Military History Fest- Review

About three weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend Military History Fest as a speaker presenting on entering the hobby of living history. With the help of two very good friends, the presentation went really well and it was exciting to see the number of attendees who were first period living historians seeking help getting started.

Me. Talking. Kind of like every candid picture
of me ever. At least my hands are kind of
quiet.

Of course, no Military History Fest is complete without shopping, friends, and fun at the ball (of which there was plenty). Once the school year starts, I kind of end up in my own little introvert cave of exhaustion, so it was very nice to connect with friends that I haven't gotten to see in awhile. Not only was Alicia of LBCC there, but so was Julie from The Fat Reenactress (who totally rocked a sweet nineteen-teens era ensemble at the ball.)

I was also super excited this year because Alix was able to come and she brought baby Cora with her. It was Cora's first event, and she definitely stole the show by being her cute little baby self! They didn't get to stay for the ball, but we had a blast hanging out while we could.

She's the cutest thing. Ever. Seriously. 

I picked up quite a bit of goodies- including some striped cotton for Regency and some awesome silk taffeta for I don't know what yet.

I really like shopping the Vogue selection at MHF. 

On the upside, I was able to wear my "bib front" gown from a previous B&T workshop for the ball Saturday night. I even wore some vintage kid opera gloves and a shawl, but only got pictures of the gown before the ball while we were in the hotel room. I forgot to grab my phone to take snapshots during the event itself.

Nat said I looked grumpy in this one
but I was trying for the gentle smile. 

The required selfie. Because. =)

Apart from getting snowed in on Sunday (from the big blizzard that hit late Saturday night through Monday in the early hours), it was a very good weekend. Even the blizzard wasn't that bad. We were able to hunker down at friend's house nearby and stay off of the roads (many of which were closed, anyhow.)

Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of the dancing (which is probably for the best), but I do have a picture of our car in the snow.

It was pretty crazy out there. 

Most importantly, we made it home safely (albeit a day later than planned). School was cancelled for that Monday, so that was a boon. And we had a blast. For what more can a girl ask?

"Spring is the Time of Plans and Projects..."

This last week was spring break for the school district in which I work. Breaks are always a mixed blessing for me. While I love the extra time to sew and clean, I always end up falling into schedule with my husband (who works nights) which makes adjusting when I go back to work difficult.

It also seems I'm ten times busier on break than I am during a normal work week, and this break was no different. Monday, I took a trip with my friend R into Chicago for some massive fabric shopping. I ended up coming home with 49 yards of silk taffeta (29 ivory, 20 striped), 1.5 yds black wool knit, and 7 yds dark blue cotton voile.

Left: Ivory Taffeta
 Right: Seafoamish green with coraly/cream stripes

I have plans for just about everything (the ivory taffeta I've only plans for five yards of the roll. *BUT* I figured-you never know when some ivory taffeta will come in handy, right?)

I've also been helping my friend S to get together a better documented kit for her F&I unit. I'm so excited for her and she's doing such a great job! She's been coming to my house once a month or so for what have been affectionately coined "sweatshop Saturdays."  

We've made a ton of progress, so far, so I wanted to share some of what we've done. S has done most of the actual sewing, I've just done the drafting/draping and sewn some when we've needed to be ready for the next step.

S in her new stays - almost done! I took her measure
using what I learned from my  B&T 18th c. stay making
workshop with M. Hutter and we used the stay pattern
from Costume Close Up p.63. 

We boned her stays with a combination of mostly ash splint, metal at CB and a spot or two elsewhere, and some artificial baleen. S wore her stays not only while I was draping her gown, but also while she cooked supper. She said they were very comfortable and was very happy that they gave the girls a bit of a lift. =)

Draping S's gown. Gown draping was my first B&T class
ever (almost three years ago!) I've grown so much from
their classes and I still reference my notes from Brooke's class
to help me make better historical clothing. =)

We got quite a bit done on her gown yesterday, including getting the bodice fronts ready for fitting and setting the pleats in the back. All we have left is to stitch down the back pleats, fit fronts to back, drape/set sleeves, and attach skirts. All said, not bad for a day's work. 

When Patience Pays Off (or I've been waiting two years for this book!)

Woohoo! I'm so very tired this evening after a wonderful weekend at MHF (event in review to come soon) but I couldn't help posting about my excitement as I've been anticipating this text for some two years now!

Wearable Prints: History, Materials, and Mechanics finally came!

I've already spent some of my evening perusing and will post a review as soon as I've finished reading the 500 odd page tome.

Yay!