What I Have Been Reading

Jane Austen and Food by Maggie Lane. This e-book was a pleasant surprise to me. It is a deep and thoughtful exploration of Austen's novels and values through her use of food in her books. I have not read a critical study of Austen in years, sad to say. I really enjoyed this book and it has made me want to re-read, for the sixth or more time, Austen with a new view. I particularly enjoyed her chapters on Mansfield Park and Emma. The Kindle edition is $2.99.

Jackson by Max Brand was an e-book that I have mixed feelings about. It was a bit confusing at the beginning with jumps between time and viewpoint. We learn about Andrew Jackson from the view of a writer who is researching Jackson during his presidential campaign. The information seemed to be mostly accurate. I have an award winning biography of Jackson, so I plan on reading it soon for comparison. Brand points out that everything we know about modern presidential politics started back in the early 1800s. The reader is informed on all the 'new' ideas from that time, like snipers and the use of "OK".

There are some great lines.
"People believe what they read, " Emma said from the door..."It is the most depressing fact in the modern world."
"Jackson is the price you pay for having Jefferson." (Allowing a true democratic process means the people will choose who they will.)

The authorial voice is quite present throughout the book, and his political thoughts are quite evident.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin was a Christmas 2013 gift, and I have been reading at it for a year! I loved Goodwin's book "No Ordinary Time on Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt". Her portrayal of Lincoln leaves me so impressed with the man and the leader. Why have I not finished it? Well, perhaps because I read a chapter and want to ruminate on it. And then the Civil War came and I am not so interested in war. I mean, I skipped all the War in "War and Peace" when I read it at age 19! But I am 200 pages from the end. I expect I will finish it before summer, lol.

The Donzerly Light by Ryne Douglas Pearson was a light read which I enjoyed, especially after a slow beginning. This e-book was the first novel by the author, and it was rejected. After his success as a screen writer (Mercury Rising) he decided to publish this book, which he always liked. The supernatural story is about a 1990s Wall Street wannabe who is given the power to know what stocks to buy, guaranteeing a quick rise to success. He loses his self, his girl, and finally everything else when his power turns dark. Sometimes this felt like a morality tale, sometime like Faust, a bit of the Gothic and mystery genre, it is hard to categorize. I quite enjoyed it.

Other books I have not blogged about which I read in the last months include:

Flourtown by S. G. Redling, an ecological/dystopia story about a community isolated from the world after a accident exposes them to a toxin that is transmittable. The people are sick and dying, trapped in a guarded enclosed city. It was an enjoyable conspiracy thriller.

I Am Legend and The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson, horror/sci-fi classics which I enjoyed. The Shrinking Man 1950s movie gave me nightmares when I was a girl!

An Unfinished Season by Ward Just, which I thought very good. Set in the early 1950s, it is the story of a young man's learning about the world and the experiences that determine his future.

Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook was the basis of the movie by the same name...I liked the movie better.

Honolulu by Alan Brennert  traces the forty year journey of a woman who escapes Korea in 1914 as a picture bride only to find life in Hawaii is hard and sometimes cruel. I loved the character and enjoyed learning about this time and place in history. I look forward to reading more books by Brennert.

I read most of Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks but lost interest. His 700 page book is the story of John Brown and his sons from the perspective of the only surviving Brown son. I did not like some of the characters, felt bogged down at times, and after reading a rather gory scene I decided I really did not want to read about Harper's Ferry and the slaughter. What I did learn is that extremism and terrorism have always gone together. The e-book has a lot of errors.

We have had record snow here, and it has been a continual process of digging out the mailbox...

Happy Valentines Day

Valentine Handkerchiefs

Here are Valentines handkerchiefs from my collection.

The middle 20th c was quite nostalgic. You see a lot of hoop skirt/top hat couples.

                                This is a great example of handkerchief design in its hey-day.

 Machine embroidered handkerchiefs were cheap gifts in the later 20th c.

And a small quilt hanging I made based on a vintage Valentine card and using handkerchiefs in the border. The pattern is available at my etsy shop Rosemont Needle Arts.

Happy Ground Hog Day. And the Robins Return to Michigan

The sky is grey but bright, a Michigan version of sunshine.

The snow is so deep, our driveway is like one of those bobsled runs. The mail box is nearly unreachable.

The road has narrowed because of the snow piled on either side, so we can just manage to back out and turn the car. This is what it looked like last week...

Today we had a flock of Robins visiting the neighborhood! Amazing! 17 degrees, two feet of snow on the ground, so barren even the deer have not come to feast on our bushes.

 

But the Robins decided to return to Michigan.

 

The village has been quiet. Empty houses surround us, summer occupied cabins left empty for six or nine months of the year. 

 

And the snow is pristine white, unsullied by car exhaust. There are few businesses open in town: the post office, bank, two bars, and a coffee house. This is a resort town, a place for summer cottages and filled marinas and camp grounds. The village may have 1500 people in the summertime, with four ice cream spots. In winter there are perhaps 500 hardy folk who either like ice fishing and winter sports or don't have a winter retreat elsewhere. Even the pizza parlor closes come November. 

 

So I hope the Robins know what they are doing, and that spring will be here sooner than another six weeks. The deep snow and empty houses and icy roads and overcast sky have made us all just want to hibernate.

 

 

Downsizing Means Quilts Must Go

In a little over a year my husband will retire and we will leave off parsonage living and settle into our retirement home. I inherited my family home, a 1969 ranch, and we have been fixing it up for several years. It is much smaller than the housing we have lived in. SO we have to be very thoughtful about what we can keep.

Which means I have had to carefully consider which of my many quilts I can keep and which must find new homes. I have been quiltmaking since 1991 and over the years had to try many new techniques and patterns, resulting in small quilts. I have given away or donated a hundred quilts over the years. But my closet is still full.

Today I listed quilts on my etsy store, Rosemont Needle Arts. There are quite a few handkerchief quilt wall hangings. I started collecting hankies in 1993 and have 800 in my collection.

Radiant Orchid is the Pantene color of the year, and it appears in this mid-century handkerchief. It is machine quilted.

 



A 1940s pin-up girl hanky is featured in Lady Eve, surrounded by vintage clothes choices. The hand quilting patterns are traditional Japanese Shashiko.

 

 

 

I later used the vintage handkerchiefs in a different way, bringing the motifs out into the borders. This 1970s handkerchief is surrounded by borders and appliqued sunflowers, and embellished with silk flowers, buttons and a bumblebee pin.

 

One of my earliest finds, and most favorite handkerchief, is this mid-century linen hanky with Franz List's Liebestraume, which I learned to play on the piano as a girl. I used some vintage fabrics in the piecing and for the backing.

 

 

This old hanky pictures Indian head pennies! I used 1930s reproduction fabric. It is hand quilted.

 

50s Christmas handkerchiefs and a pattern from Sharon Newman's book Handkerchief Quilts were often on my table during Holiday season. It is hand quilted.

 

I also have listed some original quilts such as my Barbie Portraits. The third in a series of Barbie quilts I made, this one is young and fun.

 

 

My Morning Glory Flower Fairy image was from a 1920s book which I blogged about a few weeks ago. It uses crayon tinting, embroidery, silk flowers, beading, and has a sheet net overlay, all on silk fabric.

 There are even more quilts listed for sale. I am ready to let these children go as a part of moving on to the next stage of my life.

 

Design Essentials for Good Costume: Line. 1943 Advice from Grace Morton

Grace offers basic art theory in her book The Arts of Costume and Personal Appearance. Her chapter on design essentials starts by offering a basic lesson on art terms, with Line considered most important to costume.

•  Straight lines, as found in tailored clothes, Mission furniture, and modern skyscrapers

• Full, round curves as pictured below and as found in Rococo art

  

 

• Restrained curves, as in curling smoke, the curve of a flower stem, Chinese paintings, and "the undulating lines of a picture hat."

Additionally, lines produce movement.

Vertical lines are found in Gothic sculptures, or in pleated skirts or striped shirts.

Horizontal and vertical lines appear in the aprons worn in this 1962 ad

Horizontal lines appear in flounced skirts, the wide off-the-shoulder necklines of the Romantic period, and in horizontal striped shirts.

Diagonal line movement is found in surplice closings as in the picture below.

The silhouette is noticed first, especially from a distance. It changes with the modes, and with seasons, and over the years. The dress worn during Jane Austen's time was basically tubular. The Victorian dress was bell shaped. The bustle brought in an "S" shape.

 

 

A 1943 "tubular" silhouette

 



 "One of the most important requirements of all art is that it conform to the law of unity with variety, or variety within unity. The silhouette must be judged by this law." The silhouette should be related to body structure, hide imperfections, and emphasize good points. The hoop skirt, bustles, and mutton sleeve did not fall under this stricture.

19th c "bell" shaped skirt had little to do with anatomy. It did make the waist look smaller.

 

The 1943 era dress below conforms to the standard put forth by Grace.

Maggy Rouff evening gown, courtesy of Harper's Bazaar, "Perfection in this geranium pink pleated crepe dinner gown, flowing gracefully with body lines and emphasizing points of body articulation. It satisfies the modern demand for elimination of every unnecessary detail and for a silhouette neither too revealing nor concealing."

  

"A beautiful dress will reveal some parts of the anatomy, while others be subtly concealed with graceful drapery or fullness."

The outline should be interesting, and in character with the spirits of the times. Grace notes that in the 1940s a return to femininity was revealing smaller waists, curved bosoms, and graceful flowing skirts. The severity of tailored suits should be softened as in the suit below with its sleeves gathered at the wrists, waistline definition, and contrasting dickey.

 

 

The full, round shapes of the Botticelli inspired gown below is constrained by the embroidered bands. 

 

Designed by Jessie Franklin Turner. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rhythm in costume can be found in the draping of fabric in the colors or prints of the fabrics, embellishments, and it line.

Vivian Leigh as Lady Hamilton. Courtesy of United Artists Corporation. white crepe with sequin embroidery is a gown of classic inspiration, where a beautiful rhythm is achieved by skillful cutting and shaping.

Allowing certain lines dominance holds the viewer's attention.

 

The beautifully curved waistline and the graceful flowing skirt with its pointed inserts are subordinated to the greater interest of the bodice top and interestingly designed sleeve's.

 

 

An afternoon coat in which a dominant horizontal rhythm is given stability by a vertical movement. The shapes themselves have significance, but with relationship to the whole.

 

 

Next time I will offer advice from the chapter The Art of Combining Colors.

The Arts of Costume and Personal Appearance--Criteria for Judgling Prints

Grace Margaret Morton considers the understanding of value as basic to choosing prints. This is something every quilter understands: value is often more important than color. "Watercolor quilts" are based on this concept; one arranges prints based on value, from light to dark. Print fabrics with high value contrast have to be handled thoughtfully in a quilt as they can really stand out.

Nolan is the Japanese term for using light and dark masses creatively to achieve harmony in tonal relations, Grace explains. And good costume analysis takes into consideration dark-light contrast. Here is the author's guide to judging prints:

1. The shapes or motifs should be interesting in contour and arranged in a pleasing rhythm to give balance (see figure 8, upper left sample above)

2. When more than one motif is used, they should be harmonious in shape and size (see figure 9, upper right sample above)

3. The negative space of the background areas should have interest in itself (see figure 10, lower left above)

4. Pictorial or realistic images are never suitable for wearing apparel. Good prints may have naturalistic motifs, but there should be something original, smart, or exotic (see figure 11, lower right above)

5. The effect of design as a whole when viewed from a distance through half-closed eyes should give a satisfying impression, with no part appearing to jump out as in the fabric in figure 12, upper left above.

Allover prints may be poor in design because the motifs are unrelated, as those in figure 13, upper right fabric in photo above. The flowers have nothing in common with the plaid. Bad arrangement of patterns will lack movement or rhythm, and spottiness of lights and darks also contribute to problem prints.

Characteristics of prints include:

Scale. The horse and buggy of  figure 15, lower left in the picture above, is a small scale print. Below is a large scale print, which Grace suggests could be used by "larger" women or more sophisticated women.

Widely vs. compactly spaced motifs (figures 9 vs. 17)

Strong contrast in value vs. close value (figures 11 vs. 17)

Strong or intense vs. soft and grayed colors

Abstract or geometric motifs vs. naturalistic motifs (figures 17 vs. 18)

Conventional vs. exotic

Formal vs. informal or exotic character



Forceful (see Stehli wine and gray silk plaid below) vs. dainty small prints





The print on top below is "dainty." The "amusing" Mexican hats and original plaid at the bottom of the picture should be worn only by the young, 

 The print below by Christian Berard has orange Victorian motifs on rusty black crepe and are suitable for afternoon or "personal mood".

Below: The violet-blue crepe with formal motifs in black and white "suggests street wear for mature women."

 

I wish the photos were in color! Imagine blue-violet with white and  black. Yummy.

Next post I will share from the chapter "Design Essentials for Good Costume."