If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Bonnets of Summer… As summer winds down

Hello everyone! As the summer seems to have turned cool all too soon, school and fall are right around the corner. I am far from ready for that. I’ve have quite a bit of fun this summer making bonnets. I just love working with straw. I find the texture and the smell so very relaxing. I appreciate all my customers, returning and new.

Right now, I have an assortment of straw bonnet forms and finished drawn bonnets available. You can use my summer sale code (SUMMER10DOLLARS) for these bonnets. (This sale will end sometime around school starting.) Here are some photos I hope will tempt you…..

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Working on - For Sale

on August 14, 2013 at 8:51 pm Comments (1)

Maps of the Human Heart

This is a fun post about some Must See illustrations. Someone posted the Map of a Woman’s Heart on FB. Thank you to Beth and Micaila for pointing out more of the story. I would Love a poster of the woman’s and man’s hearts side-by-side. I think they are such quirky fun while being an interesting insight.

streetsofsalem

Heart-shaped maps are one thing, but maps of the human heart are quite another, and I’ve got both on this Valentine’s Day. The charting of emotional territory, as opposed to physical space, has resulted in the production of several interesting maps from the seventeenth century to the near-present. Below are the companion Map of the Open Country of a Woman’s Heart and Map of the Fortified Country of a Man’s Heart, ostensibly and anonymously drawn “by a lady” and published by the Kellogg Brothers of Hartford, Connecticut in the 1830s. These heart maps, along with lots of other examples of the Kellogg’s impressive lithography, can be viewed at the online gallery of the Connecticut Historical Society and Museum.

I’ve brightened and cropped both maps so that you can better see the different regions that make up these human hearts. It’s very interesting that the woman’s heart is an “open”…

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I Forgot to Categorize This.

on August 14, 2013 at 8:19 pm Leave a Comment

Millinery for 1864 and 1865

I’ve been creating some millinery visuals for those looking ahead to 1864 and 1865…. (click on each to enlarge)

I have a couple more in mind to do…..

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Favorite Topics - Millinery/Bonnets/Ribbons

on August 7, 2013 at 12:30 pm Comments (2)

An Array of Cottons from the First FanU Fabric Swap

Over the last week and a half getting the mail has been much more fun than usual. Instead of offering bills and junk mail, the mailbox offered handwritten envelops filled with fabic from the first of the Fanciful Utility Fabric Swaps, the Cotton Swap.

I want to thank everyone who participated. I hope each of you have had as much fun with this as I have. I loved sending the pieces of fabric and receiving them. It was fun opening each one. There were even some surprise extras.

Here are the fabrics I received (this is both groups of 8 people):

Two more arrivals:

I will add some information on several of these fabrics asap.

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on August 1, 2013 at 6:00 am Comments (2)

Fabric Swatch Swap – An Idea for Group Meetings

As I started receiving my envelops of fabric during our recent FanU Fabric Swap, I couldn’t help but think swapping would be a great way to build or expand a swatch reference. The more I thought about it, I realized a swatch swap in person would be fun for reenacting groups to do at a meeting.

Here is my thought process. (You are welcome to steal this idea.)

Each person attending chooses a fabric s/he has documentation for. This could include the dating, type of print, colors, an example of how/where a similar fabric was worn, etc. The fabric may or may not be an actual reproduction.
Each person brings several (according to the size of the group) 3″ swatches of the fabric. The size of the fabric swatch depends on what the group decides with guidance from the fabric. (Smaller groups of people may wish to have each person bring more than one sample of fabric.)
Each swatch should be accompanied by the documentation. This can be pre-printed on a cards to which the fabric swatch is pinned or a single larger card from which people can copy the information. (determined by the group.)
The members of the group exchange swatches and documentation.
This will start a swatch reference book for each of the members.

*Note – Tech friendly groups could try a digital approach for those swatches not requiring feel. Each member brings a larger sample, say 10″x10″ and a large print card with the documentation. The fabrics are all layed out in a well lighted with their card sitting on the fabric in the lower right corner. Members then use the cameras or phones to take photos of the swatches with cards creating a digital swatch.

Swatch Cards and Books

There are several ways you can approach your swatch book.

A pre-bound book can be used for handwritten notes. This format allows the keeper the freedom to write whatever she wants about a particular fabric. The fabrics can be pinned or handstitched onto the pages. The downside is pages can not be rearranged or sections added to.
Three ring binder as those which are half-size can nicely hold punched swatch cards. Cards can be pre-formatted with fill-in areas about the fabric. These lines work well as prompts to remind the keeper to include particular information. (This can be helpful for those just starting.) Swatches can be pinned or sewn to the cards. Loose cards can be sewn through a sewing machine. Cards can easily be rearranged as catagory needs change.
Card boxes are another way of holding cards. An advantage is the cards can easily be pulled out and looked at in different groups.

Each person will want different information on their swatch cards. Here are the swatch cards I did a few years back. For new swatch cards, I would want to include information on the print (block, roller, etc), colors/dye, finish and dating as well as how a fabric might be used. That could look more like 2013 Swatch Card.

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Resources - Reenacting & LH

on July 29, 2013 at 5:11 pm Comments (1)

Millinery at Mumford

Here is Lily’s green silk caned bonnet trimmed out in pale pink satin and pink & white flowers.

Here is my pearl silk caned bonnet trimmed out in rosey pink and paper roses with a silk bordered veil.

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on July 26, 2013 at 6:00 am Comments (7)
Tags: Anna's Millinery

HSF #16: Eugenie Inspired 1857 Straw Hat

Here is a lovely example of how to do a seaside or recreation appropriate hat. She chose a hat with a fine, narrow plait. The shape she gave the brim allows it to dip down nicely in the front.
A job very well done.

The Quintessential Clothes Pen

I recently participated in an outdoor mid-century dance performance for which the weather was an un-obliging 90-something degrees + humidity. Yup, not kidding. It was HOT! And we were dancing on asphalt. Luckily, we were out on an island in the Boston harbor and had a breeze. But it was HOT!

Anyway, more on that performance soon, because it involved a new cotton print day dress made from one of my recently acquired historic cotton prints! In addition to the dress, I also restyled a straw hat to go with the outfit and keep some of the sun off of my head. The hat has been used with various other clothes (1780s and Regency come to mind), but I had only ever added a simple ribbon to it rather than really styling it. This was the perfect opportunity to really make something of the hat!

I wanted to…

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I Forgot to Categorize This.

on July 25, 2013 at 8:47 am Comments (1)

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.