What A Cat-astrophe

What a catastrophe!

I washed my beloved green mitts. Scrubbed them lovingly with my favorite handmade lye soap, wrung them out and draped them over the edge of the bathtub to dry. Later that day I went into the bathroom only to discover the above. One of my mitts had been eaten. Not by giant moths but by the furry monsters that call themselves my cats! Don't let the innocent looks fool you. These are cold hearted knitting killers!



Oh I was livid! The only positive to come out of this catastrophe, was that the mitt they destroyed was the first one, the one with the accidental yarn-overs, twisted stitches & other first time errors. Since no particular culprit was found at the scene of the crime, I accused both cats. Mr. Mistofelees attempted to kiss up by laying nicely on my lap as I diligently knitted a replacement mitt. Barley Mow chose to snuggle at my side while I slept, purring away.

The replacement mitt only took a day to complete, with no errors and surprisingly no need to back track for accidental yarn-overs. The thumb gusset took a bit of thought, since I've obviously forgotten how I did it the first two times. However, I now have two "good" mitts, a full pair. No more feeling the need to hide my hand or explain that one was my learner.

Still, I've moved the yarn basket to the top of my shelves, well out of the reach of the yarn eating monsters!

Extant Inspiration

Apparently using ClipMarks for notes saves the photos and text, even after the original source is gone.

This is a stomacher that I've lusted over for nearly a year. It's almost enough to make me learn embroidery. I am adding it to my "future sack-back gown ideas" mental folder and sharing it here for the other lovers of historic clothing.

clipped from www.vintagetextile.com Superb English stomacher c.1730 The stomacher, which was a part of fashion from the 16th to 18th centuries, was generally moved from one gown to another, like a piece of jewelry. Elaborate embroidery, sometimes including jewels, covered its surface. Superb English stomacher c.1730 The polychrome hand embroidery is executed in silk and bronze metallic floss on a ground of écru linen. The stomacher is backed with linen. It measures 11" long by 7 3/4" wide, excluding the tabs.

Tied in Knots

I learned an interesting, unintentional lesson at Reenactorfest this past weekend.

The way your stays are laced significantly effects the way your stays fit & feel.

Saturday S laced me up. Since she rarely laces me into my stays, I walked her through the basics of spiral lacing. Over from one side, under the other. Despite not having worn my stays for nearly 2 months they were still comfortable. Bending, moving, dancing, nothing felt wrong or off about them.

Sunday S laced me in again, however this time I didn't walk her though the lacing pattern. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why they felt different. My arm pits felt bruised. I checked and it wasn't the reeds under my arms poking. I thought perhaps it was from the stays being stored flat over the winter, and the adjustment of wearing them for long periods of time after months off. As it turned out, I was subconsciously pushing my stays down with my arms, resulting in the bruised feeling under my arms. But why were they bothering me Sunday when they were fine on Saturday?

I found out when I got changed; S had laced me wrong. Rather than under one side, over the other she had laced me over one side, over the other, as if she was lacing one side of a shoe lace.

I never knew how much difference stay lacing could cause. From now on, I'll be keeping a closer eye on how my lacer does their job.

Of course it's even more encouragement to make a pair of front lacing stays for myself.

A Pretty Penny

So called the Pretty Penny Ball Gown due to the beautiful shining copper color of the fabric. This gown flew off the needle, taking only 2 days from cutting to completion.

Pattern: JP Ryan Robe a l'Anglaise. The same pattern used for my 1770 Polonaise.

Inspiration comes from various sources including, gown #2 in Fitting & Proper by Sharon Ann Burnston, Koshka the Cat's green & gold 1770 gown, endless image searches of the V&A archives and the National Portrait Gallery.



Fabric: 100% silk in an amazing copper color, possibly a mild dupioni or light taffeta. The slubs in the bodice became more apparent when the fabric was stretched (some appeared due to pins while fitting) but otherwise it's rather smooth with a lovely rustle. I purchased the fabric this time last year intending to make a 1690's mantua. In fact I had already cut out the basic shape of the mantua and assembled the main side seams & gores. In a very true to 18th century mentality, I ripped out the seams, laid the fabric flat & re-cut the yardage. I was able to fit all of the bodice & sleeve pieces on both the mantua's side gores. The remainder was used for the four skirt panels.

Trim: I cheated twice on the pleated trim for this gown. First, while I love the reproduction pinking tools I had neither the time, nor the money to acquire one. Instead I took advantage of my modern options & used a pinking blade in my rotary cutter. Second, for the lengths of the pleating I used the ruffle foot on my sewing machine. This leaves a visible machine stitching line down the center of the pleats. To eliminate that, without loosing the pleating, I used long-short backstitches to attach the trim to the gown, catching each pleat with the short stitch. All that was left was pulling out the machine sewing for perfect pleats & no machine sewing.



I realized while I was doing these cheats that it isn't, for me at least, an issue of "if they would have had it, they would have used it", a common reenactorism. For me it's an issue that "I have it, I *am* going to use it" (but I'm going to make it look like I didn't)



I have not yet added the loops for polonaising the skirts. I also still have to decide on a color for the petticoat. I do have a few pieces of the copper silk left over. However, it's long than it is wide. I could either run the join horizontally and place a ruffle over the join to hide it. Or I could attempt to hide the joins vertically in the pleats. The other option is some blue silk. It's very pretty but a very stubbly dupioni.


I'll be wearing this gown, with the usual adornments and possibly a new hat, at the Reenactorfest 4 (Chicago) ball on Saturday night. I'm looking forward to several period dances, although I will probably sit the modern dancing out.

This gown is up for the current Craftster challenge. My entry is way down at the bottom THE PRETTY PENNY BALL GOWN. If you're so inclined, feel free to vote for me.