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Mmmmm, toasted cheese…

Yes please.

It's a challenging year for a lot of reasons. I appreciate knowing your limits. :D

Normally, I look forward to this. But with an event right before Christmas and a host of other demands I'm gonna have to pass this year

I can see my posterior loving this post.... Wait, that doesn't sound right. No, no noise should be emanating from my posterior.... Never mind. Cushions are good. Lob would also like to provide a hearty two poop-flings on this topic.

We're going to give this a bit longer than the original sign up date. Sign up by Friday November 28th for the 2025 Pyracy Pub Gift Exchange! Message me!

Chairs are a necessity while making our way through a long day interacting with the public. Yet, even this greatly sought comfort can become quickly uncomfortable. Enter the humble cushion - highly recommended as an easy addition to your kit, it can double as a pillow at night. Examples below: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9693229467434651&set=pcb.1062549781585864 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O83235/dolls-cushion-unknown/ https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O355148/cushion/ Included image courtesy of Simon Fowler, 17th C Kitchen (first link above) Detail of a triangle corner chair with a pillow Title- A monkey feast or the King drinks. 1686. Artist Nicolaes van Verendael ( Antwerp 1640-1691) oil on panel. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden,

Love this!! Was definitely going to corner you at the event to finish picking your brain about it if you hadn't circled back to it on your own anyway! lol I can live with a 20-30% range! I was never under any illusions that it was "common", for sure, even with all the painting I have been finding, but just that it is actually a somewhat documentable period practice, rather then being completely "interpretive". But, since the very identity of what I am portraying (a woman on a pirate crew) is probably in a similar, if not more skewed towards "rare" end of uncommon, the margins actually feel like a very natural pattern. And I mean, I think "narrative" actually does play a factor in this - if I was attempting to portray a more reputable woman, in a different situation, it wouldn't make sense for "her" to fall into that "20-30%" that would just shrug and throw on a men's shirt instead of a shift, based on availability of garments, functionality, etc. It weirdly makes it feel more accurate for the particular theme I am going for, if that makes any sense. I want to build my kit based of what is accurate to period, yes, but also accurate to "persona", so I am still giddy about it, and your rating does not dissuade my giddiness but rather feeds it. LOL! Also, I love that used clothing market was a thing -and once again I find the need for there to be an early modern adaptation of the song "Thrift Shop" THIS! Having done several men's shirts from this time, and a handful of women's shifts from slightly earlier (but that are still pretty similar in cut and style) and watching lots of videos and looking patterns for women's shifts for this period, construction and dimension wise, there is not a huge amount of difference - usually just the collar line, from what I have seen. It is not only what drove my interpretation of these images as men's shirts in the first place, but again the historical interpretive questions of "but why wouldn't they?" I do fully intend to do a woman's shift at somepoint for when I am going "proper girl" mode, but for prioritizing/maximizing the most use out of the fewest garments, being able to functionally use men's shirts for both is great, and being able to pin it back to some period examples makes me feel better about it.

Okay, returning to this discussion.... Okay, I took some quick flips through my fav sources... and well.... I could find nothing that either supports my assertion of "high-collared" women's shifts, not could I find anything tht really disproves it. But those same sentiments could be applied to your "women in men's shirt as shifts". Now having let this simmer in the back of my mind for a few weeks, or occassional contemplation on the matter, and recallinng other period information, I am leaing more to agreeing with the notion of women wearing men's shirts. It would be uncommon. Not rare, but also not common. So not trying to place a "definitive number" on this, but trying to clear up my vibe, I would rate it as a thing that happened in the 20-30% range. As has been discussed in many threads in "Twill", the used clothing market at this time was a thriving industry, and just a common part of every day life. Also, having made both men's shirt (a lot), and more than my fair share of women's shifts, the construction of the two garment's is extremely similar. Yeah, the neckline is different, and in some case the cuffs, but the rest of the garment is made almost identically. Now factor, that a shirt looks almost the same as a shift on the cuff if bunched up and tied just below the elbow rather than the wrist. Also factor the "length" of a men's shirt and a female shift is VERY similar (even ignoring my wife being almost as tallas me) the shift is a shorter length undergarment (lower thigh, or just above the knee in length), which happens to be the length of men's shirts. And factor when poring over images of working class women, the necklines except when wearing a more gown style (open necked) shift, I couldn;t find hardly any images where the neckline of shifts were easily visible. Between the wearing of neckerchiefs (fichu?), or versions of partletts (female period equivalent of a dickie for those unfamiliar with the term), and hoods, cloaks, or other covering overgarments... I'm sure there are some images of necklines on female figures out there (beyond the few you've pointed out), but they are uncommon. So combining all the above, a woman buying a men's shirt to wear instead of a women's shift makes sense. Specially when factoring the used clithing market, the economy of doing so, the used clothing market, the similarities in construction etc. ect. ect. So in short, I might dissuade you from "dieing on that hill" , but I am coming around to disagreeing with the assertion a whole let less.

Breakfast - Apron progress notes - fabric prewashed to remove the starch/sizing - ironed and cut into 2 - base hem finished along selvedge (though for the next one I might hide the selvedge into the twill tape/gathered waist to keep it looking neater and less modern) - natural twill tape waistband cut and soaked in tea to stain closer to wool color. Settled for linen cotton blend twill tape (the best Venn diagram result I could find of price/materials/availability/quantity/,etc). Silk thread, waxed with beeswax block. Should have it done by tomorrow depending on how work treats me today. After that, Frankenstein-ing a new sleeping mat, last minute adjustments and mending of slops and mantua, and if there is time, button holing the frock coat but that can be a to do at the event too

Please give the recipe a try and let me know how well it works or doesn't. @Red-Handed Jill, the next experiment is to introduce blueberry.

This brings great joy to my heart to see. Im glad it worked, and even happier you documented the steps and recipe!

For the last decade or two that I’ve been making this stuff, it’s gone from a chaotic guess, measure and taste at every step -- to almost cold, divorced calculation. Here’s my basic recipe... 400ml bottled or filtered Water 400ml of your favorite Rum or collection thereof 8tbsp heaping of Brown Sugar 1 Cinnamon Stick 3 Clove 1 Paper Coffee Filter SYRUP Pour 400ml of Water into a sauce pan and add 8tbsp of Brown Sugar, 1 Cinnamon Stick and a few Clove, stir until sugar is dissolved – do NOT boil. Continue stirring over low-medium heat for about 20 minutes to release the flavors of Cinnamon and Clove. Remove from stove and allow to cool. While it’s still warm, use a paper coffee filter to strain out the Cinnamon and Clove bits from the syrup -- I just poured everything into a mason jar. If you leave that stuff in too long, it will push it over the top to mediciney. GROG Now add equal parts syrup to your favorite rum – adjust (everything) to taste. Special thanks to @michaelsbagley for suggesting to make a (simple) sugar and spice syrup first and to William Broker that confirmed a similar sugar syrup to water to rum ratio from his grog recipe. And thanks to Arminder over at “The Rum Revival” YouTube Channel for indirectly suggesting the Hamilton 86 Rum.

I'm so excited!

Speaking of bacon, It's been far too long since Baconfest was hosted some place, so we might have to have a mini Baconfest soon.