I've just found Vincent Briggs and his careful historic tailoring. On Metafilter, his patchwork dressing gown was featured. His blog is The Prettiest Gentleman.
I didn't think I was in the market for a video more than an hour long about one sewing project. But I find VB's gentle Canadian deadpan pretty irresistible. The piano music is nice as well.
He's taught me that cabbage is a term for scrap fabric and the box that it was kept in was called a tailor's Hell. I also enjoyed learning about sleeve links (ancestor of cufflinks) which I had seen before but wasn't sure how they were used.
Making an 18th Century Patchwork Dressing Gown
18th Century Cloth Covered Buttons
This is some good autumnal fun. I may watch the Bilbo Baggins Housecoat project by Shannon Makes linked from the mfilter post as well.
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I had my fragrance sensitivity return in the form of an itchy spot *right* in the middle of one armpit. My amiga The Danish had recommended a salt spray when she was visiting this summer. She's recommended this before and I have to admit I thought that was some hippie bullshit and she must just not be a smelly person. But my armpits told me it was time to try something new. I couldn't find the spray but I went to the nearby natural foods store (the one with bulk candy in the center of the store, the not-quite-as-expensive-as-WhFoods store) and bought a salt rectangular solid. You dampen it and rub onto clean skin. At the end of the first day I smelled a bit musty. But after three days - no smell! I think the first day was just getting all the previous deodorant out of my skin. The hippies are right! This salt stuff is great.
