Asa's Green Gown

I think that I mentioned getting Asa's image taken this Fall to commemorate his 2nd birthday; I decided that I wanted a gown that looked quasi-military inspired, decidedly boyish in cut and trim, and in a color that would hide dirt.

My taste in historic fashion tends to run toward loud and gaudy, two things that don't appeal to me in modern clothes. I chose a hideously garish shade of green with diarrhea yellow stylized flowers. Perfect. The trim is 100% cotton twill tape that I dyed bright yellow, it is sewn on with a running stitch and is easily removed if need be.

The bodice is flat lined with a light weight cotton and the sleeves are set in without much fullness at all. I also chose to pleat the skirt because it looks more manly than gathers, I think.

His chemise and strapped petticoat were sewn by the lovely and talented Brooke Whitaker. She did a fabulous job!

I have two of the four buttonholes sewn, I get bogged down at the end and just want to quit looking at the thing that I've been laboring on. :-( For buttons I'm using china ringers, the ring being black, it really looks well with the print.

Now hopefully he won't have outgrown this gown by September!

Antebellum Baby Shoes

Asa is ready for his first pair of shoes due to the cooler weather we've been enjoying. We are attending an auction tomorrow and I wanted to be assured that his little toes were adequately warm, so I made these shoes this afternoon. They are a proper shape for the Civil War era but the pattern is a modern one that several reenacting Moms have adapted, it can be found here.

They were cut from the bottom of a brown wool blanket that the boys use, they are unlined and the edges are stitched with embroidery floss. I *think* the embroidery is period appropriate but I'm not positive (Sarah Jane, do you know?). The main difference between the inspiration pattern and these are the squared off toe, modern shoes have rounded toes but shoes in the 1860s have square toes. I squared the toe portion of the sole and then cut the toe portion of the "upper" to match. The hardest part was getting the pattern tweaked to where I liked how it looked, the actual sewing can be completed in a jiffy. I'd like to make him a silk quilted pair so these served as my test run and will be his "everyday" shoes.

There's No Time Like the Past

Katie was away this weekend to the Hale Farm Civil War Reenactment. When we went to pick her up we had Bob Szabo take a wet plate image of Katie and Asa. I'm pleased with how it turned out, Asa wasn't unhappy he was actually smiling and kicking his legs so he's a bit blurred. I think it looks "real", do you? The image of Katie and Asa looks like it could be Aleks and I 20 years ago, how eerie is that?

1860's Knitted Baby Vest

I have been working, for about a month now, on a knitted baby vest. I know that knitted vests were common in the Civil War era and it seemed like a wonderfully warm addition to Asa's winter wardrobe. Previous to beginning this project I could: cast on, knit and purl so I had many new skills to learn if I wanted to knit this vest. I learned how to increase and decrease, make buttonholes, crochet an edging and attach two knitted pieces together. And finally, today, the vest in finished!!!

And, wonder of wonders, it doesn't fit. Wow, oh good. I was hoping to have spent all that time for nothing. :-) Actually, it isn't quite that disastrous. You see, for the belt I tried knitting on circular knitting needles (something I had never done before) and the stitches looked wonky. I don't know, maybe there's a trick to making your knitting look neat on them? Anyway, I chucked the circulars and did the belt on regular needles, doing rows of 12 stitches. However, that made the buttonhole sit vertically instead of horizontally like the others. The belt is a bit snug (I didn't block the belt, by the way) and it makes the button pop out of the hole. I suppose the next step is to remove the belt and knit a new, larger one and then crochet new edging for it and re-attach, but I'm not really up for that right now so I guess I'll put it away and sew for a while. :-/

A new gown for a little boy

I finished Asa's first gown in a looooong time this past week. It's made in the "infant bodice" style that was very popular in the 1860's. I had to refit him due to his growth since the last batch of gowns that I sewed for him 3 or so months ago.



Though you can't really see it in these pictures, the bodice is directionally pleated on the red stripes. The neckline has a bias casing with a draw string closure for maximum adjustability and the waistband has a hook and eye, there are no other closures on the gown.
The bodice has one stripe of trim to hold the pleats in place, the waistband consists of 2 stripes and the skirt trim is 3 stripes. It is actually mid to lower calf length, not the floor length that it appears here.

It doesn't seem to slow him down any, I thought maybe since he's unused to skirts that it might. In other Asa news he finally has a top tooth, woo hoo! He has had all four bottom ones for months, he looked like a little lamb. But now, at last, he can bite me more efficiently. :)

A New Gown and a Quilted Bib

I had to revise Asa's gown pattern again to allow more room, especially through the tummy. His blue homespun that I recently made is too snug, plus the sleeves are getting tight and short and the shoulders were too narrow. So a new pattern was necessary! This gown is a red/brown Delft print, not period correct but I like it. :-) It is cut *really* roomy, so maybe this will be the last pattern alteration needed before Spring. I had him weighed at 12 weeks and he was almost 17 pounds then, so he is pushing 18-20 lbs by now. He is also getting very drooly and needs something absorbent to catch the run-off. I have admired this bib from the Wisconsin Historical Society and used it as inspiration for my own quilted bib, they date this one to 1830-1869, it's quilted white cotton with tassels.

I hand quilted the one I made for Asa and though I really like how it turned out, it was rather labor intensive.

It was also my first attempt at making tassels. They came out OK, not award winning or anything but acceptable for a first try, I think. I wish he had a whole slew of these but I'm going to need a quicker option, the quilting alone took 4 hours so the whole thing was a 6-7 hour project. Now, if I could machine quilt, that would be a different story........ :-)

Elmer Fudd in the buff

Fashion is a funny thing.

I'm sorry, I can't resist. I've been envisioning this picture for a while, but our camera has been under the weather, today it mysteriously resurrected itself and I jumped at the chance to capture Asa in his "work coat and cap". :-) Katie made them for him for Christmas, the cap matches Levi & Micah's that I made. The coat and cap are flannel lined and the coat fronts are cut on the bias. The flaps tie on top of his head for the true "Elmer Fudd" look.

A Trio of New Dresses

I've been keeping busy lately with holiday plans and checking items off of my "Sewing To Do" list. Katie and I worked together on Elisabethe and Abigail's matching "sister dresses", I wanted them done in time for Thanksgiving and they were, barely! I finished up the final hem late on Wednesday evening and these pictures were taken Thanksgiving Day.

I got this trim idea from Heidi Hollister, a gal from the Sewing Academy. The gown she sewed was a lot more elaborate, but I'm happy with how the trim turned out on these. Interestingly, the fabric isn't blue at all. It took me a while to realize it but the checks are purple and green, however, your eye reads them as blue. Abby is looking somewhat dazed in this picture, holidays are tiring for children. :-)

Next on the list was a gown for Asa. I saw this gown in Godey's from an 1861 issue. It is a "Plain Morning Slip", what that translates as is a loose gown worn in the morning before donning the more fitted gowns that were fashionable. What it translates for me is: a loose gown that looks comfortable and that he won't easily outgrow!

The gown has 10 one inch tucks across the front and 6 one inch tucks in the back, they are eight inches long and release just above his tummy. I debated using the same style trim on his gown as I had on the girls' dresses but Mr. G liked this trim idea better. It seems so martial!

The fabric is a design from the Colonial Williamsburg Delft collection that I've had for a little while. The skirt is 60" at the hem and buttons up the back with 3 china buttons.

One last picture. He finds everything just hilarious, his smile makes him quite the Lady's Man! :-)

Asa update

I'm shamefully overdue with getting the baby's measurements posted. Anyway, we took him for a check up at 6 weeks where he weighed 13 lbs 5 oz. That's a 4.5 lb gain in 6 weeks, the doctor said he was indeed obese. :-) He was off the growth chart that she showed us, however I found the WHO's growth chart specifically for boys and height and weight wise he was in the 85-95% both at birth and at 6 weeks. His infant chemises fit him until 7 weeks (barely) and then they were *tight* on his tummy and arms and so we put them away. Another milestone passed, that's bittersweet, isn't it?
This week he is 9 weeks old and though I don't have a weight for him he now has a 19.5" waist and is 25" long with a head circumference of 16". His blue homespun gown and his 1870's gown still fit, along with his 3 nightgowns, but that's all that he currently has. :-/ I have several of Sarah Jane's baby gowns and I tried a precious little wool one on him for Thanksgiving. It looked so sweet on him but I couldn't hook and eye it up most of the way down the back. He needs another few gowns but so do several of the girls, so I'll have to sew what I can, when I can.

1870's Baby Gown

Since the baby keeps growing by leaps and bounds I thought that I would try a different style gown that would afford more tummy room. The 1870's isn't an era that I generally sew from but I researched a little bit and found some very easy and flattering baby styles to give me inspiration. The impetus for this is seen in the first picture below. Yes indeedy, that's an 18" waist. :-/

The gown is called a "tent style" gown in the period, but I think of it more as just a basic "A" line shape. There is no fitting done at the waist, it just falls straight to the feet. It closes with one button in the back like the originals do that I found. The main difference is the overall length, baby dresses covered the feet, but that could be by a little or a lot. On all of Asa's gowns I have opted for about 4"-6" of skirt to cover his feet, this seems like a reasonable amount that doesn't gobble up too much fabric. However, if I were making this gown again, I would make the skirts longer because I'd like them to be somewhat wider across the middle. He has wiggle room but not as much as I'd wish. Then again he will probably have outgrown it by the day after tomorrow anyway. :-)

Here is a close-up of the bodice detail, it is basically just bias strips ironed into shape and applied. However, it does give the illusion of a waistline and makes the gown somewhat more interesting than an untrimmed one.

This original gown is from the Wisconsin Historical Society and is dated 1860-1869. It would seem to be a less popular choice at the beginning of that decade but as time passed it is seen more frequently in images and surviving originals. It is basically a chemise style gown but is left uncontrolled at the waist, by contrast most 1860's gowns have a definite fitted waistline.

This image is from Godey's magazine and was published in 1871, I'm sorry that I don't have the exact month. It shows a baby in a gown very similar to the original pictured above.

This baby shoe pattern from January 1870 was found in Peterson's magazine and would be the perfect compliment to Asa's new gown. They look so easy to sew up that I'm really tempted to make him a pair!

The last image is also from Peterson's magazine, November 1870. It shows how gored the skirts could be as pictured on the little girl's dress on the top right. It also displays the sizeable bustles that were fashionable. The fashions of the 1860's with the voluminous skirts and supporting hoops give such a different silhouette than fashions a scant decade later. By the 1870's most skirts had the fullness pulled to the back creating a flat panel down the center front with the fullness taken up in bustles that would continue to increase in size. I think they are beautiful in their own way but not a practical fashion for a Country Wife.

All in all I enjoyed sewing this new style but I certainly wouldn't want to limit my wardrobe to strictly 1870's fashions. Until the baby stops growing in such great strides though I may have to make up a few more to help flesh out his wardrobe.

New Blue Homespun Gown

I completed the first of Asa's new gowns this past weekend. I did it in blue homespun basically because it's what I had on hand. I have a hard time getting him to lay anywhere without me and not cry so Katie took these pictures whilst I held him. He is such a Mama's boy!

I lengthened the bodice by an inch and widened it by 2 inches, so it now has a 21 inch long waistband. I don't *think* he'll outgrow this one in 3 weeks. I cut the front bodice on the bias to give it a little "interest" and lined it so it would lay neatly. I have yet to do the buttons and buttonholes. It looks huge just hanging there, almost like Abby could wear it. :-/

A final picture just because he looks like a little Sumo Wrestler. :-)

Historic Baby

I wanted to record as much for myself as anyone else what garments Asa wore at what ages. Memory just doesn't serve to keep the dates straight. So I'll call this set of posts "Historic Baby" and it will be the chronicle of clothing our baby in his old fashioned garments.

First we begin with his chemise and cotton socks. Thankfully the chemises still fit him, they are one of the best things that I made, he wears them every day. He has cotton socks on today but also has wool ones if the weather worsens. He has cloth diapers but the only "period correct" wool soaker that I have doesn't fit him, he pretty much just skipped most newborn sized things. So, it's a disposable diaper for today.

We add his petticoat now, this particular one is cotton but he has a wool one for inclement weather. It should tie in the back but tying in the front goes smoother. :-)

Next we add his "daily cap", this particular one is my favorite. It's made out of a double thickness of flannel and keeps his ears so warm! The gown he's wearing no longer fits but I wanted a final picture of it; his waist is 16" and makes his gowns too tight to be comfortable.

And, the final layer for cold weather wear, his wool sacque and bonnet. These are the only garments, other than his chemises, that aren't already too small. :-/ The sleeves are long and the bonnet is plenty big even with his daily cap underneath. These layers paired with a wool shawl/blanket keep him toasty warm in any weather.

This is how he is dressed every day, we've not varied from it yet but I have to make him more gowns immediately. As it is he spends a lot of days wearing one of his nightgowns. The "A" line of them afford more tummy room than his gowns do. I wasn't sure if I would like this clothing experiment, maybe the novelty would wear off and it would become a hassle or a chore and I'd long to dress him in sleepers. But, I'm happy to say that I really enjoy dressing him this way! I don't find it to be unpleasant and it keeps him so much warmer than sleepers ever did. And, I definitely don't miss onesies, I always detested pulling them over a baby's head and with his garments now nothing has to be pulled over his head. Happy baby, happy mama!