Hunting Frock: Green Glory

The coat(some assembly required) and it's wearer.



Sewing a Hunting Frock

I have easily a dozen sewing projects to complete between now and December, one of those being a military hunting frock for my brother Andrew. When he re-enacts at the Ft. he has to borrow a frock, and besides being old and much used all their frocks are much too large for him(he is still growing).

I came upon a large quantity of undyed cotton canvas, and since it was practically free I decided to take it home and dye it the correct shade of green. Several weeks ago I used normal Rit dye to stir up this mass of cotton(wet material is heavy!) and it turned out disappointingly tie-died and in the end, faded in parts from being out on the line. My first experience with hand dyeing was less than perfect.

So today I took to the tub again for a second and final try, whatever the outcome. I believe it turned out well enough. It was very hard to adequately stir the material to achieve an even dye; the material was heavy and bulky. Dye got everywhere, and even my hands are a sickly shade of green. But it worked. Stay tuned for glimpses of the long awaited hunting frock!

Coming Soon

For better or worse, I have two weeks to print my booklet.

Trousers, Trousers, Trousers

Yes, period 1820's clothing hang regularly on our wash line.

The final summer dance performance was on Saturday. My sharp looking group of dancers knocked the socks off friends and family at Ft. Atkinson State Historical Park through three performances throughout the day. Then I went home and collapsed. What exhaustion! What relief! Summer session is well and truly over.

The trousers held up well. No buttons popped, though everyone's hems were six inches deep in mud, after dancing in the rain on wet grass. Funny thing, after measuring all the men for waist size I made the trousers accordingly. But at dress rehearsal everyone's trousers were much too snug. At that point they just had to wear them. I figure it's their fault for gaining weight, right? 

Since we got home Saturday night with everyone's dirty clothes, the trousers soaked in the bathtub all of Sunday until Labor Day morning, when I labored to wash them all.

The ghost of Christmas Past is taking shape. I'm making an underlay of thin cream polyester(shocking, I know) with a layer of white cotton underneath that since it's so thin, and on top of everything will go a layer of this pale green stuff, which is terrible to work with. It's fairly stiff material, so as you work with it the little threads get stuck in your skin like invisible slivers. To finish it I'm planning on adding some emerald green beading around the neckline. Think 1920's flapper dress, here. It should be interesting. Hopefully the ghost I have in mind will consent to wear it.

Performance Group: the Good and the Bad

(I actually wrote this last week, and delayed posting until now.)

This week was dress rehearsal for our English Country Dance Performance Group, summer session. This Saturday is our first summer performance, at the local Pirate Festival. We have two more performances and then this session will be done. I have been amazingly stressed over building number of dance events, so even as much as I enjoy dance group I will be much relieved when this session is over.

Last week my family went to family camp. I've probably mentioned here before that I do not enjoy camping or sports, so other than the possibility of meeting new friends I wasn't excited about attending. However, despite sleeping in tents and all that, it turned out to be surprisingly relaxing. Jen and I did call dances one night, but being disconnected from the World Wide Web forced us all to stop thinking of upcoming this and looming-on-the-horizon that. Which was good for all of us.

I've been surprised at the amount of stress generated by dealing with a few really outgoing people, who really don't mean any ill but cause disruption by simply being unknowingly loud. How can some people be so loud and just not notice it?

Oh well. Session is almost over. Performance group has it's ups and downs. I've learned the hard way lately, but made some good friends, and I look forward to continued relationships and new friends too.

Trouser update

Sewing helps: Chocolate, music, and extra thread.

The trousers, dictators of my life, are getting done:

And after that I have five shirts to sew:

I'm getting tired of sewing white.

The two main points of my Life

Dance activities are going well. The Ballroom has been rented for December; I may actually make more than $20 on the classes I'm teaching next week; and we have two more performance practices before dress rehearsal and actual performance. I will be very glad when the summer classes and performances are over, because as enjoyable as it is to teach dance this round has been rather stressful: exhausting physically with all the sewing of costumes, and relationally as I deal with unwitting and unruly performers. People can be so(to put it bluntly) rude without(I think) even knowing it. Do I ever do that? I hope not.
The trousers are coming along. I have the six aforementioned pairs mostly constructed, and I have to cut another soon and then move on to the men's shirts. Our sewing room is not air conditioned, and with this abnormally hot weather sewing is a real chore. Plus I'm really getting tired of looking at the boring white bedsheets that make up the trousers. It may come to a point where I say to the guys, you're wearing them whatever stage they're in so just deal with it!