The obligatory intro post

[black_hound]

 My user name is black_hound . I've been in reenacting for 25 years as an American Revolutionary War reenactor and I am in the ranks.

I am primarily an artillerist. I have been working black powder artillery for the bulk of those 25 years. When I field with artillery it is as a member of the Pennsylvania State Navy and their 3 pounder cannon, "Defiance".

I also field as a rifleman with the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment, Rifle Coy.

I'm not sure what else there is to say except I love black powder, I love live fire competitions, I love the history of the Am Rev War, and I love the hobby. Warts and all.

If you belong to a unit or civilian organization and they have a website, please post a link and I'll add it to the sidebar.

Comments

[black_hound]

*dances around you*

Ya know, scabby peasants are the best kind of peasants. :D

I remember seeing pics of the Mannered Mob when you first joined. They look very very well turned out.

[potboy]

Hee, thank you! I think this comm is a great idea :)

I like the Mannered Mob a lot - they really know what they're doing, and they have fun doing it. (I'm a real convert to Georgian food as a result. Good stuff!) But I'm also aiming to start making us sailor kit, so that we can join the Senior Service http://freespace.virgin.net/gc.hughes/senserv.htm

Lots of sewing in this hobby!

[black_hound]

Oohhh. I've seen photos of the Senior Service. Those guys are just brilliant!

And yeah, SEWING. Which, in fact, I hate. *g*

I have some to do. Actually should have done it way before now. I need a new linen shirt posthaste. It's just all the handwork. OY.

*Hmmm... need to port my historic sewing icon over here from THE DREADED LIVEJOURNAL.*

[sharpiefan]

I just sat down and did mine bit-by-bit in front of the telly. You can take sewing with you when you round friends' houses without being thought of as anti-social, too.

I got my pattern from Patterns of Time; it's a Kannick's Korner one and pretty self-explanatory.

Also, thanks for reminding me: I have a pair of trousers to finish at some point as well.

[black_hound]

Kathleen Kannick's patterns are terrific. I used her workman's jacket pattern to make my coat for my Pennsylvania Navy impression.

Speaking of trousers. Are the Napoleonic trousers still fall front?

[sharpiefan]

I've got her shirt pattern and now her trousers pattern.

And yes, Napoleonic era trousers are fall-front. (Remember Archie Kennedy's button flying off when he comes running down the companionway?)

[potboy]

We're a bit far from Portsmouth to make a regular thing with the Senior Service, but they have shared events with MM, so I'm aiming to get there one day!

*g* I quite like sewing. As Sharpiefan says, it's good to have something to do with your hands infront of the TV. But having three people to make 18th Century kit for and 4 people to make Saxon kit for means it just takes forever. And shirts are worst of all, with all those gussets and reinforcements!

[black_hound]

The gussets are evil. I don't mind so much putting them in as I mind finishing all the seams around them. I have yet to hit on a method that I actually like. I've done overcasting (linen still frayed too much), French seaming and a couple of other closed seam methods. Which are fine until you get to the gusset areas, and then it is like some kind of arcane origami to make it all work.

[sharpiefan]

*checks gussets of sailor's shirt*

Looks like I did two seams enclosed - off-set then folded under - and somehow finished the other two as though doing the double-seam effect you find on jeans. I don't recall having that much trouble with them. (Not like the current issue I'm having with the fall lining of my trousers. Need to re-cut those and totally redo them, which is going to be a pain.)

[potboy]

I know what you mean! I tend to hem all the pieces individually first before assembling.

[black_hound]

That? Is an excellent idea.

And I'm still stalling on the shirt. Oy.

I love to knit. LOVE IT. And that always seems to trump the sewing. Yet I need to get with it because I really do need a new shirt.

[potboy]

Knitting I can't do at all. I've learned three times and forgotten three times, which is odd, as I like spinning, I like weaving, I like embroidery and sewing. I obviously am just not cut out for anything that involves knots.

I would swap knitting for shirts, except that I already have a frock coat and posh waistcoat (for Andrew), a robe a l'Anglaise and matching petticoat (for Rose), two sets of pocket hoops and a woman's riding habit (for me) to make first. Also a full nun's outfit, a pair of trousers and an under-dress for Regia. And that will take me a couple of years, I'm sure!

[black_hound]

Swapping knitting for sewing is actually a grand idea.

I did swap a thrum cap I made for some jewelry. So why not do it with sewing!

[sharpiefan]

Sewing? I just finished making myself a sailor's checked shirt recently (I sort of 'do' the Royal Marines when I'm not expected to be places as an infantry soldier) from fabric I saw in John Lewis and fell in love with.


(Yes, I'm wearing modern trousers with it; the pic was only taken a few minutes after I'd finished it!)

It turned out pretty well, but I refuse to contemplate sewing anything completely by hand again for at least three years! :D

[potboy]

Oh very nice! They're lovely shirts when they're made, but all those reinforcements and gussets under the arms, cuffs and collars and so on! You'd never imagine the amount of work involved.

[sharpiefan]

I'm lucky I was only doing it for the heck of it. There's a reason I don't do anything earlier than the NapWar!

I'm also very glad I was using a checked fabric. Even though it wasn't folded quite straight when we cut it, so it wasn't cut quite on the grain, I ended up using the woven-in lines of the check to follow when sewing it.

I ended up doing one thing at a time - the cuffs, or setting in one gusset then the other - just following the pattern - without trying to do everything all at once. It took me about six weeks or so, in the end. The trickiest bit, for me, was working out which way round the collar went (I added the decorative backstitch suggested by the pattern version I was using). Even gathering the sleeves to fit the cuffs wasn't much of a problem - and I have tiny wrists!

I've got just enough for a second shirt, if I'm careful when cutting it. Though I want a drill jacket and greatcoat first - greatcoat especially after Detling. (It was cold in the evenings!)

[potboy]

Yes, it's not that shirts are complicated, it's just that there's such a lot of hemming involved. Women's caps are similarly deceptive in that they look like you could run them up in an hour, but really there's days of rolled hems involved in the ruffles.

I was at Detling too, but I was there with Regia Anglorum. I know what you mean about the cold! I've just finished making a semi-circular cloak as a result of it :)

[black_hound]

Detling is a time line event?

[potboy]

I'm not sure if it's a time-line, it's more of a time-bucket. It's a multi-period show where the Ancient Greeks will be camped next to the 19th Century Samurai, next to the WW2 Spitfire, next to the Saxons. There may be a logic in the layout, but I haven't noticed it myself.

http://www.military-odyssey.fsnet.co.uk/mo/mo-f.html

[black_hound]

Aha! Over her we call events like that 'timelines'.

One of the big ones here is Military Through the Ages (MTA) that is held every year in Jamestown. Everything from Roman Legions to Iraqi war reenactors.

[black_hound]

I made myself a greatcoat some years back. I'll have to take some pictures.

I ended up just drafting the pattern myself. The pattern I bought must have been designed by the insane because the pieces didn't fit together and the sizing was all out the window.

I took the basic lines of Kannick's Workman's Jacket to get the double breasted front correct, and then just drafted the rest of it. I added in the tail pockets and constructed the cuffs based on what I learned from doing a civilian frock coat.

[black_hound]

Nice job! I particularly the pattern.