Well-Dressed Ladies at the Reenactment

This is my last posting from the Revolutionary Reenactment at Old Sturbridge Village. The real reason I went was to do research on 18th century costuming. Here are my favorite gowns/ensembles of the day, with a little commentary.

This was the first reenactor I saw that day. I just loved her gown! I loved the classic beauty of the color combination and the print on her dress.

The back of her gown was pulled up on each side with ribbons, in what is called a “polonaise style”.

A very pretty sleeve on a fancy gown.



I like the clothing of the busy goodwife just as much as that of the fine lady. These were my favorites of the day.



This lovely lady was standing beneath an apple tree and watching the goings-on. Such a pretty picture!



The fabric of this gown reminded me of the red transferware I collect.

I loved the complete coordination of this ensemble…even her hair color harmonizes with the print on the fabric.



This lady’s demure beauty seemed so true to the time period.

A group of reenactors met outside the meetinghouse as they prepared to do a demonstration of “clothing of the working class”. (Although some attired here are not dressed in “working” clothes.) I love the look of this group. Just like stepping back in time.



My favorite gown of the day! (And don’t they make such a handsome couple too?) I loved her gown, not so much because of the print or the color, but because of how it moved. I wished I had a video of it to share with you. Her gown billowed in the most captivating manner…like it was being blown here and there by little puffs of wind solely meant for the purpose of making her look so very fetching. A pretty picture indeed!



Music at the Reenactment

Must confess that the sound of fife and drum just thrills me!  It's music to draw one in, following the sound to find its source.  I followed it all around the day of the reenactment at Old Sturbridge Village.  It delighted me at every turn.



Blackberrying

“Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries.” - The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Yesterday, Max and I went down the lane to gather blackberries. The vines were positively heavy with berries!

Most weren’t ripe yet.



Some were half-way there.

And some were ripe for the picking!

We picked ten pints!

Today, I put my new Sauce Master to work. You feed the blackberries in at the top, turn the crank, and it separates out all the seeds for you.



I got about eight cups of pulpy blackberry goodness, which yielded thirteen jars of jam!  Seedless blackberry jam makes Technohubby very happy!



Food, Glorious Food, at the Reenactment

This year, when I went to the reenactment, I never even watched the battle. I was too captivated by the other doings. I took time to visit every area where tents were set up. The reenactors actually camp out in these tents for the whole weekend. All meals are cooked authentically…over an open fire. Such beauty in the simple purity of the food. No cans of cream of chicken soup. No Oreos. Just good, clean food.



Sweet-Faced Children at the Reenactment

In another of my postings on the Revolutionary Reenactment at Old Sturbridge Village, this posting is all about the children.  One of the greatest delights of attending the reenactment was seeing the adorable children of the reenactors, all clothed in 18th century attire. So fresh-faced and sweet! Here are some of the children I found most captivating that day.



Dressing a Colonial Lady

Last Saturday, for the purpose of researching colonial fashion for my Etsy shop, I attended the Revolutionary Reenactment at Old Sturbridge Village.  It is the largest reenactment of its kind in New England, and is just a spectacular event!  I took over 400 pictures that day, and will be sharing them with you in themes over the next few weeks.

Today's theme is "Dressing a Colonial Lady".  I attended a talk on ladies' underpinnings, which was held in this arbor.  It was quite surprising to discover that only three of us in attendance were not reenactors.  The other two left early.  I stayed.  And I asked a gazillion questions.  Such a fascinating subject!

The speaker is showing here how the hem of her metelasse petticoat is bound in a ribbon to protect the edge from wear.



For this time period, a corset would've been called "stays".  Here she is holding "fully-boned" stays.  Each one of those channels in the stays contains boning.

An obliging reenactor removed some of her garments to show her "loosely-boned stays".

Her stays laced in both the front and the back.  They are worn over a shift.  Petticoats are worn over it, followed by her skirt.



This kindly woman discussed sewing with me for quite awhile.  She had a beautiful stomacher that was hand embroidered.  Every colonial woman would've worn 2-4 petticoats, and they were frequently quite colorful, as she demonstrated for me.



In every layer of gown, skirt, and petticoat, there was an opening that allowed a woman to reach through all the layers into her pocket, which was a separate bag that tied round her waist.

I am inspired!



Raspberry Picking

 Missed raspberry season...almost.  Colette, Max and I went picking yesterday.  Meager pickings indeed!  But enough was brought home to furnish us with nine jars of peach-raspberry jam (adding peaches, of course) and one raspberry cobbler.



And the flowers at the farm were delightful!



Magnum Opus

"Templeton vanished into the shadows while Charlotte went back to work. As it grew dark, fireworks appeared in the night sky, as Charlotte worked and worked creating her new HUMBLE web for Wilbur. the next morning, Wilbur saw the new web and a curious object next to Charlotte. It was a sort of sac or cocoon. It was peach-coloured and looked as though it were made of cotton candy.
Wilbur: Are you awake, Charlotte?
Charlotte: Yes.
Wilbur: What's that?.
Charlotte: This is my egg sac, my magnum opus, my great work..."

Although it's certainly not as personal to me as the egg sac was to Charlotte, I have a magnum opus growing in the garden this summer!  Everytime I go out to check on it, the size seems to have increased by a third!  It's magnificient! 



It's a Boston Marrow squash!  I was prompted to grow them, after hearing in a gardening seminar, that most of the canned pumpkin you buy at the grocery stores is actually Boston Marrow squash.  This one is about 15" long and as big around as a large dinner plate!  Here it is in relation to my 2" wide camera lens cap.



it's a beauty!

Luscious Summer Fruit Salad

Some evenings, when I’m running late getting dinner on the table, I grab one apple, one banana, and one orange…chop them all up, mix them in a bowl, and serve it as a simple fruit salad. But sometimes I pull out all the stops when making fruit salad.

To make a really luscious fruit salad, using those fabulous fruits of summer, here are some tips:

–nothing that turns color…no apples, no pears, no bananas, no peaches

–fresh pineapple (Absolutely essential! I used one whole pineapple in this salad. It’s just down at the bottom of the bowl.)

–something green (ideally kiwi, but green seedless grapes will do)

–make sure everything is cut in bite-size pieces

–pit cherries and slice in half

–no melon (Melon makes everything else taste like melon.)

–lots of berries

–blot dry the fruits that will bleed color all over the other fruits (cherries and red plums will do this)

–color, color, color! (Use as many different color fruits as you can.)

This is a great pack-and-go fruit salad. Just chop all the fruit and put each type of fruit in its own Ziploc bag. When it’s picnic time, just open and dump the bags into your serving bowl and serve. It will taste wonderfully fresh, because all the fruits have not had a chance ot start to taste like one another.

I love summer’s luscious fruits!