2013 in review: Part 1

There was a decided lack of posts in 2013. So I'm borrowing something from Natasha Marie (who borrowed it from someone else) and posting a wrap-up.
Seeing as this also happens to be my 200th published post on this blog, I think a wrap-up is very fitting.
Warning: it's long. I'm making up for a year of little posts. So it actually comes in more parts.

What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?

Saw an opera. My sister and her husband’s birthday gift for me was a visit to an opera they’d been to several times before already. Now we all want to see it once again, and more. It’s a modern recreation of the earliest at least partially preserved opera, and the music has only the best features of both.

(There's Czech monologue/dialogue until about 1:55.)

(Awwwww, everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to hear that thing! In person! One of the saddest realisations of 2013 is the realisation that that’s not humanly possible.)

I picked one of the artificial laurel leaves they pour out during the performance and keep it as a memento. I do not think I was the only one.

After that, we met with some of their friends from church and made pretzels, which was a first for me, too.

Had port. (Nom!)

Made plum cakes. Cuts. Whatever. (Yummy.)

Made handkerchiefs. :-)

Read medieval English literature in actual medieval English. (With lots of footnotes.) 

Visited Karlštejn. Tourist trap level as expected. The guide's level of knowledge was a less expected letdown. While the castle itself is certainly interesting, you might want to save your money and go visit somewhere else, maybe Ploskovice. I'll post about it this year, promise.

Spent a whole weekend with the people from our youth magazine editorial board (we're mostly volunteers), learning about media and having lots of fun.

Spoke to a Touareg. (Something along the lines of “Could you please sign this for me. – Thanks. – It was wonderful.” See below.)

Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make one this year?

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions as such, so there. I do make occasional resolutions (occasional as in for / at an occasion), and right now it’s to finish more of my sewing.

Did anyone close to you give birth?

Not anyone very close to me.

Did anyone close to you die?

Sadly, two of our cats, Yksi and Kuusi (so yes, that Kuusi lesson is a retrospect...).

What countries/states did you visit?

I visited many new places around my own, and loved it!

(The year before, it was Finland, which I still have not gotten around to telling you about. Ahem.)

(This was already in 2012, but whatever.)

What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?

I cannot think of anything in particular. Except maybe attending the interpreting course.

What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory?

I don’t remember any particular dates for things that happened to me. So I’ll go with November 8th when my friend did not take an important exam in the end. :D It’s because it’s an important date from my country’s history (the battle of White Mountain) that I could never remember, and now I do!

Did you move anywhere?

No.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Probably translating quite a lot into English, in an official capacity. It's not something that you should be doing, mind you, translating into a second language and not your own; we'll have an English editor go over it.

What was your biggest failure?

Probably still failing to finish my sister’s kathak skirt. My sewing failures stand out the most to me, because they’re still lying around the house to remind me.

Did you suffer illness or injury?

Thankfully, nothing serious, just the usual seasonal colds.

What was the best thing you bought?

One thing? Phew. That would be very hard to decide; I don't buy big things.

A beige felt cloche and bamboo scent in January with my Christmas money – the hat is pretty and practical and very much me, and that is actually my first scent, one that’s very much me, too (before that, everything had always smelled just perfume-y to me).

A pair of lace-up boots. 

The Felicitas Queisser scarf - I wear it all the time now, 1797 fichu en marmotte style.

Those 15 meters of lining fabric - that was definitely the haul of the year, maybe even of the decade, but only fabric-wise.

And I finally got myself a purse/shoulderbag that's almost perfect. It might even be leather and it was dirt cheap in a thrift shop. My only complaint is that I would prefer a wider shoulderstrap.

Two Cadfael books, the last in the shop, hidden away in a "last copies" shelf: one for me, one for my sister for Christmas.

Whose behaviour merited celebration?

I think the biggest thumbs up go to my sister for inviting her Latvian colleague and friend who had to stay here over Christmas to celebrate with us, and the rest of the family including grandma for going along with it - even though in the end it did not go quite as planned because of my sister's illness.

On the internet, it's without a doubt Leimomi, for running the Historical Sew Fortnightly which turned out to be hugely popular and way more time-consuming than she had expected; and doing it again this year!

Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

I can’t think of anything. It was a fairly happy year, all in all.

Where did most of your money go?

In general, school.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?

As evidenced by this post, Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.

What was the best concert you’ve been to this year?

It’s a tie between Mark Knopfler & Co.’s concert in May (an online newspaper review gave it 90%, which caused an outrage from commentators who demanded to know what was their excuse for the lack of the remaining 10% :D) and La Dafné in December (an online review gave it 100%). And how could I forget Bombino?! 2013 was very good, concert-wise.

What song/album will always remind you of 2013?

Privateering! The album. I still love it more and more and more. Song is probably Yon Two Crows from it.

Or maybe Her Tenere by Bombino. Yes, that will be the song, because friends and concert and awesome discoveries about the world thanks to the internet.

Have a good one

I think I'm obliged to post something here before 2013 is over. It was a somewhat awkward year in many respects, with many things left unfinished (as evidenced by the lack of posts here), and things going differently than expected (like our Christmas; but it was still good!). But it wasn't a bad one. In spite of various things going wrong, the last straw being my aunt calling this morning that the flat at school was most probably flooded, there were lots of good things happening, too. The last, so far, being my aunt calling again that the flooding isn't too bad at all.

Sometimes, I can take lessons from our cats. Seriously.

A Kuusi lesson: when something does not go as planned, make the best of it and go on as if that was the purpose. Because who knows, maybe it was.
(If you do not catch the bird in the tree, make yourself comfortable in the tree and pretend that was the plan all along.)

I had some great times this year, and in spite of once again not managing to meet with lots of friends I have not seen in ages, I think 2013 was a very friend-rich year for me; I will get around to writing about some of it one day. So for the next year, I wish you some great times, good friends to have them with, and the capacity of making the best of the less so.

Have a good one, and be good. I'll try to do the same.

Bučovice - Part 2: The chateau

Well, finally I'm going to show you the chateau of Bučovice!

That is, I am going to show you the outside, because, as is the case with practically all Czech chateaus and castles and places, photography is not allowed inside. This is a big pity for you, because while the tour of the chateau was short, it was most interesting and breathtaking. The rooms are decorated with wonderful wall paintings, and they also have a fabulous library with globes and such things (I always love me a chateau library, and this one was particularly old and cool!). Get a little taste on their official site. And this photo, which comes from their site, but I'm unable to find it from there.

The cheateau is a Renaissance building, with a most beautiful arcaded courtyard (arcades on three sides) - interesting in that it uses lighter-style columns on the bottommost level, unlike the convention for arcades which is to use heavier Doric columns on the ground level. (Having spent a good part of my childhood immersed in an encyclopaedia of architectural terms pays off in a place like this.)

Every single column is decorated with unique carvings, which is what accounts for the amount of photos I took in the chateau. I was in love with the columns.

The chateau is not wholly reconstructed yet. From the park side, it looks like this (and I believe still did this summer when we went through Bučovice on our way to another chateau). So, quite frankly, these blog posts are also my attempt to possibly draw more attention to its potential beauty. The more people visit it, the more likely it's to get a new facade. Theoretically. Right?

The park is a French style one, I believe. It is not big, and there were not any flowers, which I think goes hand in hand with the fact the chateau seems to be struggling to be kept. But there's definitely also potential for beauty. It's a nice, calm, green place.

I was pretty much in love with the clock tower, too. And the shape of the windows and doors.

Who am I kidding. I was in love with the whole place. Look at that fabulous ceiling and lamp! And that's just the entrance.

Even the wholly practical administrative/agricultural/whatever buildings around are pretty.

Seriously, this is Renaissance at its best. Period.

 

So consider this a command: if you ever come to the Czech Republic, don't miss out on this one! You'll get Czech Republic and Italy rolled into one, for the price of one. 

I wish this were me in 1797

This 1797 fashion plate from costume Parisien. I'm finding that 1797 might be the year for me. It's got most of the features I like, and a silhouette I like - still the transitional style I'm drawn to, but already streamlined into the more flattering classical style we all probably love most about the Directoire/Empire fashions; and headwear I like.

Fichu en marmote! Now, this really has to be me.

I love the combination of colours here, bold yet pastel, and that cute white fur trim on the spencer, and the simplicity of the whole thing, in all its boldness. There's a very timeless quality to it - leave out the plume (and the whip, obviously) and wear it with a modern white shirt, and you could wear this today. And get photographed by The Sartorialist while wearing it.
Though I'm wondering why she has that band underneath her chin... is there something going on underneath the fichu that we do not know about?

I guess this "feature" is all you're getting from me, clothing-wise, for a while yet. I'm working on things. Very slowly, because there are many things not clothing related that I have to work on, too, and when I finish those, I'm often too tired to take up the needle. But I am working on it. I finished all the eyelets on my Regency stays, and yesterday I knitted away on my laces, only to find out it was still not long enough...

Although, wait a minute, I have some new acquisitions I could show you. And some oldish ones, too...

Thrifted dress re-sewed. Sleeve cap ease is still bogus. Shoes again.

Long time no see!

There has been much less sewing than I'd wanted to, which I think was to be expected, what with my laziness, and the trips we did with my sister in summer, and translation work, and watching things, and laziness... :D

The good news is, I've got loads of photos of beautiful places around the Czech Republic (mostly Moravia) to show you, and I should start with the chateau in Bučovice that I owe you since 2011, but before I do that, I want to show you my latest thrift shop find, or rather parts of it because it's too cold outside to wear a dress, lest you forget this is a dress diaries.
It's a Boden dress - I determined it is Aqua Bud in crinkle cotton (not available anymore). Or was. It said to twist after washing to retain the crinkliness, but I did not like the sort of crinkliness it had retained - more like sticking out in all directions. So I did not twist it after washing and instead ironed it smooth.
And re-sewed the sleeves and sewed the surplice together. I settle on the conclusion that custom fit rules, particularly if you're not a B cup, and sleeve cap ease is still bogus (my, do I love that eye-opening article!). The original shape of the sleeve was practically the same in front and back. Maybe even more cut-out in the front. Huh. (Come to think of it now, maybe the dress had wrongly inserted sleeves to begin with?)
 

Compared to my Lisbeth sleeve - oh, did I mention I started calling the LBD pattern Lisbeth? :D - it's rather obvious that the easing does not exactly help with what is simply a wrong shape. I had to wriggle the Lisbeth pattern around a bit to make it fit into the present armhole, and the results are not perfect because I had a limited amount of fabric to work with and a not-quite fitting dress to start with, but it's somewhat better.
Oh, and I think it is worth mentioning that the (original) Lisbeth sleeve actually fits into a smaller armhole than the eased sleeve did, and is still more comfortable and easier to move in. So much for the ease of sleeve cap ease, yeah. Not all sleeve caps are created equal.
(I suppose there are some eased sleeve caps that are well-fitted and easy to move in; but this was definitely not one of them.)

The dress is still not a perfect fit - it's actually a size smaller than I should have according to their size charts, and I suspect the bust and sleeves might have been better in a larger size, but then it might be way too tent-like anywhere else. But passing a cotton dress in your style, in your length, in your colours, for 20 CZK - that is hard. :D (I think I actually remember having admired that dress online, way back when. So, yay!)

* * *

And American Duchess is doing yet another giveaway, so here is an obligatory share of the new 1930s-style Claremont Oxfords.

Is she ever going to make shoes I do not want?! I still do not have any. It's always been a bit too much money that could and had to go elsewhere, so far...

And this would be me in 1823

It has it all: simple blue and white, a shawl, a straw hat with ordinary field flowers (I presume). I'm still getting over the hairstyles of the era, though...

Journal des Dames et des Modes 1823, found here. (I dislike Tumblr very much. It houses many interesting pictures, and is absolutely awful for tracking down their sources. I dislike pins on Pinterest that link back to Tumblr, and avoid them when I can. This Tumblr-er is nice, though.)


Do I really need more ideas for historical white dresses??? Because this would totally have removable lower sleeves, and therefore be a practical multi-purpose dress... Help!

And from now on, I'm having a silly smile plastered on my face

This:




And all is right with the universe.

Just a few days ago, I added Peter Capaldi to my favourite actors on the Czech internet film database. I didn't even dream of this, even though apparently many other people did. And several days later, I learn of this. Such wonderful coincidence happens, as we say in Czech, once in a Hungarian year (do not ask me why it's Hungarian).

My sister approves, too, and, hehe, says she may even start watching New Who for him (she's only watched some Classics so far). I am jumping around the house, laughing uncontrollably and yes, have a silly smile plastered on my face. This fandom couldn't make me happier.

Hello, Doctor!