What I’m Working On | If I Had My Own Blue Box:

What’s for Lunch

Today I’ll start with something completely silly. Eggs in a tin. Yep, I told you it was silly. I picked up a bunch of matching tins for Dan to take food to Gettysburg a couple weeks back. To my delight, I found one dozen large eggs fit perfectly in the tin. I’ve never been a ‘cooler at events’ person. But, when I saw what those compressed paper pulp cartons do in melting ice, I knew there had to be a better way. So, this is how the eggs traveled to the event. I took my eggs out and sent the rest of the tin via little sister currier to Dan. I have yet to see how the tin did. I do worry it may have rusted. Next up, pickling or a crock.

I do love crocks.

For this event, we had a crock of cherries. You can see it on the right hand side of the table. We also had a crock for pickles. That is the smaller center one that should next to the eggs. The brown and red pieces are the museum’s pieces that were available for me to use in the Dressmaker’s Shop. The salt glaze pitcher is the one Lily bought for me on Friday. I have been wanting a large pitcher for a good while. I was so surprised when she handed it to me. It holds a half-gallon of water.

In the large center plate is some of Lily’s tasty goodies from her Confections class this past week. (I’ll be putting up another post bragging about her goodies)

In the back, you can see a homespun bag sitting in a crock. That has the bread in it. Need to research the proper bread containers they would have used.

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Working on - Events/Activities

on July 24, 2013 at 6:33 am Leave a Comment

Lily’s Confections

This is totally a brag post. My little sister took the confections class last week. Take a look at the goodies she made:

Clockwise from the top:

Coriander Cookies

Candied orange peels

Currant tarts

Lemon cake with rosewater icing

Mollasses cookies

Maids of Honor (tarts)

Benne brittle

Maple fudge

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Working on - Events/Activities

on July 24, 2013 at 6:30 am Comments (2)

Dressing for Summer

I know you want to know about the clothing from this weekend. As the event approached, the week of high temps, humidity and scorching sun the concern over keeping cool was rising. Luckily, the temperature dropped Friday night as an enormous storm rolled through.

Here is my little sister, Lily, in her well worn dress. This is a light weight plaid cotton shirting. Her short sleeves and shallow V neckline work very well in the Village kitchens. As this dress is several years old, it has survived both growth spurts and cooking classes. It is time for a new dress, making this her wash dress. Her cage was pieced together the week prior from my old work cage. It is designed with a good back shift for the later part of the war. (I anticipate by the time the new cycle comes around, the cage will need to be remade for her mid to later teens.) The cage does need another petti with the fullness in the back. Her new dress will also be set with more fullness in the back.

Here is my Saturday dress. This is the green plaid I made in May. This is also a light weight cotton shirting. For accessories, I’m wearing a reproduction gutta-percha buckle from Elizabeth Aldridge and a repro gutta-percha mourning broach from The Civil War Lady. This dress is made with my favorite gathered V neck bodice and open sleeves with a funnel shape. There is self fabric trim around the neckline and down the front of the bodice as well as around the sleeves. The trim on this dress is evolving as I have several ideas for it. While May was just two months ago, fitting issues have developed with this dress. My corset now closes closer to how it used to close, meaning I’ve lost a couple inches around my ribcage. (The bust has done some odd fluffing on the other hand) As my ribcage has shrunk, the length of the bodice has dropped in the front. In a side photo, I can see how bottom edge, and thus the waistband, angles down from the back to the front. This half inch to inch in the bodice has resulted in a drop in my hem, the hem that I stepped on over and over and over again. Solution? The front of the bodice will come off, be shortened and reattached. At the same time, it will be brought in as well. I’m hoping the latter part will not require a complete skirt reset.

This is Sunday’s dress. This is the knock me right over fabric that was gifted to me from a dear friend. I wanted a white fabric with a floral print in just this size for so long. The fabric is incredibly light weight with a green block print. I just love how this turned out. It feels amazing to wear. I used the gathered bodice with V neckline bodice that I love so much. The sleeves are simple open sleeves with a slight funnel shape. These are a tad shorter than those for Saturday’s dress. A self fabric box pleated circles the neckline. I left the sleeves without trim for now because the fabric is so light, I don’t want to hinder the soft, airy feel the sleeves have when I wear it. I have the same belt on as a the day before and a small jet broach.

Ignore the vacant stare in this photo. Each of this set came out that way while I was attempting to go for serene. This is the veil Bevin made me when I first got to New Mexico. It was very helpful with the sun on Saturday when it was overcast. It wasn’t as helpful on Sunday when the sun was brighter. The white made the sun glare. I am thinking about dying this veil green since I know the green veil I wore for the Museum’s travel program helped nicely with the sun.

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Working on - Events/Activities

on July 23, 2013 at 6:30 am Comments (1)

Book Signing at GCV’s “Mumford” Event

I want to thank everyone who visited me and had their books signed at the Genesee Country Village and Museum this past weekend. It is so nice getting to meet those who I have corresponded with online as well as meeting completely new people. I met several wonderful people including some brand new reenactors that I am sure will have great futures in the hobby.

This past weekend was absolutely wonderful. From the doorway of my favorite pink building, the Dressmaker’s Shop, the weather was perfect. Saturday morning it rained and rained and RAINED! Everyone and everything was soaked. But, this was very welcome after a week of incredibly hot days.

The Dressmaker’s Shop is both a fun building to interpret and a pleasant place for a book signing. The interior of the front room is has just the right colors for a lively yet calming environment.

Before going any further – I just love this photo that Robin, the museum’s guest and shop guru, took on Saturday morning. I was so excited to see she captured just how I felt.

Right across the street from the Dressmaker’s Shop is the Village mercantile, one of the Museum’s gift shops. Here Fanciful Utility was available for purchase. Samples of sewing cases and needle-books were on display in the case where the pottery is usually on display.

Here is a look at where I signed guests copies of Fanciful Utility. The table gave me just the right space for showing off some of the sewing cases and signing. As the day progressed, this also became a great space for designing pretend dresses with young guests. (Let me tell you that was an absolute hoot of a time.)

The millinery table happened by accident. I needed a place to put my bonnet when I was inside. Bevin needed a space for her bonnet when the rain came bursting from the sky. Robin wanted to see my winter hood. The sunbonnet was just incase I needed to go out in the rain. As it turned out this was a great assortment for talking to guests about types of millinery. We could talk about what they were made out of, how straw was comfortable in the summer, how the quilted hood was warm in the winter, how they sunbonnet helped shade the face and so much more. This also gave us the opportunity to talk about the differences between a dressmaker and a milliner. I just loved some of the questions people were coming up with.

One more photo. What do I do after the Museum closes and the visitors have left?

Find a shady spot….

I’ll share more photos of the event this week.

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on July 22, 2013 at 1:00 pm Comments (1)
Tags: GCV

Today’s Bonnet

Here is the latest in my summer series of straw bonnets. This natural straw bonnet will work for a late 50s through early 60s impression as it has a moderately high and gently shaped brim. It will best suit an average size head. The brim is wired while the cheektabs and neckline are not.

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on July 18, 2013 at 6:20 am Comments (4)
Tags: Anna's Millinery

Soft Crown Straw Bonnet Frame

While finishing up the last bonnet, I had the idea of doing something ‘different’ stuck in my head. It was either going to be a soft crown frame or a combination buckram and straw frame. With this being 1863, and 1864 just around the corner, a fashionable soft crown frame it was.
Wow, was this guy fiddly. I really don’t know if I’ll make another, ever. It would take some begging. Anyway.
This is a natural straw plait handsewn. The bonnet is an average to large. The future owner will finish the soft crown with her choice of silk, tacked to the brim of the straw and gathered onto the crown wire. There are several colors I could see this finished with. I am very curious how it would look done with a sheer.

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on July 8, 2013 at 5:40 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Anna's Millinery

Faniciful Utility Book Signing!!!

Come visit me at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. I will be signing Fanciful Utility in the Dressmaker’s Shop.

This is the adorable pink building I enjoyed spending the day in a couple weeks ago. It is just off the village square. Directly across the road is the Village Merchantile where Fanciful Utility will be available. Stop in to say ‘hi’ and get your copy signed.

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on July 5, 2013 at 12:16 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Fanciful Utility

Announcing the FanU Fabric Swaps

Love Fanciful Utility? Want more fabrics to play with? Here is just the thing for you – FanU Fabric Swaps!!!

To meet a variety of interests, we’ll have three different swaps – a Cotton Swap, a Silk Swap and a Crazy Swap; sign up for one or more! You can even sign up to be in more than one swap group within each category if you’d like.

What is a Swap?

This is a chance for to exchange fabric with a small group of people. Each group will have 8 people exchanging pieces of fabric. All you need is a half yard of fabric and envelops along with your copy of Fanciful Utility.

To Participate:

1: Sign Up Day!
On sign-up day, groups will be assigned on a first-in basis; the first eight will be the first swap group, second eight in the second group, etc.

Cotton Sign-Up Day: July 15
Silk Sign-Up Day: August 19
Crazy Sign-Up Day: September 23

2: Mail-Out Day:
Place a 9×9″ piece of fabric suited to the mid-19th century in envelopes for each of the 7 other people in your swap group, stamp them (be sure to double check at the post office, but the small 9×9″ pieces should mail in a regular envelope with a normal stamp), and send them off no later than the Mail-Out Day.
Cotton Mail-Out Day: July 23
Silk Mail-Out Day: August 26
Crazy Mail-Out Day: September 30

3: Get Fanciful!
Use your Fanciful Utility templates and techniques to make a project from the book, or copy your own from 19th century sources. We’ll all look forward to seeing your projects! You don’t have to sew right away, but don’t keep us waiting forever to see all the fun things!

(If you need a copy of Fanciful Utility, you can purchase them from the publisher at www.thesewingacademy.com

Fabric Guidelines:

For the cotton and silk categories, your fabric should be mid-nineteenth century appropriate. (If there is a want for an earlier or later group, we can do that.) Prints and motifs should reflect those available in the 1840s, 50s and 60s. Cotton should be 100% cotton. Silk should be 100% silk.
To keep the swap and sewing possibilities interesting, please avoid solids as best we can.
Fabrics that do not work well for sewing cases should not be swapped. These include sheers, gauzes, heavy, thick, easy-to-fray, slippery and stretch fabrics.
For the “crazy swap” category, think crazy quilt in a sewing case. This could include satins, velvets, textured fabrics. Quality synthetic fabrics are invited.

Q&A

Yes, you can participate in 1, 2 or 3 of the swaps.

Yes, if we end up with multiple groups, you can participate in more than one group to swap more fabric. If you participate in 2 groups, you should swap 2 fabrics.

Yes, you can swap large and small scale prints.

Yes, you can swap now and sew later.

Yes, we would love to see what you’ve made with the swapped fabric.

Yes, you can use your own fabric in your swapped project.

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on July 3, 2013 at 1:46 pm Comments (4)

Third Summer Bonnet

Okay, I really need beter titles for these.
This bonnet already has a new home. I happen to love how the shape came together. It has a gentle rise from the tip to the crown. The brim has the very popular spoon shape.
Like all my bonnets, this is hand sewn. It is wire through the brim & cheektabs.

Please visit my Etsy store to see each of my bonnets as they become available.

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on July 2, 2013 at 8:01 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Anna's Millinery

Second Bonnet of Summer

Here is the second bonnet of this week’s sewing spree. This is the bonnet for someone who want the brim further back from their face. It is a high-brim with a gentle curve to the brim. This is a small to medium size high brim bonnet. It is entirely hand sew. The straw is a narrow whole plait of real straw with a beautiful rage of golden tones. It is wired through the brim and cheektabs.