Another event under my belt, and speaking of accessories...

It's been almost three weeks since Ziva and I got back from Washington State, and while I've been getting a lot of housework done, I've kind of been taking it easy, too.  My last day at the preschool was August 3rd, the day before we left on our trip, and my new job - Librarian for an independent prek-8th school - starts next Monday the 27th (yay!!!).  This timing was not entirely by design; I kind of tempted fate by buying tickets for a nice long visit to WA before I knew one way or the other about the new job, but it all worked out, and I wanted to make the most of the time I had in between to do some serious organizing and cleaning.  My "home office," such as it is, needs to be in much better shape in order for me to feel like I can bring work stuff home and be able to find it again.  And my sewing area was in GREAT need of weeding, clearing out, and tidying so that I don't have anything I don't need, and can locate the stuff I do need.

Now, I know what you're thinking.  "Sarah, how could you possibly get rid of anything sewing-related?  How could there possibly be no use for something that's in your stash?  Isn't the whole point of fabric shopping to be prepared for whatever projects you might think of in the future??"  Technically, yes.  But I've learned a lot since I started doing period costuming, and refined my sense of what is historically accurate and what isn't, and I have more fabric than I could ever hope to make into gowns or outfits, at least not at my current rate (which is a snail's pace).  So a Great Purge needs to occur before I can even begin to start organizing everything, and I will need a few more key pieces of furniture to store it all and have a place for everything, but still make it all accessible.

With my work starting before Ziva starts school, I asked my mom if she could come for a visit to fill in the interval, and she said yes!  Thanks Mom!!!  And while she's been here, she has been extremely helpful with decluttering and clearing out of excess stuff.  

The reason for wanting to get my sewing area squared away is twofold.  For one thing, it's an eyesore.  I almost can't believe I'm sharing this picture, but in some ways I think it will help keep me honest:

It's such a mess!!  I basically need to find a way to store things against the walls to keep the floors and tables clear.  I don't want to line that back wall entirely with storage, but I need some way to contain everything.  The shelf that is in the back corner is an IKEA Billy bookcase with the half-glass doors (this one).  So depending on how much there is to put away once I've gone through everything and decided what to get rid of, I think I'm going to get another Billy just like that to flank the door on the left, and then a double Billy with all-glass doors (this one) to go on the back wall.  I think being able to see all the way into those shelves will help keep the space from being overwhelmed.  I'll also put a floor lamp under the soffitting, near the costume rack, because that corner needs a lot more light. 

The second reason for this organizing frenzy is that I have set myself a very ambitious goal for attending events in 2018-2019.  The best part about starting a school job is that I will have summers O-F-F.  Sure, after my first year as the school librarian there will be a lot of follow-up and catch-up to do, but I will not have to hoard and carefully count vacation days and hours like I have had to in the past. 

Here are all the events I am planning to attend:

Revolutionary War Reenactment Festival, Mount Harmon MD, Oct 27-28

The Revolution, Huntington Beach CA, February 9-10 (our wedding anniversary...of course!!)

Colonial Heritage Festival, Orem UT, July 4-7 (I'm assuming those are the dates, not yet confirmed)

Jane Austen Festival, Louisville KY, July 12-14

Costume College, Woodland Hills CA, July 25-29

Northwest Colonial Festival, Port Angeles WA, August 8-11

Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) Annual General Meeting, Williamsburg VA, October 4-6

Whew!  That's a lot.  It's good to write it all down though, it makes it feel like I'm signing a contract with myself.

As you can see, I've started putting out feelers and trying to build a network here in the DC/Maryland/Virginia region.  I'm really hoping to attend events and make appearances locally, some on my own and some as a team with Jack (he's particularly interested in getting back to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, which opened last April on the 242nd anniversary of Concord and Lexington).  I've also become acquainted with Katherine Spivey, a woman who has been portraying Dolley Madison for twenty years, and we have talked about doing "Historic First Ladies" programs together.  All of this will depend on a lot of factors, and it will take some time to build credibility and make my mark (though I do have business cards which I'm very proud of!).  Not surprisingly, historic sites here tend to stick to a specific "cast of characters," only hosting costumed interpreters portraying people who were actually present or have a historical connection to those sites.  It makes sense that they don't want to confuse visitors about who was where and when.

Attending all of these events is going to mean lots and lots of SEWING!!!  I still really only have two gowns for Abigail: the floral one I made, and the striped one that Barbara Klingberg made for "1776" - and neither one is 100% historically accurate.  To be honest, I don't know if I will ever make an entire ensemble by hand, just because I don't see myself having the time (and I'm SO SLOW at it).  But I do want to make an effort to learn historical hand-sewing techniques and incorporate them into improving the clothes I have and to making new clothes using more accurate fabrics and more accurate stitches, etc.

Costume College is really the kicker.  It's a five-day swirl of classes, workshops, and dress-up opportunities.  It's attended by fashion historians, historical costumers, cosplayers, fantasy costumers, and everything in between.  The Gala is the Main Event, the one everyone pulls out all the stops for, and from what I can tell by looking at various bloggers' pictures over the years, it's impossible to focus your eye because there's a visual feast in every direction.  Plenty of people pick a different era or decade or style for each costumed event, while others stick to a theme.  Since Abigail Adams really needs gowns for different kinds of social occasions (and I want to have some ensembles from later in her life than I've been portraying), I'm going to kill two birds with one stone.  I'll just make a whole wardrobe and go 100% 18th century for Costume College.  I finally have fabric for all of these new gowns, too!  I will devote a separate post to all of those plans because I want to get this one posted!!

In the meantime, here are pictures of some new accessories I made for this year's Northwest Colonial Festival.  I made a pair of fingerless mitts in green wool, and a new apron.
Here are some in-progress pictures of the mitts:

Thumb opening clipped and stitched down seen from the inside.

One thumb stitched up and openings hemmed.

 It's hard to tell the difference here, but in order to tell which thumb to sew on which mitt, you check to see whether the "meat" of the thumb is mostly covered by the longer part of the thumb piece.  It's correct in the picture on the right.

Finished!  The "points" which go over the hands are lined with a sueded silk.

These are not completely historically accurate, since the only surviving wool mitts and descriptions from the era indicate that they would have been knitted rather than made from woolen fabric.  But they are made entirely by hand (the stitching is so fiddly that you could never do it on a machine anyway!).  Also, cold is cold, and many historical re-enactors compromise and use wool fabric, so it's not without precedent.  The other thing is that the lining would probably have been taffeta rather than sueded silk, but that's what I had on hand (no pun intended).

And here's a picture of me wearing them, which also shows off my new apron: 

The apron started life as a $2.99 single curtain panel I got at the local thrift store.  I love the subtle woven check and floaty lightness.  I didn't take any pictures while I was making it, because it was a pretty straightforward process - gather up along the long edge and stitch on a waistband!

This picture is one of many taken by the incredibly talented Cindy of Cindy Marie Photography.  She did such a fantastic job and I would hire her again in a heartbeat if I were back in Washington State and needed pictures taken!! ;-)

That's it for now - I will write another post shortly wrapping up my thoughts on NWCF and talking about Abigail's new clothes!