Picking Pears

This morning we went to a neighbor's house to pick from her pear tree (after she had gotten all she wanted). There were soo many! The branches were almost bent double.

We met another area homeschool family and had the boys get on the ladders - though there were still tons of pears too high to reach!

We laid them all out on newspaper on our big table tonight. We'll wrap some individually in newspaper and store in the cellar to keep fresh, then I'm not sure what with the others. I've heard rumors of preserved pear halves, pear honey, pear mincemeat......hmmm. It all sounds good to me!

Does anyone have any favorite pear recipes to share?

Less than a week!

 The Historical Costume Inspiration Festival begins next Sunday, October 3rd and will run until Saturday, Oct. 9th.

I'm excited! I've been working very hard on all my costume posts, and they are almost done!

I also can't wait for yall to see the giveaways (to be posted next Monday!)

And I have two interviews from some lovely movie costume designers that I know you will be so interested to read!

Are all of you going to be done with your costumes in time??!

If you haven't heard about the upcoming event, click here for details.

If you don't have a blog, but still wish to participate, join the Festival's Flicker Group to submit your photos/captions.

18th Century Children's Costume

Earlier this week I had a lot of fun making this dress. I got a call from my aunt and 5-year-old cousin that they wanted to order a 'pink princess dress' for Halloween. My cousin also specifically told me that she wanted it 'glittery and sparkly'. So....for a while I didn't have any great inspiration. Then the next day when I was in the kitchen chopping garlic for pesto, the inspiration struck me to do it in an 18th c. style. 

Of course, not really any of the construction is historical. But, I think it is fun (on occasion) to try and capture the 'look' of the time period without actually going to all the trouble. I really enjoyed doing that when I costumed our homeschool drama group.

I even got sis to let me put this crazy wig on her for photos. *grin*

I really like the way it turned out. The double layer skirt gives it a nice fullness, and the vintage gold sequin trim provides plenty of 'sparkly'. Now - I'm off to make another Red Riding Hood Cape....

Homemade Granola Bars

This is one recipe you simply must try. You can see the original recipe at the lovely Alisa Burke blog.

Here is the recipe with the changes I made:

2 c. seven grain mix (oats + other goodies, you could just use oats)

1 1/2 c. sliced almonds and walnuts

1/2 c. unsweetened dried coconut

Mix the above together and toast on a baking sheet at 350 for 5-10 minutes.

In a sauce pan stir together 1/3 c. butter, 2/3 c. honey, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 c. sugar, and 1/2 t. cinnamon. Let boil for about 30 seconds.

Apples that we dehydrated last summer were the only type of dried fruit I had on hand - so I added 2 cups of chopped dried apples. (tomorrow I"m going to try using chopped fresh apples...)

Mix liquid and apples with oat mixture. Spread out on a highly buttered baking sheet and cook for 30 minutes, until browned on top. Cut them into squares and get them out of the pan as soon as they have started to harden.

They were so good - we ate them for supper.

Yum!

Rapunzel Costume Dress

So, I'm waiting for 30 yards of pink satin to arrive in the mail so I can complete some custom orders. Yeserday meanwhile I got busy and made a 'Rapunzel' princess dress inspired by the pictures from the new fairytale movie 'Tangled'.

I'm happy with the way it turned out! And Carolina makes a beautiful Rapunzel.

Beautiful plum purple satin is overlaid with flowing, sheer purple lace. Dress features a square and slightly sweetheart neckline, accented with criss-cross gold trim down center. Sleeves are three quarter length and have a lace puff at shoulder. Skirt is full gathered and in two layers. Lace layer is open at front to show the fabric underneath. Fastens in back with mother of pearl buttons. Bodice lined in soft white cotton.

Dress shown is ready made or available to be custom ordred. Listing can be seen in my Etsy shop here.

Hope everyone is having a blessed day! I just got the cow milked, and I am so thankful to have a busy day of (fun) work ahead of me!

Yellow Emma Dress Finished!

The yellow Emma dress is finished! I'm sending it off tomorrow. Rather sad to see it go! I really fell in love with that scrumptious yellow cotton print from my favorite fabric source - Quilt Book.

It has two pairs of button-in long sleeves - one pair in cream as seen in the movie dress, and one pair in matching print.



Excellent Paper Flower Resource

Last night as I was poking around Etsy - I stumbled upon 32 Degrees North Supplies.

 

  

    

They have the most fabulous assortment I have seen of paper and fabric millinery flowers and sundries!

Whats more - at insanely low prices! Seriously, I was blown away. - you must go and check them out. My mind is swirling with ideas for hats, ball gown trim and modern headbands. Such fun!

The Third Life of the Pink Plaid Dress

This was the second dress I made for 1860s reenacting. I used the Past Patterns darted bodice with the modified pagoda sleeve. But - I used the wrong fabric for this 'fancier' style - a pink plaid homespun. (I know 'homespuns' aren't the most period either - but sometimes when one is on a budget...) I also didn't know about piping then, and the bodice was finished with binding. Oh- and the dress had plastic boning. So, several problems there. After about a year the dress went into the farby museum - aka the storage building.

However, several years later I found myself in need to a new dress and no $$ for fabric. I decided to raid my old wardrobe and see what I could come up with. I ended up taking apart the bodice entirely - replacing the darts with tucks, and squeezing out enough fabric from the old sleeves for new short puffed sleeves. I also did buttons instead of hooks and eyes at the front, and put tucks in the skirt for a good walking length. I pretended it was my 'mid-war' make do dress during the blockade of the South.

The dress went through several years of reenactments before I decided I was too old for short sleeves during the daytime. :^(

Last week my sister Aspen reminded me that her dresses were all getting too small. Again - no time to get fabric and limited budget sent me out to the storage building. She tried on several of my old dresses and we decided this was the best bet.

All I did was shorten and take in the bodice a bit, re-arrange the tucks to fit her figure, and shorten the skirt about 6 inches at the top, then replaced the pleats with gathers. She's happy that it looks more 'grown up' than her old dresses,  and I'm happy that it was an easy fix.

I think it turned out quite nice! The pink plaid dress in it's third life......

I think its fun to see how long one can keep making an old dress new again. That's what they did in the period, after all!

Fort Richardson Reenactment Report

Yesterday we spent the day at the historic Fort Richardson state park. Original historic buildings - good friends, a picnic lunch......and the heat. Wow. Was it ever hot. It couldn't have been less than 105 - stifling and humid. Nevertheless - a good time was had by everyone.

The hospital. (officer's quarters pictured above)

Two hansome brothers off to war....

Sitting in the shade playing word games and snacking.  Sorry for the plastic cups, etc. At this point we were so overheated, we really didn't care. :^)

I was wearing my blue wool dress. (I know - what was I thinking??) My dress had a mishap. As I was passing a barb wire fence --- RRRRRIIIIPPP. A gaping hole in one sleeve. *gulp* I'm hoping I can patch it satisfactorily. Lets look on the bright side. It will make it more authentic, right?

Pretty realistic fake food.

We had a good time posing pictures in the historic buildings.

"Could that really be him?! At last!"

The dance was interesting. Here we are all dressed and ready for action.

New Winner in the Regency Dress Designer Giveaway!!

I never have heard from the former winner of the Design Your Own Regency Dress Giveaway. So - again using Random.org a new winner has been chosen!!

Congradulations to Katie D of Modesty is Next to Beauty!! Please either comment or email me with your mailing information, and I will get the kit sent out to you!!!

Presentation on 1860s Fashion

My presentation on 1860s fashion to the local Daughters of the Confederacy chapter was yesterday. (You may remember I mentioned preparing for it earlier in the summer) I was a teeny bit nervous the day before - but surprisingly I wasn't at all troubled when I gave my talk! It was great.

I kept my talk detailed, but focused on what I would consider 'the basics'. What consitutes 1860s fashion ideals, fabrics of the time period, proper undergarments, difference between what various classes of society would be wearing on a daily basis, etc. It's easy to talk about something you love! We had a really interesting question and answer session afterward as well. There were also some humorous moments when I was talking about the 3 modern myths about the CW era:

(1.Corsets of torture, 2. The dreaded white blouse, 3.Drab dresses)

All the ladies were very gracious, welcoming and interested - and I was glad to have been invited to speak.

Sisters! After the talk was over, we had some fun with photos in the lovely grounds surrounding the Arts center.