If I Had My Own Blue Box:

My 2021 planner arrived with its calming green leafy cover. I find the leaves serene. Leaves are both a soft
natural bed to lay my head upon and earth given pages to gently turn to reveal possibilities.

There are 5 areas I want to focus one in addition to my millinery goals. These are:

Monthly Challenges – Continuing from this past summer, each month we are challenging each other to take on particular project. These challenges are open to all eras and all regions, with your goals your focus. The goal is to come together in an inclusive and supportive environment. We started out with sunbonnets and aprons. Our current challenge is winter hoods, which is extending to cover two months. Next, we are focusing on pockets.

Whimsy Wednesday – I found my Community Cast became a personally vital part of my lockdown days, I wanted to continue with a regular video series. Whimsy Wednesday is an uncut, recorded as I am series that includes a dabbling of smaller sewing projects, random updates, and visits from the camera loving Clara. Sometimes I get these up in the evening, while other times I record early and have them up for the morning.

Millinery Monday – I’ve been wanting to do a full Millinery Monday series for a while now. This year, I am determined to offer a millinery post each Monday. This will be a mix of collection items and tbd as the year rolls on.

In Detail – This is my somewhat quarterly e-publication that I enjoy writing. My goal this year is to stick closer to the quarters. But, I am a bit nervous about this because this publication is very much reliant on me finding an inspiring small item to acquire and write about. Yet, I find I am not finding the just right inspiring pieces as of late. Let’s hope that happens soon.

Patreon – I confess I am still having a hard time with Patreon. Part of it is because I have a hard time monetizing what I want to be able to give everyone regardless of their ability to pay. I am going to spend some more time there giving updates. For those that don’t know, the upper tiers of support receive my In Detail publications as they are released, and maybe in advance when I have all my ducks in a row.

Beyond these focus areas, I have little things that pop into my head and mull around. These Current Mullings include….

Some “big” things:
● Finish the Wadded Hood Pattern
● 5 Pieces (shhhh)
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Some extra little fun things:
● Hair danglies
● Mini-bricks
● Fabric “snood” for my lazy susan
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Garments I’m pondering:
● 1830s stays (which could lead to an assortment of WWG projects)
● Linen Chemise
● Early stays from that pretty silk in the bag in the hall
● 1827-1837 dress – something for straw working in.

I should probably call this video “Clara’s Whimsy Wednesday.” There are a couple updates with lots of Clara.

Here is what my narrow pattern weights are made from and the purchased weights I use:

This Millinery Monday, I share some of the original straw ornaments or straw motifs in my display collection. These pieces date to the early 20th century from Italy. The designs range from those found on millinery pieces from the nineteenth century through the early twentieth century. Each are made with straw, whole or split, and straw threads. Thes motifs or ornaments would be used to embellish hats and bonnets. Some, similar and often much smaller ornaments were worked directly on the woven or lace-work straw bonnet or hat.

My goal or hope is to develope the skill to recreate some of these well enough to do them justice. Creating these motifs is a type of straw skill that takes years, or even decades to develop.

If you look closely at the materials in antique straw ornaments, you discover just how much the length of straw has changed. The wheat and rye cultivated for the millinery industry produced shafts that were quite long between the elbows. If you walk a modern day wheat field, you know the wheat has been engineered to be much shorter with larger heads for grain production.

I was determined to record a video today.

This child’s winter hood is quilted is a sweet heart motif. Hearts circle the brim and center the back of the crown, while scallops fill the bavolet and a double circle motif finish the brim. The green silk taffeta is nearly tissue taffeta soft. While not being overly dry, it has numerous wear spots from storage the pink interior is a medium weight solid cotton.

Construction deviates from the most common brim, crown, and bavolet by using a two piece crown considting of a central horseshoe shape and a crescent arch connecting it to the brim. This creates a nicely shaped crown with less bulk. This also shows off the quilted hearts in the back.

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This lappet style hood is the newest addition to my collection. The exterior uses two different brown stripe silks: one for the brim and bavolet, one for the crown. The lining is a bright blue solid silk taffeta. The ties and back bow are made from the brown stripe silk and the blue lining.

I started writing this post earlier in December before catching my mystery germ. I had plans for a lengthy post reflecting on the year. But, I find I am still too tired to complete what I wanted. I wanted to elaborate on each of the points in these lists. Maybe eventually.

This year has been an incredible challenge for so many; it has been filled with loss and uncertainty. Personally, the “hard” has been a continuation of the previous years with their struggles. As the year closes, I am choosing to reflect as honestly as I can.

Things I am grateful for in 2020:

• The friends I’ve further connected with in chats and zoom
• The time to focus on my art/craft
• The ability to be comfortable sharing myself, as I am, on video media.
• My shoppers who kept me fed and sane.
• My postal delivery person who picked up package after package, week after week.
• Orange juice, a nurse with mismatched socks, and a cancer doctor in crocks.
• Worden Select Objects. I stumbed across them on the Brimfield group. While they are not related as far as I know, their selections are so similar to what Dad would have picked, their posts in my feed are a sweet reconnect.

What I Feel Accomplished About

• I lost track of the number of hats and bonnets I made. (rough count scrolling through I count 95 millinery pieces.) ( I forgot the witch hats. There are 5. Counting those, I may have an even 100 pieces sewn.)
• New In Detail series
• My Community Cast Video series was initially about staying connected with people during shutdown. It quickly became a way or a reason for me to keep going.
• Almost completed the Wadded Hood pattern/guidebook

Favorites of the year: Okay, it is really difficult to pick favorites.

Smaller projects:

Originally, I planned on doing some extra fun projects this past weekend and today. But, things didn’t go as planned. Instead, I caught a germ. My awesome Doctor says it sounds like C19. So, while the halo of fire seems to have passed, I am on quarantine through Sunday. I am much, much better off than so many people. For that I am grateful. I am sulky that I missed visiting for Yuletide as well as the village parade and luminaries. But, it is what it is.

I was determined to have a project for this last Whimsy Wednesday before Christmas. My brain fog made thinking of something a challenge. Then I realized how many people out there have packages in limbo and could use a cute space-holding gift or gift holder. This cute card holder can hold a gift card, a membership card, or a photo of a gift on its way.

My version uses a piece of melton wool 4″ by 8″ with one end rounded off. My snow friends are from my cabbage patch (scrap basket.)

You could use melton wool, wool flannel, fulled wool, felted wool, cotton flannel, felt – They key is to use a fabric that won’t ravel. If you are concerned your fabric might ravel, use a little fray-check. If you are in a hurry or have young hands helping you, a glue stick will work nicely for decorating.

Remember: I have several free projects available. These can make nice last minute gifts or fun ways of packaging. Please use them if you need.

I was surprised to find a mailbox full this afternoon. Thank you so much for the sweet surprises. I filled my tree with the gifts.

Here is the PDF with my 4 inch and 3 inch versions of the elephant.

I finished my elephant while the video uploaded:

Additional information on the elephant: https://steifftiere.de.tl/Am-Anfang-war-der-Elefant.htm