Costumes, Cats And The 18th Century

Out for a spin

2012-01-30T16:04:00.000+01:00

Guess what I and five other lovely ladies from the Swedish 19th Century Society did last Saturday?

Wheee!

Such a luxury, but I haven't taken a ride in a horse-drawn carriage since I was a child, I think. Totally worth the expense!

We had planned for a sleigh ride, but there wasn't enough snow so we had to settle for wheels instead. Didn't matter!

To the right you see my friend Helena, who graciously
let me borrow some of these pictures to post here. She took the initiative
to start the Swedish 19th century society last year and invited me to help out
a bit so I made the society's web page which you can check out, although it's
only in Swedish for now. We're also on Facebook.

My curls straightened faster than you could say "jinglebells".
By my side is Caroline who takes many of the pictures I put on this blog nowadays... Thank you, dearest.

I made a few new things to wear for the event but I'll have to leave it for another post. I had to wash the gown afterwards and now it needs a good ironing.

Natalie outside the tiny café where we warmed up.

It was a chilly ride but we went for hot chocolate (by a fireside!) afterwards.

I really want to do this again. We saw two wolves! Okay, wolves in captivity, but still...

Finished gown for the 12th Night Ball

2012-01-10T10:28:00.003+01:00

Hello again, and a happy, prosperous New Year to you all!

In my last post, I showed you some in progress-pics of my spangled gown.

I finished it last week, just in tme for Gustaf Skål's 12th Night Ball.

It was a lovely event and I enjoyed it very much in spite of severe sleep depravation. As usual, I didn't take any picture because I lack a sufficient device for that, but I bugged a lovely, young mademoiselle to take some shots of me in the gown.

I was just about to leave when the photos were taken and, as you can see, my hair was in its final stages of collapse:

I had my hair cut a couple of months ago so there isn't so much I can do with it yet. I had managed some very nice curls but didn't use enough hairspray and pins so things got quite messy (but I had awesome volume for days afterwards!).

The flash revealed my underthings! Oops!

The place was crowded but my train hardly got stepped on at all. And I only lost two sequins!

Overall, I was rather pleased with the gown, but:

a. I really could lose some weight,
and
b. it needs much, much more embellishment! It don't mean a thing if it aint got that bling, or something.

Luckily, I have lots of sequins left so there's something for me to do during those long winter nights.

Except that I'm busy as a bee with completing about a million things for an event on the 28th. It hasn't been without backlashes and revised plans and I'm still very disoriented and confused about what I need to do and in what order. But I think I'll save that for a later post!

It's Caturday!

2011-12-17T15:27:00.000+01:00

Kids, crayfish and a cat, living together in perfect harmony.
Annibale Caracci.

Museum goodies

2011-12-16T19:06:00.004+01:00

An early holiday gift from three Swedish museums: The Royal Armoury, the castle of Skokloster and the Halwyl museum? Yes, please! Link

These three museums now have an online database with a vast collection of objects from the middle ages and onwards so here is something for all tastes:

The website is in Swedish only for the time being, but to make a simple search for garments, type "kläder" (clothes) in the search field on the front page and you'll get hundreds of results.

Happy browsing!

Cristmas in 8 days...

2011-12-16T14:58:00.004+01:00

...here in Sweden, as we celebrate on the 24th.

This year I decided to make gifts by hand to a selected few, and they are all costume related! No pics yet, in case those selected few should stop by here, but after the holidays I'll make a post about it.

So these projects have kept me rather busy lately, but every now and then I've been able to work on something for myself.

This is supposed to become a round gown of the 1790s for the 12th Night ball in January.

It's a dark navy cotton ( that looks much darker in reality)that I had planned to use for something entirely different but when I started on this project, I thought it would be perfect as the base for a masquerade gown, since the Gustafs Skål's traditional 12th night ball has a masked ball theme. I would go as some kind of Nox/Luna goddess and the dark cotton would be the night sky and the sequins stars and moons and stuff.

Except that this 12th night ball didn't have a masquerade theme! Oops. I had to think again. And unpick a lot of sequins.

I had planned to have the phases of the moon running along the hemline and I kind of stuck with that concept for the current design, but much more simplified as you see. Overall this is a very simple design compared to the real gowns of the 1790s.

As a comparison:

The KCI

Imatex

I know my limitations so a simple design is quite allright for me. I've still used about 1,500 sequins. I will use some more for a couple of rows on the sleeves too.

I think the cat likes it!

Anyway, is anyone else having problems with Blogger? It's very weird for me, I only have "Add image" and preview options in the toolbar and I kind of hate how Blogger is dealing with images. Aaargh!

It's Caturday!

2011-12-10T13:15:00.000+01:00

This cat is very much alive but it has gone to kitty heaven - So. Much. Fish! Om nom nom...

The ray. Jean-Baptiste Siméon-Chardin, 1728

It's Caturday!

2011-12-03T18:03:00.003+01:00

There is a terrible pun here somewhere but I'll spare you. I have no idea where I got this picture.

How to get those big, lovely images from the KCI site

2011-12-03T16:14:00.005+01:00

Hello everyone,

perhaps I'm the last person in the world to figure this out, but if not so maybe someone could benefit from this.

You all know how the KCI site updated their site with much, much better photos and a nice zoom feature a while ago? It's great but sometimes you wished you had a larger, full image of their beautiful garments. It turned out you can, with a little fidgetting.

I'm using the Google Chrome "Inspect element"-feature in this example, but I'll show you how it's done even if you don't use Chrome.

First, let's find a garment you want to get a full, large image of

. I choose the red and white striped gown for this example.

Right-click the image and choose "Inspect element" (as it should say if you're using an English version of Chrome).

Now a little window will open at the bottom of the page.

One row will be highlighted, but it's not important.

We are interested in the line two rows up. There's a link there that looks like this, in this case: /archives/digital_archives/photos/28_xl_AC05316.jpg Note that it ends with ends with .jpg and has "xl" in the title. Click!

Oh, shiney! A new window with a big, crisp image for your viewing pleasure will open. That's it.

Now, if your browser doesn't have an inbuilt feature like this it's still easy to find the treasure.

Right-click anywhere on the image or the text and hit "View source" or "View code" or whatever your browser calls it.

You should get a new window with a lot of code. Hit Ctrl+F to search within the code. Search for jpg.

There will only be two results and you should probably get the right result first, but make sure it has "xl" in the name. If it has, click the link, and have fun with your image!

It's Caturday!

2011-11-26T21:00:00.001+01:00

...uh...

Nope, I've got nuffin'! But he IS interesting in sewing, I'll give him that much.

George Catlin (1786-1872) The Cat of Ostend (more interesting works on Wikigallery)

It's Caturday!

2011-11-19T21:00:00.000+01:00

Umm... I think I just looked into my future...

David Ryckaert III the Younger (1612-1661) Peasant Woman with a Cat 1640-42

What I wore, and more

2011-11-18T13:15:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, almost a week has passed since the event at Kristinehov last weekend.

It was great. Food, ale, more ale and general merry-maiking. What more would you wish for?

Isis and her beau were there, Monsieur J and M:lle Wermland likewise. And many, many more of course. It was great to see you all.

Now, I'm all for"pics or it didn't happen"... Unfortunately, I still haven't got a pocket-sized camera to bring to events like this and my phone takes the worst pictures. I bugged my husband to take pictures when I was going but he couldn't find the flash. Yeah.

But M:lle Caroline E kindly allowed me to use a few of her pictures from the evening. Thank you, dearest.

Not a dull moment!

That is me, with the huge cap (and lots of false hair!). I had a blue petticoat, which you can catch a glimpse of, and a white silk kerchief. That was it! Simple, simple, but that was the point.

You see my step-daughter Ellinor (when will you update your blog?) in the foreground. This was after her hair and cap fell off...

She looked like this earlier. It was I who did her hair (a lot of false hair there too) so I'm to blame for the failure :(

In short: it was a lovely evening and I can't wait until the 12th night ball which is the next scheduled event. I'm working on my ensemble for that already, but more about that later...

Getting ready...

2011-11-12T16:07:00.001+01:00

...for a night at Kristinehov! One of the wings will be transformed into an 18th century tavern/public house for this night and everyone is encouraged to "dress down" and portray the lower classes - craftsmen, soldiers, maids and such - Fun! A brewer is coming all the way from Norway to treat us to his home-made beer!

I made a jacket for this event.

I was inspired by this jacket from V&A. The original is quilted. I think my version would have looked very nice quilted, had I had the patience for it...

The tails will look better with some petticoats and a small bumroll.

I now realise should have used some stiffening in the front. It will not be perfectly smooth but I guess I have to live with that.

Hopefully I will have some pictures of me wearing it tomorrow!

And since it is Saturday... I mean Caturday!

Thomas Gainsborough - Six studies of a cat

It's Caturday!

2011-11-03T20:00:00.000+01:00

Is it..? A mini-Lynx! DO WANT!

Related: Do not want!

Francesco Bacchiacca (1494-1557) Woman with a Cat 1540s

Farewell to Summer

2011-08-29T13:33:00.000+02:00

Dear Everyone,

as you may have noticed, I haven't been around for a while. Summer and things, but mostly work and a little travel but now, at the end of August, everything seems to be pretty much back to normal so I expect to post more regularly, and that includes "It's Caturday!".

So, what's new? Not much in my case. I haven't had the opportunity to attend even one costumed event whole summer and sewing has been slower than a dead snail. Sad, but there it is.

However, that will change now! Just the other day my sewing nerve finally got struck and I pulled out my barely half-finished Pierrot from this old post, that had been hiding in shame for way too long. I even have new plans for it, but more about that in another post.

Well, I did go to one event this sumer but it was last weekend, on Friday.

A handful of girls had arranged a Midnight pick-nick in the gardens of Drottningholm Palace, and although I had known about it for months in advance, I never planned to make anything new to wear.

Instead, I settled for my 1790s roundgown that I made waaay back but never had any pictures of.

Here it is, anyway:

It's made from a sheer curtain fabric with a printed sprig design. I think it is so pretty, but unfortunately it won't last much longer. I've only worn it a few times but the fabric is so delicate and easily torn and already shows some damage in random places.

Oh yes, I did make one thing this Summer - the sash. It's a lovely silk remnant I found. Two lengths of fabric joined at the middle and painstakingly hemmed by yours truly and trimmed with a little fringe (polyester/lurex-something, don't tell!).

My hair... was quite a disaster. I had it on curlers for one night and half a day. The result was a mess so in the end I just improvised. Thank Heavens for turbans and feathers!

The gloves? Yeah, that was a little experiment of mine... They are just cheap, ugly masquerade gloves that I wanted to spice up so I tried to dye them with some of my screen print paint. The result is... interesting! Not what I was going for, but I think the green looks pretty fun with this ensemble nevertheless (and before everyone send in their congratulations - I am NOT pregnant, but the stays/dress combo certainly makes me look so!).

But, the funniest thing about all this is that I could just have worn a plastic bag and Crocs, because when I got to the pick-nick spot (about 9PM) it was already so pitch dark that it was rather impossible to tell what anyone wore! Too funny.

It was a lovely night anyway. It was still warm and calm (although very moist, so if I had managed with curls, they would have gone straight within 10 minutes!) and I heard that the yongsters stayed until the sun rose.

I, on the other hand, was offered a lift home around midnight and it was so tempting that I accepted on the spot! That's it, I'm officially Old.

And just a few more, since my husband was so nice as to take pictures of me right in front of the neighbours again:

Ship ahoy!

2011-07-20T18:22:00.001+02:00

Celebrity spotting in Stockholm! HMS Bounty from the 1962 Marlon Brando movie Mutiny on the Bounty anchored in Stockholm harbour for a week. Naturally, I had to take a peek!

Really, there is a ship, somewhere, behind all those tourists.

My better half and a part of the ship (which was very hard to capture in full from where we stood!).

We didn't board, partly because we were cheap, but mostly because we didn't carry cash.

Yours truly, and the ship, which have now set sails to new another shore in Europe. You can see the schedule (and much better pictures!) at the ship's website HMS Bounty

It's Caturday!

2011-07-09T19:01:00.000+02:00

I... don't even know what to say about this.The visit to the spinner. Israhel Van Meckenem the Younger. Ca 1495. Detail (full version here)

I'm scared. Hold me?

Pehr Hilleström

2011-07-07T15:50:00.000+02:00

Self portrait

Today I went to a small art exhibition in central Stockholm (the one Johanna Öst wrote about here!) and it was lovely. Several Swedish 18th century artists were featured (among some Roslin and Wertmüller) but what I had anticipated most were some ten works of my favourite Pehr Hilleström! I wasn't disappointed!

This particular painting wasn't featured

It was so great to see paintings I only had seen in books or online and so close you could make out every little detail. Candy for the soul!

You can find quite a few of Hilleström's paintings by a Google image search which is great. What would be even greater was if someone made an up-to-date book on the artist and his career because the last time that happened was in 1929!

Although a treasure to me, the book (Pehr Hilleström som kulturskildrare vol. 1-2, Gerda Cederblom, Nordiska Museet) features mostly black and white images and not always of superb quality.

Nevertheless, I have a long-term plan to scan every one of those paintings for fun and for reference. I have not come very far...

But above you have seen a few; the rest can be found in this set on Flickr. The images may not be of great quality, but enjoy anyway!

It's Caturday!

2011-07-02T19:08:00.000+02:00

Nothing new under the sun: kids like to dress up kittens. Kittens disapprove.Joseph Wright of Derby. Two Girls Dressing a Kitten by Candlelight. c. 1768-70. Oil on canvas. 90.8 x 72.4 cm. Private collection. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Personally, I don't trust the girl to the left...

It's Caturday!

2011-06-25T19:43:00.000+02:00

Last week, during our mini-holiday in Vadstena, which was a lovely little town with many historic buildings, husband and I naturally admired and visited the castle:

It looks very impressive on the outside, but was a bit lacking on the inside I'm afraid. It wasn't very much used for many a-years and that took its toll on the proud building.

So I was very glad and surprised when I found this little kitty on a huge painting by Luigi Benfatto in one of the rooms!

Sorry about the bad quality, I used my phone...

Something old, something new

2011-06-16T19:29:00.000+02:00

Believe it or not, but I have been working on things during my blogging hiatus. It's just that I'm terrible at documenting what I do and I don't abuse my husband's mad photographing skillz half as much as I should. There must be change.

Last Friday, I went on a small gathering with Gustafs Skål. I wanted something new to wear (well, isn't that strange!) and after much pondering, I realised that I needed something along these lines:

From Christie's

Perhaps minus the embroidery. For now.

So I got started and things did go rather well, but in the end there just wasn't enough time. At least I realised it before things got ugly so I decided to let it rest.

I used a fabric I've had in my stash for a long time (originally intended for my husband, but... Tough luck, honey) and based the pattern on a 1780s-90s Pierrot jacket from a Swedish book. It doesn't look very promising at this stage but I actually have great hopes for it. So it's a good thing I didn't rush it after all.

So for the event, I wore an old gown that I made two years ago (two years ago? Yikes!).

It's never been a favourite, but the sad truth is just that a lot of my things no longer fits! Isn't that wonderful? I blame delicious cake and soon turning 30.

Good thing that hats don't care about your increasing waist measure - instead of new outfit, I settled for new hat:

Sorry 'bout the tounge.

I've had the ribbon for some time and I always knew I'd use it for a hat. Said, and done!

Yes, hat pin is a bamboo skewer. I was desperate.

I'm rather pleased with new hat, but when I saw it on me, my mind started to visualise a gown in blue and white stripes... A Polonaise... Or retroussée dans les poches à la Kyoto...

It could look stunning... Or it could look like this:
I'm not sure yet. Any thoughts?

I hope you don't get too disappointed about missing out on an "It's Caturday!" post this Saturday. We're going for a mini-holiday to the old, old town of Vadstena, and since my phone is old and steam-powered, I can't do blogging stuff on the go. We're going to stay at an old mental asylum. Fun!

All the best!

It's Caturday!

2011-06-11T16:25:00.000+02:00

Hello all,

I was going to post about what I'm working on and what I wore to a party yesterday...

But said party has made me a little tired, now the day after, and it's a beautiful Summer's day here in Stockholm, so I think this girl with her cap and cat (which can be added to the growing category of "strange looking cats in 18th century art") painted by Johann Zoffany will have to do for now:

Victoria Art Gallery Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons. Thanks Isis for the suggestion!

A friend has left

2011-06-01T10:57:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine passed away very recently. I don't think I have grasped it yet because the whole idea that she's no longer part of this world is so absurd, because she was the most alive person I ever met.

I want to share the story of how I came to knew her, because it is also the story of how I got into the re-enactment and 18th century costuming business and an illustration of how I will remember her.

***

Once upon a time...

Back in spring 1996, I was 14, going on 15, and me and my best friend were captivated by everything 18th century. I guess we obsessed about it in that way only teenage girls can obsess over stuff.

There was some celebrating over one thing or another in Stockholm town one weekend, and part of it was an 18th century masked ball in Old Town..!
(Now imagine two teenage girls reading this announcement in a newspaper. Then a REALLY high-pitched squee...)

It was an event for all ages and with what little money we got and parents' permissions, we were on our way! Wait... Right, we needed costumes.

"Oh well, how hard can it be?" we thought. The event was only two days away, but we had studied some sewing in home economics and besides, we were finally going to get those 18th century costumes we had been craving! What could possibly go wrong?

Our mothers sacrificed old curtains and sheets so we could get started. We had no idea what we were doing, of course. I don't think we even made sketches or anything but rather relied on divine inspiration or something...

I imagine there were two late nights until we finished our "costumes" but at last, there we were on the big night of the event.

I won't even try and describe what we looked like! If I had had photos I promise I would've showed them to you, but I don't... I guess we have to settle with "second-hand-store-and grandma's-linen-closet-threw-up-on-puppy-fat-teenage-girls". Or something. But we were rather happy with our results, if I remember things correctly (then again, we used to watch Valmont because of the, in our opinion, wonderful costumes...).

You wish...

So we happily trotted away and got admitted to the premises. And then awkwardness ensued.

It didn't take us long to realise how wrong we looked compared to the other, real costumers. And it felt! No one said anything, but that made it all the worse I think, because people were just looking instead (and those weren't looks of admiration, that I can assure).

So there we were, wishing ourselves miles and miles away, awkwardest of all awkward teenagers in the world (I can't remember exactly, but at this point we were probably having a quiet argument about whose stupid idea it all had been in the first place...).

Then She turned up. She had immediately spotted two damsels in dire distress and simply walked up to us and said: "You need help! Stick with me, everything will be all-right!"

So she took us under her wings from that night and for many other nights (and days) to come. If it wasn't for her, I'm sure I would've never gotten the courage to try and get involved in 18th century re-enacting in the first place, and I would definitely not have dared to join Gustavs Skål! I only hope I may return the service to another person some day.

When I left the 18th century scene, she and I still kept in touch and when I realised I couldn't live without it for another day more (that was three years ago or so) I turned to her again for some encouragement and guidance. And she was there for me, yet again.

***

I think the story above says so much about her. That kindness was one of her sides, and she had many! I'm sure everyone of those who met her could tell a different and unique story about her person because if you could ever say that a person was "one of a kind", she was it. I could live for another 1,000 years and never meet her likeness again. Like all interesting personalities, she was complex and she had her difficulties in this life. If anything, I hope she has found peace of mind, because I think she never quite did in this world.

I am going to miss her so much.

Painting by Pehr Hilletröm, 1790s. I think of her as the lady to the right.

It's Caturday!

2011-05-21T16:46:00.000+02:00

Last week, the Dreamstress made a very apt observation:

"How come 18th century artists painted such cute dogs and such munted looking cats?"

Say what?

18th century cooking, sort of...

2011-05-18T15:41:00.000+02:00

This is the post where I try 18th century recipes, with intersting results...

But first a little background:

Me, my husband and a friend of us have a food blog where we cook and eat strange and more or less bizarre recipes from the 70's (link here but the blog is in Swedish. The pictures may prove to be universally horrifying regardless).

One recipe, that we made TWICE in the last year, has reached almost a legendary status among us and our readers: Stuffed cabbage!
It's basically cabbage filled with minced beef that cooks for 2-2,5 hours. Served with butter OR horse radish only. No potatoes, rice or anything.

It's, in short, an awful recipe and when we realised there was an 18th century version of the recipe in a digitised 1751 cookbook, we knew we had to make an 18th century themed meal (the book can be viewed in full here. Search for "Elzberg". It is in Swedish, of course).

And we did.

This is me, the merry cook, posing outside before her evil deeds began:
The outfit is one I made for an event in March where we had the opportunity to dress down and portray the lowlier classes (which was great fun!). The jacket is made from striped linen and so is the petticoat. Under it I wear a similar but with narrower stripes.
I BADLY needed new under-petticoats so I'm glad I was more or less obliged to make these two. I'm going to shorten the one you see above and use it as an under-petticoat in the future.

Enough! Bring on the food!

We decided to make two dishes in addition to the cabbage (because it was very unlikely that it would be at all edible) and decided on "Ferserad kalops" (i.e. minced kalops; kalops being a typical Swedish beef stew) and "Shokolad-miölk af brynt miöl" (i.e. Chocolate milk made from browned flour).

The cabbage was going to boil for THREE HOURS so we started out with that...

It's harder than you think to make a cabbage hollow. And it can be quite dangerous but a spoon is a great help.

The excess cabbage was going to be finely chopped and used as stuffing and I quickly decided to use my not-so-historical kitchen machine for this task.
Until now, we've only had cabbage and more cabbage so let's see what happens if we introduce some other interesting ingredients... Like:
...breadcrumbs, nutmeg, currants, eggs, cream, milk, melted butter and salt...

As you can see in the picture, the cabbage was filled with this mixture (I tasted it at this point, and it wasn't bad at all! Sort of sweet. And cabbage-y)...
...then the "lid" was put in its place and secured with some string. Then it went into the water for three hours of smelling like cabbage normally does when boiling.

***
And we moved on to the minced beef thingies.

I must admit - the recipe called for beef that was supposed to be finely chopped, mixed with some suet and then chopped some more. How about - no? I just went for store-bought minced beef. So sue me.
Well, turned out this recipe originally was quite close to classic Swedish hamburgers: minced beef mixed with eggs, breadcrumbs and milk. The seasoning was a little unusual though: parsley and nutmeg, and some salt. Not TOO bad!

Just to prove that I've been cooking in stays for the first time!

Anyway, the beef was shaped into small patties that were to be placed in a larger pan on top of each other. I had a bad feeling about this but decided to stay true to the recipe.

Then water, butter and cloves was added. These hamburgers were to simmer in hot water rather than being fried, you see. The image below didn't make me more confident in this recipe...
Neither did this one, when they were nearly done:
Oh dear.

But things started to look better after we took them out of the pan. I had feared that everything would've merged into some horrible mush but my suspicions were unjust! The hamburgers looked... perhaps not tasty, but not like something out of an horror movie either!

Served on the table:
So what did they taste like, you ask?

Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you that they didn't taste at all! They were completely devoid of any flavour which was really strange. I guess the water stole all their flavour away.

So - it wasn't bad but not good either (we used the leftovers a few days later in a spicy tomato sauce, though, so all's well that ends well!).

***
Curious how the cabbage is faring by now?

Well, after a mere hour, we started to realise that the bread in the filling was swelling a bit more than expected...
Oops. Exploding cabbage, anyone? The yellow is butter - lots of butter - because the recipe told us so.

Oh dear. Oh no.

This is what it looked like right after it was released from the pan. Can it get any worse? OH YES YOU BET!

You see, this cabbage was supposed to be served with a dressing/sauce made from cream, egg yolks and nutmeg...

It was looking great for a while; it even looked great until the moment the sauce was to be poured over the cabbage...

Then it scrambled and all hope was lost forever. Sensitive viewers are hereby warned:

This is just so wrong. But with all this work, everyone was very much obligated to have a little piece of it at least. We HAD liqueur available and there was a hospital nearby. No worries!

Would you like a big or small..? Nevermind.

So - what it was really like?

To be honest, four out of five people found it pretty much revolting - even those who doesn't object to cabbage normally. Mostly because of the grotesque appearance of the dish and secondly because of the funny sweet flavour that almost made it more suitable for the dessert table (a dessert table in hell, that is).

I, for one, almost liked it. Yes, it's true. I even cleared my plate. I may not have had a second helping, but overall, it was better than it looked.

Will I make it again? Ha ha ha. No.

***
Now there is time for the actual dessert - Chocolate milk made from browned flour.

There is something very interesting about this dessert. Want to know what?

It doesn't contain chocolate!

It's - basically -chocolate milk without chocolate! Chocolate for the poor. That's where the browned flour comes in, to give the "chocolate" a brown colour. Amazing.

So, according to the recipe, I started to brown the flour in a hot frying pan, making sure it didn't got burnt.
Yes, getting there but not quite brown enough!
I wanted the flour to get real brown but finally it started to smell funny so I quickly turned the heat off.

While the flour cooled off, I heated milk in a pan with sugar and a piece of cinnamon. When it began to boil, the flour was added little by little.
I was sure it was going to get lumpy but it didn't. Because the flour was more or less fried perhaps?

I continued to add flour until it got rather thick (and brown enough to pass for some kind of chocolate because I guessed that was what to aim for...) and finally poured it into a shallow bowl that I placed on the table. The guests then were served the "chocolate" in cups.
I had no higher expectations about this one; in fact, I was sure it was going to taste like burnt flour and that would be that.

Surprise, surprise! This was quite nice and most of the guests agreed. It tasted of cinnamon and sweet milk - no hint of flour at all! It was a little on the thicker side so I should have been a little more careful when I added the flour to the milk but overall - a nice treat before bedtime, this was (or as the recipe concluded: "One can use it in the evening").

If you have read this far, you're awesome! Thanks for looking.

Here's how the recipe for the "chocolate" from the 1751 cookbook looks like:

It's Caturday!

2011-05-14T16:57:00.000+02:00

A beautiful fluffy cat (and some kid called Gabrielle Arnault) by Louis Leopold Boilly. 1813. The Louvre.

Next week, I'll make some real posts, even!

It's Caturday!

2011-05-07T18:02:00.000+02:00

Last week's instalment of "It's Caturday!" got cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances (that would've been me forgetting what day it was...)But please enjoy this instead: Cat and Dead Hare, 1777, Ivan Fedorovich. Tretyakov State Gallery.

Country life

2011-04-25T12:19:00.000+02:00

This last Winter was perhaps the worst and longest I can remember. It really drained you on all energy and made you doubt Spring would ever return.

But it did return and I rejoice! I'm off to the countryside for five days and bring with me tons of sewing - Regency stays, Regency shift, bonnet - oh my... I should get something done, at least! But more about that upon my return.

Anyway, this is how I imagine The Countryside(TM) at the moment:Elias Martin, Landscape with a lake. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

It's Caturday!

2011-04-23T23:32:00.000+02:00

All the cool bloggers have them! I too want a weekday dedicated to a theme, so how about - cats? This blogg has been lacking cats since the start, in spite of its name, so I think it is time I made amends (let us not bother with the fact that this blogg has been lacking posts about anything lately...).

So, for the first installment of

It's Caturday - a day for historical cats
brought to you by CC&18thc

the artwork I used for my banner:

The Jealous Maids

Courtesy of Lewis Walpole Library. View full record.

Hospital fashion!

2011-04-14T09:14:00.000+02:00

I was searching the 'net for "kattun", which is the period term for printed cotton fabric (derived, of course, from cotton). Since there - obviously - is a Japanese pop group called KAT-TUN, an image search proved to be quite frustrating. Trust me. But in the end, I found something very interesting.

Belonging to the collections of the Army museum here in Stockholm are 32 shirts labelled "hospital shirts" or "night shirts". They had been stacked away in storage on the island of Gotland until 1919 when they were given to the museum. Information is a bit scarce, but here is what we know (and by "we", I mean Army museum...):

It's the year1808. Sweden is at war with Russia and Denmark/Norway. War means battles and battles means wounded men in need of care and medical equipment. And hospital clothing.

C A Staaff. 1870's illustration

5,000 hospital shirts were required to be made in Stockholm. They were to be made from linen, white with blue stripes...

Images copyright of Armémuseum, Stockholm

Not quite as described?

We don't know why these shirts came to look as they did. 1808 was a year where mostly everything was in hight demand due to the war and bad harvests and the factory obliged to deliver the shirts obviously couldn't get hold of enough of the right fabric, and had to make do with whatever they could find. Which happened to be an assortment of very fashionable cotton prints...

Images copyright of Armémuseum, Stockholm

The museum description says that the shirts seem to have been made in great haste with a very simple construction, like an infant's shirt with no side seams and sleeves attached with a minimum of care.

The prints have been identified as the work of Lamm's kattun factory at Lilla Blecktornet in Stockholm, signed Salomon Aron Moses Lamm (Lamm is by the way one of the oldest Jewish families in Sweden).

Did the factory rob its inventory of every available remnant to be able to secure the order of 5,000 shirts? How many were made in the end? The museum description doesn't tell us anything about the condition of the shirts but from what I can tell, they look well preserved. Perhaps they never got into service at all? One of the many problems with the 1808-09 war was the poor logistics. Supplies often ended up nowhere near the troops that (badly) needed them, so it is possible that these shirts weren't used. Or that some out of the 5,000 shirts were used, but just not these 32.

At any rate, it is a bit amusing to imagine the reactions on these shirts. The field hospital is up and running but badly under-equipped. The starving men are bleeding in their uniforms. It's cold. But lo! Finally some supplies! An eager surgeon opens a much longed for crate. Will it contain food? Medical equipment? At least some bandages? He stares at the contents in disbelief. Printed cotton in all the colours of the rainbow: "What the deuce is this?"

We'll never know for sure. But follow this link and you can admire all the 32 shirts (clicking an item will allow you to click again for a larger image). Some of them have been examined more closely in a 1953 book on Swedish kattuns that I will look up at the library whenever I get the chance.

OMG shoes!

2011-03-30T22:47:00.000+02:00

In case you haven't heard:

American Duchess says:

Introducing the "Georgiana" 18th Century Shoes by American Duchess

Image copyright of American Duchess

Pre-ordering will start April 1. Do I need to say more? No, but see what the amazing Lauren Reeser a k a American Duchess has to say:

Official blog post

Official website

Lust & Vice - get Lust & Vice tomorrow!

2011-03-23T11:48:00.001+01:00

...if you are lucky enough to be in Stockholm by then.

Lust & Last is the Swedish name for the new exhibition at the National Museum in Stockholm. In three rooms, over 200 works show how virtue, sexuality, sin and lust have been depicted by Swedish and international artists from the 16th century to present day (a friend of a friend is represented, which is super fun).

Apparently, one wall in one room is entirely dedicated to women's behinds and, yes! They to have one of those double portraits where one finds you face to face with a lovely nun, while the other... You figure.

Good Nun
(click the image for Bad Nun)

Kneeling nun, verso. Martin van Meytens the younger.
© Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2007

Link to the English presentation of the exhibition Lust & Vice (note: artistic nekkidness galore - may be NSFW depending).

I haven't been to the National Museum in ages despite many interesting past events there so I really must take this exhibition as an excuse to go as soon as time and leisure permits.

This post could also mark my return as a blogger of sorts. I have not given up on costumes and related goodness, but the whole of Autumn and Winter I just couldn't find anything interesting to tell. That's all. I hope someone still remembers me (I have been reading your blogs and journals, just been on silenced mode while doing so...)

Looking at pictures

2010-09-07T09:15:00.000+02:00

Well hallo there! Remember me?

No, not quite dead but I have been feeling more than a little bit low lately. Nothing serious, but it doesn't make for very interesting posts either.

So let's just look at some very nice paintings and portraits, 'k? I always forget that the auction houses put up such great and HUGE images of their goodies online - in fact, better than many digitized museum collections!

Let's start with Bukowskis (and clicky, clicky for HUGE!):

Duke Karl of Sudermannia

(yup, that's a Roslin!)

From Stockholms Auktionsverk

Pehr Hilleström was Boucher's pupil, if you wonder why this painting looks so familiar...

***

18th century weeks at Skansen - revisited

2010-07-20T06:42:00.000+02:00

Another Sunday at Skansen - this time with much cooler weather which made the hours there even more agreeable than last week! I have to repeat - I really could do this thing for my day job!

And would you believe - I brought the camera this time (although I forgot to bring newly purchased spare batteries and had to buy on site for $$$ - GAAH!) and I took many pictures of the interiors of the lovely, lovely Skogaholm manor:

A bedroom with 17th century walls and ceiling

A bed chamber

A blurry picture of the Chinese parlour

And a DARK but cool picture of the same:

The loveliest little parlour, it says: The table is set - do come in!

Another very female bed chamber......from another angle.

The nursery

I think this was supposed to be the master bedroom:

Another parlour/sitting room, where you could spin...

...play a tune......or just warm yourself up a bit!

And to wrap things up, a handful of ego pictures of me, fooling around inside and outside of the manor house:

Nothing new to wear this week either - my current project has been giving me so much pain that I've started to question my ability to sew even a pillow case in the future! I'm NOT giving up just yet, though. Grey hair makes one look distinguished anyway.

18th century weeks at Skansen

2010-07-13T17:42:00.000+02:00

Skansen, an open-air museum/zoo in Stockholm began their annual 18th century weeks last Sunday.

Gustafs Skål's members heartily participates in the event on weekends and show off themselves, 18th century dances, arrange fashion shows and so on, very much to the tourists' delight.

This year was the first time I participated and in spite of the hot, hot HOT weather (seriously, my shift was soaking when I got it off.. Sorry for TMI) I had a lovely day.

There weren't too many fixed arrangements for this day, so my task was mostly to walk around like any other Skansen-goer (only in 18th c clothing, of course), answering the odd question from tourists, smiling for cameras and enjoying the company of the many nice Gustafs Skål members.

I could so do this every day for the rest of my life!

The activities are mainly focused around this building, Skogaholm manor.

I couldn't find my camera when I left home (I slept late and was a bit panicked) so I had to take stealth shots with my phone. A lot of them were so stealthy that I mostly got people's backs ! Oh well.

Isn't this lovely? It had original (I think) decor on the inside.

I really liked his girl's pierrot jacket.

It all ended with a lovely picnic in the green grass (and there was a bit of shade! Phew!)

Lady in blue contemplating lady in floral.

This charming man

Gossip? Surely no - everyone was talking about the heat.

And what's the only remedy for heat? ICE CREAM!

One would think that it would be cool and nice in this lovely... corridor of shrubbery, but it was quite the reverse.

Last but not least - me! I had planned to wear something new but there wasn't time (you may remember this old rag from last summer). I hope to have finished a brand new round-gown for the upcoming weekend. Then I will also try to take more and better pictures, including the lovely interiors of Skogaholm manor.

Summertime fun: A trip to Gripsholm

2010-07-09T12:37:00.000+02:00

Me and my darling spouse made a day-trip to the little town by the Mälaren lake, Mariefred, last Wednesday.

While the town itself is charming, filled with tiny doll-sized houses and situated so beautifully by the lake...
...the Thing To See is the Gripsholm palace.

The palace not only houses the National Portrait Collection which features portraits from the 16th century to our days, but also many examples on architecture and interiors from decades past (and of course all those little quirky things one loves about old castles: small staircases leading to no-one-knows, dusky dungeons and creaking floorboards...)

Photography was not allowed, and I was too chicken to take stealth-shots (without flash, of course) because of the many guards...

That means that the gift shop got me to buy a number of post cards, at least!

Forgive my old, faithful scanner his faults:

Prince Fredrik Adolf, Duke of Ostrogothia, painted by Roslin in 1770

Courtisane, a dog. David Klöcker Ehrenstral's atelier, second half 17th century

Carl Fredrik von Breda, self-portrait

The hen-picture, with queen Lovisa Ulrika's ladies-in-waiting. Mid-18th century, possibly by Johan Pasch (if you really must compare women to poultry, I suppose this is the most stylish way of doing so...)

Princess Sofia Albertina's rooms.

The green salon. See why I wanted to take pictures so badly?!?

Duke Carl's chamber. Mostly original 16th century.

One of the really unique sights: King Gustaf III's theatre. Tiny, but fully working with machinery and all!

This charming fella's name is Adolf Ludvig Stierneld but I knew nothing about him when I bought the card. Now I know that he was the person who started to organize the portrait collection at the palace, which would have suited his history sense well. He collected historical documents and was considered something of an authority and expert in his own time. Today, however, many of his so-called "historical documents" have been exposed as blatant forgeries made by himself, often to make his ancestors look more important.

***

I have visited Gripsholm many times since my childhood but it's like a new experience every time, because you always discover something you didn't see before. There are so many rooms, so unique in their own way, and so many fantastic portraits... And if that's not anough for you, then there's always...

THE LION!

Before we left for Stockholm, we visited the town's small but charming museum which showed the home of a well-to-do family in the late 19th century.

I could take pictures, and we can haz costumes:

...and creepy dolls.

After a cup of coffee and home-baked pastries in the museum's lovely garden, we boarded the 107-year old steamship Mariefred and had a very pleasant journey home!

Not dead. Just very, very sleepy...

2010-06-11T18:48:00.000+02:00

...but I'll be back. But for now:

Courtesy of Historic LOL. Although very few of them actually make me LOL, to be honest. Can you funny, funny people make better ones? I'm sure you can! There's a challenge...

Stays for a young lady

2010-03-04T13:21:00.000+01:00

My stepdaughter is returning from her internship in Wales this week, so I have spent the last days finishing the stays I promised to make for her. We didn't had much time for fittings before she left so I really hope they will work!

The outer layer is linen, the interlining and lining cotton. I machined the channels and the assembly of the stay pieces, but the rest is made by hand. Because there isn't really any other way to finish a pair of stays, and you can't watch DVD's when you machine-sew!

The shoulder straps are only pinned on as of now because I want to make sure they are the right length. Other than that, they're ready to go. I hope!

I added a little piece of ugly embroidery in the shape of Ellinor's initials - I hope she'll forgive me!

I'm very excited about Ellinor trying the stays on, because I really hope they will look better on a non-pillow shaped figure...

This is the lining

My own stays... are coming along too, albeit slowly. I have one more piece that needs lacing holes and channels (it's the second back piece) but it's pretty narrow so it should be done rather quickly. Then I can assemble the pieces, add boning and actually try them on!

The give-away project is also coming along - I promise! But it's taking much longer than I though, as usual. But watch this space, maybe YOU are the winner?

Power of Fashion Database

2010-02-26T15:55:00.000+01:00

Nordiska Museeet just launched a website dedicated to their new exhibition with good, zoomable pictures of the costumes.

Only in Swedish, but take my hand, and I'll guide you to the 18th century pieces.

1. Click here to go to the database.

2. To view the costumes, click the box to the far left, which says "Tidslinje" (=time line)

3. Click "1700"

4. Move the slider to see all the objects. Disregard the 1980's Levi's jeans that snuck their way in for some reason. Click on an object of your choice.

5. Below the image, there's a box that says "Nästa bild". This means "next image". Click "Zooma mer" for the closest view; click "Zooma" for a medium-view; and click "Zooma ut" to zoom out!

Have fun, and feel free to include my instructions if you want to share the link to your fellows!

Power of Fashion - 300 years of clothing

2010-02-23T21:29:00.000+01:00

Today I got the privilege to see the new exhibition at Nordiska Museet here in Stockholm. The exhibition is the museum's new, permanent installation of historical fashion.

I have longed to see it for quite some time now, and was very excited now when the big day had arrived!

I had understood that the exhibition was arranged so that rather than being a time-line of fashion, it would more or less pin-point three decades of fashion - the 1780's, the 1860's and the 1960's.

This disappointed me a little (no high-waisted era?!?) but bits and pieces of other eras were included after all, so I decided to only enjoy myself, and to love what I saw!

I really liked that they included clothing of the common people as well as the fashionable since it's not very documented, it added some depth.

But enough talking - we want pictures, don't we? I'm afraid you have to accept them as they are; it's not easy to snap pictures through glass, especially not when there's a pesky blue light that's reflected in the glass on all the display cases along one certain wall!

But here we go!

Stays! One pair of child's stays and another pair for a woman.

By pressing my face to the glass, I managed to study the stitches for the channels more closely, and suddenly I don't feel so bad about my own stitching any more! You may be able to see the stitches on the child's stays pretty well if you enlarge the photo, but the other pair didn't have the smallest, tightest stitches either!

The stitches on these pocket hoops are terrible! Yay for lazy seamstresses from all ages!

A lonely stomacher! Where did it's gown go?

A well-off farmer with his pipe.

A servant girl in rural clothing.

A dozed-off Scanian peasant woman in her finest bling (see Anna's comment for some interesting bits)!

This mannequin depicted a country clergyman's wife, who set the fashion example in rural areas.

Buttons, buttons... With miniature paintings!

A quilted garment, probably imported from France. Some assembly required.

This gown was lovely in salmon pink. When you watched closely, the silk really resembled what we refer to as silk dupioni! A smooth one, but nevertheless.

The man's suit in patterned velvet was fun to see, because I've only seen it in a B-W photo until now.

People of the common classes in the late 18th century, dancing away...

It was hard to get a good picture of this lovely gown...

...and even harder still to get good pictures of this gentleman. He's wearing the National Habit, or Swedish Habit.

I love how this jacket has an asymmetrical, wrap-style closing! And the fabric!

***

This was by no means a huge exhibition, but I only showed the 18th century stuff now. I has moar pictures.

By the way, I have not forgotten about the give-away; there just hasn't been much time for working on it! When I can show some proof, the winner will be announced (but I don't know who it is yet myself!)

Picque-nicque d'Hiver

2010-02-08T14:06:00.000+01:00

I have finally made an outer garment suitable for the Swedish winter!

Cape, mantelet - the terminology isn't clear to me, but I was going for something like this:

Far below are some pictures of my version. I wished it had been a bit longer but alas! Not enough fabric.

The outer fabric is some kind of wool... It was a remnant so there wasn't much to go on, but it had that wool stamp on it:

Probably some synthetics too. One side is shiny and shimmering (and very pretty!) and the other is dull. Gabardine? No idea. I wanted silk taffeta but my budget doesn't allow such extravagance right now! The lining in the hood is of a coral red china silk that I've had for ages without knowing what to do with it. I still have a few meters of it.

But it's the lining of this thing that makes it prepared for winter!

All wonderful, silky-smooth fake fur! Maybe not the prettiest fake fur I've seen, but it's SO soft... It came in the form of a blanket that has been for sale at our local supermarket for some time now. I always stopped to stroke it when passing by, but never got around to actually buy it. Then one week ago, they had an offer where you got the blanket and a matching pillow at a special price. I instantly saw that the pillow was destined to be a muff, so I finally gave in and bought them!

So now I have a winter garment. It's been put to test too, and passed with flying colours!

Last Saturday, I went to a wintry, snowy pick-nick in the Haga park just outside of Stockholm.

It was only -2 degrees (Celsius) but it appeared as if only six persons, me included, thought that a pick-nick in the snow was a good idea!

But it was really nice. Arrangements had been made so that a little fire sparked and we sat on logs (covered with blankets) and I wasn't cold at all, thanks to my fake fur (and a very accurate Thermos filled with hot chocolate, carefully laced with rum.. Yum!).

Well, OK, my feet turned awfully cold, and that was what finally drove me away. Ironically, since I easily could have avoided this simply by wearing another pair of socks (on top of the two pairs I already wore!) because I wore my modern boots that I use for everyday winter-wear.

But the park was lovely all covered in snow and I don't regret the excursion.

Sadly, my camera died and My phone camera barely managed to take pictures of the blazing fire:

But here's a collage of how I looked before going to the pick-nick:

[Click to embiggen]

The jacket is made from black silk taffeta and I know details are hard to make out, but it's very plain, front-closed and with a little self-ruffle at the skirt. I was going to wear it on the 12th Night Ball, in lieu of The Dress That Got To Tight, but I never attended the ball since my stupid self decided to get unwell just in the wrong time.

So the jacket got it's first airing on the pick-nick instead, not that anyone saw it or anything.

I know, I know, a white silk petticoat wasn't the brightest idea in the dirty city snow. An even lesser bright idea was to spill hot chocolate on it. Yeah.

Happy Birthday to me! And a give-away!

2010-02-05T14:47:00.000+01:00

This little blog on the big, big internet turned 1 year today - how the time flies!

I wasn't pretty sure where this spot would be going to when I posted that first entry one twelve-month ago: I was new to blogging, new to costuming and not very used to writing in a second language but here we are: 1 year, and 81 entries (this one included).

That makes 0,22 posts per day; 1,55 per week and 6,75 per month...

But even though I'm not the most frequent or active blogger, I thoroughly enjoy posting, and ponder about the next entry, and reading comments...

But what I enjoy most is all the new acquaintances I've made during this year - the blogging community has so many talented, witty, funny and awesome members, whether they are costumers, doll-makers, embroiderers, knitters or just plain history nerds (or all of them).

I'm so happy to have the privilege to get to know you and to learn from you and share your fortunes and misfortunes. Thank you!

Now, I wasn't really prepared for this anniversary since I for some reason believed that I posted that first entry in March 2009, but I had planned to arrange a little give-away and I still do, it's only that the thing I'm going to give away doesn't exist yet!

Well, the more excitement for the lucky receiver!

All I can say is that it is going to be something I made myself, and it will be shipped to anywhere in the world. And it won't be something that only an 18th century reenactor can enjoy, but there will be a connection to the 1700's for sure.

To enter the give-away, simply post something in the comments. Börjesson the cat will eventually pick the winner and you can enter until February 14 (Valentine's day!).

Well, here's to a good weekend for all of you, and to a prosperous new blog year!

It made me laugh...

2010-02-01T13:51:00.000+01:00

This did:

It's a painting exhibited on the traditional spring salon at the Liljevalchs art gallery, a fora for non-established artists as well as more known ones.

The artist behind this work is Nicholas Nordquist and I hope someone with a great sense of humour buys his painting.

OMG a post about cats!

2010-01-29T13:44:00.000+01:00

...and not any cat, but our Börjesson, who as of now finally has reached his goal for internet stardom by appearing at the front page of I Can Has Cheezburger (hurry, because it won't be on the front page for long. And vote!)!

No words can express how proud I am of him. My only regret is that I, his mummy and greatest supporter, didn't write the caption. Of course, that means that no one can blame me for the mangled 'Shakespearean English'. He.

Imagine being only 3 years old, and already reached your lifetime goal - whatever will he aspire to next? Only time can tell.

Fabric!

2010-01-26T12:08:00.000+01:00

I went fabric shopping yesterday. I shouldn't have, but I did anyway.

But I realised that I've actually run out of scrap fabrics to use for mock ups, so I thought I'd try to find some cheap, evil fabric now when the January sales are still ongoing.

The Booty

The reddish, cotton-blend (I think) was what I bought for that purpose. When I checked out, I even realised that it was 50% off the sale price, meaning I bought it for 12.5 SEK= 1.8USD=1.1GBP=1.25EURO per metre. I might go back for more...

The white cotton was also kinda planned, for my regency stays, whenever I feel courageous and wise enough to start on them.

The striped fabric was the impulse buy, but it called out to me the instant I saw it.

It was buried in a huge pile of remnants sold by the kilo (including a fabric featuring Siberian Huskys - and lots of it!) and my first instinct was: "ZOMG striped regency gown!!!11".

When I examined it more closely, I noticed that it was designed by Judie Rothermel and "inspired by the Old Sturbridge Village collection".

I knew I had been to the Old Sturbridge Village site and looked at costumes from their collection and it convinced me even more that I should buy this fabric. As I obviously did!

Now, I suppose this isn't a replica of a historic fabric (since it says "inspired by" rather than "replicated from" or something) and that's all cool, but since my knowledge about printed, historic cottons is limited at its best, I would like to know if this pattern would be appropriate for a regency gown at all? In my head, it's already a long-sleeved day dress...

I googled the fabric and found it for sale at ReproductionFabric.com among other places, and they had placed it in their 1865-1900 category, which wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear.

Any thoughts, you clever, well-informed people?

By the way, I went to the Old Sturbridge Village site to see if I could find the object which this fabric was inspired by. I failed, but spent a while flipping through a scrapbook with fabric samples from the 1820's (scroll down for more). Amazing how modern many of those prints look!

More on stays...

2010-01-25T16:46:00.000+01:00

While we're still on the subject:

Discovered these two stays in a Gothenburg museum's database (unfortunately not of great use if you don't know Swedish).

The pictures were taken in late 2009, which indicates that they're in the progress of digitalizing the collection to a greater degree - woohoo! A lot of their objects don't have pictures as of now, but maybe that's about to change?

Anyway; I'll do my best to translate the museum's description of these stays to you:

Linen stays (click link for additional views)

My translation:

Stays of natural linen (and cotton?) with springs of wood and baleen sewn in. The model gives a smooth front and flattens the bosom. The lower edge of the stays is tabbed and bound with white leather. Shoulder straps, circa 2 cm wide, are tied to the front pieces with plain ribbon. On each shoulder is a thin sewn-on brass grommet. The top edges are only basted together. Laced in front with 8 pairs of eyelets. Lining of coarse natural linen.

Silk stays (click for additional pics)

My translation:

Stays of yellow silk rep with springs sewn in. The stays are made from two different qualities of silk with different [weaving term; don't know the apt translation. Something about thickness of weft?] that have been combined for a decorative effect. The lower edge has sewn tabs and the model gives a straight posture with a flat bust. The springs go down past the hips and up and form open shoulder straps that are tied over the shoulders. Springs partly made of wood. The bodice is partly open in the front which is shaped with horizontal, triangular tabs that fasten at centre front with hooks and eyes. Laces in back, 10 pairs of eyelets for spiral lacing. Binding of yellow silk ribbon and natural linen. Lining of natural linen. The armscyes are reinforced in the back edge on both sides of the bodice.

---

If the text sounds somewhat confusing I must add that it's not completely my fault although, my translation probably is a bit mangled. I tried to translate it word by word. For example they used the term "fjädrar" when referring to boning, which I see much more fit for corsets of later eras (like Victorian) so I translated it to springs although boning is more appropriate for garments of this type. If I make any sense at all - I'm afraid I'm lacking a lot of sleep today!

ETA: Is it bad that the Google translations (1, 2) only are a teensy bit worse than mine?

Stays, stays & stays

2010-01-25T15:40:00.000+01:00

I may not have been busy blogging, but I have been busy sewing!

After licking my wounds caused by the rather disencouraging debacle with my black taffeta, I decided to march on to a project I had planned for a while: a new pair of stays.

While my current pair fits me very well, there are a few things I don't like about them. The armscye is to big towards the back, and since I had no idea what I was doing while I made the stays, they're basically a patchwork à la "make up as you go". It's not noticeable to anyone but me, but that's enough.

But the biggest issue is that I really need a pair of front-laced stays. I can't depend on others to lace me up every time I want to do a fitting or go to an event, and it's impossible for me to lace myself up in a pair of back laced stays - I've tried and I almost had to see a chiropractic afterwards!

So these new stays will have lacing in back, and in front. That's a lot of eyelets, but I have brainwashed myself into liking them so that's not an issue. Historical accuracy may be, because I can't recall seeing a surviving pair of stays, with shoulder straps, from the later decades (70's-80's) of the 18th c that has both front and back lacing (if you know of one, let me know!).

And since I'm obviously suffering from both hubris and a masochistic streak, I decided to go 100% hand sewn this time. Why, I will never know but that's where I am right now.

The helpful ladies at the forum (still online! Yay!) recommended 12 stitches per inch for the boning channels... Let's just say that I'm getting closer... The two front panels look like %&##¤&¤## but I'm progressing and now make 10 stitches per inch. If I make even further progress, the stays will appear to have been made by 5 different persons in different stages of intoxication.

When I started to make plans for these stays, the idea was that I would work on them on and off, between other projects, with no pressure but now I have decided that I won't sew another garment until I can fit it off these stays. Hopefully I have got everything right this time, so I can use the master pattern for new stays to come without having to change my garments over and over again.

No close-ups because I'm too ashamed of my terrible stitching!

Outer layer of blue linen (doesn't look so bright in person) and two layers of heavy cotton. I will add the lining later. Binding will be from natural linen tape (if I don't try to dye it pink... Hmmm...). And cable ties for boning - allright! Although I have to order more.

As you can see, there's a lot more to be done. One stitch at a time...

...so I decided to start on a simultaneous project where I actually could feel I made progress!

Miss Ellinor, my stepdaughter, wished for a new pair of stays for Christmas and I liked the idea. Yesterday she went to Wales for two months of internship and I had initially decided to make the stays after her return, but a few days before she was about to go, I got a sudden urge to quickly make them up just enough for a fitting so I then could work on them while she was away, and so she would return to a brand new pair of finished stays!

Said, and done! Ellinor is about half my size but surprisingly enough I could make a draft from my own stays, and since such a petite figure as hers does well with half-boned stays the (machine sewed) channels and assembly went real quick.

So now all I have to do is to sew the eyelets and the binding... That's right - most of the work actually...

Here the stays lie with a lot of raw edges and seam allowances ready to be trimmed down.

She also got blue linen for an outer layer but it's not the same as on mine. Cable ties FTW! I will definitely use pink binding on these for cuteness.

And as if I hadn't my hands full already, I purchased fabric today for something that some day may become a pair of regency stays. Madness, madness. I need to do a lot more research for this, though. I want the stays to be appropriate for ca 1810 (any help/suggestions/encouragement extremely welcome!). I'm terrified of cording and bust gussets. I really need to end this post now.

Bye.

headdesk

2010-01-21T17:00:00.000+01:00

I was bored and browsed IMDB, and went to look if there were any goofs in the Duchess, because I hadn't spotted any myself.

There were a few of course, because there are goofs in every film that was ever made (and if they're not listed on IMDB, it's only because no one has yet reported them yet) but nothing funny or really embarrassing...

...until I came to the end of the (short) list, and it was not the people working on the Duchess who should feel embarrassed... Here's what it said:

Factual errors: In the last scene with the kids running around the fountain, there should be no fountain, since there was no electricity and no pumps.

A fountain needs its electricity, dammit!

My boss is getting a PM as we speak

2010-01-20T23:46:00.000+01:00

Colleagues, co-workers, bosses et al:

There's little you can do to avoid them (if you aren't self-employed, of course, but don't we all get annoyed even with ourselves sometimes?).

Sometimes you even have to spend time with them post work hours.

The occasion can be a "party" (the ones where everyone is 100% sober are almost as bad as those where no one is anywhere near so), or some kind of awkward "team building" activity in the wilderness (where you WILL be terribly humiliated in front of that bitch from accounting in some stupid game) or simply that Friday after-work at the local pub, which you can't refuse because you don't want to be "that person".

Then there's those pesky 18th century themed balls, where you and your colleagues dress up in masquerade costumes, that your boss always want to drag you to every other year..!

Why, your boss don't?

Well, mine doesn't either, but technically she could, since there's a conference hotel in Sweden that does offer exactly this!

I didn't know this until today, when I found an ad while browsing a magazine. And it made my day, my week. Possibly my whole year.

The place where it happens is Sundbyholm Castle in Sudermania, a former residence of dukes and noblemen but nowadays a hotel and conference centre, a fate shared with many other historical buildings all over Sweden.

In this business, it's very important to find a niche to attract customers. Some go for spa and health themes; others offer gourmet dinners and exclusive wines, yet others tempt with fishing and hunting grounds.

And others (at least one) arrange 18th century-themed balls.

The hosts claim to have 225 eighteenth century-style costumes for the guests to choose from (quote: accurate and of high quality) for the "18th century Court-like ball".

Included in the price is, besides the hiring of costumes:

Drink at arrival
Red carpet
Cannon salute (3 rounds)
Private venue with beautifully arranged tables
3-course dinner
Two glasses of wine
Song book
Coffee

Toast master and DJ(!) offered at an additional fee.

I'm in a good mood today, so I'm not going to be snarky. I'll just say that I'm glad that I work at a place with very few employees; so few that bigger events are out of the questions.

Here's the PDF pictured above with pictures, phone number and of course a testimonial from a former guest for those aspiring for the "Best boss of the year"-award (or worse, depending on your employees' taste).

It's in Swedish, but at the bottom there's a couple of pictures of happy guests. Gotta love the guy in the turban to the right.

Sewing related post coming next!

P.S. They also have Viking parties and Murder Mysteries.

Forum update: We're online again!

2010-01-13T13:13:00.000+01:00

Greetings, faithful (and by now, perhaps somewhat impatient) members of the Historical Sewing Forum!

I'm very happy to inform you that the forum now is online again and working. And hopefully for good, this time.

Again, the new URL is http://www.historicalsewingforum.com so if you have any links pointing to the old pupvintage.com server on your blog or web page, it would be great if you could update those.

I hope for a happy new year at the forum, and look forward to your posts, knowledge and good company there!

See you soon!

...then disaster struck..!

2010-01-04T12:54:00.000+01:00

The black 1780's museum taffeta gown I was going to finish and wear to the 12th night ball? Yeah that one!

The answer is: no. A definite no.

And believe it or not, it wasn't the tight time schedule that stopped me but merely the tiny little detail that the bodice wouldn't fit! As in too tight, WAY to tight, as in not wearable (OK, if I squeezed I could technically wear it, but it didn't look good and the seams would have gone to smithereens sooner or later).

How I manage these things, I do not know. But at least I reacted very stoically when I found out about the disaster; I only sighed and said to myself: "Oh well, crap then!" (it's true!)

The gown is still salvageable, thanks goodness, but I have to change the front of the bodice into either some kind of a stomacher closure or a zone-type bodice (which of course will make it very different from the original museum piece, but c'est la vie, merde) but that would put me seriously behind schedule and, to be frank, my enthusiasm about this project just went about 1,000,000 below zero. So this gown is currently sitting on the "To be finished in the future, some time" shelf and I don't feel too sorry about it.

However, now I'm not sure what I'm going to wear to the ball but at least I have things to wear and it's not a sin if you don't have something completely new for every event, even if I seem to believe that. I'm going to enjoy myself anyway, that's all I know for sure! Basta!

I hope you all had a splendid new year's eve (I had) and that the year brings you better costuming luck than it brought me!

More forum information

2009-12-30T20:17:00.000+01:00

Hi all forum members,

I hope your Holidays have been great and I also take the opportunity to wish you one heck of a New Year!

And on to the business: not only the forum but the server as whole are experiencing problems, as you may have noticed.

I have contacted support and was assured things would be back within 48 hours. Those hours have not yet expired so I will will try to keep my patience and also keep in mind that there were and are holidays going on which may slow things down. Annoying, but everything IT-related is or so I' starting to believe.

But I hope we all will meet again in 2010, with or without new costuming resolutions!

Take care of yourself and have a smashing New Year's Eve!

Info to the members of Historical Sewing Forum

2009-12-10T23:01:00.000+01:00

...the rest of you can simply disregard this message...

The forum is being transferred to another hosting service and is therefore unavailable at the moment.

I had no idea that the transfer would occur so soon after I signed up with the new host, so I hadn't even time to inform the moderators, even less so the members.

But everything should be back to normal within 24 hours, I hope.

The good news is that the domain historicalsewingforum.com now has been purchased and should be up and running soon. So bookmark it now!

Mini-project completed. Now onto a big one. Of madness.

2009-12-09T00:01:00.000+01:00

I started on this little linen fichu yesterday and completed it today. It's rather smallish since I only had scraps left of the fabric.

One day I want to make a BIG one, the kind that wraps around you! But that will have to be in a time when I have forgotten how tedious rolled hems can be.

***

And tonight it was time to start on my new project of madness...

It is going to be a dress heavily inspired by an extant gown belonging to the museum of Gothenburg.

This gown was in its turn inspired by the National Costume that was launched by king Gustaf III in 17778 (Read Isis's great post on it here), but this gown's first owner must have been a fashion-conscious lady for this gown shows very few traces of the National gown, like this one,

but the much more fashionable profile of the 1780's.

What I like about it are the simple lines and the lack of embellishments (I am going to leave out the bow in the back, I think) and that it's black! When I stumbled upon this dress I had had thoughts about a black robe á la Francaise but I quickly changed my mind.

So tonight I made a working toile for the bodice (I had a pattern I could alter so it wasn't too much work) and I then cut out the lining for the bodice. Then I went on an extended break, lasting until tomorrow evening, post-dinner.

The lining is of grey linen and I have lots and lots of black silk taffeta for the gown itself.

What I can't tell from the museum's vague description is if the back is cut en forreau or not. I think it is and I have decided to make it that way because it will look awesome!

So the only cloud on my sky, and the madness part of this project, is the deadline. 12th night. Yeah, I'm crazy but if there's hope and all that. I may be able to hire my poor relatives for some sweatshop work if things get out of hand.

Wish me luck?

Yesterday's Christmas dinner - with pictures

2009-12-07T22:09:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening was very pleasant.

The weather was most un-Christmasy with rain but that's how most winters are in Stockholm nowadays so it was only to be expected.

But the house, Kristinehovs Malmgård, was lit up both on the outside as well as within, which helped my spirits up. And they continued to rise with the aide of good company, entertainment, drinks and - food!

The traditional Swedish Christmas food is very rich and plentiful! It's served buffet style and with dozens and dozens of different dishes, it's next o impossible to try them all - especially when in stays! I was pretty full after only the cold dishes (pickled herring, salmon and other lovely things) and then there were tons of dessert!

Christmas trees was not too common in Sweden in the 18th century but not unheard of.

Someone spoke of a written source from 1741 mentioning a decorated tree with present beneath so the beautiful tree was not out of place.

There were many children present and I don't know if it was them or me who was the most fascinated by Gustafs Skål's mascot, the tiny rooster Gustaf!

He popped in for a quick visit, but thought himself better off with his three chicks in the hen house.

And I did finish my pet-en-l'air in time, althiugh I made the last stitches only withing hours from the start of the event.

Miss Ellinor did my hair and I think she did a pretty darn good job too, if you consider she never did anything like it before!

I wore my new stays for the first time (for more than just a couple of hours, that is) and believe I'm very pleased with them. They were really comfortable, even after a heavy dinner and that must be a good sign? And my shoes did not fall apart, although they weren't too comfortable. But a girl can't have everything...

The next event is Gustafs Skål's 12th Night Masquerade and there is this gown I desperately want to make but will I have the time? More about that later; tonight I'm working on a mini-project, a linen fichu, and I just finished 320 centimeters of rolled hems - fuuun!

Für Elyse

2009-12-07T13:03:00.000+01:00

Some of you already follow Elyse's fascinating blog Gillray's Printshop of Historical Absurdities and the rest of you has a very pleasant discovery to make.

The last updates have had a very Napoleonic theme to them, and I immediately thought of them when I rummaged through a drawer the other day.

I didn't find what I was looking for, but I found the Napoleon incense I bought in Krakow this summer!

That's right - Napoleon incense! Of course I couldn't pass it up.

So what does it smell like? Well, a great part of gun powder and Austerlitz, with a hint of Waterloo and Joesphine's unwashed body.

Or, to make a long story short:

"Such a blend can never be again."

Indeed not. We keep all our Very Important Papers in this drawer together with the incense sticks so they too smell like Napoleon. This amuses me a bit (in the pictures you also see a couple of miniature portraits of the late pope John Paul. He was born in a little village outside of Krakow so this is just the town for all your pope memorabilia needs. They had everything but T-shirts and ashtrays I believe).

Shoes, fabric and a cat

2009-12-04T20:36:00.000+01:00

Three lovely things indeed: a pair of shoes, lengths of fabric and the cat in my life!

Me and the cat are all by ourselves tonight. My DH is out with a friend (they were actually going to see Pete Doherty, but I just got a text message informing me that the sweet boy never showed up. Surprise, surprise...) and my stepdaughter is acting as a hostess at a Christmas dinner in an 18th century building (in costume of course!) just like I did last year. Sniff! They grow up so quickly these days...

That means that I can do lots of sewing without getting bad conscience for being anti-social on a Friday night. I really am going to have the pet-en-l'air finished on Sunday!

Anyhow - in the picture above you see the shoes I recovered about 200 years ago. They now have buckles (modern buckles, alas) and will also be worn for the first time on Sunday. I do hope that the heels will carry me all night since they're glued on. Maybe I should bring a spare pair of shoes, just in case?

You also see a newly-bought fabric (actually curtains) that found at one Salvation Army thrift/charity store. I'm quite in love with it and there's lots of tit but I haven't the slightest idea what to do with it. There just isn't that Instant Image in my mind when I look at it, but time will tell. Ideas and inspiration always welcome, of course!

And last, but not least, sweet Börjesson. I love him but he eats shoes and that's the truth! Only my shoes, and only dressy shoes. I don't know what's up with that. I have to put shoes I care about on a shelf 2 meters above the floor if I want them to stay safe from him. He likes to chew on the corners of books too, especially fancy coffee-table books. Why it's better not too keep those kind of books on the coffee table any more.

I hope y'all will have a good weekend, I know I will! I had the day off today (Friay) and won't get back to work until Tuesday! Mini-vacation FTW!

I'll try to take some pictures on the Christmas dinner on Sunday, beause this place lacks pictures badly these days. XXX

Time for the rush

2009-11-30T20:28:00.000+01:00

I knew something was wrong with my last finished project, the 1809 gown, that I finished more than one week before the event to which it would be worn. this was a most disturbing experience and I promised myself it would never happen again.

And I always try to keep my promises, so here I am, with less than a week left to finish the IKEA pet-en-l'air I have been hinting about so that it can make its première on the Christmas dinner.

For once, I have some progress pictures (with bonus views of our messy living room!)

Since I made myself a new pair of stays my dress dummy Glendora 2.0 no longer works as she is supposed to for fittings and mostly serves as a glorified clothes hanger. I can assure you that the pet-en-l'air looks much better on me.

OK, mostly the same picture, but you can see our messy living room better in this one.

What the ruching looks like, but I see that I could have done a better job in this spot. Will fix that.

I did add some more ruching to it after the pictures were taken, but this is pretty much how far I have gotten.

Left to do:

- Add hooks and eyes to one side of the stomacher (the other side is sewn to the bodice. I have no idea if this is anywhere near period correct but it saves my sanity. I can't pin stuff to save my life and that's why you never should walk around bare foot in our livingroom when I've been sewing).

- Add some kind of trim to the stomacher. I don't know what kind yet though.

- Add ruching to the sleeves and all way 'round the bottom edge of the pet-en-l'air.

- Possibly add a flounce to the petticoat (that I thankfully finished months ago!) but this depends on whether I have the time and if I have fabric enough left.

Those plans I had on making a better pair of pocket hoops and a nicer under petticoat simply will have to wait.

I should easily make it if I only put some effort into it. Last week I tried to make some sewing every evening, even if it was only a couple of stitching, just to feel that I was going somewhere. It's not that I don't want to sew, because I do, but I'm usually very exhausted from work and to be honest, I haven't had much love for this pet-en-l'air for some reason (and sometimes it's also very tempting to play Age of Empires III over LAN with you husband and ignore everything else, including housework. We got a new computer not long ago, you see...)

When this business is finished, I have a brand new project of lovelyness waiting for me. But more about that later.

The resurrection of Madame Berg

2009-11-17T20:57:00.000+01:00

Hello, internets, how do you do?

Our internet connection decided to die one day. I waited for about a day and then called our provider, who finally managed to realise that they, for no reason whatsoever, had disconnected our modem. They promised that we would be on-line within 24 hours. They lied. Now, one week later, we finally have the service we pay dearly (far too dearly) for back and working.

But. It wasn't the end of the world, just annoying. It's actually kind of good to see that you can live without being on-line 24/7 once in a while, and live well too!

I haven't been totally disconnected, though: I have sneaked into internet cafés (internet café? Sooo 1998!) once in a while to do some checking in and drive-by commenting on the forum and blogs. Still - I have a lot of catching up to do on all your blogs and I look forward to it more than you can imagine!

One could be led to believe that this internet abstinence would have resulted in a huge boost to my sewing, and in a better world, that would undoubtedly have been the case.

In my world, however, the population (=me) suffers from an awful lack of energy and motivation, and I take the easy way out and blame the 1) dark, 2) dark 3) dark 4) rain and 5) work.

What I've mostly been ignoring lately is a pet-en-l'air made from the smoking ashes of my IKEA francaise, that I ripped up seam by seam because it was awful and a complete waste of good fabric.

It's progressing ever so slowly but time has finally come for sleeves. And we all know what joy that is.

My plan was to have the pet-en-l'air and a petti in the same fabric ready for Gustaf Skål's Christmas dinner on December the 4th but I have my doubts. If I do make it - great! - but I'm not going to stress it. Que sera, sera and all that.

And now, I have some serious blog reading to do! See you later...

...and I'm not even surprised!

2009-10-19T17:13:00.000+02:00

So while I was on my way home after work today, a question just popped up and demanded an answer:

"Hey! I wonder if someone has made the French Revolution with LEGO?"

Ten minutes later and a quick google search sufficed: Someone sure had!

As a matter of fact, there were several LEGO re-enactments of this event only on Youtube and I'm going to feature this one:

But, please, don't demand those 9:04 minutes of your life back from me if you watch it!

A post about shoes

2009-10-14T17:47:00.000+02:00

I have been felling tired and stupid for the last few weeks and haven't done much sewing or anything of importance really.

But even a woman with half a brain can talk about shoes, so here it is: A post about shoes.

I bought these shoes at Lidl, of all places. Cheap and replaceable, I figured they'd make a good first re-covering project. I bought some black faux leather that I was going to use and started with one shoe but when I found the Red 80's Leather Jacket of Doom! on sale in a second hand store, I quickly changed my mind.

The jacket was absolutely grotesque and should probably have been burned or sent to the bottom of the sea in a sealed iron chest but it was a very nice and smooth leather, and very red, so as of now it' still in my home, slightly mutilated but still recognisable.

However, here's the result. They're RED (I read somewhere that red shoes were mostly worn by loose women. Is this true?)

I will have to work out something to hide the raw edges, and find some shoe buckles.

The flaws are plentiful, because I messed a few things up, but for once I won't point them out to you. I'm mostly done with them but hopefully learned a few things for my next project...

...which will be this pair.

I'm not too crazy about them so I don't care if they blow up. I will use scraps of grey silk taffeta that I have (actually a pair of half-finished mitts. That blew up).

Then I have these.

They will become my Sensible Shoes, for when a lot of walking and standing is to be expected. I want them to remain black so maybe I can use the faux leather for them.

Another pair of Sensible Shoes that I don't know what do do with yet, I just bought them.

These are the shoes I have used until now.

They're exactly as when I bought them and I don't think I will do anything about them. They're not really very pretty (or accurate...) but they will have to do until I've made something shiney. They're uncomfortable to boot (bad pun intended) which is another reason for not bothering with them.

But finally: the completely unworn 70's(?) beauties that I will save for later, when I've learnt to master the art of shoe re-covering.
There will be silk involved, that's all I know for now.

Well, that was a post about shoes all right. What shoes do you wear yourself when in costume? Pics and links please!

Illustrations from poetry book

2009-10-03T18:30:00.000+02:00

Swedish 18th century poetry isn't my cup of tea, with a few exceptions.

One of them is Anna Maria Lenngren, a female poet who lived 1754-1817.

She was married to Carl Petter Lenngren who was an editor of the Stockholm newspaper Stockholms Posten which became an outlet for Anna Maria's works. She also translated poetry and theatrical plays.

She was widely read and liked in her own time, and has continued to be so because her poems has aged so remarkably well. Her style was witty, satirical and humorous and one of her subjects was not seldom the overly proud and ridiculous nobleman or -woman, why I sometimes amuse myself with thinking that Anna Maria and Jane Austen would have liked each other, had they ever met...

But to the point: Anna Maria's poems weren't published in book form until 1819, after her death, but it has been re-printed again and again ever since, and I have the great joy of owning one copy published in 1890.

Besides the pretty cover, it also contains many illustrations by none other than Swedish artist Carl Larsson. The illustrations are late 19th century interpretations of 18th and early 19th century and, I think, quite lovely in their own right.

I left the poem here so you can see the lovely font! The girl has fainted upon learning that her parrot has been killed by a cat, who's being kicked out in the top left corner.

The subject of this poem was the "mutton dressed as lamb" thing...

This poem was written in the memory of Kellgren, a fellow poet and friend of Anna Maria, who passed in 1795. It is he who receives an embrace from the young woman (he did love the fair sex) and Gustaf III, who had died three years before, watches with some amusement from the background.

An old, right honourable and proud couple. But not even the finest pedigree will save them from the reaper...

A proposal scene. But is the young lady so virtuous and innocent as she looks? unfortunately, the man won't find out until after the wedding...

"My late wife"...

Mademoiselle Lisa is quite accomplished. She makes tolerable bobbin lace and no less than four heels on each stocking!

Young Lise marries a count! But all is vanity - in the end, she only becomes the subject of a poem!

"To my dear daughter, if I had one". This poem is still disputed among critics. Anna Maria tells her "daughter" to stay away from the pen and look to her household duties instead. But was it meant satirically or not? The debate goes on.

Is it Lady Catherine and Anne de Burgh? No, but it almost could be! Juliana is raised to think herself above most other people (in "the old ruins of the manor") but eventually marries below her birth, to her family's horror.

"Every age has its customs"... The young lady is told to care a little less about her respectability - it will come with age anyway!

His grace is fast asleep and won't get up for at least another hour, much to the dismay of his creditors who are waiting upon him.

"The Old Woman"

The countess and her daughter honour the vicar with a visit. His wife and daughter kiss the countess' skirt hem (a custom that wasn't abolished until 1809) and soon turn the house upside-down in an effort to make the visit agreeable to the honourable guests, who still remain rather unimpressed... Again I feel an Austen reference. Anyone else?

***

I just learned that Anna Maria Lenngren's poems have been translated into English by a man called Philip K. Nelson and published in 1984. One of his translations are available on the Swedish Anna Maria Lenngren wikipedia page, and I think it works very well compared to the original:

The Man's Last Wish

My dear wife, listen now

And promise while you tarry,

That when I die you'll vow

That you and Per won't marry.

My last wish you'll obey now, won't you?

For otherwise I'll come and haunt you.

The wife:

Dear husband, die in peace.

This promise I am making.

Your worrying can cease.

This vow I'm never breaking.

I swear that Per and I won't wed,

For I have promised Sven instead.

A little info about the book on Google books (it's not available there, though).

'tis all a matter of priorities...

2009-09-29T23:58:00.000+02:00

Yeah. I could, theoretically...

...talk about the joy that was the 1809 ball and even upload the only decent picture I took, or...

...show off my - finally - finished shift, or...

...my (zomg!) new pair of stays that I actually like, or...

...describe the ruthless butchering of the wretched IKEA robe that is in the process of becoming a pet-en-l'air...

I could do all that, as a matter of fact...

...but all I really want to do is lolPitts!
(With a humble dedication to Elyse)

I really think this can become the new Internet craze! Someone, maybe me, should register lolpitt.com before it's too late.

But until then: send all your lolpitts to me and wish for my speedy recovery from the trauma that is Post-Vacation Insanity-Blues (PVIB).

WARNING: Sillyness Ahead!

2009-09-17T22:47:00.000+02:00

Being very tired and without inspiration for sewing, I spent most of the evening in front of ye olde laptop. I soon got addicted to funniest little web page that I read about in today's Metro.
It deserves the Nobel prize for awesomeness.

You upload a portrait photo of your choice, wait a while, and watch the magic: A portrait in motion!

I naturally started out with a picture of me, as seen below, but I soon realised how much funnier it would be to try with portraits of some of our most loved18th century celebrities instead. Said and done!

The results? From really freaky to quite hilarious. Judge for yourselves:

Just little me

Gustaf III of Sweden. What's not to love?

Carl "Freaky Eyes" von Linné

Poor Marie Antoinette. This could be more flattering, I suppose.

Why so serious, George? You're on film!

I think I like this one best: Charles James Fox

Now go and make your own: http://labs.mppark.jp/hige

Getting ready for the ball

2009-09-15T21:20:00.000+02:00

I can't believe it!

The 1809 ball at Kristinehov is on Friday...

...and I've almost finished all of my stuff!

This is such an anomaly and I'm sure I'll end up paying dearly for this huge offence to the mighty power that is "Desperate-Sewing-Madness-Night-Before-Event".

So what is this total regency n00b's plan?

As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe more, so I give you a lot of pictures and I'll throw in a few words with the bargain as well:

Shoes

I was going to buy plain, old white ballerinas when I found these. It was love at first site (at least in my case. I think the shoes have undetermined feelings due to a bad break-up recently):

"So were Indian/Pakistani Khussa with sequins and stuff all the rage around 1809?" you ask. I say: "Yes. Yes, it was."

Which is, of course, a lie. But I couldn't help myself. I love them. Besides, my camera, which has a face recognition feature, clearly sees a face on the toe. They smell a little like horse, but I like horses. I'll add ribbons to tie around my ankles to make sure they stay on.

Reticule

Just... Just ignore my attempt at bead work. I was feeling a bit over-achieving at the time but what is done is done. Making tassels was fun, though!

Fan

I bought a typical Asian gift shop cheapo sandalwood fan that I planned to spice up.

So I sprayed it with white paint, because white paint is almost impossible to tell from ivory, and will add a ribbon in lieu of the original nylon string. Meh. At least I have a fan.

But while on the subject: I found another cheapo Chinese fan today at my lunch break.

It will need a lot of help but I think it has potential. But that's for much later.

Hair

I'm not 100% sure about what to do with my hair, besides that I'm going to curl it.

I tested my husband's grandmother's old curling iron tonight and I think it's a winner!

I heated it on the stove, like I believe she did in the 30's, and if it was good enough for her hair, it's good enough for mine.

Sizzling!

"But the gown!" you cry: "What about the gown?"

Oh, there is a gown all right, buuut I'll wait with pictures until I'm all dolled up and ready for The Big Night so I can do it justice.

But I'm a generous person at heart so I'll give you two pictures of the sleeve, which is what actually makes this gown.

Sorry for the crap quality. My camera died so I had to use my phone.

The concept is stolen from a gown in a Swedish museum. The original also has bobbin lace at the bottom and I found a piece of lace in my stash that was exactly the length needed. Like millimetre exact! I thought that was cool because I got the lace from a plastic bag of mixed ribbons from a thrift store, and I actually bought the bag only because of another lace in it, and I had to buy the whole bag, so... Yeah, whatever.

And now I must end this post with a very important message from my cat and sewing friend Börjesson:

Börjesson has entered the "Cutest Sewing Critter" competition over at the Dreamestress's and is quite willing to bribe you for votes in his favour. Name your price!

Here he is helping me with the breeches pattern I mentioned in my last post. Börjesson insists that the best way of getting familiar with a new pattern is to feel it. This is most efficiently achieved by spreading out your body on top of the pattern for an hour or two. Börjesson shares this tip with you for nothing in return!

And now he' wants me to return to the joy that is finger torture and binding stays. I'll try to find an excuse, like I have done for the greater part of the evening.

A man and his clothes

2009-09-11T18:43:00.000+02:00

I have probably hinted here and there about making clothes for my husband. I think it's about time I presented the project, so at least I know what I have gotten myself into... I haven't sewed for anyone else but myself before and I can already tell that it's a completely different challenge. Mostly because you must nag about fittings here and fittings there to the victim all the time, which isn't always appreciated.

Anyhoo, the inspiration for my husband's outfit comes from this three-piece suit, worn by king Gustaf III in 1777 when he visited his cousin and neighbour, Catherine the Great.

It is merely for inspiration; I don't plan to recreate the clothes in any way.

So far, I have almost completed a waistcoat in silk taffeta. Here it lies on our rug, probably trembling with fear from the treatment it got when I worked on the five thousand buttonholes* (remove -on from the word, and we're much closer to the truth...).

The pocket flaps isn't attached yet and there are no pockets. Other than that, it's finished. It's more eggshell than snow white but my camera is worthless.

That leaves me with... Let's see:

1 shirt. I have already scrapped one shirt with one sleeve because it sucked. I think I'll leave the shirt to last.

1 pair of breeches. I purchased this pattern for drop front breeches from Eagle's View because I had read good reviews on it but I haven' touched it as of yet. If you don't count that time I opened the envelope, looked at all the lines and strange marks, quickly stuffed everything back and spent the rest of the evening under the kitchen table rocking back and forth. Breeches = scary stuff.

1 coat. The only good thing about the scariness degree of the breeches is that I still haven't realised how scary the prospect of making a well-fitting coat is. A coat must fit perfectly, it's pretty useless and a waste of fabric if it doesn't. I don't have a commercial pattern for this, I was thinking of using the 1770's frock coat pattern from "Cut of Men's Clothes". I see maaaany mock-ups in my crystal ball...

1 stock. This shouldn't be too much of a problem, I think.

I have this striped silk in design for the breeches and the coat.

Beige and brown - nice and earthy, and it also leaves me with a greater possibility of talking my husband into actually wearing the clothes! I love the more bright and what we may call feminine colours in 18th c male clothing but it's not worth the risk in this case.

There will be no embroidery or other embellishments; partly because my husband would disapprove, and partly because my embroidery skills are non-existent.

I will set the deadline to May 2011, I think. I agree, it's a little soon, but I was always the over-ambitious type, ya know. I think I'll make it.

*That's how much I love you, dear husband! Even if you probably prefer me showing it in other ways.

Gustaf III's clothes are described in the book "Kläder för tid och evighet" by Lena Rangström

Scoop!

2009-09-11T13:10:00.000+02:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I can now reveal to you the source from where the hair team on "Amadeus" got their wigs (at a huge discount):

Possibly also where the costume folks at "Valmont" looked for ready-mades. They were too expensive, though.

Lol.

Let's go for a walk

2009-09-10T19:51:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was 09/09/09 and my mother would have turned 53 had she still been with us.

But she isn't so I went to her resting place at Järfälla churchyard to leave a little flower and spend a part of what might be the very last summer day of the year in her company.

A 10-minute ride with commuter train took me to Barkarby, a sleepy and desolate suburb of no consequence other than being only a few kilometers from the place where I grew up, and my eye first met with a hideous conference hotel with the name of "Welcome" (they obviously left out "...to the seventies" by mistake), but by walking for only a few minutes, I suddenly found myself in the middle of a square with two lovely old buildings.

The yellow house is the old municipal building, first raised in 1719. Today the house is let for parties, weddings and such. Next to it is the inn, of an even older date and once obliged by law to supply travelers with horses, food and shelter. You can still get a (pricey) meal there today.

The restaurant calls itself Lasse-Maja* after the notorious thief that dressed in women's clothing (partly as a disguise and partly because of preference) and continuously escaped from the clutches of the law (and prison) until he finally got caught and sentenced to life time imprisonment after robbing the church (which we soon will visit) in 1812. He was was tried in the yellow building and flogged on the square. He wrote his best-selling memoirs in prison and was eventually released to a few years as a living legend and celebrity until he died in 1845.

*His real name was Lars Molin. Lasse-Maja was a humorous nickname because Lasse is male and Maja female.

My walk continued past this little block of houses:

They were built in 1998 but blend in so nicely with the historic buildings nearby; I think of townhouses of undetermined origin and heartily approve.

But then, as a contrast that just have to be on purpose, right next to the church, I came upon these houses...

Let's play: When were these houses built?

1. 1968
X. 1974
2. 1980

Gotcha! All answers were wrong! They were built in 2008. And people live there.

Luckily, I had reached my goal and headed for the church.

The weather was so extremely nice and I felt as if summer had just begun rather than the opposite: the trees were all still green, the flowers bloomed and the sun shone upon the grass and...

...the pyramid.

Right. No cemetery is complete without its pyramid. Or so thought countess Anna Sofia Gyllenborg, who chose to raise this monument as a last resting place for her and her husband, Olof Adlerberg, in 1757. An underground passage connects the pyramid to the chancel. The couple also donated valuable silver to the church (little knowing it would be the fall of Lasse-Maja sixty years later).

The church itself was first erected in the 1100s but got its current look in the 15th century. The baptismal font, still used today, is from the earlier church though, which makes it older than Stockholm! Both me and my sister were baptised here, probably our mother too.

Her grave is situated close to the western wall and the place has changed a lot since we buried her in June 2004. Then there were only a few graves here and there besides hers, and today the place is completely filled.

One thing was a little strange: The plot on her left soon got occupied, but not the one to her right. More and more plots were taken, but the one to the right was still vacant, month after month that turned into years... Then my step father suddenly got very ill and died. It wasn't very hard to determine where he was going to lie.

Now, on a more personal note: my mother used to talk about where and how she wanted to be buried, how she wanted her funeral to be and so on, long before she knew she was ill. I used to be angry with her because I hated to think that she was going to die one day, but later I was very grateful.

Even in the shock and grief that followed her death, I smiled when my sister and I arranged the details according to her wishes (which she of course only had mentioned knowing they would make the oh-so-hard but oh-so-necessary arrangements easier on us. I just didn't realise it then).

She even told us how she wanted her grave marker to look!

She wanted an old-fashioned iron cross that was typical in parts of this country for several hundred years. They varied from smithy to smithy, but usually had more than one bar, and hanging ornaments. The most common was stylised leaves but my mother - always a hippie at heart! - told us she wanted stars and moons!

So starts and moons she got. I found a smithy in the province of Värmland (where my mother had her roots) that has made these crosses for three generations with traditional methods.

We are very happy with it and it amuses me to notice that my mother became a trend setter even after her death. Five years ago there was not one cross of this type on the graveyard; now I see a new one every time I visit.

It's with mixed feelings I go to my mother's grave, but today - thanks to the wonderful, wonderful weather - I felt pretty good.

And then I went to see my sister, who was very happy to see me!

Now, go and hug a dear one and I promise a sewing-related post will appear at this space tomorrow!

More museum objects online...

2009-08-31T01:07:00.001+02:00

..and while I'm still on the subject of Nordiska Museet:

They have a database with items from the textiles collection where you can find a few goodies but the search engine and interface is not exactly user friendly.

I'm not able to link to the results so I'll hold your hand while you explore the collections on your own.

Go to the search page of Textilgalleriet and switch to English in the top left if you prefer it that way.

I haven't explored the collection very extensively but you'll get some nice search results if you just enter "18th".

The search result will bring you 17th, 18th and some 19th century items. Don't expect actual costumes, but some highlights are many fine examples of embroidery (don't miss the adorable lion!), block printed 18thc fabric, lace and a fragment of a jacket in matelassé technique.

Big Plus: The "magnifying glass" feature lets you examine the objects very closely
Many objects have additional images

Big Minus: The programming is very confusing! Whatever you do - don't press the "back-button" in your browser when you wish to get back to the search results! It will only take you to the front page and you lose all your results.

Instead, when you're done viewing an object, you click "New Search" in the bar above the object. I know - it doesn't make sense, but it takes you back to the search results nevertheless.

There's also information about different textile techniques in the "Techniques" tab, unfortunately in Swedish only, except for an article on Swedish embroidery.

Overall - definitely a step in the right direction! And maybe, one day, Nordiska Museet put all of their costume collection online.

The new exhibition at Nordiska Museet approaches

2009-08-30T23:52:00.000+02:00

Nordiska Museet in Stockholm hasn't had a permanent exhibition with their extant costumes for over a year (or is it two?).

I knew that one is to open in 2010 but since it felt so very, very distant I never bothered to look for information or news about it.

Then tonight, it hit me: "Hey, 2010 isn't very far away by now!" so I went to their website to see what information they shared.

The name of the exhibition, that is going to be permanent! - is "Modemakt - 300 år av kläder", or "The power of fashion - 300 years of clothing".

Of course I'm mostly interested in how much of the exhibition that will be dedicated to the 18th century! I have seen some of the museum's 18th c clothes in person but some only pictured, like these, and I tried to sleuth a little by looking at "behind the scenes"-pictures they've published:

I think this is a part of the new exhibition rooms. It looks huge compared to the old one, which felt more like a crammed corridor!

Jeans shorts? Purple baseball jacket? Please - not too much contemporary stuff! Who goes to a museum to look at things they may have in their own closet?

Here dancers pose as mannequins to determine how the latter are going to be displayed. Ironic, isn't it?

Aha! They have written "1780's" on a note on the white board with a lot of pictures surrounding it...

Now this looks promising!

So does this...

The opening date will be February 27, 2010, with reservations for changes.

Seems Christmas will come very, very early in 2010...

Making a straw hat - the easy (and cheap) way

2009-08-27T02:27:00.000+02:00

I mentioned on the forum that I once made a decent low-crowned straw hat out of three place mats hat and was asked how I did it.

Well, I'll tell you, as well as I'm able to, and show with my own fool-proof Photoshop illustrations spiced up with various clip-art images stolen from around the web. Even mad PS skillz like mine need a little extra help sometimes.

OK, here we go:

Hello! In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a basic low-crowned straw hat out of three place mats!

It won't be the kind of hat that a milliner would be proud of, but it's a cheap and fun way to experiment with different styles and trims and colours with little effort.

Note: I have used this method only once (and should have taken pictures...) and was very pleased with the result, but as always: use at own risk! And don't sue. This is a hat that is supposed to be pimped with trims and goodies, so that any unavoidable flaws won't be noticed.

Let's go: Buy three place mats of a size you think suitable in a store of your choice. I got four for ca 10 EURO, they looked like this (I used the purple - the result can be seen here). Make sure they're made from some kind of natural straw; synthetics may very well work but I haven't tried it so we don't want to risk anything.

Step 1: Glue two of the place mats together (skip this if your type of place mat is very stiff. I did this because the brim would be too floppy otherwise).

Don't use a glue that is too runny - it may bleed through to whatever surface you put the place mats on and leave marks on the hat - but it's better be strong. Remember to open a window if your glue is very strong, or you may experience a conga line of psychedelic animals or worse. Cover the place mats with heavy books and leave them for now.

Step 2: Soak your third place mat with water!

Step 3: Find an object in your home that is shaped just as you want the crown of your hat to look. I found an ugly, purple flower pot that had made no one happy until now. It was cylindrical and turned upside down it proved to be the perfect hat shape.
Put your soaked place mat on top of the object and gently but determinedly shape the place mat around it - remember, you're the boss around here! Try to get it as smooth and even as possible. Use a little violence if necessary but be careful not too make the soaked material rip or tear.

Step 4: (And here comes my pièce de résistance!) Tie a piece of fabric or a ribbon, or whatever you have, around the newly shaped brim (a helper may come in handy here).
Let it dry overnight or longer (I let mine dry for 24 hours but that may not be needed).

Step 5: Your hat crown should now be dry and ready to be removed from the shape. Trim away all surplus until you have only the crown plus an extra centimeter or so.
If you leave too much, you can always trim it down later but not the other way around! Put the crown back onto the shape used.

Step 6: Let's get back to the brim which should also have dried by now.
Check the diameter of the crown and mark on the brim where it will sit, but subtract 1,5 centimeters from the radius and cut out a circle, that consequently is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the brim.

Step 7: From the center of the brim (which is actually a hole), cut small cuts outwards, all way around the cut-out.
As always, it's better to cut too little than too much.

Step 8: Go back to the crown that sits on the shape and firmly press the brim down onto it.
If it won't fit, cut a little more as in step 7.

Step 9: Now the crown is surrounded by little tabs that will secure the brim to it.
Help them by gluing and perhaps sew a few stitches around the crown as you see fit.

When the glue has dried, check that it looks OK on the wrong side. You may have to trim down the bottom of the crown if it peeks out too much.

Your hat is now ready to launch. You can experiment by shaping the brim into any style you like, pretty much like you shaped the crown - soaking and some kind of outer force.

And now you're on your own, because I won't tell you how to doll up your brand new hat - I'm sure you will manage that perfectly. The possibilities are endless:

You can have a very pretty, simple hat...

like so...

Or something fancier and froufier...

...like so! Have fun!

Hope this was of any help to you. This will probably be the only tutorial you get from me since I'm usually the one who gets tutored rather than the other way around.

But I DEMAND to see what you make! You know where to find me...

All the best,

Madame B

AAFTAE

2009-08-26T22:56:00.000+02:00

Sorry, I should have done this a long time ago.

As things turned out, I received one Amadeus award from both The Dreamstress and American Duchess, and as one should nominate five blogs in return, I'm going to interpret this as if I'm therefore allowed to give away 5x2=10 awards! It made the hard decisions much easier, plus I can give the award to someone who gave it to me. Ain't I clever.

So, in strict alphabetical order, I proudly present my nominees for the
Amadeus Award For Taste And Excellence (AAFTAE):

18th century baby - because she's got one heck of an eye for detail

American Duchess - because she has some mad skillz, and because not all duchesses can be European

Anna Skomakare - because she makes OMG shoes! (and pretty costumes, too!)

Augusta Fredrika - because she she's such a sucker for Swedish 18th century as myself

Fuchsia's 18th century dress - because I think she could do anything

Gillray's Printshop - because history+humour=EPIC WIN!

Isis Wardrobe - because she's smart, nice, handsome and helpful

Lithia Black - because she's creative and fun

Swillwill's 18th century - because maybe this will make him update more...

The Dreamstress - because she has ambition, skills, a great sense of humour and rocks

Never stop blogging, please? You all brighten up my day.

Pockets finished - finally!

2009-08-25T17:28:00.000+02:00

I finished a pair of pockets made from the embroidered fabric mentioned here a few minutes ago.

It's not quite the same as if the embroidery had been designed for the pockets but nevertheless, I think they're very cute if I may say so myself.

The tape is made from scraps from the same fabric I used for my pink-stripe polonaise. Hand-sewn. It only took a few "Monkees" episodes and the first 3½ parts of "Aristocrats". I have a very varied taste.

To think that it has taken me so long to get y first pockets - for shame!

Now, back to the regency gown.

To My Cat Börjesson, On His Third Birthday

2009-08-25T13:00:00.001+02:00

And everyone said: FINALLY a cat post!

Congratulations, our darling cat Börjesson! Today we celebrate your third birthday as ~~a member~~ the head of this household.

We've had good times, we've had bad times.

There has been scratching (and puking) on rugs, on walls, on internet cables and Lord knows whatnot.

There have been bathing (you didn't like it), spray-bottlings, trips to the vet (that's why you can't have kids, BTW) and days without tuna and shedding that could've made hundreds of Donald Trump-toupées.

But there has also been endless cuddle sessions, hilarious play, snoozing on every available piece of furniture, birds on the balcony and days with all the tuna you could eat.

We love you in spite of all your faults, and you mostly accept us in spite of ours.

We're happy to have the privilege of living in your apartment, and here's to many more birthdays to come!

To Börjesson!

To Börjesson!

Three years of photage finally available to the public!

Evening gloves fail

2009-08-24T17:28:00.000+02:00

I need evening gloves for the upcoming 1809 ball and went shopping for a pair about one week ago.

A pair of white kid leather gloves were of course on the top of my wish list, but even though one often comes across vintage 20th century gloves, I'm yet to find a pair that fits me. Fits me like a glove. Ha ha. Don't know what's up with that - I don't think my hands are extremely big but I reckon women with hands larger than those of a twelve year-old were simple shunned by society back then (I did buy a pair from a Swedish auction site and they did of course not fit me, but they did fit miss Ellinor so all was well).

So I accepted that I had to but a pair of new, stretchy synthetic gloves and went to this bridal shop who had a whole basket full of gloves on sale. Probably because they all were more or less dirty, but I was assured that they could be machine washed. I found a pair that fitted almost perfectly and they had a matte finish and not that hideous glossy faux-satin look that I detest, so I happily purchased them.

Today, I washed them in machine, and guess what? Fail.

Here's how they looked pre washing...

...and after.

Hairy glove. That's a whole new level of freaky.

The funniest think is, that this only happened to one of the gloves. So now I have one very nice glove and one useless. The quest continues...

Let's eat history!

2009-08-23T20:12:00.000+02:00

Ever since I found this little gem (left) on the website of the university of Umeå, I've been wanting to try out some of the recipes.

My plan is to find three recipes that

1:o aren't downright nasty
2:o don't contain ingredients that are more or less impossible to find nowadays
3:o makes sense

and cook and serve them as a three-course dinner, which isn't the period correct way but more practical (and better for my economy).

Miss Ellinor will of course help me: she's the one who goes to restaurant school after all. And her father/my husband will be forced to taste everything and give us a review.

So now I'm going to do research and hopefully make the stuff on Thursday next week (payday!) .

Disastrous? Probably, but some disasters are funnier than others. Stay tuned for messy kitchen experiments...

Fun times in Stockholm 1760

2009-08-21T13:50:00.000+02:00

Baron Joachim Otto Schack, Danish envoy in Stockholm, writes to his female friend back home in Denmark in November 1760, after she has asked him what Bon Ton is like in Sweden:

"...it is not prejudice, that now dictates my pen, but I write only what what my eyes have seen.

Thirty to forty persons of both sexes, of all ages and all ranks, gather every night at 8 o'clock at someones' house, where you have supper...

The ladies wear robe ronde and mantelets, and the gentlemen usually wear black velvet nightgowns... You play piquet, tre-sept and reversis.

At 10 o'clock you are seated at the table where you are served by thirty badly dressed and filthy servants, who usually knick some spoon, fork or napkin, and who snatches away your plate as soon as you turn your head away...

Food is plentiful, but the table is set without order or taste. You are very badly provided for with drinks, the desserts are awful and consist of nothing but freezingly cold ices and dry candied fruit, which one greedily throws oneself upon. The crockery is badly washed, with one word: everythng is in this style!

The conversation is either whispered in your ear or noisy with horselaughs, so incessant and piercing that you get dizzy...

When one rises from the table, the conversation gets heated and even louder. You start to tickle one another, you throw hats, muffs and fans on one another, you disarrange you fellow's hair and pinch him and then you go home and believe that you have enjoyed yourself.

Privy councillors, presidents, foreign ministers, everyone is treated in this manner, and pitied be he, who is very ticklish! One has seen such wretched creatures seek refuge under the sofa, and please note that I'm not talking about one evening, but of all..!

Snuff said

2009-08-21T00:16:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, I got to try snuff for the first time. It was a rather fun experience; it felt almost like using one of those strong nose sprays that you use when you have a cold. I think the gentleman who offered me the snuff said it was apricot flavoured but it felt really pepper-minty. I didn't sneeze until about ten minutes afterwards, and of course while I was talking to someone, and four times in a row.

No, I'm not going to advocate the use of tobacco here, but since I'm unfortunately an addict to nicotine, I really wish I could get addicted to snuff instead of cigarettes; it's definitely classier and not by far as lethal (but not good for your nose. Tobacco is bad - period!).

And you get to have a snuff box - ha! Of course you can have a snuff box without actually using snuff. Why not fill it with breath fresheners or sweets (tiny, tiny sweets)?

Here are a few antique snuff boxes for inspration:

Aaaw! I want one with a portrait of my cat!

This last one was sold at Christie's for a whopping £121,250 June 2. I will go for something less pricey, I think. Maybe try and paint something myself!

P.S. Do yourself a favour and don't google for images with "snuff" as search query. There's some really nasty stuff out there...

Tidsfördrifvet - Gustafs Skål's official blog

2009-08-20T17:46:00.000+02:00

Huh - how did I miss this? It's of course very new but still...

It's the official blog of Gustafs Skål, the 18th century society that I and many others are members of. It's only in Swedish and launched only about a week ago so there aren't many posts yet, but here's hoping for many to come!

Click on the banner to go there!

Picque-nicque shots

2009-08-20T14:35:00.000+02:00

Yesterday's outing was lovely although we had to rush as crazy to get there and were still late. Poor planning - why it always happens?

Anyway, the weather was very sunny but as the suns sets so early in August it became a little chilly and people started to drop off until just me, the stepdaughters and one courageous gentleman was left. But our spirits were high and we hunted for ghosts, played word games and drank wild strawberry-wine and munched on grapes in the dark until 11PM when we had to take the bus back to civilization.

I should have taken more pictures, as usual, but at least I made Miss Ellinor take tons of ego shots of me:

Tomorrow's picque-nicque at drottningholm has been cancelled due to a very unfortunate event in the family of one of the hosts.

While I'm here, I just want to say that I've been granted the Amadeus blog award from American Duchess. Wow! I'm truly grateful for this and I will return with 5 nominees of my own soon. My only problem is that I will have a hard time to pick only 5... I've found so many wonderful blogs during these months.

Photos of different stuff

2009-08-14T19:47:00.000+02:00

I'll try and make up for the lack of pictures in the last post (pictures are pretty!)

Here are two different shots of the mantelet I'm currently working on. It need ribbon for tying and endless meters of trim at the bottom edge (sigh!).

I think it's cotton whit a shiny effect. The burn test confirmed this, to my bief knowing, but even if it's polyester I don't care because the colour is so gorgeous (and, as usual, the pictures can't do it justice).

It's not as shiny as in the first picture, but not as dull as in the other, either. Think somewhere in between. It kinda shimmers when the fabric moves... Ah, sweet thrift store find!

Remember this post, where I mentioned a pair of embroidered pockets in the making? You don't? Good, 'cos they ain't gonna happen. Sorry, but embroidery really isn't my thing. I wish it was because the possibilities for a skilled embroiderer are endless, but such is the sad truth. I have great hopes for my stepdaughter, who now have inherited one half-finished pocket. I'll whip her until she is good enough to take commissions for me. It'll keep her from drugs and gangs too!

No, my pair of embroidered pockets will instead be made from this machine embroidered silk remnant i bought this Tuesday. It'll not be quite the same, but just the feeling of not having a sad, neglected embroidery project staring at you anymore is well worth it.

The silk is a little goldish, which doesn't translate very well in the photo, and quite lovely in its own right.

I also bought this lace fichu thing on the same day. It's not even very old, and probably not very period correct but it just screamed: "BUY ME!" so what else was there to do?

The shop where I bought it is the best place in this town. They mostly carry early to mid-20th century garments but also older dresses and accessories, antiques, trinkets, porcelain et c. They have lots of old embroidered tulle lace that I will buy tons of when I acquire the wealth that rightfully should accompany such divine beauty as mine. Vintage ostrich feathers to die for! OMG shoes! And guess what? The prices are quite affordable, considering the usual over-prices that one normally sees in shops like this one.

So, if you come to Stockholm, don't miss out on Old Touch or you'll regret it forever and probably longer. Yeah, free advertising FTW, but I like them so much so I do it gladly.

I'll be occupied with non-sewing related things this weekend, but whenever I can I'll continue the work on my regency bodiced petticoat.

Things going on

2009-08-13T22:57:00.001+02:00

Greetings all!

Tomorrow is my last working day before 4 weeks of totally carefree and much longed for vacation. I haven't one single 'have-to-do' scheduled, which is exactly how I want it. I do, however, plan to sew - a lot - because there's so much I have wanted to do but been forced to postpone because of that thing called "lack of time" which I think most of us are familiar with.

I have been working on a few different projects lately, but all of them will be on hold for a while due to an event that's taking place in September. I will briefly step out of the 18th century and for the first time dip my toe into early 19th century - or to be precise: 1809.

That was the year when Sweden lost Finland to Russia and king Gustaf IV Adolf was forced to abdicate and these events have been noticed in many different ways during the year.

So in September there is this 1809 ball, a joint event hosted by Gustafs Skål and other living history societies, and I'm in desperate need for something to wear.

That's obviously the most urgent project, and I'm currently working on a bodiced petticoat, since I won't have time to make a pair of proper early 19th c stays. Then I must make a shift and probably also a gown. Thankfully I have a concept and a pattern, and fabric, so I can start at soon as I've finished the petticoat.

On Wednesday I'm going on Gustafs Skåls' annual Revolution Piquenique (celebrating Gustaf III's peaceful revolution in 1772) in the beautiful Haga park. Nothing but rain will stop me (because the event is, for obvious reasons, cancelled in case of watery weather). I'll wear the polonaise I wore at Drottningholm so I'm basically ready to go. I'm making a mantelet which I'm adding trim to at the moment. I'd like to have it ready for the day of the piquenique but it's not a disaster if I don't make it in time.

Then on Friday next week, there'll be a midnight piquenique which takes me back to Drottningholm. It will take place in a hedge maze in the park with lots of lanterns and candles and I can only think it's going to be lovely! I'll probably wear the stripey polonaise, as seen here, so no stress there either.

What else to tell? Oh, I managed to wash out all the "powder" (read: coloured hairspray) from my wig and re-styled it.

I'll leave my plans for a mens' costume for my husband to another post, I think. That's a project I'm quite happy to postpone...

My camera has run out of batteries (who makes a camera that runs on ordinary batteries these days?) so I'll post various pictures later on.

Oh, stop by at the forum if you haven't done so yet! It very young but quite active already and populated with the nicest and most talented of people. Don't be shy!

Enough ramblings. Take care!

The forum is up!

2009-08-10T01:34:00.000+02:00

Well, here we are - Shiny, new forum for costuming, sewing and other things 18th c.!

It has a very basic setup for now, as I'm awaiting suggestions from you who wish to participate, but it's enough to let the chatting begin, I hope!

I created a board for eras other than the 18th century as well. We'll see how everything develops. If there's demand for it, more boards can easily be created. Just let me know.

So don't be shy, come and register - it's very lonely there right now!

Interested? An open question (or several)

2009-08-07T15:46:00.000+02:00

For the last couple of days, I've been thinking about how nice it would be to have a neat little discussion forum about historical costuming and sewing to visit. I've searched for a bit but not found quite what I was looking for, so I thought: Hey, I could set up such a forum myself!

But: a forum is only of use if people are interested in joining in.

So my questions are: Would you be interested in a discussion forum focused on historical costumes and sewing (not necessarily limited to the 18th c.)?

Is there a need for a forum like this, or is there already a good alternative out there (in that case: let me know!)?

I have a little experience in managing a vBulletin forum and I have a web hosting plan that's not close to being used to its fullest, so if there's enough interest, I could easily set something up in 30 minutes.

So. Let me know what y'all think.

All the best,

Madame

Just a little more costume porn...

2009-08-05T19:26:00.000+02:00

Antike Textilen - a German vendor of antique clothing and textiles. A girl can dream, can't she..?

Only in German, I think, but the pictures is all you need anyway. Sigh.

Eu nao falo portogues

2009-08-04T18:34:00.000+02:00

...or: "I don't speak Portuguese", but if you do, you may get even more joy out of this Portuguese museum search engine: Matriznet

The search engine is available in English but the information on the objects is in Portuguese. But I always liked picture-books better anyway!

Click on collections to start a new search.

In the "Classification" box, choose "Traje".

Scroll down to "Century" and pick = in the first box and type XVIII in the second (if you want to search for 18th century items, of course!) and hit "Search" at the bottom of the page.

Mostly men's clothing, which is particularly of interest to me nowadays, since I've set my mind on making a suit for my husband - oh my!

Also beautiful fans and lovely buttons with painted miniatures among other things.

Worst mannequin ever? OMG - the HAIR!

DO WANT!

George Stuart Historical Figures

2009-08-03T23:38:00.001+02:00

I stumbled upon this site while image-googling for something I can't remember what it was, and got stuck for a long, long time. You'll understand why.

I had never heard about George Stuart or his work before and I have no idea if he's famous or not, but he deserves to be, because - whoooah!

Just a few teasers, then rush off to the gallery and indulge in these oh so beautiful pieces of art:

General Washington

de Polignac

Archduchess Maria Antonia

George III...

...with spouse, Queen Charlotte

Enjoy!

Cuteness post

2009-08-02T23:14:00.001+02:00

Here comes a totally random post, but it's full of cute so I feel it's justified.

My father had told me that a fox pup appeared on a daily basis around his summer cottage, and this weekend I got to see it for myself!

The fox came both nights we stayed there. He hung around for about 30-45 minutes each time and gladly helped himself to the eggs, potatoes and bread that we treated him with. He wasn't very shy, as you can see from this footage I posted on Youtube, and quite adorable.

An 18th century person wouldn't have been very glad to have a fox hanging around his country house, of course, since they are keen on chickens, sheep and other farm animals (ha! I managed to sneek an 18th c. reference in after all!) but we keep no birds and the cat was safe back in town so we were quite delighted over Mr or Miss Fox's visits. And hope for many more to come.

Just sittin' feelin' cute

"What? No grilled salmon left for me?"

"So this is where you peeps wash your hands? Cool."

"Thnx for teh bredd guise. nxt tiem, bring cheezburger plz?"

A summer postcard, written in haste

2009-07-30T23:37:00.000+02:00

Dear everyone,

summer have swept me far, far away from the computer, but tonight I felt a hint of autumn chill in the air so it won't be long until I sit down again, in front of the screen, unable to move until spring again has sprung.

Last weekend I went on a lovely picnic in the very beautiful park of Drottningholm palace, and tomorrow I'm off to the countryside for some local history trekking (and serious chilling).

I miss you all. Wish you where here.

Love

Madame Berg

Now in color!

2009-06-23T21:39:00.000+02:00

I once did something very naughty...
See, I have this lovely little book from the 50's with b/w photographs of costumes, dating from 17th c to the 20th c , from Nordiska Museet (a museum in Stockholm).

Since the book is rather rare I decided that, for the benefit of the people, it would be a good idea to scan all the 18thc pictures and put them on Flickr (see them here).

However: even though my intentions were the best, from a copyright perspective, this really wasn't a cool thing to do. I got a (nice) email from a staff member of Nordiska Museet which pointed this out, but amazingly enough I was allowed to keep the pictures at Flickr! That's great public service.

This staff member must have kept my email address, for he just recently wrote to let me be informed of the new official Nordiska Museet photostream on Flickr.

It's a very mixed set of photos, but much to my joy I discovered three of the costumes from my book, but finally in colour! It was amazing to see these gorgeous costumes as they really look.

Man's gala court suit, 1790's
1780's suit worn by Axel von Fersen (!!!)
Woman's dress, 1750's

There's also some 19th century costumes there and pictures of historical interiors & c.

A sorry excuse for an excuse

2009-06-19T01:41:00.000+02:00

...or, no. No excuse. Let's just say that I've been the lamest blogger since the dawn of time and that I simply have no excuse.

So let's just rejoice over this lovely portrait of a mildly content family of midgets instead, and perhaps even more over the Eldorado of a site it comes from:

The Tansey Collection Of Miniatures

(I use it as my desktop wallpaper. Makes me start everytime I log onto the computer)

It's my birthday soon, you know...

2009-05-20T18:25:00.000+02:00

Fortunately, it's very easy to find presents for me. I wish for nothing more than this portrait this year:

1784, Oil on canvas by Carl Fredrik von Breda.

The sitter is Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta, duchess of Södermanland and later queen of Sweden. I was thrilled to see this portrait, because you always get the same two portraits of her in books et al:

Usually this (by Roslin, where she's wearing her wedding gown, which is currently at display at the Versailles exhibition)

and sometimes this (also by von Breda).

Hedvig Elisabet Charlotta was married to Carl, duke of Södermanland and brother of king Gustaf III, in 1774 when she was but 15 years old.
Carl wasn't exactly thrilled about the marriage but the king and his queen Sofia Magdalena had failed to produce any offspring at all so it was crucial that someone in the royal family carried on with the business.

Ironically, Charlotta's and Carl's marriage was fruitless until 1797 when Charlotta bore a stillborn daughter. One year later she gave birth to a son who died after only a week.

Carl wasn't quite the most faithful of husbands, which his wife knew well enough (as did everyone...) but she would stoically tolerate and/or ignore his affairs (and would at a time dryly confess that his temper was more agreeable when he was happy with one of his mistresses).
Hedvig Charlotta has made herself immortal by her journals which she wrote during the greater part of her life. They are written in the form of monthly bulletins and contain inside information on most important events that took place in the circles of the court and thereabout, as well as the fair dose of lighter gossip.
The 'diaries', as they're usually depicted, were written in French (and a very poor such, or so I've heard...) but were translated into Swedish and published in the early 1900's and is a veritable goldmine for historians and dilettants alike!

Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta died in 1818, only months after her husband, and had stated in her will that the journals were not to be read until 50 years after her passing.

Anyway, if you find the above portrait to expensive for a gift for little me, there are lots of other yummy 18th c portraits up for auction at Uppsala Auktionskammare next month. Any of them will do, really!

Thanks in advance!

Costumes, Cats And The 18th Century

Out for a spin

Finished gown for the 12th Night Ball

It's Caturday!

Museum goodies

Cristmas in 8 days...

It's Caturday!

It's Caturday!

How to get those big, lovely images from the KCI site

It's Caturday!

It's Caturday!

What I wore, and more

Getting ready...

It's Caturday!

Farewell to Summer

Ship ahoy!

It's Caturday!

Pehr Hilleström

It's Caturday!

It's Caturday!

Something old, something new

It's Caturday!

A friend has left

It's Caturday!

18th century cooking, sort of...

It's Caturday!

It's Caturday!

Country life

It's Caturday!

Hospital fashion!

OMG shoes!

Introducing the "Georgiana" 18th Century Shoes by American Duchess

Lust & Vice - get Lust & Vice tomorrow!

Looking at pictures

18th century weeks at Skansen - revisited

18th century weeks at Skansen

Summertime fun: A trip to Gripsholm

Not dead. Just very, very sleepy...

Stays for a young lady

Power of Fashion Database

Power of Fashion - 300 years of clothing

Picque-nicque d'Hiver

Happy Birthday to me! And a give-away!

It made me laugh...

OMG a post about cats!

Fabric!

More on stays...

Stays, stays & stays

*headdesk*

My boss is getting a PM as we speak

Forum update: We're online again!

...then disaster struck..!

More forum information

Info to the members of Historical Sewing Forum

Mini-project completed. Now onto a big one. Of madness.

Yesterday's Christmas dinner - with pictures

Für Elyse

Shoes, fabric and a cat

Time for the rush

The resurrection of Madame Berg

...and I'm not even surprised!

A post about shoes

Illustrations from poetry book

'tis all a matter of priorities...

WARNING: Sillyness Ahead!

Getting ready for the ball

A man and his clothes

Scoop!

Let's go for a walk

More museum objects online...

The new exhibition at Nordiska Museet approaches

Making a straw hat - the easy (and cheap) way

AAFTAE

Pockets finished - finally!

To My Cat Börjesson, On His Third Birthday

Evening gloves fail

Let's eat history!

Fun times in Stockholm 1760

Snuff said

Tidsfördrifvet - Gustafs Skål's official blog

headdesk