So You Want to be a WAVES Reenactor

So you want to be a WAVES reenactor. How do you start building an impression? Where do you get your uniform? What do you need to get started? What are some basic resources? This blog post, along with the rest of my summer WAVES series, will help you get started.

How to Build an Accurate WAVES Living History Impression.

Before we dive in, let me start by saying this as a bit of a disclaimer. I won't lie to you, or try and sugar coat things. Building a WAVES impression, or any women's WWII military impression for that matter, is NOT CHEAP. Before you buy anything, I urge you to do tons of research, ask lots of questions and shop around. (It took me nearly three years to track down all the pieces I needed for the standard blue uniform.) Unlike other women's WWII impressions, no one is reproducing WAVES uniforms. That means almost everything you need for your uniform will be the real deal. (I see this as both good and bad, but more on that later.) It means tracking down a uniform that not only is your size, but also in good enough condition to be worn. These items are 70+ years old after all!

A full uniform, i.e. the standard blue jacket (sometimes called a tunic) and matching skirt, hat, tie, and blouse can cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to $350. Add shoes (vintage or repro) and the purse and you are talking another $200 easily. (I've seen the purses alone sell between $100 and $300 depending on the seller and condition of the purse.) For some reason the prices on Ebay for WAVES items have sky rocketed in recent years! Some of the most sought after pieces, such as the seersucker uniforms and the summer whites, have sold for ridiculous prices. This is where shopping around, networking with others in the know, and setting yourself a budget can be really helpful. Don't despair, because in time the right pieces will find you!!

- - I don't say any of this to scare people away from the impression, I just want to be as honest and upfront as I can. I hate seeing new people in the hobby spend their hard earned money on incorrect items or things that just can't be used. Don't fear! There ARE ways that you can portray a WAVE that won't break the piggy bank. - -

So, let's get started!!

Source - Photo #: 80-G-40624 WAVES recruiting activities
Ensign May Herrmann talks to two young women concerning enlistment in the Navy Women's Reserve, at the Officer Procurement office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 30 October 1942.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Source - Photo #: 80-G-40692 "WAVES and SPARS Day", New York City
New WAVES and SPARS take the oath of enlistment in a ceremony held in front of New York City Hall, 8 February 1943.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Source - Photo #: NH 95372 Navy WAVES training school, Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Newly-arrived WAVES recruits pose for a group portrait at the school, before the arrival of their uniforms, January 1943.
Shirley Feldstein (Bell) is 3rd from right in the front row, with a white name tag visible on her coat.
She comments, on the reverse of the original print: "We all look like penguins ready for a slide in the snow".
Donation of Shirley Feldstein Bell.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

The easiest and least expensive way to start your WAVES impression is to wear 1940s civilian clothing along with an enlistment pin. The shop Peachy Keen sells them for a few dollars. (They also sell a bunch of other cool stuff so be sure to look through the whole shop!) If you have an interest in WWII reenacting, chances are you already have a basic 1940s outfit. If not, start with a pair 1940s style high waist pants or an A line skirt and a basic 1940s blouse. Add some basic accessories and you are on your way!

If you sew, I highly recommend Wearing History's Smooth Sailing Togs. Go with the e-pattern if you are really on a budget. A simple, but well put together civilian outfit, with a handful of period correct accessories, will take you a long way and will work for many WWII era living history impressions.

By adding a WAVES enlistment pin, you can portray a new WAVES recruit on your way to basic training while you continue your research and save up for those first uniform pieces!

Smooth Sailing Trousers (shown with Smooth Sailing Blouse AND Blouse from Sailor Girl Playsuit)
Sports Togs Paper Pattern: http://wearinghistory.clothing/smooth-sailing-1930s-sports-togs-pattern/
Epattern:
Sports Togs A: http://wearinghistory.clothing/e-pattern-size-pack-a-smooth-sailing-1930s-sports-togs-pattern/
Sports Togs B: http://wearinghistory.clothing/e-pattern-size-pack-b-smooth-sailing-1930s-sports-togs-pattern/

Pins available through Peachy Keen

Shoes and blouses are the easiest places to save a few pennies. Look around on Ebay and Etsy for good deals on vintage shoes but also check your local antique shops, thrift shops and flea markets. Places like Amazon offer basic black oxfords at lower prices but watch the height and shape of heels as many are not period correct. However, if you can grab a basic, so-so correct pair for say, $25 or $30 do it. You can always upgrade later. WAVES shoes, worn with everything except the white uniform, should be a plain black lace up oxford style with low heeled (1" to 1 /12") and closed toe. Though some women wore privately purchased shoes that had a small amount of perforations (decoration), try is go as plain as possible. The standard issued shoes were plain, and yes, kind of ugly.

The best option on the market right now for reproduction oxfords are the O.A.O. Oxfords from All Heels on Duty. The are a direct copy of WWII women's military footwear, are solidly made, and super comfortable. These will serve you well for everyday vintage wear as well as both your 1940s civilian and military impressions. (I hear their next style will be the military heeled pumps!!)

Imaging showing a WAVE polishing her standard issued oxfords.

Style A is want you want to look for, though a slightly lower heel would be good. Image from Glamourdaze

White cotton blouses (worn with both the blue and white WAVES uniforms) can be long or be short sleeved, with a yoke if possible, and free of any kind of trim or embellishments. The most important thing for the blouses is the collar shape. It should be pointed and the blouse must button at the neck to allow it to be worn with the tie.

Early war ties for the WAVES are two pieces and button at the sides of the neck under the collar. You can add these buttons to a new blouse in a flash. Another thing to keep in mind if you are on a tight budget is that your reproduction white blouse and shoes can double for civilian wear! Score!

Blouse from Nudeedudee on Etsy

Notes on Sewing Your Own Uniforms

There are no patterns on the market for WAVES uniforms, though a highly skilled seamstress can draft patterns from originals.

As these are military uniforms, the materials used and construction details are very specific! Finding the correct materials for the blue wool uniforms and the cotton seersucker uniforms will be challenging but not completely impossible. I highly recommend examining originals (or high res photos) to gather information about the cut/fit and fabrics used. Invest in an original hat (overseas/garrison or soft crown with the WAVES tally), patches for the collar and buttons to complete the look if you are sewing your own inform. These will help immensely with giving an authentic look and feel. You can also take these items with you to fabric stores to help guide your search for fabric. Both the overseas/garrison caps in wool and seersucker, as well as the seersucker rating patches are the same materials as the rest of the uniforms. The blue rating patches for the most part are the same too.

Ordering fabrics online for any sewing project can be frustrating, so I highly recommend ordering fabric swatches first to match the correct color and weave.

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I hope this mini introduction into WAVES uniforms is helpful! Our next WAVES post will cover research materials. Future posts will also go into more detail about uniforms, how they are worn and what to look for when shopping for originals!

Have a research question about the WAVES? Ask away! 

MAAM WWII Weekend 2017 - Pt 2

As promised here is my second post about the Mid Atlantic Air Museum's WWII weekend. This time I thought I would share some fun photos from around our camp. To give you an idea of just how big this event is, have a quick peek at this map of the site.

Part of the US Navy "air station" on Wake Island

Communications bunker on Wake Island

Here is most of our group!

Here are a few shot by Emileigh of Flashback Summer who joined me that weekend.

Our kitchen for the weekend. Three square meals each day, thanks cooke!

Breakfast time!!

I love this one, the guys were having too much fun reading the ads in this 1940s Life Magazine!

Here are a few shots from the French Village. I wish I had taken more but was having so much fun visiting with friends I only took a few.

Watching the vintage planes during the air show portion on the weekend is always a highlight!

That's all for now! Hope you enjoy! :) Be sure to check out Flashback Summer's post for more photos.

French and Indian War Event at Crown Point

My living history hobby began in the 1860s but transitioned back to the 18th century. Then it suddenly jumped forward to the 1940s. Today I find myself attending more 20th century events but I always seem to find my way back to my favorite time period. I have a deep love for the mid 18th century for a number of reasons. I find the history fascinating, it's when America  as a country was really born after all. The clothing is intriguing and enjoyable to both wear and to create. But it was through 18th century living history that I met my husband Cori. We have both made so many life long friends through our crazy hobby.

Photos in this post photos courtesy of Kris Jarrett Photography and Media Production. Thanks Kris! (Kris is also the talented man who took out wedding photos which you can see here and here.)


And who doesn't love a man in a kilt? Cori's main impression for the French and Indian War period is a soldier of the 78th Frasier's Highlanders. This particular regiment, with an impressive record, was formed mostly of former Jacobites. They served with distinction at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758 and again on the Plains of Abraham when the British finally captured Quebec in 1759.

This summer we had the chance to visit one of our favorite locations, Crown Point, for a French and Indian War event. It's right on the shore of Lake Champlain. We were only able to stay for the day but it's also one of our favorite places to camp. After visiting with friends we headed into the old fort for some photos.

Originally the site of the French built Fort St. Frederic, the area was taken over by the British who began building their own fortifications around 1759. The site served as a major base of operations for British forces for the remainder of the the French and Indian Wars. It was also the end point of the famous Crown Point Military Road, which was built through what is now Vermont. Crown Point was occupied by General John Burgoyne's army in 1777 after American forces evacuated Fort Ticonderoga to Mount Independence. The barracks are mostly in ruins today due to fire.

It's was very windy! You can see we needed to hold onto our hats!

I wore my favorite gown. I've posted a few times about this gown, here and here. I also wore my linen and yellow silk mitts.

 And a few silly ones. Because these describe us perfectly. :)

"I'm not touching you!"

Yup, this is us. :)

1940s Blouses by Du Barry

Here is another outfit post from the MAAM WWII weekend. I have more more planned but I'm still waiting on a few photos from a photographer. (I had the opportunity to do a really awesome photo shoot!! I can't wait to share!) Be sure to check out the official event photo gallery, you'll spot a few photos of Cori and I in there if you look carefully. Although I only ending up wearing one, I made myself two new blouses using Du Barry 5172. This is a great little pattern that dates from 1941. I think it's my favorite blouse pattern by far! It incorporates many of those vintage details that I really enjoy.

The sleeves have a set of small pleats at the ends and little pouf shoulder. The front of the blouse is constructed with shoulder yokes and the collar is a simple rounded shape. Another thing I like about this blouse is that instead of being straight from underarm to hem, the blouse is cut to fit the torso. My first blouse was made from a white figured cotton muslin that I purchased on sale from Joann's Fabrics. (Note to self. Gotta get some pictures!) I wanted to trim the white blouse with lace as shown on the pattern envelope but couldn't fine any I liked. The red and white stripe is a cotton fabric that came from my mom's fabric stash.

Photo by Neal Howland

Photo by Neal Howland

Although the pattern doesn't say to, I decided to cut the shoulder yokes and placket for the buttons on the bias. This helped to break up the stripes and add a little more visual interest to the blouse. I had a couple people ask me about working with stripes. I personally really like working with stripes and plaids for some reason. Most of my historical clothing is made using stripes, checks and plaids. (see my cross barred gown.) Stripes can be your best friend or worst enemy. Be patient. I often find that stripes can really be helpful when lining up pattern pieces. It can be fun challenge! Depending on your project you may need to allow for some extra fabric if you are worried about matching up the stripes like I did with my Dorr Mill Hoodie. Pin carefully! Then baste or sew. Craftsy has some good tips here, there are also a few here as well.

My skirt was made using Du Barry 5296. I love this skirt! It has a slim fit and a generous pleat in back for easy of movement. I have a lovely blue and white pin striped wool that I want to use to make the whole suit as shown on the envelope. The blue linen I used was left over from an 18th century frock coat that I made for my brother a few years back. It wrinkles easily but linen is so comfortable to wear especially when the weather is hot! This skirt has become a good vintage basic and mixes and matches well with other items I have. I've worn this skirt about 5 or 6 times now!

For the dance Saturday night I changed into my linen pants (Simplicity 1306) and flats. After wearing heels all day, something I'm not use it, my Bleyer Liddy Hoppers felt like heaven. They are super comfortable dance shoes! I bought mine when I was still in high school and dancing all the time. (Wow, how many years ago now?! Yeah, it's been a few.) Sadly I don't get to do much dancing these days so I'm soooo out of practice. Cori doesn't really dance and the closest swing dance scene is a good 2 hour drive from home. But I did manage to get him out on the dance floor that night, it's a lot of fun dancing to a live band!

One of the official event photographers, Big Bloc Photography LLC, took these photos of us and our friend Max beside the MAAM's B-25J bomber Briefing Time. You can see his complete gallery, along with tons of other great photos from the air show here. I love the Kodachrome coloring! Cori and Max are wearing their 1940s LADP uniforms. They were the only two from the police group able to make it to the airshow this year. We're hoping for a bigger turn out next year.

Outfit Details

Blouse - Made by me, Du Barry 5172

Skirt - Made by me, Du Barry 5296 

Pants - Made by me,  Simplicity 1306

Hat - Tangerine Boutique

Shoes - Wingtips from Blyer

Victory Pin - local antique shop

Photo by Neal Howland

Summary of the Patterns
Fabrics: Cottons for blouses, linen for skirt
Pattern: Du Barry 5172 (blouse) and Du Barry 5296 (skirt)
Year: 1941
Notions: Buttons, thread, and snaps, zipper and matching lace hem tape for skirt
How historically accurate is it? Pretty darn good! Cotton is perfect for the blouses. I don't know how popular linen was used for clothing but it's what I had and I love it.
Any tricky parts to the pattern? The button holes for the blouses. I dislike them but I'm getting better the more I do.
Did you change anything? Surprisingly, no. Both patterns went together very well. I had some fitting issues with the waist of the skirt but nothing major.
Time to complete: About a four hours for each blouse including buttons and button holes. About the same for the skirt
First worn: June 2014
Total cost: About $6 for each pattern, less then $10 for the white fabric. Buttons, striped fabric and linen fabric from the stash.
Notes: Linen does wrinkle easily but it's so comfortable especially when the weather is hot. I love this skirt and need to make another!

WWII Airshow and a Yellow Suit for 1942

This spring I've been sewing like a mad woman. Between participating in sew a-longs (see my Spring for Cotton blouse here) and getting ready for the big WWII airshow in Reading, PA, I've accomplished a lot! I've been making a healthy dent in the fabric stash as well as my personal vintage pattern sewing pledge. Over the next two weeks I'll be sharing several of these projects.

Photo courtesy of Joanna of Dividing Vintage Moments

While I love my true vintage items, I feel it's important to add more reproduction items to my vintage wardrobe, especially for living history events. Being outside in all kinds of weather and moving around all day can put a lot of stress on a vintage garment. Sweat and sunscreen are also bad for older fabrics. So in preparation for the airshow, like a true crazy person, hauled out my stash of patterns and fabrics and set to work.

The Mid Atlantic Air Museum WWII weekend is an outstanding event. If you enjoy history, cool military vehicles and WWII era aircraft, you must go! This year was the 25th anniversary of the airshow and it did not disappoint. One of the highlights was seeing Fifi, the only remaining B-29 bomber still in flying condition, as well as 2 of the 3 remaining B-24s still flying! As a re-enactor I planned to be at the airshow all three days. I knew I wanted to make things that would be comfortable, always key, but also were true to the styles of the war years. I have a lot of 1940s patterns, (shocking!) some I know date between 1940-45 (thank you McCall and Du Barry for including copyright dates!) but others I'm less sure about. My crazy goal was to make things I could pin point to between 1938 and 1944. Below are the patterns I selected. I made two new blouses with Du Barry 5172. (dated 1942), a skirt from Du Barry 5296 (dated 1941), and a suit using Du Barry 5371 (dated 1942). I rounded out my wardrobe for the weekend with the blouse and slacks I made last year and a jacket made from 2823. I brought the Red Birds dress with me too thinking I would wear it for the hanger dance Saturday night but ended up wearing my slacks instead.

Today's post is about the yellow suit as that's what I wore the first day. The yellow crepe for this suit was left over from my Winter Formal Dress made from Simplicity1469.  I received several nice compliments while wearing this. But this suit was so bright outside in the sunlight, yikes! Particularly when standing beside so many drab green military vehicles and tents. I pin curled my hair the day before and brushed it out in the morning. It looked pretty good for the first hour or so but after that the curls went flat. Too much humidity in the air I guess. By the end of the day it was so hot that I said the heck with it and pinned my hair into a messy bun just to get if off the back of my neck. At least my victory rolls lasted all day! My decision to pair the suit with red shoes and a blue hat came from the same newspaper article I used for my recent spring photo contest.

My hair still looking half way decent in the morning.

Du Barry 5371 is dated 1942. The skirt is a classic 5 panel skirt. The jacket can be made with long or short sleeves with or without trim. One of the things I really like about this suit is the mock blouse, or dicky, that is attached to the jacket. This could easily be changed out with one of a different color or style to create a completely new look. Other then fiddling with the waist/hip size of the skirt, the only change I made was to add additional snaps to the end of the dicky. I found it to be a touch too short and didn't want to stay tucked into the front of the skirt. A few extra snaps to the bottom of it and the inside of the waistband of the skirt helped keep everything together. The buckle I used is a vintage one from my stash. The color is a shade darker then the jacket trim but I still like it. I may need to let the jacket out just a touch where it sits at the waist/hips so it sits a little more smoothly. Overall this suit went together pretty quickly. The most time consuming part was attaching the red bias tape trim. One side is sewn using the machine but the other side is hand tacked to the inside.

The untrimmed jacket and a peak at my messy sewing area.

Attaching the red bias trim.

Photo by Neal Howland

Blogger photo op!! Look who I finally had the chance to meet! The wonderful Joanna from Dividing Vintage Moments!! It was great to meet someone I've come to know through the world of vintage blogging. And look at her suit! Isn't it fantastic!?! We made such a colorful pair. Joanna's husband kindly snapped a few photos as proof of our meeting. Maybe next year we can organize another meeting with other vintage bloggers. (I'm looking at you Miss Emileigh! ;) )

Photo courtesy of Joanna of Dividing Vintage Moments

Photo courtesy of Joanna of Dividing Vintage Moments

Outfit Details

Suit - Made by me, Du Barry 5371

Jacket - Morning Glorious Vintage

Hat - Tangerine Boutique

Shoes - red pair from Etsy, brown pair are repros from Dancestore.com

Stockings - Trailer Park Flamingos

Pins - Victory pin from Ebay, flowers by 1940s Style for You

Photo by Neal Howland

Summary of the Pattern
Fabric: Mustard/yellow crepe from discount fabric store
Pattern: Du Barry 5371
Year: 1942
Notions: Zipper, snaps, red bias tape, vintage buckle
How historically accurate is it? Very! The crepe is very close to dresses of the period and the trim was inspired by the pattern artwork.
Any tricky parts to the pattern? I had some fitting issues with the skirt when it came to attaching the waistband but was finally able to work those out. I think that was more on my (rear) end and not so much the pattern. :P
Did you change anything? Other then sizing I just added a few extra snaps
Time to complete: About a week and a half working during the evenings.
First worn: June 5, 2015 at the MAAM WWII weekend
Total cost: Around $30, although this is the second outfit made using this fabric so in reality it's closer to $15
Notes: Overall very happy with how this turned out! Next time I'll make the dicky a touch longer.