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Faire Garb => Sewing => Topic started by: Adriana Rose on April 16, 2013, 10:43:48 AM

Title: Quick! I need some help figuring out a school program costume for THURSDAY!
Post by: Adriana Rose on April 16, 2013, 10:43:48 AM
Ny nephew is in a school program on Thursday and he wants me to make him a Native American outfit for the program. My sister and I knew it was coming but the fact that they have to dress up was sorta just tossed at us, and my nephew batted his eyes at his Auntie and asked if I could sew him one. :o

So I have a pair of pants that look leatherish with fringe on the legs. I was thinking a vest out of brown faux suede. I think I have some conchos ferreted away somewhere.

Any other ideas?
Title: Re: Quick! I need some help figuring out a school program costume for THURSDAY!
Post by: isabelladangelo on April 16, 2013, 10:46:40 AM
Which tribe is he going for and modern, colonization, or pre-Columbian?
Title: Re: Quick! I need some help figuring out a school program costume for THURSDAY!
Post by: Adriana Rose on April 16, 2013, 10:48:57 AM
I think it is the stereotypical Indian. That is all the info I could get out of him, he is in first grade so I don't think they are going terribly accurate.
Title: Re: Quick! I need some help figuring out a school program costume for THURSDAY!
Post by: isabelladangelo on April 16, 2013, 11:13:33 AM
Let's go for Eastern Woodlands post-Columbian to the early 19th C then.  ;-)   (I think my former anthropology teacher stated it best when she pointed out that we can easily spot the differences between Marie Antoinette's outfit and that of any ante bellum gown but you could show a thousand different outfits from a variety of time frames of American Indian tribes and, due to our lack of education and our Western sense of "other", we would be hard put to put such outfits in any sense of chronological order, let alone by tribe!  We have the same issues with many other cultures, including Oriental dress, which I knew pretty well at the time.)

To me, these would probably be the easiest options
:  http://old.post-gazette.com/neigh_westmoreland/20030806ewbushyp5.asp (http://old.post-gazette.com/neigh_westmoreland/20030806ewbushyp5.asp)  <- White "linen" shirt, wool pants, and beaded trim for guards along with face paint

http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/2009/08/woodland-indian-re-enactors-in-russia.html (http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/2009/08/woodland-indian-re-enactors-in-russia.html) <-similar

It's 18th C style, Eastern Woodland style however, a lot of the outfit is stuff I'm sure you already know.  It's a basic t-tunic style shirt with a collar and cuffs, a basic pair of wool pants with some sort of trim above the knees, and trim above the elbows tied.  Add in the face paint - what little kid doesn't love face paint?- and he's good to go.   It's probably about ~3 hours sewing time. 
Title: Re: Quick! I need some help figuring out a school program costume for THURSDAY!
Post by: Adriana Rose on April 16, 2013, 11:19:00 AM
Thank you! I've been looking at images of the eastern tribes verses the western tribes, it's interesting the differences and the similarities between them.
Title: Re: Quick! I need some help figuring out a school program costume for THURSDAY!
Post by: Rowan MacD on April 16, 2013, 11:21:16 AM
 This is what I did for my son in 3rd grade: 
I made a T-tunic with 3/4 sleeves and a 'V' neck in tan muslin, and a pair of simple breeches with a tie string waist in brown.   The result kinda looks like a martial arts outfit, but looks the part of a stereotypical 'Indian brave' from the movies while avoiding exposed skin. 
   Make a belt with the conchos, if you don't have enough to link together, then sew a few on a fabric belt.
  If you have some ribbon with a Native American-ish design on it, you can make a headband, and dangle a feather from it.  If not, then some braided leather will work.
   Hopefully he has moccasins. 


Edit: And I love the face paint idea!


 
   
Title: Re: Quick! I need some help figuring out a school program costume for THURSDAY!
Post by: arbcoind on April 16, 2013, 12:27:23 PM
Isabella,  Thanks for the plug for The Bushy Run Battlefield reenactment.  I live a few miles from there.  And, yes, that is what the indians wear.

Gina