Fall is Upon Us - An Update

The leaves are more orange than green, the apples are ripe, the geese are forming their "V"s and flying south for the winter - fall must be here!

Lately I've been sewing like crazy. Between finishing my straw bonnet form (and trimming it) and making a wool winter hood and a flannel petticoat for colder reenactments, I've kept busy. I recently started volunteering at Historical Charlton Park as well, which has been a lot of fun. (You can read my post about the reenactment here.) I love the old buildings there, and being in them in period dress is just amazing.

My family also had the opportunity to pick apples at a friend's house, then press them for cider. We never really counted how many bushels we picked, because we picked into all sorts of different sized boxes and baskets, but we ended up with 49 gallons of cider. The gentleman at the farm where they pressed estimated that we had apples that gave three gallons from a bushel. It was a fun experience and we are already talking about doing again next year!

That's about all I can think of to write, so I'll just show you the pictures of my bonnet and hood. :)

Here's the back. The tip comes down into a cute little scalloped point, but it was caught in my shawl for this picture and I didn't notice it before I took it off. There is a bow at the back of my neck as well.

And the side

The scalloped edge. I freehanded the scallops, so some of them are a little less than round...

I really like this picture, except where my bonnet is bowing out in back... It never did that at home! 

It looks like I have a bustle on in this picture... I blame my three petticoats!

Not too shabby for my first bonnet, if I do say so myself. I'm still not 100% sure I like the tulle in the front... We'll see if I change it or not. The pattern for the hood came from an 1862 Peterson's, while the bonnet pattern came from the Dressmaker's Shop. The trim is my own creation, with inspiration from a few different originals. I have one more reenactment planned for this fall, then I will be (sadly) off until next May at Greenfield Village. May seems so far away...

In other news, I am at a stand still with my sewing now that I've completed my bonnet and hood. I do have some royal blue velvet to make a medieval dress with (my original Halloween costume idea), but cutting out my pattern and the fabric is my least favorite part of sewing a dress. Ugh. One of these days I'll get around to it. I also picked up another pattern at the fabric store recently that I will most likely start first. Take a look:

Here is the original that I fell in love with. I plan to make mine as close as possible to it as I can. The pattern is roughly 1890's while the original was circa 1900. I will shorten the skirt on mine because I like the look of the bloomers peeking out.

The pattern calls for cotton, but I am going to go period-correct and make mine from wool. I found some lovely tropical-weight (I think - the bolt didn't say) navy blue wool at the store that jumped out at me. Now just to find white wool for the ties, back, and edges and some narrow navy blue something-or-other for the trim. Any suggestions on what I could use?

Hope your fall is going well. Thanks for reading!