Stitches Of The Past: July 2012

Y'all may remember my friend Samantha from my previous post. After her first event she decided she'd like her own civil war dress.

So she picked out the fabric and mailed it to me. We disscussed the style a bit and I set out to work.

I wanted to get it back to her in time for her next event which was a week away. Needless to say I needed to scramble. ;)

I threw together a mock up and sent it out the day before I got the fabric. Thankfully it got there the next day and she was able to try it on and send me pictures so I could see how it fit. I was a tad nervous. I've done long distance fittings before, but this was my first time doing an 1860's dress that way. After a bit more discussion we decided to go ahead and do a jeweled neck line rather then the previously planned boat neck. That was the main change I had to make to the pattern. Other then that I just took a inch off the bottom of the lower bodice as I wasn't pleased with how the length was looking.

Its so handy how most the girls I make dresses for are close enough in size to Michelle and myself that we can use the same pattern without having to start completely from scratch. So this particular one was from my and Michelle's matching sheer gowns. The sleeve pattern and all. :D

Double puff sleeves have become quite popular amoung our little 'group'. I've got lots of practice on them and they seem easier then most other styles now. :D Michelle helped me hand gather everything, which was a huge help cause hand sewing is just something you can't rush. ;)

Aren't those buttons just adorable?!?! I love the way they sort of pop out at you. :)

I gauged the skirt. This was perhaps the most time consuming part. I did it all in one sitting tho. :D And a huge thanks to Michelle for sewing it on, since my brain was fried at the point. :) lol

I did 4, 1/2 inch (finished) tucks. Tucks are one of my favorite things to do. I love the way they look, they are so handy for changing the length of the skirt (especailly for growing youngsters), and they also give the skirt a bit more body! :) I also did a 6" hem facing.
In the end it took me less then 48 hours to make and I was able to get it in the mail on Monday morning. I think it came out soooo cute. I was kinda wishing it was mine. lol Anyhow I totally can't wait to see her in it! :)

Love,
Brooke

This past Saturday 6 of us girls attended Delavan's first ever civil war reenactment. Delavan is only about half an hour from here and Michelle and I used to drive thru there everyday on the way to work in fact. :) Its a gorgeous town and has some of the most beautiful Victorian houses! I've always said if I was to live in a small town I'd choose that one. :) The week prior was filled with much excitement and preparation! Food to make, stays to finish, a cage to construct, etc. We had a lot of big plans and many things to look forward to during the day, so you can imagine our excitement as Saturday dawned... :) Sarah and Rachel met up with us here and we all road up together. That always makes things more fun. To keep up with tradition I did a bit of necessary sewing on the way. lol I always like to say its not an event if I'm not finishing something in the car on the way. :P
The park at which it was held is very pretty. Made for some nice pictures I must say. :D

We started the day off by being in the parade. That was alot fun. :D

Photo Credit; Tom G. Davison

Dave and Duke getting ready for the parade.

Where we hung out most the day....some of the guys kindly asked if we wanted to sit with them. Which we're very greatful for as it was like 100 degrees or higher and the shade really helped. Plus they were just super fun to be around. lol

We all sewed on our scrap quilt. We got quite a bit done with so many hands. :) We're doing pretty small blocks so we have to have over 1000 and we're hand sewing the entire thing. So we take all the help we can get on it. lol

Mean while the guys had lunch...I love this picture...I think its one of my favorites from the day.

Michelle showed Chris how to sew some of the blocks together.

Chris hard at work.

Michelle wants me to tag this one as "A rose among thorns." But I said I didn't want to make them sound like thorns or me like a rose. So she said to say "A thorn among roses". I didn't like that one either so we'll just leave it like this and let y'all think what you want. :P lol

Miss Samantha! It was so wonderful to meet her at last. I've read her blog for a couple years so it was quite delightful to put a face to the name... :)

2 beautiful girls! Emily sewing and I think Rachel's probably hiding a jar of pickles. lol

Lining up for the battle.

This is like seriously one of the only pictures of the battle we got. It started pouring rain as soon as it started and did throughout most of it. I have to say that it made it more realistic and unique. It got really still and all the smoke all stayed low, it was kinda of eery and made for come cool shots for the spectators I'm sure. I think the battle itself was good. Especially considering the number of reenactors. They did the battle of "Little Crane Creek." They even did a little hand to hand which is always really sweet.

We had the pleasure of seeing our friend Tom there. He's always soooooooo much fun and definitely did not disappoint this time. lol Seeing him was totally one of the best parts of the day. Needless to say we had a few different photoshoots. :)

All of us together. :) From left to right: Michelle, Rachel, Sarah, Emily, me, Samantha, and Megan

Miss Sarah poses by one of the wagons.

Megan looking quite happy indeed.

My beautiful big sister Michelle.

Mrs. Baker pleased us all by making an appearance as well. :)

Rachel looking completely adorable! Love that girl!

And yours truly looking not so great in a white dress. I definitely think that was one of the last times I'll wear that gown....

Having some fun after the spectators were gone. :D

Photo Credit: Tom G. Davison

Larry and Tom with us girls. :) These 2 gentlemen are always such a joy to see and help make the events be a ton of fun.

Photo credit; Tom G. Davison

Michelle tried to capture some of the artillery pieces.

The 33rd Illinois Infantry Band played for the dance. They do such a good job and we always love dance to a brass band. :)Band

Me & Aaron, Sarah & Chris, and Michelle & Paul scheming our bumper car waltz. lol That's was so fun... :D And in case your wondering what it involves...we'd run into each other really hard and then say "sorry, we're new". lol It was great.... :

Nate and Megan sashay during a vigorous Virginia Reel.

Michelle and Sarah doing the Virginia Reel as well. We all danced even when they had breaks so thus the reason for so many Virgina reels. lol We mainly did that and the Nine Pin. :)

Nate & Megan do the Spanish waltz with Chris & Rachel.

Me and Bryce during some sort of odd carousel dance/waltz thing I'd never done it before and don't care to again it was very odd and not all that energetic. lol Never the less Bryce did a phenomenal job and we were very glad he came to the dance. :)

I love how me and Aaron are doing the exact same thing in this picture. lol

This is probably my favorite picture of all time! I think it turned out so great.

Left to right:

Tim, Rachel, Aaron, me, Chris, Sarah, Paul, Michelle, Dave, Megan and Nate.

Photo Credit: Tom G. Davison

Over all it was pretty much the best event I've ever been to. I've never had so much fun and the dance was phenomenal! Totally the best dance of all times. :D Thanks so much to everyone that made it such a wonderful day. :)

And in case you'd like to see more pictures...here's the rest of Michelle's and Tom's. And there's even a news clip about it with some familiar faces in it here.... :)

I'd totally recommend anyone to attend this event and I'm already looking forward to next year. For more information visit the website here.

Hope you enjoyed the post and be sure to check back soon. :)

Love,
Brooke