Latest Posts

Apple Bonanza

Growing up in Hawai’i we didn’t do much in the way of preserving food. Why get hot and sticky and grumpy making jams and jellies when there is so much fresh fruit available all year long?

But I’ve always loved the idea of making preserves, and one of the American things I miss here in NZ is apple butter.

This autumn (which is March here in NZ) I was on a walk with a friend when we discovered an apple tree just loaded with apples growing wild in a public preserve.

Now, the Venn diagram of people who are my friends and people who will enthusiastically scramble down a muddy slope (or would if their mobility allowed it) to pick wild apples is pretty much a circle.

So, while I held on to her dogs lead, my friend did just that, and came back with two bags full of perfectly ripe, amazingly fragrant apples.

And they were SO good.

Either the apple that got tossed there and sprouted was true to seed, grew a fantastically lucky sport, or was purposely planted, because these apples were delicious and good for everything. Tart, but not too tart. Beautifully flavourful. Crisp and firm, but cooked down to the perfect texture. Their scent was the absolute essence of apple smell and would make autumn-themed candlemakers green with envy.

I made apple cake and apple pie and ate far more than one apple a day.

Then I got excited, and went back for more apples with different friends. (and confirmed that a new friend was definitely my kind of friend, because she was SO excited about apple picking!)

We figure out the perfect bags for picking, and rope systems for making the hillside safer. I took clippers so I could cut through some of the invasive vines on the hillside and give back to the great outdoors.

We picked, and picked, going back every few weeks for more apples, because there were SO MANY apples. I discovered that 13 kilos of apples is exactly the amount I can carry for a kilometer back to the car without seriously thinking about abandoning some.

And other people picked to. We met them at the tree, and going back from it with bags full of apples. And still the apples fell until the slope below them was littered with hundreds and hundreds of apples.

In addition to eating apples I gave them away to friends. Then one friend and I got excited and embarked on the great apple butter making autumn of 2025.

We peeled and cut the first batch by hand, peeling and cutting and sharing stories.

Then I got clever, and ordered an apple peeler and corer.

Let me tell you, an apple peeler is basically the adult version of the best toy ever. Absolutely everyone who tried it squealed with delight the first time they peeled a perfect apple.

Mine is just a cheap crappy made-in-China one, because I wasn’t sure if I would use it or like it, but now that I know the delights of an apple peeler I’m going to invest in a good one once I can no longer fix and sharpen and jerry-rig this one into working order (it really is very cheaply made).

But cheap or not, it was satisfying as heck and seriously sped up the process. We made a big pot of apple butter every weekend for four weekends in a row.

The fourth week was a little exciting. Wellington had a windstorm. A windstorm serious enough to make even Wellington nervous, with Cat 4 hurricane speed winds. We all got sent home from work, and for weeks after the storm the south side of every tree around town was brown and dead, scoured by salt laden winds.

I went back to check on the tree after the storm, and every last apple was on the ground save 6 poor battered specimens. Just look at this scarred survivor!

But scarred or not, it was delicious, and helped make one last batch of apple butter.

It’s been delightful to be able to give people who give me preserves every year something in return. It’s also very fun to introduce Kiwis to apple butter. One described it as ‘like apple pie in a jar.’ Perfect!

It’s also been very interesting to find out which fellow American immigrants are familiar with it or not. Turns out its not as universally known as I’d assumed.

It was also nice to do something that wasn’t Scroop or fixing my house related. I’m trying to improve my work-life balance.

And finally, for another nice work-life balance thing, a Connie update.

I have extremely exciting news on the Connie front…

She touched me! Voluntarily!

She’s getting noticeably more relaxed and comfortable with me by the day: spending more and more time in the same room, playing in front of me, and just hanging out close to me. When she hangs out close to me she is clearly very interested in what I’m doing, and what I’m about. It’s like she wants to be friends but isn’t quite ready to make the move.

Last Thursday night I was sitting on the couch, legs tucked up, working, when she came and settled herself on the pile curtains I’d been putting pinch pleats into and had abandoned on the floor.

I slowly reached out my hand and hung it over the side of the couch, palm out. She looked at it with interest, and then got up and sniffed it.

I would have been thrilled with just that, but there was more…

She put her paw right in the middle of my palm, so she could rest her weight on it and stand on her hind legs and sniff more of me.

I nearly died of happiness.

And then she just calmly settled back down into the curtains, instead of freaking out at her bravery and bolting.

So I took a photo:

Soon! Soon she will allow a pat. I can feel it.

Nicolas Walraven van Haften - Portrait of a Family in an Interior - 1982.139 - Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 1700

18th century pinks: the 1700s

Published by The Dreamstress

Note: This post originally started as one that covered four decades of the 18th century. The more I researched the more I realised how much content there is, so I’ve broken the post up into decades, and am re-publishing it with more notes, and more images.

My posts on 18th century clothing in shades of purple, and the direction of stripes on 18th century sleeves, have been so popular that I thought you might enjoy a whole series on patterns and colours. You can learn so much by just looking at a bunch of images of clothes from any given era with one unifying detail.

Think Pink

For my first theme I picked pink.

What shades of pink were popular in the 18th century? Is there evidence those shades were more or less popular in certain decades, or mostly used on one type of garment?

Even if there are no clear trends, looking at all of the extant pinks and depictions of pinks is helpful for recreating garments and accessories using colours and patterns that look authentic. And who doesn’t love a bunch of pretty, pretty pinks?

As I began assembling images I realised two things almost immediately. First, almost every shade of pink possible shows up in extant 18th century garments and portraits. (yes, even hot pink!). Second, pink was far, far more common in 18th century clothing than purples was. Was it cheaper and easier to dye? Or, conversely, more expensive and thus more of a status symbol? Or were pink shades simply more fashionable throughout the century?

Because pink was so much more common, I’ve broken the pink post up into decades. So now you get to enjoy ~~four~~ (and maybe more (definitely more, I had to break it into individual decades, so now it’s 10(!))) weeks of 18th century pink posts!

I also got a bit clever and tried to post a painting or print of the time and then an extant item or two from the same time range in a similar shade of pink.

1700s Pinks

Extant textiles and paintings show a whole range of pink being worn in the first decade of the 18th century, starting with the palest barely-there pink of this riding habit:

Kneller, Godfrey; Frances Pierrepont, later Mar, Daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston; The National Trust for Scotland, Alloa Tower; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/frances-daughter-of-evelyn-pierpont-1st-duke-of-kingston-195726

(shown on a woman with the most fascinating family connections. Her older sister was the amazing Lady Mary Wortley Montague, who authored the Turkish Embassy Letters and introduced smallpox inoculation to England, and she married John Erskin, 1st Duke of Mar, a major figure in the Jacobite Rebellion)

Here’s a slightly darker pink in the same family:

Michael Dahl I; Dorothy Yard (d.1723), Mrs Alexander Luttrell (?); National Trust, Dunster Castle; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/dorothy-yard-d-1723-mrs-alexander-luttrell-99762

And a textile with a central flower in the two shades shown above, as well as flowers in a number of other shades of pink:

Textile fragment, possibly Dutch, ilk satin damask brocaded with silk and metal wrapped thread, about 1700 MFA Boston, 96.420a

Textile fragment, possibly Dutch, silk satin damask brocaded with silk and metal wrapped thread, about 1700, MFA Boston, 96.420a

A fabric like this could have been used on walls, furniture, or, less commonly garments.

Textile fragment, possibly Dutch, silk satin damask brocaded with silk and metal wrapped thread, about 1700 MFA Boston, 96.420a

Here’s a beauty in blush pink with carmine ribbons in her hair

Follower of Pierre Gobert (1662–1744), Presumed portrait of Marie Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans (1695-1719), daughter of Philippe, Duke of Orléans. ca 1705

And an apron embroidered in blush:

Apron (France), early 18th century Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, 18386997

Here’s a peach pink in the shot silk lining of Mary Mansel’s banyan :

Michael Dahl I; The Honourable Mary Mansel, Mrs John Ivory Talbot; National Trust, Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum and Village

And an entire, rather fabulously bonkers, dress in peach:

Miguel Jacinto Meléndez (1679–1734), Portrait of María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya. 1708. Colección del Marqués de Santillana. Palacio del Infantado. Guadalajara

This fabric is faded, but may have been a similar shade, or a brighter hue.

Length of silk damask, ca 1700 MFA Boston, 95.1050

And a darker version in the peach family:

Pierre Gobert , Portrait of Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans (1676-1744) with her oldest son, Louis of Lorraine (1704-1711)

And here’s a slightly clearer peach pink on a fabric:

Woven silk, 1695-1710, French, Victoria and Albert Museum

Here are some more coral verging on salmon pinks:

Attributed to Pierre Gobert (1662–1744), Lady in Pink, ca 1700

Michae Dahl Il; Anne Salvin (d.1731), Mrs Walter Strickland; National Trust, Sizergh Castle;

And a fabulous bizarre silk in the same:

Length of brocaded silk, 1700, France, MFA Boston, 48.1168A

These shades seemed to have been particularly popular as linings:

Michael Dahl I; Sir Thomas Hopsonn (1642-1717); National Maritime Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/sir-thomas-hopsonn-16421717-173368

Stomacher (probably from an image robe) 1690-1710, French ? silk woven with a floral pattern, Victoria and Albert Museum

One shade of pink that shows up frequently across the 18th century is a soft pinky-lilac that could also arguably fit under the purple banner. It’s shown here on two elegant young girls and in a length of ‘bizarre’ silk (learn more about them here).

Follower of Pierre Gobert, Portrait possibly of Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans (1676-1744), niece of Louis XIV

Circle of Pierre Gobert (1662–1744), Portrait of a young girl in a pink satin dress protecting her biseleur from a birdkeeper, late 17th century or early 18th century

Dress fabric, Spitalfields, England, ca. 1708, Brocaded silk damask, Victoria and Albert Museum, 711-1864

I’ve cheated ever so slightly by picking a late 17th century muff to match these two young men and their snazzy pink neck ribbons, and Nicolas in a significantly less formal outfit. I just thought showing ribbons to go with ribbons was too good of an opportunity to pass up on.

After Pierre Gobert – Portrait of a young gentleman ca 1700

Self-Portrait of Nicolas de Largillière, 1707, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Muff French about 1680–90, France, MFA Boston 38.1266

The classic pink hue of the ribbons shows up in whole cloth too:

Attributed to Pierre Gobert – Portrait of a lady in pink with flowers, ca 1700

Circle of Pierre Gobert (1662–1744, Portrait of a young noblewoman, turn of the 17/18th century

And heres a floral brocade in the same family of pink:

Brocaded silk, early 18th century, Continental Europe, MFA Boston 96.428

There are also lots of examples of a pinks in very similar shades, like this deep rose hue:

Lancelot Volders, Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel with her sisters-in-law 1709

This stomacher features embroidery in similar colours:

Stomacher, 1700–20, MFA Boston, 43.1909

And heading even deeper into pink-red:

Michael Dahl I ; Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont (1669-1703); National Maritime Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/rear-admiral-basil-beaumont-16691703-173372

This proto-bizarre silk has a range of hues in the same family:

Woven silk, damask lancé with the liseré effects of the ground weft, 1675-1700, French or Italian; proto-bizarre; green and white selvedge Victoria and Albert Museum

As an example of how vivid some ca. 1700 pinks were, here are two portraits and a bag in striking pinks:

Godfrey Kneller, Portrait of Elizabeth Southwell, 1705, (c) Down County Museum; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Nicolas Walraven van Haften – Portrait of a Family in an Interior – 1982.139 – Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 1700

Pouch, early 18th century, Russian, silk, metal, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009.300.1723

And we’ll finish with a portrait featuring two different shades of pink, and which may be one of the cutest 18th century royal portraits I’ve ever seen:

Archduchess Maria Josepha as a child – Hannover, Landesmuseum 1704-5

Cape, 1873, American, wool, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2732

Rate the Dress: an Ube Boba cape – 1870s style

Published by The Dreamstress

I haven’t done a Rate the Dress since last October. And the time before that was July. And I can’t promise the next one won’t be July again, or worse. But I can hope and try.

And today’s pick is just too unique and fascinating not to show you!

Last time: A 1908 Paquin ensemble

Ratings were all over the place for the Paquin ensemble. First there was a solid runs of 8s and 9s, and then a perfect 10, and then 4 and 1 and 6s! Every rating but a 5, so I guess no one thought it was average.

Huge thanks to Daniel for identifying the original design it was based on!

The Total: 7.3 out of 10

Not great. But it leads so well into today’s post…

This time: A 1873 cape in aniline purple with bobbles

Today’s Rate the Dress isn’t a full ensemble. It’s just a cape.

Cape, 1873, American, wool, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2732

But oh, what an interesting cape!

Cape, 1873, American, wool, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2732

It’s knitted from purple wool dyed with one of the newly invented and very fashionable aniline dyes, and decorated with bobbles in ivory wool.

Cape, 1873, American, wool, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2732

It’s definitely one of those things that if you saw in a period film you’d assume the costume designer had lost their marbles.

It’s so ’70s!

And actually ’70s.

(I guess some decades never change, no matter the century)

Cape, 1873, American, wool, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2732

The colour and bobbles remind me of ube boba tea.

(and now I’m having an absolute 12 year old boy brain moment, because boba means nipples, so it’s the nipple cape with nipple tassels. I think it might be bedtime…)

To give you an idea of what it might have been worn over, here are some early 1870s fashion plates:

Woman’s dolman mantle, front & back views. Harper’s Bazaar, November 1871

A dress featuring a ‘Watteau’ back, September, 1872 – The Young Englishwoman

Fashion plate, 1875

What do you think? A fun and cozy addition to an early bustle era wardrobe? Or just a little weird?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment. Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting. It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste.

As usual, nothing more complicated than a .5. I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment.