Something to Sneeze At
August 1st, 2011
I made a little detour this weekend and hemmed a linen handkerchief.
It’s a tedious but simple process — cutting the linen square to a thread, pulling a single thread for each fold of the hem, then a double thread where it’s to be sewed down. The corners are mitered of course, which is easy to do once the threads have been pulled. I sewed the hem with embroidery floss, wrapping it around three threads at a time to create the signature dotted line that has graced fine linen handkerchiefs for centuries past.
This particular one is edged with some delicate floral lace from my bag of bits and pieces. And yes, I plan to embroider something on one of the corners, but you’ll just have to wait to find out what. It’s a gift, so must be kept under wraps until I deliver it. It’s on the large side for a lady’s formal handkerchief — nearly 12 inches square — but since the lace is so tiny, I decided to err on the generous side.
I’d love to see handkerchiefs that you’ve made. For inspiration, here’s one from the genius behind Costume & Construction. Perhaps I’ll make another soon and write a more detailed post about their proper construction and stitching.
Why I Read
July 31st, 2011
Lately, as my daily dose of literature has gone through the roof, I’ve begun asking myself why I read what I read. I’ve come up with a few standard answers — to impress people at cocktail parties, to improve my mind, to make up for the literature courses I missed. I might also say that I read the modern classics as a form of research, since I often find very telling passages to support (or disprove) my ideas about social customs of the past.
But perhaps the most compelling, or at least the most unusual, impetus for my literary selections has actually been a series of crushes on dead actors. Yes, I am here to admit in public that I first read:
Tennessee Williams because of Marlon Brando;
Bernard Shaw because of Claude Rains and Stewart Granger (swoon);
T.E. Lawrence because of Peter O’Toole;
and Somerset Maugham for Leslie Howard.
Granted, this explanation doesn’t fit all of my recent reading material, but when I go on to say that each of these books then led me to other books, you will see that I actually read Confessions of an English Opium Eater in nearly direct response to What’s New Pussycat? And really, taken side by side, they are surprisingly analogous!
Fait Acompli
July 30th, 2011
I can hardly believe it, but I have finally finished my broderie anglaise petticoat frill. It’s taken the better part of a year, but it’s really done. Scallops and all. When you add in the months I spent tucking and embroidering the petticoat to which this frill will soon be attached, I’ve spent almost exactly a year and a half on a single petticoat. To be fair, I worked in fits and starts, sometimes ignoring it entirely for 6 weeks. If I was to work steadily, and with the proper materials, I’m sure I would have taken only a fraction of the time.
There’s a great deal wrong with it, but it’s all little technical stuff. Overall, the effect is really rather wonderful (at least to my easily pleased eye) and I can’t wait to see it all put together!
What’s wrong, you ask? Perhaps to avoid pitfalls with your own frills, or maybe you just like to gloat? Well, I’ll tell you. First of all, I wasn’t nearly regular enough in transferring my design. I should have pounced it, or at least taken a bit more care when drawing it on. I also made the circles too small. Then, I used a single thread of standard embroidery floss — made even thinner because it was an off-brand. I should have used real coton a broder, probably in two different sizes for padding and stitching, or at the very least, two strands of the embroidery floss. I might then have made the border round each circle properly thick and glossy.
I’m fairly happy with the scalloped edge though — I used a double strand of floss and it turned out quite nicely. Of course I should have done the bottom row of circles differently, so that they would be more united with the scallops instead of seeming to clash with them. Ah well. There’s always next time.
For now, I have only to put a tiny hem into the top of the frill and sew it under the bottom-most tuck of my petticoat. I haven’t attached the petticoat skirt to a waistband yet. I plan to cartridge pleat it of course, and find some pretty little milk glass buttons for the band. I know tapes would be better, but somehow I just can’t bear the idea of sloppy tapes (tapes are invariably sloppy, no matter how neatly they are arranged) marring my beautiful petticoat.
But before I can fit the skirt for length and balance it, I need my new cage! Yes, at long last I have ordered a cage crinoline kit from Wooded Hamlet. It’s amazing how close they’ve come to matching materials used in actual cage crinolines of the 1850s. But that’s another post entirely…
Also coming up soon — a preview of my someday-to-be-given tell-all lecture on broderie anglaise and its social implications in mid-19th century England & America.
Sundries
July 25th, 2011
Gee, it’s hard to get back into the swing of this blog thing again! I’ve become rather lazy of late. My letters lay unanswered (apologies to all my dear correspondents), my blog is neglected, and I can’t seem to do anything but read, embroider, and *blush* watch TV reruns online. Maybe it’s the heat. Or some rare disease. Or too much to eat. At least I can say with assurance that it isn’t what comes next.
But in the spirit of gearing up for some real posts again, here are a few glimpses at what I’ve been up to lately:
Helping some good friends to organize New York’s very first Bartitsu Seminar. It was taught by historian and martial artist Professor Mark Donnell, seen below teaching a similar workshop at the Steampunk World Fair (who knew).
The Wall Street Journal (the only paper I read growing up, since it was the only one my father took) reviewed the Civil War Photography exhibit that I curated with Dr. Stanley Burns of The Burns Archive.
And I’ve read a number of wonderful books, including “The Mill on the Floss,” “Dr. Thorne,” and “Of Human Bondage,” to name a few.
Oh, and last but not least, I completed the broderie anglaise for my petticoat frill, and have worked about one third of the scalloped edge! Pictures will be forthcoming, just as soon as I feel up to hauling out my camera…
Peep
July 21st, 2011
I know I haven’t made one in a while, but here, finally, is a peep from yours truly.
I’ve been busy. It’s been hot. My husband had insomnia. My back hurt. I had other stuff to do. I was too interested in my books. I had to finish my embroidery.
I have many more excuses. But I think I’ll save them for the next time I heartlessly abandon my poor little (by this time, likely readerless) blog.
Instead, please accept my abject apology. And stay tuned for a real post very soon.
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