Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving Dress in the 1830s Style

      Canning season is mostly over, I ended up with about 50 less jars than I thought I would since I never made applesauce, so we totaled out around 450 jars. After the weight of preserving is lifted then the I-Need-To-Sew-Clothes-Again urge hits, and off we go.



    The girls do keep a running list of whose turn it is to have a dress sewn next and as Elisabethe had her turn skipped a while back it was her turn. Katie took it upon herself to sew an 1830s masterpiece for her, replete with uber puffed sleeves, I couldn't be happier with it. One evening a week or so ago I began to think of all of the dresses that I've sewn through the years for the 6 girls and so we sat down one evening and tallied the number, we ended up at over 90 and are still occasionally adding to the list as our memory gets jogged. But we also noticed that some of the girls have fewer dresses still in their possession than others, I'm trying to remedy that as nobody wants to be the lone girl with 3 dresses when her sisters have 3x that number.



     I've had this fabric for years and have loved it since I bought it, but as it was only 4 yards my options were limited. After ruminating for a while it decided that it wanted to be a fan front, I promptly messed that up and it quickly decided that it would rather be styled into an 1830s bit of loveliness. 



     After her dress was complete I made up a bodiced petticoat based on this illustration from an 1860s Peterson's Magazine. The bodice and yoke are a light weight cotton and the skirt is a much heavier cotton that I hemmed with a "fancy" machine stitch. It gives a nice oomph to her skirts which I love. I basted some 100% cotton lace into the neckline as I love the look that gives; it wouldn't be terribly practical if she were to wear this garment everyday as the lace couldn't take the frequent washings required, but for this project it was perfect. 






     The only thing remaining was to whip up a diminutive pair of pantalettes. I put 3 half-inch tucks in each leg for pretty and truly the sight of them peeking out from beneath her skirts makes me smile. This is such a beautiful, elegant way for a little girl to dress!



     I've decided to begin a new tradition of having a 5x7 framed and hung on the wall every time one of the girls gets a new dress. I wish I had begun this years ago, but since I didn't I will start today. The picture above is the one that I chose to commemorate Magdalena's Thanksgiving Dress for 2014. 



     Too much cuteness is tiring, apparently. 

     Happiest of Thanksgivings from our family to yours! 










6 comments :

  1. Wonderful post! Sure do wish you would write more!
    Happy Thanksgiving to you and all of yours as well!

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    1. Thanks Ken, I will be blogging more now that I'm not on facebook. Reading back through my blog made me realize how happy it made me to have a record of things we'd done as a family. Which in turn makes me want to keep blogging! :)

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  2. I am in LOVE! With that dress, with that little girl... :) What a gorgeous little thing. I'm glad you're starting a new tradition of putting up a photo of each new dress. That's fun! Love y'all!

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    1. Thank you Amy, that's praise indeed coming from a seamstress such as yourself! The tradition makes me smile, I printed out other pictures and put them in an album. Maggie loves to look at the pictures of everyone, but especially those of herself. ;)

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  3. What a sweet dress and even sweeter little girl! I too love the idea of framing a photo of each girl in her new dress. :) I'm glad you're blogging again. I always enjoy reading what you've written. I'll have to make a point of stopping in to see what you've been up to. Malinda

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    1. Thanks Malinda, I'm glad to be blogging again too. It seems so much more permanent to me than facebook did. Please do stop in here and keep in touch!

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