The Centennial Dress Project: Potential Patterns

For starters, a closer look at that original photo --

The two young ladies here have two very different dresses -- it seems to me that the girl on the right has a much more modern cut to her dress with a wide skirt and drop waist. The girl on the left seems to be wearing the lace armlets specified for use with short-sleeved dresses. Not sure about the wingspan on those sleeves, but I  really like her belt though.

This girl seems to have  a sort of tunic -style skirt and shirtwaist. Love the skirt.

Another really fab belt.  I dig the three-quarter sleeves, because unlike the other sleeve in this picture, they do not look like something your grandmother would wear to bed.

These girls are seated, making it harder to see the exact  'fall' of the dress, but both  also seem to have three-quarter sleeves on their dresses. Two very different collars, too -- on the left she has a sort of embroidered bit at the front, while on the right she has a square neck and what looks like a middy collar. (I like both of these dresses a lot.) Also, we can see Left-girl's SHOES. They look like plain black pumps to me.

So, in summary, we're seeing a lot of three-quarter sleeves and more dresses in the older style (longer, slimmer cut, higher, nipped in waist) than the new dropped waists and full skirts of the late teens. Some of these girls appear to be wearing skirts and shirt-waists. Dress or skirt, some have wide belts in a contrasting color. A wide mix of collars are in view, from the higher straight collars of the early 1900s to a sort of ruffly short collar on out through a soft, flat collar very much like a middle or sailor collar. 

And honestly, the girl in the drop-waist in that first picture looks awful. Let's not do that.

Oh, and I have an introduction to make: Everyone, I want you to meet my new best friend for the duration of this project -- May Knupp.

I don't actually have a photo of May, but the archives did send me a copy of one of her letters, which is what this is taken from. It is dated September 1st of 1913, and in it, May reports back to her family that "I arrived here just fine. Everything has gone off splendidly so far." She has not, unfortunately, made it to college yet -- she and her traveling companion expect to be there tomorrow for dinner. 

It is not, in the main, a terribly interesting letter, but apparently the archives has a whole BOX of her correspondence, as well as several poems she wrote while away at school. Not helpful to the dress project in the least, although for the sake of price comparisons, I am sure they will be helpful -- May reports having three dollars and eighty cents left after car fare and hotel fees, and promptly tells her family not to worry about her. (I think my mother might worry a lot if I left the house with nothing but three dollars and eighty cents, let alone go off to college with it.)  

Movie Review: Snow White and The Huntsman

It is general practice, when writing recipe titles, that the ingredient that plays the biggest role in the dish be named first -- for instance, a monstrosity like Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise should contain more lime jello than marshmallows, more marshmallows than cottage cheese, and so on. Therefore, it stands to reason that a movie called "Snow White and the Huntsman" should contain more Snow White than...well, than any other character.

And yet who do we see dominating the movie poster? Yeah, that's right,  not either title character. 

I'm not the only person who thought that the primary title character of this particular film didn't fill her lovely leather boots very well. Most of the reviews I read before going to see this movie remarked that Chris Hemsworth ended up carrying the story, and after seeing the film, I agreed with everything that was said both about his performance as well as that of Charlize Theron. At the end of the film, my friend and I agreed that while we understood what was driving both the Huntsman and the Queen, Snow White was a bit of a mystery to us. She started the film locked in a tower, managed to escape, find her way to friendly territory, and ended up riding to war at the end of the story, but we never got a really clear grasp on why it was she was doing these things. Revenge just didn't seem to sit well on her -- there was never a moment in the film where we all said, "Yes, this is what Snow will go and beat down the Queen for." She was never moved to a moment of great agony or suffering -- or at least, a moment where Stewart convinced us she was suffering.


One could argue that spending your teenage years locked in a tower is about as close to suffering as you'll get, but I would have liked to see a monologue from Snow while she's in the enchanted forest or something, telling someone about what it was like being locked up all those years. We got quite extensive backstory about the Queen (which made me pity her more than Snow White for at least five minutes of the film before she went and brutally murdered someone else) and the Huntsman even put in his (somewhat unconvincing) backstory about how his wife died. (I would have liked a flashback to explain that more.)

What I absolutely loved about the film was its texture. There were some really wonderful sets and locations on display, and apart from Snow's strangely helpful escape outfit (who on earth locks someone up in a tower with leather leggings and large spangly sleeves?) the costume department did a wonderfully robust job outfitting the cast. I really loved the costumes for the women on the water, the people who rescue Snow and the Huntsmen from the Swamp. On first glance, I thought every woman in that village was crying, until a closeup shot revealed that what I had thought were tear-trails on their faces were actually scars, carved there so the queen couldn't take their beauty from them.

The other thing that made me enjoy this film a little bit more than I might have otherwise was the series of learning moments it inspired in me afterwards. As I was watching this story about a pair of women with very different goals in life, one of whom is being driven to extreme measures to maintain her beauty because her mother told her once beauty was the only thing that would save her, I was struck by how that character, and the darkness that she stoops to, could be used to talk to women of all ages about what measures we resort to in order to keep the world's eyes on us. Before the story begins, the Queen was powerless and in a terrible situation -- her village was being overrun by a raiding party -- and her mother, seeking to save her daughter, casts a spell on her that will keep her beautiful, and allow her to enslave the hearts and minds of men. It seems to me that this spell is actually the Queen's undoing rather than her making, since for the rest of her life she finds it impossible to trust men. Her great and terrible magical power leaves her powerless to form real bonds of love with anyone, male or female, a skill that Snow White (we assume) does have and one that even the Queen admits makes Snow a stronger, more formidable opponent.*

*A stronger, more formidable opponent who does the unspeakably stupid and throws her shield away before going into battle. Really now, Snow, did you not watch Eowyn in Return of the King while she slays the Witchking? Shields are damn useful when you're fighting supreme evil. Also, where is your helmet? Eowyn had a helmet and a "Fwoosh-look-at-my-awesome-hair-moment" and she turned out all right.

The other teachable moment I got out of this film was the importance of purpose-full characters. Not purposeful, all characters in a story are purposeful, but purpose-full, full of their sense regarding what they are supposed to do for the story. The Queen, throughout the whole film, was purpose-full. A great and terrible purpose, as Loki might say, but purpose nonetheless. She was bent on remaining beautiful and remaining in power. Snow White, on the other hand, had this destiny that she didn't seem to ever take by the horns. Maybe this was Kristen Stewart's acting, or lackluster work by the director -- I'm not sure. When she was trying to rally her troops into battle, I was too distracted by the fact that she ripped off a Shakespeare speech to understand or personally buy into what she was saying. (For he that dies today shall be my brother? Really now.) It sounded like a stolen Shakespeare speech, not something that character would say. I would have liked to see the role done by Emma Watson or Saorise Ronan, because I feel like both of those ladies can play characters filled with the same kind of great and terrible purpose the Queen embodies throughout the film.

This realization helped me a lot with the story I'm working on right now. Whatever's happening in the story, I need to make sure my characters are full of their purpose -- that they're not simply there to be the title character and look good in a dress, but to carry the story and make the reader draw into the action with them. Several reviewers, and even some of my friends, commented on how this version of Snow White was profoundly better than most princess dramas because the princess spends a good deal of time in the muck with a weapon in her hand, and that we should praise her for being a 'strong female character'. I never got the sense that she was a strong female in any sense, apart from being able to ride in plate armor, and it's because she never seemed full of purpose to me. Because she never seemed to truly step into the circumstances surrounding her, she lost a little bit of what would have made her strong to me. A lot of what being 'feminist' means to me, personally, is a sense of focus and decision-making around where you are in life, and allowing that power of choice (around all things -- where to live, what job to take, whether to have kids or a job or both) to go to other people as well. And I didn't really see Snow White making a lot of her own decisions. (Merida, now, Merida looks like she makes her own decisions. I'll get back to you on that film when I finally see it.)

I also realized the importance of a good ending. Snow got her crown at the end, (which didn't seem to fit her very well, another fact I found funny) but they never resolved anything with the Prince or the Huntsman, two elements that were introduced and then never brought to a conclusion. (Why bring them up if you won't do anything with it? Chekov's gun, anyone?) I think that coronation scene was the moment for a rousing speech, or at least standing up, or doing something defiant like raising that strange looking staff she was carrying. But nothing happened. She sat. The previously closed doors closed again and the credits rolled. There was no "And they lived happily ever after" or a voiceover from the huntsman explaining how life in the kingdom went after that, or even "The End" and I think the movie would have benefited from any of those things.

So the moral of the story is this -- Don't live solely for beauty's sake. Take life's trolls by both horns and shout convincingly at them. Always have a reason for your actions, remember it from time to time, and revisit and revise when necessary. And remember, as Mary Anne Radmacher says,


Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.” 


As for my tomorrow, it will be spent trying to write more of my three hundred page fanfic. Good grief...

So You Think You Can Sew: The Centennial Dress Project

In the last episode of "So You Think You Can Sew" I attempted (and finished!) one Starfleet shirt for my Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. I'm happy to say the dinner went very well, all the volunteers felt appreciated, and I was one of the only people there with a costume. I was rather proud of that fact, since mine had not come out of a box and still managed to look pretty good!

Beam me up, Scotty!

So with my ego suitably inflated with my burgeoning sewing skills, I tackled the next project in my queue -- a  1900s style walking skirt for one of my historical interpreter positions. I don't have many pictures of that project, since it is still technically ongoing (damn you, waist measurements that seem to change from fitting to fitting) but it is almost nearly finished and I have learned several important lessons that I am going to apply to my next project. 

Because this next project is a big one. Oh yes, it is.

Next year, my college is celebrating one hundred years of education, and in honor of this accomplishment, the school is publishing a book on the school's history, and a group of students and faculty is putting together a volume of art and poetry commemorating the centennial. And after seeing a picture in my alumni magazine, I lit upon an idea.

The picture in question.

I wanted to make a dress, very similar to the ones on display in the photo. These women are the first class of 1913, and they're sitting on the steps of the main building (Saint Theresa Hall, I believe) with some school swag and a lot of Edwardian attitude. How very, very different from my own freshman class photo. Not a knee, ankle, or shoulder in sight -- and this is Minnesota in August, presumably. It's hot. They're all wearing white -- and in a lot of variations, too!

So began what I am calling the Centennial Dress project, or the 1913 dress project. Over the next eleven months (The Centennial will be celebrated en masse in June of 2013) I will research, find a pattern for, cut, and sew a dress similar to the ones worn by those original college girls, and wear it to the Centennial celebrations.

The first steps in my research have already been completed -- First I emailed the college archivist for pictures similar to the one above, and asked for any other resources she could put me in touch with. While I was waiting for her reply, I checked our digital archives online and found the 1916 College Catalog, a listing of the requirements for graduation in 1916, as well as a listing for what every girl had to bring to school with her in 1916. (I imagine the requirements didn't change much in three years.)

REGULATIONS FOR WARDROBE 

No uniform is required. For school wear, dress of any color, material to suit the season. A better dress for Sundays. An inexpensive white dress for special occasions. Dresses must not be low in the neck; sleeves must reach to the wrists or lace sleevelets may be worn with short sleeved gowns. Shoes must have rubber heels. 

And there we have it. The list of requirements goes on (a sufficient supply of 'plainly made underclothes', three changes of underwear for the winter season, four napkins and a place setting including a napkin ring with your initials on it, et cetera) and truly, you could make some kind of very interesting museum exhibit with a trunk filled with the average 1913 girl's possessions on one side of the room and a suitcase filled with her 2013 equivalent possessions on the other.

So the next steps become more difficult. Explore period sources for other dresses in the same style that would have been available to the average college girl in Minnesota (Probably out of the Sears Roebuck Catalog or a similar company in the Twin Cities.) Find a pattern similar to those garments. Find appropriate fabric, and cut, piece, and sew the dress. Find appropriate shoes, hat, and gloves. Continue research on average student experience at college in the 1910s in order to arrive at school in June in Edwardian style ready to talk about what I'm wearing and what life would be like for me in it.

Oh, and maintain my nerve. I do at some point actually have to create a wearable garment.