Mountains Christian Academy

Civil War Ball 2004

Dance callers: Rich & Marianne McCune

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	Men's suit with collar turned up & decor
	Men's suit with collar turned up & decor
Street clothes are A-OK! Just make 'em spin!	Variety of costumes on the boys.
Lucky Dad!	The Broomstick Dance is a favorite!

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Here's a helpful post from HomeschoolChristian.com on inexpensive and easy costume-making:

Our co-op did a Civil War co-op a couple of years ago and *all* of the kids had dresses/uniforms that they wore to co-op each week. It was all really great, but....

It was because one lady went to the Goodwill store. They allowed her to fill large trashbags with anything she wanted and all she could stuff in for $5.00. Can you believe that? She grabbed up all the navy and gray blazers they had, plus navy and gray pants in anything resembling a kid's size, plus a bunch of prom type dresses. Then all of the moms got together and went through all the stuff (there was tons!) We picked what we thought would fit our kids and went from there. I got a men's gray suit coat for my hs son and a navy blazers for my daughters. I also lucked out and got pants that fit two of them. I found a pair of navy dress slacks later for my youngest dd for $2!!

After studying pictures of uniforms, I purchased gold and red bias trim, some fancy metal buttons, and some gold and red fabric. Here's how:

Turn the collar of the jacket up (make it stand up). Cut a piece of the fabric the same size as the collar plus seam allowances. Use some Wonder Under or something similar (double-sided iron on adhesive). Fuse it to the the fabric collar and turn under the seam allowances and then fuse it to the underside of the jacket collar. Presto! No sewing! You can also buy something similar to Wonder Under but it comes in strips on a roll. Fuse that to the bias tape, then fuse the bias tape to the jacket. You have instant sleeve bands, shoulder bands, stripes, etc. Unfold the lapel and make the front edge of the jacket straight up and down.

My dd's jacket was too big, so I removed the buttons and overlapped it further. It became a double-breasted coat for her. Sew on the metal buttons, maybe add a buttonhole or two, if necessary, and you have a civil war jacket. Fuse some bias tape down the outside side seams of the pants and you have matching pants. I also made sashes for a couple of the uniforms.

As for the ball gowns, a can-can works great for making the skirts stand out. I also purchased some boning and sewed it around the seams of the can-can to make it more like a hoop skirt.

These are some great, cheap ways to get costumes for kids. All that said, I *did* purchase a pattern and make my own ball gown. 30 some yards of material!!! Well, I cheated a little and didn't line it and used $1 a yard fabric (it was only worn once), but we had a great time. Hope that helps...

--Emma at the Lake

Questions/Comments? mary@mountainschristian.com