Ench By Sew-030: Hats Off to Downtown Abbey!

This show is created, produced and brought to you by Laurel Shimer.

Hats I made recently in Wayne Wichern's Hat Blocking Class

How to Find This Audio/Podcast?

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~ OR ~

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About the Show

The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast is, an extension of my regular sewing blog - Me Encanta Coser,  (http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com) which,  roughly translated means, Enchanted By Sewing

My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live.

This Month's Show - Hats Off to Downton Abbey!

In this month's Enchanted by Sewing show, I talk about the role of Downton Abbey played in inspiring  the hats I've been making. I also share what I've learned about how to make hats. 

Track 1) Pensamientos Primeros – Making Hats -  Inspired by Downton Abbey, and enabled by local milliner Wayne Wichern

Track 2) Technicos A summary of the Techniques I learned something about while making Hats with Wayne Wichern

Track 3) Pensamientos Finales – Pretty as a Picture Hat - Grandmother Lily’s Wedding  - The story of my Grandmother's wedding hat reminds me that it wasn't only wealthy women who enjoyed wearing beautiful hats. Women of every economic bracket have always enjoyed the magic of the perfect hat.

Downton Abbey Themes- Books and Videos
            


Show Track 1) Pensamientos Primeros – Making Hats -  Inspired by Downton Abbey - Enabled by local milliner, Wayne Wichern ( http://www.waynewichernmillinery.com) 

Why do I love to watch Downton Abbey over and over ?
1) The Romantic setting
2) The fantastic British trained actors
3) The Fashions - my favorite part of Downton Abbey.
The best part of the those fashions? -  Hats! 

So far I see I've linked to over 200
caps, hats and other millinery fashions
on Hats and Other Millinary in Pinterest

I've saved links for many of my favorite hats on my Pinterest board "Hats and Other Millinary". These pictures were great to take to Wayne's class, to give him an idea of what I wanted to  create.

Hey - Am I was the only sewist here who’s excited to find that the newest Cinderella, Lily James, is Downton Abbey’s Rose, and step sister Drusilla is Mrs. Paddmore’s side kick

dear little Daisy? According to the UK’s “Telegraph”, Daisy, aka Sohie McShera, does love the chance to reverse her Upstairs/Downstairs role with Lily, just as much as I’d imagined.

Planning, sewing, and talking about hats lead me to reflect on history associated with women in times past.

Going Beyond Downton Abbey - Flappers Author Judith Mackrell explores life beyond costume dramas, when it comes to celebrity idols of the Flapper era -  British aristocrats Lady Diana Manners and Nancy Cunard, Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka, and three Americans; African American dancer /actress Josephine Baker, Femme fatal, Literati – and Wife of F.Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Southern Belle turned actress, Tullulah Bankhead. These ladies climbed the ladder from lower or traditionally established life styles, to serve as new role models for women from Daisy to Lady Edith. When it came to these ladies' fears, challenges and dreams, Mackrell gets down to the nitty gritty. She lets everything hang out from the seamy side to the highlights of their lives. 

This Black Straw Cloche is one of three hats I made in Wayne's class 

Show Track 2) Technicos A summary of the techniques I learned something about while making Hats with Wayne Wichern

 

The Gibson Girl Personified the In-Look
for up-to-date professional women like
Grandmother Lily

Show Track 3) Pensamientos Finales – Pretty as a Picture Hat - Grandmother Lily’s Wedding  

In Grandmother Lily's time, picture hats were made popular by the "Gibson Girls" drawn by Charles Dana Gibson. These ladies personified the New Woman feminist movement with which my grandmother and great aunts identified.

Duchess Georgina's
marriage problems, should have
 been
a hint to her descendent
Princess Diana

Ladies have been wearing Picture Hats for several hundreds of years. Early versions were inspired by the Gainsborough Hats worn by Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire, ancestress of Princess Diana.

Scraps: Scrunchies or Chou Chous? Green Sewing for the New Year

Two Completed Chou Chous
(along with a fabric covered book) I made for gifts

~ ~ ~ 

Web Resources 

Enchanted by Sewing Show Notes and Links to Shows http://www.enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2014/12/ench-by-sew-027-festive-holiday-tees.html

Audio-Only Link http://ec.libsyn.com/p/7/1/3/713e354889f7b167/FINALcastFestiveTeaAndTeesdec2014.mp3?d13a76d516d9dec20c3d276ce028ed5089ab1ce3dae902ea1d06c98e3ed7cf5d5260&c_id=8063812

What is a Chou-Chou or a Scrunchie? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrunchie

Although I made chou-chous for holiday gifts, they are a perfect cleanup-for-the-New-Year or anytime, sewing cleanup/recycling project. You can't get more green than using up scraps of fabric that are too pretty to toss. You can also use the ends of stained or recycled clothing. You can even repurpose old worn elastic!

In the current - Festive Holiday Tees and Tea -  Enchanted by Sewing Episode (audio/podcast) , I described the process of sewing Chou-Chous, which are also known as Scrunchies. You can listen to that episode on your computer or download it to your favorite mobile device.

Here's the idea in picture form, to help you follow along with the Technicos segment of that show.

I can never toss really pretty scraps
But at some point, I need to use them!

I measure out 10 inches of 1/4 inch elastic

I fold a 20 (or slightly longer) tube of scrap fabric
This one isn't perfectly straight and it has one edge hemmed  as a result
of a long-ago project trim. No problem

I pieced on one extra scrap, to make the tube about the
right width
An extra seam at an odd place isn't a problem
when you are scrunching up the fabric anyway

 I cut a piece of string longer than the length of the tube

And lay it inside the tube, along the fold line

Stitch down one side of the tube and across just ONE open end
Make sure not to catch the string when you sew the long side
But DO catch it when you sew across the open end

At this point, I chose not to trim along the seam line,
to give a sausage-like look to the finished chou-chou

Push the sewn across end down into the tube

Pull the string end through the tube, so the outside pulls through

Note that this is a very thick, fabric like chou-chou
That's because I chose not to trim the seam after I sewed it,
to give that sausage-like appearance.

Remember, the chou-chou fabric tube should be about twice as long as the elastic,
so that the fabric scrunches up
You also want enough elastic to be able to double the band around the hair
Otherwise, it will slide off.

Open the sewn-across end, by snipping off the string
Now you have two open ends

Add a safety pin to your 10" of elastic
Pull the elastic through your tube

I set the zig-zab stitch on my machine

I caught up/secured my elastic end on both ends
with a zig-zag stitch.
Be careful not to lose the elastic ends  down either end of the tube, at this point!

Then I sewed the two secured ends together

When I doubled the finishing off seam back to get a neater finish
I broke my needle
So after that, I wrapped my second, neatening seam with a hand stitch
That takes less time than changing my machine needle!

The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County: Prelude, A Dime Novel Begins

What is (or was) a Dime Novel?

Amanda Apple

And

The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County

Prelude

A VERY SINGULAR PERFORMANCE

FEW there were in Battle Mountain who had not heard tell of the lovely women who walked through the doors of  “Silent Sam’s Scorpion Saloon”, one dusty day in late May. Indeed, there were several among the rough crew there that day, who recognized her from her youth, when she was known only for her lyrical voice and not for her desperate ways.

A low murmur of "Ruby" ran through the hall as the woman entered, proving that she was recognized by more than one. For, the beauty was, in fact, none other than the notorious, silver-voiced, bandit queen,  known throughout the great Western basin territory as Ruby McFane!

In previous days, folk the length and breadth of the silver state had ‘oft heard Miss McFane’s melodious trills floating from the stage of the Golden Sagebrush Musical Hall. Among the denizens of  Battle Mountain grouped round Sam’s counter that day, the desperado Texas Tom was one that recognized the woman’s comely visage and alluring form. Tom had formerly thrived in Virginia City, before taking in Austin and Battle Mountain, and he’d enjoyed many a pleasurable evening in the velvet-covered seats of that famed theatre.

Miss McFane had changed but little since she’d graced the boards singing her paeans to the Mockingbird  and her romantic tunes of times past. Though rumors abounded in regards to her nefarious outlawed activities, her speech, mannerisms and dress continued to be those of a lady. Her curls were still the characteristic red-gilt of a Nevada gold nugget and she continued to move with a regal simplicity that was unique to her. Her buff-colored linen outfit, though suited to desert trails was neat and tidy. If there was any change it was in the sterner expression of her sad blue eyes.

Crude though the mining crowd might be, no man spoke disrespectfully. Yet they also made no move to include her in their lot. Ruby stopped before the rough-hewn counter and dropped a finely tooled leather pouch full of jingling coin before Sam.

"Yes it is I,  Ruby McFane!" she stated boldly. "I can see I am not unknown even in this foul den. Better perhaps is it so, for you will have a clearer idea with whom you must deal. I depend on you good fellows, to tell me where The Dark Unknown may be found. I am sure you will say that you’ve seen him not, but I shall never be content with that tale.  He told me to meet me here. I had it from him in a missive written over a week since, and I well know that he is one who holds to his obligations."

"An' so you’re wantin' him, eh?" Texas Tom grunted, from his perch on one end of the bar. "S'pose likely you're a pard o' his'n aire yah?"

“No partner, but see him I must,” she retorted in calm tones.

It was at that moment that Ginger Johnson peeked out from behind the screen that separated the public from the kitchen quarters. No comely coquette was she. Unlike the fair Ruby, the kitchen maid’s outfit had seen better days. Her heavily patched homespun garments were not only well-worn, they were stained with the grease of many a cook fire, and far from clean. Ginger pushed a dusky curl impatiently back from her brow with a care-worn hand, and studied Miss McFane in a decidedly unfriendly manner.

“What’s a dainty darlin’ like you donin’ here?” Ginger inquired boldly. “You should be croonin’ lyrics to the toffs who’ve come over Paiute Pass.”

“I cannot speak of my reasons, but see him I must,” Ruby stated. “And if I must pay to learn his location,” she pushed her leather bag towards the other woman, “then here is my due.”

This is the beginning of a low-brow dime novel, that the folks in my adventure-romance novel, FOOLS GOLD, are reading. And they're picking up clues to help them out with some of their own problems.

* * * 

This story continues in the May radio-style podcast episode of "Unpolished Performances" 

Download this audio show directly from the iTunes store with this link (or search the iTunes store with the term 'unpolished performances') 

You can also listen to the streaming version of the show  on the web at 

http://web.me.com/simpleromantic/Simple_Romantic/Podcast/rss.xml

* * *

Romancin' the Job: The Dairy

 The Dairy
Please click on the illustration above
for a fuller appreciation of a job enjoyed 

Romancing the Rose (Green Movement Humor)

please click on the illustration above, for more rosy detail

The gentle rose bud

What could be more natural?

Soft soul of the earth

The Green Studies Handbook

for Down-To-Earth Romantics

Romancing the Rose

Coming back with a bike basketful of roses from the farmer’s market, I was reminded of the nineteenth century urban romantics fascination with the natural scene. I was admiring some of the great landscape art that came out of that era just yesterday in the Cantor Art Museum over at Stanford University.

Improved agricultural methods combined with the industrial revolution in places like England, and later in the Americas, sent people to live in towns and cities from the mid 1800’s on into the later part of the century. Food could be produced in greater abundance by less and less hands. Rural lifestyles for the common woman, like my great-great grandmother, Anna Sherman, and her sisters became a thing of the past as they moved off the farm and into downtown Chicago.

Fortunately for Anna, she was able to qualify as a telegrapher. Not for her the daily struggle at loom or in a factory. As they joined the new breed of white-collared workers, her descendants could romanticize the rural life Mama and Grandmama had left behind. The landscape painters and photographers whose works I was studying yesterday, captured the dreams of these new Romantics.

Forgotten was the manure pile, the backbreaking hours of pitching, lifting and straining, and the despair of drought, insect plagues and other natural elements that led to crop failure. We recalled  a fantasy world of  wide-open vistas, rolling hills and an earth of perpetual flowers, sunshine and fishing anytime we wanted it. We imagined walking out into our own gardens to harvest a head of still-growing lettuce or freeing a carrot to crunch fresh from it’s earthy compost-rich home.

Like the properly modern day Romantic I am, I carry on this fantasy tradition. On Sundays, I trot over to the farmers market on foot, or wheel over by cruiser bike. Often, of course, I  imagine that I am tripping gaily down the path on market day, with my basket dangling from one hand and my long skirts bunched up in the other. There I will buy farm fresh lettuce, rainbow hued chard and deep crimson or pale pastel colored roses cut just this morning and trucked in behind the farmer’s slow moving horse. Of course that horse is always named Old Dobbin. I think that was required.  I will feel just like I plucked these farm fresh products myself. 

And as an added benefit, I can feel smugly environmentally conscious arriving at the downtown market under my own power to buy locally grown products.

Today I stopped to talk to the farmer who sold me my roses at the downtown Farmer’s Market. The vendors are often happy to chat, especially when it’s a little rainy out and there are few shoppers taking their time. My roses came from his neighbors greenhouses in Watsonville. They are grown there in greenhouses throughout the winter months. Though these flowers came over the grade in the back of this gentleman’s truck, along with his spring greens and bok choy, the majority of the roses his fellow farmer grows are sent by big freight trucks or air plane to other parts of the country.

When the flowers arrive, still fresh in New York or Santa Fe, they must still look as though they’ve just stepped off the farm. We discussed the elaborate, expensive and resource consuming containers that are required for those shipping methods and wondered about the costs of fuel in contrast with the fuel this farmer’s Old Dobbin truck consumed on his way over from the coast. Once the flowers arrive at their destination, the florists arrive to eye these emigrants who have flown 3,000 miles away from California, or perhaps 2500 miles from Colombia.

So fresh, so natural. It’s almost as though we stepped outside our own back door and plucked the tender buds from the vine with our own dainty little fingers.

Take Some Time To Catch Your Breath (February Calendar Page, printable)

Please Click on this Picture for more Lovely Details

And, feel free to drag it to your desktop 

to print or use as a monthly calendar

San Francisco Illusions: Standing the Test of Time Travel

Illusions, Market Street, San Francisco

Please click on the picture above for more beautiful, illusory detail

Market Street is chock full of time travel portal potential.
If only you know where to look
And when.

Time Out for Time Travel - Unpolished Performances Episode 2

On Youtube

Part 1: Time Out for Time Travel

Part 2: Time Out for Time Travel

* * *

Part 1: Time Out for Time Travel The Simple Romantic interviews Captain BidingMyTime, senior staff member for The well known Time Travel service, “Period Pilots”.

Captain BMTime "My parents got along pretty well with everybody ‘round there, cuz my mama was one of the N`dee, you’ve probably heard them referred to as the Apache. My daddy was a retired cavalry officer who came west after the war

S.Rom. So your mother was a Chiricahua? Did you spend much time with her family?

Captain BMTime You see hon, that’s how I got involved in the business at such a young age. About 16 I was when I went to help out one of my aunties one summer. She was my mother’s oldest sister. I was always a little bit of rebel at home, you know capable girls with ideas of their own, weren’t real popular in white settlements in those times. But strong-minded women were nothing new to th T’Inde. And that’s when I started off on my career.

S.Rom. So you learned about time travel with the Apache – I mean the N’dee?" .... Click here to listen to the remainder of this Podcast Preview on Youtube

Part 2: Time Out for Time Travel The Simple Romantic reads recent short, light pieces from her art journal. Click here to listen to Time Portal Identification Made Easy, A Milk Can Remembers, The Dasher or Playing at Past Times, the Assemblage – Dawning of the Music

My first podcasts are not out as 'casts, yet. Instead, as I build my podcasting skills, I'm doing the first couple of months as youtube audio- slideshows. Please click to see and listen. And let me know what you think. I’d love to find your comments here, or out at youtube.