Creating a Colonial Virginia Patriotic Nativity Set

 I've been collecting nativities for many years when I go to foreign countries, but then I realized I'd been living in Virginia for 11 years and didn't have a nativity to represent my own state. I even have an Amish nativity from Pennsylvania and one from Alaska, but not one from my adopted state of Virginia. I haven't seen one for sale, so a few years ago I decided to make one for myself. 

I've been collecting ideas, but never took the time to actually sit down and create it since I didn't have a deadline to force me to start. THIS WAS THE YEAR! I decided to make a colonial Virginia nativity set, using only red, white and blue for the colors to make it patriotic. It was a no-brainer to have the three wise men be George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who are all from Virginia. 

It took hours and hours, since I'm not an artist, to come up with the designs I was happy with and with figures who were in the positions I wanted them to be in. It was a tedious process. After I completed the line drawings, I had to cut out tiny fabric pieces to get each figure made as I'd envisioned it in my head. Each figure was so small, I had to find accessories that were itty-bitty enough to be buttons, ribbons, lace, etc.

I wanted the wise men to be holding different gifts than usual. It was easy to figure out to have Thomas Jefferson holding the Declaration of Independence, and to have James Madison hold a copy of the Constitution. It was harder to decide what to be George Washington's gift. I decided to have him hold the purple heart medal, since it has his image on it and it's a battle award.

This represents the work I put into each figure. After I made each one, Kent cut out the shape with thin wood for me to mount the fabric on.

I did research to see what traditional clothing would be like for everyday people, which were represented by Joseph, Mary and the shepherd.  For the American flag below I used my Silhouette machine to cut out tiny little stars.

A close up of just Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. I purchased the house frame and inserted scrapbook paper in the back to look like planks. It would have been fairly simple to build the stable but it was nice to have the first one to use as a pattern.

A close up of each figure. the shepherds crook is made of cork so it's a bit 3D.

Thomas Jefferson. The buttons are tiny brads and I used my Silhouette to cut out the gold shoe buckles.

James Madison

                 

George Washington. I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the very small profile on the purple heart.

I used white embroidery floss for the horses' mane, gold ribbon trim on the blanket, and used my handy dandy Silhouette to cut out the GW initials.

Last, but not least, is Martha Washington as the angel.

I hope I can find a way to reproduce this and be able to sell it sometime in the future.

**UPDATE:  In March of 2022 I received a copyright on this design, so the way is clear to try to mass produce it.