Planning & Preparing

It's Friday, one week until School Days. I'm ready to go for that, outside of cleaning my English saddle. That's one of today's projects or possibly tomorrow's.

Next week is shaping up like this:

Monday: presentation at Lisa's school with Leslie, Rick, and Lisa about Fort Ouiatenon and 18th century area history. Each of us will take a group of students, present for 20 minutes, and then rotate in a new group of students. It's always been a fun day.

Tuesday: Last chance for any final sewing projects, checking tags, and ironing finished clothes on the rack, updating my inventory list, and begin packing car. Also, Tim is holding a barn party for our church with hot dogs and food, plus time with the horses. He has asked Belle and me to help. I sooooo want to go, but it will depend on how much energy I have.

Wednesday: Tent set up with Craig and Curt at Fort Ouiatenon. Bring tubs and clothing into tent and begin setting things up.

Thursday: Finish Feast set up, meet with Belle and set up/run through presentation for School Day.

Friday: School Day! Be at Ouiatenon early for any final prep before kiddos come. When School Day ends, take presentation items home and set the tent in order for the Feast. Go home and rest.

Saturday & Sunday: The Feast!

Today I need to finish sewing Belle's stock (she's borrowing a riding habit for School Day) and then deliver some panniers to a customer.

I finished these pockets yesterday after realizing I hadn't replaced what was sold at Kalamazoo. There were a few moments of panic and a mad check through my fabric stash to see what I had to use, but I got them done.

In the 18th century, clothing did not have pockets; they were a separate item of clothing, tied around the waist and hidden underneath other clothing to reduce theft.

They were worn over a women's chemise/shift but under her petticoat. Petticoats had slits in their sides so the pocket could be accessed when needed.

No one ever sees them which works well for 21st century re-enactors who like to slip a Hershey Bar or Reeses into their pockets!  (Guilty!)

When it turned out that Ian had outgrown boys' sized trade shirts and needed a men's size, he selected one off the rack, one that was headed to the Feast. I didn't mind (and I love that he asks me to make a shirt for him every year) but I wanted to make a replacement shirt to sell.

Look familiar? That's the third item I've made from that fabric. (Leslie's petticoat and a bed gown.)

I looked at the remnants from those two projects, did some finagling, and was able to cut a trade shirt from them! 

Normally I sell my remnants at events, but this year I want to see if I can do the same with the ones that are already packed to go. I'll remove them from the sales items later today.

My tent is located in the same place as always. I like that as it makes it easier for my regular customers to find me quickly. And, it's close to the river and I like my neighbors - a father/son pair that demonstrate 18th century campfire cooking all day and are very good at sharing, and the Anishinaaba Kwe (the Gun Lake Pottawatomi from Michigan) who are super friendly and share fry bread with me.

Here's a video I filmed last year showing the grounds on Thursday morning of Feast week. Much more set-up will happen later that day and into Friday, but you can see it beginning to all come together. 

Off to go play a little frisbee with Pepper and Tammo before heading into the sewing room. Have a good one!

Catching Up with Life

Second Post of the Day

I have been unable to do my usual daily routine for almost a week now. And, I have not been as able to stay in touch via social media during that time, either. Today is a day of starting to catch up with life and possibly even doing a few more parts of my usual routine.

First, Breyer News

Breyer has announced a few guest horses for BreyerFest, some of whom have been Breyer models in the past. Hobbyists are cautioned that there will not be a model available for any of these horses. (All pictures are screenshots taken from the BreyerFest blog.)

Danash's Northern Tempest

Paddyngton's Mark of Distinction

Rain, a Pryor Mountain Mustang and daughter of Cloud

Biloxi, a Pryor Mountain Mustang and barn mate of Rain

In other Breyer news, their shipping department, CCG, continues to struggle and be the subject of many, many frustrated posts all across social media platforms. I share in that frustration.

I have made three orders since the first of the year - the Stablemate Brilliance set, Vintage Club Inferno, and Prague, the first release in the 2025 Exotic Destinations Series. I've had to send emails about each delayed order and I even called Breyer once only to get an answering machine. I left a message that was never returned, and the emails have only gotten an acknowledgment of having been received coupled with the remark that Breyer "would respond to your case as soon as possible."

Those Brilliance Stablemates have arrived as has Inferno, but there is no sign of Prague. There is still no shipping notice and the order is still marked "Unfulfilled" in my account.

Let's hope Breyer and CCG get this straightened out. It truly is a mess of gigantic proportions.

One last piece of Breyer news. 

Maddox is still available. I don't remember when he was first offered, but it was before my surgery last Thursday, so he's been up for a week at least. I almost went ahead and ordered him this morning but 1) I was leery about having another shipping problem to resolve, and 2) if I were to order him, I would no longer be able to check his sales progress.

Moving on to the Sewing Room!

With Kalamazoo only a little over three weeks away, time is short for preparing clothing to sell.  Not only did I write blog posts ahead of my surgery, I also cut out garments I'd like to have on hand to sell at the event.

I buy many of my fabrics in bulk so I had to first do some measuring and cutting off the bolt before I could begin pinning patterns to the fabric and cutting them out.

Usually fabric is either 42 - 44" or 56 - 60" wide but my white cotton is double folded on the bolt. It is 108" wide and with that double fold, I simply cannot use it unless I cut smaller pieces off the bolt and then open the second fold so that I only have a single folded piece of fabric to use. It takes time, but the fabric is cheaper bought that way. 

Normally I don't mind the extra time to cut things out, but last week I was feeling the pressure of the time lost to surgery as well as having to make those extra cuts in the cotton.

Still, I got three chemises cut out, marked and ready to sew as soon as I feel up to bending over the sewing machine. I also cut out a couple of pockets from some red wool and stacked those on top of the chemises in my prep cart.

Will I get to those projects today? I hope so. I love to sew and I sew almost every day. I am under a lifting restriction but I don't think my iron will be a problem. (I use my iron a lot - the key to really nice end products is ironing before, while, and after you complete the piece.)

Wish me luck - getting into the sewing room would be a huge step towards normalcy for me!

Keeping Busy

Second Post of the Day

Is it just me, or is Breyer sharing new models, BreyerFest or otherwise, at an unprecedented rate? I don't remember ever seeing so many offerings in such a quick succession.

Yesterday they announced Maddox, the first Collector Club Special Run of 2025.

If you are a club member and interested in him, he becomes available today at 1:00 PM Eastern time. The mold is fairly popular and Breyer advises that you order quickly if you want one. 

I love my Nemea, but I am not a fan of the mold (too much of a shelf eater)  so I won't be ordering. (Photo of Nemea by Breyer.)

I love to do give aways, but I rarely get to enter one. Jennifer held one in January

and I was one of two lucky winners of her Notch and Ruffle medallions! I was so excited!

Jennifer also had some horsey fabric going spare and she tucked that in with Notch and Ruffle. Fabric is always welcome in my home. Thanks, Jennifer, for the medallions and for the bonus fabric!

Speaking of fabric, I continue to spend a good deal of time daily in the sewing room. 

I have made ten trade shirts in the last three weeks

and feel much better prepared for Kalamazoo. (It's in mid March so I have a little over a month left  to prepare.)

Now I move on to chemises (I need to make at least four of them)

and pockets. I only have one pocket left from Feast

and while I'd love to make some more embroidered ones (this is my personal pocket), they take a lot of time to make. I don't think I will have that time so embroidered pockets will have to wait until Feast.

But sewing for KZoo is not my only task.

I also have a very large order for haversacks that I am stitching up - fifteen for a woman who is returning to the hobby and is preparing for a live show.

That project started out with a good dose of frustration.

I opened a brand new bolt of fleece fabric and found this. I've unrolled the bolt and don't see any more holes, thank goodness.  If I had, I'd have taken it back to JoAnn's and returned it. But I will be checking every inch of that bolt of fabric as I unroll it and cut from it.

Finally, a little bit of sewing humor. I've done four online seminars for Breyer, so when this meme popped up on one of my sewing social media sites, I laughed out loud.

Using a long strip of fleece (both comfy and stretchy!) this sewist has tied her phone to her head so she can film what she is doing as she sews.

Of course, that didn't really happen, but she is poking fun at the problem anyone who teaches a sewing seminar has - getting the actual stitchwork filmed for those who will be watching the video.

Been there, but NOT done that! LOL

Have a good one, all!