A Confederate Girl's Diary

A Confederate Girl's Diary by Sarah Morgan Dawson is available in a free Kindle download on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018MN8E9K/  Take advantage of this soon as the price may change.
This is an excellent look into that time period. You can get the Kindle App for any tablet, smartphone or computer IOS. She even mentions a sewing machine.  Merry Christmas to all.

Spinning and Patriotism

If you English folks won’t give us the liberty we ask… I will try to gather a number of ladies armed with spinning wheels [along with men] who shall all learn to weave and keep sheep, and will retire beyond the reach of arbitrary power, clothed with the work of our hands, feeding on what the country affords… In short, we will found a new Arcadia.

Charity Clark, June 1769

Before the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4th, 1776, America was determined to show that she could survive without the British. That meant being frugal, drinking coffee instead of tea, and it meant spinning. Americans were boycotting British goods, especially British imported textiles. In an act of rebellion, women took to their spinning wheels, their knitting needles, and their looms. If you were a Patriot, you wore homemade clothes from homespun yarn.

Visit this web site for more information and this video. http://rovingcrafters.com/2015/07/03/spinning-in-cowgirl-boots-homespuns-and-the-american-revolution/

More on Pleats and Ruching

Pleats are amazing on period garments and add just the right touch.  But...oh, no...they require math!

Not with this lady's technique!  Watch this video on creating pleats the easy -- no math way.

Texas, a heritage too grand to not share

Enjoy this excellent video on Ft. Griffin and Ft. Chadbourne.

A Sack Full of History

This is not an article about the pre-1900s but it is about women's lives on the Texas frontier during the Depression era.  Flour sacks were often used to stretch the family's clothing. This article from
http://www.littlethings.com/flour-sack-dresses-vcom/?utm_source=LTcom&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=misc gives us an insight into the ingenuity and creativity of women during times of hardship. There are some wonderful pictures in the article of families clothed with feed sacks.

The children here are clothed with feed sack fabric but you would never know it. Think of the serious sewing skills involved.

Read the article at 

http://www.littlethings.com/flour-sack-dresses-vcom/?utm_source=LTcom&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=misc 

Do you have a picture of someone wearing feed sack fabric or a quilt of feed sack fabrics.  Please post a picture or a comment.

Knife and Box Pleats

Pleats are probably the most flattering way to gather the massive volume of fabric into a CW era dress waistband.  Cartridge pleats look lovely on teeny-tiny ladies but have a tendency to balloon on we ladies of substance.  ; ).  Box and knife pleats lay nicely at the waist and flair well at the hem.   This video covers an easy way to create pleats using template.  Another tip is to spray the pleats with water and vinegar before pressing.  It will hold the pleats much better.  On period dresses just press the first 5 or 6 inches of the pleat from the waistband.  Don't press all the way to the hem.  Hope you find this video helpful.  Please comment with your tips for the rest of us.

Create a Faux Daguerreotype

Daguerreotypes were the first type of photography; they were images printed onto polished silver so they are very reflective, like a mirror.  http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2013/10/tutorial-make-a-faux-daguerreotype/ This web page has a tutorial for creating a daguerreotype look alike.  It uses a craft film that can be printed on a computer and then adhered to a mirror giving it the impression of old photography.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a period picture of your own soldier or child at your display?  Use your own photo edited to sephia tone or b/w or look at The Graphics Fairy which has a good stock of vintage photos at http://thegraphicsfairy.com/search/