CrazyCholeBlack

It's really not hard, just repetitive, especially on those coats with all those buttons The trick is all in the measuring. Once you know the formula for how big to make a buttonhole and how to place them, it's just a matter of turning on a movie, or an audio book & sitting down to do it. Then doing it again, and again and again! The same thing goes for the eyelet holes on women's clothes. Although to hear me complain as I sew them you'd think it was pulling teeth

Plantains: You can slice them up and sautee with butter, brown sugar and rum just like bananas foster. or, you can make deep fried plantains, my all time favorite: Peel plantains and cut into 2-inch rounds on a slant. Heat the oil in a small saucepan until hot but not smoking. Drop the plantain rounds into the hot oil 3 or 4 at a time and cook until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and drain. Set each fried plantain on a flat side, and using a rolling pin, frying pan, or whatever else you think will work, squash it as flat as you can. It should have a circular shape. Return the flattened plantain sections to the hot oil 3 or 4 at a time and cook until the entire surface is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove the plantains from the oil, drain, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature. Mango for mango you can do like Rue says, or you can slice it in half and scoop the meat of the mango out with a large spoon, similar to the way you'd scoop an avocado out of its skin. Then you can slice it in longer pieces. This works best when they are slightly unripe though. also, the best mango tip. Ripen them on the counter and rotate them around daily, so they won't ripen with an overly soft spot. coconut go to the health food store and ask for a "fresh young coconut". It should look something like this and might be wrapped in plastic wrap here's instructions from Rawguru on opening them. Young coconuts are a popular raw foods treat and once you've had one you'll never think of coconut the same way again. http://www.rawguru.com/html/openyoungcoconut.html great, now I'm hungry! I need to raid the grocery produce department.

Walking the little swab through a worksheet on double digit subtraction. Odd child, insisted on "one more math page" before bed. Yep, no denying she's my kid now

My tried and true reference for sewing are The Ladies Guide to Plain Sewing, vol 1 & 2 and then when you get into more tailoring, The Workman's Guide to Plain Sewing; Tailoring Stitches and Techniques. All three include those little tidbits that make hand sewing easier, the sort of information that you'd get from your grandmother if she was the one teaching you to sew, but in book form. I can't recommend them enough. The thing to remember too is that hand sewing isn't relegated to historical or fantasy. Just as a machine sewn inner seam can be helpful to the historically minded, a hand worked buttonhole can be the perfect finishing touch on a Hollywood ensemble.

Arguing with the little swab over what she's going to eat for a bed-night snack. She's pushing for the remains of a bag of cotton candy from the carnival, I say "anything else!" as long as it's healthy. This has been going on for 30 minutes. Sooner or later she'll give up but not before asking a thousand times, huffing in annoyance, stomping her foot and complaining that there is nothing good in the house.

That's my "woopin' Spoon" It's about as close to a "weapon" as I get but believe me, that baby can do some damage!

Just a liiiiiiitle bit sunburned Youch, maybe more than a little. 8 hours at the beach yesterday & 7 on the river today, combined with 4 hours of running from carnival ride to carnival ride with the little swab. Did I mention I'm tired too?

Health to the Tackers I will learn to play this song and dance to it, though maybe not at the same time.

Oh man, I might just have to do this. My little swab LOVES bacon. Come to think so does my brother. He used to get BLT sandwiches at school, hold the L & T

you know that feeling when every muscle in your body is sort of worn out and wobbly feeling from hard work? That's how I feel, but in the good, I got tons done today sort of way.

when you find yourself converting SEK to USD and meters to yards because the fabric you love isn't available in the US. And hey, 325:-/meter, not bad When you add something to your on-line shopping cart at your favorite on-line fabric store and discover there were already several yards of fabric stored in the cart from your last visit. Then you think to yourself, "what did I want that fabric for again?"

physically fine. mentally & emotionally, I'm intensely disappointed, let down and that's making me angry. Angry Chole is *not* a pretty sight.

Don't know about you Mr. Hand, but my garb has been functionally finished since Feb. The only piece I'm still working on is the cap and that's because the one I made didn't fit properly. Until something breaks or burns or (gods forbid) doesn't fit, then I am quite happy to wear my 1 set of clothes. Hey, at least I pack light Now I am spending my time focusing on learning about the 1690-1720 time period; history, social conventions, music, linguistics, arts etc. Lets face it, if all my time was spent on what I'm wearing and no time on learning about the time being represented, then I'd be nothing more than a manikin with nothing to add to a living history event.

I didn't count Macktown since we were there as spectators, not participants. I did forget POTC3 though, and counted Sock Monkey fest instead. So 5 is right, 2/3's historic thus far (ahh math again ) Thanks for the compliment on the photo. Mssr William took that at Fort St. Joesph a few weeks ago. I just sat still and edited out the nasty orange fence from the background. wouldn't know that feeling. Then again I try to keep things, well, contained Is there no boning on the tabs? How does that sit around your hips? No digging in or anything? I'm sensing a red theme, red stays, red mantua. Want to borrow my red cloak

out of how many total? Last I counted "your" crew has done 4 events total in their 1 year of existence. (Don't you love statistics ) The most important thing when it comes to garb isn't being perfectly period correct, or being perfectly pure fantasy, since neither are really possible. The MOST important thing is being comfortable and HAPPY with your garb. From the looks of the pictures posted here, everyone has managed to do that, bravo.

But this isn't Twill, so being 1690-1720 correct isn't the goal of the thread. For fantasy garb grommets are great, fast & cheap. Like Callenish, I've seen reference to the rings being sewn with the eyelets for reenforcement. Although I can't imagine in normal situations that would be needed. Personally I'd make sure the stays were fitted properly and not repeatedly tight laced if I was having trouble with regular eyelets before moving to something else.

my new kitten, Barley Mow. He's already figured out where to sit in order to get my full attention ~ right on top of what I'm working on!

umm, well to be totally honest, see this black box in front of me thats my addiction. I've always been a computer person. While I *can* live without it, so much of daily life is stored on the "machine" it's just easier not to.

lets see.... when you see someone from one of the local shops on the street and they know you by name. When you're considered a "regular" at no less than 4 fabric stores, not to mention all the on-line fabric shopping & fabric swapping with sewing friends. When you have a special bins dedicated to just the "small scraps of linen", so that they don't get mixed in with the big bag of "big scraps of wool". When you can have a 20 minute conversation with someone about a particular weave of material and neither of you finds it odd.

Hey now, I'm wearing my stays in my sig pic & they are visable (the light brown in the middle). Of course you have to look past all the other clothes to find them

No, he's not dead. He was sleeping like that!

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I'd recommend that if you're getting stays and intend to wear them for any length of time (more than for a day at the faire) and if you intend to actually *do* anything while wearing those stays (carry water, cook, set up a tent etc) either making them yourself or getting a custom made pair from someone like Reconstructing History When it comes to lacing I'm a life time member of the spiral lacing club. http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/laci...ing/lacing.html . Of course your garment has to be set up for spiral lacing which most aren't. You could spiral lace an X laced garment, but it wouldn't work quite as well. You can of course completely ignore anything I say when it comes to doing a "pyrate wench" outfit. Those I know nothing about

Oh phooy, I'll be at Pirates of Paynetown down in Indiana that weekend. Bummer, maybe I'll catch up with you all another time.

while neither boots, nor buckle shoes, here are mine. Before lacing with the big fat ribbons and you can see just a spot of them with the green ribbons in this photo I also have a brand new pair of klompen that I don't yet have a photo of, but they are quite nice and dry on a wet morning (once you get use to walking in them)