And for the world at large, because pictures of cats in hats are so rarely a bad thing.

See the sidebar for more pictures of cats in things like a fez and other pictures which the insulin-dependent among us may not wish to click for their health.

From

More details

at http://books.google.com/books?id=KV8MAAAAYAAJ&dq=a+choice+of+emblems+and+other+devices&lr=&as_brr=1&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

It begins with someone's dissertation. The Table of Contents is on page ix and is clickable. There are several parts of the facsimile. The first part appears to predate the second by some years in terms of fashion. Even the common/low/peasant folk get updated in the second part. Then there's a lot of discussion of aspects of the book(s), followed by yet more emblem works by other writers.

ETA: It appears that there is some sincere weirdness with the way that Google books managed the paging. To get to the first entry mentioned below, type in 50 for the page number. Scroll *down* until you get to page "i". Scroll down *another* page and you're on page 1. Click the right arrow paging button and go to 9. Do not simply type "9" for a page number, or you'll go insane. Page or scroll through.

( DANG, this got really long.Collapse )

I've got to stop now. I'm only about halfway through, though, so do have a look. Page 194 - pluderhosen!Flat caps! Tall hats! Drums! Tents! Large full-page woodcuts of various persona at the end! Seriously, go have a look. cvirtue, a bee skep/hive is on page 200.

I feel like crap this morning. It's before caffeine, but still.

( The weekend, and a bit beforeCollapse )

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In a bit of irony, the hat will be in Meridien colors - black and white. However, for some reason evidently the Kingdom Seneschal thinks we're in Gleann Abhann. Ummm, no. We're so much in Meridies that, for example, I report A&S stuff to the EASTERN reporting deputy. This little discovery was announced at the business meeting on Wednesday. C said that he'd written the Kingdom Seneschal back, everyone had a good laugh, and the meeting moved on - at lightning speed, I might add, for a meeting run by C. Problem resolved, right?

Well, no. Y'see, I sent the flyer for our NRWP in March - the one happening right here in freakin' Meridies - to the Kingdom Chronicler for publishing in the PC. Today (TODAY?! - how many days ago did I send that?) I noticed an email from last night back from her - evidently SHE believes that we're in Gleann Abhann, too! Nope. But friggin' OY. Folks at that level need to have their crap together. I don't know what I'm going to do if I send in my A&S report for the Shire and get told "Well, thanks, but you need to send this to GA's folks, 'cause you're in...."

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Caffeine has helped my sytem wake up some more. I believe I'll finish up this post and wander off into my day.

...I bought up the last of a certain bolt of fabric. Originally $39.99/yard, I picked up a smidge more than 4 yards for $4.00/yd.

It's a cotton canvas-type backing embroidered in shades of blue and green - in wool. And because of the method and fiber used, the embroidery resembles crewel work. In big FAT non-complex and therefore period paisley, along with simple floral motifs and a vining design. I love it - it's so wonderful.

This is so becoming a Margaret Laton-style jacket. Which means a new, less point-fronted, wider-winged attifet, too, likely in either the finest of the linens I own or silk hab - actually, come to think of it, the one's that Alysea and Eleanor sell are about the right size. Oh, but they're definitely pointed in the front, so I'll still end up making my own. But I'm okay with that, really. It will also be a good boot in the butt to cut that lightweight green tweedy-mossy wool and make it up into a petticote/skirt.

Anything left over will decorate my house one way or another, and that item will tag along with me to events for a while, you betcha.

I did find a very nice built-up passementerie trim with pearls for the hatband, and bought sewing machine needles and three lovely plumes to work on that method I mentioned earlier, but found no petersham. After the purchase of the fabric, I'll either have to pay for it out of the business account, or I may just fake it as I was going to on the Stupid-Looking Tall Hat I worked on for Pennsic - with undyed, thin leather or an undyed cotton band.

Oh, heck. Must buy and/or cook cookies for that thing at the church. Got to remember that.

And now, totally unnecessary chocolate cake.

Mostly as a reminder to myself. I know 12th Night is this weekend, but I have got to get started on the Wams for B. The hosen will perforce wait till I take it to the House Gathering next weekend for adisement on the wrinkles on top of the ankle, but the wams need not, now that the Hemd is all done and lovely. In fact, sewing the Wams ought to take less time than the Hemd's construction did, though I still may need movie rentals to sit still on the couch long enough. I still want to do it by hand, you see. It IS definitely accomplishable, but the primary fitting must take place not tonight but tomrrow night, because B will be gaming tonight. I might be able to fit the pattern on him, tonight, because he's getting off half an hour early, but we'll see. He gets in the mindframe for the game, and wants to be there three hours ago, by the time he gets home, usually. In that case, more hattage work.

Okay, so there's been some progress on the whole hat thing, and some edumacation, too.

All the bits are cut out for a "soft cap." It's basically a muffin cap with a true brim - with enough tallish/widish trim added, it will resemble an Italian bonnet. Please God.( Further info on hat progressCollapse )

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( Hat-fu level increasedCollapse )

Hopefully this new knowledge will help me to not only make better hats for *me*, but also the enormous flat plumed hat that B wants, and a few cute ones for Meg.

I still love my attifet, though. I've almost loved it to death, unfortunately. I'll have to remove the lace and keep the wire form. It's still working well, and the lace is still quite good and appropriate, but the fabric has gotten dirty from use in open air, dust, and sweat. And I found some more lace that I like - heck, worse comes to worst I'll just make more on my machine.

::wince:: That reminds me that I've had that lace for the ruff just sitting there, waiting to be sewn into one length and made into a ruff. I've *got* to get on that before Something Bad (tm) happens to that lace.

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B was an utter sweetheart and took Meg to school, letting me sleep in a bit. I've had very late nights over the past three nights, with little sleep, and I wake up a total dragon. So it may have been self-preservation, but I'll keep him anyway. I was up again last night b/c after the (very short - a personal best for Conall of some 45 minutes) meeting I went for coffee and conversation with a few Shire folks and got home around 11:15 or so, and bed aroud 12:30. I was really too tired for it, and made little sense in a quasi-political discussion. I HATE it when I do that - the caffeine made me think I was much more coherent and together than I was. Oy.

Well, off to get shots and look for notions.

Yes, back to adventures in the Land of Millinery. We're giving it one. More. Try. I'm trying something simpler this time and I'm notnotnot going to make alterations in situ, which is killing me. I want the brim to be smaller - but I will not do that. I will be good. I will be good. I will not make alterations to the hat pattern.

::sigh:: So, I'm hoping that since the plastic canvas thing never worked out for these hats that the Timtex stuff will. I got the idea fromlaurensa, and it seems quite a solid and workable buckram substitute. Gonna try it, and if it doesn't turn out, I can always just turn out flat caps. Dammit. I want a spiff tall hat, since the brown one is both rather not period and showing wear, anyway, and I do NOT want to pay $150 dollars for it. Maybe if I figure out why these aren't turning out, I can go to that lovely Lynn McMasters arched brim tall hat.

All right. Off to cut out pattern pieces - before I started typing last night I did manage to figure a brim size that seems to fit well. We'll see. See, in margo's patterns there's only s-m-l sizing, not sizing such as 6 7/8, which is my actual hat size. This is a tad frustrating for me, because I want it to fit correctly, not merely be close.

There are things that it's okay to be anal-retentive about, folks. How your clothes fit is one of them, when you have the means and ability to get it right.

But I find that does little to reduce my frustration. Of course, more than five or six hours of sleep las tnight would've helped with that.

Wow, Harry's drooly. I've actually pinned a terry washcloth to the front of his t-shirt. Ah, improvization. Got to go pick up Meg in a bit, too.

The wire is sewn back onto the hat whose outer brim is also trimmed, notched, and ready to be sewn down again. After that, the hat band, and then we have a hat. Yay! If I don't finish all that before the allergy shot, I'll probably take it with me to work on in the shot clinic. Okay cryin' baby to put down to sleep.

Meg has begun kindergarten today. Again - so glad Robert wanted to insist that she go to a private school and I paid half a year of school that was unnecessary. Everything went well on our part, but they should have included drop-off directions in the welcome letters they sent out a couple of weeks back. There's very little parking available, and naturally everyone needs to park to drop their kindergarteners off on at least the first day. I'll be picking her up at noon, and the only other day she'll go this week is Thursday, again for a half-day. Next week is a whole week of half-days, and the week after, when she's staying at Angel and Chuck's, will be a true full week.

Gonna call the school about the drop-off issue - the kindergarteners have a separate, around-the-corner drop off from the rest of the school. Hopefully the office has a better clue than us poor parents.

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On a crappy note, I worked all weekend on a tall hat based on the Margo Anderson Accessory pattern. To be specific, I redrafted those pattern pieces that Meg cut up a couple of years back. Those pieces turned out perfectly. Then I redrafted the sides of the hat to be taller - her pattern is, historically, too short for a tall hat, even on me. Those redraftings took up most of Saturday afternoon. We rented both Hitch and Vanity Fair, which were both very, very good, and watched while I worked on it - t.v. was awful this weekend till about the Simpsons last night. I hee-hawed at the outtakes in Hitch. Oh holy crap, those were funny.

( Milliner's frustrationCollapse )

And it took the whole (*%*^ing weekend to do. That's... upsetting. I'll probably hem something today. I got the waist band on the gold skirt - I'm definitely going to need to alter the bodice again, and I'll need to take care of that before I do anything with the skirt, as that'll affect the hemline. Sigh. I do need to work on the lavender linen bodice, too.

We determined that we don't have quite enough woolen happiness to make up a set of Wams, much less hosen, too, for B. We have enough lining material. We *don't* have enough contrast lining, but that's easy to fix - we'll be at Pennsic for crying out loud, and it should be inexpensive. I'd love to find a nice solid goldenrod wool for a contrast with the flag blue woolen twill that I bought for myself, and then bought again for Margaret's Measure. That'd be great contrast for the outer layers. Not sure what color on the inside. Maybe red.

All right. Gotta make sure stuff's ready for imminent Harry, and maybe get some more laundry started.