Remember the Alamo!

March 6, 2012.

176th Anniversary of the fall of the Alamo.

I often read this letter written by William Barret Travis, commander of the Texian forces at the Alamo, and it always makes my heart beat faster:

To The People of Texas and

All Americans In The World --

February 24, 1836

Fellow citizens & compatriots --

I am beseiged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna -- I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man -- The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken -- I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls -- I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism, & every thing dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch -- The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country --

VICTORY OR DEATH

William Barret Travis

Lt. Col. Comdt.

P.S. The Lord is on our side -- When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn -- We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves --

Travis

26-year old Travis died in the early morning battle on March 6th, defending the North Wall of the Alamo.

These detail pictures of the Alamo I took when we were in San Antonio last week for the Film Festival. We always go there several times during any San Antonio trip. It's hard to stay away. One day I plan to make an 1830's dress, specifically for visiting the place. :)

But for today - remember the heroes who died fighting for Texas against incredible odds.

Remember the Alamo!

Major Changes Coming Soon....

...to my Etsy shop and online sewing business.

I don't want to stop sewing as a business. I love it. But....

a few things are going to have to change.

For the past several years I've been doing lots of custom orders. While these are lots of fun, and include so much variety and interest, there are also downsides. Since each one is unique, each has it's own deadline, fabric and supplies orders, particular specifications, and so on. This is very time consuming, and the deadline-oriented sewing schedule keeps me very tied down, without much spare time to devote to family, gardening, studying, travel, and other such neccessaries. :)

So, now and in the next few months you may notice some changes in the shop! As of today, all my custom order listings are gone. I'm going to be transitioning into having a large ready-made stock of historical clothing and costume items available in a wide range of children and adult sizes. Mostly specializing in Regency and 1860s.

And it's not that I won't ever taking a custom order again, but they are just going to be the rarity, not the norm. :)

Although I'm a little sad to be getting away from accepting all the various interesting custom requests, I am really looking forward to having a schedule with more freedom, and more time to experiment with new things! (Including new historical designs for the shop)

I would appreciate your thoughts, advice, and prayers, as I try to transition smoothly into a new phase in my sewing business!





Queen Esther Costume Dress

A neat custom request from a mother in Israel!

She wanted a regal looking costume dress for her daughter to wear to represent Queen Esther as a part of the Purim celebration.

Originally the colors were going to be pale blue and cream, but we decided to also add a gold taffeta into the color scheme.

Not historical, but very royal, I think! :)



The Making of a CDV

Trying my hand at at copying 1860s photography.

 Mostly inspired by the CDVs in my collection. Once I got to looking at all the different photographs, there was a lot of variety in pose - sitting, standing, looking/not looking, profile, props/no props....etc...

This CDV was my inspiration for lighting/background. Since I was taking the picture just against a white background, I wasn't getting the shadows and color variations often seen in the background color and edges of the CDVs. So, on my attempt I just shaded/shadowed/colored the photo by hand in Adobe Photoshop.

 It would be fun to research it further and find out *what* was used for backdrops in 1860s carte-de-viste studios, and what lighting was commonly used. A knowledge of those two things would make it lots easier to more accuratly copy the look. I would love to play with techniques more and see if I could get something close enough to have an accurate enough look to use as small props at reenactments....

Any tips on reproducing old photos?



Confederate Artillery Jacket

I love making Confederate uniforms! Particularly shell jackets. Having both my oldest brothers, my Dad, and several friends who reenact in our dismounted cavalry group, I've made several. :) It's always so much fun how each one turns out so unique and different in material, style, buttons, and details. When looking at original uniforms, the creativity and variety of Southern uniforms never ceases to amaze me.

Last December I got to make my first Artillery uniform! This was for my friend Jordan who reenacts in Tennessee. After much discussion and searching through pictures of originals, we came up with one in particular that we wished to use for inspiration:

Pattern used was the Gallarock Trans-Mississippi Shell Jacket pattern.

(with a few minor alterations and additions such as the epaulettes, pointed cuffs, no exerior pocket, and 9 buttons instead of 6)

For the piping fabric I used some red wool flannel that was left over from my Garabaldi ensemble. I thought it turned out to be the perfect color of red against the grey wool. It's very nice the way the piping finishes off the uniform - gives it some color and flare without being showy. :)

Block "A" buttons

We hope to all attend the Shiloh reenactment together this spring!

Regency Ready-Mades

An abundance of new ready made Regency era items now in the shop!

Silk weskits, a pinner apron, spencers and pelisses, dresses galore, jackets,

chemisettes, petticoats and more!

Visit the shop to see more views and a description of each item.

Have fun browsing! I would love to hear which is your favorite item!

Baking a Pie.....or Five

When I decide to bake pies it always goes something like this:

Oh, we have a pumpkin left. I think I'll make a pie.

Hmm. Will one pie be enough? Better make two.

Dear me...just to be safe, I should make two recipes of dough.

oops......now instead of simply whipping up a couple of pies, I now have 5 crusts to fill.

Yes, that is exactly how it went one afternoon this week. I always overestimate, so ended up with many piepans, and without an exact idea of what to put in them. I only had enough pumpkin puree for two pies, so I finally decided to do one mock mincemeat (that was easy, as I had some mincemeat all ready that we had canned a couple of years ago...) and then (my favorite) custard pies. Yum!

 There is just something so fun about pie-making. I love to make them as pretty as possible, and experiment with decorating the tops in various ways. (And you must wear a checkered apron. That makes everything better.:)

Piecrust

(makes 2)

Mix-

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

Cut in 3/4 c. shortening

Add - 7-8 Tb. cold water

Mix until it just all comes together. Don't overwork.

Take half the dough and roll out thin with a rolling pin. Use a thin spatula to carefully raise the dough off the table and flip it over on to the pie-pan. Press gently down into the pan. Trim the edges with a butter knife and then crimp with your thumb and first two fingers. (at least that is what I do! :)

For the shortening, I prefer to use some type of oil. I've been using cottonseed oil, but this time we were out and I used a mild olive oil, and it was wonderful! Easiest, smoothest, stretchiest pie dough I've ever worked with. And since it was so mild, there wasn't a strong taste. So, I think I may be switching to olive oil permantenly...

Mock Mincemeat Pie

1 1/2 c. raisins

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled cored and sliced

1 Tb. orange zest

1/3 c. orange juice

1/2 c. apple cider

3/4 c. white sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. cloves

2 soda crackers, finely crushed

Preheat oven to 425. Stir the raisins, apples, orange zest, orange juice, and apple cider together in a pan. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are very soft, about 20 minutes. Stir in the sugar, spices, and crackers until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to use, or pour into pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven, then reduce oven temp to 350 and bake until top is golden brown, about 30 minutes more.

For mincemeat, I think you are really supposed to do a complete top crust, but...

I love using mini cookie cutters for pie tops!

The other day I made a blackberry pie and used a star shaped cookie cutter for the top - it looked quite patriotic and pretty.

This particular leaf shaped cutter came from the cute Fall Leaves set.

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

I learned a valuable lesson while chopping up pumpkins. (after a cut and bleeding finger...)

 DON'T try to peel the pumpkin fresh. Instead, half, clean, and cube the pumpkin with the peel on, boil the cubes until soft, and after they are cooled and drained, THEN peel and puree them.

So. Much. Easier. (and safer) Wish I had been doing that all these years. Sometimes I feel really dumb. *ahem* Anyway. Now I know.

2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

3 eggs, beaten

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. cloves

1/2 t. ginger

1/4 t. nutmeg

2 t. vanilla

salt

1/3 c. milk

1/2 c. honey (or 3/4 c. sugar)

Mix all together and pour in uncooked pie shell. Bake at 350 until center is firm.

Coconut Custard Pie

4 eggs, beaten

2/3 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

2 c. milk

1 t. vanilla

3/4 c. shredded coconut

Mix and pour into uncooked crust. Bake at 350 until firm and and a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

This particular coconut variation of custard, I just tried for the first time. It was excellent! The recipe came from a great little recipe book called 'The Lost Art of Pie Making".

 

It was a nice treat for the boys when they came home from work to see all the pretty pies just waiting for supper to be over! (but they didn't last long....)

What is your favorite type of pie? Any pie-making secrets you'd like to share?