Dolls house story part 5

Not long after Miss Sharpe came home one day and announced that she was getting married next week.
This, understandably, caused a fair amount of fuss and panic, especially when she said that she was going to make the dress herself. In one week.

So they all pitched in to help.

It turned out all right.

After the wedding Miss Sharpe moved out, 

and Mrs Edwards had to find a new boarder...

Dolls house story part 4

Finally the day arrived when Mrs Edwards had to accept that they could not afford servants, it was a blow to her pride more than anything else, she and her daughters could cook and clean and do everything the servants did but having servants meant you were rich, meant you could afford someone else to do the house work and you could, in theory, sit around doing embroidery all day.

Actually the servants were just a cook and a nanny but they were better than nothing.

But mostly Mrs Edwards had put off the day they had to fire the servants because they were like family, and telling family that you couldn't afford them anymore was not a pleasant task. But it had to be done, Martha and Rose were very understanding about it, they had known this would happen they said, and they even gave the girls a few cooking lessons before they left.

Dolls house story part 3

Miss Sharpe

Miss Sharpe was a late sleeper normally rising around 12, she would join them for lunch, then get dressed in a beautiful gown and leave for the opera, ball, party or some other form of entertainment, returning about 3 in the morning.

When asked why she went out so often she replied "I need to find a husband with lots of money, I hate being poor, it's horrible having to be economic. I'm going to marry some rich man who will let me spend as much as I want, then I'll be happy."

Scarlet thought Miss Sharpe was fabulous, and occasionally accompanied her to a party or ball. This, in Mrs Edwards opinion, was not a good idea as it invariably lead to Scarlet falling in madly in love with someone she had met, luckily the feeling was never mutual and she generally recovered after a week or two.


Mr David

Mr David was... well...he was polite...and they all liked him (particularly Scarlet)...but apart from that it really was hard to describe him. No one knew what he did, he obviously did something, sometimes he would be gone for days with no warning or explanation, when Mrs Edwards told he to warn her if he was going to be away he replied that he couldn't because he didn't know when he was gone either or he wouldn't be. Mrs Edwards decided not to pursue the subject in case it transpired that he was actually a dangerous insane criminal on the run from the Law.
When she asked the Law about it however they told her there was very officially no such person please don't tell anyone or bother us again you will probably be fine.

Turmeric dye

Today I tried dyeing with turmeric. It was surprisingly successful.

 First I mordanted with alum a pillow case, a scrap of silk and some scraps of sheepskin.

 Then mixed turmeric powder and water on low heat, then I added the fabrics.

After about half an hour I removed and rinsed the fabrics.

Wool, silk, pillow case

Turmeric is the strongest natural dye I have yet found. Unfortunately I didn't measure anything so I don't know if I could do it again.

Renaissance costume

I have finished my renaissance costume.

I didn't wear the hairnet in the end, I made it too small, and I need to shorten the under skirt so I don't walk on it, but I am very pleased with the dress altogether. The sleeves are from an old fur coat of Mum's that she let me cut up.

The unused hairnet

I made a corset/stays out of an old sheet and some metal strapping, I think next time I wouldn't use string, it's a bit too stretchy.

French hood

Recency Shoes

In a few months there is a Jane Austen high tea with dancing. I am going to make recency dancing slippers, I already have a dress and jacket. The first attempt was a dismissal failure.

 I pulled a pair of shoes to pieces and used it as a pattern, but it ended up far too small, I don't know why.

Next time I don't think I'll be quite so drastic.

Miniature hair accessories

This is an attempt at instructions on how to make miniature combs and other hair things.

 Mix translucent clay with yellow, brown, orange, dark brown and brick color.

 

Make a darker version of the brown and dark brown.

Take a bit of each colour and gradually mix them so the colours are blending into each other but still clear.
Then shape into what ever hair accessory you want.