Finis!

First and most importantly, I heard from my friend in Boone, North Carolina and despite the hard hit their town took, she and her husband are okay. They have no water or power, but they are okay. Grateful!

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I did it. I finished the robe a l'Anglaise.

It was absolutely the most difficult thing I have ever sewn and took more hours than anything else I've made. What an undertaking it was.

Lisa is coming over for dinner tonight and we will do a last (I hope) try-on. She will wear her stays (the precursor to the corset), the stomacher (a triangular piece that is pinned over the bust and then down to the waist), and the petticoat with it - all are considered part of the gown despite being separate pieces. 

There is some sentimentality attached to the stomacher and petticoat - it was made with fabric from Leslie's wedding gown and she gave it to Lisa to use for the robe a l'Anglaise.

Lisa is so excited to have her gown completed. She started planning it two years ago and together we researched patterns before finally deciding on this one. The pattern was intended to be completely hand stitched, but I did both machine and hand stitching.

It was a massive project, but I am really happy with how the gown turned out and can't wait to see Lisa walking around the Feast grounds wearing it. (That's next weekend - Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick!)

I'm checking that robe a l'Anglaise off my to-do list. Time is getting really short for final Feast prep but there is still another very important thing on my to-do list. 

Picking up my new business sign.

I got another photo from the craftsman who is making it for me, and the sign is looking good. The border has been painted and all that needs to be done is sealing it and then adding the hardware needed for hanging. 

I nearly went with a different horse motif (above) and I really do like that one, but in the end, I wanted me to be represented, too. (It reminds me of playing Circus Girls with Leslie when we were kids - that's me riding sidesaddle on the horse!)

I love my new sign and it has ended up being a lovely merging of two things I love - horses and sewing. 

It's Feast week so here is a video to give you an overview of what The Feast of the Hunters' Moon looks like. 

Use the link below if need be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs_MAo5TRjU

It's 8 minutes long and the man who made it does a nice job of  showing the variety of things you will see if you go. And check out those canoe races on the Wabash - one of my customers is in it wearing one of my shirts! 

Today is my day off from sewing, and then I will have Monday and Tuesday to finish final preparations. Wednesday we set up the tent and start stocking merchandise. 

Time is flying!

The Jolis Chevaux Sign

My 18th century sewing business, Jolis Chevaux ("pretty horses" in French) has been in operation since 2021. It's doing well and I have a strong customer base that is growing.

I have been lacking a sign that identifies my tent (at Feast) or my tables (Kalamazoo.)

Shelly, my high school best friend, is a quilter and she gifted me this beautiful horse quilt block that she hand appliquéd and quilted in January of 2022. (Isn't it beautiful?) I've been using it since she gifted me with it.

It doesn't have my business name on it, but it is an unusual and very identifiable sign that works well at indoor events.

But, it doesn't work well at outdoor events - it's fabric and so it blows and twists in the wind if I hang it outdoors. (Shelly never intended for me to use it as a sign - it's a wall hanging.)

After three years where things have been selling well and my name has gotten out there to customers, it is time for a business sign, one that works both indoors and outdoors and with Jolis Chevaux on it.

Leslie and Rick's block print fabric business is Chien Noir ("black dog"), named after Mawkwa, a big, black Newfoundland that she owned years ago.

She has a wooden sign that she hangs outside her tent so her customers can find her more easily.

Wanting something like that, I started thinking about my own sign and how I wanted it to look. An 18th century horse in profile was common on signs in that time period, so I began by looking at photos of extant artwork. (I also needed the horse to be from the public domain so I could use it without breaking copyright laws.)

I came up with three different choices.

The first two were okay, but they were not quite what I wanted.

And then I found this one - a lady riding side saddle! Perfect - I wear riding habits so that would represent me on the sign!

The business making my sign sent me a few mock-ups and I liked these two best.

(I quickly got a email apologizing that they'd misspelled "sundries" and that they'd fix it.)

This one is the one I chose. It is exactly what I had in mind.

Choosing the colors, though, is hard for me. I do best when I can see what something will look like post-painting, but I can't imagine it well before the color is added. And the sign company I am using can't colorize the mock-up for me.

So, I am asking them to match Leslie's Chien Noir sign (we are sisters, after all!) with the horse and rider a black silhouette, the lettering in black, and a red border. Oh, and I need to be able to hang the sign, too. (I will get their suggestions on that.)

I'm really excited to have this sign to display at Feast. Hopefully it will be done in a few days - I'll share it when it is.

Stay 'tooned!

Holiday Impulse Buys

I am really busy right now. Since hosting a large Thanksgiving gathering for nineteen people, I have travelled to Tennessee and Florida to visit family. I've shopped and sent gifts to all of our children and grandchildren.  Hours have been spent wrapping and standing in long lines at the post office. Four sewing projects have been completed, and now I am working on preparing to host Christmas here at our home for my siblings, their spouses, and our in-town daughter.  Add to that checking on Abby, walking and playing with our new dog, Pepper, some volunteer work, and time is in short supply around here.

Last week I stopped by Walmart to get a few things that I needed. While there, I popped into the Christmas decor section to see if they had any horsey Christmas cards.

Red barn, nice message, and glitter? Sold!

And since I was in the Christmas section, I decided to stroll around the aisles and see if there was anything else that caught my eye.

Look what came home with me!

 I staked it right by my front door where all could see it. 

I'm not usually an impulse buyer, but I am glad I decided to check out Walmart's Christmas section!