Tan Toddler's 1860s Dress

Nic was able to get some of Elizabeth Stewart Clark's Sewing Academy Patterns shipped to Australia through a pen pal of his in America. I am super grateful to Betty for helping us out with the patterns.  I highly recommend these patterns for children. They are easy to follow, customisable, multiple sizes and period correct for the 1860s

I made all the undergarments according to the pattern. Amelia was too small for the smallest size, but that is just a bonus for me. I moved the buttons inwards to allow overlap on her stays and stitched the straps further down to make them shorter.

I do not have many photos of her undergarments, but I do have this shocker at the end of a full day event on a very hot day over 35C after her dress had to be removed due to something that she accidentally poured on herself.

** Edit - now at 3 years of age I have put the straps and buttons back to the pattern location and she has had 2 years of wear out of the same undergarments. Hopefully she will still fit them in another year. I have also used the patterns to make her new drawers and chemises. I still love how easy this pattern is to sew.

Moving the buttons, shows where the buttons were when she was a toddler. The move gave her 2 inches of growth room.

 

 

The dress pattern has many options to customise it. I used the draw string neck toddler dress for 2 year olds. I was given some amazing vintage fabric that I thought looked perfect and added multiple 1 inch growth tucks. The dress also has a piece of vintage lace under the bottom pin tuck.

 

 

 at the Goldfields in the Barossa

 

 

 

 Ayers House Museum

 Afternoon tea at Kingston House

Anlaby Homestead 

 

In this photo you can see that we have now had to let out all the pin tucks. She is also wearing a super cute child's bonnet I made before I was pregnant.

 3 years old and now wearing her first crinoline attached to her stays under the same dress. The dress no longer has any pin tucks.

 

 

 

Miss Amelia May with Minnie May her matching rag doll.

Bonnet Patterning (Regency 2 Piece)

Making a bonnet pattern can seem daunting, but it's actually fairly simple. There are many ways it can be done. For this guide I used sticky tape, scissors and A3 cartridge paper.

My daughter needed a Regency bonnet. I found this simple design on google. I will link to the original source when I have a little more time.

I started by making a tube the same measurement as my daughter's head. Then twisted it to make it slightly conical and sticky tapes it into place.

Next I cut into the paper to create an opening the size of the back of my daughter's neck. Paper can also be added to make it rounder and remove the "V" from twisting the paper. To make the shape stable enough to start forming the brim I made the crown pattern. There are two types of crowns.

1. Flat with a sharp edge

2. Circular and rounded.

This bonnet has the second type. They are both formed similarly. Trace around the inside of the back of the cone shape onto another piece of paper. For the flat you cut out the shape traced and sticky tape it on as is. 

For this one though I added an inch evenly around and them slightly pleated the paper.

This can then be attached to the cone on the inside or outside. I chose the inside as I still needed to shape the back of the bonnet.

Depending on the type of bonnet the depth at the crown can be deeper or shallower.

As my daughter is only 10 months old she will not sit still, so I used a foam head to shape for the most part. Then double checked alterations on her head. This was my beginning basic form.

For this bonnet I needed to reshape it around the crown, so I cut the paper in thin slivers until I was happy with the shape.

I also slowly shaped the brim/front until the paper matched the image. I only work on one side. This means if I make a mistake I can start again on the other side with starting from scratch.

As I managed to get my pattern correct on the first side I removed the crown and flattened it. I could then cut the other side to match. If you had a problem with one side you can cut the pattern in half and then cut your fabric on a fold.

The completed pattern

I will add further construction notes in future posts as I complete this bonnet.

Goldfields and Amazing Photo Shoot

This year there was an amazing turn out for the Barossa Goldfields Open Day. It was also the first event in which we displayed the newly renovated/restored canon. As the artillery crew was unavailable it was only a static display. The infantry did put on two very good displays to entertain the visitors.

Amelia with her Granny

with Mandi looking beautiful

It was even more special as Darren had a fantastic photo shoot idea. He took photos of Amelia and myself and then superimposed us over the original figures in the painting 'On the Wallaby Track' by Fredrick McCubbin. 

Posing against a tree

the Original Painting

the beginning of Darren's work

the completed image

framed above the fireplace, Nic had it printed and framed as a Christmas gift.

Taminick 2016

This year was our first encampment with our little girl Amelia May. It was quite a challenge to prepare everything, as Nic was working interstate. Thankfully, my father helped to keep Amelia entertained while I prepared. 

This year was also our first year taking our newly re-bored 6 pound canon. The canon is a new acquisition and is helping to expand our Volunteer forces impression. It has already started to increase public interest in the military history of our state and in our group. 

This year we expected rain, so we took a mess walled tent instead of an awning. It made a huge difference. It was cozy and a nice place to gather and work out of the weather. Our South Australian camp had quite a turn out this year with 6 wedge tents and a bell tent. It is fantastic to see our encampment grow larger each year.

As usual I thoroughly enjoyed planing and cooking period meals. This year we had beef shin stew, pease pudding, Irish stew, winter salad and cock-a-leekie. I also was able to experiment with mushroom ketchup and refining my salad dressing from Beaton's. I wish that I had been able to experiment more, but there will always be more encampments and gatherings at home.

The men thoroughly enjoyed the live shooting and parades. I was also able to don a uniform and become a member of the artillery for the live canon shoot. The artillery uniform differs from the riflemen' as it is blue with a red stripe down the legs and a white snake belt.

Amelia May celebrated her 4 month birthday over the weekend and flourished from the exposure to the great outdoors. She loved meeting everyone and being sung to. It was also the best few nights sleep she has had since birth.

Christening

Recently we had a christening for our beautiful baby girl. We were blessed to have Nic's brother Ben accept the role of godfather and our friend Wendy agreed to be her godmother. Both were also in our wedding party. As we were holding the christening in the same church in which we were married, we decided to wear attire from our wedding. 

The ceremony was beautiful, as was the afternoon tea afterwards. Amelia has been blessed with many people who love and care for her.

Amelia in her original Victorian gown with period undergarments that I had made her.

The family before the Christening

Proud father and daughter

Amelia being blessed by the sign of the cross

The Godmother lighting the Christening candle

The unit provided an honor guard at the completion of the ceremony.

Socialising afterwards