Turkish Delight
Pretty much settled in here at the new apartment. It's a little messy, so that must mean it's home. I'll probably clean up a bit on Saturday...
I had made many a-trip to Goodwill's donation center before and after the move, and now I've discovered I got rid of some things I kinda wish I hadn't. Like hangers. I had a million, now I don't have enough. Foo. And my Folkwear Turkish Dancer pattern---that was really annoying. It's not very historically accurate, but it was an easy pattern with a nice look and some embroidery tracerys. So, I bought Reconstructing History's Turkish Dancer pattern instead. I've been poking around online for info on colors and fabrics for Ottoman women and I found this book on google books: books.google.com/books, Haremlik, by Demetra Vaka, a Greek Ottoman, revisting her home country after 6 years in the US. The book was published in 1909, but I gather she made the visit in late 1901, because she mentions McKinely's assasination. It's a very fascinating book, and I read it in a short period of time. The Turkish suffragettes were almost sickening in a way, and I found it ironic that they wanted "freedom and equality" but adopted the incredibly restricting corsetted fashions of Paris. Ms. Vaka also wrote another book, The Unveiled Ladies of Stamboul, after a visit in 1921, after WWI and the apparent fall of the Empire (though I think it was official in 1922). It seems she's disapponted that the Turkish women she grew up and loved lost their turkishness to the more Homogenized western culture. I don't know, but I really like to read it and find out more about Demetra, who died in 1946. I also want to try my hand at Turkish coffee. I young Serbian man I worked with a while ago told me about it--said it's really strong and comes in little tiny cups. He said it's so much better than this American crap and you drink a lot of it. I worked with him and his father, and occasionally his brother. They were from Belgrade--his father actually worked for one of two tv stations there in the 1990s. During the bombing of Belgrade, the other station was bombed, and 12 people were killed, but Vojislav's station was spared. They all moved here in 2000, figuring they'd be better off.
I've always been fascinated by Turkey and the Balkan area---maybe I was Turkish or Slavic in another life. I remember in 7th grade we had to do a project on a country that was in the news. I did Turkey--I think it was because I liked their flag; I can't recall why they would have been in the news at that time.
Projects...aaah. I found a slat bonnet pattern online for the timeline even in two or 3 weeks. Pretty simple. I need to make a pinner apron, too, and if I have time, I may whip up a corded petticoat (machine sewn, I don't have a death wish). I need to start/finish/repair some 18th century stuff, but I'm just not in the mood. I'm going to see Nine Inch Nails on Friday, and I sliced up a t-shirt using Generation T: 108 ways to Transform a T-shirt. It's mostly sliced up in the back, and now I'm afraid that might be a little chilly, since it's an outdoor concert on the Delaware river. For June, it's still kinda cold. I may screw around with another one, since that other one I did was a "complicated" design, and it only took me an evening. I just tried it on again, and it seems too loose and the sleeves look funny. Arg. I'll have to rework it. I also picked apart the abomination of a Bridesmaid dress and the bodice to my Blonde Bombshell. I haven't resized the bodice as of yet--need to do a mockup. I don't know what I'm doing with the bridesmaid dress, whether reworking or scrapping it.
Tired. Need my bed.