Treadling Along

I finally got around to using my Great-Grandmother's treadle machine. Which she bought, used, back in 1911.

"I declare," said Ma, "I don't know how we ever got along without that sewing machine. It does the work so easily; tucking is no trouble at all. And such beautiful stitching. The best of seamstresses could not possibly equal it by hand."

-These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder

It probably took me about an hour to finally get to sewing an actual straight seam. One thing that threw me off was that I had to crank the wheel away from me to stitch forwards, which somehow just went against my instincts. To get an even tread I had to put one foot forward and one foot on the back of the treadle plate, and there was a bit of a trick to it. And wow, it is slow compared to motorized sewing machines. But when I was done, I reached over to turn the machine off..... and there was nothing there. And that's cool.

Presbytery Post-Partum

It's always nice to see cross-country friends at Presbytery. This was our family's fifth year to attend, so we know a lot more people now. Though in the family-camp setting I'm beginning to feel like the eighth wonder of the world: The Unmarried Woman. I'm sure I was easily the oldest unmarried woman there, as I am at church, and it's a rather dubious distinction.

We returned home just in time for the second serious storm of the season.

Anyway, we're home, I love my bed, and thank you Lord we don't have mice. I'm back to work, though my job is still up in the air. I may or may not be transferred. With only two weeks left before the store closes, I hope to find out soon one way or the other. My car is also up in the air. Poor thing is fifteen years old this year, feeling it's age, and demanding some financial attention.

In part due to the cost of car repairs and also because I really wanted to get it done last month, I'm determined to finish the redcoat in June. At first this process meant looking at the fabric, looking at pictures. Looking at the fabric, looking at pictures. With no pattern and only a few photographs to work from, it's been a challenge. 

That lace. Wool lace is murder. I think, taxes aside, the decorative lace on Regimental uniforms would be enough to provoke the colonies to rebellion against the crown. Last night I realized that I put the buttons on the second sleeve cuff upside down, so I had to take it out and flip them. Then I realized that the wool tape on the first cuff was less than a quarter inch too low, so I had to move all of those. Sigh. But it's coming along.

There aren't a whole lot of resources online(that I've found) on how to actually make a Rev War military coat, but here are some pages that helped me:

Some basic descriptions of standard measurements for this style of coat.

Wool lace. Press, cry, press, and cry again.

 A coat from a different era, but some of the steps are similar and the pictures here are great.

Again, a different coat but great pictures.

Here's a very similar redcoat; a different regiment, still, but similar.

The End of all Things

Monday was Memorial Day and our last day in Virginia. We the drove the two hours from CW out to Mt. Vernon and visited that famous estate.

 George Washington's Mansion. Once again, it was hot, we were tired, and it was crowded, but it was still worth the trip. I think that it's pretty clear George Washington was Providence-sent for America's well being.

The gardens were beautiful. There was also a huge museum with several theaters and interesting displays. We even got to see Geo. Washington's famed dentures.

There were a few costumed interpreters at the farm, but otherwise there were hired actors. We "met" Martha Washington.

Tuesday we drove through the Blue Ridge Mountains on our way to Presbytery. It was a long, winding drive with lots of trees and while it was beautiful, I for one am glad to be back in the non-forested midwest. Trees smother people, and whoever said that we need to save the trees was misinformed. Anyway, the most culturally interesting moment of the day came when we stopped just off the latest scenic route(Mom again: We spent an hour on the back roads) and bought local barbecue for lunch.

 We were at Presbytery from Tuesday night through Saturday morning. It wasn't a particularly large camp, which was nice for the parents of small children. And there were lots of small children. Children outnumbered adults seven to one, and when combined together they made a chaotic swarm of screaming miscreants, so it's good we were isolated. The camp was rustic; so rustic that tent camping would have been an improvement. I'll just let you imagine how bad that was.

 Not being a sporting person, I sat in on most of the Presbytery meetings and got a lot of quilting done. I was, however, shanghaied into a canoeing voyage that meant paddling for six miles of river(ohhhh my back) and we saw a whole bunch of cute turtles that looked really good to eat. My fearless skipper and I managed to navigate turbulent waters and our vessel only got turned backwards twice.

So Presbytery is done, vacation is over, and we'll be home by Monday. I'm looking forward to it!

The Lord's Day

  Sunday. We went to church at a moderately sized CREC service in the interestingly named town of Newport News. We didn't stay afterward; we had some more sightseeing to do. We drove by Fort Monroe, an old military post that has been fortified on and off since 1609. It was one of Robert E. Lee's first postings, and was used all through WW2. It made for an interesting combination of early American through mid-twentieth century buildings. But we were all tired and hungry, so we didn't stay long.

The goal for the afternoon was Bacon's Castle, recently brought to my attention by this costumed photo shoot. We had a very dramatic elderly tour guide who succeeded in putting Mom to sleep, even though the rest of us enjoyed his style. It's an old house.

The house, of course, has been altered since it's completion in 1669. But you can still see the original hand-cut beams in several rooms, and one of the six original seven-foot wide fireplaces.

Stairs. Really cool stairs.

The one-handed antique clock.

Once we got done with the hour long tour we were all just fried. A week full of touring and sightseeing is just tiring! So we tried headed out to take the ferry back to Williamsburg; only, we ended up waiting for the ferry for almost an hour. But we did get back to our apartment eventually! Tomorrow is our last day of sightseeing before we heard out for Presbytery, and I think we'll all be happy for the change. Seeing all these news things is great, but one can only handle so much walking, touring, reading signs, and eating PB&J for lunch.

Williamsburg, Last Day

 Today was our last day at CW. The weather was perfect. My tourist buddy and I started out at the Gaol, where some of Blackbeard's crew were held while awaiting trial.

 Not a complicated building, but a grim one.

We stopped in at the Cabinet-makers', which had more than cabinets in it.

After the fife and drum parade, we toured the Wythe house. There is a beautiful garden out back, with a vine-covered walkway, trimmed hedges, and a vegetable garden on the side.

Vine covered walkway. I'm generally suspicious of all vines because of my history with poison ivy, but these seemed safe.

Remember what I said about wallpaper? This was one of the more mild versions.

There was a stable, a chicken pen, a dairy, and a pigeon house. We ended the day at the Folk Art museum, which had way more items of antique furniture and household metalware and paintings than our numbed brains and sore feet could handle. So we went home!

Colonial Williamsburg

 Thursday we went to Colonial Williamsburg(CW) with our half-price three day tickets in hand. This first day ended up being pretty much wasted on me. I woke up that morning with congestion that worsened into a headache, that culminated into nausea(extreme nausea, if you know what I mean) and chills. I managed about four hours at CW, but all in all it was a miserable day for me.

Thankfully, the next day I was much better; still weak, but better. I wore my Colonial Grey Gown and Scotland-colored petticoat, along with my new straw hat that I purchased last year at Camden, tied with red silk ribbon. I was very glad to have the hat, because I would have burned without it!

CW is big and it takes a long time just to walk from one place/event to another. Also, the buildings are all open different days at different times, and there are different speakers every day. We visited CW for three days in a row, for four to seven hours each day, and we were always tired at the end of each day.

I think I most enjoyed the tradesmen whom I could talk to about my own reenacting needs or experiences, one the weekdays when there were fewer tourists around. We enjoyed the Capitol building tour and Governor's Mansion; Raleigh Tavern and the Wythe house. As to events, all the speakers were good, and the fife and drum corps was impressive. The gardens were pleasant. Everything in the area was exceedingly expensive, so I only bought one small vase as a souvenir.

Pictures were allowed inside. This was in the Governor's Mansion. The wallpaper and paint colors were fairly different from modern tastes; I like the Colonial blue but frankly find the green a little startling. Another thing different from modern homes is the size of rooms; the Wythe house is 3000 sq feet, which is close to the size of our house, but the amount of rooms in the Wythe house is much less than ours. There were just fewer rooms! Granted, they have a detached kitchen and "bathroom", but still.

There were several sweet little gardens back behind shops and homes that were fun to walk through. The family ended up splitting into groups and touring that way; Mom likes to read everything and some of us don't have a long enough attention span for that. Jonathan and Jeremy were my tourist buddies, and we got along pretty well.

Wednesday: Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center

Wednesday morning we had an obligation. To get half-off Colonial Williamsburg tickets we grudgingly agreed to attend a breakfast and following "one hour" sales talk put on by our friends the Timeshare Resort. The breakfast we ok, but the talk was more like two hours. The boys got put in daycare, which was hilarious, and weren't allowed to leave without an adult, which was also hilarious. But we did finally escape, without spending any more money and with our half-price tickets.

 Then we were on our way to Jamestown and Yorktown. We visited Jamestown Settlement, the re-creation of Jamestown complete with interpreters(but minus Cannibalism). The actual site of Jamestown is an archeological dig.

It was hot out. There were probably about four interpreters in the Fort area and one on each ship; then several more in the Indian village. It was a pretty quiet day, and it was nice that there weren't too many people about.

Jeremy in armor.

It's always fun to see the elements of living in a different time.

There are three ships attached to the Jamestown Settlement. They're not large enough to make me want to ever live on one, but Jonathan wanted to climb to the top of the mast. They had cute little beds and cute little windows.

Trying to look like the face. This was part of the Indian village. We're not usually that "in" to Indians, if only because people today try to make them into a political statement, so we breezed through this area; plus, we were tired.

 Anyway.

 After sweating at Jamestown we decided to go sweat at the Yorktown Victory Center, which is a museum with a small American military encampment(with a cannon) and 1780's farm. It's a nice stop and doesn't take too long(unless you're like Mom and want to read and watch display in the museum). And we enjoyed the farm a lot if only because it had cooled down a bit by then. They are also adding a huge building for more displays.

Farmhouseing.

The farm had drying tobacco, a garden, chickens, and all the other farmy things that a farm has.

Which we all had to try out. After Yorktown we were all tired and thirsty, so we went to the Riverwalk to use some ice cream coupons, which may or may not have actually saved us money. It was pretty view, with a big bridge across the water and several ships in the dock.

And that concluded our long warm Wednesday.