Peterson Magazine's Princess Capote Hood Pattern from 1862

This hood is a pretty alternative to the Red Riding Hood that I posted last Friday. Both hoods were published in Peterson's Magazine in 1862 and are constructed similarly.

The ruffles, braid and tassel make this hood an intricate and pretty accessory.

Of course, I am very interested in any headwear that allows me to lay down while wearing it. Farby, I know. But there's nothing like walking a few miles in your corset and heavy dress and sneaking into your tent for a few minutes of temporary relief. You fluff up your blankets and try to lay down for a few minutes, and your bonnet or hat are in the way, making laying down impossible. By the time you get your bonnet or hat off, it's generally time to start cooking. :) 

This is a pretty hood and would be a nice thing to have come the colder events. Enjoy the nice cool weather we've been having. 

Red Riding Hood from Peterson's Magazine 1862

One can imagine the fashionable lady, walking down the street, a bright red rose in the bleak, snowy streets.   

This pretty little hood was published in Peterson's Magazine in 1862. This hood was meant to make a statement. The instructions directed fashionable ladies to procure the most brilliant scarlet that could be had. It also touted the ease of make and the prettiness of finished hood.

While not the typical riding cloak we think of when we hear the term "riding hood," this hood evokes the headwear of  François Fleury-Richard's "Red Riding Hood" from 1820.




Similar hoods were already popular in the 1860s, this particular style was an imaginative twist to a winter wardrobe staple. It seems like a good weekend project, just in time for the colder events to come.  

 

François Fleury-Richard

Some very pretty examples of this hood made up:

• Mackin-Art: The Red Riding Hood
• Diary of a Seamstress: A Red Riding Hood
• The Story of a Seamstress: The Little Red Riding Hood That Isn't Red

The Beauty of Valley Forge

We finally have a day of sweater weather. Everyone is back in school. The days are getting shorter and everyone is settling down from summer.

It's a strange feeling, sitting back as people are busily collecting school books, learning the ropes of their new classes and decorating their dorms.

Outside the birds are collecting sticks and the squirrels are busy burying those last few nuts.

It really is weird to have a chance to stop while everyone else is spinning.








I had a chance to do this recently. Andy and I went for a walk through Valley Forge. It's a place filled with beauty, despite the tragedies that made it famous. It is easy to imagine how this beauty affected the soldiers as they saw the first buds of spring pushing through the snow.

If you are one of those people being swirled around in the whirlwind of September, make sure to take a few well deserved breaks to admire the things going on around you. It's beautiful.

Do You Use The Things You Own?

Unread books and new planner.

I'm trying to go minimalist. Every once in a while I just want to get rid of everything. My goal is not to live with as little as I possibly can. My goal is to pare down what I have and actually make use of the things I own.

Most people have natural chances to minimize: they go to college and have to pick only the possessions they use most often, or they move and only have so much room to pack. I've pruned a ton in the last few years, but I have never moved so I've never really been forced to evaluate and prune everything. 

I have read about people whose choose to only have as many possessions that will fit in a tiny suitcase or others that keep their number of possessions under 100. Some even fight to get their number as small as possible. I find it admirable a beneficial to make do with less but I am not going to whittle my possessions down to an arbitrary number. As long as I am actually making use of an item, not just keeping it around, I see no reason to part with it.   

I am using criteria that I haven't really used before. I ask the simple question of "Do I use it?" Before, I was content with answering "Is it useful?" But have come to understand that just because it is useful doesn't mean that I make use of it.

This exercise has been very beneficial. There were things I hadn't touched or used in forever. It was easy to get rid of these things. But there was this group of things that I kept because I wanted to use them but never did. This was the group of items that hurt the most. I would look at this stuff all of the time and think of all of the reasons that I didn't use them: "Not enough time," "Don't know what to do with it," "It's not perfect for what I was thinking."

I have a large stockpile of books I want to read and art and craft supplies. I knew the "to read" books were a problem so put all of the "to read" books on their own shelf and put a sticky note on them with the date they were placed there with the intention of giving them away if I didn't get to them in a year. I've read plenty of books since, but I've revisited the shelf and I couldn't believe that most of the books had been on there for 2 years.

So I've reevaluated the books for if I still want to read them, re-tagged them, if so, and added an extra 30 minutes of reading a day specifically for these books. I've also decided to date any other items that I am not sure I use enough, and in a year, I will see how many times I actually use those items. 

But what I am most excited about is the art stuff. I've decided that I'm not going to buy any new supplies until I go through my stockpile and evaluate whether something i already own could work, even if it's not the perfect thing. I have found for me, the less I have, the more creative I have to be. Having too many art choices stop me from getting anything done as I wait around for the perfect thing or can't choose between so many options.

Recently, I had wanted to get a new planner and a smaller sketchbook for on location watercolor. I found a tiny notebook I hadn't used and an old watercolor pad that only had a few pages left on it and made some impromptu, crude solutions. They aren't perfect but they were fun to make and I'm actually using stuff I already own and creating more. I'm so excited. :) 

New sketchbook.

I'm strangely appreciate running out of things, lately. It means I'm using things. :)   So, do you really use the things you own?

Day at the Beach

A few days ago, I went to Wildwood, New Jersey with my family. It's rare that we all get a day off.  When I was little we used to go to the beach for a week every year. My mom and sisters and I would spend all day on the beach, playing in the sand and swimming with the waves. At night we would swim at the hotel, play mini golf or addle our brains on the boardwalk amusement rides. We haven't gone  in a few years as it's much harder to get everyone together. 

No trip to New Jersey is complete without some pizza. There is no good pizza anywhere near where we live. Boardwalk pizza is fantastic. It's flavorful and thick, but not too thick.

We didn't get on any rides this time as our bodies can really feel it now. :) It was a very fun day and I'm glad I got to spend it with my family.