Need help with "frontier" clothing for my daughter's book report

[Dr.Girlfriend]

My daughter had to choose a famous author to do a book report on and she chose Laura Ingalls Wilder. She has to make a costume that resembles something she used to wear as a child. I know the type of clothing, but I haven't come across anything anywhere for her...not even Goodwill. And I hate paying the big bucks I'm seeing on Etsy for some kind of a frontier dress for a simple book report!

This is a huge part of her grade for this semester, so any help would be appreciated!

 

[golfgal]

A bonnet and a calf length dress should work. Maybe you can make the bonnet and dress? Do you use Ebay? Maybe look there for a Gunny Sac dress. Have you looked on Craigslist yet?

 

[Magic Mom]

A bonnet and a drawstring sack ( like a lunch sack or purse) made of calico material would be fine, and probably not too difficult to make.

 

[TwinsinCA]

One of my kids had to dress up as Martha Washington this past spring as part of a report. My mom ended up finding an old dress of mine that happened to fit my daughter and work with the theme. But before that I had planned to dress her in a dress with a small floral print and put an apron on her (they had aprons at Michael's for $2 or $3 that were an off white).

I also made her a mop cap. I do NOT sew but I was able to make one easily after watching this video on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHA3vD0TUm4

 

[woodkins]

My dd had a school trip to a colonial school house last year and had to dress in period costume. We made her outfit together, but you could find a simple dress and put an apron over it. Hair in braids, or a bonnet if you can find one. The lunch pail is a nice touch and I bought ours in the paint section of Home Depot for about $3. She can carry a small slate blackboard you can get at a craft store for about $2-3 also.
This is the oufit we made:

 

[mhsjax]

I don't have any suggestions, but I do have to rant here. I have been through this and thankfully I haven't had to do this in years. But I just don't and frankly won't understand why teachers have to do this. don't we have enough to do without worrying about where to buy this type of thing, or how to make this. I mean really the parents have to buy it or make it, also what does a costume have to do with a book report. It has nothing to do with reading the book, and everything to do with wasting time and money that most of us don't have to waste.

 

[padams]

DSs both had frontier dress-up days while they were in elementary school. I recall some of the girls wore jeans rolled up to their knees/calves with plaid shirts. I also remember a couple of girls wearing denim overalls.

 

[Hannathy]

My DD had to do this and I sewed her her outfit BUT

Here is what you do stop looking at Goodwill in the dress section go to the NIGHTGOWNS You ought to be able to find a granny style gown, you may even want to buy a new one then she could wear it all winter. They always have nightgowns in the same style they wore. then just put a white or off white apron over it.

You are lucky the short slightly above the ankle boats are in now so there are plenty of them around so put tights on and a pair of those,

 

[Hannathy]

Here I went to penneys just for example
http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=19adcd9&DeptID=77892&CatID=77916&SO=

Buy this put an apron over it and voila and she has a reasonable nightgown for the winter

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I don't have any suggestions, but I do have to rant here. I have been through this and thankfully I haven't had to do this in years. But I just don't and frankly won't understand why teachers have to do this. don't we have enough to do without worrying about where to buy this type of thing, or how to make this. I mean really the parents have to buy it or make it, also what does a costume have to do with a book report. It has nothing to do with reading the book, and everything to do with wasting time and money that most of us don't have to waste.

Thank you! I'm a teacher myself, but I teach in an urban area where I could never get away with asking parents to spend their money on something that has nothing to do with learning!

 

[mom2travel]

My DD was Laura Ingalls Wilder for a 3rd grade project. She wore a dress that she had from either Lands End or LLBean (the long-sleeved "jersey"/high-waisted type dress) - it was too big for her to wear normally, but worked great as a prarie dress. She had a pair of brown lace-up boots that worked too. We borrowed a bonnet from a friend (I attempted to make one but sewing is not my thing ) and bought a $1 apron from Michaels. We put 2 braids in her hair. It looked great!

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

Thank you! I'm a teacher myself, but I teach in an urban area where I could never get away with asking parents to spend their money on something that has nothing to do with learning!

ITA. I hate that we have to put money into this project for the project itself (tri fold board, have to make stuff for the project itself) and then do a costume on top of it.

 

[NotUrsula]

The thing you have to remember about "frontier" dress is that folks on the frontier never had closets. They had pegs to keep their clothing on, because they usually only owned two or perhaps three outfits; maybe one kept for "best" and the other two rotated each day and aired out in between. (Very seldom actually washed -- natural dyes didn't hold up well to being regularly scrubbed and doused in lye soap.) What frontier people laundered were their underclothes and aprons, which were worn in layers precisely because they were meant to protect the clothing from getting soiled.

Women and children ALWAYS wore aprons during everyday situations, and the pinafore aprons on kids were quite voluminous and covered more of the clothing than they revealed. Use this to your advantage. Get a good apron and it really won't matter what you put under it, as long as it has a longish skirt. (Use one of yours and pin the waist; that works fine.)

Here's the thing. A tabard-style pinafore does not really require more than 5-minutes sewing, and it was a style commonly worn by kids of the era because it was quick to make and didn't require much fabric. Just get a piece of plain unbleached opaque cotton sufficiently long enough to reach from your child's neck to mid-calf times 2. Buy a little bottle of FrayChek if you don't want to finish the edges, and also enough ribbon or bias tape to go around the child's waist 4X. Measure the child's shoulder width and add 10 inches, then cut the piece that wide lengthwise (add two more inches of width if you're going to finish the edges.) Fold it in half and cut out a square neckline. Now put the piece over the child's head and mark all the sides where the waist hits. Take it off the child, cut the ribbon or bias tape into 4 equal pieces, and sew one piece to each of the marked waist points. Either sew down the edges or coat them with Fray-chek so that they won't ravel, and you're done.

To wear it, put it over the child's head and tie the ties attached to the back at the front of the waist UNDER the front flap of the pinafore. Then tie the ties attached to the front flap at the back.

 

[C.Ann]

Believe it or not, I had these patterns at one time.. Made the whole get-up for my girls the year of the Bicentenial.. (They still curse me for dressing them up like that - and worse yet, taking photos so we'll remember "forever"...)

Wouldn't even be surprised if they're packed away in the attic at my DD's with some of my memorabilia.. (Wanted to make an outfit for my DGD when she was little and my DD said if I did, I could start looking for a homeless shelter to live in during the winter months..)

With Halloween right around the corner, I wonder if you could find a costume somewhere?

Good luck!