Vintage Style Weekend Part 2

Hi Ya'll!

My family and I recently went to Pennsylvania to the Strasburg Railroad and Train Museum. We had a grand time riding the train and walking through the museum. It also happened to be the same day as thier annual World War 2 reenactment called the Trains and Troops event. I was ex-tactic when I found this out!!!! :) Apparently this event is held every year the first weekend in November. I definitely plan on attending again next year decked out in 40's attire. I did not bring my homemade 40's swing dress to wear, but I was wearing an 80's dress that mimicked the 40's silhouette  So that was good and exciting to look a little bit the part. :)

Troops and civilians alike walked around the museum and rode on the trains in real authentic steam engine locomotives. 

Inside the museum there were various reenacting groups set up with different jeeps and period weapons/40's everyday items like radio's and wearing authentic uniforms and civilian attire. 

One of the many steam engines in the museum.

Women talking about different scarves,masks, and hats made for te troops during the war. 

Add caption

I really loved this picture of a woman doing her bit for the war effort to support the troops even though she is back in the USA.

They even had this period radio above playing swing music! It made me want to start dancing with my imaginary guy friends. ;)

All of the period gloves, hat, masks, and scarves ladies made during the war. 

I loved all the antique luggage. It makes me happy for some reason! :)

 I did not even notice the guy standing there behind the door of this jeep when I took this. ;) That is funny.

They had uniforms, weapons, and other memorabilia for different wars, such as Vietnam, Korea, and Desert Shield Desert Storm, and World War 2.

Above you can see a uniform display for Desert Shield Desert Storm, which was occurring the year I was born and my Daddy was doing his duty overseas in that war. He was able to come home and be with my Mom when I was born, but then he had to go back right away. I am thankful for his service to his country and to the many men and women who have done the same. They all have a special place in my heart and life and I will always have the utmost respect for the military.

A Veteran above is telling these children about his service during the war. I guess I should have gone up to him and asked him about his table. I was very glad he was there telling the next generation about his life though.

There were World war 2 and even Civil War reenactors inside the museum telling about the different wars. It was fascinating to be on the other side of things as a spectator and not a reenactor. :) I loved it! But I miss being on the other side of the fence as a reenactor, next month I will be reenacting again. I can't wait!

We were able to walk on the walkway above the museum and see everything from up top. It was a cool perspective for pictures.

I talked with one of these lovely ladies from the Paper Dolls Womens Unit. I am excited to contact them and maybe start doing ladies world war 2 events. I am so so excited! I still can't believe it was by providence we happened to be in town the same weekend of the World War 2 event. I squealed with glee when I found out! :)

Last but not least, a group came to the event with a tractor trailer that they have turned into a woman's 1940's city apartment on wheels. So they had a little kitchen, bed room, bath room, and parlor all set up like in the 40's. It was pretty amazing! I loved meeting the women from the group and talking with them as well. I met Elisabeth below after she stopped me and introduced herself in the museum. She said she has been a reader for a while and recognized me from my blog. It made my day for sure! :) A shout out to you Elisabeth for being brave and starting the conversation. I definitely wanted to talk to you and your friends and I am so glad I got to. :)

Elisabeth showing her new Edwardian/pre hobble skirt she had just gotten from a friend. She was dressed in 40's attired for the reenactment though. I love her fur collared blue coat and awesome shoes!

God bless and have a lovely Sunday everyone!
Rebecca Ann

Oh and a side note, fine if you don't like me anymore or don't want to read my blog because of this picture, but hey I like it. :)

What has been under my fingers?

 The start of a penny rug has been under my fingers these past 2 days. A friend of mine told me about this frugal and useful thing that you can do with old wool scraps and peices of old wool coats and pants and dresses. During the Civil War and even before the civil war women made these penny rugs out of scraps as useful items for their families. They recieved their name Penny rug because they would use pennies as templates to cut out the wool circles. They also were penny penching projects that took little money and were useful.

 They used these rugs as decorative table runners and cloths as well as cushions for chairs and also as floor rugs. I read one account online of a women making a new rug usually once a year to go in front of the front door in their home. This way they could wipe their feet before entering the home. They were also used as mats to put on the table underneath your candle stick holder or lantern so that wax would drip onto the penny rug instead of your lovely table. Mine will be decorative as well as useful at civil war events and at home to put hot dishes on top of, or a lantern, or just look pretty.

 My penny rug is made out of circles of old wool from many garments we have made over the 3 years we have done reenacting and also from modern wool projects. I barely even dented the wool scrap bag and I have a wool penny table runner. :)

 I am currently doing a blanket stitch around each circle on each penny. This will take a few more evenings and then I will attach them to an old peice of canvas for the backing. Its been documented they used old feed sacks or canvas or any other old peice of material for the back. They did not waste precious wool for the backing because it was precious and would only be used for things to be seen on the penny rugs.

I got all my documentation and information from the following sources.Early Style Penny Rugs and   Penny Rug crafts history of the penny rug and A Story book life blog and  few other places I could not remember. There were no actual pictures of antique penny rugs, just pictures of reproductions that I could find. But I am sure that many ladies would have done any design they had enough wool for or fit there fancy. So I cannot say my design is 100% accurate for the 1860s time period.

Well I am off to do more blanket stitching on my penny rug to finish it in time for saturdays reenactment as a sample of what these would look like while I demonstrate how to make one. Thanks to Mrs. Wilcox for sharing with me this wonderful craft!

In Christ,
rebecca

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

The Victorian Farm series

Hello everyone!
I have enjoyed watching this series these past few days and I believe my readers who love history, or are interested in history, are reenactors or would love to be would love this series! Three historians decided to live on a victorian farm and live just as they did for a whole year! Definitely worth the watch! 
Have a lovely rest of your Sabbath!

In Christ,
Rebecca