Dear Venturers, Today I took an “inventory” of sorts specifically for my 18th century clothing. It inspired a certain question: just how many clothes would a middle class 18th century female colonist have? I did some digging and came up with this... https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/living-history/how-much-clothing-did-18th-century-woman-really-own/   have fun reading because this is where my own post ends... 

  Dear Venturers, I have one literal day to complete a corset. Sounds crazy, right?? I was looking for how to make one. There’s lots of videos and stuff, but no patterns! Unless, of course, you buy one.  So here is how to make one yourself!  (for free! ;)) NOTE: this is for one half of a corset! Not for both sides!  1. Choose your fabric. I would recommend a twin sheet for this one. Maybe 2-4 king-sized pillowcases. I used a white cotton sateen which I will also double-layer. 2. Cut out the main piece. These are the measurements: 3. Next you’ll need a triangular piece to fit in the V-shaped hole for the bust. The larger the V and triangle, the more bust you have. Here’s mine: 4. Add in the hip piece. These are the measurements. This part was very tricky for me!  5. Cut a few slits in the sides. Do this by cutting a straight line wherever you have extra fabric hanging, and then curve in each side of the slit by just a little bit. Then sew the slit together again....

  Dear Blog, Today I made a carpet bag like thing for various reasons. I decided to share how to make your own here… 1. Cut out two large rectangles. Mine is 15” tall and 21” wide.This is the front and back of the bag.  2. Cut out two more rectangles. They need to be the same height as the front and back pieces. Mine are are 15” tall and 7” wide. These pieces are the two sides of the bag.    3. Cut out one last rectangle. The height should be the same width as the side pieces, and the width should be the same width as the front and back pieces. Mine are 21” wide, and 7” tall. This is the bottom of the bag. 4. Sew all the pieces together.  5. Measure the width and height of the bag and cut out two rectangular pieces based on those measurements and sew together.  6. Turn the two rectangles inside out and place it into the bag. This should create a lining. 7. Hem the top of the bag and the lining together.  All done… I haven’t figured out straps yet!...

  Dear Blog, Today I was having some troubles with my machine, and Google said to clean it. And so, here we are… 1. Find the smallest screwdriver you can and unscrew the one screw that holds it together. 2. Life the plate off, and take out the bobbin holder. 3. Clean it out. The machine is supposed to come with a brush. I don’t have one, so I found another small brush thing. Just use whatever small brush thing you can find. As you can see, mine is pretty bad. I’ve never cleaned it before… And after… Don’t use canned air, as it will just blow the dust further into the machine. Also, there is no need to oil anything with this particular model of sewing machine. Here is a link to the user guide for free: https://www.manua.ls/husqvarna/viking-emerald-116/manual NOTE!! There is a wick under the bobbin holder! This holds the oil. It is supposed to be there!!!  Do not take this out like I did!!!

  Dear Blog, It’s a beautiful evening to bash idiots that think they know everything (and I do know everything so I’m very qualified, FYI)! Today I came across yet ANOTHER Tik Tok video that had been added to Pinterest that had the usual suspects of a woman who obviously didn’t know much about historical fashion (and probably just history in general, just sayin’) who was ranting about how the patriarchy made every woman wear a corset and all the sickness and death that corsets caused. Good heavens! If history had actually played out according to every poorly-informed-video-creating-person out there there’s no way we (the human population) would still be around! But then, if no humans existed, the tree-huggers would finally get thier way, but then, would tree huggers even exist? Anyhoooooooo……. An example of extreme tight-lacing of a corset. How tight-lacing effects the body. So back to the point, here’s why corsets (and similar undergarments) are not sexist (or some evil patriarcha...

  Dear Venturers, Greetings! Today I was cleaning my sewing room and came across this old project I started once. I made a few quick seams, and here we are! I paired it with a white blousy shirt, Oxford heels, cream stockings, a rose brooch, and a hat with a romantic hairdo. I haven’t done any research on the nineteen-tens (except for walking skirts) and so I don’t really know much about what would be a historically accurate blouse or undergarments. As you can see, this was all pretty “spur of the moment”! So please enjoy my video, and I’ll probably work on perfecting the outfit at a later time. I also wanted to add that I also went bicycling in this outfit. It was very fun! I added some small brown gloves to create a more “bycicle-esk” look.   *update*  So Blogger won’t let me put the video here because it is too long :/ Here is a link to the video on Pinterest: https://pin.it/3wu5vVN  

  Dear Venturers, It’s time to meet the flock! These are my three lovely chickens: This is Katy (short for Cathrine). She is a Plymouth Barred Rock, very fat, and loves food and cuddles. Katy is very sweet and hates to be alone. She also loves to sing and often serenades us with a surprisingly beautiful voice.  This is Daisy (I call her Daisy Bug, or just Bug). She is a Leghorn. Daisy is very cute and full of personality. She loves to fly up to high places and take selfies with me. Daisy got her name because she looks like a daisy with her white feathers and yellow legs.  This is Abby (short for Abigale). She is named after Abigail Adams and is mix between PBR and Easter-Egger. Abby loves to perch on my arm and eat jewelry and other shiny things. She is very good at spotting hawks. Abby prefers to be by herself, but is secretly full of love.  Sadly Abby left us on August 14, 2021. We will miss her greatly. 

  Dear Venturers, Good evening! Today I was finishing up my 18th. Century cap and created a new tool... If you sew and are ever on the internet, the you’ve probably been bombarded with the newest sewing hack of using a fork to make perfectly uniform knife pleats. So I gave in one day and tried it. The result was BEAUTIFUL! I love to see a neat row of pleats all looking identical. It’s just such a pretty sight, and far outweighs gathering. So as I was making my cap, I reached for the fork that I now keep in my sewing kit (😁), but I didn’t want pleats that large. I decided that I needed a smaller fork to make a smaller pleat. And so, my newest creation was born... I tried meshing the words pleat and fork, but all I could come up with was, “pork”, and, “fleat”... or well... I used round nose pliers and some jewelry wire that I have. It’s  essentially a smaller sized fork with only two points (because it’s for pleats and not food...). To make the shape, I made a V-shape out of th...

Dear Venturers, Good afternoon! Today I found an old turkey feather (don’t ask why) in the back of my desk. I had the random motivation to stop my search for the paper I needed to do real and productive things, and make a quill pen. Then of course I needed ink. And so... here’s how to do it yourself!  1. Remove the flaky stuff and the fluffy stuff Before you cut the feather, you should consider how much “feather” you want to keep on the feather. I prefer the pretty aesthetic of an intact feather, but it’s up to you!Use your finger nail to peel off the membrane around the feather. 2. Cut the tip off Use scissors to cut off the tip of the feather. 3. Take out the flaky stuff that’s inside There’s a waxy sort of thing (it does have a proper name) inside the feather. I used a bobby pin because why not. 4. Cut diagonally  Use scissors to cut of the side of the feather at a diagonal angle.  5. Cut a small shelf-like thing and clean up the edges I used these small wire cutter th...

Dear Blog, Good Evening! Today I saw this very uninformed add for a greeting card about global warming, and I thought I would make a post about all the funny things out there about history.   Lace-y pantaloons in 1720? But hey, if it’s frilly, it’s any era. So this is a bit funny... even though the door is not period appropriate for the 18th century ;) I’m not sure if “historical” would be the right term... So if you’re in the mood to start complaining about the US, at the very least get your facts right. I guess The new way to spell “sailor” is solider  ?  Medieval movies can be hittermiss.  We are all well-versed on the unspeakable polyester "costumes".  Excuse me, your nylon stockings are showing. The longer you look, the worse it gets.  To refresh your brain, here are a few of my favorite “historically accurate memes”. Enjoy!  How could they?? POV you have a modern washing machine Hairpins wouldn't hurt as well :| haha 🤪 But it's oh-so true the Me...