Jacob Ochtervelt

At the moment I have several higher priority things to deal with, but in a vague way I do intend to get around to making some 1670-80s clothes (so I can hang out with pirates at Pioneer Village). Unfortunately, this is neither my time period of expertise nor one that appeals to me that much, and I was having a difficult time finding examples of things I like. But that was before I discovered Jacob Ochtervelt. Check out these cool paintings.

The Music Lesson, 1671

Buying Grapes, 1669

The Love Letter, early 1670s

Family Portrait, 1670-75

De Speellieden, 1682

Lady with Servant and Dog, 1671-73

A Musical Company, 1670

The Backgammon Players, 1667-69

The Lemon Slice

An interior with two elegant ladies making their toilet together with a maid making the bed and a dog on a chair

The Drawing Lesson

Unusual Muffs for Winter

I took an exam today, so I am not competent to write much. But in honor of the cold, here are some of my favorite unusual muffs.

Muffs that are pretty embroidered silk, and not fur!

Muffs that are strangely wiggly!
And my favorite category: Muffs that look like you are carrying a dead animal around!

One More Yellow Regency Dress

You know, for good measure. This one is in the McCord Museum.

A Further Study In Bustles - The 1880s

These are 1880s bustles. As you can see, they have a similar pattern. There are the dull hoop-type bustles, the mummy-bustles, and the narrow bustles just in the back in casings. The interesting part is that there are also some stranger and more fascinating short bustles. I know it is a lot of pictures to scroll through, but make sure you get that far because they are cool.

Plain hoops.Mummy-style bustle


Casings, all the bustle in the back.
Short bustles! I adore them.

A Study of 1870s Bustles

Wow. This is a lot of pictures. Brace yourself.

I was thinking about steampunk, and I thought I would like to make a bustle. So I started researching. These are the 1870s bustles I found (tomorrow you can see the 1880s!). I have lumped them into three categories. First, the boring, like hoops but a little funny shaped, bustles. Second, there are the mummy hoops (I have included pictures from both side and front for these, so you can see what I am talking about), where there are wire supports only in the back and then a grid of tapes for support. I have made up the mummy term, but that's just what it makes me think of. Then there are the more interesting bustles, which vary and are often fabric with casings for wires or even without wires altogether. Interesting. I must further consider what I want to make for myself. If nothing else, I'm enjoying seeing the variation.

First category: Boring hoop-like things.
Second category: The mummy bustle







Third category: Interesting bustles, usually with casings.