in case. 

Outside

For the closer I had some Velcro just laying around so I decided to use that. I might take it off and  use a button instead. It all depends on how much he likes it and it works for him. I'm hoping that it will work out well after all the bugs are fixed. Then maybe everyone he works with might want one...

Initials 

Inside 

A Trip

This past Tuesday between Christmas and New Years Becky and I made our way out to see Mrs. Lynch at her shop in Leslie Mi. It was the best little shop I have ever seen. She made us feel right at home. She has known Becky for years, but this being my first time it was a wonderful experience. It is sad to say that she has had to close up her store front. These times just aren't helping anyone these days. She will still run her business but out of her home. Which I am thankful for because I will more than likely make future purchases through her.
Here is the website .
So I bought all the bones, casing and the busk that I was going to need to finish my corset. And soon we will get back to working on it. I did the bones that go on your side but that is as far as we got before we were both a bit tired of sewing.
So that is where that progress has been. I'll throw up a few pictures that I don't think i've shown before.

Wrapper Progress

Well since I deleted my last post and cannot remember what it fully contained I will make this a post all about my wrapper.
So with my wrapper Becky had a lot of this pink/red fan print. It's very pretty.

Then from a dress that Becky, she decided to make her wrapper out of that. She had some left over fabric that we are are going to put down the middle of mine.

Then we are going to take the left over fabric and put it down the middle on a diagonal.

 Then we will take and make a nice big sleeve and add the middle fabric as a trim to the cuff. Also we were talking that take a black or blue piece of fabric and adding it to the bottom hem.
We are also going to sew the wrapper so that if I want in future years I can take off the middle fabric and make it into a nice dress.
Then we also have the bodice pieces all cut out. Just waiting to get it all put together.

That about sums it up on the progress with the wrapper.

Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village

For the past four years my Christmas present from my Godmother and father has been to go to the 6 pm dinner at Eagle Tavern and then walk around the village for a couple of hours and enjoy the Christmas spirit.
The past three years I have dressed up in my reenacting wear hoop and all and it is always tons of fun! Always being asked for my picture to be taken, where the bathroom is, or where to get some other place.
This year one gentleman asked me how I drive in my car. I told him that I usually don't, and he is like then how do you get to work. I told him that I don't work at the village and he seemed plenty stunned. Also someone stopped to ask me where Santa. The best was everyone telling me Merry Christmas, and of course I would reply.
Since I have no pictures of me from the night I will start with the many pictures that I had taken.
We will start with dinner.
Tonight menu consisted of Apple Sauce and Cranberry Sauce. I have never had the Apple Sauce before, but it was amazing. The Cranberry Sauce is just awesome. To drink I had a cherry effervescence and my boyfriend had a strawberry one.

Next came the wonderful Butternut Squash Soup Simply amazing. I have made it twice and I got it to taste even better than that of the Village. But there is just something about the Village that still makes it super amazing.

Pork and Apple Pie (my favorite of the whole night) It's just amazing. The pork is just little bites but they just fall apart when you touch them. The apples give it a nice sweet taste, and the crust is just awesome. I just really wish there were more apples.

Roasted Chicken with Cherry Sauce ( this is my first year eating the chicken and it was just wonderful) Sorry about the picture being so dark.

Roasted Rib of Beef with a Fine Brown Sauce. This is also a really great dish. A little chewy, but the flavor is wonderful, especially if you get pieces of the crust.

Then we add the Brussels Sprouts, Buttered Carrots and Herb Roasted Red Potatoes. The potatoes are awesome, as far as I can tell there is rosemary on them, haven't figured out anything else. The carrots are good and fresh and the sprouts are as far as I can tell. I don't eat them, but I try one every year to see if my tastes have changed.

Then dessert is Gingerbread Cake with Maple Glaze and Vanilla Sauce. It is pretty good. Very dense and heavy. The Vanilla Sauce is really good though.

Then at the end of dinner just as we finish our dessert the whole room will join in and sing the 12 days of Christmas. It is really a lot of fun. Every couple of tables will get one of the 12 days. This year we were the 9 ladies dancing. It really is a hoot seeing every table jump up and shout out their part of the song. Then seeing the singing group working for their board, run to the front of the room to sing 5 golden rings. Then after we are done singing we are able to leave and enjoy the nice cold air.
First we work our way down to the Daggett Farmhouse. I love it there. It's so dark and cozy, just a nice little place to be.

Then over to the Susquehanna Home where this year they were roasting a leg of lamp. I have never had lamb before but it looked quite yummy.

Then we have the Cotswold Cottage where the WWII reenactors set up their camp. They actually did a really nice job this year. They had two men standing outside talking and singing and taking some fun pictures. Then once inside the first room we met a family that was just trying to get by. Then in the second room we met a few American soldiers.

Picture looking in

Looking out

Then we took a visit to the Gidding Home. It was really awesome. Any other time during the year you can only look through the glass to look at the two rooms. This year they had a docent dressed and you could walk through the main room, then walk out of the kitchen. In the kitchen there was a chocolatier. Which was pretty neat to see, and smell.

Then of course you could see Santa and his reindeer.

Then to end the night there was a wonderful firework display.
All in all the night was wonderful. I had a great time as always. I really wish the night didn't have to end. But soon the village will be open again and I will be able to visit often.

Sontag

Well I have been knitting for the past week and I have learned a lot. I figured out a lot of things on my own and that makes me really happy. Even though my Sontag isn't finished I am very proud of what I got done. I got most of it all done. I quit when I got onto the second front wing. I am very proud of myself for another reason. I have never been able to finish a "big" project. I always have to do small things that I can finish in an hour or less, or I will lose sight of the end project, or just lose interest in the whole thing.
So here is my list of problems
1. I tried doing the the basket weave, but it got really really hard.
(SO that lead to many other problems)
2. Being WAY to small. The back was very short, and both the wings were heading down the same path.
3. I ripped out my work and restarted on Wednesday.
(Found a new pattern to use)

This pattern I found is really awesome. I have read many different things about it and everyone seemed to like it. Then to help me understand the pattern even more I found this help thread that is what I really went off of.
I had read on another website that this pattern ran small so I decided to increase the cast on stitches. So instead of 35 I did 55. Which made it very big. I forget all this time now that i'm not as big as I used to be.

After a couple days of letting my hands rest I will finish the sontag and add the border to it. I'm really looking to adding the border cause i've never done anything like that before.

Mostly finished sontag

So after all I will use other clothing to dress warm for Holiday Nights tonight at the village. I have been looking forward to this all week.
I'll post pictures and blog about my night in the next few days!!