This is a departure from my usual pursuits on this blog. Usually I focus on historical doings, but today I had an entirely modern task — though with its roots (that’s a pun, kids) in history. Continue reading “Kitchen Witchery: Pomade”
Yes, I Can
One year ago, I didn’t truly believe, deep down, that anyone could actually sew. At least, not anyone I knew. Somewhere inside me I couldn’t quite grasp the idea that a normal human being — someone not raised to it from childbirth, and not in high school and college classes pushing technical skills, and not an incredibly gifted prodigy — could ever actually make a pattern, correct it where needed, and make from it a garment that looked as good as store-bought. I knew intellectually that store-bought clothes were made by people, too, but somehow I still felt like clothing was not made by experts or even by exploited slaves in sweat shops, but just sort of magically or machinally (shut up, it should be a word) appeared, because that stuff’s complicated and nobody could really do it, right? Nobody, with their own hands, could ever actually figure out how to clothe a body. Continue reading “Yes, I Can”
The Smock
This is technically going to be my second undergarment, though of a different design from the first one I attempted; it will also be my second time using this design, but the first wasn’t an undergarment. So this is my first, my second, or my third iteration of this garment, depending on how you look at it. For future reference, this will be known as the White Smock.
[If this post seems disjointed, that’s because I had originally meant for it to be two separate posts. In combining them, I may have missed instances in which I thought I’d explained something in one post, but not in the other, and took out the wrong bit; or places where I repeat myself. Please forgive.]
First Leatherwork Project: Scissors Case
For several months, I’ve had a project in mind. I wanted to make myself a pair of custom-fit shoes, suitable for a middle-class woman of 14th century Spain, something like those pictured below. This is not that project. Continue reading “First Leatherwork Project: Scissors Case”
New Shew Review
Okay, new shoe review. Happy, pedants? (Usually that would be me, so yes, I’m happy. Plus, the word pedant — while it is derived from the Greek word παιδ meaning child rather than the Latin word ped meaning foot, looks like it is, so it’s a little bit of a linguistic pun.)
A couple of weeks ago, I ordered three pairs of shoes from [name of seller has been redacted – I don’t wish to endanger or befoul someone’s livelihood based on one bad interaction]. An email from the owner let me know that one pair had shipped, but two of the colors I’d wanted were no longer available in my size. I’ve sent along my color preferences for the other two pairs, and I still await those. Meanwhile, just today, the first pair have arrived! Continue reading “New Shew Review”
One Year of Sewing: Women’s Work
The first thing I sewed, other than a pillow case, was a pair of trousers. The pattern is of three pieces: two identical leg/butt/waist pieces, and a crotch gusset. Even using a sewing machine for the whole thing, that pair of trousers took me almost a month to make, and it’s not even very good. Hakim swears that he loves them and will always want to wear them, but yeah, they’re kind of crappy, if you look up close at the seams. I can only imagine that in particular the inner leg seams and the crotch gusset seams are a bit uncomfortable for Hakim to wear.
But making that pair of trousers taught me things, and I transferred those skills to the second garment I made. Continue reading “One Year of Sewing: Women’s Work”