All posts filed under: Learn

Eating in 1916 – a dinner

Thank you all for your comments and support following my last post! You’ve given me a lot of ideas, and I really appreciate knowing that so many people are reading and being part of this community. I’ve felt much perkier today, and mostly the fortnight isn’t too bad, and some things are really lovely. Food has been one of the nice surprises. There are numerous recipes in NZ newspapers of the time, and daily menus given in lots of newspapers, so it was pretty easy to do my food research. I was a bit dubious about the menus (So much meat! So many brassicas! So few spices!), but, by picking ones that sounded a little more interesting and appealing, even within the constrains of the time, and winter food, I’ve actually been very pleasantly surprised. One of the happiest finds was the amount of vegetarian menus and vegetarian recipes available in New Zealand newspapers of the 1910s. Vegetarianism was quite a popular fad, and was sometimes recommended for invalids. I haven’t relied too heavily on …

A Fortnight in 1916: the halfway point

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m halfway through the Fortnight in 1916 project – 7 days of life in 1916 down, 7 more to go. What’s going well so far, and what’s been hard? Things that are better/easier than I expected: Food: I really thought the 1916 diet would be a struggle, and was quite worried about some of the dishes, but most of them have been very pleasant surprises. The emphasis on fish (over mutton and other meat, which was being exported to Britain in large quantities), the wide variety of vegetarian dishes (evidence suggests it was a reasonably popular trend in 1910s NZ), and the reduction in bread (due to its high cost during the war) have helped. I’ve really been enjoying things like swedes and steamed cauliflower, and I haven’t been craving fresh greens, nor fruit other than apples, nor seasonings like garlic and ginger that usually feature heavily in my cooking. There is actually a lot of vegetables – just in slightly different forms. While the cooking is all quite simple, you are generally using fresh, …

A corset-themed tale of hubris and irony

Published by The Dreamstress

As a blogger, it’s tempting to only show you my successes: things that turn out perfectly, and look beautiful.* But that’s not fair to you, or me: it creates an unrealistic expectation of life, and how well you think you should do at any given project. As a reader, I get frustrated with blogs that are only about perfection and glamour: I find myself comparing myself, and feeling insufficient, but I also find myself bored, because while you can definitely learn from seeing other people’s amazing successes, I think you often learn a lot more from seeing their mistakes (for one thing, you learn how to avoid them!). So this, dear readers, is a post about a sewing project for my Fortnight in 1916 that has most definitely not been a success – but which I have learned a great deal from, and which you may also learn something from! I’ve showed you my black and white 1916 longline corset, and mentioned that it was made directly from a pattern, without being altered to fit …