Quarantine

What to do when the house is on quarantine for a week? I decided to teach Sarah how to sew. She's been begging me to do it for several weeks.

Our first project is a pioneer dress with the pantaloons and shift to go underneath. I've been really interested in doing historical reenactments as a family, so I'd be making this dress in the next couple months anyway. I figured we might as well start it when we're bored at home and it's raining outside so we can't play in the backyard.

Sarah loves researching things (we have that trait in common) so we had a delightful morning spending hours looking at authentic pioneer dress patterns and studying fabric design. We turned it into a history lesson with questions like: Why did they only have 2 dresses? Why didn't they use expensive fabric? Why did they wear aprons and pinafores? Why did they wear bonnets? Why isn't there a lot of lace? Why did they wear neckerchiefs?

Sarah picked a pretty blue fabric that compliments her eyes. I was a bit worried to begin, since it's been a couple years since my last sewing project. It took a few awkward minutes to get reacquainted with the machine and relearn it's quirky personality (like it's inability to do buttonholes). I had to make a buttonhole by hand-stitching it, but it was actually fun. I imagined our ancestors sewing their clothing without any sewing machines, and that made it so much more enjoyable to do this little task that no longer seemed a hassle. Can you imagine stitching all the seams by hand?

As we sewed, she said, "It would be so much easier to sew a dress if pioneers had a lot of sisters. Then one girl could make the apron, another could work on the dress, and another could sew the undergarments." She thought she was pretty clever until she realized that having more sisters meant they'd also have to make triple the number of dresses, so no work would be saved. After that, she thought she was very lucky to be an only girl.

 I realized something interesting about the pantaloons. They have 4 rows of horizontal tucks along the calf (these were a DEVIL so sew!). I almost altered the pattern and just left the tucks out entirely, but I realized that there is wisdom behind this madness. When Sarah grows taller, I won't need to sew another pair of pantaloons from scratch. We can just let out one pleat and they'll be 3 inches longer. Perfect! She can use these for several years! 

I also learned something to remember when I make future patterns (we hope to do several reenactments from a variety of historical eras, so there will eventually be lots of costumes around here). I should buy the patterns online for cheaper (we paid $15 just for the pattern!) and I should buy fabrics in bulk whenever they go on sale. Armed with this knowledge, I need to decide exactly what colors/fabric types we'll be using for the rest of the costumes and go stock up on them.


I found the NEATEST historical reenactment group. It's called "We Make History".  They are based in Arizona, and they host real balls several times a year and they teach the dances of that time period and everyone dresses in costume. They especially emphasize the gentility and time-appropriate manners. This is the big selling point for me. The SCA is a group that does medieval reenactments, but the manners are appalling, for all their pretense on nobility. After growing up attending SCA events, they have no appeal for me. Honestly, who wants to glory in the Dark Ages? The group in Arizona is focused more on the refining characteristics of society and works to educate young people on how to really be gentlemen and ladies. I love it! They focus on the arts in particular, and the time periods are from the 1700's-1800's.  We are making plans to travel there for their biggest festival in November. Yes, I will be checking my kids out of public school for the week and we'll disappear from Texas. Anyone who wants to come along and carpool in our van is welcome!  You can learn about this group here: 
http://www.wemakehistory.com/
At this point we are finished with the shift and pantaloons, and we start the 'pretty' dress today. She is very excited, and I've really enjoyed rediscovering the joy of sewing.