All posts filed under: Miscellenia

Isabella has a companion!

Remember Isabella my dressform? I’ve just bought her a companion. Meet Lady Murasaki: Murasaki is a vintage Japanese dressform. She’s a size 8 (so one size down from Isabella). She’s also slightly longer – so suitable for draping garments that are fitted over the hips. Doesn’t she have beautiful lines? She is foam (great for pinning and draping on) with a synthetic taffeta cover which has a bit of foxing from age. Right now I like the evidence of what she has been through; if it gets too bad I’ll re-cover her. I found her at the Asia Gallery. I’d actually noticed her months ago, but I didn’t have the money for her at the time, and the price was a bit more than I wanted to pay. I also wondered if I really would get much use out of such a small dressform. However, my last three clients have been size 8 or smaller, and I find it easier to draft on a small form and size up than to draft patterns and size …

Meat, fur, feathers & me

Published by The Dreamstress

This post was sparked in part by a reader question, and in part by tomorrow’s terminology post (which means, in a way, you are getting a response from the future.). It also interlocks with Steph’s post on taste, and judging (or not judging) other people by their clothes. First, the reader question: A reader asks “How do you feel about fur? Would you use it if doing so was historically accurate? Could you consider a reproduction with faux fur historically accurate?” As a bit of background to this, I have a very specific and defined attitude towards animals and meat. I will eat local unfarmed fish as long as it’s not a species that has been identified as being at-risk (bluefin tuna, orange roughies etc.). I eat wild game in areas where the wild game is an introduced species (so deer & goat in NZ & Hawaii). I don’t eat commercial meat, even the ethically farmed stuff. I just don’t like the idea of something existing merely to die. I don’t eat pork. The thought …

Up Te Mata Hill

Published by The Dreamstress

On our last night in the Hawke’s Bay, before she left New Zealand, the Naiad and I took a ramble on Te Mata hill. The light was sublime, Bailey the Backpacker’s dog was frisky, the air had just enough of a chill to make tramping fun, and the scenery was spectacular. Best of all, when we got back to the car, just as it began to get really dark. the Naiad had packed a thermos of tea and a bottle of farm-fresh milk. We sat on a log in the deepening gloom with cups of tea in our hand and watched the lights come on over the Hawke’s Bay, like the best sort of Christmas display.