If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Yet another month has gone by in a fog and we find ourselves at the end of October…..Do I sound a bit dismal?
Wait a second…. The great spell and grammar check tells me dismal must be spelled with an “s”. Well, I can tell you the current state of being says dizmal feels like it should be spelled with a “z” and possibly multiple “zzz”s at that.
While many have taken delight in seasonal terrors this month brings under the guise of festiveness, I have eyed numbers of all sorts with my own version of trepidation and terrors.
On the upside…. I managed not to sleep my way through this month.
The month started out with a much needed escape to the nineteenth century during the annual visit to the Agricultural Society Fair. Good wares and food were to be had.
I met my goal of making a minimum of 4 straw millinery pieces this month. This included a walnut brown straw high crown late Victorian hat, a black straw dome crown Civil War era hat, a green straw dome crown with fun brown and green vining edge, and a green straw bonnet to finish the month off.

As part of my Share the Spirit initiative, I shared my Clara’s Christmas Friends project during Whimsy Wednesday and added a few Strawberry Pincushions to the Etsy shop.

I am wrapping up the month with a new found fondness for witch hats. I tried my hand at a few styles during the weekend. This resulted in enough hats to display my inner witch ach day of the week.

This weekend I will be preparing my display and project items for Preparing for the Holidays. I’ll be adding all the warm snuggly layers to my basket: wool stockings, wool petticoat, quilted petticoat, knit waistcoat, wristlets, and warm hoods.

It has been a long while since I shared a summary of what publications I have available. My apologies.

Fanciful Utility: Victorian Sewing Cases and Needle-books is a guide packed full of directions and templates for making your own period correct sewing cases, housewifes, and needle-books. FanU is available directly from the Publisher at http://www.thesewingacademy.com/2012/08/fanciful-utility/

To Net, or Not to Net: Revisited is an in-depth look at hair nets of the mid-nineteenth century. This e-book is packed full of cdvs and illustrations, covering how nets were worn and what they were made of. This e-book is available through my Etsy shop.

Paisley, Plaid, & Purped: Shawls of the Mid-Nineteenth Century looks at the types of shawls worn in this era, from the sizes to the materials. This book includes original directions for making shawls. This e-book is available through my Etsy shop.

From Field to Fashion: The Straw Bonnet was my first book covering the the materials and processes used to make straw hats and bonnets. This book focuses on the mid-nineteenth century. This e-book is available through my Etsy shop.

IN DETAIL – I developed the “In Detail” series to take a closer look at original handmade items. These publications are packed full of close-up photos and details of how these pieces were made. Many of these publications include directions for making your own using period techniques.

In Detail: Blue Ribbon Sewing Case looks at an amazing sewing case made from a single plaid ribbon. (Note: this publication does not include directions.) This e-publication is available through my Etsy shop.

In Detail: The Velvet Slipper Pincushion takes a close look at this example of a popular sewing accessory. This e-publication is available through my Etsy shop.

In Detail: The Pillow Pin Ball is near and dear to me as it was written at a very difficult time. This edition looks at a well loved pincushion made of pillow segments. This is a great project to use you scraps or to share with friends. This e-publication is available through my Etsy shop.

In Detail: Embroidered Velvet Needle-book looks at a staple of the 19th century workbox: the needle-book. This edition focuses on recreating this sweet example. This e-publication is available through my Etsy shop.

PATTERNS

My Fichu Pattern previously sold out quickly in its paper form. As a downloadable pattern, you can start you fichu in the middle of the night if need be. This e-pattern is available through my Etsy shop.

This Winter Bonnet Pattern is the first of my winter hood/bonnet patterns. This is the more structured of those available currently. Suitable for the 1850s and 1860s. This e-pattern is available through my Etsy shop.

This Mid-century Winter Hood pattern is my second hood pattern offering. This is a thinner quilted hood, that is warm and good for windy or wet environments. Suitable for 1840s through 1860s. This e-pattern is available through my Etsy shop.

Remember: I also have numerous free templates available here, on my blog for period correct projects. I also have modern projects available on Don’t Paint the Cat.

I’ve had a few questions lately about workboxes, aka sewing boxes. Here are a couple videos from earlier this year.

This one looks at some types of workboxes:

This one looks at what I have in one of my personal workboxes:

If you need a smaller sewing kit to carry with you, I recommend my book: Fanciful Utility: Victorian Sewing Cases and Needle-books. Available through the publisher at https://www.thesewingacademy.com/2012/08/fanciful-utility/ .

I am completely distracted witch hats this week. With a different hat to wear each day, I get to embrace my inner witch.

I am enjoying making these so much, I may just have a blue and black wool in the washer fulling right now.

At the end of the video, I mention this “Laptop Pet”, a tactile aide for those who need to keep their hands busy during Zooms and other online classes.

The template is here as a photo. I made mine about 6 inches tall.

A short video today, thanks to yet another migraine. I started a witch hat in green wool and share some of the cornucopia trimmings.

As you may have seen, I already started filling my shop with holiday gifting goodies. Confession: At the beginning of the year, I had planned to solely focus on straw millinery for the whole of the year, with setting aside smaller projects to rest for a bit. How plans change. The new plan is to offer an assortment of historically correct and historically inspired items that are both heart warming and budget friendly.
This list will evolve as the season evolves….

Straw Cornucopia Ornament – For me, the cornucopia symbolizes hope of a plentiful table surrounded by family and friends. My straw cornucopias are ready for you to decorate as you will. I will be recording a video of ideas on how to decorate soon.

Strawberry Pincushions – In recognition of the well favored strawberry ornaments, this year, I am offering these larger strawberries in a variety of fabrics.

Parasol Penwiper Ornaments – These whimsical penwipers make beautiful ornaments thanks to the hook on the top of the crochet hook. The beading will look beautiful among the tree lights.

Project kits – I started of ering limited edition Project Kits this year. Each kit is for a historically accurate or a historically inspired project. Some come with PDF directions, while others are trying a new video directions format. Previously, I offered a Velvet Needle-book Kit

As the days and nights turn colder, some of us are easing into the holiday season a little early. Okay, some are jumping in enthusiastically and some are feeling trepidation. With all the uncertainties of the pandemic, this is a time of heightened feelings, anxieties, and worries for many.

Attention spans have shortened.
Purse strings have tightened.

The need to curl up and feel safe has increased for many of us. For me, this is a soft blanket, a hot cup of tea or soup, a purring cat, and a feel good project. This combination brings me back to me, but also to my most connected; connected to myself, connected to my crafty Grandmas, connected to who I am making something for or in memory of, even connected to where each of the materials are from.

In September, I mentioned my Share the Spirit initiative. Share the Spirit is my way of sharing that feeling or spirit of connectedness. My goal in the coming weeks is to share some of my favorite feel good projects with you. Each will be shared as part of my Whimsy Wednesday video series, some of which will be Whimsy on the Weekend. Some of them will be freely given templates and/or directions here on this blog or on my Don’t Paint the Cat blog. Others will be kits or projects available in my shop. (I would love to give everything for free, but that just isn’t doable right now.) My plan is to share at least two free projects a month and one shop project a month.

Most of you already saw the first Share the Spirit project: Clara’s Christmas Friends. These festive fabric felines can be made up with
what materials you have on hand or what you wish to pick out special.

I have several more ideas in mind to share, some of which will get unpacked as tree decorating comes closer. This list is tentative to go with
the flow of how the season develops:
Straw Cornucopia
“Birthday Bears”
Woolies (A heart filled favorite from my most broke of times)
FanU Style Gift Boxes
A Victorian Bird
A Victorian Slipper Ornament

I hope you each enjoy my Share the Spirit initiative.

This week’s video is a chat about my Shutterfly book that arrived, my newest doll addition, and new strawberries.

Do you love my newest Frozen Charlotte as much as I do? You can find your own at ReproDolls on Etsy.

The strawberries are up in my shop! Find them here. Remember to tell me if you want me to make a) more beaded vemvet strawberries b) more Family Heirloom Weavers strawberries c) blue coverlet strawberries or d) paisley wool strawberries.

If you missed this past weekend’s video for dressing the cats, catch it here.

P.S. – If you receive or buy Early American Life, check out the article “Winter at the Genesee Country Village” in the December issue.

Time to dress Clara’s Christmas Friends!

You will want to make a cat of your own using the template from Wednesday’s Whimsy post.

I have been looking forward to sharing this feel good project as part of my Share the Spirit initiative for Whimsy Wednesday. I never expected that in the days leading up to this cat theme, that friends would suddenly lose their dear feline family members. When I read of the first loss, I had one of these kitties on my lap getting it’s filling. I had been planning this video when I read the latest. Both brough tears and added more meaning to this feline project.

I hope you enjoy this project whether it be a holiday feel good or something more memorial.

(I don’t know what happened with the video. My phone split it into two parts. I have yet not resubscribed to WeVideo for editing it back together.)

The end bit

Click on the cat thumbnail for the pdf template: