Nov. 10, 2009 - Remembering our Veterans

     For weeks I had been thinking we'd go to Colonial Williamsburg to celebrate Veteran's Day. There will be a parade for all veterans, cannon volleys, speeches from historic speakers and fife and drums. I knew it would be a special treat for my husband, who retired last winter after serving 24 years in the USAF.  However he works for a private company now. Even though they are based at the Pentagon, he has to work.  I keep forgetting he doesn't necessarily get Federal holidays off anymore.  I think reality hit my husband this afternoon, when he asked if we could watch a Veteran's Day movie. I explained that we've recently watched the last of all of our WWI movies.  "Sgt York" is the traditional Veterans' Day movie for us.  I'm going to have to think of something meaningful to remember this important day for him.

     In the meantime, the significance of the day means more to the kids and me, now that we have completed our studies of World War I.  We've read about the trench warfare, the endless wait for battle that gained little, and the frightening new technology in weaponry, airplanes and chemical warfare. We've watched the utter hopelessness in "All Quiet on the Western Front." Told from the viewpoint of a German soldier, it revealed the agony of the war itself for the soldiers of every nation. Even though "Anne of Green Gables" is based on a series of Victorian books for girls, the third part of the trilogy is about WWI. The second part of the movie shows the horrors of the front lines and trenches of the Western Front, while Anne works as a Red Cross worker while looking for her husband, a Canadian doctor who has been conscripted by the German army.  Anne returns to England with an orphan baby and her best friend's husband, who lost his arm due to an infested wound from battle.  Swept up into intrigue and espionage, Anne returns to France with hidden jewels to help the Underground. We see the end of the war...the armistice.   In graphic cinematography of the movies, we experienced the horrible trenches, the exploding bombs, the wounded soldiers waiting for hope, the dead waiting to be buried.

     The most poignant of all the WWI movies, was the end of "All Quiet on the Western Front." As the war ended, the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour, we see the results of the final shot, encapsulating the theme of the movie. Also in school, we've pondered the depth of meaning in the poem, "In Flanders Field."   

     In  years past, I remember my husband being called out in the middle of the night to arrive on base with his duffel bag to fly around on a plane...exercises.  Keeping that duffel bag packed, my husband placed it in a readily handy location. How many times did I stumble upon it...wondering?  How many times did I walk into the downstairs powder room and found a ghostly gas mask staring up at me from a cleaning solution in the sink, in preparation for the next exercise or deployment? How many times did we cancel family vacations, events or activities so he could be on call, available at a moments notice? How many "buckets" was he put into, waiting for deployment to the Middle East? How many times did we hold our breaths, trying to prepare for his times away?  Assignments stateside and to Korea were many. The deployments to the war zones strangely eluded him...and it made us feel guilty...fully aware of the families who sacrificed as their loved ones did go to the war zone. My husband's career field engaged him in safer zones, in support of those overseas, working long hours as needed for the mission.  Our sacrifice was easy, as compared to those who sacrificed the most.               

     To all those who did go to the war zone, thank you. You sacrificed so we could keep our freedoms at home. Your life is different because of the sacrifice. Your family's life is different because of the sacrifice. Serving wasn't easy.  Serving was dangerous. Serving gave us freedom. We salute you.

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 9, 2009 - "Mom, You're Just Not a Gadget Gal"

     A few months ago, my son intently looked at me and seriously said, "Mom, you're just not a gadget gal."  With my husband's retirement from the USAF and a move from San Antonio, Texas (where I lived most of my life) to the Washington DC area brought about sudden crash courses in my learning how to use....

....a lap top  where the keys must be spaced differently from what I was used to. My fingers usually fly when I type and I rarely made mistakes until I used the lap top. Now I was making nothing but mistakes.  I was making a gazillion typos, bringing up other web pages, and closing down my page by the mere attempts of striking the keys. Then there was a "ghost" feature that mysteriously appeared while I was typing.  I accidentally found a setting to get rid of that ghost and my fingers have finally learned to fly on a lap top!  

...a cell phone which I rarely used in San Antonio. With the move across country I finally learned how to plug in phone numbers so that I could keep in touch with my parents, our real estate agents in San Antonio and Virginia, etc, etc, etc. Then we moved into our house and my phone basically sits in my purse. When a friend of my son's came over, I had to ask the boys how to put in the phone number for the friend's mom.  What can I say...I forget things I don't use all the time.

...a GPS, which I've dubbed Lee because describing him takes a lot of adverbs while we are on the go.  He likes to drive us through downtown Washington DC.  However I've learned to reroute him so he will take me out and about via easier routes. Interesting-lee, he gets lost once we reach our own neighborhood. I'm glad I have that much of the area figured out!  

...television cable which in Northern Virginia apparently requires numerous mega monster electrical cables and three remote controls. That's crazy!  I still haven't figured out how to use the VCR or DVD or any other doo-dad on the machine. My husband says I'll never figure it out.  Hmmmm, that sounds like a challenge.  

... the telephone answering machine which is now more complicated than a simple push of the button.

...learning a new phone number took me months. Numbers aren't as friendly to me as letters.  I tried to give someone my phone number the other day. He thought he remembered the prefix, which was wrong, but since he put the wrong number in my head, for the life of me I could not remember the correct number.  

...the clock on my nightstand is beyond comprehension. I purchased it when we moved into this house because my husband gets up at 4:30am to get ready to arrive at work by 6am.  4:30am is too early for me!  I want to wake up at 6am.  However I couldn't figure out how to set the alarm, so my son set it up for me.   Now my husband turns my alarm off on Friday nights and sets it up again on Sunday night.

...and now a new sewing machine which the moving company recently paid for! I have been busily sewing window treatments, Year 4 Unit 1 costumes, and researching and gathering supplies for new colonial costumes. I want to make my daugter's dress more historic. My son wants me to make a warmer and more accurate Lafayette costume for winter and a gentry outfit for summer.  I've not had much time for sewing, due to lesson planning and studying. We've also been sight seeing, either at historic places or at Lowes, my husband's favorite store. When he runs out of projects, he takes me shopping. I can't complain.  I'm thankful my husband is perking up the house. Alas, my sewing sits on the table during the hours we are at Lowes. The few times I get to sew, I optimistically think I'm going to be extremely productive, but something always happens. 

     I've been sewing on a piece of silk and the tension has been too tight. I thought it was due to the flimsy fabric. Tonight I finally took a look at how to fix that. I'm not great at figuring out tension. Remember I'm not a gadget gal. It appeared that the top tension was too tight, so I decreased the tension but it didn't make any difference, not even at a 1. I tried a piece of cotton and had the same problem. Oh dear, my new machine is broken. I resorted to my old machine which is broken from the move, but at least the tension still works. As I sewed on my silk, the tension problem kept nagging me. I finally sat at the computer to do some googling.

     Specifically I googled, "Pfaff Expression 2.0 tension". Oh, no.  I found a lot of comments about the exact same problem I had experienced. They users all sold their Pfaffs and purchased other machines.  I felt awful. I looked through my google search and found another forum (not Pfaff), where the thread was about the Pfaff Expression and opinions of it. Everyone loved it! One lady had a thread gunking problem. She took her machine to the Pfaff dealer and found out she was doing two things wrong.  One, she was threading her machine with the presser foot down.  Hmmm, I thread the machine with the presser foot up, so that's not the problem.  Second, when she inserted the bobbin, she didn't listen for the click when she moved the thread around to different parts of the chamber. Hmmmm, this could be my problem. I've always suspected that I was not putting in the bobbin correctly. The thread was always flowing too freely from the base of the machine. However the insertion method is completely different from any I have worked with and is quite intricate.  I went to the machine, took out the bobbin, moved the thead around the different parts of the chamber until I heard the click. "Click!" Do you know how wonderful that sound is????? I've never heard that before!  I finished threading, replaced the cover, and started sewing. Eureka!  The seam was gorgeous!!!!!! 

      Since Pfaff users sometimes find my blog for information, I wanted to be sure I posted this little tip. Also it will make great reference for me. Since I'm not a gadget gal, I might forget if I am ever away from sewing for months at a time!

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 3, 2009 - Pumpkin Stuff

     Over a month ago we started seeing pumpkins galore being sold. We've never seen anything like that in Texas!  In San Antonio, I used to either buy our pumpkin the last week of October or buy it early and store it in the refrigerator. It is so warm in Texas, the pumpkins go bad quickly. Last year we managed to grow a pumpkin in our garden, which I needed to harvest when we returned home from our Virginia vacation in mid August. That was stored in the refrigerator for the end of October and barely made it. This year I hesitated to buy a pumpkin early.  How do they fare in Virginia?  I let the kids each choose one and had them set them on the front porch.  They survived! Now what to do with them? 

     We don't do Halloween. We have no interest in Halloween costumes. No interest in trick or treating. No interest in fall festivals. However the kids do want to do something quietly at home.  I thought I'd put the kids to work to hollow out one of the pumpkins so I could bake a beef stew in it. Then I had also planned to make a pumpkin cheesecake.  The other pumpkin they could carve and we could watch a movie.

     Well, I was gone from the house most of the day, trying to find things for our Year 4 Unit 1 costumes and for a warmer Lafayette costume for my son.  By the time I got home, the pumpkins were spoken for.  The family had done their traditional gospel pumpkin, with a lot of help from their dad.  I think my son drew the symbols and my husband cut them out.  Hmmmm, I think this is the first year my husband did the pumpkin with the kids.  Usually I do it with them, but my husband wants window treatments and the kids want costumes for their unit celebration and Colonial Williamsburg, so my husband was happy to give me a pumpkin break this year.  ;)  

Then they wanted to do a Colonial Williamsburg pumpkin. This year CW provided several pumpkin carving patterns at their web site.  My son wanted to do all of them.  I couldn't afford that many pumpkins, so he had to choose one. Actually my daughter chose one, the Governor's Palace. Here is my son carving it, while my daughter picks out the seeds. My husband likes roasted pumpkin seeds. 

Here it is. I am impressed. This was my son's first pumpkin to carve and he did it entirely himself. He had a bit of trouble with the intricacy of the pattern, so he said he improved a few parts.  Can you imagine me shaking me head?  He reminds me of Patrick Henry. If I could go back in time, I'd love to meet Patrick Henry's mother and ask her specifically what her son was like as a child. I have a feeling we would share a lot in common. 

It was a bit late to start a stew and there were no more pumpkins to bake it in.  The family decided they wanted snack food. Earlier in the day my husband had gone to the store and bought the cupcakes and candy corn. He went back out and bought snack food.

Then we settled down to "Arsenic and Old Lace."  I'm a huge Cary Grant fan and my husband is a Theodore Roosevelt fan.  It's a hilarious movie and sort of where we draw the line at the end of the month.  =)  For me anyway, if I watch anything more intense than this, I'll have nightmares. I've had enough bad dreams this month as it is. Since we recently studied WWI and the Bolshevik Revolution and watched movies about it, I've had quite a few sleepless nights. "Arsenic and Old Lace" was a fun movie to lighten the mood from our recent studies!  That's why I like Cary Grant. He can be sophisticated, yet hilarious, at the same time!      

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 6, 2009 - A Day in the Life

     We were recently gifted "A Day in the Life," which is a DVD/CD-Rom series from Colonial Williamsburg.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  We have had a terrific time watching this.  Last week we watched the first DVD and the other night we watched the second DVD.  (You can see samples at the link above.)

     There are eight segments, telling about a day in the life of eight different people from different segments of 18th century society on the eve of the American Revolution, set in Williamsburg.  Taken from historical research, we learned about men and women who were slaves, free African Americans, gentry class, middling sort and apprentices. One of my favorite things about this is that all of the stories intertwined, showing that people across the spectrum of social class did interact with each other. We learned how they interacted with each other. We also learned/reenforced lessons in customs/life situations for different social classes, politics, economics and differing roles for men and women of the day.  Additionally, there are many references to events we are all familiar with (the Boston Tea Party) as well as references to scenes from Colonial Williamsburg's Revolutionary City.   

     My 16 year old daughter's favorite story was about a gentry girl named Prissy.  Her day consisted of the type of schooling she had, to train to one day be the wife of a gentry husband. She learned how to supervise the household,  practiced her French with a tutor and took dancing lessons.  (My daughter is often asked by the townspeople of Colonial Williamsburg if she is training in such a way herself.  Um, no....) Prissy's story was intertwined with that of an apprentice and a young slave boy named Dennis.  Someone needed to make the dessert for Prissy's party, but the best cook for this particular receipt (recipe) was the slave who seriously injured her leg.  Surprisingly, the dessert was made and it was as delicious as ever. It becomes a bit of a mystery trying to ascertain who made the intricate dessert???    

     My 14 year old son's favorite part had his favorite actor with all the contests (as my son put it).  This was a fun story with a great deal of humor and action which we all enjoyed. This segment told the story of a young gentleman, named Daniel, who lived on a plantation near Williamsburg. Daniel was the quintessential gentleman of his day, who was discovered by his father and another gentleman (who were the focus of the previous segment about politics) while quoting romantic Shakespeare, substituting Juliet's name for the young lady he was in love with.  He was a bit embarrased at getting caught and tells his friend, Percy, about it. Percy plays Daniel's literary foil, teasing Daniel unmercifully and pridefullly challenging him to a series of contests.  The contests include horse racing and fencing.  I could tell my son was experiencing these exciting activities vicariously through his favorite actor.  My son got to go horseback riding in Colorado a few years ago and he had visions of galloping off into the sunset across the top of the snow covered Rocky Mountain peaks. However, he got a plunker of a horse who wouldn't budge.  My son also enjoyed the fencing scene, because he taught himself fencing moves a few years ago when he portrayed a French Musketeer.  My son has seen very little fencing in any of the movies we have. This was his first opportunity to see how fencing works. While watching, he was calling out the different moves and techniques. How he would have enjoyed being there and participating! We all had a lot of fun seeing who played the fencing master.  Absolutely unpredictable! Then probably my daughter's favorite part was when they attended the ball. Percy was talking to one of the young ladies while dancing. My husband couldn't understand why.  I reminded him that during the dances back then, it was quite proper to talk while dancing. We've had the opportunity to dance with costumed characters at Colonial Williamsburg. My historic dancing partners spent their time talking pleasantries with me while waiting our turn to dance and while dancing.  It was a lot of fun!  While studying Pride and Prejudice, set a bit later than the CW era, my daughter and I learned that dancing was one of the very few times unmarried men and ladies were allowed to touch, by holding hands while dancing.  Dancing was an extremely special event and a form of dating.  I assume this was true even in the Colonial Era. However, we found out that romance was the last thing on Percy's mind. He was merely talking to the young lady to unmercifully tease her and his friend Daniel. He was quite the trouble maker.  It was all presented quite humorously. Daniel and the young lady definitely knew their proper manners. Sigh...poor Percy. Perhaps he will become a gentlemen when romance slips into his heart.     

     There is also a CD-rom which has a student role playing game. Additionally there are numerous  excellent lesson plans and activities. These are set up exactly like the Electronic Field Trips. (samples are at the link above) We haven't done any of these yet, but we are looking forward to them! 

• Post A Comment!

Monday, November 2, 2009 - Halloween 2009 Recap

Our older daughter dressed up all day, in one form or another--

We dabbled with a costume idea for baby sister:


So instead I took a few more photos




The weather this Halloween was no where near as nice as it was last year! Brrrr. I heard lots of passersby commenting on the fact, too. Everyone was cold. Except for baby Girl... she was toasty enclosed in her stroller seat!  Though no one could see her all covered up in the stroller parts-- she made a cute pumpkin!


DD12 went Trick-or-Treating as a Vampire Beauty Queen this year. (Her idea.) The costume was pretty easy to make as she already had a formal red dress (one my mother had bought YEARS ago that i'd taken in for her to play dress-ups. Well it actually FITS now! GASP!), and had gotten shoes from a lady here locally that gave her whole wedding ensemble away (including the tiara she wore.)



I sewed the sash from some white cotton fabric I had in my stash and she painted the lettering.

Makeup base was from a vampire kit and the eye makeup and blush was from my own makeup bag.  Teeth were from the mall and a big spot of laughter for us the whole afternoon!LOL

After two hours were were tired and her feet were hurting:

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 2, 2009 - Finding my Long Lost Twin and the Women's Franchise at Colonial Williamsburg

     Invited by a friend to meet her at Colonial Williamsburg Fri, the kids and I went down for the day, and we had a great visit! In addition to that, the day turned out to be primarily a costume research day in the historic area.  That was productive and a good thing, although I felt the usual historic magnetic tug to listen to Lafayette behind the Palace, but we didn't arrive until he was nearly done. He always has great stories prompted by guests who have great questions which I never would have thought to ask.  We never can plan ahead of time to see any specific Founding Father, because the schedule on the web site merely says that "a Founding Father" will be speaking, but we never know which one.  Later in the day I felt another tug for the kids to have the opportunity to meet with Thomas Jefferson at the Tucker House.  We have yet to have an opportunity to meet any historic figure at the Tucker House, which we've been told is extra special. We're not sure if we need to come prepared with lots of questions for that or not, so we are trying to fill our colonial book for one of these special occasions. Well, I managed to restrain myself from history and focus on some of the things the kids wanted to find in relation to their costumes. Originially unplanned, it is funny how things fell into place for our costume research day.

    As we were preparing to leave the house that morning, my son announced he wanted to use some of his birthday money to buy a Lafayette hat at CW. I didn't realize they sold them.  It wouldn't come with the cockade or plume, but it has a different triangular shape from the usual tricorn.  Suddenly my son has this compulsion for his costume to look as accurate as possible. I knew he was a fan of the actor who portrays him, but I was sensing that something deeper was going on. Each year I ask him who his favorite historical figure is, but he is always non-commital.  After the announcement about the hat, I asked again if he had a favorite historical figure. He said Lafayette. The night before we were researching Lafayette's life for a report he is working on.  He said he was still supporting the troops at CW, but he wants every detail of his costume to be as historically accurate as possible. He wants the Lafayette costume for the cold days to keep warm and the gentry outfit (without the coat) for the summer.  We still have quite a bit of research to do.

    When we arrived in the historic area, we went to the open air market and looked at their hats, but my son couldn't find the right one.   We decided to go to the Greenhow store next. On the way, we were stopped by a lady who approached my son, not only to look at his costume, but also to actually touch it, opening the coat to look at his vest, etc.  This was a first! She was extremely interested.  She asked him where he got the costume and he said that I made it.  She asked me where I got the pattern and I said there was no pattern.  I looked at vacation pictures of the actor who portrays Lafayette to assemble pieces to try to get the proper look.  She told me that her ten year old son was a huge Lafayette fan and he analyzes all the costumes and tells his mom how he'd like this or that.  In disbelief I told her my son was the same way.   We got to meet her son and daughters, all of whom were in costume. Her daughter's costumes were more accurate than my daughter's and I asked where she got the pattern. I think someone made the dresses for them.  We talked about all kinds of things about trying to make their costumes as accurate as possible. We were laughing and laughing at everything we had in common.  I felt as though she was my twin lost at birth.

     Eventually we moved on. My son couldn't find the Lafayette hat in the Greenhow Store either. While there he did some Christmas shopping for us, so I took my daughter to the milliner's across the street.  She wanted to buy a new hat. The old one looked like one of the horses had started eating it, then sat on it.  This time she wanted a style that was more accurate to what the interpreters wear.  This is getting contagious!  The cashier taught me how to properly set the hat, tie the bow and use the hat pins.

     Then we headed to Tarpley's Store to see if they had a Lafayette hat. On the way, we met Wil. He remembered the kids and they exchanged courtesies (bowed and curtsied). He even remembered their names. He said my daughter's name was Elizabeth. She said no, it was ___________ and he said that he would have said that next.  The same thing happened to my son. Then he talked about taking care of their father's horse at the stable down the road and their father was  named William. They said that was not his name but he insisted it was and proceeded to tell us everything about taking care of his horse. When we got home I told my husband I had learned quite a bit about him and the horse he never told me about at CW that day! Wil also told the kids about the Declaration of Independence that would be read that afternoon. He was quite excited about freedom. My son apologized and told him he wished it meant freedom for him, but it actually meant freedom from Great Britain, not freedom for the slaves.   Wil was sad to hear that. My daughter said something about it which I did not hear, but Wil was shocked that she knew about the politics of the day. He said her father must have taught her that. She said no, her mother did. At that, Wil looked at me in disbelief, then explained it away by saying my husband must have told me about it. I told him no, I actually told my husband about the Declaration of Independence. Well, he went on talking to the kids.  I cannot tell you how many times people in CW have told me that I must get all my information from my husband, since I'm not educated enough.  Everyone from the Founding Fathers to the gentry, middling class, slaves, women...none believe that I have read and studied about the events of their day and taught it to my kids (...including my husband who does not enjoy reading books. He prefers doing things to reading. However he does keep up with current events of 2009.). That is truely how it was in the 18th century. It was interesting that we had studied Women's Suffrage that week. I must admit I was not impacted by all the facts I learned since I am not an activist. I am a quiet, contemplative person by nature.  I like to read and learn and write and talk about the things I learn.  The problem is finding someone to talk about this stuff with. Right now I have a built in audience, since I homeschool my children.  I have a feeling that if I lived in the 18th century, I wouldn't be much different. I doubt that I would have been an activist then either, but I would have wanted to find books to read and learn from. I probably would not have had the opportunity. Although Abigail Adams was well read, that was rare for the time.  The 18th century viewpoint of women has finally sunk in to my brain.  I realize I don't know everything and I still have a lot to learn, yet it bothers me that I am expected to know nothing of a deep nature. This is the mindset of not only the men, but also the women in CW. Surely there was at least one women in 18th century Williamsburg who sought a deeper education than what society allowed for her. This mindset is tied up in the lack of the women's franchise (vote) in the era. I may not be an activitst, but I am a teacher. I love to teach and I love to learn. It has become a passion with me to teach history.  I strongly believe that because history repeats itself, as Patrick Henry keeps reminding us, a solid foundation in it can help us to vote wisely today.  Therefore when I am "in the 18th century", and I am told that I don't have an education, it probably hits a different nerve than it does most. Despite my feelings, I appreciate the actors at Colonial Williamsburg.  They bring the pages of history to life, so that we can feel what historical people felt. It helps us to understand our history better. It is one thing to read about it; it is another thing to experience it. Hmmmm.....    

     We proceeded on to Tarpleys and my son thought he had found the Lafayette hat.  However, he didn't purchase it yet, because he wasn't certain it was right. He wanted to see the actor who portrays Lafayette because he always wears this style hat. I had an idea to do a little research at the print shop. When we arrived, we met Mr. Greenhow who taught us how to sign our name with a quill. He writes our name first to model for us, then we write underneath. We get to keep the sample. Also if we buy a quill, he'll prepare it for us. He did this for my son when we met him last summer. He remarked on how my kids were left handed, causing a problem with smearing the ink. 

Lefties in the 18th century were taught to become right handed.

After this, we went to the Revolutionary City scene at the Courthouse then had lunch. After lunch and enjoying the lovely autumn colors we went back to the open air market to look for the black and white cockade that represents the French American alliance that will go on the Lafayette hat. None were to be found. We talked to the cashier for quite a bit about cockades and such and she sent us to the Greenhow store. In there we didn't find the right cockade. My son talked to the manager about the Lafayette hat. He told my son where he could have one specially made!  That's exactly what he did! My son found the lady and told her he wanted a Lafayette hat to be specially made. He showed the one type that was on the shelf, but told her it wasn't quite right. The lady was extremely patient to work with him and understood exactly what he wanted. She started the shaping in front of us, then took it to the back and told my son to come back in 30 minutes. She also gave him further directions to complete the look at home. They did not have the proper cockade either, but I purchased a black one. We can't quite remember what Lafayette's cockade looks like. My son remembered that General Washington's picture was on the front of the weekly schedule.  We quickly pulled that out to look at, but he was posing at the wrong angle. We couldn't see the cockade. Between the cockade I purchased and analyzing more pictures that we have at home, I'll try to make the right kind of cockade.    

     Meanwhile, I wanted to go to the milliner across the street to ask questions about how to sew my kids' costumes.  I asked about a shift for my daughter and they showed me this baby's shift. Well she's a lot taller than that. I learned that a shift is a shift and I could form ruffles for her by inserting a drawstring around the neck and wrists.

That's it? I showed them her somewhat fancy dress underneath her cloak and the milliner was ready to sell me lacing for around the neck and sleeve edges. Hmmm, I come in with 21st century questions and before long I find myself in the 18th century again. It is a lot of fun but it challenges me to translate all of that 18th century information into my 21st century sewing skills, sources and supplies. I was wondering what lace looked like back then and exactly how it is set in to the sleeves and neckline of the dress, but a school group came in for a tour. I turned my attention to this lady who was sewing a gorgeous pink gown, a reproduction from a painting in a book that she showed me.

Here is the stomacher. If I recall correctly, this will never be sewn into the bodice, but will be pinned with the bodice into the stays. Then as the fashions quickly change (up to six times a year) alterations can easily be accomodated.  

  There is some of the pink dress on the left, next to the gorgeous blue dress on the right.  The fabric of each is a lovely irridescent sheen. The sheen is created on the loom with one color thread going in one direction and another color in the other. As I recall, there is a sheen of blue in the pink dress and a sheen of pink in the blue dress.

While I was talking to the milliner, my son came back from picking up his hat. He proudly tugged on my coat to get my attention. I took one look at him and gasped. That does look like a Lafayette hat!

My son wanted a picture of them doing their courtesies...

 I had to shake my head all afternoon. The new hats definitely made them look more in character.  In fact, they are now fooling more guests. They are often mistaken for employees, but when the kids tell them they are only guests, the guests believe them, then ask directions from here to there anyway. Well earlier in the day, a couple stopped my daughter to ask her what the population of the town was during this historic time frame. My daughter was stuck! We did learn that I think in one of the EFTs, but we have forgotten. My daughter told the man she was only a guest and he didn't believe her!  I backed her up and told him my son might have a good answer.  He looked behind me, where my son was talking to a friend. The man asked if the two star general was my son. "Yes, and he has a quick mind," I told him. The man decided to test it.  "General," he asked, "what was the population of the town during this historic time period?" My son said, "It was less than the numbers you see in town today."  The man liked that answer! He walked away chuckling!

     By the kids' request, we ended the day with Revolutionary City. We noticed something new, with Benedict Arnold arriving in town with the British flag and handing it to his men to replace the American flag above the Capitol's cupola.  That is the first we've seen him hand over the flag.  It was quite effective.  On the ride home, my kids had many questions about RC and we had quite the discussion.  It is always interesting how we can tie in the history at CW into our current history studies.

• Post A Comment!

Oct. 29, 2009 - Shenandoah National Park Skyline Drive

     Our first autumn in Virginia has arrived!  A few weeks ago we had five days straight of rainy 45 degree days. brrr  My husband insisted on taking me tree shopping on two of those days and I am sorry to say that I mutineed on him. As much as I enjoy gardening, I am close minded to it when it is bitterly cold. I am sure any northerners reading this are going to laugh, but I have lived in Louisiana, Hawaii and Texas all of my life. Now living in Northern Virginia has been a new experience. If this is autumn, what is winter going to be like? 

     Last Saturday was warmer, but extremely rainy. It was a cozy day to sew.  Then Sunday arrived with cloudless blue skies and true autumn cool (not frigid) weather. The kids hit dad up for a drive to the mountains.  I sat back and smiled as I listened to the discourse.  

Kids: Dad, can we drive to the mountains today?

Dad: Why?

Kids: So we can see the colors!

Dad: Let's wait for nice weather to see the colors.

Kids: It is nice weather! The sun is out.  

Son: I didn't realize the colors were changing until I saw all the colors in the mountains in the distance.

Daughter: If we don't go now, the leaves will be all gone.

Son: I have never seen the colors before, Dad. Besides, you said you wanted to see the autumn colors in the mountains.

Dad: Hmmmm, what does your teacher say about your school work? Are you behind on any schoolwork?

Mom: The colors can be school today. This is their first year to see the colors. I've only seen them once before.  If we don't see them now, I'm afraid the leaves will drop by next weekend.

Dad: Okay, we'll go.

We decided to drive out to Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive. We drove over 3000' in elevation.  That was sort of funny to us, because we've driven over 14,000' in Colorado.  Nevertheless, the views were gorgous. Enjoy!

 

• Post A Comment!

Oct. 25, 2009 - Superman Squirrel, Who Can Leap from a Deck to a Window in a Single Bound

     The Squirrel Saga continues.  Saturday afternoon, I was sitting on the couch with my son, analyzing a new costume piece I was sewing for him.  Suddenly, I heard a loud crash right behind me which nearly caused me to hit the ceiling!  Having a sneaky suspicion, I was right (don't ask me how I knew, I just knew)...the squirrel had jumped onto the window screen behind the couch.  This is no easy feat.  It meant he had to leap from the deck, pretending to be Superman, and hopefully grab onto the window screen, which is two stories above the ground.  

Neither my son now I could believe this audacious squirrel!  He turned around and looked right at us through the window! He knew no fear!

Then, with the agility of Superman, he leapt back onto the deck and tried to get into our back door!

He looked at us right through the door.  Daringly, he once again leapt onto the window screen.  I forget how it all came to an end, but he finally left. I told my husband about it later and he couldn't believe it.  He asked to see my pictures.  I'm glad I had proof!  The next morning he told me he thought he knew why the squirrel was acting so strange.  Apparently my husband had moved a pile of acorns he had seen the squirrel bring into the yard.  He thought the earlier action of the squirrel laying out on the deck railing was his way of guarding his acorns.  Furthermore, my husband surmised, the attack at the window screen was his bold warning that we were to leave his territory alone!  Supporting the crazy squirrel, I told my husband to leave that squirrel's acorns in the yard. It's such a little thing for him to keep acorns there. It's his winter stockpile, which is important to him.  My husband laughingly agreed. Hopefully, this is the end of the Squirrel Saga.

• Post A Comment!

Oct. 27, 2009 - Lafayette Costume-Military Neckware: The Black Stock

      When we were at the Colonial Williamsburg Costume Design Center Open House last week, my son asked for help with his cravat and that opened the door to the vast variety of colonial neckware.  The first piece of neckware we got to see was the black stock. The black stock is the narrow black piece with the slight curve in the center, in front of the hats and behind the gorgets and epaulettes.

     The black stock was worn by various members of the military, whether American, French or British.  Lafayette wore one with his American Continental officer uniform...

...we've met American General Nelson wearing one...

...the mayor of Williamsburg, whom I think was part of the militia...

..the enlisted men of the American Continental Army...

....oooh, even Benedict Arnold...

...and the fife and drum corps. By the way, even though they are wearing red, they are not British. The fife and drum corps wore the reverse colors of their army, to distinguish them as non-combatants. Both sides of the war needed them to serve to relay messages via tunes not only for their own army but also for the opposing army. 

      My son has been anxious for me to make a new costume, since he's had an increasingly difficult time getting into his original colonial boy costume. He's grown several inches since I first made it. He would like to portray the son of a gentry plantation owner.  Therefore he'd like another type of stock, a white one, which we had learned about at the CDC.  Since it's going to take me a few months to figure out and sew a gentry costume as historically accurate as possible, I thought I'd gain his patience by telling him I'd make a black stock to make his neckware more authentic, while wearing his Lafayette costume.  He got excited about that! Surely I can reproduce that look in a couple of hours.

     Last Saturday I sewed the black stock for my son.  I had no pattern to go by. Therefore making the black stock proved to be a great challenge than I had initially thought. My son wanted to design a template for me, himself. First we measured around his neck to find the length to make the template. After the first stock I made, we figured out we needed to make it larger by an inch or two. Somehow in the cutting and sewing, the proper sized template resulted in a stock that wouldn't reach all the way around his neck.  The second longer stock I sewed was a better fit until he put it on over his shirt collar. Ugh, he was choking! Back to the drawing board! Hint: Add several inches to the circumference of the neck!  I'm currently in the process of sewing the third attempt,  between doctor appointments and multiple drives to the base pharmacy miles away for my daughter's allergies, preparing lessons, and sewing window treatments!  Hopefully the third time will be the charm! 

 

 With the template I cut a piece of black felt, left over from making his colonial cape.  (I'll blog about that when I actually take pictures of the interpreters at CW wearing capes. Apparently they come in a variety of sizes and colors, but it's not been cold enough for them to wear them while we're there yet.)

Then I traced the template onto two layers of leftover pieces of matte silk  from the lining of his cape, with a white chalk pencil. Then I cut the satin out a little larger to allow for seam allowance.

I sewed the two pieces together, carefully sewing on the seam line around three adjacent sides. leaving the long side with the curve that dips down unsewn.

After I trimmed the seams and clipped the curves, I turned it right side out.  Uh oh.  The curve was barely there and the sides were not symmetrical.  I cut out two new pieces of silk.  Then I centered the precut felt on top of the satin and pinned it. I used flat pins to allow it to lie flat. Regular curved pins distorted the fabric. Then I slowly sewed around the edges.

Then I took the pins out. I trimmed the seams and clipped the curves.  Then I carefully turned it inside out, leaving the felt inside to replicate the stability and padding that we got to touch at the CDC. I carefully pressed the stock with a cool iron.  I turned the edges under on the remaining side, pinned it together, then handstitched tiny hidden stitches, though a couple peaked out anyway. It's a bit difficult to produce a smooth curve, since I am using silk. Although my son would have liked actual historic hardware, none is to be found. I made this stock a bit larger than his neck, to give him room to grow. I stuck black velcro on the ends.  

    I'm not sure how my son is going to set the stock against his shirt collar.  The shirt is wrong, because there is no ruffle in front. We will shop for a proper colonial shirt pattern in a few days.   Jo Ann will have a pattern sale and looks like I will need to buy two different patterns to combine elements for the proper look.

   By the end of the afternoon, my son tried on his Lafayette coat and realized the collar doesn't turn up like it does for the rest of the officers.  He asked if he could have a new Lafayette costume for the winter (which would have a felt coat) , then a gentry plantation son costume for the summer (which would not need a coat).  That is the new plan.  The Lafayette costume with a general's coat made of felt (to represent wool), would keep him much warmer than a gentry coat that would be made from a cotton blend.  Also the Lafayette costume uses the "boots" that my son made, which adds another layer of warmth for his legs.  Additionally, this would give me practice before I tackle the gentry coat I will eventually make for my husband. (Of all the costumes I've made for all of the historical eras, the colonial costume is the only one he has asked me to make for him. He wants an extremely nice costume like Alexander Purdie wears, so he is all for my figuring this out.) We found a colonial coat pattern that I can purchase at the pattern sale at Jo Ann later this week.  The colonial coat pattern looks to have facings, which will be a huge help in recreating the Lafayette coat.  (However now I realize I could have created my own facings by reusing the original pattern. Oh well.)

     Yesterday I got to wondering what my son will want for the epaulettes.  Last year when I made the Lafayette costume, he did not want epaulettes like Lafayette. Now I forget what I had patterned them after.  When I asked him, he sheepishly admitted he'd like a pair like Lafayette's this time.  What?!  I couldn't believe that.  The children started laughing at the expression on my face.  They asked if I was worried about what I'd tell Lafayette if he asks. I said I'll wait to see what he says and just try to follow his lead.  My son and I each took close ups of the epaulettes and I got to hold them, carefully inspecting them.  I forget a lot now. However I do remember a few key elements and think perhaps I can perhaps get a fair representation made.  It won't be perfect, so that in itself will be good, so people won't think he's Lafayette.  Of course his age makes some of the interpreters call him Lafayette, which he quickly assures them he is supporting the troops. He has great respect for Lafayette and will only portray him for school projects at home.  

In the meantime, I decided I'd like to try to make a shift for my daughter, which would help to make her dress look more realistic.  She was excited to hear that.  I only recently figured out where the ruffled look on the dresses came from. However I still haven't completely figured out how the shift works.  I've been referencing a  terrific book, Costume Close-Up: Clothing Construction and Pattern 1750-1790.  According to the write-up, this book is for the advanced seamstress to reproduce period garments with authenticity.  It was recommended to me by the CW milliner and tailor. Although this book is indeed excellent, and it does show a period shift, shirt and a white stock, there isn't enough information for me.  The shift and shirt in the book do not have ruffles and there was no sequence of sewing for the white stock. It's a challenge to figure all of this out. Obviously I do not have advanced sewing skills.  Nevertheless I am up to the challenge.  It's sort of like a puzzle. I enjoy deep thinking and puzzling things out. I'm determined to take this quest one project at a time.  Perhaps I'll pay a visit to the milliner but she seems to think I am perfectly capable of all this. Hmmmm, I'll be deeply thinking of the best way to phrase my queries.   

• Post A Comment!

Oct. 24, 2009 - Contemplation

     My husband looked out our kitchen window this morning and called me to see our squirrel.

He might be enjoying all the new trees my husband recently planted. We purchased eight at Lowes for less than we would have for one at any of the other nearby nurseries. He planted cherry, dogwood, crabapple, two maples and three cypress. Perhaps he's merely enjoying all the autumn color coming into profusion. My husband thinks he's contemplating the perfect spot for the hoard of acorns he usually brings into the yard. 

 

• Post A Comment!