New Dress - Yippee!

I have had this fabric for over a year now and finally decided what I would make out of it. It is perfect for a CW dress and I have just the pattern too. I found the Emily Wyant dress pattern (by Heidi Marsh) at James Country Mercantile and really liked the cut. It's just a little different than most of the work dresses I've seen and has a few neat details like Sleeve Jockeys - a decorative sleeve band at the top of the sleeve adjoining the shoulder seam. I decided to gather the bodice fabric and dart the lining as this was common during the era. I am also debating whether to either change the fabric for the sleeve jockeys or change the fabric for the sleeves. I am leaning toward the sleeves as this would make them a little more like undersleeves and possibly a bit cooler as well. There is a CW event in Ferndale, Washington next weekend that I will get to go to and it will be nice to have a new dress. A new chemise and a shortened over petticoat are in the works as well. I have hopes of getting a new bonnet made as well as a crocheted reticule - we'll see. As is my usual practice, I tend to bite off more than I can chew.

I cut out the lining to do a test fit a few days ago and had a lot of trouble. It's either the pattern or my physical shape, and as it's much more pleasant to blame the pattern, I will. The neckline was way to big and gaped on both sides of center front and in the back. The armscyes were way to small, but there was too much fabric there as well. After trying several things, all to no avail, I called Mom. (Why my fitting books didn't have the answer is still beyond me, but Mom is a fount of sewing wisdom.) She suggested making small darts in the correct places on the neckline to correct the fit there, and was cautious about suggesting I do the same for the armholes (I did it anyway Mom and it worked). Then I took the muslin lining apart and used those pieces to trace new ones and voil`a. Yesterday I cut into the actual fabric and basted the lining to the dress fabric for the interlining - so far so good - and today I hope to get upstairs to work on my treadle machine and actually get it put together.

WWKIP

Saturday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and the events continue through this week. I went out on Saturday afternoon to join a group of fellow knitters and spinners and do our thing. There were about 18 of us altogether, enjoying a beautiful BC afternoon. We found a spot in the shade, and attempted to share our craft with the public. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of "public" around to share with, but we had fun anyway. I got to watch several spinners with there wheels up close. It is mesmerizing, and I want one! Spinning wheels and spinning have held an alure for me for quite a while now. Maybe it was watching Sleeping Beauty too much as a child, I don't know. It is definitely an art I would like to pursue. I was quite relieved to discover that the wheels are much smaller and more portable than those from days gone by - this means there would be room in my living room for a wheel! This just means twice as much as there is in knitting. First you get to pick your fiber, then you spin it, then you knit with it, and then you get to wear or use whatever it is you make. Hence the few dollars spent on fiber go a lot farther than those spent on spun yarn. Did I mention that is much cheaper to buy fiber (roving) than it is to buy prespun yarn? This is definitely a hobby worth pursuing.

19th Century Stockings

I have finally decided to start working on a pair of stockings for myself. This is the swatch to help me determine needle size and gauge (the number of stitches per inch). The yarns weights and needle sizes that were available in the 1860's are significantly different from what is available today. With much help from fellow Ravelers and the Civil War Needleworkers on Yahoo, I have compared the historic yarns and needles with the modern and am ready to go. The yarn is Brown Sheep Nature Spun fingering (a sock weight yarn spun in Nebraska), a wonderful lady on Ravelry generously sent me two skeins to get started. Needle size is 000, for those of you non knitters that's roughly the size of malnourished toothpicks. Black is also not the greatest color for tiny stitches - it's impossible to see in any but the best light. I seriously doubt I will do two of these stockings, and will turn to white cotton for the final garments. This is my test run to work through the sizing, shaping and pattern instructions. Let's just say that historic patterns aren't the best at relating instructions. Besides, how did anyone wear wool stockings - these things would be terribly itchy, augghhhh!

Mom O's visit

My mother in law was here last week and we had a wonderful visit! This was her fist visit to Vancouver and so we took her to as many sights as possible. She brought a traveling companion with her, tucked away in her suitcase. Flat Stanley enjoyed Vancouver so much during the 2010 Olympics that he wanted to make a return trip to see some of the things he missed. So here is Mom O and Flat Stanley at the Totem Poles in Stanley Park. (Flat Stanley is under the misguided impression that Stanley Park was named for him.)

For those of you that have never met Flat Stanley, his given name is Stanley Lambchop, a little boy whom a bookshelf fell on many years ago and completely flattened him. Now he is able to be mailed all over the world and is a tremendous spokesperson for children's literacy and community awareness. If you would like to hear more of Stanley's story you can find several books written about him by author Jeff Brown in your local library.

We took Mom O through downtown Vancouver, to Stanley Park, to Burnaby Mountain Park, Golden Ears Provincial Park, Robert Burnaby Park, and to Abounding Grace Baptist Church. We were certainly blessed with beautiful weather for the week that she was here and made for some wonderful pictures and great memories.

"To Top It All Off...."

After several months of working and waiting, I finally got my arbor finished this weekend! I love it, I can already imagine what it will be like with the roses and clematis scrambling over it.

It took three of us and two ladders to wrestle the cross pieces up and into place. I held one end while Jonathan nailed the other and Larry steadied the ladders. I think we even got it pretty level too. I am just amazed at how the garden has progressed in the past year. It is close to being finished, as close as a garden can ever come; mine will always be a work in progress and always changing. The birds seem to love the changes, the plants, the water and the food. We've had a pair of White Crowned Sparrows, a Golden Crowned Sparrow, Bushtits, Chickadees, and I've seen the Rufous Hummingbirds more often than ever before. The female was even picking aphids off one of my climbing roses. We still need, dirt, dirt, and more dirt to fill in the remainder of the beds. May long weekend is the frost free date for our area and the point when so many of our seedlings can be put outside for the year and they need a place to go. Jonathan has a spot ready for the broccoli where it can be covered with some floating row cover to keep out the moths and their caterpillars, the tomatoes are being hardened off, and the pumpkins and watermelon are about ready to go outside. Now to get to some weeding!

Thursday, April 28

No pictures today as I can't seem to get my act together to get them posted. The garage sale that's planned for Friday and Saturday is growing to massive proportions. Where did we get all this stuff? More importantly why did we buy/keep all this stuff, let alone move it to Canada. Jonathan and I worked most of the evening on getting stuff organized and priced, and there's still more to do today (this will be the third day of organizing etc.). I have a couple of piles in the basement that need to be brought up and then we need to tackle the clothing. I can't decide if I am glad that I won't be here this weekend for the sale. I am attending a ladies retreat hosted by Urban Community Baptist Church on Friday and Saturday. Our sale had been planned for last weekend, however the weather put the kabosh on those plans. Jonathan and Larry decided they could handle the sale this weekend instead. I feel bad that they will have to do all the work themselves when the garage sale was my idea in the first place, however, I'm sure that my stress level will be lower by not trying to organize it with two men. ( We can't load the car together, I don't think we could set up a garage sale together either.) I'm sure they'll be fine, and maybe when I come back everything will be gone.

I will get around to posting some pictures of my drop spindling here in a couple of weeks. I realized that I don't have any place to "drop" it as my living room is full of garage sale stuff. I thought about posting pictures of the living room, but I don't really want to remember the state that it's in right now. After the sale this weekend, I have some serious household matters to deal with before my Mother-in-law visits in a week. I am certainly feeling the crunch. This will be the first of three family visits all planned before the end of June. I am really starting to get excited, though I keep dreaming that I forgot to pick someone up at the airport.

A Time For Every Season....

It is that season and the reenactment bug has bitten again. (Courtesy of my esteemed brother Corporal Goat.) I have the fabric for a new dress and am just waiting for the pattern to arrive so that I can start. I am anticipating being able to attend atleast one event this year. There is a "battle" taking place in Ferndale, WA which is just across the line. Actually, it is closer than the town where we buy our groceries. I am thinking that perhaps a couple of new bonnets and a hair net might be in order, a lady always enjoys a new bonnet. A sheer dress is also being planned for, but will most likely take a while before I can actually finish it. Cpl Goat has asked for a new frock coat as well and that will be part of my summer sewing.

Best wishes to y'all and I'm off to a quilting bee.