Tiger Lily's Threads

For a while now, I have been pining for a new hat. I already had 2 colonial straw hats (3 if you want to count the 1809 Bonnet), and plenty of cotton caps. But not a silk bonnet aka "market hat". I've seen plenty of styles and colors either online, within passing during a reenactment, or while at a market fair, which made me want one even more. They're so versatile for any impression wither lower class, upper class, or middle class. It's a great hat! Women of all classes wore the silk bonnet The fabric I used was pink silk taffeta I had stashed away from a previously planned project, and the pattern was from the Undressed Lady . A really easy downloadable pattern to follow and for a low price of $20 that didn't break my bank. The only thing that I'd do differently is fix the brim of the hat. When I sewed the fabric pieces together, I folded it over just like it said in the instructions, but it still puckered and looked pretty bad. Ne

This past weekend, my unit the Royal Marines and I participated in the Battle of Bladensburg in Riverdale, Maryland. The last couple of times we've attended it was either pouring down rain or your typical July Summer. This year was different; it was ...a bit warm….did I say warm? I meant hot as an oven at 450 degrees!!!  This past weekend, all of Maryland was HOT with a heat index of 110. Too hot to be outside and too dangerous to be outside to be doing events like this. But we trudged on anyway. We packed everything we could think of for this event: water, water, ice packs, water, more ice, First Aid Kit, Food, even more ice, fans, umbrellas, 100 SPF sunblock, hats, Gatorade, and of course…6 crates of water thanks to the Museum. It seemed we were all ready for whatever the temperature had to throw at us. And surprisingly, we did hold up pretty well. We even selected the perfect shade for all 3 British Units to stay under, while the American Units stayed in the equally large