September 10, 1993
Dear Everyone:
News Flash! The Cat With No Name
now has a name. Yes, “Jeannie’s”
"visiting" cat has now become an official member of the household and
his name is… Edison. Why
"Edison"? Why not.
The cat doesn't care what you
call him as long as the food dish is always filled.
As I mentioned in last week's Letter, “Jeannie” is planning to go to the
Renaissance Fair
with several of her friends and they plan to go in costume.
So we need to come up with a
costume for “Jeannie” (the friends are, presumably, on their own).
Obviously a
Star Trek®
uniform would be out of place. The
costume must be, if only vaguely,
Renaissance.
We settled on a
peasant blouse, full skirt with petticoat, and one of those
"waste-cinchers" that lace up the front.
I already had a pattern for your standard peasant blouse.
They were all the rage when I was
in college. A full skirt is
easily the simplest thing to make without a pattern (after the apron
they made you make in Home Economics in junior high).
Likewise the petticoat, which is
really an "underskirt".
That left the "waste-cincher", which is sort of a wide belt that reaches
from the waste to just under the bust-line.
It looked a lot easier than one
of those vests that the Tudor Faire dancers were wearing in the pictures
from the
Shakespeare Festival programs. And
we found a pattern for one in a set of costumes put out by
Simplicity®,
including: .A Country Girl, a Witch, an Angel, (something for everyone)
a Pilgrim, and Little Bo Peep (which I never would have guessed if the
pattern book hadn't said that's what it was).
Armed with the patterns, or "non-patterns" as far as the skirts were
concerned, we set about finding fabric for each piece.
Now, you might think that the
place to look for fabric would be in a fabric store.
But that would mean failing to
take into account one of “Jeannie's” two Truly Great Gifts, to wit:
The ability to find the cheapest
way to get or do just about anything. “Jeannie”
went to a discount department store and bought a tablecloth.
Think about it. A fabric store
typically charges upwards of $4.00-$6.00 per yard of fabric.
For a really full skirt, you'd
need at least 6 yards. That can
add up fast. But a rectangular
tablecloth can be longer than that and still sell for a fraction of what
the same amount of yardage would cost. Furthermore,
this particular tablecloth, although made in Brazil, had a floral and
fruit print, plus some patterns and a border design that gave it a
distinct sort of Florentine look. Bearing
in mind that Italy was the
birthplace of the Renaissance, this seemed perfect for the underskirt.
We then took the tablecloth to a fabric store to find some fabric to
match a dominant blue in the print (for the waste-cincher).
This we found on the remnant rack
at 60% off. We looked at muslin
for the underskirt, but the same criteria applied as the over skirt:
They wanted too much money for
it. However, right
next to the fabric store was (yet another) discount linen shop,
where we found a white twin-size sheet, also on sale.
Next we went to a different fabric store, one with large signs reading
"SALE" on all the windows and got shirting fabric for the blouse and
some ready-made ruffles for the underskirt.
I think the only things we
actually paid "full price" for were one pattern (we didn't have a coupon
from the mail or we would have got that markdown, too) and thread.
And a zipper.
Back to my place to pre-wash everything and start cutting things out.
(From this point on, when I say
"we", I really mean "me". “Jeannie's”
contribution was to hand me things when I asked for them, change tapes
in the VCR when the movies ended and generally stay out of the way.
But she couldn't leave because I
would occasionally have to stop and measure some part of her anatomy
before continuing.)
We split the tablecloth in half, length-wise and sewed the ends together
to form a long tube. Since the
long edges were already finished, they formed the hem, with no hemming
required. Likewise, the twin-size
sheet was cut in half; but it would have been too long, compared to the
outer skirt, so we chopped several inches off, which gave us the
necessary fabric for the waistbands. Because
the sheet had selvaged edges, it, too, didn't require hemming.
Then it was a simple matter of
gathering the upper edges of each skirt to a waistband.
Later, I sewed the ready-made
ruffles to the bottom of the petticoat.
I had taken a ton of work home from the office on Friday, to try and get
caught up on some things. However,
with the single-mindedness of purpose which is clearly a Wood Family
Trait, as soon as I started on the sewing project, everything else fell
by the wayside. I spent the rest
of Saturday, all day Sunday and all day Monday working on the costume.
I just kept slapping
Harrison Ford
movies into the VCR every two hours. A
sort of combination Harrison Ford mini-film festival and sewing frenzy.
I also left work almost on time every night to get home and continue
working on the costume, a refreshing change from recent months.
(I did take a few hours off on
Monday to go and see
Jurassic Park
yet again; and when I ran out of Ford movies, I switched to
Sean Connery.)
By last night, everything was complete, except for the shoes.
I don't know what “Jeannie” is
planning to do about footwear. I
really don't believe that they had
Reeboks® in the 15th
Century.
Yes, I will take pictures as soon as I get the chance.
Love, as always,
Pete
PS. “Jeannie's”
other Truly Great Gift is the ability to find the nearest Ladies
Room on any continent.
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