Cute as a Button

One of the oldest forms of attaching clothing is with buttons. Some of the oldest buttons found date to 5000 years old. Not only were they great for fastening garments together but also beautiful decorations. When teaching children to sew starting with sewing on buttons is a great place to start. It is simple and easy.

Start by cutting  to desired length and after running it through beeswax thread it through a needle and tie a knot in the end. Choose a thicker thread, most stores carry button thread, and a color close to the color of your project. (Stylish hint: a complementary color can also add a splash of something interesting. )

Next line up the button hole with were the buttons are supposed to be.  Mark the spots with chalk or pins.

Hold your button on your marker and thread the needle from the bottom of the fabric up through the hole. Going down the other hole, repeat the process until the button is stable. On the back tie ends and cut excess thread. 

Enjoy the results:

Keep up with the tradition.

Patched with Patches

So this week is a do it yourself; How to patch a large hole. Now there are different ways to patch things but this is a nice way to patch a large hole and one of the oldest techniques. 

The first is to id the hole and then make it bigger. Yep you read that right. Cut a square out around the hole. Next out of the same fabric (to this I thank my Grandma for saving scraps from her couch), or similar fabric cut out a square larger than the square you just made. It should be at least 2 inches to 4 inches larger. 

Next pin your square under the hole. Now using a needle and  carefully roll the edge of the cloth under and sew around the edge.

Now on to the other side.  Fold over and pin the edges down. Now since I was working with a thicker material I cut out a small square in each corner so it would lie a bit flatter but is not a technique needed if using thinner fabric. Once pinned down sew it down.

Once done step back  and enjoy. 

So here after all the bogs of history of patches is a do it yourself. Hope you enjoyed and found it useful.

"Oh Captain, My Captain. "

After yesterday's tragic news I have postponed my choice for this weeks blog to look back at inspiration. I remember watching Dead Poets Society in high school,  and then again in college. I was not only inspired by Robin Williams' performance but from the moment the students pulled out the pages to the last moment when the students stood up for him. From that moment on I wanted to inspire every student who crossed my path. I wanted to teach very was the easy way out, poems fed the soul, and unconventional may not be always accepted but it makes you strong.

So I set out on the conventional education path, I decided on secondary education. I took the classes, did the observation hours, and after one internship in the National Park I came to the proper realization I was on the wrong/right path. Yes, I needed to teach, yes I needed to show the world what history was, but not in a classroom. I had learned too much outside the classroom. Now I am not discrediting what I had learned from so many of my teachers and for them I am thankful. Yet it was the unconventional learning that has been equally important to getting me where I am right now.

You have read some of my exploits, from learning to sew, to learning to knit, I was on a strange path. My dad taught me how to fix my own car and that was something I could never learn in school. There was nothing outside my reach when I was learning outside the classroom. From the moment I stepped into the museums and parks the world was my oyster and I wanted to give that to someone else.

At my job I teach history teaching anywhere from 1 to 400 students of all ages everyday. I teach by telling, I teach by doing, and I teach by asking. Some days people walk up just wanting to know what the houses walls are made of, or what I am growing. Some days they want to know my life story and everyday I give them my best understanding of the answer. I stumble, I joke and I pause because that is what history is. Why do we try to approach learning in a happy little box when life isn't? I have seen people who spent there whole lives confused about something they learned in elementary school get it in 5 minutes after talking to my coworkers and I.

So here is to the unconventional, thank you Captain for teaching us that laughter is the best medicine and very is the easy way out.

Give us this day our daily bread

On Sunday as I put away the chickens at work I walked toward the bake houses and was faced with a glorious smell, the smell of baking bread. I can't even describe it but when I smell it pours into every sense. The smell brings cheer, the sight as it comes out of the oven, the sound as we tap it on the bottom to be sure that it is done, the feel of its crust and weight in your hand and the best part the taste of it as you take a bite of that heavenly bread. It is a part of our everyday life and though many do not eat it any more for one reason or another what it has meant to history is just as important.

Flour made from wheat, barley, rye, certain kinds of corn and other grains have been being made into bread. Credit for domesticating wheat has been given to Western Asia. From there it moved west. Somewhere someone, most sources claim Egypt, thought while chewing it "I wonder what would happen if I beat it? What if I make it into a paste and bake it?" During this process eventually liquid bread or beer was made.

Top left: cheat bread made with wheat and flint corn flour, one slice fried in vinegar.  Bottom left: cheat bread dough. Right: cheat bread with butter.

Bread and beer were so essential to life, when the table was set the first things put on the table were salt, bread and beer if available.  Bread would be cooked once a week. A housewife would bake enough loaves to last and by the end of the week it would be quite stale. To remedy this a housewife might fry it in oil or butter, and vinegar. She could also put a dish of something on top and let the juices seep into the bread.

Flint corn bread made with the grits of the corn, salt and flour of the corn. 

It's nutritional importance is recognized through time. In prisons, prisoners would be forced to survive on bread and water. Enough, by today's standards, to keep you alive but not enough to keep up your strength for long. In the bible it is mentioned in different chapters. The Lord's Prayer says "Give us this day our daily bread." In the New Testament Jesus says to his disciples "Eat this bread, a symbol of my body, eat it in memory of me." In the Old Testament bread is mentioned in the laws of passover, and other services. Even today from the grinding of the flour to baking of the bread it is still part of our language.  The head of the house is the bread winner. When we are "milling around", we are waiting for our flour for our bread. "Nose to the grind stone" we are making sure we don't set fire to our flour, so we can bring home the flour.

Grinding corn in a stone ground water mill.

So here is to the substance that feeds our daily needs. I think I will go make a sandwich.