1950s Dress

So I just realized that I never followed up on this.... I posted back in August being so excited about getting to do this, and never showed y'all the finished product!  That said, without any further ado, I give you my 1950s dress:

This one the color is left un-edited so that
you can see the colors of the dress.
The other pictures I made look more
1950-photography-ish.

And yes, I did win best dressed at work :)

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Roundpen Revamp and Sewing Project!

So after my last post and a few of the suggestions made in the comments I had come up with an entire post on trainer rides, but decided to trash it as it was entirely too self serving. (and, by the way, I love and appreciate all the comments, suggestions, ideas, and kind words left on my blog! Don't stop!!)  In short, my personal opinion on trainer rides is that doing just one or two really only provides a second opinion on the horse and isn't going to do much to correct any underlying training holes/issues. For a trainer to be effective there needs to be a long term commitment, either in the form of lessons or in training itself. Lessons I can afford--and I really should look into it, I need to find a trainer that I trust. Full on training I unfortunately cannot afford right now. 

Anyway, I do want to say that I am more than capable of handling this horse, I'm not afraid of getting down and dirty with the more "ugly" side of horse training.  I have dealt with some dirty, mean, rotten, and bullheaded horses in the past and while Cash is challenging, he's not mean.  It's not that I don't have the ability and knowledge to train Cash, the question is do I want to?

That said, I've decided to take Cash back to the roundpen for the foreseeable future.  I need a more manageable space to get him listening and respecting me as he is not listening in any shape or manner in the main arena.  So far I've only been doing ground work with him--doing my own variation on the "join up" routine.  And, I'm pleased to say it's been successful!  He's been super relaxed at the end of each session and much more in tune with my body language.  One day he was completely running through me, and was constantly trying to outrace me.  When I would shift my body to ask him to change directions he would kick on the afterburners and rocket past me, continuing in his current trajectory around the roundpen.  I had to get a bit aggressive and things got kinda dusty but we worked until he was listening... as a result the next day he was hypersensitive to my cues and I really had to pay attention to what I was doing!!  While the day before I was having to make extremely exaggerated movements to make him listen, here the slightest shift in my posture would make him brake to a halt and look to me, asking if he was to go the other way.  Good boy!  He really is a smart horse, and I think that's a big part of the "issue."  He's a little too smart...

I'm going to focus on short and sweet with Cash and see where that gets us. With that goal in mind, it should also hopefully give me a decent chance of working with him semi-regularly with school starting.

Ok, now onto non-horsey business....

SEWING PROJECT!!! Haha, I'm only just a little excited about this.  They are doing a 1950s day at work, and I'm going ALL out.  I picked up some gorgeous satin fabric from Joann's (after I got it I realized that the material it's made out of probably isn't entirely 100% period accurate, but oh well, I love the pattern!) and I've been busy sewing all weekend.  I'm making a simple but lovely V-necked sleeveless tea length dress.  I ordered a big, poofy petticoat to go under it and I'm so excited!!!!

Pattern!

Having fun!

It's my last week of freedom before school starts, so I figure I better enjoy it while I can.  I am going to do my hair up in curlers and style it in a late 40s/early 50s do, who knows, maybe I'll pay tribute to WWII and do some victory rolls.  Then, pin-up style makeup complete with cherry red lipstick will finish the look. I better win best dressed!! (my only drawback is lack of a bullet bra, I sat for awhile trying to figure if I could modify one of my bras to get pointy boobs, but decided it was probably not the best idea!)

Which, this reminds me, I never did get finished photos of my last sewing project, the 1860s mourning dress.  My sister is here this weekend and we are planning to do a photo shoot of the 50s dress, maybe I'll break out my corset and hoop crinoline and do a shoot with the 1860s dress as well.  I've probably said it before, but honest to God, I swear I was born in the wrong decade/century.  I love historical attire of any type!  I'll be sure to post finished photos of this baby!

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My Victorian Style

So, in rather non-horsey fashion I've decided to write a post about another hobby of mine: sewing and historical reenacting.  Ok, ok, that was two hobbys--but they go together!
I like to sew.  I like to sew a lot.  As a kid I drafted, cut, and created a two piece fitted wedding gown for the one and only barbie doll I ever owned (and go figure, it was the Pioneer Barbie!).

I also love Victorian era history.  So it was only natural that I joined a Civil War Cavalry reenactment unit when I was in high school.  And when you put a love of sewing with a love of history together, what do you get?  An obession with constructing and wearing of historical garments, of course. 

Proud of my handiwork

So far I've constructed two full Civil War era dresses (a nicer "best" dress and a plain day/work dress), a cage crinoline (aka hoop skirt), corset, petticoat and chemise.  I've also sewn garments for my family such as a girl's dress for my step-daughter (I need to get pics of it, I'm rather proud of how it turned out). Pants, shirts, and suspenders are also in my skill set.

But, I'm getting that itch to make something else...  Something fun and new.  Like an 1870s Bustle Dress!!!

Oh so very Victorian

My reenacting unit does impressions from the 1850s (pre-Civil War) all the way into the late 1870s (Indian Wars).  The above fashion plate from Godey's magazine is 1874 styles.  The Bustle era fluctuated a LOT between 1869 and the 1890s.  The style I'm after is the first or early bustle era.  When ladies were first starting to get away from the full, round shirts of the Civil War and were sweeping that fabric up into elaborate designs along the backside. The sewing machine was becoming common place in households which resulted in beautiful and intricate ruching, ruffling, gathering, and trimming.  The possibilities are endless.

Being out on the western frontier, if I am going to make a full on bustle dress it's going to be a nice dress, something the lady would wear to Sunday church or evening events.  Otherwise, in her day-to-day activities she'd being wearing a simple day/frontier dress made of cotton or wool (depending on time of year) that would not have the elaborate designs and bustle padding.  This dress will be made of silk.  And to be period correct, we are talking 100% silk, that runs $16-24/yard.  At 7 yards of fabric for a dress... you do the math.  Maybe this summer I'll weasel away some pocket change so that I can make it come true.  I've never worked with silk before, but mmmmmm it sounds delicious!  I just need to decide on what colors.... maybe an indigo blue and cream. 

In the mean time... that green and white checked dress shown above? I think I'll satisfy my sewing and designing urges by remaking the bodice of that dress.  Maybe a jacket type style over a white blouse? Or just make one with fancier necklines and sleeves, with a pointed front.... either way, definitely want to add some dark green or black lace trim, AND I want to re-gather the skirt, without a doubt, when I made it before I was on a deadline and it kinda got rushed and was a bit sloppy.  I want to re-do the skirt with pleating like this one:

My inspiration - isn't it gorgeous?

Ok, I guess I'll stop rambling and go back to my idle browsing of Godey's Lady's Book fashion plates while I wait for baby to go to sleep (little stinker likes to stay up late!! Mommy no likey).... it's been a good distraction after watching the Broncos loose this afternoon in overtime (which sucked by the way--one little mistake and we gave the game away, booo).

Maybe I should make myself a sewing/reenacting blog.... call it something along the lines of "Victorian Style on the Colorado Frontier" .... I'll havta muse on that.

Cheers!

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