GimletBlog

Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c. was one of the finest monthly publications available during the late Georgian and Regency eras.  Published by Rudolph Ackermann in London from 1809-1829, each month’s Repository featured a pair of fashion plates in addition to other illustrations and articles covering a variety of topics.  Some issues included embroidery patterns and fabric samples, which have provided inspiration in the creation of Regency costumes and the genteel lifestyle seen in Jane Austen film adaptations.  These delicate aquatint illustrations and lovely fashions continue to delight and inspire us today.

To commemorate 200 years of Ackermann’s Repository, my web site Solitary Elegance will feature a new desktop wallpaper each month in 2009 showcasing two fashion plates:  one from 1809 and the other from a different year during Jane Austen’s lifetime.  Enjoy!

14 January ETA: I’m honored and delighted to report that  my new wallpaper gallery has been featured in this month’s (Issue 47) online newsletter from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath!  Thanks so much!

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We always look forward to our visits to Utah:  a year is not complete without eating far too many raspberry-butter dinner rolls and sweet corn at Maddox, and it’s comforting to know that the sun still shines somewhere, even if its existence is in question around the Pacific Northwest.  But better still, the Things get to see the grandGimlets and play with their cousins.

The week started off with a drive south to Provo to see a new Pride and Prejudice musical.  This year we’ve been lucky enough to see three different Jane Austen stage plays:  Sense and Sensibility at the Meydenbauer Center (so-so), Persuasion at Book-It (excellent!), and now Pride and Prejudice at BYU.  Unfortunately we saw each play near the end of its run, so there wasn’t time to publish a useful review.  As for Pride and Prejudice, the cast gave it their all and had great singing voices.  Fans of the book (and especially fans of the 1995 miniseries) would enjoy the characterizations.  It’s understood that many scenes must be cut in the interest of time, but this adaptation managed to portray or mention quite a few favorites — plenty to please fans and enough of the story was left for newcomers to follow.  If the musical visits any other community theaters around Utah, it’s worth considering for a nice evening out.

We also made a day trip to a neighboring valley to visit the home in which my grandfather grew up.  We called ahead to make sure we would be able to see inside the house, and learned that it’s open for tours most Saturdays during the summer months from 11-3.  The town is small (population about 650) and a sign on the street corner ensures that out-of-towners can easily find the house.  It was built by my great-grandparents around 1872, and modeled after the but-and-ben cottage in Thurso, Scotland in which my great-grandfather had lived before emigrating to the USA.  As the family expanded in size to eventually include ten children, the house grew as well.  Thick stone walls still keep the rooms nearly as cool as air conditioning in the summer, and massive cottonwoods provide shade in the garden.

The house and its furnishings are an excellent example of what life would have been like in Utah in the late 1800s.  Quilts and other handiwork, all made by my great-grandmother and her daughters, are displayed in every room.  The family photos and other treasured mementos were delightful to see.

A baby cradle is in the front bedroom:  my great-grandmother would rock the cradle with her foot while reading or doing handiwork.  After ten children, a small groove has been worn in the cradle’s edge.  The Things liked the upstairs sleeping porches; one year as the house was being prepared for summer tours, a baby raccoon was discovered sleeping in a crib on the sleeping porch!  The Things also enjoyed their special “cousins only” tour of the cellar.

This photo of my grandfather was taken around 1914 while he was an LDS missionary in Scotland.  (He’s the rather large gentleman in the center; click on the picture for a closer look.)  We had a wonderful visit with John, my second cousin who conducted the house tour, and soon realized that we both needed to bring members of the previous generation with us next time.

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… but I finished another cross stitch project from Thing One’s babyhood! Back In The Day, I bought the Beatrix Potter Counts set of charts from Green Apple with the idea that I would use the cute character/number pairs to decorate Thing One’s nursery. I managed to complete the three specialty numbers and the regular numbers one through eight before getting distracted, or bored, or who knows what happened? Eventually Thing One grew too old for Peter Rabbit decorations in his room, and Thing Two took his own sweet time joining our family, so the cross stitching box ended up in the basement. After successfully completing Thing Two’s birth sampler shortly after Christmas, I decided to finish numbers 9-12, and did so just before Valentine’s Day.

Each number was stitched on a 9″ square piece of 18 count cream Aida fabric, and uses about fifteen different colors of DMC floss per design (two strands of floss for the cross stitches and one strand for back stitches). The chart book provides handy measuring guides for 11, 14, 18, and 22 count projects, and suggests using the numbers to decorate bibs, hooded towels, growth charts, and other baby items. These are cute little designs, but most of my satisfaction derives from completing them after so long. Although now that Thing Two is discovering Peter Rabbit and his woodland neighbors, I may get to add these to a nursery after all.

Meanwhile, I had ordered a kit from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath based on a watercolor Jane’s sister Cassandra sketched in 1804. That project took considerably less time to complete: I started it immediately after the Beatrix Potter patterns and it was done by February 29. I’m very pleased with how it turned out; the color scheme and small size of the piece give it a very delicate appearance.

The design area is about 6″x5″, stitched on 18 count cream Aida fabric, using seventeen colors of Anchor floss (one strand for cross and back stitches). The directions combine two contrasting colors into a single cross stitch in a few areas, creating extra color tone and texture in the lower deep folds of Jane’s pelisse. The kit provides the fabric, a needle, and plenty of floss: I made a mistake early on and had to redo most of the pelisse, but at the end I still had a small amount of floss which could be used for a future project. At the time, though, I wasn’t sure I would have enough to cover my goof, and the big chain craft stores don’t carry Anchor floss, so I was delighted to learn that a nearby knitting/crochet specialty shop sells Anchor floss as well — and it’s much easier to visit than the chain stores, which are mostly out of town.

I haven’t decided what to stitch next: I bought the companion kit depicting Jane Austen’s house in Chawton, Hampshire, but I also own a Beatrix Potter chart book for Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes and would like to stitch the two designs depicting a favorite poem. In the spirit of continuing education and family heritage, I’d like to try Hardanger embroidery, but I’m not ready to start learning that yet. Meanwhile, I hope that Uncle B will apply his mechanical engineering skills to improve my scroll frame. I like the theory of the frame: I find it easier to work with and it doesn’t leave heavy creases like the hoop I used for Thing One’s projects. But the frame I bought doesn’t always hold the fabric securely. Does anybody have a favorite brand of scroll frame, or any thoughts about using scroll frames or hoops?

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The Gimlet is away on a business trip over Valentine’s Day, but with Hawaii in our recent past (so recent that I haven’t finished writing the travelogue posts), and dates to see two Jane Austen stage plays (Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion) in our near future, it’s hard to complain about his absence this weekend. Very easy to tease him mercilessly about it, to be sure, but hard to genuinely complain. After all, when you’ve been married as long as we have, holidays make up only a small part of life; there are more important things to worry about, et cetera.

So on the morning of the 13th, this tall box appears on the back porch. I’m not expecting any large packages, so at first I assume it must be for a neighbor. But no! Anticipating his absence, The Gimlet ordered three dozen red roses — making this the first time he’s ordered flowers for Valentine’s Day — and even more impressive, this is the first time he’s managed to keep a secret!

After nearly eighteen years of marriage, The Gimlet can still completely surprise me. And that’s pretty neat.

I didn’t expect to spend much time thinking about Jane Austen on our recent trip to Hawaii. Well, aside from checking Remotely Connected to grin like a loon over seeing my words in print, then worry about tomatoes being tossed at my review; and my Jane Austen action figure had places to go and things to do * (she’s much more portable than Uncle Q’s solid plaster garden gnome, who used to be quite the traveler in his day). But I read other books: intrepid Victorian traveler Isabella Bird’s Six Months in the Sandwich Islands and a collection of Mark Twain’s letters from Hawaii for the Sacramento Union.

And then, while reading Roughing It in the Sandwich Islands, I came upon this passage:

Captain Phillips takes a just pride in his driving and in the speed of his horse, and to his passion for displaying them I owe it that we were only sixteen minutes coming from the prison to the American Hotel—a distance which has been estimated to be over half a mile. But it took some fearful driving. The Captain’s whip came down fast, and the blows started so much dust out of the horse’s hide that during the last half of the journey we rode through an impenetrable fog …

When we came to anchor at last, and Captain Phillips looked at his watch and said, “Sixteen minutes—I told you it was in her! that’s over three miles an hour!” I could see he felt entitled to a compliment, and so I said I had never seen lightning go like that horse. And I never had. ( ch. 2)

Could Captain Phillips be John Thorpe’s nephew?

“Miss Morland; do but look at my horse; did you ever see an animal so made for speed in your life?” … Such true blood! Three hours and and a half indeed coming only three-and-twenty miles! Look at that creature, and suppose it possible if you can.”

“He does look very hot, to be sure.”

“Hot! he had not turned a hair till we came to Walcot Church; but look at his forehand; look at his loins; only see how he moves; that horse cannot go less than ten miles an hour: tie his legs and he will get on.” (Northanger Abbey, ch. 7)

Mark Twain may be on record as detesting Jane Austen, but as this intriguing essay by Emily Auerbach suggests, perhaps he was a closeted Janeite? They certainly both recognized a slow horse (and a fast talker) when they met one.

* That’s the summit of Mauna Kea behind Jane; the altitude is making her feel woozy and a bit off-center.

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Aloha! Masterpiece Theatre’s Complete Jane Austen is well underway, and you can read my review of Northanger Abbey on PBS’ blog Remotely Connected. Remotely Connected is a small, diverse group of bloggers who have been chosen to present their perspectives on major PBS programs. I’m thrilled to be invited to participate! Read reviews for all the new Jane Austen films at Remotely Connected.

(And look for more posts on that aloha soon … we’re still taking and labeling photos.)

Happy New Year! With Masterpiece Theatre’s Complete Jane Austen starting this Sunday (13 January), I thought I’d better do a little site maintenance, just like the way I frantically clean house just before somebody visits. If last year’s ITV-related surge is any indication, the next few weeks will be busy.

One of a pair of “Promenade Dress” models from the June 1811 Ackermann’s Repository magazine, this lovely lady now graces the Solitary Elegance header.

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My ball gown was designed and created by Tamara, one of the co-authors of the La Mode Bagatelle Regency Wardrobe pattern package. It’s based on a gown featured in at least two different fashion periodicals from the early 1800s. I can’t post an original fashion plate because I don’t own one yet. (I lost out in an eBay bidding war for one earlier this summer … *grumble*). The original gown design was described as follows:

An empire waist gown with an overlayer studded in pearls and with ropes of pearls holding it shut. Accessories include a white shawl and beaded bracelets worn on the bicep.

After studying the fashion plates, Tamara made a petticoat, gown, and an overlayer. The lace overlayer is completely detachable from the rest of the gown so the main gown could easily be worn on its own or the overlayer could be worn with a different gown. The sleeves are open to allow the gown’s sleeves to show through. Paired bead strands hold the overlayer together. The skirt is fuller in the back than in the front but no train.

We decided on a few modifications. The original gown was white on white, but we chose pale pink satin for the gown, and pink lace for the overlayer. The lace we chose has a nice scalloped edge very similar to the overlayer border on the original fashion plates. Tamara added several decorative touches like the extra beading at the waistline and the ribbon trim on the sleeves, neckline, and at the waist. Project followers will note that the ribbon looks a little different on the finished product – originally Tamara was going to sew beads on the ribbon but changed her mind and wound a pair of thin cords around the ribbon instead. A few small beads were sewn into the lace as well for additional texture and to catch the light.

A friend made freshwater pearl strands to wear in my hair, and a pair of upper arm bracelets. The bracelets are carved rose quartz rounds alternating with round gold fill beads. Over-the-elbow gloves of white kid leather complete the accessories. I had planned to buy vintage gloves, but soon discovered that most of the older styles are too small for my hands. Luckily I found an eBay shop offering new gloves in modern sizes. Closeted Janeites (and customers with other uses for long leather gloves) will be pleased to know that the seller promises discreet shipping in a plain envelope, much to the Gimlet’s amusement.

The final fitting day was very exciting, and Thing Two wanted to dress up, too. Later he tried to share his beads with me. A little carried away by the fashion plate spirit, we attempted a mother and child photo, but Thing Two was uncooperative, to put it mildly. I am increasingly convinced that the serene cherubs in those old prints were stuffed and mounted, or perhaps cardboard cutouts.

The Gimlet Gallery has a few more pictures of the dress as seen at the JASNA AGM. Many thanks to Tamara for her creativity and craftsmanship, and many thanks to Linda for her generous and perfect finishing touches. The gown is gorgeous; I love how it turned out and am eager to find more reasons to wear it … thus far I’ve resisted the temptation to lounge around the house in it. Now, where did I hide those bonbons?

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