Regency jewellery

The V&A is really a treasury... don't you love this necklace?

I think I've finally found a piece of Regency jewellery I'd really love to wear! The original is mosaic. I smell a new use for the acrylic paint in my future. Not sure what to paint on, but I'll think of something by the time it's relevant... Thankfully, there's a jewellery shop near my school, so I think I can get the other components easily. *giggle*

Oh, and a tiara would be nice, too. Hehe.

A set of gold and malachite jewellery from the UPM.
UPDATE: I've found a detailled online photo of this tiara. So you can see it better. Here.

A bit more about embroidered hats

I found another embroidered bergére, in the V&A.
The fun thing is, I was thinking that I'd like to make smaller flowers on mine. So now I have an example to follow - although the placement of the embroidery would be more similar to that on the Swiss hat.

This one is 1760s. I don't want 1760s, I want 1790s-1800s. I don't care. I'm a fashion-backward girl from a small, slightly backwater Czech town. (The railway that brought new traffic to my hometown wasn't built until 1840s, you know.)

The paintings from those colour palettes

So that you don't have to wonder.


Václav Brožík: Sleeping Governess. Undated.
This is a weird picture. It seems like a costume - not 19th century!


Vojtěch Hynais: Lady with Violets. Ca 1896.


Hynais: Lady with a Fan. 1891.

Hynais: Lady in a Pink Dress. 1880.

Karl Joseph Stieler: Princess Amelie Auguste of Bavaria. Ca 1823.

I've discovered this painting thanks to the Dreamstress's Rate the Dress. Amelie Auguste is the only one so far who rated 10/10. It's now my Favourite Dress Ever.

The 1950s knitting magazine

I promised to write more about the 1950s knitting magazine in a separate post. So here you go.

There is no date of publication stated anywhere in the magazine, but father helped me date it - thanks to the price printed on the cover, 30 Kčs. He said it must have been before a currency reform that took place in 1953. And because it apparently already comes from the time after the communists took power (national factories and such things), it's most probably from between 1949-1953.

My original estimation was based on a stray mail order form inserted inside, dated December 1950 - but it is, as I said, a stray paper - from a different company.

Still, it's probably from around the same time, because what would it be doing there otherwise? It doesn't seem like for a long time anybody cared about what's in the magazine - not even in the shop where I bought it. As I mentioned in the first post, there was also a separate knitting pattern (again, from a different company) inserted. So I got more worth for my money. :-)

There are many pretty things inside the magazine... It's much better than most newer communist era craft magazines I've seen so far - the 70s and 80s were already quite boring, with an abundance of drab-coloured folk inspired embroidery and shapeless clothes... Here, what I stated in the first post is evident - there were still people from the old times responsible for this, and did their best.

Don't you love these pictures?

I love these sports sweaters - even more, those hats. Rather dwarwish.

This man was "cool" long before "cool" was defined - at least in this neck of the woods.

But I like this sweater much more:

And these adorable hats:

(That separate pattern that was inside the magazine is actually more or less identical to the first hat here.)

And one delightful crocheted thing for a good measure:

Playing with colours

Colette Patterns organize a "Spring Palette Challenge" where you first define a colour palette and then sew spring clothes in those colours...

By no means am I participating. Ten weeks is hardly enough time for me. (FYI, I still haven't finished the medieval workdress. Yes, I know.)

But it doesn't hurt to look out for colours with a fresh mind.

For example, this is what I found in my wardrobe:

Those are my long-sleeved T-shirts (well, 7/8-sleeved in case of the blue and the purplish).

And this is what I saw in our bathroom:

See? It works.

I played with colours in another way, too. Outi Pyy suggested on her blog creating colour palettes from photos we like. I did it with paintings. Here are some of my results:

As you can see, with some of them I couldn't bring myself to stop. :-)

A bit more hope for the pink poplin

So, because I'm prone to forgetting, I'm preparing a batch of posts to be posted on a schedule automatically, while I still remember to do it. :-)

Do you remember the Very Pink Poplin of Doom?

I've found another fabric companion for it. Even better than the flowered seersucker, because this one is a bit of a white elephant in itself.

It used to be a random, cotton-polyester, US-originated pillowcase that I have no idea how we had obtained. Several years ago, at the beginning of my sewing career, I tried to make a blouse out of it, which turned out to be more of a failed muslin (because the pattern Did Not Fit, and the wear of the pillowcase showed more than I expected).

It's been lying around somewhere all the years. Now I think I still can salvage it into something usable. Probably not wearable, but usable.

Look what I've got! - the tools edition 2

I keep forgetting to post things.

Like the awesome thing I got from my mom for Christmas.

These are bobbin lace bobbins. Some 46 of them, if I remember correctly. 23 pairs, then. That already makes room for some good bobbin lace experimenting.
Right now I'm still working on the first bookmark, with bobbins borrowed from my grandma, on a pillow borrowed from my aunt.
But now I already have my own bobbins and my own beginnings of a pillow, so I can feel more free about the whole bobbin lace thing.
I just wish I had that pretty antique tool for threading the bobbins that my grandma has. I doubt there's another one in the world, although you never know. No, alas, I don't have a photo of it.

I'll post a picture of the bookmark in making later. When I remember to do it.

Old photos

(More antique than vintage this time, but I don't want to scatter the tags all over the place.)

I got inspired by Stephanie Ann's post about preserving old photos and went photo-hunting again. And I got some pretty, really old photos really cheap! (Most of them were 20 CZK, that's about one US dollar at this time.)

Thanks to Stephanie's post, I know these all are "Carte de Visite". They're all approximately the same size, although they were all taken by different photographers, in different times, and probably also by a bit different techniques (the last photo at least).

If you click on the photos, you should get HUGE versions of them. I want to give you (and myself!) as many details as possible.

This one is probably the oldest - the style of the dress is - 1860s?


She looks a bit prim, but she has a pretty dress - I love the trim, and the waist detail.

This young lady/girl is probably also from the 1860s?

Unlike the others, she was photographed outdoors. Also unlike the others, this photo has no markings. Notice the girl is most probably wearing her hair in a snood under that hat! And, again, look at the trim. Aww.

This one is, I guess, circa 1867-1870:

Look at that trim again! The buttons! And the hairstyle. Quite a curious hairstyle, now that I see it big.

And c. 1880 - I guess: the wide sleeves and the narrow skirt...

Another lady with a parasol! Unless it's an umbrella. She has quite an elaborate dress and headdress! A wreath thing and a veil. And, wow, she seems to have short hair!
(Iglau is nowadays called Jihlava. They have a beautiful zoo, among other things.)

And I'm not sure about this one - it's clearly the newest - it's glossy, and the writings on the back are in Czech, not German or German/Czech as the previous ones. Also notice the Czech names are written with diacritics, not in the German way like the Doleschal/Doležal above.

I bought this one because I really liked the lady... she feels like someone I would have known, so to say. I also like the way she dressed. A good, simple coat and a bit of whimsiness with the lacy shawl and the headdress. Yup. I like her.

If you have any ideas as to the dates, tell me!

I was very successful today on the vintage front - I also bought a c. 1950 knitting magazine. Complete with the patterns and one single knitting pattern (a cute cap) inside for a good measure. 45 CZK. I'll show you in another post.

It really makes me happy. Reading all about the vintage patterns and pattern magazines on foreign blogs, I was feeling a bit sad - not just that I didn't have any - that's my own problem, after all - but that I didn't know of so many pretty vintage patterns in my country. Feeling that the 40 years of communism had stripped my country of something quite precious. Well, it seems that process took some time and early on, there were still people from the old times in the "business" and took good care of it. :-)

As You Like It

Here's to exam on Renaissance Literature. Results: as of now, unknown. Anticipation: highly stressful. Studying: high fun.

So, enjoy my favourite version of As You Like It, and, as it were, the only one I've ever seen. It's curiously filled with pretty 1830s-40s clothes. And it's fun.