A Place to Hang One's Hat

Empty..

Full!

I am a great lover of hats. I have always liked them, especially the twenties cloche style. They are a weakness of mine, I must confess, but for ages I had nowhere to properly store them. I had them packed away up in the office closet but up there they were often neglected as I'd dash out the front door without one perched on my head. That is now a thing of the past as the fella and I designed, and then he welded, a hat rack for me. With about twelve dollars worth of metal from the metal supermarket, my hat rack came to life. It is now happily hanging behind the front door displaying and keeping all my hats within easy reach.

Women's Work

Today I came straight home from work and changed into my pyjamas as I am catching the cold that is going around here. So instead of posting a picture of my regular clothes, I'll post a few pictures of what I wear daily at work as a heritage interpreter.

Tunic Time

It's day five of the Week in Feminine Dress and here is what I'm wearing today. After work, I changed into my long denim skirt and my flowy blue eyelet tunic. My head's a bit chopped because the camera was on timer as the fella is in Seattle today.

In Bad Taste

According to my 1890's Lady's Book of Manners;

" A worsted dress on a warm day or a white one on a cold day or a light thin one on a windy day are all in bad taste.

Very fine or very delicate dresses worn in the street, or very highly ornamented clothes worn to church, are in bad taste. Very long dresses worn in muddy or dusty weather, even if long dresses are the fashion, are still in bad taste.

Deep and bright-coloured gloves are always in bad taste; very few persons are careful enough in selecting gloves.

Light shoes and dark dresses, white stockings and dark dresses, dark stockings and light dresses, are all in bad taste."

Striped Skirt and Blue Wellies

Here I am on Day Four of the Week of Feminine Dress. The sun came out today briefly, but it was still chilly out in the back garden. I'm wearing my striped skirt, green checkered blouse, and mauve sweater overtop, along with my knee socks and my blue wellies that I got in Cornwall. Ignore the funny angle - I look kind of lumpy! Eep!

Polka Dots and Puffed Sleeves

Here I am on day three of the Week of Feminine Dress pouring a cup of tea. (Ignore the dirty tea towels, they are in the wash now!) I'm wearing my new spring green linen knee length skirt I got in England, with my new puffed cap sleeve polka dot blouse. Over top I've got my black cardigan again, and the always warm black knee socks.

Pink Jumper

Here's day two of my week in feminine dress. The digital camera still hadn't made it's way home so the picture is with the cellphone once again. I'm wearing my favourite hooded pink jumper with it's double row of buttons, a spring green long sleeve tee shirt underneath, a new black linen skirt with ribbon detail, and black knee socks.

Regency Dress

Here is a better picture of the dress I wore on Sunday. This was taken at Christmastime and the hem wasn't finished yet, though you can hardly notice. The dress buttons up the back with three red buttons.

A Week of Feminine Dress

Today starts off my Week in Feminine Dress (Spring). The idea began over at the Sensibility board where we all have obsessions (okay, maybe 'enthusiasm') for the beautiful dresses and skirts of the past. We all thought that if the women back then could do all manner of things in skirts and dresses why couldn't we? So for a week many of us decide to try wearing skirts or dresses while we go about our daily lives. And we post pictures to show what can be done! Past weeks we've seen ladies cooking, gardening, teaching, all manner of cleaning and much more that can be done in a skirt! Many women over on the board wear the feminine, modest clothing for religious reasons, but I just like the styles and how I feel when I'm 'dressed up'. It's the same feeling I get when I wear my good cloche hat, or my long edwardian walking coat. It just feels beautiful.

I'll post all my pictures here everyday so you can see what I'm up to! Here's today, though I had to snap it with my cell phone camera as the Fella is out today with our digital camera. I'm wearing a flannel petticoat, my blue plaid regency dress, and a fuzzy black cardigan.

A Glimpse of Spring

"It was a lover and his lass
with a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er green corn-field did pass,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring."

How to Become a Perfect Lady

" A girl with neatly and properly dressed feet, with neat, well-fitting gloves, smoothly arranged hair, and a clean well-made dress, who walks well, and speaks well, and above all, acts politely and kindly, is a lady, and no wealth is required here."
- The Lady's Book of Manners. Kindly advice from the 1890s