Greetings from the Upper Peninsula!

[JOHN42768]

Welcome. enjoy

 

[UCVRelics]

Welcome UPER from the snowed in Deep South.

 

[kholland]

Hello,
My name is Erin and I'm from the upper peninsula of Michigan! So greetings from the great snowy north! I'm just starting out in historical reenacting. I have done colonial era events in the past and I just started researching Civil War era. So far I have been to 2 small reenactments with my battery as a civilian. I plan on attending the Battle of Shiloh this spring. I am really hoping to get in contact with some diehard reenactors via this site. So if anyone sees this and wants to help that would be awesome!

I would really like some help developing my civilian wardrobe as well as developing my character. I also would love to become as close to historically accurate as I can (cost in mind).

As far as character goes I am currently a practicing RN and would really love to develope a character around my occupation as well as making sure it fits the region in which I live.

Anyways if anyone has any suggestions on forum topics or other websites to check out in regards to clothing, accessories and character developement I would love the info!

Welcome from Maryland, eh !

 

[Patrick H]

Hi, Erin. Welcome from down here in the frigidly cold state of Missouri!

 

[ivanj05]

Welcome aboard.

 

[major bill]

Hello from Lansing Michigan. I am a docent at the Michigan Historical Museum and a few years back they had me doing a Civil War medical class where I was a Hospital Stewart helping another docent who was a surgeon. I was given a uniform to do this. Many of the reenactments I have been to as a visitor have had some kind of medical aspect to them. Most larger reenactments did a medical demonstration. You could pick on or more people to represent from doctor to stretcher bearer. We have a thread in the Uniform and Relics forum that shows some possible Hospital Stewart uniforms you might find interesting. You could go fancy or plain.

 

[CMWinkler]

Welcome.

 

[Union_Buff]

Hello there Erin and welcome to CWT from New Zealand

 

[John Hartwell]

 

[PeterT]

Welcome Erin from Melbourne Australia! Just coming off a heatwave and possibly building to another one.

 

[ErnieMac]

Welcome from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Check out the Ladies Tea Forum. Numerous threads on nurses and other women of the CW period. Plenty of photos as well.

 

[JohnW.]

Welcome from Montana, the nations icebox...although we are experiencing Florida like warmth for the next couple of days with temps in the teens.

 

[Study the Past]

Welcome, fellow Michigander!

 

[chellers]

Welcome from East Texas.

 

[lakertaker]

Hello from NE Minnesota... just across the big lake from you. We get the snow when the wind is from the other direction!

 

[MaryDee]

Welcome from out in Oregon, rather iced in at present! (This is our third nasry ice storm of the year.)

I'm also a female civilian reenactor, and here are some items I have found indispensable:

Elizabeth Stewart Clark's http://www.thesewingacademy.com Her book, The Dressmaker's Guide, is my "bible" for both how to dress and for mid-19th century sewing techniques (some of which are better, faster, and more durable than those of modern times). It's available from her website and covers the years 1840-1865. Sign up for her "Sewing Academy Forum" which has been an invaluable help to me, especially in fabric selection. Her "Compendium" section contains a number of excellent free articles.

Juanita Leisch' Who Wore What? Women's Wear 1861-1865 is an excellent guide to Civil War era women's clothing, based on her study and anlysis of thousands of cartes de visite from the period. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0939631814/?tag=civilwartalkc-20. This book gives you a good idea of the typical women's wear of the period, as opposed to the idealized fantasies in Godey's Lady's Book and Peterson's Magazine.

Other useful sources include Carolann Schmitt, of Genteel Arts Academy in Gettysburg, and Kay Gnagy of "Originals by Kay." If you can attend any workshops featuring these ladies or Elizabeth Stewart Clark, be sure to do so! "Originals by Kay" is an excellent source for accurate ready-made garments, particularly corsets (which are made to your measure).

Any journals and letters of Civil War women are useful--Union or Confederate, depending on which side you're reenacting. I am with a Union group (which also reenacts an actual Oregon infantry regiment at Fort Vancouver), so my bias is in that direction. My favorite (and inspiration and avatar) is Mary Livermore's My Story of the War, about her work with the US Sanitary Commission. Mary Phinney von Ohlnhausen's journals and letters, compiled by her nephew as Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars, are available online at https://ia801400.us.archive.org/23/items/armynurse00olnhrich/armynurse00olnhrich.pdf; they are rather different from the TV program "Mercy Street." (Note that there are a lot of blank pages at the beginning; you have to scroll down what seems like forever to even reach the title page.)

 

[NurseErin]

Welcome from out in Oregon, rather iced in at present! (This is our third nasry ice storm of the year.)

I'm also a female civilian reenactor, and here are some items I have found indispensable:

Elizabeth Stewart Clark's http://www.thesewingacademy.com Her book, The Dressmaker's Guide, is my "bible" for both how to dress and for mid-19th century sewing techniques (some of which are better, faster, and more durable than those of modern times). It's available from her website and covers the years 1840-1865. Sign up for her "Sewing Academy Forum" which has been an invaluable help to me, especially in fabric selection. Her "Compendium" section contains a number of excellent free articles.

Juanita Leisch' Who Wore What? Women's Wear 1861-1865 is an excellent guide to Civil War era women's clothing, based on her study and anlysis of thousands of cartes de visite from the period. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0939631814/?tag=civilwartalkc-20. This book gives you a good idea of the typical women's wear of the period, as opposed to the idealized fantasies in Godey's Lady's Book and Peterson's Magazine.

Other useful sources include Carolann Schmitt, of Genteel Arts Academy in Gettysburg, and Kay Gnagy of "Originals by Kay." If you can attend any workshops featuring these ladies or Elizabeth Stewart Clark, be sure to do so! "Originals by Kay" is an excellent source for accurate ready-made garments, particularly corsets (which are made to your measure).

Any journals and letters of Civil War women are useful--Union or Confederate, depending on which side you're reenacting. I am with a Union group (which also reenacts an actual Oregon infantry regiment at Fort Vancouver), so my bias is in that direction. My favorite (and inspiration and avatar) is Mary Livermore's My Story of the War, about her work with the US Sanitary Commission. Mary Phinney von Ohlnhausen's journals and letters, compiled by her nephew as Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars, are available online at https://ia801400.us.archive.org/23/items/armynurse00olnhrich/armynurse00olnhrich.pdf; they are rather different from the TV program "Mercy Street." (Note that there are a lot of blank pages at the beginning; you have to scroll down what seems like forever to even reach the title page.)

Wow lots of awesome information! I'll have to check out the links! I'm currently taking a break from actual sewing. I'm losing lots of weight so I'm going to wait until closer to the even to start sewing again... I already have to make a new corset after making one two months ago. Guess it's good news I just hate making corsets :/ I just finished crocheting a shawl/Sontag. I have to take in/adjust a few of my existing garments too so that's on my list. It will be nice to do some more reading up before I start sewing again

 

[Kip124thNY]

Welcome from New Jersey.

 

[bdietzler73]

Welcome from Oxford, Iowa and the Abraham Lincoln forum!

 

[Stony]

Welcome.