THE
CIVIL WAR
COSTUMES
Costumes
are always a fun way of enforcing what the children have learned in a study.
By dramatizing, they not only have to remember the event, they have to
imagine how the character felt, know what they said or how they went about
something, and they will remember it much better because 'they were there'!
Dramatizing also helps give the children a creative outlet to break from
texts, written work and other more rigid activities that always dominate
study, thus giving them a chance to get the wiggles out. Having costumes
helps children take the dramas more seriously. Suddenly, they're no longer
Sarah and Peter, but Joan of Arc and Daniel Boone.
Costumes
don't always have to be elaborate to do their part, either. There are some
old standbys you might want to have around the house to turn into a particular
costume with just accessories and little effort. They also don't always
have to be sewn from patterns with lots of time, money and care put in.
I prefer NOT to have too many of those, because the children are too concerned
with damaging the costume, and feel restricted in their play. They take
more care for storage as well.
1. WHERE
TO FIND THE BASICS: There's
nothing like garage sales to pick up lots of accessories, uniforms, and
props to help build a good collection. Old wedding or prom dresses can
make great victorian dresses. A woman's below the knee skirt can become
the child's prairie skirt. A simple white apron helps that look, too. I
picked up a karate outfit that has doubled as a sailor and a doctor's uniform.
A gray sweatshirt and sweat pants can be versatile, too. When worn with
a homemade breastplate and cape, you have an instant knight. Collect wigs,
blazers, scarves, boots of all kinds...the list goes on. Another place
to look is the thrift shop; that is where we found the base of our Civil
War uniforms.
Another thing to have on hand is 2-sided fusible pellon or webbing. A couple
of brand names are 'Wonder-Under' and 'Heat 'N Bond'. This can help tremendously
with eliminating the need to sew!
2. WHERE
TO GET IDEAS: Utilize
the books you read for costume ideas. In this case, there are books specifically
on the Uniforms of the Civil War. And don't worry about getting every little
detail--do what you can. Imagination makes up for all the shortcomings.
Don't forget to use what you have, too--Daniel Boones pants (Dad's old
pants cut off at mid-shin) have been used for a cowboy (tucked into boots),
a revolutionary (tied off below the knee) and a pirate (left hanging and
ragged).
3. CREATING
THE CIVIL WAR UNIFORMS: My
daughter had duel roles of Union soldier and Clara Barton. When she wasn't
in a skirt, blouse and apron, she was donning the blue blazer and cap.
Here is how we went about the uniforms:
STEP 1- Gathering Materials:
1. I found
a gray and a blue wool suit coat at a Goodwill store. I paid $2.99 for
one, and 99¢ for the other (the hem was falling out which won't matter).
By turning up the collar, the look is half-way there!
2. I next purchased
remnant yellow fabric, enough to treat the collars, designs, cuffs and
to make two sashes.
3. I found the cheapest
brass-looking buttons I could find. They didn't match, but again--who's
really
looking? I also found inexpensive gold star buttons for the collar.
4. I bought gold
trim by the reel (99¢ for 5 yds.).
5. Gold or yellow
colored yarn
6. Felt is always
a good thing to have on hand--it can be turned into a variety of things.
In this case, it modified our baseball hat to a union hat (one that can
be converted back to a baseball hat with no problem!).
STEP 2- The Union Coat:
The example we used was actually Maj.-Gen. Custer's uniform. It actually
had 18 buttons down the breast, but we opted for 12 (although rank was
denoted by the arrangement of buttons). My daughter removed the existing
buttons and sewed the 12 buttons on in two vertical rows of three buttons
per side (see photo). She then wound the yarn around a small box
until she got the thickness that looked like the shoulder 'epaulettes'
in the picture. She tied each off and trimmed them. We applied them to
the shoulders of the coat with hot glue. She then covered an oval piece
of cardboard with an oval piece of fabric (that was larger than the cardboard),
and gathered the edge to wrap under the board. This was also glued on top
of the epaulette, to act as the place for the badge, as well as to neaten
it up.
We then hot glued the gold
trim around the collar. After creating the sash from two long strips of
the fabric stitched together (no hemmed edges!), the coat was complete!
STEP 3- The Confederate
Coat: The example we used was a General's uniform. Again, it
actually had 16 buttons, but we used but we only used 6. We were much more
elaborate with the other decorations instead. This is a project where using
the Heat 'N Bond was a blessing! We pretty much had the costume accomplished
in two afternoons (that is with the children making the outfits--it will
always take longer than you doing it, but there are many practical
lessons they can learn along the way!). First I followed the patterns of
the pictured uniform arm designs and drew it on the paper side of the Heat
'N Bond. We then ironed it to the fabric. My son made a newspaper pattern
of the collar and cuffs and he cut out Heat 'N Bond to match those and
ironed those to the fabric as well. He then cut out the fabric according
to the drawn arm patterns, cuffs and collar lines. We adhered each piece
to the coat. At this point, the arm decor needed reinforcement with the
hot glue gun. Unfortunately, this left visible 'glue lines' on the other
side, but it was nothing that would truly detract from the outfit. I then
hot glued the gold trim to the collar and edging of the whole outfit (I
prefer to do the hot gluing). Next, my son sewed buttons on the coat and
we glued star buttons to the collar, denoting his rank as General. The
sash, again, completed the uniform.
STEP 3- The Képi
(slouch hat): We created this hat by taking an existing baseball
hat with a blue visor as a base to work on. Using two gray-blue 8.5" x
11" panels of felt, I cut one in half length wise and stitched the two
halves together making a rectangle 4.25" x 22". I used Heat 'N Bond on
the second square of felt and ironed it to a 6.5" round piece of stiff
cardboard. I then trimmed the felt to the circle and hot glued one long
edge of the 22" rectangle to the circle. When it was done, it would look
like a cylinder with one end open. I basted with long stitches the
other end to the base of the baseball cap, covering over the crown of the
cap. I then made a gathering stitch to scrunch the front of the cap down.
I used scrap yellow that still had Heat 'N Bond attached to it and drew
a pair of crossed sabers. After cutting it out, I ironed it to the top
of the hat. It really was easier than I'm making this sound--and took approx.
30 minutes to make.
3. POSSIBILITIES
FOR ASSIGNMENTS: We
took advantage of the rest of our afternoon to take pictures of battles
by our creek. We also are blessed to have a corn field across the street
which made a great battlefield to recreate Antietam! My daughter, however,
preferred her role as Clara Barton to Union soldier, especially when
one is wearing a wool coat on a hot and sweltering day!
Many of the pictures we took were used for our scrap book, but the main
reason we set out to take photos was for our Civil
War Gazette. Although it mostly consisted of written articles,
we loved inserting our own 'action shots'! Photos like this would make
great postcards, invitations for your Civil War Dinner, or even just 'Thinking
of You' cards to someone on Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, or the 4th of
July (well, maybe not the photo below... ;-). And of course, projects like
that are just another great way to also exercise the penmanship!
