1855 Mittens

So... in midst of trying to sew and finishing some knitting and crochet projects- I have one of my first set of mittens- ever made, the first hand mitt is done.. and I'm onto working on the other hand now! Just wanted to share! - Samantha Jane

1850's-60's Wrapper

Well!
I haven't written in a while- but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! My Christmas was surely great - the best things I received were the "Band of Brothers" series, some much requested stocking tights, and the most awesome thing(s) were- 2 books- one on " Nineteenth Century Fashion In Detail" (it's from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London!) and the "80 Godey's Full-Color Fashion Plates (1838-1880)" book! I was so surprised and I just tickled to now have them!!

Anyways- in the midst of winter- and boredom setting in- I decided to do several projects- one being my wrapper. While in Gettysburg- I managed to buy the "Past Patterns 1850's- 1860's Wrapper" pattern, and I finally got around to making it! The outside is of a dark lilac purple color with small flowers and the lining is a bright red with tiny blue, white and pink flowers! I'm halfway through it- and I'll post pictures once I get the gauging sewn and can put it on the mannequin! Upon trying it on after I gauged it- I realized that one side was twisted- and had to fix it this morning- I have to go start where I left off last night!
Now - back to sewing n'at!

- Samantha Jane

My very newest and 1st sewn 1860's ballgown

Well, I decided I need to make a ballgown.. and it was my first I made!
I'm excited how the results turned out! I went along making this from a couple of original designs- the trim work I made similar to them! I took the Simplicity pattern of the ballgown and I completely did it to what I had in mine's
mind!




So these are some pics from when it was still in the process and worn at the Tillie Pierce Bed and Breakfast and at the Eisenhower Ball! Oh the girl in the photo is my friend, Michelle, and the man in the other photo is my best friend Ej :)

First 1860's Day dress - finished - and worn at Gettysburg (Remembrance Day)

So I finished my first 1860's day dress- it was taken off the Simplicity Pattern and well it still needs tweaking done to it in order for it not to drag on the ground and needs fixed on the pleated waist- and don't ever doubt a Mother who's been sewing for the majority of her life!

*When it comes to pleating - stick with their advice, and even a pattern to... and don't pleat around the WHOLE waist if it's not going to work!

Here's some photos of what it looks like - and worn at Gettysburg for Remembrance Day this year! I'll post pictures of Gettysburg later and of my new (and my FIRST) ballgown I made in 2 weeks!

Dyed Yarn

Here was the rest of the yarn I dyed from cranberries, onto fisherman's wool. One came out darker than the other, and this is to finish my Civil War Norwegian Morning Hood !! Enjoy!!

1943 Vogue Vintage Reproduction Dress

Front of the dress, it wasn't entirely sewn, I had to resew it because it was only basted! The side is still zipper-less.

Note - I'll have to put upload the rest later because apparently my stupid internet is acting up on and off today, and it's impossible to upload these!

Hope you enjoy the dress photos :D

Learning to dye yarn!

Ok, today I finally decided to learn to dye yarn! It started with using the legs of a chair to get that wrap around yarn and then tie it so it wouldn't fall off and to put it in the pot of dye! LOL.. wow my left arm hurt from going up and around the darn legs, lol! Ok, need to get skein winder do hicky for to do the looping wrap around stuff! Anyways, I dyed the 3/4 strands of fisherman's wool yarn with CRANBERRIES, above all things.. it worked!! Had the yarn soaked in warm water with some white distilled vinegar and had that in for about 20-30 minutes and had on at the same time the water with the cranberries and put a little bit of red food dye in that.. whatever food/flower/dye you use whether it's beets or onion skins or kool aid or blueberries.. make sure you keep that on for about an hour to settle in, and then put in your yarn and let that simmer and boil for about 40-45 minutes... it's so cool to watch that process from your plain white wool yarn turning to that pink/blue/ purple/brown color that you're aiming for!!! Then once you had that done boiling, you rinse in warm water and then set it on a drying rack (say for laundry) and put the yarn on a plastic bag just so it doesn't leak everywhere.. it needs to dry and keep some towels around if it's around in the kitchen. This is so easy of a project that anyone can do it!! I'll have pictures of the yarn before and after posted up tomorrow!! I'll be sure to be posting MORE blogs this month than in the past couple .. being scarce and few... and not having a lot of energy to pull together to get some knitting/crocheting projects done or any sewing projects... I'll be making sure to do so this time!! Alright, will be writing again soon! Happy Sewing!