Done & Moving On

I'm done! Finally! And I am so so, SO tired of the color white. 

But, I now have 12 chemises on the rack and ready for The Feast of the Hunters' Moon.  Here are the most recently finished ones.

This one is a size XL.

I love these elegant domed gold sleeve buttons.

 A size 2XL.

Flat and shiny gold sleeve buttons.

 Finally, a size S

with pretty pearl sleeve buttons.

I'd still like to make one more 2XL, but I ran out of fabric and had to order more. 

I buy white cotton by the bolt. There are 15 yds of fabric in a bolt and I can get around 5 chemises out of each bolt. I've gone through two bolts already just sewing for the Feast!

The new bolt of fabric has just arrived, but I haven't opened it. Right now, I am ready for some color. And trade shirts made from colorful block prints are on the docket.

Here are the two fabrics I am starting with:

A very unusual maroon and olive green block print,

and a pretty (and very popular) multicolored block print.

These are for what I call, "The Nebraska Contingent." More on them coming. They never fail to make me smile.

Stay 'tooned!

Meanwhile, Back in the Sewing Room

It has been a very productive week, sewing-wise. I've cut out and completed several 18th century bedgowns.

Despite the name of the garment, these were actually day-wear, a form of "undress" that you would wear until you put on more formal clothing for evening engagements and such. (I've seen around 4:00 PM in some historical documentation.)

A traditional English floral print bedgown. As Lisa pointed out, this is very reminiscent of the historical clothing my mother always wore. She loved blue and she loved flowers.

Lisa and Jessica at a historical event with their Granny Slash. (Called so because she signed her cards and letters, "Love, Fern/Mom/Grandma/Great Grandma.)

Bedgowns fit loosely and are either pinned closed or worn with an apron to keep them shut. This is one of my favorite block prints and I've made several bedgowns from it.

A customer in Kalamazoo wearing one I'd made and using an apron closure. (I love her red stripes and waistband as well as the red earrings and fichu accents.)

Me wearing the one I made myself and using a straight pin closure. 

This block print has elephants and cheetahs on it. In the 18th century, block printed fabrics were heavily imported from India where these animals were indigenous. So, it wasn't uncommon to find them on fabrics from that time period. 

I was lucky and discovered that one of Leslie's block print fabric suppliers was also offering a set of blocks for printing to his customers. 

The raised white edges feel like they are covered in rubber (which makes sense; that will keep the ink from permanently staining the edges.)

The depth of the block gives a good handhold for the person using it to print.

A close up of the elephant block.

A close up of one of the elephants on the bedgown fabric. That looks like an early 20th century football helmet on its head to me!

See what I mean? LOL

While I really like the elephant, my favorite block is the peacock.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these wood blocks, but I'm thinking that I might do a block printing project of some sort with the Pony Pals and Cowpokes during the holidays. We shall see.

Finally, I made a linen bedgown this past week. I have several pieces of linen fabric but I've hesitated to use them. Linen wrinkles easily and because it also frays badly, the seams need to be finished, a time consuming process.

This simple looking bedgown turned out to be a fight to make, all because of the linen fabric. 

Stay 'tooned for more on that.

Kalamazoo 2025: Setting Up

Huzzah! Frank gave me permission to use his time lapse of Friday night's set-up in the North Expo where Jolis Chevaux was located. Thanks, Frank!

For background, vendors don't have hours and hours to set up. We gain access to the building Friday at 7:00 PM and can stay and work until 10:00 PM. Then, Saturday morning, we can work from 7:00 AM to 9:00 when the event opens to the public.

When you consider how much is brought in and the displays that are assembled and then stocked... wow. It is pretty incredible as you will see. (Time lapse video by Frank Jarboe and used with permission.)

Wasn't that amazing?

Frank and Carol help Leslie by selling her block print fabrics so they were setting up while I was. (They also helped me.)

I don't buy from Leslie at shows; I don't want to buy things that might be a sale for her. I buy later because she can always order me something I want.

She also made a lot of petticoats to sell (and they sold well.) The walnut-dyed shirt was Rick's, I think, and he decided to sell it. (It did.) 

When the show opens, people cluster around Leslie's tables and the block prints fly off the tables. It's a very busy spot in the building.

She also sells block print scarves that are made from a lighter weight fabric. That gold one called my name, but it sold. But, just like the other block prints, she can always order me another one.

Frank is a minister in both the 21st and the 18th centuries. (Parson John.) He has a Bible from 1723 (it's 302 years old!!) that he brings for the Sunday church service he conducts each year.

I always ask if I can see it - there is something about holding a Bible that is centuries old in your hands, 

or turning the pages and knowing that that book has been used by many, many people of faith over the centuries. I always get a shiver and feel connected to those people through our shared faith despite the gulf of time between us.

Carol offered to help me get the rest of my things out and then Leslie sent Anita, a staff member, over to see what else I needed help with.

My newest display - the sleeve buttons! (They garnered a lot of interest during the event and I sold several pairs!)

My booth was finished well before the closing time of 10:00 thanks to those who helped me. (Grateful!)

I had some of Rick's books on my table and Gretchen brought some wool blankets she wanted to sell - there was plenty of room for all of that. (Can you see the Francis Rumps hanging on the left of the rack?)

Staff had to stay after 10:00 and clear the building and then check in the security crew for the night. Because Gretchen is staff and I rode to Michigan with her, I had to stay late with her. We finally got back to our hotel rooms around 11:00. I called Craig and spoke to him briefly and then set my alarm for 5:00 AM as staff had to be back at the Expo Center early the next morning.

Normally I don't need an alarm, but as tired as I was, I set it. Good thing I did - I was asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.

Stay 'tooned for a busy, busy, BUSY Saturday! 

The August Give Away & More from the Sewing Room

It's August, and The Feast is very much on my mind. Seems only right that this month's give away is associated with it.

Vintage beadwork done by my sister, Leslie.

She beaded these in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Model to show scale and not part of the give away.

I know very little about beadwork but I believe the patterns on these two sets are from western tribes. The back is the same as the front so you can flip them and use either side as you wish. 

There will be two winners. The first winner gets their choice of the sets, and the second winner will get the other one. I do have more beaded pieces so if you don't win this month, there will be at least one more opportunity coming up.

Rules to enter: Comment on any blog post beginning with this one and ending Tuesday, August 20 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. So, if I post 5 blog entries during that time, you could comment once on every single one of them. Winners will be drawn Wednesday or Thursday. Good luck!

Speaking of the Feast, things continue to be happening in the sewing room. 

I ran up to Leslie's farm this past week and went through her fabric inventory to choose new block prints. I badly needed to do that - I've sewn so much for Feast, I only had one block print left.

Look at the elephants marching on this piece! Can you see the indicators of hand blocking? (Check the middle elephant.) Elephants and camels were common motifs during the 18th century which makes sense since the cotton fabric and hand blocked printing came almost exclusively from India during that time period.

I think I gasped out loud when I saw this green fabric. Block prints come in two sizes and this one only comes in the smaller size. I already have a piece of the green, but here is not enough fabric to make a shirt or a bed gown from it.

I have used my green piece as advertising, but I've been wanting to make myself a bedgown from the green for years.  Now that I have a second piece of the fabric, I can! 

Another men's shirt that I completed this week. This one has bone buttons rather than ones made from horn. You can see it on the sleeve on the right.

Don't forget - if you'd like a chance to win one of the beaded sets, make a comment below. 

NaMoPaiMo & Back to the Sewing Room!

It's February 1, and most hobbyists know what that means - NaMoPaiMo begins today!

I seriously considered entering NaMoPaiMo this year, especially when I unboxed my paints and brushes when I cleaned out the closet. 

I have several blank models and all the tools that I would need, but I was too busy with cleaning and sorting my collection and the horse closet to prep anything. Maybe next year. 

In the meantime, best wishes to all who will begin painting their models today! Have fun and enjoy the process. To echo my former student Can Do Gracie, you can do this!

While I may not be participating in NaMoPaiMo, I have plenty to do here at home.

My sales models have been packed away for the March Great Lakes Congress show - finally. That clears some space in the horse room, space that is rapidly beginning to fill with things for my other hobby, living history.

Kalamazoo isn't until mid March, but the Conner Longrifles is in two and a half weeks.

I'd forgotten about it - I'm not going, even though it is less than an hour's drive from my home. But Leslie and Rick are. They are setting up their 18th century business, Chien Noir, and Leslie called and asked if I'd like to send some things down to sell with them.

A quick check of my records show that my men's shirts sold very well last year. That's good. But the downside is that sales like that would take a big bite out of what I've already made for Kalamazoo, which is just a month later. It would be a challenge to sew enough shirts to restock for that.

So... I'm heading back into the sewing room this morning. I've got a really neat elephant block print fabric that I've been saving. (Elephants are period correct for the 18th century and are a very popular motif among living history folks.) I'm going to try to get a couple more shirts done, either for Conner Longrifles or for Kalamazoo. 

After those are done, hopefully I can cut some haversacks out of the new fabrics that I just got and stitch them up!

Finally, thanks for all the well wishes that so many of you sent after I wrote about my fall. Compared to Craig's, my fall was very minor. He was badly injured and is still healing several weeks later. (A big lump over one eye and a tender knot on the bridge of his nose remain.) 

I'm bruised and scraped, with my own big, tender knot on my shin, but it wasn't a serious and concerning injury like his. (No head injury protocol for me!)

An announcement is coming tomorrow! I think you will be happy with it.

A Barn Swing By

Yesterday I was determined to get to the barn. I sewed all morning, finishing the last voyager shirt I had planned to make for The Feast and that felt really good.

Then I took the afternoon off from sewing as I had some errands to run and scheduled a visit with Abby when those were completed. I was missing my mare and leaving her last meant I would not feel pressed to get on to the next thing on my errands list.

I started by meeting Cole and Vanessa at a restaurant to have a late celebration for Curt's birthday.

A smiling face that I knew greeted us at the door - former student Kamryn! I was her fourth and fifth grade teacher. (I taught her brother, too.) She came over to our table and we had a few minutes to catch up. It's always awesome to run into one of my formers!

After celebrating with Curt, I headed up to my sister's farm

and bought eight new block print fabrics for making shirts.

One had a border of camels

and another had elephants!

Those two motifs are well documented in 18th century fabrics but they are hard to come by in the 21st century. I was really happy to find them.

At last it was time to head to the barn.

Abby was so glad to see me - I think she's missed me as much as I have missed her.

She hustled right over to visit and munch on some peppermints.

Two Socks and Sultanna came up with her, but I did not give them treats. Two Socks gets very pushy if she thinks you have food and demands attention.

Abby and I had a lovely visit on a beautiful Fall day. I was sad to leave, but I still had one more thing on my to-do list.

Re-filming the very last part of the video I am making.

Pepper doing as her Guide Dog training says she should - going under the desk or table when her mama is working.

Lisa had time to come over that evening and shoot it with me. As I was changing back into the clothes I'd worn in the other video clips, I had to laugh - I'd had my hair cut since the other parts were filmed. I wonder how that is going to look in the final version?

Pepper loved the little tent the table made for her and slept under it voluntarily the week it was set up for filming. She will be sad when I take the set down today.

I'm making some cuts to last night's work and then I will send this last bit to Cole so he can add it to what he has already done. Then I will be done!

Much as I love to sew, it was nice to take some time away from the sewing machine and do some other things, especially visiting Abby. And finishing that last bit of videotaping is a huge relief. I am done with the voyageur shirts but I still have some bedgowns to make for The Feast. If I don't finish those,  though, I am still in good shape.

Funny how taking some time off can help you get more accomplished than you thought you could.