Buttonholes are Hard

At least, the 18th century hand sewn ones are.

I'm learning a new skill. One where the learning curve is steep with the degree of difficulty being much higher than anticipated.

In an effort to up my 18th century sewing skills, I've decided to hand stitch my buttonholes. (Insert laughter here.) I had NO idea that this would be so difficult.

I started by watching a short video from a very trusted 18th century sewing source. The video was under two minutes long, so I got the mistaken impression that hand wrought buttonholes were easy to make.

I even watched it twice and my confidence grew - I'm an experienced sewist, I can do a buttonhole stitch easy peasy, and this would be a nice way to make my historical clothing more correct. (Insert more laughter.)

It looked so easy that I almost skipped practicing and went straight to making buttonholes on the trade shirt I was working on. And that's where being an experienced sewist saved the sleeves on that shirt - I knew better than to skip making a practice one, easy as handmade buttonholes were to make. (Ahem!)

Good thing I did. Just looking at this picture of my prepared materials, I can see the disaster that unfolded next.

I used white cotton for my practice fabric and white linen thread for the buttonhole. That made it difficult to see my stitches. And, I marked my white fabric with a very light yellow chalk pen - I could just barely see the stitching lines!

What a mess the end product was!

I tried again, changing the thread to black linen (good idea) and the chalk pen markings to pink (another good idea) for visibility. I did not cut the buttonhole open before stitching this time (bad idea), thinking that that had been part of the problem. (It wasn't.) The first couple of stitches looked good and I was encouraged. Yep, this wasn't so hard!

Except it was, and while the second practice buttonhole looked much better than the first, it still had problems. Linen thread is a natural fiber and while historically correct, when repeatedly pushed in and pulled through fabric, the fibers begin loosening and fluffing. 

I made a third attempt, cutting the buttonhole opening first and switching to a normal sewing thread. Nope, nope, nope. I learned that I needed a thicker thread than that for a buttonhole.

This was so much harder, so much more frustrating, than it should be. I needed a better, more in depth video tutorial than the first. So I watched one from Vincent Briggs, the same man who had made the excellent tutorial on making sleeve buttons.

And that proved to be a very good decision. 

His video was almost 18 minutes long. He stabilized the buttonhole differently and more efficiently and he suggested using cotton perle crochet thread over linen ("because it frays and fluffs") or silk twist. ("Good, but so expensive. I use cotton perle and it's cheaper and works really well.")

I didn't have any cotton perle to hand, but I could try his other methods of making a buttonhole.

Version four with my "fluffing" linen thread, while a little wide, looked much more like it should.

I made a trip to the fabric store, found some cotton perle in two colors,

and am ready to try again today . 

I plan to make a few more practice ones and then, when I am confident that I am ready to work on the cuffs of the shirt that I have in progress, I'll take a deep breath, cut open those buttonholes (no going back after that!) and give it a go.

Wish me luck!

"What's Doin'?"

"What's doin'?" A phrase my dad employed frequently. Perhaps even a synonym for "mish mosh." This is one of those posts. 

Judging from the feedback I've received, Dogs of Our Lives - the Dolphin was enjoyed by many of you. How did the story come about? I was trying to nap and those two doggos started tussling over the dolphin right next to me on the bed.

 I snapped some photos of them playing and when I looked at them later, the story popped into my mind. 

"We promise we will never ever tussle on the bed like that again, right Tammo?"

"Um, Pepper's hind paws are crossed, Lynn."

There is actually a lot of truth in that story, including Tammo's incredible persistence. He will wait a very long time for an opportunity to snag a toy he wants. 

Here's a video from last summer that exemplifies that pest-istence persistence perfectly.

A shot of Tammo yesterday with some of the favorite toys that "he" mentioned in Dogs of Our Lives - the alligator, three of the six snakes, the red tri-wheel pull toy, and the dolphin.

Needless to say, those two provide Craig and me with a lot of entertainment and laughs throughout the day.

(And could you tell I fell in love with the spinning clock? You may see it pop up again!)

Some of you had wondered about the extra surprise that I said would be tucked into the Misty bag as part of the May Give Away. There were actually two things:

A Stablemate sized haversack (in one of my all time favorite fabrics; I've bought many yards of this in both blue and red),

And then tucked inside of that,

The "Judge's Choice" bay pony on the first place ribbon that I won at Indy Blooms. (I've realized that I received a green NAN card by mistake and the show host is sending me a yellow one.)

Finally, there are more and more signs that BreyerFest is getting close! I've had several communications from Breyer this week, including the official papers to sign as a virtual seminar teacher and ambassador.

I am really looking forward to BreyerFest this year. It will be the 6th with a virtual component and by now I have my own traditions and must-dos engrained as part of my own virtual BreyerFest here at home.

Pandemic BreyerFest, 2020. 

As someone who was attending BreyerFest in its earliest days (Saturday night dinner for all in a tent!),  I never thought that I would enjoy a stay-at-home BreyerFest as much as an in-person one.

But I do.

I'm currently working on a series about past BreyerFests. Not all my earliest photos have been digitized so it may be a while before it is completed. Plus, I still have over twenty planned "Collections within My Collection" posts that are also in progress. There's a whole lotta research and writing going on here!

And that's what's doin'.

Stay 'tooned!

Collections within My Collection: Chevals!

Here's another installment of Collections within My Collection. Today we are looking at my Chevals.

Cheval horses come from South Africa and are home-produced by Johnny and Diana DeBeer in Botha's Hill. The business began as a hobby outlet for Johnny's sculpting and the company grew from there. 

Now in his 80s, Johnny is focusing more on cattle although he still produces horses. Many of the new pieces are a larger scale than traditional scale Breyers but not as big as the 1:6 Marx Johnny West pieces.

The Friesian mold is highly popular with collectors and with good reason - it is stunning.

Johnny signs and dates his models. (His first name is Matthew, hence the M.)

I also have the Friesian mold in chestnut pinto

(a better view of how Johnny signs them)

and in black pinto. All three of these models do well in shows for me.

The black Friesian has two Top Tens from NAN and the chestnut pinto won Reserve Grand Champion Other Countryware in Breakables 2020. 

This is the Quarter Horse mold done in Appaloosa.

I love the layering of colors in its spots.

In more recent years, Johnny began calling the business "Nguni" instead of "Cheval."

The spaghetti-maned comical ponies (middle model) are early pieces from the company, and this one and the same pony in black were my first Chevals. This mold is called "Joyful Jake."

The foal is also a very early piece and the three of them

all bear early gold Cheval stickers.

Not only did Johnny change the name of the company to Nguni Ceramics, he began focusing on sculpting cattle and some larger horses. While the cattle are beautiful, it's the horses that interest me.

Of course I got an Appaloosa-patterned one of the newer large pieces.

Here it is next to a Traditional scale Breyer (Cryptic on the Big Ben mold.)

Mane detail.

The Thoroughbred mold in a pretty dapple grey.

It's belly mark has it listed as Cheval but it is dated in 2022.

They do a nice job painting manes with fine tendrils rather than broad brush strokes.

Because of their height, it is a bit hard to find shelves for the Nguni era pieces. My curio in the living room will hold them but it is very full. Some day I will get around to rearranging it so these can be put inside.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open when I show photos from the sewing room - both of the biggies are in there and standing on top of the Freeman Leidy cabinet. (No room in there for them either!)

A Nguni/Cheval website can be found here but I am not sure it is the official company site. But, in even better news, Cheval Ceramics has an official Etsy shop! The prices are reasonable (and listed in American dollars) and the models are beautiful! (I may just order another piece...)

If you order, your piece will come from South Africa, but my experience with Johnny (5 orders in the past) has been highly positive. He knows how to pack for the long distance across the world and he is very responsive to emails if you need to communicate.

Off to go choose my newest Cheval!

"Dogs of Our Lives" - The Dolphin

"Pepper! Tammo!" Time to go inside. This sun is making me sleepy, and I can't lay down on the patio and sleep like you two can!"

"I get the pillow by Lynn's head!"

"No you don't, Tammo. She's my partner. I have to make sure she is safe at all times. So I get the pillow."

"Boy, am I tired. I was up late last night and this nap is gonna feel so good. You two sleep tight!" Pat, pat on their heads.

"I saw what you did, Pepper. You snagged the dolphin and brought it to bed with you. You know the rule - no playing on the bed while Lynn is sleeping."

"I'll just remove it and make sure that 'Miss Guide Dog' is following ALL the rules."

"Heh, heh, heh! Pepper is too busy grooming herself that she hasn't noticed I've got it!"

"Pepper and Tammo, will you two stop playing so I can sleep? Do I need to make you get off the bed??"

"Okay, Lynn. I'm sorry."

"Sorry, too. But did you know that Pepper is teasing me and won't ever share and she always gets the best toys and then lies on them why, the other day she took all six snakes and I didn't have one it was not fair..."

"Tammo... do you need to get down??"

"Sigh. No. I'll leave the dolphin alone. Although did you know that Miss Guide Dog is BREAKING YOUR RULES and has brought a toy into bed and I am just trying to follow your rules while she isn't...

"AHEM!!"

"I'll be quiet, I'll be quiet. I'll even move to the foot of the bed..."

"... where I can keep an eye on that Pepper. Drat!! I want the dolphin! It's my favorite toy. Well, okay, it is after the alligator, the six snakes, Nemo, and the red tri-wheel pull toy. I love it so much much!"

"What?? Just look at that!! That stinker Pepper has put the dolphin UNDER HER LEG. I'll just lie here and watch. She'll fall asleep and never know when I take it. Heh, heh, heh..."

"Zzzzzzzz...."

"Yawn. Is it still there? Can I grab it? Nope, not yet. ZZZZZ."

Tick! Tick! Tick!

"Hey, you two sleepy heads! It's time to get up. Who wants to go outside?"

Several hours later.

"Pepper has no idea how persistent I can be!"

"Persistent? I think you mean PEST-istent!" Go away!"

Evening arrives.

"I see you, Tammo. Don't even try it!"

Tick! Tick! Tick!

"Yawn!! Craig, it's after 11:00 and I'm heading to bed. Enjoy the rest of the movie. Good night."

"Lynn, I'm coming with you! Don't trip over the shoes in the hallway... Can you find the light switch? Need me to turn the covers down for you? I'm your girl!"

"I am a patient, persistent, pup! Hey, Craig, pass those pretzels, will you?"

Rabicano, Mallen Streaks, and Skunks!

Mr. Birdcatcher (as I've started calling him) was at the fence by the lane to the barn yesterday. I slowed to look at him and I discovered that birdcatcher spots were not his only coloration oddity.

Look at his mane and tail. 

They both have a little white that begins at the base

but does not extend down into the mane or tail.

In the tail, this can be evidence of minimal rabicano and is called a coon or skunk tail, but I am not sure what a white spot in the roots of the mane is called. I thought it might be a birdcatcher spot located right where the mane is rooted, but it looks as though some of the mane is white, too.

Of course, there is evidence of "rabicano" in my own family. If you have been reading this blog for a while then you have seen it.

In humans it is often called a Mallen streak although when the white is just a spot in the hair, it is also called a skunk spot. I've never heard it called rabicano in humans,  but I like the horsey connection!

Lisa first got some strands of grey in her hair sometime around 2021 and I don't think anyone thought anything about it - like most adults, her turn had come to begin going grey. (Isn't that a great picture of her with Nash?)

But for her, instead of having grey sprinkled all throughout her hair, it has stayed in that one spot and the streak has gotten wider with time.

Lisa with former students who graduated from high school this spring and came back for a visit.

One statistic I read said that Mallen streaks are genetic and rare - as few as 1 in every 250,000 people have one. Neither Craig nor I know of any family members who exhibit the trait, but then, if it's rare, that isn't surprising.

Now, I'd love to get a photo of Mr. Birdcatcher and Lisa together. Stay 'tooned on that!

Oh, and in some happy news, I've been out to the barn several times without crying during the drive there or back or while I am visiting with the horses. 

Progress!