Williamsburg Trip Part 2

 Starting our day the 2nd day we decided we would dress vintage inspired. I am wearing a vintage 1950s house dress and Ginny  on the left is wearing some 1940s inspired jeans she made herself. Isn't she a genius!!? They look so vintage and comfy to wear and they still look majorly feminine compared to modern jeans. Don't you think?

Our first stop was the working farm where we saw the farmers using the oxen to till their field.

The beautiful colonial garden was too fun to take photos of! I did not even include hardly any of them, I took so many. :)

My parents above as we walked to the colonial village. They are such godly parents! Yes they are sinners, but I praise God for them and how God provided them for me as godly counsel and friends.

The weaver was very interesting. You can see the shuttle below which they used when they would weave. The paper on the inside is actually either a piece of news paper or a playing card. Which apparently they did often to wind the thread onto.

The weaver/ spinner was very informative and she did such  great job telling us the history of weaving and spinning and the like. The looms in there were huge! Wish we owned one. :)

Carding materials and some fibers in a basket below.

Spinning the flax I believe or is it wool? I can't remember. Ginny?

Another of their many gardens.

 Lovely Ginny, here is full view of her outfit.

At lunch we did not even plan it, but we looked so vintage drinking root beer and cherry soda. :)

The Shoe maker, yes He is not the cobbler. And no he does not make ladies shoes apparently.

The Book bindery was pretty awesome! I never knew until I visited Williamsburg how they made books back then.

The Wig makers shop seen above was very informative and the lady on the right was perfect with her irish accent. I loved her 1st person persona. :)

We all got to play the harpsichord in the Cabinet Makers shop. Yes they also made harpsichords apparently. They even were making one the day we visited in the shop.

The Carpenters shop from the outside above and the stream below that goes underneath the house.

                                         
                                         
           

The inside of the carpenters sop was pretty impressive.

My parents

The Brick yard was interesting. :) They asked us if we wanted to help stomp the clay for making bricks, but I said no as I did not want to ruin my vintage dress. I guess I did not want to get dirty. Sorry guys! 

We found the sign above on the drink fountain quite amusing. :)

Lastly the jail sells of Colonial Williamsburg above and my Dad and I had fun below posing for this picture. :)

I hope you all enjoy! God bless,

Rebecca Ann

Williamsburg Trip Part 1

Day 1 of the trip back to 1776 at Colonial Williamsburg

 Yes we took a modern contraption that was not even pulled by a fine stead, it pulled itself along miraculously and we arrived at the famous city in good speed. :) Don't mind my small pen and paperless device which sends notes and letters to friends world wide. ;)

My dear friend Ginny was able to come with my parents and I to visit the historical town. Ginny and I dressed the part in our 18th century attire and fit right in as many asked us if we worked there or knew where things were. :) I lost my petticoat which I am holding in the above picture, as I ascended the steps of the "carriage" (the shuttle) while all the "normal" people stared at me. lol Ginny helped me and grabbed it when I stepped out of it discreetly. I kid you not readers this is the 3rd time in my living historian life that I have lost a petticoat at some event or another. It was hilarious! :) That is after the fact. If you would like to know the other two occurances happened in american civil war attire at two different dances. :0 It was definitely more awkward to step out of those pettis and get them out of sight. lol

 We heard "Thomas Jefferson" speak and then we were able to meet the gentlemen himself afterwards.

We found their lovely sheep, which we found out actually were not born and raised for their wool, but for their meat. I found that interesting they would not want their wool for fabric, I want to research if that was true. Any other living history buffs out there do add in your two cents if you know. :)

 My dear friend Ginny and my mother above. Love these ladies so much!

 Isn't Miss Virginia's gown so lovely?! I absolutely want a polonaise gown next!

Then to finish our day we went to Shields Tavern for supper and dessert. Thanks you Papa! The cinnamon ice cream in the picture with the berry tart was delish!! Thanks to my grandparents for letting us use their time share for the hotel! We would not have ever dreamed of this vacation without your generosity.

That day we were asked I have no idea how many times if we worked at Colonial Williamsburg or if we could have our picture taken. :) It was so much fun and delightful and exhausting all at the same time. We were so tired we watched Doctor Who that evening and drank hot chocolate. It was quite relaxing after a long day on our feet.

More photos from our second day in Williamsburg VA to come soon! 

Btw Ginny and I had the pleasure of meeting up with a fellow blogger and seamstress named Casey. She was so lovely and genuine in person, it was wonderful to meet her in person. You can see her post about Williamsburg as well at her blog. 

If you want to see more details about my gown see previous posts. 

I pray you all are having a delightful evening and are able to rest peacefully with the assurance only Christ can give. 

Rebecca Ann

My Colonial outfitt

 Now that I finally have access to all my pictures since they have been transfered to my new laptop I thought I would do a proper post about my colonial(1771-1776) outfit. I have worn it many times for french and indian and american revolutionary war reenactments as well as volunteering at a historical 1771 farm. Last time I wore it was in August volunteering at the local farm which has reenactors live like a family would have in 1771. I made this outfit I guess in august and september of 2010, but never got around to doing a proper photo shoot of the garments. So here you go! :)

I used white linen for the gown which I dyed lavendar for the gown using the J. P. Ryan Pattern.  I could not find any linen online that was the color I wanted, so I dyed it myself. They would have done this anyway, so I did. But yes its not a period dye, its rit dye, but hey it works. :)

I sewed the whole dress by hand except for the indside seems, so all those pleats in the skirt are by hand. The neck kerchief is cotton, but I plan to make a linen one soon when I volunteer again or have another event to attend. The grey petticoat is also linen and I did not use a pattern for it, I just pleated the skirt into the waist band. A good book about this can be found here, it has diagrams and drawings of all kinds of garments form the period. When my sister and I and are friends and family went to Williamsburg for our graduation in 2010 we were also able to study many garments. We found the book on that trip as well.

My cap was made by the lovely Sarah Jane over at Romantic History. She was having a sale of many of her own garments she had made for living history and I jumped on the cap because I was running out of time before an even to make one actually. In the future I will probably make a second one to have one hand if I volunteer more at the farm.

The apron is also linen and I just made it up. :) I saw pictures and drawings and just cut out a rectangle and sewed it into a waist band. Its pretty easy. I am not wearing shoes as I do not have period shoes yet. I have been using my civil war boots to tell you the truth. I don't do much colonial reenacting so I was not willing to invest the money in a nice pair yet. I got a thrift store pair for the farm since we do a lot of messy work.

I will be posting photos of my new regency gown as well soon once I can do a photo shoot. I finished it in September in time for us to do the Defenders day reenactment at Fort McHenry. So pictures coming soon! You will see lots of stripes and lots of blue! Blue is my favorite color. :)

In Christ,

Rebecca

WOW WOW WOW!

I can't believe I had never gone over to see this before-http://www.lavendersgreen.com/index.htm ! A fellow blogger Suzannah over at http://www.adventuresindressmaking.com/  mother has this lovely website for selling historical garments and I can't believe I had never seen it before! Do go over and drool with me. :)

In Christ,
Rebecca

Praises and Encouragement in the Word

Hi everyone,

Yesterday the Bonnets and Bayonets second colonial event was a sucess! Praise the Lord! We had not rain except for when everyone was arriving. It was cold, but it was wonderful anyway. We stayed warm having hot cider and going in and out of doors. It was a wonderful day of encouragement. We met a lot of new friends and got to know some old ones even more. What a blessing from the Lord! These photos below are from a trip to Great Falls to see the Potomac falls and river about a month ago in August. This morning I read these verses from Isaiah and it reminded me once again how good the Lord is to us.

 "The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory!

 Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light!,
and your days of mourning shall be ended. Your people shall be righteous;

 they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands that I might be glorified.

 The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it." -Isaiah 60:19-22

 WOW! Our mourning will be no more and we will be righteous! There will be no more sin everyone when the Lord comes back! That is such a comfort to me! He made it all, its the work of His hands and it is good. This butterfly that we saw reminded me of that too.

Yesterday at Bonnets and Bayonets talking about how the ladies would weave their own cloth for clothing, make their own bread, cook over a fire they started with flint and steal, and how they had to find their food in the wilderness in the colonies. They had to rely on the Lord for providing their clothing, food, and other provisions a lot more than we do in modern day America. We can flip a switch for a fire in our home, we can flip a switch for a stove to turn on to cook our food, and we can go to grocery to buy the food. But they had to rely on the Lord to find their food, start a fire, and make their clothing. That just amazed me how sometimes its so hard for us to see how God provides for us. It definately made me think when we were all saying that it was easier to see Gods provision when the colonists came over from England. But I still see Him even today! I might not have to start from scratch making a fire, a house, or my clothing, but I can see how He provides for my family. Having to sew our own clothing, make our own food, and do things that most modern day americans do not so that we can live frugally and healthfully.

After thinking about how the Lord is the one who provides everything we need, I read Deuteronomy chapter 28 this morning. It reminded me of when the Lord gave the Israelites the commandments for what they should do in order to serve the Lord how they fell short and how we in this modern age fall short. All the things that the Lord blessed the Israelites in doing the Israelites did not acknowledge that it was only God who blessed the kneading of their bread, their live stock, providing what they needed,etc. As it says in Deuteronomy 28:46-47, "They shall be a sign and a wonder to you and your offspring forever, because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things." Because of the abundance of the things the Israelites needed they forgot to serve the Lord and acknowledge that their provisions came from Him! I forget this as well in our modern age as well as to serve the Lord with joyfulness many a time. I am posting this verse by my computer in room where I usually do school and other studying so I remember all my needs are given from the Lord. I should say that this is a wonder, that the Lord provides what I need!

May you all be blessed and may you see even in our modern society of buttons to do the work for us that God does provide our needs.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Bonnets and Bayonets first Colonial event!

Hello everyone!

I am sorry for not getting pictures up until now. My camera is missing! Yes I am really having issues with my camera lately! Putting it in water and losing it! Its horrible. Pray that I can find it so I can share with you all thats been going on in my life besides living history events. :)

We had a very sucessful colonial event this past monday! I was able to finish my dress and petticoat in time as well as I am wearing Sarah Janes cap! :) thank you so much Sarah for sending the cap so fast and in a timely fashion so I could use it. It was a God send to not have to sew one for myself as I was running out of time. I finished my dress on saturday before monday and the petticoat the night before monday! So it was quite last minute. But what reenactor who sews is not last minute. I also sewed up a cap for my mother as well to help my sister Bethany out. She was sewing away as well for the event! Below is myself in the purple gown, my sister in the burgandy gown, and my father in the hunting frock. All made by my sister of course.  

All the guys had so much fun fighting in the french and indian war as well as the war for independance.

Us women folk made homemade soup for dinner that evening. See our camp below where we made butter and soup with all the gals.

My sister and her little friend below watching my mother demonstrate the soup making.

We had helpers to do all the laundry too. :)

 Eating lunch below. My sister mother on the right, dad, sister, and myself. It was lovely!

Friends below who also made their clothing.

My mother showing the girls how the women would have dyed their linen and other fabrics for their clothing.

You can see me on the left in this photo below. Its the best picture I have of my outfit from the day. Since I did not have my camera I did not get that many pictures. All of these were done by a freind. the last thing we did on monday was learn period dances for the era. It was great! Its my favorite part if I don't say so myself! :) My sister and I and a friend even went canoeing after all the specators were gone. In this photo the boys are having a try at it while being George Washington and his troops going across the Potomac.

Yes we even had real guns and let all the kids shoot too! Me included. Have a lovely day everyone! I am back to my college homwork. I have been sewing some birthday presents for friends and crocheting baby hats and booties for a friend who is having a baby. But I have no camera to share with you all my projects! Pray I find it soon!

God bless!

In Christ,
Rebecca