Month: December 2021

Brandy’s Paletote

Dear Sis,

When I left your house back in December, I loaded up a few of your items with me. One, was your black winter coat. A simple coat with no closure or decoration.

We both know, that you tend to finish making things for everyone else and leave out yourself. Besides, I like working with trimmings, so it seemed like an ideal project for me. The downfall, boy is it hard to trim something to the taste of another. 

I had no idea what to do with your coat. But, while talking to you I made a few discoveries. One was that you made a black coat because you thought it would look best with the Princes Capote hood that I made you, and that you would have preferred having items with a bit more color. Seeing that I had found some emerald green wool suiting for your next dress… coming soon. I figured I could add another jewel tone color to your coat, and make you a whole lot more colorful.

First, I put on a hook and eye closure. I also added a rabbit fur collar, that wasn’t very fitting for the jacket and got removed. I ended up picking this design, it was featured in Godey’s in 1865. It called for some buttons, and I figured basic black silk covered buttons would handle the job well.

I couldn’t find any cording to suit, so I decided to buy a Lucet and make it myself. I had plenty of silk yarn in the closet after all. A bright purple seemed the most fitting, and I got to work. Boy, did that take awhile. Each row needed about 6 yards of trim. And while the cording went together faster then I expected, it still seemed to take forever.

It took almost as long to put it on, as to make. Trimmings can be so fiddly. Silly me, also lined up the trimmings with the edge of the overlap on the coat as the center. It was my husband who pointed out that the eye was drawn to the buttons as the center focal point. So, I ended up moving the center trimmings several times. But, I do think the result was worth it.

And those chunky tassels with a tatted top really drew the whole thing together. I hope you really like it. And I can’t wait to finish your emerald green wool dress and fancy silk apron!

I hope you like your jazzed up coat!

Love,
Jamie




See more of our outerwear in our Historical Closet

Merry Christmas

Hey Sis,

Christmas almost didn’t feel like Christmas this year. We were sick, and had to cancel all our family plans. Being stuck home, without any energy, just like every other day before.

The kids were doing better then Nate and I. And I was trying to make it still something for them to remember. I cut out some felt stockings and had the kids whip stitch them together. In the morning, I put an orange and a stick of old fashioned hard candy in each. We also placed two sleds under the tree, and Nate got the kids a Make a bouncy ball kit. Eve has a thing for bouncy balls and has been asking to go sled riding as soon as snow started falling this year.

Thankfully, without much of a warning I received a call from Grandpa Jeff. He was fishing in the area, and would be over soon! I warned him that we were sick, but he said he was coming anyway.

He brought the whole day to life, as the kids played with grandpa. He got the kids a trampoline, and they pretty much jumped for about two days straight.

Love, Jamie

Music Appreciation – Heavy Metal

Dear Sis, 

This is the fourth of ten parts in our Music Appreciation lesson plan series. If you are just finding us now, the text that corresponds with these lessons is Music is… by Stephen T. Johnson. 

Heavy Metal Music

A note for parents: Much of the heavy metal scene is not fit for our most precious learners, but I hope this serves as a family friendly sampling.

Week Fourteen

Approximately 20 minutes

Read playful narration “Heavy Metal is…” text.

  • Encourage your pre-reader to try to repeat the song and sing along. Being silly with your kids is a great way to catch their interest.
  • If you have multiple learners you can make a game of it and see who can give the best performance by family vote.

Listen to Sample One: “Space Trucking” by Deep Purple

Listen to Sample Two: “Back Street Kids” by Black Sabbath

Listen to Sample Three: “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult

Week Fifteen

Approximately 20 minutes

Read “HEAVY METAL” history text.

Listen to The “History of Metal” with Andrea Boma Boccarusso

Week Sixteen

Approximately 20 minutes

Read about the “INSTRUMENTS” used in this genre.

Listen to Sample Four: “Live to Rock (Rock to Live)” by Dokken

Listen to Sample Five: “Can’t Live Without You” by Scorpions

Listen to Sample Six: “Black Star” by Yngwie Malmsteen




Week Seventeen

Approximately 20 minutes

When heavy metal and classical music converge, it is a new twist on both genres. Music always has a way of sneaking out of any box we try to put it in!

Listen to our Classical to Heavy Metal samples:

Discuss with your learner the similarities and differences of each version of “Winter.”

Listen to our Heavy Metal to Classical samples:

Discuss with your learner the similarities and differences of each version of “Bring Me to Life.” 

Optional Project: Help your learner find a cover of one of their favorite songs that is in a completely different genre. 




Please tell us about your experience in the comment section. Stay tuned for the fifth installment: Hip Hop (Weeks 18-19).

Happy Homeschooling!

Love,

b

Classroom Holiday Gifts & Treats 2021

Dear Sis, 

William’s classroom holiday party is Thursday, so I spent sometime this morning getting an assembly station set up, so he could make treat bags when he got home from school today.

Reading aloud has always been a big part of our parent/child time.  I am currently reading The Read-Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids by Sarah Mackenzie, which was the final assignment for the Homeschool Masterclass I took this fall.  Since I can’t actually give other families the gift of reading, I decided a nice holiday book mark conveying that sentiment a good second:)

You Will Need:

24 Count Holiday Magnetic Bookmarks

FREE Give the Gift of Reading Editable Printable by Tag Sis, You’re It!

Printed onto card stock and cut apart!




Love,

b

 

 

Cousin Adventures – December 2021

Dear Sis,

Thanks for joining us for a fun filled weekend! Three long weeks of sewing had adorable results at Heritage Village’s Holly Days event at Sharonwoods MetroPark. 

Sunday, we were to busy giving the kids haircuts and taking blog photos to take any photos of the kids playing together, but we made up for it by taking loads of pictures Monday morning while the kids played at Jump n Jack’s. 

These guys are really becoming buddies!

See you in a few weeks for Grant’s 2nd Birthday Party!

Love,

b

Grant’s Patriotic Winter Coat & Hood

Dear Sis,

I had the most fun making Grant’s winter ensemble. I was looking through my fabric scraps, and saw cream wool laying right next to ruby red and peacock blue. I also remembered, I had gold sutoutche braid that lacked a calling. That is when I decided, Grant was about to become a very Americana toddler. After all, patriotic trimming was very common during the American Civil War.

I already had a coat for Grant, it was Williams a few years back. But, Grant is stockier then William and the buttons were about to pop off. I also wanted a different coat. Sorry, Brandy but Tweed breathes more than Melton, and that is some itchy wool… and probably, the reason why it was both vintage fabric and given to you for free. You can see this multicolored itchy beauty here!

I just enlarged the coat from William, and got down to the decorating pretty fast. The coat closes with hooks and eyes, but the appliqué while sewn on one side, has buttonholes and buttons on the other side of the coat.

Some developmental stages of the coat.

The red wool was trimmed in the gold sutoutche, and I made fabric covered buttons from the blue wool. Which, was actually very difficult, as the wool was a bit thick for my button maker. I then proceeded to trim the edges of the coat in blue and gold sutoutche as i wanted to give it a finished appearance vs. a raw edge of wool melton.




Naturally, the coat needed a truly fantastic hood. This hood is actually a Childs modified sunbonnet made with wool and silk. You can see Brandy’s post on it here  

The stars where just a cherry on top for this whole project. I never actually did appliqué, but it felt necessary! And it was amazingly easy. I just printed some clip art stars, and cut them out. The front of the hood actually folded over with the silk, but I added a layer of red wool, so it is even thicker there. I also didn’t want the look of a raw edge, so the front and sides have black velvet, and the back has a thinner black sutoutche. 

The ties probably shouldn’t have been made with wool, but I wanted the blue wool! Since the edges weren’t finished on the wool, and it may have ripped, I bound both edges of the wool ties with black velvet.

Here it is!!!! Little red mittens and a blue brioche knit boa with red tassels were also added, just because they were so stinkin cute! I will be adding the Boa Pattern up shortly, as it is a period pattern!!!!




Here is Grant in all his glory! We were at Holly Days, at Heritage Village, Ohio.

More of our Historical Children’s wear and free patterns can be seen here 

Eve’s 1860’s Winter Coat and Hood

I never suspected how much I would enjoy coat making! Naturally, making coats for the kids was even more fun! I wasn’t sure how I was going to make Eve’s coat. At first, I figured I would make her a simple sack coat, and just enlarge the coat Brandy made here.

But, with a hoop skirt on I did like the idea of something with a bit more fit and flair. That was when, I stumbled upon a pattern on Pinterest, for a Child’s Winter Casque. The pattern was published in Peterson’s Magazine, in 1859. 




I traced it out onto some fabric scraps, and was very surprised at how close the fit was. I honestly, suspected the pattern would be a bit large, as Eve is only three. But, it was actually a little small. I did decide to make it a bit larger also to add for the thickness of a wool, and to have extra bulk as I planned to put a knitted sweater under her coat for chilly days.

The pattern went together very easy and fast. I did a modified coat sleeve like thing, that sort of belled out at the sleeve. I think the hardest part was feeling confident enough to cut that hole into the front sides of the coat. I really wanted to dart it, or something. But, really the hole was necessary to get rid of the extra fabric and give the coat the proper look. The image makes it look a bit more fitted, but honestly it a bit of a sack front with a fitted back.

I also added some rabbit fur to the neckline. I made the neckline a hair to short, and the fur fixed it perfectly and added a soft non-wool rubbing area. At first I followed the original trim down the front, but boy did it look terrible! So, I just took the trimming idea and put it right down the center of the coat instead. It is a simple 1 inch stripe of velvet, with some black silk covered buttons on top.




The hood was a simple make, Brandy wrote about the making of that hood here  It’s actually an adjustable kids sunbonnet, with wool melton on the outside, and silk taffeta on the inside. While, I do like the hood. Brandy used cotton flannel on the inside of hers, and I can say that it has less slip then the silk taffeta lining.

Holy Days at, Heritage Village, in Ohio

More of our Historical Children’s wear and free patterns can be seen here

Eve and Grant’s Winter Wear – Undergarments & Dresses

The last two weeks, all I’ve been doing is sewing, sewing, sewing. I did knit a bit, host Thanksgiving, try to keep up with kids, not drown in laundry, and stay sane. But, mostly I’ve been preparing for 1860’s Christmas Caroling with the kids.

The issue was this, my kids only had summer clothing. I also had very little experience sewing kids period clothing. To make things worse all my materials were taking forever to arrive, and my patterns got lost in the mail for three weeks. So, I ended up not using the patterns at all. Go figure!

Eve needed a new pettichemise,  Thankfully, Grant fit into Evelyn’s old one. Barely, but it did fit! After, that was made I whipped up two wool petticoats to help keep the kids warm. While, in the past we used two 30×30 panels to make the kids stuff, the wool was just so full that 25×25 inch panels were more practical. With the extra weight of the wool petticoats, I also had to add buttonholes/buttons to the waist of their pettichemise and wool petticoat.

To help keep the thickness from the waistband of the wool, I used a cotton waistband and the top few inches of the skirt are also regular cotton muslin. Here is a picture of Grant in his pettichemise and wool petticoat. I hadn’t added the buttons yet, but figured out that they would be needed as he started to jump and play, and the drawstring just wasn’t enough to keep the petticoat from sliding all over the place.

After the kiddos were settled with undergarments. I started to work on their dresses. I had a brown plaid wool suiting, but I did want to decorate their dresses. So, I went to Pinterest for inspiration.

Isn’t this simplistic and adorable? I did make a few changes. Of course, since I was making a winter garment I made it with long sleeves. I also didn’t add the little trimmings on the front pleats, as there didn’t seem to be that much space between Eve’s waist and the skirt. Eve is only three, and the fact that I made the dress with a waistband instead of attaching the bodice directly to the skirt did make it a longer bodice. 




I also added a few cute details. I made some black silk buttons for the back, and a black silk bow belt.

For Grant, I wanted something that would look very masculine. I saw this image, and actually saw a few garments for boys where the trim went down the dress at a diagonal. A very simple look, and I decided to roll with it.

Unfortunately, I got my inspiration for trimmings after the dress was made. Because, I sure do like the look of the sleeves and longer shirt/dress that this young boy is wearing.




Anyway, here is how it turned out. I trimmed it with black velvet, and some silk covered black buttons. The adorable belt was found on the Button Baron’s website. It slides around a bit, so I think I’m going to sew it directly onto dress. Not sure if this was done during the period, but sewing it would make it stay in place.

Just in case anyone was wondering, Grant is not yet two years old, and he isn’t fully breached. Thus, he is wearing a dress, which was the norm for boys that were not yet potty trained.

Not the best of photos, but here they are in their dresses at Heritage Village, Ohio! It was cold out and Eve was fussing while I dressed her in the car, so I didn’t try to add her belt.

More of our Historical Children’s wear and free patterns can be seen here