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Last year my eldest was in fifth grade – this meant that at our Classical Conversations campus, she participated in the Essentials program – an afternoon class that works on writing skills (using materials from the Institute of Excellence in Writing or IEW), English grammar, and math games. This past year was focused on the Middle Ages/Europe, so for the final project – “Faces of History” – my daughter wanted to write about and dress as Mary Cassatt. Although Cassatt was born in the US, she ended up spending most of her time as an artist in Europe, therefore she’s considered a French Impressionist.
Naturally, she expected me to make a costume for her, so we poured over some art by Cassatt until she settled on Cassatt’s self portrait where she’s wearing a white dress. The dress had a lot of similarities to the Peony Patterns Acacia dress, so I used that as a base, extending the bodice waist to a point, and lengthening the skirt. I also put a hoop underneath. I found the fabric – a cotton with Swiss dot and a metallic thread stripe running down it, at one of my local stores, Fabric Place Basement in Alexandria, VA.
I’m really proud of how my daughter was able to take the skills she learned through the IEW program to pull together a great essay and presentation! While she still needed lots of help from me, I can see that she’s learning and growing from the experience. Even though I learned proper essay construction starting in seventh grade from a teacher who was a stickler for drilling essay rules, I’ve learned so much more from guiding my daughter through the program. In a future post, I’ll share a bit more about how IEW Structure and Style works, and what we enjoy about it.
If costumes are your thang, I want to encourage you to check out the daily blogs I’ve been writing for Peony Patterns Costume Party! The talent has been incredible, and if you have a wax museum, Faces of History, Book Week or Halloween event coming up soon, you’re bound to get lots of great ideas on how you can take a basic pattern (or two or three) and create your vision!
auschick sews 