Women’s suffrage has been on my mind lately with the hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment, as well as the recent ratification of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), in the 38th state in January.
I wanted to introduce these ideas to my children and let them know that the struggle for equality that some would say goes back to the Garden of Eden is still actively going on in spite of the fact that some women got the vote 100 years ago.
Personal growth.
You realize there is something in your life that you want to change.
You’re aware of it for months or years. You do a ton of work.
That thing you want to change doesn’t budge.
Some other things get better – you’re more authentic, less reactive.
But that thing you would really like to change? Still there.
The most challenging posts I write are the reflective ones that pop up between the sewing and book posts every so often. Sewing and book posts follow a kind of formula – I just tell you what I did or read.
Translating thoughts and feelings into something readable isn’t easy. I didn’t start this blog because it’s easy to write, though, and I’m trying to use this year to challenge myself to do things that I’m afraid to do, like write, possibly badly, to express ideas and truths I’ve discovered.
In that spirit, I am rounding up three books into one post – three books that are so unlike one another that they usually would have each have garnered their own post. I’m combining them so I can spend more time writing those other, more difficult posts that force me to work harder and hopefully challenge you, the reader, to do some mental exercise as well, at least once in a while.
I have a big list of looks I want to make for costuming, and with a general starting theme of the 1700’s and more specifically, the 1740’s and 1770’s, I wanted to make pieces that would work for both historical costuming, as well as cosplaying some of the characters from my favorite historical dramas, like Verity Rutter from Jamestown, Demelza from Poldark and Claire from Outlander (I’m not a superfan of the show. There is a lot of violence and over-the-top nudity. I am a fan of the costumes).
My first pick was an outfit Claire wears in Season One in several episodes, working in her healer’s dungeon at Castle Leoch, and when she is doing laundry and attending Jenny at the birth of her child at Broch Turoch. These three tasks spoke to me, and added a layer of appreciation for the costume.
As always happens at our house, after I successfully made Six his 1860’s jacket, his brother wanted one, too. And since Four had already been waiting for me to make him a bigger vest since the last one was a mite too short, I figured I’d make him a matching set.
