Men's Camouflage Dress Vest

My latest project was a vest for Noah. This is a standard men's dress vest with four buttons and fitted seams. It's made from blue polyester with dark blue lining.

Fur Cape

We took a family trip up to DC a few years ago, and I thought I'd post a picture of a sewing project I did. This is Anna, age 3, in a red velvet cape with fur trim. It was a challenging project, but it ended up being very durable and turned out surprisingly well. (the picture makes the hem look rather crooked; it's not really!)

I had a second hand small scrap piece of faux velvet, about half a yard. It was shaped like a distorted trapezoid. The edges were rough and frayed, and there was a singed section about 4 inches near one corner. In order to save the maximum amount of fabric, I gathered the top of the "trapezoid" into a collar the size of Anna's neck, and bias faced the edge. I had her try on the unfitted gathered fabric and marked a gently curving hem on the bottom. After trimming the hem to the correct length, I saved my few scrap pieces of velvet. . .just in case. My aunt had given me a handful of scraps of leftover grayish faux rabbit fur. I measured, twisted, stretched, and eventually managed to cut small strips of the fur, just wide enough for a hem. I attached this with a machine overcast stitch to the hem and collar. I saved the left over pieces of fur also, just in case. After lining the cape with a half a yard of a red polyester blend, I took three large one inch buttons, and covered them with velvet. Out of my scraps, I made tiny loops to attach to the opposite edge of the front opening, and then I had the closure. A small hook and eye under the fur on the top finished it off! Taking a second look at my collection of scraps, I decided to fashion a little hat to match, (lined with the same polyester blend, naturally)! The hat is pieced together like nothing you would believe! (And, you wouldn't even know it if I hadn't told you!) After that, I even had enough scraps to piece together strips about 1/4 inch wide, and made little ties for the hat. Everyone loved her little cape. Complete strangers, tourists, snapped pictures of the little princess in DC!

Pilgrim Re-enactment

The Pilgrim Costumes were finished just in time for the Re-enactment! Pictured here is the entire Cook Family along with 3 other homeschooling familes.

Baby Abigail is being held by Mama in the back row. Ezra is standing in front of Noah. Anna is in the front in the dark green dress. Elijah is holding the bow and arrow in the front row. Nehemiah is standing behind Noah and Elijah. Joseph is in the back row in the gray wide-brimmed hat. Daniel is in the back row with the blue tam. Papa is standing in front of Mama, in the dark blue jacket. And I am standing beside Joseph in the back row. We enjoyed plenty of good old fashioned food. After dinner, the girls all made corn husk dolls and the boys enjoyed some target practice. It was a very enjoyable time with our friends, and we hope to gather again next year!

Medieval Faire

Here are photos from our family Medieval fair. I had to include the cake! Orange and blue with a Medieval twist?!

Two more medieval costumes are finished. I began sewing on Friday, and finished them Saturday! The felt lion was the most intricate part. It took the longest to precisely cut out, and then applique with a close ziz zag stitch, on the front of Elijah's outfit. There are four walking splits in each outfit, with a bar tack at the opening to help prevent tears from strenuous use!

Noah is "fencing" (posing). Nehemiah and Elijah with their matching outfits.

Progressing Pilgrim Costumes

I'm still plugging away at the old fashioned Pilgrim costumes. All the shifts are finished now, (the brothers have dubbed them "nightshirts"), and they look like long white flowy robes. Outer garments are next, and this week, I'm in the process of designing the men's jacket. All this work has been temporarily halted, because this Saturday, we are hosting a "Medeival Fair", and I am making outfits for Noah and Elijah that match Nehemiah's. I'm staying busy, and I'll post more about both projects later!