... if we'd still had this car to take to the movies last night! I could have stood on the runningboard with the Tommy gun and totally gotten myself arrested. Because I assume they frown on that kind of thing. ;)

Enjoy a prom picture from *cough*1997*cough* and a couple other blasts from the past of DH. (teehee, hair!)

We had a good time tonight. I enjoyed the film and the crowd was almost quiet, except for someone who seemed to have their phone set to "bloop" every 20 minutes. It wasn't very crowded, being Wednesday, but it was a fairly good turnout. I thought the costumes and sets were well done, and DH complimented the gunshot sound effects.

If I had to make one negative statement to the director, it would be, "Shove the shaky cam up your ass." Someday, people are going to look back on the early 2000s and wonder what we* were thinking.

*"We" in the way that everyone alive in the 1970s shares some of the responsibility for avacado-colored appliances. ;)

I thought the acting and the pacing was good and I enjoyed a lot of the casting choices.

( Potential spoilers )

We got dressed up, but I ended up wearing the knit outfit instead of the dress I'd been altering. Our outfits were cobbled together from stuff we had around already. DH's pants aren't wide-legged enough and my black accessories kind of clash, but whatever. I imagine 99% of the population wouldn't notice the numerous issues with our appearance. Pics:

( Dangerous characters )

How much trouble do you think it would be to move a two-story log home 120 miles? :D

I found a house that's going to be auctioned with the requirement that it be removed. It's just what I want! The other cabin I was looking longingly at (which you may remember me posting about) finally sold. I can't afford this either, but it's fun to dream.

*****
Got my tickets for Public Enemies tonight. I still haven't made up my mind what I want to wear. Long flowery dress that I posted or 1970s knit sweater/skirt combo that reminds me of Bonnie (of Bonnie & Clyde) for some reason? I'd go with the knit combo just because I like it better if I had a hat that really matched it. I have a great hat for the dress, but the overall appearance is more frumpy than I'd like. DH voted for the knit, so that's influencing me too.

*****
A group here in town has gotten together an event to take place tomorrow called Patriot Day. I only learned of it recently, but I spoke with the organizer and she was excited to have DH and me attend in period clothes. She wants it to be a real reenacting-type event, but this initial excursion was put together with rather short notice. Hopefully I can work with her to improve it for next year. Anyway, I'm excited that something even vaguely history-related is happening in my town!

*****
Still working on my new, more practical stays. I came to a halt as 1930s stuff took precedence, but hopefully Thursday's event will reawaken my 18th century mojo. I also have some beautiful linen that is to be my working-class gown, someday.

*****
I have come to the conclusion that I'm just not going to be on LJ regularly for the foreseeable future. I keep missing a week, catching up on two or three days and then starting the process all over again. These events will give me something to post about over the next few days, but then I'll probably disappear again, sorry.

A lady I know just acquired the most unusual doll costume I have ever seen. We both thought that it must represent an ethnic/regional costume, but I have no idea what region that might be. We guessed everthing from India to Ukraine to Native American, but researching it has proven harder than I thought.

I pulled out Taschen's The Complete Costume History, confidently believing that I'd find the answer in its beautifully illustrated (if confoundingly captioned) pages. No such luck. Nothing matches all the elements of this strange costume.

I assume the costume is late 19th/early 20th century from the textiles. Also, my acquaintance was told the costume was found on a wax doll, which should put it firmly in the 19th century. The petticoat is made from red velvet/velveteen; the bodice from a purple fabric which is either flocked or burnout velvet; and the cape from the flocked fabric and black wool. The cape, neckpiece, apron, sleeves and pocket are all decorated with micro beads. There are also some convex gold-colored spangles and some *tiny* spangles that are either partially translucent or badly tarnished. The workmanship is amazing, especially in the binding of the edges of the cut-outs.

We were just guessing that the long piece fringed with gold bullion tied around the neck. I don't actually know where it goes, but it is the only place it seems to fit.

( Pictures of this fascinating costume, plus a couple of Taschen's illustrations )

Does anything about this unsual costume ring a bell with anyone? Or do you know of a community or website or book that could possibly shed some light on this? I consider myself a good internet searcher, but I've just hit a wall unless I can come up with some better keywords.

In trying to find more primary accounts of 18th c. clothing, I searched Google Books. I found Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, which was written in 1830 (if I'm understanding the title page correctly) and contains some retrospective articles. These were recorded from aged local's reminisces and contain some editorial elements so they should probably be taken with a grain of salt, but there are still some interesting references.

Does anyone have any idea what "hollow-breasted stays" are?


My grandmother wore a black velvet mask in winter with a silver mouth-piece to keep it on, by retaining it in the mouth. I have been told that green ones have been used in summer for some few ladies, for riding in the sun on horseback.

Ancient ladies remembered a time in their early life, when the ladies wore blue stockings and party-coloured clocks of very striking appearance.

In the year 1749, I met with the incidental mention of a singular overcoat, worn by captain James as a storm coat, made entirely of beaver fur, wrought together in the manner of felting hats.

Such was the general passion for the longest possible whip of hair, that sailors and boat men, to make it grow, used to tie theirs in eel skins to aid its growth. ??

their [sailors'] "small clothes," as we would say now, were immense wide petticoat-breeches, wide open at the knees, and no longer. About 70 years ago our working men in the country wore the same, having no falling flaps but slits in front; they were so full and free in girth, that they ordinarily changed the rear to the front when the seat became prematurely worn out.

The ladies once wore 'hollow breasted stays,' which were exploded as injurious to the health. Then came the use of straight stays. Even little girls wore such stays. At one time the gowns worn had no fronts; the design wss to display a finely quilted Marseilles, silk or satin petticoat, and a worked stomacher on the waist.— In other dresses a white apron was the mode; all wore large pockets under (I would like to stress the "under" here) their gowns. Among the caps was the 'queen's night cap,'—the same always worn by Lady Washington. The 'cushion head dress' was of gauze stiffened out in cylindrical form with white spiral wire. The border of the cap was called the balcony.

At same time [1765] a stay maker advertises cork stays, whale bone stays, jumps, and easy causkets, thin boned misses' and ladies' stays, and pack thread stays!

From one advertisement of the year 1745, I take the following no unintelligible articles of dress—-all of them presented for sale too, even for the ladies, on Fishburne's wharf, "back of Mrs. Fishbourne's dwelling," to wit: "Tandems, isinghams, nuns, bag and gulix, (these all mean shirting) huckabacks, a figured worsted for women's gowns) quilted humhums, turkettees, grassetts, single allopeens, children's stays, jumps and bodice, whalebone and iron busks, men's new market caps, silk and worsted wove patterns for breechers, allibanies, dickmansoy, cushloes, chuckloes, cuttanees, crimson dannador, chain'd soosees, lemonees, byrampauts, moree, naffermamy, saxlingham, prunelloe, barragons, druggets, florettas," &c, &c.

This was a fun quote:

It having been the object of these pages to notice the change of fashions in the habiliments of men and women from the olden to the modern time, it may be necessary to say that no attempt has been made to note the quick succession of modern changes,—precisely because they are too rapid and evanescent for any useful record.

This past weekend, we visited Blackacre in Louisville for a small event. It's a state nature preserve with a house dating to the 1840s and a barn whose interior dates to the 1790s. There are 171 acres, including several acres of community gardens.

They also have animals including... baby goats!

If you're wondering how my garden is growing, here are some before and after pics.

So far, we've got beans, one tiny green tomato, and the cucumbers are blooming. I noticed today though, that one of my corn plants is tasselling, which I guess is completely wrong since it's only a couple feet tall and has no silks. :(

We've also got (unripe) blackberries!

( Pics )

I don't know what the deal is, but for the past couple of nights, I've had some messed up dreams that have included badminton (I blame that pain reliever commercial I keep seeing), losing my purse/costumes, driving our '67 Comet (which IRL doesn't quite run and has no brakes), picking wild flowers, zombies/ghosts, and staying in a hotel.

Oh, and I had a dream about dancing in a huge hall that was in the back of a Target and filled with emo kids and bobby-soxers. I was feeling bad that I was dressed so crappy in jeans and a t-shirt when suddenly, I was wearing my salmon 1780s gown. I thought to myself, "This can't be possible. I'll ask DH if I'm really wearing this or just imagining it when he comes back from the bathroom."

LOL, I love the little bits of logic that infiltrate the crazy dreams.

***

I have been sewing. Sewing, going to events, gardening: that is my life. I need to post some gardening pics, but I want really impressive "after" pics and some stuff's still looking sparse.

The latest event pics can be seen on my Photostream, but I've only uploaded two from Vincennes because I'm nearly out of room without paying for an account. The two I uploaded are great though! Here's the backstory:

We were standing behind the men during morning colors while they went through weapon checks and blah, blah, blah. I pointed out to one of the girls (E) where there was an ice cream shop not far away. S perks up and says, "Ice cream? Let's go!" We all look nervously around because we're facing the public and colors isn't over yet. I turn around, and S is already sailing away. After a moment more of indecision and watching others trickle away after her, I decide I'm not going to miss out on the fun (or ice cream). I run and catch up and we walk the half a block to find that they aren't open for another half hour! So disappointing. S isn't having any of it, so she presses herself to the plate glass window with a desperate cry, which of course brings the waitress to the door. I'm sure the waitress was suprised by the group of strangely-dressed women and it might be why we were able to convince her to let us in.

Tomorrow is May 29, Restoration Day or Oak Apple Day. Wear your oak leaves to celebrate Charles II's Restoration!

In anticipation of dressing up for "Public Enemies," I've been trying to come up with something suitably late-20s/early-30s. I'd bought fabric and dresses I thought I could work with, but nothing seemed quite right.

I found this dress today and thought it might work for early 30s. I'm making some changes, and I'm really pleased at the way it's coming together. I don't know if I'll end up wearing it or not, but it's a fun project.

	Original front Early 1990s dress from thrift store. I think I already removed the shoulder pads in these pictures.
	Original back
	Making changes I took in the seam under the arm, removed the neckline facing and took up the top shoulder seam (to make up for the shoulder pads). I also shortened the back ties and will fasten them with hooks and eyes. The fabric I removed was repositioned as "ties" at the neckline and the neckline facing was turned backwards to make a collar. The edges will be bound with bias tape.

As mentioned here, I shortened the bodice by an inch at the sides and more than an inch at the center front because it was always riding up. I'm much more short-waisted than the pattern. I also modified the petticoat which had been pleated to accomodate the panniers.

Here is is before:



And here it is after:

I decided I needed a black straw hat, so I dyed a hat blank with some Rit. I also found a placemat with funky straw trim that I also dyed and added to my hat. I was skeptical of the dying process because it took quite a while for the dye to really take, but I got a very good black I think. I want to shellac the hat before wearing it to prevent dye transfer onto my cap, though.

	Hat blank, pre-dying and placemat with trim
	Hat dyed and placemat trim removed, dyed, and added to hat

I had thought about selling my yellow gown and petticoat because they didn't fit quite like I'd like, plus I'd since figured out that the polonaise didn't go with the panniers. I decided to alter it instead. I'm changing the petticoat to fit to my bumroll instead of the panniers and I'm shortening the bodice (it was too long-waisted) as well as fixing the mess I had going on near the center back. This was the first real gown I'd made and I didn't exactly know what I was doing.

	Fixing pleating at CB and shortening bodice (left adjusted)
	shortening bodice (right side adjusted)

We had a great time at Locust Grove despite rain setting in Sunday morning. Quote of the weekend: "You know what I hate about wet canvas? ...Everything."

Friday we arrived in Louisville and went straight to The Irish Rover for lunch/supper because we were starving. Then we went to the Grove and set up our camp. It turned out a group was headed for the Rover, so we joined them and went back for dessert. Mmmm... sticky toffee pudding.

It was unexpectedly cold and we had decided to try to "pack light" so we nearly froze Friday night. Saturday was beautiful, though. There wasn't much in the way of organized activities, but the men formed up a few times, once for a memorial service at George Rogers Clark's (original) grave site.

Many of the women were making use of the kitchen to prepare chicken and dumpling for the evening meal. I stayed out of the way for most of the day (it was crowded with cooks and the public), though I did make myself useful later with the clean-up. I just had a good time going around talking to everyone. It makes such a difference to be at an event where you know people!

Our pitch-in dinner required everyone to bring a dessert, so I ended up eating four desserts, LOL. After that, there was much singing into the night, though not nearly as late as Friday night. By the wee hours of the morning, it started to pour on us. We ended up cutting out early Sunday as a result.

Pics are here.

Here I am again, being neglectful to LJ.

I've been outside every day it isn't raining; digging, raking, planting, sweeping, etc. We've lived here almost 7 years and by God, my yard is finally going to look good! All of the new beds are prepared and partially planted. Once I get them filled in, I'll post some before/after pics. :)

There has been some sewing activity too. The Retro Wrap Dress is basically finished, but it hasn't been warm enough to wear it yet.

My bedgown is finished and I'm making a new striped linen petticoat - we portray French, so it's quite short. Hopefully my ankles distract from other possibly dowdy elements. ;) Our first event of the season is coming up this weekend, so I'll have a chance to give them a trial run!

I've also dyed black a straw hat and some trim I took from a straw placemat, and put them together. I know they had black straw hats in 1785, so I might be fudging it a bit for 1780, but whatever.

One of these days I'll get off my lazy butt and post some pics. :P

I've been absent from LJ for a regrettably long time. Fortunately for me, it's because I've been more motivated and engaged in real life. I'm still plowing through my whole-house clean sweep but now that the weather's warmed up, I'm adding outside chores too.

We've decided to try our hand at some gardening (partly inspired by Tales from the Green Valley) so we've been digging up our yard. I'm making an herb bed, a flower bed and a vegetable bed.

Luckily, we happened upon a book about square foot gardening. Assuming we don't kill everything, we should have a nice variety of vegetables in a small space.

I'll post some pics once things start growing but in the meantime, enjoy my hellebore:

I've really been wanting a coat with nice, full skirts - to the point where I was actually making plans to create one from scratch. I had seen a girl wearing one in London, and I kinda wished I had chased her down to find out if it was something I could acquire.

I don't have to worry about it anymore! I found a beautiful coat at the thrift store.

( Behold )

I'm still working on the retro dress. LOL, I am so not one of those people who crank a project out in a day. Thank Jeebus this pattern was rated "Very Easy" because the bias binding has been kicking my butt. So. Much. Binding. About the only way I can keep it lined up properly is to move at the speed of hand-cranking the machine. I'm going to try to power through it tomorrow and get it finished.

It's meme time!

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Leave your word in a comment before looking at the words others have used.

Copy and paste the meme to your journal to find out how people describe you when limited to one word.


(How is it I don't have a "curious" Jack mood?)

I've been silent but not inactive.

As you may remember, I was transforming this hat, because the size and decoration no longer suited me. I chose a red striped ribbon to decorate the crown, but it still seemed a bit off. After soaking it and shaping it, I think I've got it under control.

( Pics )

I've also made quite a bit of progress on my bedgown (bed gown? I don't know what the spelling is). I used wool flannel for the outer layer and linen for the inside. It was a compromise between staying warm for cold-weather events and keeping cool for hot events, and will probably not do either very well. :P It was kind of an experiment anyway, and the next one I make will have some changes.

( Progress pics )

In addition, I've also actually been working on something I can wear everyday! I decided to tackle a retro Butterick pattern (since it was rated "Very Easy"). I hope to finish it in a timely manner because I plan to turn around and make another just like it in a different fabric.

( More progress pics )

If that's not enough, I'm also making plans to buy, sew, borrow or steal (well, maybe not the last two) 1920s-30s outfits for DH and me. In the most round-about way I could approach this problem, I decided to draft a pattern for 1890s men's pants in an effort to learn about pants-making. I was using the Cutter's Practical Guide and I was doing well on the front of the trousers, but the directions for drafting the back became completely inscrutable to me. I'm going to have to get someone else to read over them and verify if I'm insane or if the instructions are just missing vital info. Anyway, my plan was to make a custom pattern for DH and extrapolate a 1920s look from that. We'll see how this goes...

What with the power interruption and all, I never posted about the ball we went to on January 24.

We had a really good time. I enjoyed the called dances and seeing everyone's outfits. The ball space was nice and there were some snacks - I was impressed by the event because the price was very reasonable.

DH got to wear his new wig and I debuted my portrait miniature. My hair isn't completely accurate I'm sure, but it was the best we could do with the materials at hand. ;)

My pics are here and you can see more of other people's costumes at the museum's account here.

In other news, I'm back to work on my bed gown and I've got the pieces cut out and one underarm gusset installed in the lining.