A sterling moment in time

Today I went to the Houston Area Antique dealers show. It didn't take long to figure out this show was for serious collectors with lots of money.
Isn't that gorgeous? I can imagine it in a beautiful English manor house, as a centerpiece for an "Age of Innocence" dinner.

Edwardian clothing on everyone.

One booth had nothing but stirling silver, and service pieces. Every silver pattern ever created, I think, was represented in full, and alway seemed to include an asparagus server. A very cool looking item, that.

Alas, seeing all those lovely silver patterns reminded me of a personal injustice that was dealt to me thirty four years ago.
A slight from which I doubt I shall ever recover.

You see, at La Jolla high school there was always a prize given each year to the top home economic student. A very elegant La Jolla store always donated a place setting in silverware of the winning student's choice.

I was that student in 1972. I was both the Bank of America departmental award winner for Home Economics, and the top home economics student as well.

I worked hard to get that honor. I took Advanced Cooking, which included catering and complex meal service, AND Advanced Clothing Construction, including tailoring, in addition to the Honors college prep curiculum.

In my junior year of high school I determined I would be the one to win the prize in my class.

I went to the elegant silver/crystal/china store and decided I wanted to have Wallace "Romance of the Sea" for my silver pattern.
It was not an easy decision to make. I really liked Sir Christopher as well, but decided it might be a bit too fancy.

Imagine my chagrin, my heartbreak, my dismay, my disgust and my anger upon learning from Mrs. Mittermiller's lips (my home economics intructor), in late May of my senior year that while I had won the Department Award, AND the Bank of America award, that the store, (for the first time in the more than half century of the school's history), WAS NOT GOING TO GIVE A PLACE SETTING THAT YEAR!

The price of silver had soared that year. Perhaps they decided that giving the student one setting was not resulting in a guaranteed desire to further collect at least five additional place settings via bridal registry or parental largess.

Formerly it had been a clever business ploy, don't you think?

But...wouldn't you think that maybe, since silver had gotten so expensive, that maybe I could have been offered a place setting of china? or crystal?

Nope. For me, in 1972, nada. Nothing. Zilch.

1973? Oh, well, back to the usual. A lovely place setting of silver was presented to that year's winner, and I presume to each winner until who knows when.

Four years later I did register for flatware. Only by then silver was "out", and stainless was "in".

Incidently, my stainless cost in 1976 the same as my mom's silver cost her when she married in 1946.

Bernie picked the pattern. Dansk Classique. A plain curved edged and top design. My dad commented it looked like what they used in the mess hall in the navy.

There's a compliment for ya!

The upside is that Dansk makes quite a product. Nothing will bend or scratch Dansk stainless. In thirty years I have yet to have any damage to any of the piece. So I have never needed to get a different set. It did look great with our Dansk Blue mist, a plain white glazed pottery with two navy rings on the edge that we used for our first 25 years of marriage.

Sigh.

It all looks just so.... 70's.

Well, here's the kicker.

A few years back Bernie and I were in a store that had all the classic silver patterns displayed. So, just for fun I asked him what pattern he would pick if we were to get some real silverware.

He glanced at all the patterns.

Honed in on one.

Pointed at "Romance of the Sea."

He shook his head, and firmly declared:

"Definitely, not that one."

I still like "Romance of the Sea".

But now I like the gold and silver version.

And it came to pass...

When I was a teen and facing the usual assortment of teenage woes, Mrs. Watts, a friend of my mother, gave me a piece of advice.

The advice was as follows:

"Remember the Bible keeps saying "and it came to pass". That is always true. What ever comes, will also pass. If you hate what is going on, don't worry, it will pass. If you love what is going on, it will pass away too. Nothing going on is forever, everything comes and then goes away."

That's the gist of it anyway.

This week remembering that observation helped a lot.

Over-the-top stupendous rudeness to me at my profession forum had me a hair's trigger from sending a scorched earth caliber email to the offending party, who really should know better, but does this kind of stuff routinely.

Bernie said I shouldn't take it personally, that it is just the way the person is.
Others later confirmed that indeed, the person's behavior was SOP (standard operating proceedures) for that person. Rude, and wrong, but just the way this person does stuff.

Then I was involved in a presentation. I wore my brand new dusty rose pink suede skirt that fit, and wound up sitting a chair where water had been spilt. I didn't notice, and presented with a huge wetspot on my backside. Insult to injury, I looked stupid, or unfortunent, and had a ruined skirt to boot.

Ever notice once you get angry, you find more things to be angry about? Well, I scratched together an encyclopedia of irritations and mads. Bernie lucked out, he had to go out of town.

But being the sweetie that he is, he brought me flowers when he came home, and a sympathy card, and gave me hug. How about that, flowers from him when someone else had done me wrong.

And so it came to pass that my work week was over, my husband was home, and the skirt stain is only noticible in certain lights if you stare at my backside really hard.

And unless you are Bernie, you had better not. Stare at my backside, that is.

Vintage lingerie

A couple of Vintage Elegances ago, I picked up an addiction. In a way, it was not unlike my first visit to Fleur de Paris, where I was swept away into a millinery manic/obsession/compulsion state of being from which I have never recovered.

At that VE show, there was a fashion show uncovering (get the pun?) the history of Lingerie from 1840 to 1950.

Oh la la...and wowzer.

I gained a new appreciation of corseting, which was at one time needed to keep females from looking like they were in snow suits, after donning multiple layers of undergarments.

And I was exposed (oh gads, potentially another pun...) to hand sewn peach silk and hand-made lace lingerie from about 1910 to 1940.

What was at the show was out of my price range...or at least what my mind thought was out of my price range. But the addiction had taken hold.


I couldn't get the image of the beautiful pieces out of my mind once I got home.

And like any collecting person knows, the next thing that will dominate a lot of your time is search ebay to find a bit of collecting heaven.

Ebay prices on vintage lingerie are rising. There are several on line vintage lingerie stores as well, with eye popping prices.

What stops me from buying everything I see is the knowledge that I (at 33" waist this morning, and a 43 inch hip, after losing 4lbs so far) am too big to fit most of the lovely stuff.

I would love to buy and give to brides to be, instead of the tawdry nylon stuff that passes for romantic today. When I see a slip with a 34 inch bust or panties with a 24 inch waist, I want to buy, and hope I will be invited to a tasteful bridal event for a mere slip of a bride, who would drool over such elegance and history.

And I promise myself that I will lose weight and sometime soon will be wearing these kinds of items myself.

Photographed is my first purchase, a chemise.

I'll periodically post other items.

Oh, and added fun: since these items were hand made for the very wealthy, frequently they have the former owner's name or initials on the item. My fondest hope would be someday to find something with my own initials.

On something that fits.

As long as there is ebay, and VE, hope springs eternal for my quest.


 

Millinery: A "Jill" for Gail

My signature hat is a Glengarry style cap. I'm not really sure when I decided I wanted a cap in that shape, maybe it was after seeing them in drawings of Civil War era ladies, or in 1940's fashion books. Or maybe it was a cover story on Madonna. She wore one a few years back.

I tend to wear this style hat all winter, both for dressy events, and jeans and sweater events. Since there is no brim, it is a cap that works all day and in all situations.

While I was in Colorado I had my friend Gail try on some of my hats. I had a hat in this fabric with pink rhinestones and more pink buttons with me on the trip. You can see that one in my August posting entitled Daughters.

The fabric in my hat was almost a perfect match for Gail's prized woven shawl wrap. The shawl is just beautiful, a soft wool that has a lot of loft, and lovely shades of purples and blues.

So since her birthday is this coming Sunday, of course I had to make a hat for her too. This time without the pink tones though.
I've made about fourteen of these hats, in lots of different fabrics . My favorite thing to do with the pattern is to make up the hat in someone's tartan. I've done a Stewart, McIntyre, and McQueen to date.

And I love trimming the simple pattern. My vintage button collection finally gets to come out and play. I also love making a Mother/Daughter set. It is just amazing made up in velvet, and ruched, or fur.


The pattern (for intermediate level sewing, due to curves) is available from Judith M.

I've shipped the hat off to Gail. She should get in on Friday, so mums the word till then!

Millinery: A new fall hat and chocolate

Fashion etiquette advises that felt hats be worn in Fall and Winter, and straw hats be worn in Spring and Summer.

This is highly practical: Felt keeps you warm, straw lets breezes in to keep you cool.

But when you live in an area where it is 90+ degrees seven months a year, practicality trumps etiquette.

That is to say, even though Fall is here, I can still sorely need a straw hat.

Yesterday I was to attend an evening wedding, beginning at 5, and with temperatures predicted in the 90's (feeling like 102 degrees with the humidity.)

I wanted to wear a hat, and I wanted to wear brown, as the color scheme of the wedding was to be chocolate. Yummy!

I had created this hat a few months back, with just the veiling and organdy and pearl rosettes. It was simply blah. I never wore it.

By quickly adding brown wooden beads, two pheasant feathers and a turkey feather (from a wild turkey called and shot by Dad, of course, who else?) I quickly created a cool yet autumnal chapeaux.

(Note: The turkey was delicious by the way, wild turkey tastes far better that store-bought Butterballs.)

Off I went to the wedding, wearing both hat and gloves, only to find I was the only one at the wedding in either a hat or gloves. I would be deceitful if I said I was surprise by that.

Oh well.

Thankfully the wedding was moved inside, and the ceremony was preformed under blessed air-conditioning.

The reception was the best one I had ever attended. Such joy and dancing, great food, and fine celebration.

A delight to see Mr. C. M. Y. and Miss D. J. J. become Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Y.

Mazel Tov!
PS: And while the wedding colors were chocolate and peach, I personally am swearing off chocolate except as a visual color treat. Oh that picture. The diet begins....

PSS: I love how chocolate bridesmaids gowns look at weddings. Lovely next to the bridal eggshell or white gown. Curiously, four for four of the wedding I know of over a six month span will have this color scheme.

Now I am curious.

What will the rage in wedding colors be by this time next year?

Millinery: Making a hat using bowl for a block

Step one: Find a bowl that looks interesting. This bowl is from Ikea.

Step two: Dip some sinamay in gelatin water, using unflavored gelatin and hot water to form a sizing to keep the sinamay stiff.

Step three: Cover the outside bowl with plastic wrap, and then two layers of sinamay. Leaving 2 inches, trim excess sinamay in shape of the bowl.

Step four: Fold edge of sinamay over the edge of the bowl, and hold fast using clothes pins.

Step five: While the sinamay dries, cut a band on the bias, fold edges under, iron, and stitch.

Step six: Insert millinery wire into a velvet tubing. Overlap wire and secure to create a circle conforming to the edge of the bowl.

Step seven: Fold edge of sinamy over the tubing, and stitch sinamay hem closed.

Step eight: Position head band on hat body, ajusting size and postion for comfort and angle. Stitch to hat body.

Step nine: Decorate/trim.

Step ten: Wear and enjoy!

Millinery: Autumn begins

Is this not the most perfect Autumn hat? The shape, the perfect curve of the pheasant, that collection of colors and patterns, the buckle on the side all make for a perfect autumn vignette.

I do not know a thing about who made this hat or when, it was just found in google images on one of my "killing time at work" sessions.

If some one knows who it belongs to and if it is for sale, let me know. It will be a subject of many fantasies until I can get my hands on it.

And no, my dad didn't shoot this particular bird.

And I do apologize if the sight of dead birds on hats offends, but I do maintain that dead birds on hats must be viewed if one is to understand the art and history of millinery. It is interesting, and comforting, to note that the Audubon Society was created in reaction to excessive bird slaughter occuring in response to millinery trim demands.

Signs of the Season

Bernie's japanese maple is valiantly attempting to provide the fall color that is sorely lacking here in Houston for now.

Each of these leaves is about the size of a dime, so I really appreciate the effort put forth.

We have had a nip of fall weather, that is, it has been under 90 degrees a few times this week. Break out the sweaters!


Another sign of the season: Banned Book Week in the library. The head librarian and I worked together on the idea, which is celebrated each year in conjunction with Constitution/Bill of Rights week.

The red "Censored" sign was from other years. My contribution was the idea of having a place to write how you feel about vigilante censorship.

Interestingly enough, students have actually stopped and taken the time to write their feeling.
I came up with the theme: Do books challenge freedom, or do books make you free?

I have hugely mixed feeling about some of the more recently challenged books. It is one thing to fight for books that are politically or religously expressive. Its another thing when the book is just crude and lewd and violent, all at the same time.

Personally, I just gross out at young adult (ages 12-17) targeted books that are about sexual abuse and sexual acting out in extremely graphic language, and yes, pictures.

And books explaining how to do things that are illegal, such as how to raise pot. Heck, why not a book on how to steal cars? Kite checks? Molest children (oops, actually that IS what some of the books are about.)

I had to think a LONG time before I became a librarian about what it would be like to help people find book, and for me to BUY books that I find despicable, or in conflict with my personal values.
Sometimes it is difficult for me. I do it because I would rather have access to all for all, than risk ever having someone else decide for me what I can or can not have access to.

Tough topic. Thomas Jefferson donated his collection of 10,000 books to the US government to begin the library of Congress. I am sure there was not a single "rape is fun" book in the mix, nor any drawings of human excretement as an art form. Yet today books on those topics are available at tax payer expense to one and all.

I'm also sure King George was livid at some of Jefferson's books.

I am also sure that MOST of the objectionable books are objected to because most people feel children shouldn't be exposed to certain topics.

I am personally sure that every parent should their filter their own children's early in life reading, and be their teacher, which means making sure their child knows why some books are not worthy of their time, and are harmful to one's digestive system (re: some reading makes you sick to your stomach. Stephen King makes me sick, but I am a tad sensitive.)

Enough on that.

In other scary news, my neighbor across the street and two doors down has her yard decorated for Halloween. On this day, Sept 20.

I'd like to suggest a ban on Halloween decorating in September.

Boos on any September "Boo!"

It just creeps me out.

Houston Hat Net: Sunday September 17, 2006

 

Houston Hat Net: Sunday September 17, 2006

The Houston Hat gathered for a "Hurray, Kate's in Town" party. Kate usually is in Switzerland now, but is seen here in the center seated in purple tones, and strangely hatless. I'm right next to her in the short skirt (eeek! well, it was a hot day). Gayle in fatigues, as we had just hauled in after a half day at Victorian Elegance and five hours of driving.
Kate and Marit, in hats by Marit.
Sue lighting up the world with her smile. The lady is an "incomparable", what a sweetie and you should see her car...it is a hippo. Really. Her car is a Toyota RAV made into a hippo.
Maureen takes her turn to try the Victorian Thistle hat.

Notice the PILE of hats on the bed behind her! We were all enjoying a hat try on session, as is our usual amusement at these events. 

Houston Hat Net: A "Kate's in Town" party,

The Houston Hat Net. Kate is center, hatless of all things!
Sue lighting up the world with her smile. This lady drives a car that has been made into a hippo!
Another view of the Victorian Thistle hat on Maureen.
Gayle in her 1920's Paddington Bear hat. 

Millinery: The hats we got at Victorian Elegance

Gayle acquired this Victorian wire framed museum quality hat. Under the turned up back is a big purple bow. The Scottish thistle was surely a tribute to Queen Victoria and her passion for all things Scottish. Gayle also got a pink silk small brim hat, a brown "Paddington Bear" style hat, and a red tam hat with a white silk pom pom and blue ribbon, by Yves St. Laurent. She plans to liven up the Texan football games with that fashion accessory.
This is a close up of the sleeve detail of the Victorian silk wrapper/tea gown that Gayle also acquired. The back flutters out as she walks and the endless hand made lace and rouching is to swoon over.
My cute little navy straw and cream fabric flowers 1940-50 style hat, with open crown lace work. Can't wait to wear it with my navy pant suit.
The sea anenome/squid hat that troubled some folks. The "feathers" are actually silk with blue and lavendar roses tucked in at four points. I still think it is darling!