At the sewing machine...

EEEK!!! The Historical Ball is in less than 3 weeks! How on earth did THAT happen?? Needless to say, my sewing machine and I are going to be good buddies for the next 20 days. Currently I am working on an outfit for my 10-year-old daughter. She wanted to do "colonial," so we chose this pattern by Simplicity. We are making the one shown in light blue in the photo. Our fabric is a simple calico with tan background and burgundy red flowers on it. Here is what I have done so far.



I know, the quality of that photo is pretty yucky, but at least you get the idea! Instead of eyelet lace, I have chosen to use a braided trim to make the burgundy color in the fabric "pop." The white eyelet really did not look too good on this fabric. If I get time, I will be making lace undersleeves to line the bell at the bottom of her sleeves.

So, now, you may be wondering, "What on earth is a Historical Ball?" The event is designed for all students ages 13 and up and their entire family. The students must do research and assemble a costume that is as historically accurate as possible. The time range is from the medieval period to World War II. Parents and younger siblings may dress up as well. Anyone who is old enough to pick up on the steps and the patterns of the dance may dance. The Historical Ball is nothing like a prom. The whole family attends together. We hire a musician who specializes in historical dance and music. He does a dance workshop in the morning. At the ball he plays his fiddle and calls the dances. All the dances are really old dances like country dances from varying time periods. This is the second year our homeschool group has done this. It was SO MUCH FUN last year. I danced every single dance. The costumes were fabulous! We had s in full Civil War regalia. There was one who does Baroque dance in a troupe at a local historical site. She wore the most exquisite silk Baroque ball gown. Of course, there were some Regency and Rennaissance outfits as well. The boys had fun too. It was lovely to see all the teenagers transformed into young ladies and gentlemen. They really do take on the character of what they are wearing.

Fortunately, my older two are content to wear what I made them last year...a full dress kilt outfit complete with military tuxedo style jacket (boy was that a "joy" to sew) for one fellow and a Regency outfit (complete with a hunter green jacket with tails, vest, and the fall-front breeches) for the other. My teenage daughter has outgrown her outfit from last year, so we will be taking a dress we have been given and altering it to make it look like something from the late 1800's. (Think Phantom of the Opera-ish) I am making the colonial outfit above for my 10 year old, and I have to come up with something for my 15 year old son--maybe Civil War. My 13 year old son can wear his colonial outfit from last year except for the trousers, so I have to work something up for that too! Looks like me, my coffee pot, and my sewing machine will spending a lot of quality time together until I get it all done.

I promise you, I will try to post photos of all the outfits when done. Maybe I can figure a way to blur out the faces so you can see them actually on the person. (My hubby is pretty adamant about me not posting photos of our family on the internet. There are just too many weirdos out there!)