Hopsacking Barbie

It's funny how fabrics, colours,weaves and patterns come into vogue and disappear again.  Hopsacking is a case in point.   It was originally used to transport hops, an essential ingredient in beer.  I found a reference that said hopsacking was used for men's suits but I remember it from the sixties, when it was printed with wild patterns and sold for women's clothing.

In grade 9, home economics was a required program for girls.   The sewing teacher gave us a choice of patterns for a jumper and told us to buy a length of hopsacking.  I bought a pattern for a drop-waisted jumper with a circle mini-skirt  and a length of brown corduroy that was not suitable for the pattern.

There were 24 girls in the class.  We shared the 6 sewing machines, the 6 tables, the 6 ironing boards and irons.Most of the class was spent waiting for a turn to use something.  I didn't get a chance to lay out my pattern at school so I took it home.  The suggested layout didn't work with a fabric with a wale so I brought it all back to class and the teacher did the layout for me.

I had access to a sewing machine at home so I did most of the sewing there and just sat and chatted during class time.  The project was progressing well until I got to the zipper.  We were supposed to do a lapped application.  I followed the instructions carefully, removed the basting and sighed.  I ripped it all out and did it again.  And again. And again.  I accidentally tore the back seam allowance with my seam ripper.  I showed my teacher who sighed and put the zipper in for me. She did a great job.  I don't remember my mark on the course.  I wonder if it was higher because the teacher did such a good job or lower because the teacher did the job.  No matter, I wore that jumper until it was threadbare from washing.

Barbie followed the instructions, bought an appropriate piece of hopsacking and made this.  All by herself.

A Christmas Carol Barbie

Barbie Cratchit

On December 23rd, we attended a performance of A Christmas Carol at the National Arts Center.   A newsletter touting the show described  sets and costumes uniquely all in white.   I was unimpressed as the NAC had done a white costume and set staging of Pride and Prejudice a few years ago.

But I was wrong to doubt.  To begin,  an actor with a white cane took the stage.  He told us he had 9% vision (hence legally blind) and illustrated his level of sight by asking us to cover one eye completely and then to peer through a tunnel formed over the second eye with our other hand.  The rest of the cast walked among the audience carrying large baskets filled with illustrations of the sets and costumes.  As we passed the beautiful sketches around, the actor explained that while the drawings were in glorious colour, we would see the show in white as someone with limited vision might.

Then a second actor took over the stage. He told us (through an interpreter) that he was deaf and mute.  He demonstrated how to applaud for a deaf person (hold both hands at about ear level and rotate them) and he taught us the sign for one person and the sign for everyone.  His movements were beautiful, graceful, elegant and eloquent. 

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

And then, for the next two hours, they made magic.

Barbie's romper

Last summer rompers were seen everywhere.  They look great on Barbie!
 














Lucky me, blue rompers were the required gym uniform when I was in elementary school;  completely impractical in the loo and they fit no one well. 

You have to be a fairly good actor to carry off a beach romper like this with aplomb.  What was the costumer thinking!

Edwardian Barbie

Edwardian Barbie

Have you ever stopped to consider how long it takes to make an article of clothing?  Previous to the invention of sewing machines, most people only owned two sets of clothing.  (So why do we say 'Sunday best' when it was really 'Sunday better'?)

The dress Barbie is wearing is lined and interlined.  There is a foundation garment to give the skirt support.  The braid is hand-woven and the lace is hand-made in Belgium.  This garment represents many hours of careful work by a team of seamstresses, weavers, lace-makers and apprentices.
 
Barbie is going to a Harvest Ball this evening. Her new dress is a testament to her dressmaker's skills.  The gown will make it clear to all that hers is a family with a large disposable income and a high status in the community.

After I took the photo, I cleaned up all the leaves.  Unlike Barbie, I do not have staff to take care of the grounds.  I  just have a lawn and a billion leaves.

Hallowe'en Barbie

Hallowe'en is a minor festival in Canada;  I say minor because it is not a statutory holiday.  Otherwise, it is a full-fledged celebration with special decorations, traditional food (if popcorn balls and candy apples can be called food) and elaborately planned parties.

The origins of Hallowe'en are found deep in antiquity in the Celtic festival Samhain.  It was believed that the veil between the living world and the world of the dead was thinnest at summer's end making it possible for the dead to walk among us.  If one met you and you did not treat them well, you would be sorry.  (Trick or Treat!)  A disguise would serve to protect you from malevolent ancestors with a grudge.

Orange and black feature heavily: black cats, orange pumpkins carved with scary faces, old crones dressed in black, inky shadows, the glow of the autumn moon and the flames of candles.

Barbie is going to a  Hallowe'en fancy dress party in her beautiful orange and silver gown.  Note the very trendy short underskirt and the towering hair style.  Barbie does not need to hide from ghosts.  She likes the attention.

Hoop Dancer Barbie

I visited the Victoria Island attraction, Aboriginal Experiences, with a school group.  The best part of a very interesting afternoon was the performance by a very accomplished hoop dancer. This is not the hula hoop of the 50's craze or the wooden hoop you may have used in gym class.  This is not the hoop and stick small children used to play with either.

Modern hoop dancers use willow hoops to represent aspects of nature such as animals, birds, the sun and the moon.  Tony White Cloud, the father of modern hoop dancing, used 5 hoops but at the annual competition in Phoenix, Arizona dancers use 24 or possibly more.

This dance is not often seen at traditional powwows but is saved for events attended by non-natives.  Le Cirque de Soleil show Totem features it.  Barbie's outfit is more Cirque than traditional native dress and her hoops are metal not willow but you should see her dance with them!

Sixties Synthetic Knit Barbie

Sixties Synthetic Knit Barbie

For millennia,  the materials  used for clothing were natural sources including animal hair (for example, camel, goat and sheep), fur (mink, rabbit and ermine)  and silk (from the larvae of a moth).
Natural plant fibers such as cotton, linen and hemp have a long history too.

In 1880 or so, Joseph Swan invented a synthetic fiber using cellulose as a base.  Other cellulose-based fibers (rayon and viscose) were developed in the following decades.  In the early 1930's, Wallace Hume Carothers invented nylon.  And then, in 1941, John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson invented the first polyester fiber.

The synthetic fiber industry grew quickly.  Crimplene  was very popular.  It was available in many knits and colours and popular with both men and women.  It was a dream to sew with and had a beautiful hand but did not breathe so fell out of fashion as lighter fabrics were patented.

Crimplene was the signature fabric of the A-line dresses that helped define the mod sixties.  I wore  a blue one with a dog-eared collar in a school photo.  It wasn't mine and I didn't have permission to borrow it but it was such a pretty dress.  Nevertheless, when I took that dress,  I was completely ignoring one of my cardinal rules, "If it is not yours, don't touch it."

Barbie is wearing a garment made of a synthetic knit from the sixties.  It is very flattering and it actually is her dress.