New 17th C sampler patterns

Ordered Five new charts for exceptional historic 17th Century samplers from The Scarlet Letter. Some are for their patterns, one is for its historical significance, and one is for its relation to my family history (supporters of the Stewart/Stuart cause). As you can see, I love band samplers, and these will keep me going for a while. Once samplers changed to teaching devices for young girls- rather than being records of patterns - both the variety of stitches and the quality declined, so that by the mid 19th Century, they were almost entirely in cross-stitch and some quite crude, both in design and execution. I much prefer the breath-taking intricacy of these from the 'Golden Age of Samplers'.

Elizabeth Paine


Joanna Warren



The Pattern Record

The Boscobel Oak
This historic sampler from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge not only has lovely patterns, but depicts symbols associated with Charles Stuart and the English Civil War. As the blurb from The Scarlet Letter says 'The large oak tree in the lower-most panel contains three gold crowns, an obvious reference to the oak tree in the grounds of Boscobel House in Shropshire where Charles II was hidden after fleeing the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The local people assisted him in his escape, which explains the figure of the hunter saluting the tree. '


ER-IT
'Circa 1680... The upper section of the sampler exhibits spot motifs, more often found on samplers of the early 17th century. Hearts, stars, mazes, berries, concealed Stuart symbols, done in a wide variety of stitches characterize this section. Below that are floral and geometric pattern bands, including a row with two wonderful leering little boxers presenting flowers.'

Farb

My eldest, Percival, is going to compete in longsword at Valhalla Faire in South Lake Tahoe this weekend, so we are making it a road trip. It's rather a scramble, as we found out on Sunday that it was THIS weekend. So needed to find accommodation, bunny-sitter, gather food, and so on. And Percival needs a new pair of breeks. Didn't think of that a Yuletide. Drat. So I'm rather busy for the next few days. Anyway, the breeks are something like this Polyvore Costumes:

But fuller. He's a swordsman, so cannot be poncing about in Court breeches or schlepping about in slops (think ginormous sailor trousers).

As for me, I haven't worked a Faire in yonks, nor even gone, I'm afraid, so I am doing what the childer always do and putting stuff together from my closet. Oh yes. I go to fancy dress parties from my closet. People say 'WHERE did you GET that?' and I say 'These are my clothes....' erm.... I DO have some anxiety about being a farb - inappropriately dressed in pseudo period costume - because I am a costumer, but it can't be helped at short notice. in truth I would be anxious about it unless I had spent weeks making period appropriate garb. Always was.

So many people have asked, when I use the word, what 'farb' or 'farby' means and where it came from. What it means they get from context - attire or accoutrements which excite snarky remarks from re-enactors - but the origin of the word is somewhat up for grabs. It first appeared in the early days of 'Civil War re-enacting' (War Between The States, or the Late Unpleasantness, in our down home environs) in the 1960s. Some say it is from the German for 'colour' (farbre), others that it derives from 'Far BE it from ME to comment on your Period Inappropriate [fill in blank]'. I think the German origin is probably stretching it, but we shall never really know. Anyway, as you can see, being farby is a very bad thing.

Friends don't let friends be farbs, and all that. (Got the t-shirt.)
Why else would one spend countless hours handsewing linen, wool, silk, in period correct manner, if not to avoid the dreaded F word?
Not ever for love of history and detail, perchance.

Robe de Style: Skirt fitting

Have progressed - with several other projects in between - to fitting the pannier skirt. It is cartridge pleated, and arranged in the manner of 18th C.  and New Look Skirts - with the fullness over the hips, not across the stomach or backside. The seams were machine sewn with edges turned under. The gathering and application is all by hand.

Front

Side Placket

Back

Side Back

My daughter Bridgie refers to this as my Fairy Princess dress.... That wasn't my intention, but it does bear a strong resemblance to Disney Princess gowns, because Walt used those silhouettes. I'm trying not to make this mean I can't wear it; it's meant for the opera or other such occasions.

Robe de Style: Bodice

Got to work on the bodice today, after altering an overcoat for my daughter Brigid.... Something I never thought I would do! The bodice is very basic and so went together quickly, with the lining and shell sewn in assembly-line fashion by machine. The neckline is undersewn on the lining side and will have lace seam tape later after the neck ornamentation is done on the shell.

The hooks will go on the left side, so, that side seam is sewn two inches from the armscye.

The sleeves took a deal of time. The embroidered net was first fitted to the sleeve, gathered at the top, then basted. The sleeve underarm sleeve was then sewn and the sleeves handsewn into the armscye, with pleats at the top rather than gathers. The pleats were sewn with backstitches, the rest with a running stitch with a backstitch every few stitches. This is all very 18th Century technique- of which working with the silk reminded me. There was NO way I was going to try to cram this delicate fabric into the machine! Hand-sewing gives much greater control of the layers. No unpleasant surprises.

My idea with the sleeve capes was to tend toward the bertha, which was a favourite neckline treatment in the 1920s; also to use up the bits of fabric I cut from the skirt panels. Robes de style often had puffed sleeves of various kinds, and these sleeve caps are very puffed. The sleeve underneath is not tight-fitted, but semi-fitted, and will eventually have an inverted pleat at the bottom and be finished with lace seam tape.

The silk was lovely to work with, and it was a pleasant way to while away the day. I literally looked up and thought, 'how did it get to be teatime?!' This is how you know the your work is True Play.

I plan to work on the neckline ornamentation this evening; it's all fiddly antique buttons and gilt gimpe, ala Waterhouse's Ophelia, which I look at every day, hanging as it is in the loo.

Update: The ornamentation at the neckline is finished.

The gilt gimpe  is from a doublet for Percival last Christmas, the rhinestone buttons from my former hubs' grandmother's button box, and the pearls are from Bridgie's First Communion dress. Yes, I do save all those bits and bobs of oddments, 'because you never know when they will come in useful.'

Robe de Style: the other 1920s dress

I finally cut out my blue dress!
Was supposed to wear it tomorrow (Easter, to go with my 'Queen Mum' vintage hat from Macy's), but that clearly isn't happening.

It took me five hours to cut it out (making the muslin, fitting, taking apart, re-fitting, finally cutting the silk and the embroidered net.) Somebody - I think it was on Your Wardrobe Unlock'd - said that it's all in the cutting - the make or break of a garment - and I agree. NOBODY is  like a pattern except the dressmakers' dummies, and the fitting muslin often looks pretty weird. All I can say is, Thank God for the sloper I made, and for Jeanne, my modèle de modiste; those two together make the world of difference... oh and the cutting table, of course. If I had to crawl around o n the floor doing this, or have everything half hanging off the dining table I'd give up. I LIKE handsewing and sitting like a tailor in the window - shades of a pastlife in London? - I like cutting and fitting, I could do it all day and never tire, but  the physical comfort of the job means a lot.

My version is very modest, with a scoop neck and short sleeves. Mme. Lanvin used to make them up for all ages of women and the older the woman the higher the neckline and longer the sleeves. But it's abundant with embroidered net - the genesis of the project - antique buttons, ribbon flowers, and charm. The main fabric is from a bolt of turquoise tussah silk I got for an 18th Century gown and never made, because the gig was canceled, I have now used it for two dresses, and have enough leftover for a combing jacket, if not a dressing gown. The original late 18th Century gown was supposed to be a robe a la Francaise for maternity, which is why the enormous amount of fabric.

I have decided that Americans do not have waists because I have to not only take off a bunch at the sides, but make EVERYTHING a cuirass waist (like in the bustle period and 50s, where 'straight' lines - centre front etc. - are actually curved to fit the body. The patterns also have WAY too much ease. This is an old Laura Ashley pattern - it was the nearest shape - and it was originally cut for a size 6; it is still cut for a size 6 - 23 years later, but with 1/2" rather than 5/8" seams, even though I've got a good ten pounds on those days. AND I still had to curve the front side seams! As I recall, it was pretty loose from the underbust to the high hip, but it was for a day dress, so I didn't care. This dress, I care. I'm making it to fasten at the left side, as was correct, rather than zip up the back as the pattern calls for. I could have it zip up the side, but I don't want to. Hooks.

All the foufy bits - the embroidered net et al - is what makes it and it would be easy to go overboard - I had to reign myself in from expanding on my original design. I hope this will be worthy of Mme. Lanvin.

Will post photos as I go along. Did not post of the fiddly fitting and cutting because you all know about that.

ABC's of me...

Form courtesy of Margaret (click on name) at Margaret's Blog.

A - Age: 48
B - Bed size: Double. Single
C - Chore you hate: washing up the dishes. it was my chore as a child. Actually, I just hate the idea.
D - Dog's name: no dog. HAD a collie named MacTavish...
E - Essential start of the day item: TEA!
F - Favorite color: Green, no red, no...augh... Seriously, Green
G - Gold or Silver: Gold - preferably old
H - Height: 5'3"
I - Instruments you play: keyboard, guitar, harp, recorder, mountain dulcimer
J - Job: Administrative Assistant
K - Kids: 3 lovely grown people
L - Living arrangements: Single, with bunny
M - Music you love: Folk, bluegrass, classic rock, classical, historical
N - Nicknames: 'Apple blossom' (grandmother), Kell (never asked anyone to call me this, they just do, everyone does.)
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: preemie, tonsilitis, bone spur, babies
P - Pet Peeve(s): 'Cutesy' Oirish songs (e.g. Danny Boy etc. My birthday is St. Patrick's, can you say shamrocks?); petty bureaucracy whose sole purpose is to perpetuate itself.
Q - Quote from a movie: 'Did it not seem real? Did it not seem like the old days?' -From Ken Burns 'The Civil War' - okay, so it's a dicumentary.
R - Right handed or left: both
S - Siblings: 2 sisters, one deceased
T - Time you wake up: 6 AM
U - Underwear: Vintage
V - Vegetable you dislike: parsnips
W - Workout Style: yoga, gardening, hiking, climbing, English country dance. Not into gyms. Really not.
Y - Yummy food you make: Brit and Southern cuisine comfort food.
X - XRAYS you've had: broken all of my fingers and toes at one time or another (not all at once, DG)
Z - The best place to visit: Switzerland, British Isles. Mountains and forests.
 
Sned me your answers! I won't share them unless you want me to publish them as a comment

Fascinators

Okay, clue, people: in the States we call them 'cocktail hats' - hence to be worn during the drinks party hours (roughtly 6-8 PM), therefore NOT at Ascot, a wedding (yours or someone else's), a funeral, etc. And they should be complete on their own, not a little tiny hat - e.g. a topper - with netting because that just makes you look an idiot. Also they should not be a crumpet sized bit of stuff with feathers, etc, because that also  makes you look an idiot. Why are you wearing a child's toy on your head? They should be roughly head-sized (think 50s hats that went over the crown) - and may be gaudily trimmed, but DO try to keep the 3 ft feathers to a minimum, darling. Oh, and a splodge of feathers that make you look like a frightened turkey is not better, the Duchess of Cornwall notwithstanding. Just because something is made doesn't mean that it is attractive or in good taste or that one should wear it.

Addendum: It occurs to me that some of the confusion about fascinators is that hair ornaments are often worn in the evening as well. For your evening hair arrangement, take whatever gew-gaws you may have had on your hat or fascinator and stick them on combs, a band or hairpins. Flowers, feathers, beaded or even real jewelled thingies. Well, maybe not all of them. A few. Hair ornaments should not be worn during the day unless you are under five years of age, or a hippie.

Update 21 Apr 11 - My daughter Brigid and I went down to Britex in Union Square in San Francisco (it's actually North of us... is like 'going down to London'?) and when we were on the Trims and Notions floor, she said - with no prompting from me, I assure you - that she 'should make some fascinators'. Now, she's very artistic, with a very good eye. I encouraged her, for I think she could make a bomb (for my non BrE friends, that's a good thing, not an incendiary device.)

The King's Speech, Sartoria, Loungwear and the Disintegration of Civilisation

I was SO pleased to see The King's Speech (and Colin Firth!) win last night at the Oscars!

 Over and over again I return to the Queen Mum as an example of How To  Be (Dress) - One of my favourite quotes is from her 'If you're going to play the part, you have to dress the part'. In looking at the often inappropriate range of clothing at this grand event, I was thinking  last night on the categories of dress semi formal day, formal day (morning), formal evening, and while there are descriptions galore for men, there are very few for women, unless you look up Emily Post! Finally, in something like despair, I thought 'oh heck! Just wear what  Lilibet and the Queen Mum wear/wore!'  (You'll notice that Cate Blanchett and Helen Mirren looked wonderful and appropriate. Of course they did; being British ladies.)

 I love to remind people that she was not always a podgy 'Grannie', nor even a well-upholstered matron of the Hartnell-Cecil Beaton vintage, but  a fetching 'Scottish Lass'.

In looking for some nice '30s piccies of the QM, (see attached) I also found a picture of Hilary (and Chelsea's) hideous fuscia MOB monstrosity (and inappropriate strapless bridal gown). In the Hilary instance - OMG, darling, get a clue. Do not upstage the bride (and DON'T wear white or anything that can be interpreted as white from any distance), dress your age, dress appropriately (it is a ball gown during the day!) and ...just Don't! As for the bride, sleeves, darling.  Sleeves. Power dressing consists of the most covered up person having the most power. Showing it all off on your wedding day makes you look tarty, not glam. Take a leaf from the Windsors and their vavoom bosoms  - cover it up at the wedding. All of them did, Lilibet, Margaret,  Anne. And looked smashing. (And I never thought to say that Anne could look smashing! but I recently saw some period photos in Look or OK!  Wow! She looked like Vanessa Redgrave!)

This from Wiki:
The Queen Mother loved clothes, and in her early years was dressed by Lanvin. In Hartnell's hands she always wore the pastels she felt  suited her, resembling a bunch of sweet peas, he said, but her
 wardrobe lacked the formal elegance of the black cocktail dress.  Indeed, her husband, George VI, wanted his wife to be a counterpoint  to the brittle, over-dieted fashion plate Wallis Simpson. The King
 took Hartnell on a tour of the Royal Collection, showing him paintings  of earlier queens to inspire him. The look was to be regal, timeless.  Tradition!

 Hartnell designed the Queen Mother's entire wardrobe for her 1938  royal tour, a commission of 30 dresses that were to inspire the future couturier, Christian Dior, when he put together the New Look nine  years later. To both men the silhouette invented by Chanel - clothes  for modern, working women, styles so revolutionary they are wearable  today - were hateful. In an interview in 1968 he said, 'I'm sick to  death of the saying, "Elegance is utter simplicity." I think it's a  hoodwink. Some designers just lack the inventiveness to make it  non-simple.'

 Couture seldom sets trends, because its point is the fineness of its workmanship. What makes you gasp about Hartnell's clothes, like  Dior's, is their dreamy romanticism and their lavish beading. This is  what couture really is: the hand-made garment in which every stitch is  sewn with the finest thread money can buy. He got his opportunity when  he was commissioned to design first Princess Elizabeth's wedding  dress, then her coronation outfit. The wedding dress and its train  were embroidered with thousands of seed pearls and crystal beads in garlands of lilies and white York roses, but its successor, the coronation dress, is considered to be one of the most lavishly
 decorated of the 20th century.  'I thought of lilies, roses, marguerites and golden corn,' Hartnell
 wrote in his autobiography. 'I thought of altar clothes and sacred  vestments; I thought of the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon, the  stars and everything heavenly that might be embroidered on a dress
 destined to be historic.' The Queen had requested that it be modelled  in its silhouette on her wedding gown, but also wanted the emblems of  the United Kingdom - shamrocks and thistles - and all her dominions  somehow to be included. It was Hartnell's high watermark. He was not  really a designer for the masses, though during the war the clothing  firm Berketex had asked him to create a collection of Utility day  dresses, as if John Galliano should descend from Paris and make a  range for Marks & Spencer Per Una.

Of course she was first dressed by Lanvin!  I'm not much for pastels, they don't suit me, I need warmer colours,  but the rest, I can go with, having a 'British figure' (i.e.  pear-shaped.)  The chat about Lilibet's coronation dress made me smile, as it was my  inspiration for my daughter Bridgie's confirmation dress.

So I wrote out in minute detail what the gradations of dress mean for LADIES, and  have come to the conclusion, the most unfortunate conclusion, that  most of what we wear these days is what was called, in the 1900s-1950s  sportswear and loungewear - that is, anything that is not formal  daytime dress or 'informal' daytime dress. We wear trousers, jeans,  cotton dresses, t-shirts, track suits, whatever, which is at the low end  of the dress scale.

Ladies
Formal, Morning:  day dress - street length dress of fine (silk, rayon, crepe) stuff, possibly with matching coat, pearls, gloves, hat. Church qualifies as formal morning dress, on Sundays, or for weddings or christenings.

Formal, evening: ball gown (full length with or without decolletage), tiara, [expensive heirloom] jewellery, opera length gloves, gold or silver shoes

Informal, Evening: evening dress (long, of fine stuff the fashionable silhouette, with bling) or tunic and wide soft trousers (or evening ethnic dress - if you are ethnic, in a foreign country, or at home), 'cocktail' dress (street length of fine stuff, with bling), jewellery, no tiara, gold, silver, or coloured satin or velvet shoes

Mourning: Family members (unless the deceased specifically requested otherwise)- plain black long-sleeved street length dress of dull not shiny material, hat with a veil, gloves. Pearls allowed or mourning jewellery. Friends- black, dark grey or navy blue plain long-sleeved dress, hat, gloves. Pearls allowed.  Note: children under the age of fourteen do not wear black. Girls wear white dresses with black ribbons on the shoulders, and ankle socks or stockings if over the age of ten.

Casual: Afternoon dress (fashionable, with sleeves), pearls, gloves, hat. No matching coat, patterned dress okay.

Business: Afternoon dress (in muted prints okay) or suit (in grey, navy, brown or black), subdued jewellery (earrings, no more than one ring on each hand, wristwatch), pumps

Sportswear: Casual (cotton or wool) trousers, skirts, blouse, jacket, or cardigan, appropriate to sport (tennis, climbing, swimming, etc), cotton dress

Morning wear: cotton dress, jeans, t-shirt or top

Loungewear: jeans, t-shirt or top, cotton dress, wrapper (dressing gown), pyjamas


It occurs to me that this scale ONLY applies to the upper-middle and  upper classes. A midling person would wear their 'Sunday best' for  dinner invitations, weddings and funerals, without all these  gradations and rules.

 So that says a lot about a) where my head is; b) my family; for, as a male friend pointed out in looking at some pictures from the 19th C. of my family, 'Your family had money. MY family didn't dress like  this.' The contrary had NEVER occurred to me,...

 Says she, who owns a fur coat, a tiara and proper evening  dress....(and more gloves than you can shake a stick at.)

Some of my US friends may be wondering what, in the scale of things, a man's 'lounge suit' is. Loungewear – from Merriam Webster: informal clothing usually designed to be worn at home First Known Use of LOUNGEWEAR circa 1957  Anyway, this, on 'lounge suits' from Style Forum

 Quote:
 Originally Posted by maomao1980
 dress code for a dinner I'm going to. Does it just mean don't wear a tie?

 The modern "business suit" is basically just a lounge suit - worn of course with a tie. It was probably called that because it was  originally a casual form of dress for the country and seaside. It was  only good for lounging around in. You no more went to work in it back  then than you would today wearing a track suit.

 Originally the morning coat was just slightly dressier than a lounge  suit - but not by much. At least morning dress was accetable for casual city wear. The frock coat was the Victorian equivalent of what
 a gentleman wore to a formal job interview during the day. A tail coat  was 'full dress' for the evening.

 There is this sorry trend today to regarding the lounge suit - the Victorian track suit - as being some sort of 'formal' dress these  days. Often it gets substituted for situations that traditionally would have demanded full dress.

 Me - I regard it as scarcely more formal than a track suit. And why the heck would you invite guests to wear their normal work clothes to  a social event anyway?

 Rant over

 Because the lounge suit is a "Victorian track suit" an alternative way of wording an invitation to wear them for an event is to announce the  dress code as being "informal". From time to time you get people
 posting asking how it is that suits can possibly be "informal", but  daytime formal wear is still morning dress for daytime events and  white tie for evening events.

 In summary:

 1. Evening formal (full dress in older parlance)= tail coat
 2. Daytime formal (full dress)= morning coat
 3. Evening semi-formal= dinner jacket ("Tuxedo")
 4. Daytime semi-formal= stroller (a lounge suit version of a morning
 coat lacking tails)
 5. Informal= "Victorian track suit"

 Those interested in the history of dress might find it interesting to  read my Wikipedia article on frock coats. I wrote 98% of the  introduction and first section.

 You will see that lounge suits have slowly climbed up the scale of  formality in the same way the frock coat did, starting as casual dress  and slowly creeping up towards becoming ultra-formal wear. If morning  dress is allowed to die out, then the same thing will happen to the  Victorian track suit and it too will turn into ultra-formal wear for  only the ultra-pretentious.

 I know a semi-formal technically calls for black tie, that's why I put  quotation marks around semi. The masses wouldn't know a formal from a  semi-formal if you drew a flow chart for them, hence the existence of  this thread. (Note: Okay, someone already defended me, sorry for  this).

 Quote:
 If in doubt, wear a tie. You can always take it off and slip it in to your pocket. Just judge
 the mood when you arrive. 

 You didn't just counsel a fellow member to take off his tie at an event while he's wearing a suit, did you? O tempora, o mores. You show up with a tie, you leave with a tie. Period. That or turn in your SF
 membership.

This is the male equivalent of showing up at home with your stockings in your handbag - very bad indeed. Only a tarty sort would do that. This of course presumes that modern femmes wear stockings, which seems to be a rarity in itself.... 'Arrive at home with your knickers in your handbag...' would today convey the same (Don't Do This!) message....

Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture

Rush out NOW and read this book.
EVERYTHING that Shannon advocates for in Radical Homemakers is what I've been about since I was 14 years old. Everything. It is downright amusing that a radical sociology book about taking back the home can make me CRY. But it does.

I feel validated for everything I have ever believed and striven for. And she describes the three stages of the process, and I can agree with her conclusion that if one spends too long in Step Two that one becomes subject to the kind of depression and futility that Betty Friedan wrote so passionately against.

She also argues against the wife-mother as chauffeur car culture that arose after the Second World War - which was totally foisted on us by the corporations. We are not here to drive our children from this and that or to buy this or that for the husband and 'the house'! That is not our role in life! But we have been pressurised into that role. Unless we rebel...

=) Here's to rebellion! and making a real home.

Viz:
Renouncing: increasingly aware of the illusory happiness of a consumer society. Recognise and question the compulsion to purchase goods and services that they feel they could provide for themselves 'if only...'

Reclaiming: Recovering many skills that enable one to build a life without a conventional income. This phase can take a few years or a lifetime and will perpetually be returned to as one builds ever more skills. If dwelt only in this phase for too long begin to manifest symptoms of Friedan's housewife's syndrome - 'what's all this for?'

Rebuilding: Take on genuine creative challenges, engagement with community, make significant contributions toward rebuilding a new society that reflects one's vision of a better world, through artwork, writing, farming, fine craftwork, social reform, activism, teaching, or a small business.

'The choice to become homemakers is not an act of submission or family servitude. It is an act of social transformation.... it is time we come to think of our hoes as living systems. Like sourdough starter, the home's survival requires constant attention. A true home pulses with nonhuman life - vegetable patches, yeast, backyard hens, blueberry bushes, culturing yoghurt, fermenting wine and sauerkraut, brewing beer, milk goats, cats, dogs, houseplants, kids' science projects, pet snakes and strawberry patches...'

Commodious

So my latest foray into permaculture has been very literal: DIY composting toilets. Being dismayed at commercial ones costing thousands of dollars, I as others have thought 'there has to be a better way!' Enter the good people from Humanure, who have simple commodes (and bin liners for the squeamish) and while other sites have DIY set ups that are like what you would see in old outhouses, except with the 5-gallon bucket beneath, and no smell!

These function with the simple expedient of adding a scoop of sawdust or similar fine organic matter over all. No water is necessary. When the bucket is 1/2- 2/3 full, you take it to your compost bin, make a little well in the compost, add the material, cover. Clean out the bucket with some white vinegar and a little soap. You can used the same kind of brush you would use with a toilet, a scrub brush or whatever works.

Easy peasy.

Now some of you might be grossed out by this, as with the boiling laundry idea, but it is really quite sanitary and odourless (unlike boiling men's dirty socks) and completely natural. If the simple processes are followed, and common cleanliness is observed (that means wash your hands and clean the seat and lid as you would any toilet) nature will do the rest with the waste matter, without disease, flies or other vermin.

Much cleaner and less bother than a traditional outhouse!