The Crazy: It is Starting

How is it almost the end of the semester? I feel like I've just gotten started! Truth be told, part of me still thinks it is still late August back in Seattle and I am just on some kind of bizarre trip. But no. The end of the semester is coming, and I will soon immersed in the deluge of papers, presentations, and tests. There have been so many things I've wanted to share with you all, either through posts here or personal e-mails and calls, and I feel guilty about how little I have done, So, in anticipation of the end of the semester, I would just like to apologize in advance if I become even less communicative over the next month.

So, before I disappear, here is a little about what I am working on.

Most of the time when I post something on this blog, I sort of wish I had a accompanying picture. But then I go through the recent pics I have taken and most of them look like this:

Or this:

This latter is one of the unknown fibers I need to identify for one of my term projects. The fiber is encased in some sort of mysterious crust. Even my professor said "whoa! what IS that?" when I showed it to her.

In my History of Western Textiles course we have to write a paper about an object in a local public collection. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but when I was paging through a book in the library I fell in love with a 17th century embroidered bag that was made by a 10 year old (it is now in the MET). The book described the work as "amateur," but to me the skill seems remarkable. I guess that is what happens when you grow up with a corset instead of a television. I've been researching the motifs in the bag, and one of the most interesting are these figures referred to as "boxers."

Apparently the motif crops up in embroidery samplers all the time, but no one actually knows what is going on. They are always human figures, usually wearing either tight fitting clothes (which is why someone thought they were boxers) or are barely/debatably clothed, are holding a "trophy," and are standing next to some foliage. One source I found thinks that it started as a pattern from a book of "a lover offering a flower to his lady." The lady was apparently complicated to stitch, so over time she was simplified into a leafy bush. Another source was intrigued by the fact that these particular figures appear to be hairy. There might be some connection to the hairy people that sometimes show up in Medieval tapestry. They are said to represent wild people that are untouched by civilization. Here is a female example:

The project that I am currently the most excited about is my paper for Fashion History. Last year at MOHAI we discovered that there was an object in the collection that was supposedly a blood stained scarf worn by Mrs. Lincoln on that fateful night in Ford's Theater. Like good museum cynics, we all laughed at the possibility. But ever since then I couldn't help but wonder how ridiculous that claim really was. Does anyone actually know what she was wearing? U.S. Historians are nuts for Lincoln, it seems like someone must have looked into it. Right? I proposed the idea to my professor, and she liked it. So basically I am researching 1) If anyone does actually know what Mrs. Lincoln wore that night, 2) whether a scarf of that type makes sense for the time period and the setting, and 3) a little about Mary Lincoln and her fashion. It is all a bit morbid, but I am finding it FASCINATING. In essence, there is no reliable source about her clothing on the night of the assassination. The few references I've found contradict each other. The Chicago Historical Society has a bloody cape that has more provenance than the MOHAI scarf, but is far from a sure thing. If you are interested, they have a whole site devoted to a current project of research and lab tests for the cape: http://www.chicagohistory.org/wetwithblood/

I guess I am on a photo theme for this post, so here is Lady Lincoln in one of her controversial low-necked gowns:

What do you think? Do you feel like throwing a lacy scarf over that decolletage?