Dear Venturers, It seems that a new and exciting event is coming up! This Christmas there is going to be a parade, and a group (not a costuming group) I am apart of is going to have a float! The attire will be 1770’s as the theme for the float will be famous figures of the American Revolution. As you can imagine I have taken it upon myself to make sure that everyone is as appropriately dressed as I can manage since I’m the only one who does historical sewing (you don’t want to see the monstrosities that were ordered off Amazon…). Amidst all this my, erm “loyal sewing machine”  has decided to break. Currently it’s off getting pampered at the sewing machine spa for the next month. Thankfully my grandmother loaned me hers! ❤️ So here I am acting like a typical blogger giving my whole life’s story before actually getting to the dress…  ;/ This project was greatly influenced by this beauty here: http://www.sew18thcentury.com/2015/11/a-little-gown-for-little-girl.html?spref=p...

  Dear Venturers ,  Today I invented (well, I haven’t seen anyone else do it) a hack. I don’t have much to say about it, so I’ll cut straight to instructions! ;) 1. You’ll need some high-heeled shoes (preferably black), and some matching string or ribbon of some sort. 2. Put the string around your middle toe. I know this sounds weird, just trust me on this!  3. Set one of the strings aside. Arrange the other string like in the picture . 4. Wrap it around like so… 5. Pull it tight. 6. Repeat with the other string and in the opposite direction.  7. It should be starting to take shape! 8. Tie the remaining strings together in a knot. 9. Wrap the ends back around the T-shape and tie again. All done!  It's not perfect, but it deffinitly gets the aesthetic across. 

    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.