I rediscovered this sweet image the other night. I had purchased it just prior to moving and forgot about it. I am glad I came across it because it is too cute not to share.
This is a playful image of two kittens playing with a straw bonnet. There is no information on the back or indicating where it is from. I am not an ephemera collector. I simply wanted this because of the straw bonnet, and the kittens. Looking closer we see a couple things. One of the most obvious is…. well … the artist was not skilled at illustrating the faces of cats. While the white kitten is quite cat like in appearance, the tuxedo kitten has an elongated face that is muzzle like. I can not help but wonder if the artist spent more time with dogs than cats, or if their experiences with cats was, well, less than affectionate.
This beautiful straw bonnet is trimmed in long blue ribbons, pretty pink blooms with plenty of greenery, and a lovely white veil that is in the process of being shredded by the kittens’ nails. The artist does a lovely job capturing just how much damage a feline’s claws can do to the delicate silk of a veil. Don’t ask me how I know.
Taking a closer look at the bonnet itself, we given a nice look at the interior decoration. Kudos to the artist. We see the white frill or cap, likely silk net or organza. It runs from cheek tab up through the top of he brim and back down, pleated or gathered along the way. Tucked between the white frill and the edge of the brim is a black lace that appears to be set flat against the straw. A smidge of this lace can be seen behind the greenery as well.
Just beyond the white of the frill, nearly at its base is a black and grey line that may be bonnet stay. In this case, the stay is a thread covered wire, rather than an inverted velvet ribbon. The decorations are fairly simple, a trio of pink blooms set asymmetrically among a bouquet of greens.
You know you had a good Saturday when you roll out of bed and hop in front of the camera first thing Sunday morning, wrap dress and pomade hair and all.
A couple other things about my dress I forgot to mention…. The dress was incredibly comfortable. I was pleased with the fit, comfort, and functionality. It will make a good dress to sew in. The insert in the V worked fairly well. I pinned part of it to my stays. I am not going to do that next time as movement pulled that pin out and made puckers. I am going to tack it further down the neckline. Over all, I am very pleased with how this worked. The kerchief type fichu did not happen. It wasn’t going to stay in place. I didn’t feel the need to get out a kerchief either. I do want to make the white pelerine even more now. I also want to make a second 30s dress soon.
I was super pleased with the cap. It did slide off a couple times because I skipped the pins. How did I misplace both my hair box and my metal head pins???
I discovered the analytics section of my YouTube channel. Okay, I knew it was there but ignored it. To get my mind of the lengthy list of “stuff”, I decided to take a peek as I find this kind of numbers curious and calming. It turns out, Friday is the most popular day to watch my Wednesday videos. I’m not really surprised there. It also turns out that the average view length is just under half the video length. This either means a number of people start the video and stop it at the beginning or people aren’t watching the full videos. I would prefer this to be a mathematical* thing and the first possibility being what is going on. Just in case the latter is happening and people are getting bored with my videos before I am done talking, I decided to ask what you want to see more of.
It would be very helpful if you took a moment to answer my quick
*The average of 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 9, 8, 9, 8 being 4.3 verses just 9, 8, 9, 8 being 8.5, which for picking random numbers is oddly close to the stats I am getting.
I have been wanting an original metal cap for a strawberry emory or pin cushion for a while now, years. I want to be able to look at the cap itself and how it is attached. It turns out getting one to study is easier said than done. They start a little over a hundred and go up from there. So, when I saw a withered away strawberry with its cap up for sale for the cost of a pizza, I knew it had to be mine.
I got the ping that it arrived mid-day. Then anxiously awaited the last bell to go get my mail. I opened its bag and box and tissue to find….. It came with friends!
I am delighted with both my withered strawberry and its two little friends.
The strawberry cap is exceptionally light, as silver can be. It is marked sterling. The leaves of the cap are slightly bent, either from use or storage. This makes sense considering how pliable silver can be. The silk has disintegrated to just one direction of threads, either the warp or the weft. Tiny threads dot the silk as seeds. These alternate as they circle the berry. An intact cord is looped through the ring atop the cap. It has a hint of red, suggesting it may have once been red or covered in red threads. A silky tassle dangles from the opposite end. It is nearly the size of the berry itself, and likely handmade. This berry has no trace of its prior filling, unless the speckling of emory in the tissue came from this rather than the others.
The two strawberry friends are tiny but weighty. I estimate each to be a half inch tall. The are densely filled with emory. The red one appears to be a twill weave silk with prominent diagonal lines. I need to take a longer look at the cut and grain to be sure. The thread seeds are a single thread of green. The cap is neatly stitched with green silk. The white strawberry has a little more wear. It may be a blend of fibers. The thread seeds for this berry have a slight goldn hue as does the cap. Neither strawberries appear to have obvious needle holes.
Ribbon sachets are easy to make using your short lengths of ribbon. You can fill them with your favorite petals, leaves, and flowers to tuck in your drawer, workbox, or pocket.
For today’s project, you will need:
A length of silk (or other easily frayed) ribbon approx 4 times the width. For example: 8″ of 2″ wide ribbon or 6″ or 1.5″ wide ribbon.
Matching or coordinating thread
A fine, sharp needle
Narrow ribbon, about 10″
A small ball of wool or poly fill
A couple tablespoons of flowers, petals, leaves of choice
This week wraps up a two+ month long look at my plaster millinery blocks. Admittedly, I slacked on giving you textual information for the latter blocks. Life got…. well….
Here is a look at each of the original plaster blocks together.
Coming next to Millinery Monday? …….. I have yet to decide
I will be putting my cap design on Patreon when I ink it up better and scan it.
My first step was looking at original caps, lots of original caps, and deciding which styles fit my 1830s goal. Then I drew out the foundation shapes on paper and did a paper fitting. Folding, trimming, slashing, until I was happy with the fit and shape. The paper plan became a muslin mock-up. Keeping in mind the heavier drape to muslin, this was a check for how well it fit my head. I was pleased with the fit. I only altered the cheek area to be more rounded.I transferred the finished design to paper by hand, adding assembly notes. (Then, I wrote up a couple variations.)One of the nice things about working with sheer fabric for smaller projects is the pattern can go underneath and be traced through the fabric.The foundation is 3 pieces cut out.Each piece got a rolled hem. The back piece has a quarter inch hem on the bottom side. The crown (not pictured) has a rolled gather all the way around. The rolled hems were whipped together.
The ruffles are each double the length of the placement (brim edge, neck edge, crown.) I used a rolled hem along each side, tapering for the neck edge and crown. My rolled hem is not as fine as I would like. Muscle memory is challenged going from the type of sewing used for straw to the type of sewing used for sheer fabrics. The front ruffle and crown ruffle are both tapered doubles, while the neck ruffle is single. Clara for model.
This fashionable tapered crown hat has a slightly wider brim than I usually offer. The underside of the crown is lined with silk taffeta in purples and greens. A green silk ribbon, plaid silk rosette, and an antique plume decorate it. This hat has a 21″ crown. Please check your head measure at the hairline before purchasing. Hat 1 inch to 1.5 inches smaller than your head measure are usually comfortable. The ribbon ties are narrower than I usually use.
This fashionable tapered crown hat has a pretty scalloped brim. It is trimmed in beautiful red, white, and blue plaid ribbon and a vintage red plume This hat has a 21″ crown. The ribbon ties are narrower than I usually use.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 