The Unmentionable History of the West
Mar. 23rd, 2007 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mala_14My dad got me a book that I just finished reading called "The Unmentionable History of the West" that talks about all sort of unmentionables (corsets, underwear, sex, contraception, etc.) of days gone by and how it influenced, or was influenced by, life in Western Canada. It was pretty interesting. I learnt about moss being used for diapers and that giving out, or even talking about, birth control was against the law. (One extreme case talked about was a woman with 22 children, the last two were born blind because the husband had syphilis but every time he was released from the hospital he would impregnate his wife. And the lady who tried to help her had to go to court. Ridiculous.) I'm glad that we've come such a long way since then.
Also, yesterday I watched a movie called "The Family in the Attic" about the people who hid Ann Frank's family. It really made me want a 1930s-40s style dress. Just something plain and cotton that I can wear in the summer. Unfortunately, the sewing machine is on the fritz. So sewing has come to a standstill. My friend's corset ended up being too big. She laces down to my size. (We have the same proportions, she's just 3 inches bigger than me everywhere.) It was too big in the waist and it laced closed. So I figured I'd angle the front seam so that more is taken from the bottom, take in all the side seams just a little, and make the back pieces smaller at the center back. Not too bad.
Also, yesterday I watched a movie called "The Family in the Attic" about the people who hid Ann Frank's family. It really made me want a 1930s-40s style dress. Just something plain and cotton that I can wear in the summer. Unfortunately, the sewing machine is on the fritz. So sewing has come to a standstill. My friend's corset ended up being too big. She laces down to my size. (We have the same proportions, she's just 3 inches bigger than me everywhere.) It was too big in the waist and it laced closed. So I figured I'd angle the front seam so that more is taken from the bottom, take in all the side seams just a little, and make the back pieces smaller at the center back. Not too bad.
