Mid-Year Review

Yes, we have those at work. I tend to set enough goals for 3 single-spaced pages, and actually accomplish many of them. My boss, though a Known Over Achiever, thought I should work on this…tendency. So I came up with six goals for the first six months, and mostly got them done, along with a lot of other things.

When I updated the Projects 2013 page here, I thought perhaps I should heed my boss’s advice (don’t tell her that, I have a reputation to maintain) and, you know, assess my goals versus reality ratio.

It’s a long list of stuff, when you get down to it. How did I do, and what else needs to be done? Here’s a chart for the first six months of this sewing year; not all items were planned…some just happened, like kittens.

Item For whom When finished Did it get made?
Tan wool waistcoat Mr S 1/1/2013 Yes!
Red wool waistcoat Young Mr 1/15/2013 Yes!
Off-white cotton trousers Young Mr 1/18/2013 Yes!
Ikea curtain petticoat Kitty 2/11/2013 Yes!
Black Taffeta Bonnet Kitty 2/11/2013 Yes!
Shift Kitty 2/11/2013 Yes!
Monmouth Cap Young Mr 3/29/2013 Yes!
Blue wool jacket, 1770-1800 Young Mr 3/31/2013 Yes!
How Now Brown Gown Kitty 4/7/2013 Yes!
Linen Hunting Frock Young Mr 5/26/2013 Yes!
Linen Hunting Frock Mr S 6/14/2013 Yes!
Striped pocket Kitty 6/15/2013 Yes!
Blue checked linen bags (2) Kitty & Mr S 6/15/2013 Yes!
Chintz jacket Kitty 6/15/2013 Yes!
Linen Overalls Young Mr 6/15/2013 Yes!
Black straw hat Kitty 6/22/2013 Yes!
Alterations to Green Frock Coat Mr S Not yet Nearly!
Linen Overalls Mr S Wearable Nearly!

The Cherry Seller Gown is not on this list because it was started 7/4/2013, and is thus in the second half of the sewing year.  A blue linen unlined frock coat for the Young Mr was started 7/7/2013, so counts towards the second half as well.  For the coming months, here’s what I know I would like to get done:

Item For whom Due Date Notes
Blue linen frock coat Young Mr 7/14/2013 Ack!
Alterations to Green Frock Coat Mr S 7/14/2013 More Ack!
White linen shirt Mr S 11/2/2013 Just needs one…
Tan Virginia Cloth petticoat Kitty 8/9/2013 1763
White linen petticoat Kitty 8/9/2013 1763
Bed gown Kitty 8/2/2013 For OSV!
Bed sack Kitty & Mr S 7/19/2013 For Salem or OSV
Proper 1770s frock coat Mr S 10/5/2013 For Quincy
Striped 1790s petticoat Kitty 10/5/2013 For JBH
Printed 1790s shortgown Kitty 10/5/2013 For JBH
Dress for a Lady, TBD Kitty 10/5/2013 For JBH
10th Mass 1781 Regimental Mr S 11/2/2013 Putnam Park
Neckstocks Young Mr & Mr S TBD 10th Mass

The list seems alternately doable and crazy. So what am I sitting here writing for? I’ve got to get backstitching!

5 Days till Monmouth

This is not Cassandra's idea of a nice frock.
This is not Cassandra’s idea of a nice frock.

Cassandra doesn’t like wearing uniforms and bayonets. She wants to wear a dress. She will have to be patient. (Actually, she is wearing a chintz jacket in need of a hem, and if I revolt against buttonholes, I might finish that tonight. More fringe must be made this evening for the hunting frock.)

I switched to Mr S’s overalls for awhile, and we’ve done the first fitting, which gets us to buttonholes and then re-basting the inseam and outseam. In the process, I discovered that he does, in fact, have a twisty leg. I do not think it is statistically probable that the two pairs of overalls I have cut for him and the pair cut by Mr Cooke would all include the same slightly on the bias leg. So I reversed my plans to get those done, and will stick with getting them to fitting number two. They will need a master’s hand and eye for fitting.

Sunday: One last strip o' fringe required.
Sunday: One last strip o’ fringe required.

But I think I have a plan for food for Monmouth, have confessed to Mr S that, based on the Monmouth sutler list, we must leave room in the car for possible additions to the Strategic Fabric Reserve, and have convinced the child to try learning a new song on the drum. I also started a new pocket, but I’m not sure if my hands can take the backstitching. Slipstitching and whipstitching aren’t too painful, but backstitching proved quite painful last night. It’s totally annoying, because it’s pointless to post a photo until it’s done and right-side out!

You can see the binding, but not the stripes. Silly!
You can see the binding, but not the stripes. Silly!

But this will be a panicky, intense week of samplers, reference, grant applications, and event prep. I suppose that’s not too different from many other weeks…though the last time I had this combination, we were only going to Sturbridge. I took comfort in the idea of how close we were to home, the way the cat knows how long it takes to dash to the basement when the doorbell rings. From Monmouth, it’s a long way back to my own basement.

Be Sensible: Eat Cookies

The Dame School, Isaac Cruikshank. V&A 144-1890
The Dame School, Isaac Cruikshank. V&A 144-1890

Back to fluffier content…

In the fine tradition of do-as-I-say, I mean self-perceptive evaluation, I offer some lessons learned from the weekend just past.

Dress for the weather, not for style.

I wore a pair of blue silk stockings because somewhere I found a description of a woman in a brown gown with blue silk clocked stockings. It was flipping 30-something degrees Saturday morning. Did I change my plans? No. Did I regret that later? Yes. And so did the people who had to hear about my numb toes. (Sorry, folks, really. Totally my fault.) And yes, even though the stockings are awesome with lilac silk garters, I should have worn wool. I have a pair already, and for more,  I don’t even have to knit them myself. 

No excuse, really.
I have no excuse, really.

Suck it up and get glasses.

My line about always meeting new people at events because I can’t see who they are works for the first ten minutes of a military event, and then I have to try to guess who’s who by their stocking colors. Works so well when everyone wears overalls. Yes, I wear glasses everyday, and need a new prescription. It’s time to get the new script and get the period glasses made. What makes this even worse? I have antique frames. Yes, I deserve your scorn.

Don’t just eat lunch. Eat a snack. 

This is a rule I try to follow at work. The 3:00 PM of the soul can be just as debilitating as the 3:00 AM of the soul. Low blood sugar makes you wacky, and if you have a tendency to insomnia-based exhaustion, shyness, or can have trouble in large crowds, one has a responsibility to oneself and one’s companions to take care of some basics. I had my snack after the late-afternoon tactical, two hours after I should have. I solemnly swear that next time, I will eat more cookies sooner.

To Lexington, Tomorrow

The Battle of Lexington, 1775. Engraving by Ralph Earl. NYPL Digital Library
The Battle of Lexington, 1775. Engraving by Ralph Earl. NYPL Digital Library

We’re as done as we’re going to be. Buttonholes are stitched, the Young Mr’s garters are in process, so the last thing to do would be to replace the green ribbon on my bonnet with black, just because I feel picky and want to change it.

That, and pressing clothes and making lunches.

Mr S completed two hand-sewn market wallets so that the boys can have their own lunches and I do not have to be the walking buttery.

Clara Peeters (fl. 1607–1621) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

On the menu? A Cheshire pork pie or pasties (apple and pork), apples, water, and gingerbread cakes. I may pick up a loaf of bread (I ran out of flour this morning and barely eked out enough for the gingerbread, so rising time is out of the question) and bring some cheese as well. It’s a long day outdoors, and we are likely to be hungry. When my family gets too hungry, we get weird. By the time we are done, I expect to be this tired, so I am considering making Saturday night’s dinner tonight.

The modernized recipes for gingerbread cakes and the pork pie are from the History is Served website, but this week I found a wonderful site from the Westminster City Archives, The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies. Almond puddings are not portable, but they look fun to try.