Battle of Five Forks Reenactment at Hale Farm

For the third year running, I traveled over to Hale Farm and Village for their annual Civil War reenactment. I got to wear my sheer striped dress to the event and while it was still very warm out, it was still much cooler than the calico dress I've worn in years past.

We walked around the village a bit and looked around the Union and Confederate camp sites. Kerry had gone with me again this year and he took a few photos while we were in the garden.

Bias, bias everywhere!

Since my idea to use soutache trim didn't pan out, I went with bias cut fabric strips to help trim out the swimsuit. I'm using some cream fabric that I already had on had, so I've been cutting, sewing, cutting some more, and then sewing even more. In short, I've never used this much bias before.

I've used bias strips before - for edging corsets and bodices, and I've used the pre-made stuff too for boning channels on bustles and crinolines. I'll readily admit though, that I've never made this much.

Of course one of the things I found is that cutting this much bias is easy, getting it ironed and folded turned out to be another challenge. When I first started ironing, the folds wouldn't stay very well and I would usually have to hand press them again while pinning everything. Then on a whim, I pulled out my Mary Ellen's Best Press and gave the fabric a light spritz before ironing. Oh what a difference!

About 6 yards of this stuff later, I started pinning and sewing. With the trim changes, my main inspiration is coming from this original piece.

Swimsuit Progress

Well things are going nicely so far. Got all of my pieces cut without a hitch and started pinning and sewing things according to directions. Mostly.




My first change in the project was to the lining along the upper back inside the swimsuit. Original directions said to top stitch the folded edge to the back. I didn't want this seam showing on the outside, so I edge stitched the fold under and then hand stitched it.

The only other outright change made was to my bodice side seams. During the initial measurement process, I made adjustments for the waist to be let out about 2 sizes. Once my shoulder seams were in place, I did drape the bodice over myself. Thank goodness to because I ended up taking the bust area in just a little.

Angling the seam allowance from 1/2" to 3/4" to allow for drape adjustment.

Summertime Swimtime

So I'm sure we all have those projects that forever sit in our mind going, "Make me! Make me!" This is one of those.

Image via Pinterest

I have always been wanting to make a late Victorian bathing costume. I love the look of them, I think they're charming (I've never been a bikini girl), and I would be that kind of nerd to actually wear one if I went swimming somewhere.

Image via Pinterest

Just Another Handbag Weekend

I had the weekend off so I put together a quick little project. I had bought Butterick's historical handbags 1890-1910 pattern (B4411) at some point and pulled it out last week to see about doing one of the bags (This pattern is now out of print, but can still be found on etsy and ebay). I opted for B because after looking through the instructions, I figured it would be the easiest to get done over the weekend.

Using the last of my Christmas gift card stash, I picked up some supplies (shame on me for not using the stash). I opted for a brown shot teal silk for the exterior of the bag, and a gold poly satin for the lining. Ribbon and trim that I selected matched the satin.

After cutting everything out, I found that the directions were probably the hardest thing to work with. According to the supply list, I needed interfacing for only one of the fabrics. According to the directions, I was supposed to apply interfacing to both the lining and contrast facing.