Finally! Photos from the Historical Ball

Would you like to see some photos of what we wore to the Historical Ball this year? Out of respect for my hubby who likes to guard our privacy, I am not showing the beautiful faces of my offspring. You will have to take my word that they are all gorgeous and handsome!

The first are of the costumes I was working on for the last month or so. Here is my 10 year old daughter and her colonial dress:




The only thing I am less than happy with is the trim. It is really lovely, wine-colored braid, but I fear that from a distance and in photos, it looks like I used rick-rack. Don't get me wrong. I really like rick-rack, but not necessarily on a dress that is supposed to look like it came from the 1700's.

Here is a photo of what I made my 15 year old son. Everything he is wearing was made by me. The color of the doublet is not showing up well...it is really a dark, olive green. I made it using some sort of faux suede and it came out great! I lined it with black fabric and I am very proud to say that it looks as neat on the inside as it does on the outside. The pants have some great detailing that you can not see. I give the pattern company a "C" for pretty crummy instructions. I had a friend who used the same pattern for some pants and she had some struggles due to lack of clarity. Otherwise, I am pleased with it. I even made the knee boots using pleather. There are no patterns out there for knee boots, so I made it up myself.



Here is a photo of my oldest wearing his dress kilt I made last year. The jacket is made of wool and fully lined. It was a bit of a challenge for me. I did not sew his shirt or bow tie, but the coat, and kilt and shoulder fly plaid, I made. I can't show you any good photos of him from this year because every picture I have of him is surrounded by s. Hmmmm...should that worry me??



Here is my very dashing 2nd son looking very "Mr. Darcy." I made his Regency outfit last year. The broad fall pants were a unique challenge, as well as the coat with tails and very odd tailored sleeves. We won't even go into the challenge of making bulky fabric sew up into nice points in collars and such.



He also wore a top hat.



This is my youngest son in his colonial outfit. This is a good example of how you can get the "look" on a shoe-string budget. The linen shirt is from goodwill in the ladies section. The brocade vest is also a goodwill purchase. I altered a pair of pants into knee britches. And I made the "frill" at the neck. Next year, he is promised a real costume made from scratch.



He wanted a tricorner hat and that is not something you just find at your local department store. Well, I got creative and found a woman's wide brimmed black felt hat all trimmed out with netting and feathers and flowers. I removed the trimmings. folded up the brim and applied some gold trim and viola! A tricorner hat:



Here is my oldest daughter in her grandmother's wedding dress:



Here is my sweet little 5 year old in a borrowed dress. She had such fun playing "dress-up."



Here I am in a lovely Baroque gown I borrowed from a friend. I might add that she is 16 years old and she made the entire gown herself...including the hand beading on the stomacher. I could not believe she let me wear it. And yes, I had very high hair in an attempt at being true to the time period.



I really wanted to work up something for my dear hubby to wear, but alas, time ran out. So, he was in a nice shirt and tie. I figure you get to see that often enough so no photos of him. He was very handsome and danced with all his s in spite of a knee injury. What a good sport. I was able to dance at least one dance with each of my sons. Needless to say, we all had a "ball!" (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

On to the Next Project!!

I haven't been around much due to being chained to my sewing machine. Yes folks, it is in the upper 70's outside and I am sitting inside sewing and sick too! (I have some sort of upper respiratory infection--blah!) The previously blogged about colonial dress is done (well, except for the hem!) I promise a photo of finished product sometime soon. I am now moving on to the next pattern: Simplicity 4059



This is what my 15 year old son will be wearing to the Historical Ball. I have the shirt finished except for buttons on the sleeve cuffs. I even did the obligatory "stupid mistake." I can't seem to make anything without doing something wrong. This time I somehow managed to sew one sleeve on the shirt inside out! Now I know I checked! The problem was that I looked at the cuff of the sleeve to determine which side was in and which side was out. Then I proceeded to attach to shirt. Problem was, I had put the cuff on the sleeve inside out. SO, I had to take out the sleeve, and then take off the cuff, and do it all over. GRRRR!

I have also bought some faux leather and I am going to try to make some knee boots like you see in the photo without a pattern. Wish me luck! You know those famous last words..."Sure! I can make something like that! How hard can it be?" Heh! It is sure to be a challenge!

Oh, and during my blog absence, something very significant happened here. (Drum roll please.) My oldest turned 18. YIKES!! I am now the mother of a grown up. Shucks! I am still just a baby myself. (Okay, I hear you laughing! Now, stop it!)

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!)