Movie night

Sweet Daughter and I were watching Moulan tonight, and SD was having a very difficult time wrapping her head around a different time and culture that didn't value intelligent women.

"Why does somebody else choose her husband? Why is she wearing that white make-up? Why weren't women allowed to be in the army? Why are they going to execute her when she's such a good soldier? Why don't they use common sense?"

Righteously indignant didn't even begin to cover it.

And unfortunately, I had to tell her that common sense was still in awfully short supply, even today.

Linen outfit jacket and petticoat

Photos courtesy of Sweet Daughter.

Here's the blue linen outfit fashioned from the maternity outfit. Here's it's worn without stays (shocking, I know). Plans are to wear this to the Firelock Match if I get there (long story). The first time I participated, I wore stays, and I ended up feeling like I had whiplash. My guess is that my torso remained pretty much immobile as a result, and my neck took up all the recoil.



I'm hoping I can get the back to fit a bit better -- maybe with stays.

I'll be able to wear this with stays, too, and can upgrade it with a nicer apron and neck handkerchief. Looks like a good outfit for Williamsburg in the dog days of summer. Now I just need a straw hat to go with it.

 

The important part is that I can move my arms well enough to shoot.

 

My next opus

I think the next big sewing project for me is going to be this.

The Ladies Shooting Poney by John Collet

Weekend

This weekend consisted of lots of random stuff, but I got a surprisingly amount accomplished.

On Friday night I started altering and 18^th century jacket and petticoat that had started out life as a maternity outfit, based on this at Colonial Williamsburg, but in navy linen. The idea was that a stomacher could fill in the expanding front, and it would lace shut again after pregnancy.

Image courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, found here.

 

I was overly optimistic 9 years ago when I started this. I underestimated how much things widen, and I don’t just mean the waistline. So Friday night saw me letting out the vertical seams and telling myself that the sleeves were now just fashionably snug. On Saturday, I got the petticoat hemmed and the front panel shortened (now that there wasn’t a pregnant belly to cover) and on Sunday I put the hook and eye closures in. Pictures will follow once I get the sleeve ruffles made and attached.

Saturday also saw a whole lot of yard work going on. Clearly, I need a case in remedial weed whacking as I’m not very good at it. I’m blaming the fact that I’m too tall to hold the base parallel to the ground. That’s my story, anyway.

On Sunday, I got up and ran to the local hardware store (well, "ran" after breakfast and coffee) where I purchased 2” x 4”s so I could build some shelves for my sewing room. Holy crap, when did dimensional lumber get so darned expensive? Granted, these are excellent quality with unusually few knots, but pricier than I was expecting. Even with having to trim every single piece, it was still a quick build which left me time for laundry. All the winter bedding got washed and just needs a clean tote so I can put it all away on the new shelves.

As a dear friend would say "Good enough for who it's for."

The strangest part of the weekend? I used the push mower, the riding mower, the string trimmer, a hedge trimmer, various hot and/or pointy kitchen implements, a battery charger, a trim saw, a drill and made countless trips up and down a ladder, and the thing that beat me up the most was that string trimmer.

 

I see shin guards in my future.

I feel like such a slacker in my research methods now

"Tim Jenison, a Texas-based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in the art world: 
How did Dutch master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Here's how he conducted his experiment."

Go here to read about it.

Of course, he cheated with a milling machine instead of using a period lathe.

I kid! I kid!

Anyhow, it's interesting to see the experimental archeology process he used.

Two more days

Two more days of school, and Sweet Daughter is at her wits end. Routine and discipline have gone out the window and she’s a mite frustrated. The standardized tests were over with last week. All the snow days we had this winter meant that all the half and full “teacher’s work days” were canceled so that students could make up their time. Teachers are juggling end of year paperwork and rooms full of restless kids. Attention spans are getting shorter and the days seem longer.

The last school assembly was Monday and SD was awarded a reading award medal, and another for making the Distinguished Honor Roll all year. She proudly wore them to school the next day. Today they baked in the sun for “Field Day”. Tomorrow they are to take a game in to play. SD’s taking a book.  

Two more days … and then it’s time to introduce SD to some classic rock.

I was a little older than SD when this came out.

And then on Monday, we get to start summer day camp. Hopefully a change in venue this year will be an improvement.

Looks like I have some reading to do.

In the car, near the end of a two hour drive …

Sweet Daughter: Mom? What’s a “harlot”?

Me: It’s a girl who tries to steal somebody’s boyfriend.

SD: What’s a “bimbo”?

Me: A girl who is usually considered pretty but is either dumb, or pretends to be, so she can get a boyfriend who doesn’t appreciate smart girls.

SD: What’s a “floozy”?

Me: A girl with low standards who will do almost anything to get a boyfriend.

Me:  …….

Me: !!!!

Me: WHAT are you reading, anyway???

 

(It's *The Land of Stories, The Wishing Spell")