This Jule comes The Borgias, a original period series on Showtime

This week is Spring Break, and of course it has to be around 30F degrees outside. I was planning on going to the Met this week with my mom but she refuses to go if it suppose to snow tomorrow, which apparently it foretasted to. So I've been stuck inside cleaning out my overflowing closet, knitting my Briar Rose sweater, and sewing something for spring. So far my last two sewing projects have turned into failures. There were so many errors that I just gave up. Has that ever happened to you? Anyway, I'm taking a break from sewing huge projects and just focusing on all the alterations that have been piling up this year.

As I sew I've been watching ridiculous amounts of television. Mario Puzo said to have based his film classic The Godfather after studying the Borgias family when he visited Italy. I liked Showtime's The Tudors, but I didn't love it. I'm not a fan of watching serial adultery, though it was the supporting character lives that hooked me into the series. The Borgias, I feel has a hidden glimpse into the secret lives of the clergy in 1400 Italy, and like the Tudors, I am hooked by the lives of the children and their role into his father's succession as Pope. And I have to say in contrast to the Tudors, there is a huge improvement on the period costumes.

Unfortunately the jacket I'm working on needs a lining...

I ordered some and even paid extra for express shipping so I could get it before the weekend and finished it. Well, it came of Friday, but the fabrics I received were for someone else! So, alas, the projects is taking way longer than I wanted to.

I'm taking French at college and we're finally in the period which we have to speak French all the time. I'm very skilled at reading and writing but I need to improve my pronunciation. I've been watching French films and listening to French music in my free time. I see one similarity between my favorite 60s French icons... bangs! Fringe, depending which side of the world you're on. It's the easiest 60s look for long hair girls, though if you have curly hair like me it might be the most time consuming.

The annual internship and job fair is just around the corner at SUNY Purchase. In preparation the career development office holds events to prepare students. Today it was "What Not to Wear" present by J. Crew. Unfortunately, I was not the lucky student to win a gift certificate, but I was pleasantly surprised by this video one of the presenters showed us. He really stressed the importance of appreciating quality when purchasing suits and business attire. Seriously, a man after my own heart! I really love this video and it gave us an insight into Thomas Mason Mill, the place to go for Egyptian cotton. As my free time gets cut back a bit this week, I might as well post something sewing-centric.

Brady's Women

I'm a college student, but I also intern at a photographic archive with a vast collection of Civil War memorabilia, so I am very familiar with the work of Matthew Brady. In 1856 he opened a photography studio in the heart Washington D.C. and photographed some of the most important people of that time. I go through stacks of Civil War officers and generals, even copies of several Lincoln portraiture, all the while noticing the ridiculous appraisal amounts in the worksheets.

Then I come across a fantastic carte de visite of a lovely actress in the most fantastic dress, my heart flutters for a moment, but then it stops cold when I see that the appraisal for the photograph is nearly a quarter of the estimate worth of an average man. After reviewing the Brady-Handy collection on the Library of Congress I assume from the rarity of women in the collection that these female portraitures would be worth more? Not so much.

Believe me, this list seems long but I've actually edited it down quite a bit. Of course, I picked some from the fantastic dress details like pleating or large cameos, but wanted to show mothers and daughters, female performers, and even women with short hair. One of my personal favorite details is of one woman's finger in a book, a long traditional gesture for women in Art History representing literacy and education. As we are mid-way of Women's History Month, and the fact I have to be in work in five hours, I bring you some of Matthew Brady's women.