Wrappers..... Warmth, Function, & Style

For the play that I am costuming for my church I need to make a wrapper for one of the ladies. As I was in search of images, I came across quite a few that really stood out.


I never realized what amazingly loud fabrics they sometimes used for these garments. I love the colors & the fact that even though they provide warm & style, they are also functional & practical. I plan to make one for myself, hopefully soon.



The photos are from both the 1860s & the 1850s, as I found several articles from ladies magazines with simple lovely garments. I hope you all enjoy the photos & are inspired to perhaps make one for yourself.













I am off to do more sewing for the costumes. There is still quite alot to be done & I do have a deadline.

God bless,
Sarah

Thinking of Katharine....

I recently watched one of her movies, "The African Queen" & it got me to thinking about how much I truly admired her as an actress. I know that some people don't like her acting, because they think she is too independent or strong-willed. But I personally can identify with her on some levels, especially the strong-willed (or as my Mom calls it, bull-headedness, LOL)spirit. In my opinion, she was a wonderful actress, a gorgeous woman, intelligent, a very dry, almost satirical sense of humor, someone who knew what she wanted & stuck with it, a woman who cared about others. I have enjoyed every movie I have ever seen her act in, there are few that I don't absolutely love. She was raised in by her parents & her mother was a suffragette, so I am sure her independence stemmed from such. At the age of fourteen she found her brother, whom was to believed have committed suicide in the attic & as a result fell into a state of depression. She eventually came out of her shell. In my opinion, to have overcome such a devastating trama, to be able to have a sense of humor & not let that rule her entire life was something that should be admired. I apologize for the rather long rant. My Grandma was very much like Katharine & I believe that is another reason why I love watching her films. Below are some photos of Katharine.
She even had a pattern in the 1930s designed for her:





"Bringing Up Baby" is one of my absolute favorites, as it also stars Cary Grant & is very comical.


"Stage Door Canteen"


"The African Queen"


This brings a close to my rather long, slightly random post.

God bless,
Sarah Grace

In Search of Warmth

Where I live the weather has decided to become very cold. We are experiencing temperatures that are barely reaching the mid-teens during the day & dropping below 0 at night. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the snow, but I also like the temperature to stay around 20-25 degrees. While thinking about such cold (although for some, I know it probably sounds very mild), I decided to search for photos of firesides that would at least help me imagine that I was warm. I found somely lovely images. The one below caught my eye as it looked like such a loving family.


I just love this one. It reminds me of my German shepherd, Majesty & one of my former cat friends, Spitfire, who unfortunately died last year. They always seemed to get along well.


I then found this painting by Henry Salem Hubbell, which I think is beautiful, & along with it I found two others (although not really about firesides, they do look very warm & inviting). I especially love the colors he used.






We are supposed to be having a snowstorm coming in soon, but I am praying against it, as we have our Easter play auditions coming up this Saturday & we don't need another cancellation. I hope everyone is having a wonderful & blessed January. I thank God for giving us what we have that we so often take for granted, our salvation.

God bless,
Sarah

A Happy New Year & A Belated Merry Christmas!!

I am sorry that again I have fallen behind in my posting. So much has been going on, what with trying to sew the things I was making for Christmas for my family. My camera is out of whack & I have no other means of posting photos that are not already upon my computer. I am still finishing my parents quilt, but soon I hope to have it finished. I have finished writing the Easter play script & will be handing out copies to the cast on Sunday. We will be having auditions next Saturday, hopefully! After auditions, we will be having a celebration of sorts for the cast of our Christmas production for the good job they did & possibly after that begin practicing for the blacklight group signing. Well, I hope everyone had marvelous holidays. Mine were very nice & I am very grateful for my family & friends & for a loving & forgiving God. I leave you with a few winter photos that I found lovely & interesting while doing a search.







God bless to everyone during this lovely & joyous season,
Sarah

Housework.....

I have been so busy the last several nights, what with my church's Christmas play coming up. It finally took place yesterday (Sunday 13), & it turned out beautifully. I hope to be able to post photos soon, but I have to get them from my brother's camera, since I was so involved with directing & taking part in the production that I never had time for photos.

So, now that it is over & life is going back to normal for a few weeks before we begin auditions for the Easter production, I have some housework that needs to be done. While I was doing a few odd & end chores I began thinking about house dresses or work dresses as they are sometimes known. Below I have compiled a few pictures of house dresses from different time periods.



A 1770-1785 workdress & th color combination is very striking.

1799, I could easily imagine myself doing housework in this dress, sans shawl.

A wonderful adaptions of Jane Austen's novel & I simply love this outfit.

1798-1800, a dress that I personally would wear for very messy tasks.

Late 1830s to early 1840s workdress.



A simply georgeous 1860s pinner apron.
1860s cotton plaid workdress.

A very serviceable 1890s apron & the ruffles on the sleeves are fabulous.

A quite basic, but still beautiful 1930s housedress.


Simple, but pretty 1940s shirtwaist dress, a common housedress staple.

Don't you just love the ruffles on the sides of this 1940s housedress?

I personally enjoy most housework & sometimes I am not sure why. Perhaps it is the sense of accomplishment that I feel when I have completed a task. But for whatever reason, I feel blessed that God has seen fit to give me such a satisfaction in such simple things.

God bless to all in your homemaking endeavors,
Sarah.

Many Apologies.....

It has been a month since I last posted anything, but I have been so busy that I haven't even had much time for being on the computer, much less for writing a blog post. I will try in the future to be more constant with my posts, but during the holiday season, I am always so busy, what with Thanksgiving (by the by Happy Quite Belated Thanksgiving!), numerous Christmas parties, making presents for family & friends (which I hope to post photos of), sewing costumes for the upcoming Christmas play at church (which I am helping direct), & teaching American Sign Language to my church group for the Christmas program, I have been a little short on time for anything else.

I recently watched "The Thin Man" starring two of my many favorite 30s-40s actors/actresses, William Powell & Myrna Loy. It is the first in a series of films that are simply fabulous, from the dry satirical humor to the gorgeous clothes, to the plots that keep you guessing, they are a must see. As I was watching the particular film which was made & set in 1934, I had the desire to rummage through my stash of 1930s fashions. Below are just a few of the wonderful creations as well as several photos of William & Myrna:







The above three photos are of William Powell, Myrna Loy, & the terrier that played Asta in the Thin Man series. Below are some of the lovely clothes from the period.













I hope everyone has a wonderful week & that the above photos will inspire you to break out a new project or an abandoned one & enjoy yourself while sewing.

God bless,
Sarah

A New Month

Well its hard to believe that November is already here & Christmas is soon to be upon us. I have been very busy since my last post, working on several sewing projects, a new recipe, & the upcoming church Christmas play. I am in the process of teaching my sign language students a special song for our program that will be done with blacklighting. They are all learning rather quickly, especially considering most have never signed before this. I am also choreographing a dance, helping direct the play, & have a speaking part in it as well. I hope many people will come out to see it, since our group has put so much hard work into it.

Even though the play should turn out wonderfully, it will be, I think, a very difficult Christmas, since my aunt died only several weeks ago. It will be especially hard for my Grandfather, whom my aunt lived with & helped care for. We will all miss her & our Christmas program we are dedicating to her this year. I hope that everyone out there will cherish every moment & memory they have with their loved ones, for we never know when it will be the last.

I apologize for making the post such a melancholy one. On a more cheerful note, I thought I might post a picture of two adorable kittens.



God bless to everyone,
Sarah