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A New Pair of Shoes
Even though I’ve only been to two events during 2021 (and admittedly, things aren’t looking great for the events on my calendar for the rest of the year), one of my big projects for the year has been to add to and improve the clothing and other items that I use at events. In the decade that I’ve been doing 18th century living history, one of my biggest struggles has been finding comfortable footwear that is accurate, durable, and (reasonably) affordable. My first pair of shoes was a pair of black Connies from Fugawee. These straight last shoes are fairly accurate at a reasonable price point (I think I paid…
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Spinning Wheels Are Like Pretzels – It’s Hard to Stop at One
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Sewing a New Cap
Back before Covid hit, I’d cut out and started sewing myself a new 18th century cap. I was working from the Kannik’s Korner round eared cap pattern, and was using handkerchief weight linen from Wm. Booth, Draper. I’d gotten it all cut out and the headpiece seamed and hemmed. But when events started getting cancelled, I completely stalled on it. When I committed to going to Taken Shelter in Fort Dobbs on June 26, I knew I needed to finish the cap. But until the weekend before the event, I couldn’t find the motivation to work on it. So on the 19th, I sat down for a few hours to…
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A New Pair of Shoes
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Back Into the Swing of Things
Back on May 16th, I got up early, put on funny clothes, and got in the car to head out to the High Point Museum to do a flax spinning demo. I’d loaded my wheel and most of my gear the night before, and just had a few things to grab in the morning. In 2019, that would have been a pretty typical Saturday. It should have been a typical Saturday in 2020 as well. It was definitely not a typical Saturday in 2021. It was my first event back post-vaccine. It was outdoors and small (about half a dozen of us in kit, with under 50 total visitors over…
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Resource Review: 18th Century Embroidery Techniques by Gail Marsh
I ordered this book earlier in 2020 after taking an embroidery workshop as part of the Beginner’s Guide to the 18th Century Virtual Workshop Weekend. I ordered my copy from Wm. Booth, Draper, but it is also available on Amazon. 18th Century Embroidery Techniques is based on Marsh’s Master of Arts thesis, and includes an introduction, two large subdivided sections, two appendices, a glossary, and bibliography. The book contains color photographs of many of the garments and items discussed, along with line drawings showing the details of embroidered sections. After briefly explaining in the Introduction how and why she wrote the book, Marsh moves into the first large section of…
