Fair at New Boston Trip Day 1

Dearest Friends and Readers,

We have at last returned home from our journey to the Ohio Territories. It is hard to believe that our long awaited journey is at an end. It was an amazing adventure and one of the best holidays I have ever experienced. The people, the places, and the history were more amazing than I could have imagined. I fear I have been spoiled by the caliber and quality of the Fair at New Boston.

We arrived very late on Thursday last, hired our coach and horses, and made our way to Eppley House, the cottage we had leased, at Howell Farm, for our stay.

Eppley House

The Dining Room at Eppley House

The farm fields, looking out of the front door.

The house was lovely and very quaint. The farmlands surrounding the little home were filled with the sound of crickets and tree frogs and so many other animals, yet the farm was also very quiet in its own way. I believe Mrs. Cartwright said it best, “I have never been so surrounded by life, yet felt so devoid of life at the same time.”

The fields surrounding the house.

   Our first day in the Ohio territories was spent traveling around the surrounding countryside and towns, exploring and soaking in the history of this very young land. I confess, the weather was much warmer than I am used to and my appearance remained quite disheveled throughout our visit.

  The first town we visited was Lebanon, Ohio. It was a very quaint and charming little village with a small tavern and inn at the center of town, called the Golden Lamb. It was newly established and had already become quite well known to the surrounding villages. The interiors were much more rustic than Sir Thomas and I are accustomed to, but they were still very lovely.

The lobby at the Golden Lamb Inn (*Mrs. Cartwright is wearing her first gown she has sewn.)

Following our luncheon, we made our way to the Glendower Mansion for a visit and a tour. It was a beautiful mansion, and its decorations reminded me of many of the homes in England.

At the Glendower Mansion

Captain Cartwright

My dear Sir Thomas in his new suit.

Mrs. Cartwright and I

In the Parlor of Glendower Mansion

After our tour of Glendower, we returned to the Golden Lamb for ices and Shaker sugar pie. Then, we returned to Eppley house to prepare for the following day’s events.

In the parlor of Eppley House

Finished!!!!

That’s right, I finished everything for our trip with three days to spare. In one month I made a pair of breeches, two waistcoats, a frock coat, nightshirt, and banyan for Aaron. For myself, I made three chemises, a nightgown, night robe, Janet Arnold open robe, and a round gown. I’m officially tired and I plan to take a little sewing hiatus after our trip. I’m also going to torture you all and make you wait until after we get home to see everything. Hope you have a lovely Labor Day!

Finished Waistcoats

Yup, they’re done! Two waistcoats in three days; entirely hand sewn. Whew, I’m tired :P Tomorrow I will be starting on hubby’s new frock coat. I hope to have it finished by this weekend. We’ll see how far I get.

Mrs. Cartwright’s amazing buttons! She made them for both waistcoats, the breeches, and his yet to be constructed frock coat.

Have a lovely rest of your weekend!

Love Lauren

Busy Beaver…

  Yes, I have been a busy, busy, busy beaver. In the past two weeks, I have knocked out two shirts, a night shirt, and a banyan for my hubby. I’m currently working on a pair of breeches, that just need their buttons and button holes sewn, and two waistcoats. And yes, everything is entirely hand sewn. The goal is to finish the waistcoats and breeches today. Then tomorrow start cranking out a frock coat. I am down to the wire, and as a result, I will be offline for the next few weeks. I promise to have more pictures of everything when I’m finished. In the meantime, here are some pics of the finished garments. Enjoy!

First shirt with ruffles.

The buttons are from WM Booth Draper.

The second shirt. I made the cuffs larger on this one. The nightshirt is exactly the same, except it is quite a bit longer.

His banyan.

My handsome man :)

The breeches. I still need to work the buttonholes and attach the buttons. So, I will have final pics of these when I’m finished. I’m very excited about the buttons, they are being made by my dear Mrs. Cartwright.

In other news… Guess who went to the puppy ER on Saturday night? Yup, that would be miss Leila. She ripped off her toenail and now has to wear the “cone of shame” for the next three weeks. She’s handling it pretty well, although she hasn’t quite figured out how to navigate the house with the “force field” around her head. She keeps crashing into everything.

Well, all, have a lovely weekend!

Love Lauren

Historical Interiors…

Some inspiration…. I have a thing for historical interiors too ;)

I think my dreams would be very sweet in this room.

I could go for this entry and the lands outside of it.

This room is just amazing. The bed looks so inviting.

Well, that’s all for now! Enjoy :)

Love Lauren

Standards (as written by Sir Thomas)

Greetings!  This is Sir Thomas Sully, Lady Sully’s husband.  My wife has graciously allowed me to use her blog to say this.

Life is a funny thing in many ways.  I would like to expound upon one of those ways…standards.  Standards, when set high, are the means to greatness.  One cannot achieve good things with out high standards.  If there are no standards, if there is nothing better to shoot for then why do anything?  Regarding costuming there are two camps: Costuming or Historical Reenacting.  Either of them are fine as long as you understand each of their own standards and expectations.  Some people just want to dress up and “feel pretty”, that’s great!  But please don’t call yourself a reenactor.  A reenactor strives to meet the standards of the time they are trying to portray.  This is basic common sense, if you want to reenact then you must do extensive research so you know how they dressed, spoke and carried themselves.  You must (and I cannot emphasize this enough) use fabrics that they used.  One cannot use synthetic fabrics and then expect those with standards not to criticize you for it.  I understand cost can be an issue, but if you want silk but cannot afford it do what they did in the time you are trying to portray…don't get silk!  Use other natural fibers.  I could continue with each individual item i.e. hair, buttons, skin art etc., but I will refrain.

Yes, we all just want to have fun, but do not be offended when some of us have the most fun only when things are be most accurate we can be.  With out standards nothing would get better, there would be no goal to shoot for, there would be no excellence.  And sorry to say where there is excellence there must be the poorest quality.  Just like there cannot be good without evil and there cannot be light without darkness.

Standards give us all something to strive for and if you want to be better, more accurate, honor our ancestors, and help the world understand history then shoot for the high standards, do your research.  Reach, strive, achieve, you will feel much more fulfilled and proud of what you have accomplished when you reach for those standards.

The Devonshires

I suspect most, if not all of you, know about Lauren Reeser’s latest shoe pre-sale. The leather version of the Georgianas is now available. I looove my G’s and I plan to order my Devies asap :) Great job Lauren!!!

The Cpt.’s Silk Frock Coat

I finally have the pictures :D, courtesy of Mrs. Cartwright.

Here you can see Mrs. Cartwright’s lovely death head buttons. Her work is amazing, and it adds the perfect finish to her husband’s coat.

Next week I will be sewing shirts, night shirts, chemises, and banyans. Not super exciting, but I plan to post pics anyway :D

Love Lauren

Pittock Mansion Picnic

This afternoon we went to the Oregon Regency Society’s annual Pittock Mansion Picnic. We had a lovely afternoon of eating, card playing, chatting, and strolling the beautiful grounds and interiors of the mansion. Here are a few pics, enjoy!

The spread.

The Cartwright’s, in their new creations. Yes, this is part of the reason I have not been online much. The Captain has a second frock coat, that I do not have pictures of yet.

Here we are… I finished the new robe in time too, I’m very happy with the results.

Lady Devereaux, Mrs. Cartwright, and I in the house.

Where’s Mrs. Cartwright… :P

That’s all for now :) Have a lovely rest of your day.

Love Lauren

Something for Me

Today I finally had a chance to make something for myself. I had a good 5 hours, or so, this afternoon to draft and sew my new little creation. Here’s the progress so far. I should have it finished in a few more hours tomorrow.

This was the inspiration. However, as usual, I’m changing it a bit.

I fell in love with this fabric at Fabric Expo a few months ago. It’s so light and floaty.

I decided to leave it unlined and flat fell the  seams. I’m very happy with the results so far. I also constructed the back pleats in the same fashion as the infamous Janet Arnold Open Robe. 

All that is left is hemming the robe and attaching the sleeves. I plan to do capped sleeves like the inspiration robe.

So, there you go, finally a normal post :D Hopefully there will be more like it to come.

Have a lovely weekend.

Love Lauren

The Chicken Formerly Known as Little Po

Some of you may remember this little fluffy fuzz butt, whom I decided to call Little Po, after the Duchess de Polignac.

Well, turns out this little duchess is actually a duke, and has been rechristened Muppet. So, my riding instructor kindly took him in and he is currently living on her ranch with her 11 chickens. Now, while he was with us, he was convinced he was a dog and would follow Leila around the yard. Now, that he is surrounded by horses, he thinks he is a horse. 

He currently favors this beauty, Derby, whom I also work with on a regular basis. In fact, he even sleeps in his stall at night.

Audra, my riding instructor, sent me this picture the other night. Here he is, hanging out with with Derby. He has his own little spot and Derby really likes him.