Make it Blue!

After quite a bit of finagling, I finally completed the first of my many projects for the Battle Road reenactment I plan on attending in April (I still have too many to go!). This project was chosen completely out of a need for certain things for a reenacting kit, but I later realized it would fit in well with the Historical Sew Monthly's challenges for the year.

Now on to the specifics:

Summer of 1774

Within the last couple of months (okay, maybe the last year), I've made headway on a number of new projects, and like most sewers, the majority of them are half finished. The majority of these projects stemmed from my work this past summer as a historical interpreter at 1770's fort in northern Michigan. Over those six months, I "lived" as a 1770s british woman, dressing in the appropriate clothing and answering visitors questions, all while cooking over a hearth or working in the gardens. With the need for appropriate clothing 5 days a week (with most of the supplied options not well fitting to my petite frame), I made the decision to make a jacket of my own that I could wear at work, as well as bring home with me to Massachusetts for future reenactments.

To make the jacket, I borrowed the forts copy of JP Ryan's 18th century jacket pattern

and ordered 2 yards of historically correct fabric from Williamsburg (which ended up taking nearly a month to reach me since Williamsburg doesn't ship to PO boxes...). What I later realized was that this particular fabric was printed from a jacket that they have in their collection.

For those of you that know me, you'll realize that decisions are not my strong suit, but I really love this fabric. Two yards ended up being just enough fabric to make a jacket with a shorter peplum, not following the cutting layout in the pattern. With the leftover, I made a simple pinked trim for the neckline. 

Not my favorite photo, but one of the few I have 

an action shot a photographer took one of the days I was tying lavender sachets

With this jacket (and the petticoat, cap, and kerchiefs I made this summer), I'm hoping to get involved with some local reenacting groups and attend Battle Road (or the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord) this spring. I have a couple more projects in the works for April, so keep your eyes peeled! 

There and back again

I realize it's been nearly 3 years since this blog has been updated, but there's this thing called college that gets in the way of blogging and time for myself. But since 2012, I have graduated and am back on my feet with a reasonably steady post-grad job (I work at a toy store which has its perks), plus I have time for more projects. Since my last post, my sewing skills have gotten much stronger and I've completed a whole bunch of projects. I'm also in the middle of a pretty cool (small) project which I'll post soon, but in the meantime I'll post some photos of my older projects below the cut.