Friday, January 29, 2016

Hooray! Westering Women Quilt Blocks 2016



From Barbara Brackman's website...
"On the last Wednesday of each month beginning January 27, 2016, I'll post a free pattern and history lesson about America's western migration. Westering Women will have patterns for 12" block designs, each chosen for a traditional name that recalls a location along the old trails from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast.You'll get a monthly view of the history of the western migration through the eyes of the women who kept diaries and wrote letters home a century and a half ago."
http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2016/01/westering-women-block-of-month-2016.html

Barbara Brackman is an astonishing quilt designer and textile historian.  She maintains a blog that tells the history of American quilting and offers reproduction fabrics.  She is starting an new Block of the Month (free) which highlights the history of western migration.  Not only do you get instructions on the quilt block but its history as well.  This would be well worth the time to read and make the block if you like.  She has several other "Block" series that utilize historic reproduction fabrics for you to go back to study.  I am really looking for to keeping up with this series.  Her blog gives me a feel for historic textiles that I can use when looking to make my own costumes.




Wednesday, January 27, 2016

School of the Victorian Lady, Fort Concho, San Angelo, Texas March 11-13, 2016

The School of the Victorian Lady will be held this year at Fort Concho, San Angelo, Texas, March 11-13, 2016.  This is a wonderful opportunity to develop your living history persona and learn more about Texas women and history. The theme of the School of the Victorian Lady this year is
Home on the Range: Ranching Heritage Life Before and After the Indian Wars
You can find a registration form and schedule at https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d97cc112-2097-4234-a3fe-9cb9ed96b5a1

You can also take a trip back and view some videos from
previous Ladies Conferences at
2014 http://frontierwomen.blogspot.com/2014/04/school-of-victorian-lady-conference.html
2013 http://frontierwomen.blogspot.com/2013/03/frontier-women-living-history.html



Saturday, January 2, 2016

Fashion Plates --Thousands of Them

The Los Angeles Public Library has a wonderful collection of Ladies Fashion Plates of fashions from the late 1700s and forward.  http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/visual-collections/casey-fashion-plates   Prepare to spend lots of time among the ladies' magazines of the past and their lovely pictures, all 6222 of them.

Friday, January 1, 2016

How to Make Ribbon Bows for Victorian Costumes

One of my favorite sites is Historical Sewing.com.  This page includes a video on creating ribbon bows that were so often found on 19th century dresses.  It is well worth the time to watch.
http://historicalsewing.com/how-to-make-ribbon-bows-for-victorian-costumes