A Peacock in a Pear Tree

I thought I'd give a peek at some of the lovely things my family gave me for Christmas.  Some are here for fun and others pertain to costuming.  I was very happy to have "Fashion," from the Kyoto Costume Institute.  This is a new edition done in 2012 for Barnes and Noble.  The Photos are excellent and a full half of the book is time frames I work in, and the other half is fun too.  This is going to come in handy for my new year planning. 

I hope to go huckleberrying this year so a cookbook about huckleberries and a pie bird will be most handy. 

A pretty selection of machine embroidery thread for my best purchase of 2012 my Singer Futura 400XL. 

A darling lantern that will look lovely in any setting, period or not. 

The cute ornament is a plastic crystal with glitter frosted fake mistletoe on top.  We have tons of mistletoe on the oaks here about, however, I rarely bring it in the house as real mistletoe is so plain and it can be bug filled.  So I will enjoy this far prettier ornament.  It also came with a note that a rotary cutting machine is on it's way.  Yeah!  Now I can thing about getting that bias and piping machine.  Cutting strips and making piping is tedious but so essential to post 1800 sewing, particularly the 1830's and 1840's, one of my favorite time frames. 

A beautiful Shawl in peacock colors from my eldest daughter and a peacock pin from my youngest.  These clever girls didn't even plan to coordinate, they just have good taste!  The shawl and pin have inspired my main new year project.  Just a hint here, more to come on that subject! 

I received many lovely things and got to spend time with those I love, life can't offer better, I believe. 

 

A Needle In My Hand

I PRAY that, risen from the dead, 
I may in glory stand— 
A crown, perhaps, upon my head, 
But a needle in my hand. 

I 've never learned to sing or play,          
So let no harp be mine; 
From birth unto my dying day, 
Plain sewing 's been my line. 

Therefore, accustomed to the end 
To plying useful stitches,   
I 'll be content if asked to mend 
The little angels' breeches.

Eugene Field. 1850–1895

 I remember seeing the first stanza of this poem about 30 years ago, and I have loved it ever since.  I intend to write about many things, however, my main focus will be on sewing and embroidery.  I especially love costuming and do many time frames depending on which group I am playing with at the moment.  As I have grown older and wider, (I wish I could have put wiser instead there!)  I have found that there is not much out there in the way of help for the large size costumer, despite the fact that such a large percentage of us are in the plus range.  So I will be exploring what are the best period and vintage looks for plus size gals.   Which patterns I have the best experiences with and which draft up in size best. 

I will post past costumes and current projects as the days go along.  I sometimes slope/drape my own patterns and have been frustrated trying to find patterns that fit, especially since I am in the 3X size range and short as well.  I find that most patterns that claim they are in plus sizes only go as far as an American fashion size 18 = pattern size 20.  Betzina and Rowley have been designing some wonderful plus patterns that actually go to a fashion size 6X for the big pattern companies and I have made some things I truly love from their patterns.

I have been sewing for decades, had a costume business for several years, studied design, tailoring and embroidery once upon a time, long, long ago. In the practical world I have worked for almost 3 decades as a registered nurse; while raising two girls as a single mom.

As I thought and thought what to call my blog, many things crossed my mind.  I had some high brow french terms, titles specific to certain time periods and places, tricky plays on words to do with stitchery and none seemed to fit.  I didn't want to be locked to time or mood, but roam all my wide interests.  At rock bottom who I am is an American Country Girl, and proud of it.  So most of all I wanted this in my blog.  Then one day I was taking down pictures to paint and redecorate and I held my framed sampler in my hand.  It was a design purchased by my mom for me when I was about 8 years old and she taught me how to stitch it.  I have kept it ever since and it was my first true embroidery.  Samplers are known to many cultures, however, this is a type of stitchery that Americans made their own.  So my blog title comes from my sampler, made so many years ago.  I will leave it to my readers to agree or not as time goes on if I really do "Know my Stitches."