Liebster Blog Award!

Many, many thanks to both Elizabeth from Sew 18th Century and Emily from My Vintage Visions for so thoughtfully honoring us with the Liebster Blog Award!  As Elizabeth stated, no one seems to know the origin of this blog award, but it is meant to recognize and honor blogs with 200 followers or less.  The recipients of the award are to pass it along to five other blogs with similar credentials to help spread the word about relatively unknown bloggers.  There are so many beautiful and fun blogs out there now and we enjoy following many who share our interests in sewing and history especially, which makes choosing five additional honorees a difficult task!  The official "followers" on a blog don't necessarily dictate an accurate number of readers, but it is the only measure to use for this purpose.  Also, some of the blogs that we'd like to forward this award to have already received it, so we have decided to bestow it on authors who have not  been recognized yet, to deservedly help promote their tremendous blogging efforts.  Therefore, our five Liebster Blog Award recipients are (drum roll, please!):

1) Teacups Among the Fabric - Our friend Laurie is a homeschooling mother who uses costumes and first-person presentations to inspire her children to develop a passion for history (trust us, it works!).  Her blog chronicles the challenges of researching and recreating clothing from a wide variety of eras (all while teaching two high-schoolers!), and her constant efforts to continue to learn and grow as a sewer are truly inspiring.

2) World Turn'd Upside Down - Stephanie Ann is a Rev War and Civil War reenactor who posts about all sorts of related things, from sewing projects to the ins-and-outs of re-enacting to little-known social history tidbits.  We especially enjoy her thoughtful (and very useful!) discussions about the challenges of sharing history through the hobby of re-enacting.  And we also have her to thank for finding and sharing that lovely little reticule pattern!

3) The Couture Courtesan - Samantha's work is amazing.  She, too, is a reenactor in multiple eras and her reproduction sewing projects are to die for.  Her attention to detail and accuracy is incredible and we thoroughly enjoy drooling over everything she creates.  If you're ever in need of some inspiration, look here!

4) Historical Clothing and Uniforms - Here's a prime example of the "the number of followers don't accurately represent the number of awed visitors" rule!  We learned about Natalie Garbett's blog at the accessories conference in Williamsburg last year, and her work is second to none.  Her blog covers everything from her experiences with helping to mount the Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion exhibit (oh, if only it would come here!) to her own reproduction (serious reproduction) sewing projects.  Gorgeous, gorgeous work.

5) Idlewild Illustre - Gwendolyn is an artist in everything she does, from stunning historical clothing projects to some pretty amazing drawings and fashion sketches.  Be sure not to miss her portfolio, too.

Thank you again to both Emily and Elizabeth for recognizing us with the Liebster Blog Award!