Splashing in a Tub of Water

Last evening marks the second time the boys had fun with a pan of warm water. I set it out, plopped one boy on each side, and let them have at it. On the first go-round several weeks ago, Noah leaned over and put both hands in, splat. Christopher tested the water with a hand repeatedly, pulling his fingers away after a moment's contact and then looking at them.

This time? Both boys put their hands in the water splat. And splat. And splash, plash, plash. Their outfits both received a soaking, as did the front of my skirt and slip.

Oh, did they have fun, and oh, did they want to smile at us about it all!

Here's a little video.

Christopher Kneels at Crib's Edge

Today, for what we think is one of the first times, Christopher pulled himself up to a kneeling position using the crib rail. He was so proud of himself that he remained there, meditatively sticking out his tongue from time to time, telling us about the view, and smiling. He remained there so long we were able to get photos and even a short video.

Later on, as the chilly air outside got chillier, the draft coming from under the front door became worse, so I ran to the grocery and bought two 10-pound bags of rice. No, we're not eating rice to generate heat. Instead, I sewed up a tube of fabric long enough to reach from one end of the door to the other, and stuffed it with the rice. Now it excludes the air quite well, if not perfectly. Since it's to drop to 5 degrees tomorrow night, we needed this aid in a hurry.

Noah helped me. He is fascinated with the sewing machine; don't worry, his fingers are being kept far, far away from moving parts.

Here's another of Noah and the machine, a Singer 27 handcrank, who, as Miz Johnny explained to me recently, is a very companionable, amenable, hard-working elderly lady :}

Here is Christopher at the edge of the crib:

A Wrapper, But of What Year?

Sometime last fall I was lucky enough to purchase a vintage wrapper. From its shape and construction, I estimate to be anywhere from the 1890s to the early 1900s, but am not quite sure of the real date.

The garment is of a black and white soft cotton flannel, and appears, from construction details to have been sewn at home. The bodice trim is a soft ecru coarse ribbon or tape. It is sewn on the dress in nice curves, but when viewed up close, the stitching that holds it down wanders a great deal, as if done in a hurry.

The bodice opens way down the front and the neckline opens into a squared V. The upper portion of the placket opening is closed three black buttons reaching down to the waistline. The buttons are mounted to an overlap that is made of a separate band of fabric sewn to the left bodice front, and the underlap piece holding the buttonholes is also separate and sewn to the right bodice front.

At the waistline a self belt with ends cut to arrow points is attached at the side seams; I imagine that it ties in front. Otherwise the rest of the front placket would gap open. Part of that remaining opening is -- partially -- covered by a small rectangular band the width of the underlap, sewn with a line of the ecru trim down the middle, and tacked to the underlap. It is not nearly long enough to reach to the bottom of the placket opening and I can't see how it was ever effective. Is a piece missing? Was this a hasty fix to a faulty front opening?

The yoke section of the bodice is lined with coarse muslin that's now ecru in color; it might once have been white. The curved yoke seams are not seamed right sides together. Instead, the wrong side of the yoke curve is seamed to the right side of the bodice front. The seam edges are left unfinished and that ecru trim is just sewn up from the seam up to the edge of the allowance. If you look carefully underneath you can see that the edge of the fabric is very slightly frayed.

The collar is set on separately and trimmed with the same trim as elsewhere.

Towards the yoke bottom a very prettily arranged frill is sewn, the join seam covered by more ecru trim.

The sleeves are set right on the top of the shoulder and are gathered in enough to create a very small puff. Again, the gathering was done in a hurry: some gathers are sewn so the resulting pleat lays frontwards, others backwards, and the gathers vary greatly in position from one sleeve to the other. Note that the sleeves are shaped: each sleeve is cut in one piece, but curving in from the elbow, so that when worn the sleeve will sit nicely on the arm, without excess wrinkling. A small tear at the front sleeve seam shows where stress was likely applied to the garment by the person wearing it. I doubt that the garment would have torn there otherwise, but could be wrong.

The self cuffs are some two inches deep. They are constructed in four pieces, sewn right sides together and then turned to create a finished tube, and joined to the sleeve. The seam is covered with the ecru trim. The cuffs ensure less wear at the sleeve edge.

The back of the wrapper below the toke is in two pieces, seamed down the center. At the top, an inner and outer box pleat are set in a point at the yoke point.

The wrapper hem would just trail the ground, I believe. The bottom of the skirt is simply turned up rather than being faced. A narrow edge is turned to hide the raw edge, and then turned again in a wide hem. To help pull the skirts to the back of the body, the hem is some three inches wide in front, while it gradually widens to between four and five inches in back. Where necessary, small pleats are taken in the hem to account for the fact that there is more fabric in the hem length than in the length it is hemmed to.

All in all, the wrapper shows what I think are some nice design and construction elements: the pretty front bodice frill, the handsome yoke and flowing back pleat treatment, the graduated hem. At other points, however, the garment appears to have been constructed rather hastily, and not everything worked. That front opening just confuses me.

An Edwardian Ruche-Trimmed Hat, part 2: Pictures

Oh, seven or so months after I finished and wore this straw hat to tea with our society at Flag Fork Herb Farm, here finally are pictures. Over a year and a half ago I'd started the hat and steamed it into shape, and had begun the laborious task of pinking and then ruching cream-colored dupioni silk to the entire underside of the hat brim and a bit of the top.

By the time the hat was finished, the shape had worn out and the hat brim flopped again. If you want the shape to be stable, you should store your hat in its own box, the brim sewn, if necessary, into the correct position. Instead, I had put the hat in a closet and eventually other hats came to rest on top.

Here are pictures of the results. At the tea we decided we preferred the flat brim to the original Cavalier-tilt version planned.

Here is the hat underside.
















And a detail of the silk ruching.


















Finally, the hat as worn to tea. Since the hat design is meant to evoke 1910-1910, the era of enormous, grand, over-the-top hats, the era which also saw a pencil-thin dress silhouette to balance the wide toppers, I wore a narrow-lined dress. However, since I'd had those twin boys two months before, the silhouette was less slim and appealing than planned. Ah well.

Note that had I worn the hat in period fashion, it would have sat tilted more forward by far than it does and the underside would not show nearly as much. It would also have been trimmed with several long, full ostrich plumes.

What, More Baby Videos?

The remainder of the Christmastime clips of Noah and Christopher, promised a few days ago:

Our Babies Dance to Aaron Neville

They really enjoyed Aaron Neville's Lousiana Christmas Day.



Christopher Says, "Mna, Mna, Mna, Mna"

This one you'll have to turn sideways, because I don't have video editing software yet and so cannot change the orientation!