Details. All in the Details.

On May 4, 2013 By kittycalashIn Clothing, History, Living History, making things, Museums4 Comments

Detail, pair of pockets. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester City Galleries. MCAG.1922.2150

This image is from the fantastic VADS site‘s gallery of pockets. I need new pockets, or a pocket update and overhaul, so I went looking for inspiration.

Child's Pocket, 1720-1760. RIHS 1985.1.9. — Child’s Pocket, 1720-1760. RIHS 1985.1.9.

This is a dangerous path to go down if you are as unskilled with a crewel needle as I am.

Sew18thCentury can do it– so, sew, lovely. Me…well, everything I knew about embroidery I learned as a child, and promptly forgot with puberty. So my skills remain appropriate for reproducing this, from a Rhode Island collection. The pocket is child-sized, at 14 inches, and the embroidery has a crabbed, angry look, as if the girl would much rather have been outside, chasing her dog or brother. I can relate, at least to the dog part.

I made a pattern of the embroidery, traced it onto linen, and started working on dredging up those long-forgotten skills. As a child, I had a sewing or embroidery book, but what I remember most about the projects I made was how far their finished form was from what I had envisioned.

This is not an uncommon experience for children; my son has certainly experienced this, and even adults are subject to it. I think the best rendition of it, sewing-wise, is Eleanor Estes’ portrayal in The Middle Moffat of Jane Moffat attempting to make a “brocated bag” for Mama’s Christmas present.

The image of Jane sewing or crocheting under a tree while talking to Cranbury’s Oldest Inhabitant, a Civil War veteran, sums up every reenactment I’ve ever been part of… but I digress.

My embroidery stitches lack a lot, but most of what they lack is practice–and that’s what makes reproducing that RIHS pocket a perfect project for me. Pockets were “sampler” projects, and suitable for girls to learn on. This combines plain sewing with embroidery, and ends up as something useful and authentic, so what more can I ask?

Pocket, single, embroidered. Snowshill Costume Collection, National Trust (UK). mid 1700s. SNO1452

The VADS site has tons of images to inspire me, and with practice, someday I could manage something as beautiful as this. I need only make sure that it fits my time period and station–and for some events it will, but for most, the plain pocket or the crabbed-stitch embroidered pocket, are probably far more appropriate.

Busy!

On April 29, 2013 By kittycalashIn Museums

[French Barracks] T. Rowlandson, 1786, Drawings R79 no. 13, Lewis Walpole Library

This is a busy week chez Calash, so here’s an image by Rowlandson, as described by the Lewis Walpole Library:

A view of the interior of busy French barracks shows a more domestic atmosphere than military although weapons and other gear adorn the walls and lay scattered on the floor.

And now you know what can feel like trying to get an exhibit mounted, though at least the cats are only at home and the children are in school.

Weekend at the Farm

On January 21, 2013January 21, 2013 By kittycalashIn Clothing, Events, Living History2 Comments

Fourteen year old boys don’t like to get up early, but we managed to rouse the beast on Saturday, and get him dressed, with only minor hostilities. He’s wearing all new clothes, except for the shirt, which I hope will not have to be replaced before the end of the summer. (I have now guaranteed that his arms will grow several inches in the next week.)

Mr S wore his new waistcoat but it’s hard to see under his jacket. He also got his new hat from Mr B, so he could upgrade from his knitted cap.

There are more photos here, including a fabulous stuffed leg of lamb. For mid-day Saturday, we ate a meat pie (pork and apples), sugar cakes, coriander biscuits, bread and molasses bread, all brought from home, along with hat from the farm boiled with parsnips, potatoes, carrots and onions and a carrot pudding. We also made a potato-apple-onion pie for the evening meal, though Mr S, the Young Mr and I did not stay. There is a limit to what the child will tolerate.

Sunday, we arrived in time for Mr S to make more fence pegs, while I joined the kitchen to make soup with ham, squash, parsnips, and onions, which we ate with bread and cheese, and the last of the sugar cakes, for lunch. All the while, a leg of lamb was cooking, masterfully prepared by Mrs B, and stuffed with cubed bread, onion, ham, sage and onion. To go with it, we made a rice pudding with apples, wilted greens, salad, squash pudding, and stewed apples. The sauce for the lamb was particularly fine, with drippings, minced onions, what we think was whiskey, butter and cream. I learn so much cooking with Mrs B!

The cats wanted, but were disappointed. They were calmer on Sunday, though extremely attentive kitchen assistants both days. Pity they don’t do dishes. There were plenty to wash. 1799 was definitely greasy. Even the striped cat feels a little greasy, but that could be because he’s handy to wipe your hands on.

Now it’s on to sewing for something else, though whether that will be wool trousers or clothes for Washington’s Birthday, I don’t really know.

Night Lights and a Book

On December 14, 2012 By kittycalashIn Clothing, History

DSCN3605 Last night, I went to a meeting downtown for my boss, and chose to walk instead of drive. I took some blurry photos along the way as evening became night and the city became more and more like Busy Town. The skill level of local drivers is not too different from Richard Scarry’s drivers…and the hills and the way the houses stack up, and the way we recognize or know each other here reminds me of Scarry’s books.

Walking back to the museum, I stopped at one of my favorite bookstores, where the selection runs from the perverse to the erudite. I picked up many books and limited myself to three, including Very Vintage. (Did I mention Symposium’s remainder table pricing? Ah, yes: that’s why three books were possible.)
The text could have been edited a little more carefully and I am a fan of the endnote (not present here). But there are excellent photos I have not seen before and diagrams patterning garments. Now you see why I bought this: where else will I find diagrams of aTeddy Boy Jacket and a 1960s Bellville Sassoon-inspired evening dress?
dress2 dress