All posts filed under: Miscellenia

#blacklivesmatter #indigenouslivesmatter

I’m sorry for the radio silence. On a personal level, it’s because I’ve been dealing with a really difficult and stressful situation. On a bigger level, it’s because blogging about fashion history while black, indigenous & other people of colour continue to be marginalised, oppressed, and killed seems frivolous and pointless. #blacklives matter. You don’t need my voice: another privileged white woman, telling you about it. All I can do is to educate myself, and to try to use this blog and instagram to share the work and knowledge of those who have been working for racial equality, and to decolonise the US, New Zealand and the rest of the world. I’m working on a plan to lend actual, practical support. I can also work to help make the historical costuming community a safe, supportive place for people of colour: one that doesn’t romanticise or idealise the past, and that does not provide a platform for racism. This blog and my instagram will continue to be a combination of fashion history and social history, because …

What’s for dinner?

Published by The Dreamstress

Who has been doing way more cooking at home than usual? Raises hand We don’t do a lot of eating out or getting takeaways, but with all restaurants closed for the 4+ weeks of Level 4 lockdown in NZ, cooking every meal showed how much premade food we do eat – and how much work it is to plan every menu in advance because you can only go shopping once a week. I don’t mind cooking. I do mind menu planning. Figuring out what to eat is hard work! Here are some of our favourites which have been in heavy rotation in the last few months. Bonus: they are all vegetarian or vegan, which is great if you’re trying to lower your carbon footprint. Spinach & Chickpea Curry I’m obsessed with this curry. It only has one major flaw: it uses a weird amount of coconut milk, and then you are left with half a can of coconut milk, and have to figure out what to do with it. I always use fresh spinach, and …

Playing at pastoralism in Augusta Stays

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve been hard at work planning online teaching for costume history and pattern drafting at Toi Whakaari, and doing pattern stuff for Scroop Patterns, and my brain is exhausted and tired of looking at the computer. I’ve got a whole bunch of blog ideas, but they were all just too much effort today. So I had a rummage around in my photo library for inspiration for today’s post, and found a bunch of gorgeous images from back in October and our 2019 Sew & Eat Historical Retreat which I’ve never posted. We spent an afternoon dressed up in Augusta stays, pretending to be 18th century ladies pretending to be milkmaids, wandering around in the meadows picking flowers and inspecting old farm equipment and having romantic interludes with attractively lichened fences (as you do). Eloise @eloise_faith_gladrags went very historical, in her gorgeous completely handsewn Augustas, and perfectly pastel ensemble. She always picks the most beautiful soft colours for her sewing! I went slightly less historical, because I’d forgotten to pack 18th c caps: And I dressed …