First Event of the 2011 Season

Cannon-fire on Saturday

 Well, we have officially kicked off the 2011 season! We had our first event last weekend.  6 years ago it was my very first event.  I bought my first dress there--pretty farby, but not bad for a beginning (at least it was a one piece dress!). Unfortunately, this past weekend marked it as the last event at this location :( Sad.  It was originally run by an individual person and then it got to be too much and he gave it up.  The chamber of commerce then picked it up with a grant for three years and this was the last of the three years.  So hopefully someone in the area will start a new event somewhere else.  It was only 30 minutes from our house, so that was really nice! :-/ Oh well! It is what it is!

 

Elsa loved our friend's dulcimer! She just loves any kind of music!

The weather was pretty darn good! Especially, considering how wet this Spring has been! It only rained a little bit on Saturday and Saturday night.  It was pretty hot on Sunday, but as long as you stayed in the shade it was fine! Saturday I wore my red plaid dress and Sunday I wore my sheer dress. 

My mom and E (Mom's hair got whipped around by the wind, hence the bangs ;))

 One of the most exciting parts of the weekend was getting to wear my new Timely Tresses bonnet that Tim got me for Christmas!! I've had it since March so I've been burning to wear it since then! I am SO thrilled with it! It makes me want to attempt making one....maybe someday :)

The 26th TX is now a dismounted AND mounted cavalry unit! :) This was "Buck's" first event and he did GREAT!

Better picture of Tim's new shirt :)

Our Wonderful Little Family <3 God is so good to me!

Tim's Shirt and a Sneak-Peek

I finished Tim's shirt a while back, but I had to wash it after all the handling, grubby children fingers, and muddy dogs rubbing up against it while I was sewing. :P (good thing they're cute). The pattern (Laughing Moon #107) worked up really nicely! The directions and illustrations were very clear and the pieces all fit together really well.

I made the changes that are suggested in this SA thread to make the shirt more appropriate than a square-cut shirt for 1860s. These changes include:

• Squaring off the bottom (rather than the round shape the pattern has)
• Omitting the sleeve placket piece and slit and simply hemming the edges of the slit in the seam
• Gathering the yoke all the way across instead of in two distinct spots
• Moving the cuff buttonholes up near the sleeve/cuff seam, per Mrs. Schmitt's suggestion
  

I would change a few things next time around.

• Center the buttonholes in the front placket rather than keep it 1/2" from the fold.
• Be more careful when putting in the collar (I somehow got it flipped upside down so the interfaced side is on the bottom...>-/)
• Make the collar smaller for DH's small neck ;)

All in all, those are very minor things and I'm very pleased with how it came out! The fabric was REALLY nice to work with!


More Sewing Academy reading on Men's shirts:
My questions about this pattern and what collar views to use, etc.
Men's Dress Shirt
Style's of Men's Shirts
Adventure in Man's Shirt


And just a little sneak-peek into my current project, Elsa's Dress: