Quiet for us in Providence because there is no school, so no school buses and no children chattering past the house on their way to the middle school. After the storm passed last night, the city was eerily quiet, the way it is just at the end of a snow storm. We were lucky: no damage to our property, everything secured and although wind howled between the buildings and it sometimes sounded as if the side of the house would peel off, it did not. Perhaps the sheer power of ugliness held it together.
Far worse weather in NY and PA where museums remain closed and cities overwhelmed by water. I don’t expect much damage here in town, but do expect places in South County and East Bay have damage.
When in doubt and out of danger, keep sewing. And now, off to work.
It’s the waiting that’s hard, that and listening to the wind. We’re likely to be fine up here on the hill. Mr S has taken the car to the ground-floor satellite office so he can get a server off the floor…really, I’d expect health care offices to do better on disaster prep than a museum, but seemingly not…but with the car gone, I have only to worry about tree limbs falling on the house. Most came down in Irene, but the maple is old and sick and needs to come down.
What to do when schools and work are closed? Sew, and teach the Young Mr grammar. He needs to cram on commas, and write a paragraph.
A burn test revealed that the only wool (or part-wool) fabric of which I have yardage enough to make a gown will not be safe to wear around fire. Time to rethink…and ride out the storm.
We’re ready at work (electronics unplugged, shutters closed, anything outside brought in) and at home (water and non-perishables in stock, matches–or flint and steel–plus candles at the ready) so now all there is to do is to wait for Sandy’s effects to be felt.
What to do while waiting? Laundry, for one thing, vacuuming for another (day). And what else but obsessing?
First, the Curtain-along-kerfluffle continues. Found last night, a gown from Fairfax House in Essex (UK). Looks like a robe that goes over a lighter gown, shown here with a green silk underdress. And then there are the Kyoto Costume Institute’s English gowns from Revolution in Fashion and Fashion.
I also love the detail in the back of the V&A’s printed cotton open robe, so in the end, what I may do is design a gown based on the principles of extant examples and fashion plates, rather than recreate an extant example.
Before any of that can really happen (sigh), I must have the right undergarments. I have been hunting up examples, and I may be able to adapt and refine the hand-sewn pair based on a set at the Met that I made to wear to Coggeshall Farm. I have to address those anyway because…the guys want to volunteer for winter chores in December, and needs must dress appropriately.
That puts me at a project list:
1. Refine, correct, beat into shape 1790s Met stays………………….December 2
2. Two pairs men’s trousers (5-7 buttonholes each)………………….December 2
3. Two men’s waistcoats ca. 1790 (8-10 buttonholes each)……….December 2
5. Undefined outerwear in wool for child (too many buttonholes)..December 2
6. Wool gown and petticoat, 1790s…………………………………………December 2
7. 1790s gown in Indienne print………………………………………………March 9
8. 1790s white cotton petticoat………………………………………………..March 9
9. 10th MA regimental coat, private’s……………………………………….April 20 –or–
10. 2nd RI regimental coat, private’s………………………………………….April 20—and–
11. 10th MA musician’s coat……………………………………………………..April 20–or–
12. 2nd RI musician’s coat………………………………………………………..April 20
13. Umm, excuse me, I lost track of the fun here……………..
Right. I note the lack of wool 1770 gown for April 13 here, or my quilted petticoat, or the floaty blue silk 1799 gown and blue wool spencer I want to make. It’s hard to be dressmaker and tailor. Also not on the list above are the finer shift and white linen shirt that are in process in my basket, and the Williamsburg jacket of remnant reproduction print. At least that’s an easy one, like making gingerbread. I have a pattern that works, I have the fabric, all I have to do is cut it out and sew.
I thought I’d solved this! Williamsburg’s jacket and petticoat combination, accession number 1990-10. Here’s why: “East Indian textile, worn in Albany, New York, by Ann Van Rensselaer, ca. 1790, textile earlier in date.”
1790 I can wear at work and at Dress U. That makes it fun and useful, which is always better.
That’s a dress style that could be worn with the white Ikea curtain petticoat and kerchief. Now, I’m better at jackets and petticoats than I am at gowns (though isn’t an open robe really just a jacket with a crazy-long skirt?) but I can’t get the KCI gown out of my head. It’s English, too, which makes it plausible, if not as close as the Rensselaer gown. Bonus: have to pattern it up myself, which I enjoy. Just because I’m swearing doesn’t mean I’m not having fun.
When in doubt and out of danger, keep sewing. And now, off to work.
Kirsten Hammerstrom 
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