Sunday, April 17, 2011

Summer Sewing List




So even though 'my summer vacation' is a few weeks away, I can't help looking down the road. The current list is as follows

- help Andrew with his livery
- assist Laurie with new Queen Vic dress.
-caul and partlet for my nobles
-middle class or livery outfit for myself. I was originally gonna do a livery that I could lend to others, but oh man I am getting really tempted to make a middle class tudor outfit out of all the yummy rich colors of wool I see out there. Then again the twill for livery is super cheap :-p
-suffragette outfits for August PEERS- Laura and I are thinking something to do with dress reform, along with sashes and maybe signs. We'd also like to print out some pamphlets for full effect :-)
-bonnet for Dickens. I started toying around with this last Dickens, but didn't have time to finish it. I absolutely cannot find a pre-made bonnet which will fit all my hair, so I've got to make one from scratch. I took Alexandra's class during workshops last year and came away with all kinds of yummy ideas. Given the time, I could see myself getting into millinery- or at least adding it to the list of dilettante pastimes.

Also, going to go to Costume College for the first time with Laura, so I'm sure I will come back slobbering to start all sorts of new projects.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Paper, paper, paper...

..I made it out of...words, and research and analysis...and..um, stuff.



I've gotten about 2.5 pages of just basic intro done on the Poster Paper (out of a 20 page paper). That first thought dump after some reading and poking around- its nice to feel like I have actually done enough I can at least get started writing.

I still need to really figure out how I'm going to structure this thing, and figure out how to organize my primary sources. Right now all the images I have just seem kind of...random. They are the ones I've come across that fit my criteria, sure, but I don't think they in any way create a good representative sampling of the total number produced during the war. I will have to go talk with my professor about it next week- I may end up actually using fewer if I can find a good reason to focus on a certain set.

Still, I was feeling very...out of sorts earlier. And rather than sit around feeling bad about myself, I put on my big girl pants and made myself actually put some work in on something. I feel better now- a little more competent and in control. Good times.

Friday, April 8, 2011

One of my current projects


One of my papers this term is about World War I recruiting posters in Britain. As the one above illustrates, the goal of just recruiting boys for a  quick fight and 'home by Christmas' changed as the reality of total war set in, and the entire civilian population had to be mobilized.

If you hear me babbling about some huge project, this is probably it. Since I've never actually done a lot of work on analyzing images before, I'm having to do a lot of background readings just to give myself the tools for this sort of thing. Learning to look at what's in the background/foreground, use of colors, etc. You can see here that dopey guy who isn't 'in it' is in grey, and looks kind of inert, as opposed to the brightly colored, virile men and women participating in the war effort. Hopefully it will turn out to be a great paper I can submit for any further grad school. In any event, the primary sources are fun.

Bha ha ha

So ya'll remember that paper I wrote in a day?

A-. That's right, bitches! BHA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!