AG-Beforever

Recently, I decided to make a pair of 18th century stays,,,entirely by hand. The pattern that I used is by Thimbles and Acorns, link here. There are options for stays with straps and no straps, and the instructions are for machine sewing. While these ones are all by hand, I made a pair by machine about a year ago.

I think there are pros and cons to each way, machine is, unsurprisingly, much faster. These stays probably took 25-30 hours by hand and are by no means perfect!

That said, I am really happy with the result. My 1770s doll, Rosanna (tm 61), is modeling them. I think she looks adorable!!

Back view. Historically, the stays would have been spiral laced, but that doesn’t really work on a smaller scale like this. I’ve gone for faux spiral lacing as a replacement. 

Rosanna wears the stays with a shift, fichu (held in place with pins) and panniers. The pannier pattern came with the stays pattern and were sewn by machine.

jly86: these violet delights, purple rain, half the gay awakenings in her school, definitely knows how to repair a motorcycle, goth

jly87: literally just the human incarnation of pinkie pie, including the pet alligator except this one has teeth and will be set on Men who look at her directly. those eyes show no mercy

jly89: was turned gay by those “alternative girls” in early 2000s disney channel and nickelodeon shows. has a pet snake and isn’t scared of horror games. skateboards to class. owns a motorcycle that jly86 repairs and they flirted for a bit but now 86 is dating 88 and they’re just cool sapphic besties. 

jly90: spent most of her childhood pretending to be a mermaid mainly because of emily windsnap. half the school is convinced she actually is a mermaid but she answers vaguely when they try to ask her about it. huge she ra stan. doodles little flowers next to her perfect handwriting class notes. keeps bringing in those pens that switch colors. 

Olivia is modeling another prototype for Etsy. I haven’t sewn a blouse/skirt combo in a while, and had this RV fat quarter in my stash for ages, so I paired it with some coordinating cream cotton. Not my finest work, but it’s a start!

All buttonholes are functional, and the skirt closes with a hook and eye in the back. Oh, and the pockets are real too, because dolls totally need places to store stuff.

lizard brain: d... dölle please döll!!

I know y’all wanna know so lemme spit facts:

A lot of emphasis was put on the mob mentality that people adopted at the time and the fact that information/science is better than paranoia.

However, the information isn’t all, there also must be empathy; Courtney passes out fliers about HIV but that only affects a few of the other students. People get more persuaded to their side after Courtney shows an interview with Isaac at the school assembly, which prompts more people to actually look at the information she hands out. 

The issues Isaac faces are not sugarcoated; he explains to Courtney that he was forced to use a separate bathroom in his old hometown, and that his house was graffitied. After people find out he’s HIV+ in California, students are pulled out of school, with people starting rumors about having to bleach and burn everything he touched. 

When Courtney stands up for him, her locker is spray-painted, and people begin avoiding her, assuming she has “AIDS germs.” 

Adults begin protesting outside the school, demanding that Isaac be pulled out, and when one mom sees Courtney, she directs fire at her, saying that she should be kicked out, too. Courtney has to cry in the bathroom and her mom basically has to sneak her past the protestors to get home, and she then has to stay at her Dad’s for a few days until things cool down. 

And uh. Finally. What I’m sure you’re all wondering: 

Homosexuality was not addressed at all in the text, and only in one paragraph in the Looking Back section, which mentions that people thought it was “gay man’s disease.”

It’s mentioned at first that Reagan opposed AIDS research, but later a speech of his about understanding a little kid who died from AIDS is quoted, so mixed bag there.

Whether this is good because it doesn’t introduce kids to homosexuality via such a bad time in our history or bad because it focuses on how it affects the straight-passing characters* is up for debate.

*Romantic orientation isn’t discussed at all in the book, other than a rumor spreading that Courtney only wants to help Isaac because of a romantic interest. However, it should be noted that there aren’t any explicitly gay characters in this book either, and unfortunately a lot of people assume that characters are straight unless proven otherwise.

The cold and snow might keep some people indoors where it’s warm, but not Grace! She’s always looking for an opportunity to promote her business and meet potential new customers. So she built this hot cocoa stand from scrap wood, and set up shop near the ski resort. 

I made Grace’s cocoa stand using the directions and printables from AmericanGirlIdeas.com. I used foam board for the structure and then glued on painted chipboard to look like planks. 

The cocoa is brown paint mixed with glue, inside a plastic container that used to hold cinnamon. The cups are made from foam board strips that I soaked to make flexible, then glued together.  

The whipped cream can is rolled paper. The cinnamon sticks are bamboo skewer pieces glued together and painted brown. The candy canes are painted soft wire. The marshmallows are thin strips of foam board cut into tiny pieces. The pink cups are from Dollar Tree. 

Saige is having a fun time cross country skiing, but is willing to stop for a warm cup of hot chocolate.

She’ll just take marshmallows on top, thanks! 

Molly wanted to go to Italy so bad when I went with my family in 2019, so of course I HAD to get her the Rome, Italy dress so she could feel like she went, too! And I absolutely ADORE this pink and purple dress on Nanea! And those boots! I can’t even! (Ignore my wonky porch screen behind her. I wanted the frog in the photo and the screen wouldn’t work with me.)

And for anyone curious, Kira will be placed in quarantine for a week, washed thoroughly, hit the hair salon, and get repackaged so that she can go to another home to be loved and cherished by someone who vibes better with her.

I’ve seen a lot of questions about this vignette illustration from Courtney’s second book, so here’s the context: Courtney brings a Pleasant Company catalog to school, her friend Isaac sees it and says “girls like weird stuff” and then does this doodle of Kirsten’s cheese wedge from her school lunch wearing her sunbonnet. 

Chrissa (2009) by Mary Cassanova

Art by Richard Jones