Good morning! It's nice to be back. First of all, I must apologize for having you all add me to your feed readers, only to change my blog address on you. My address is now http://www.quietude.blogspot.com/ Makes a little more sense than the old "bitter gamer" one, no? If you have always wondered, the bitter gamer is my brother, who gave me some webspace years ago. When I first started my blog, I didn't really have plans of making it public, and so didn't worry about the address. However, I eventually got me some visitors, and then when people started asking me for my blog address in real life, I realized how bizarre it sounded. :-P I am just now getting around to changing it, since Blogger has disabled FTP support. I also felt it was time for something a little less "blah" than the white Blogger template. Hope you like it! I think it says, very firmly, that this is a Woman's Blog. Now, if you've been reading Quietude for a while, you probably noticed that I began to gradually lose my blogging steam in the months after my marriage. I eventually got to the point where I was just "guilt-blogging," which is not fun for me or for you. When I first started my blog, I hoped to use it as a chronicle of the quiet joys and beauties of day to day life. Somehow along the way, I veered away from that. Now I am hoping to recapture that first purpose, but also expand and shift my blogging topics to reflect the season of life I am in. My "hobby" interests currently take a back-burner to the more important tasks of being the best wife and mother that I can be, so it may be that I will not have as many posts on vintage clothes, sewing, books, etc. But, I pray that I can find beauty and joy in the humble task of serving those I love best, and share that with you! I'm back! I enjoyed my break from blogging but I'm glad to be back to posting. First of all, I must apologize for having you add me to your feed reader, only to change my address on you! My new blog address is now http://www.quietudeblog.blogspot.com/ Blogger discontinued FTP support recently and it seemed like a good time to switch over to a new address; one that fits my blog a little better than the old one. ;-) (If you have always wondered, the bitter gamer is my brother, who gave me some webspace years ago. When I first started my blog, I didn't really have plans of making it public, and so didn't worry about the address. However, I eventually got me some visitors, and then when people started asking me for my blog address in real life, I realized how bizarre it sounded. But I haven't gotten around to changing it 'til now!) For the time being I will leave the archives up here, but all new posts will be at my new address. So please update your links, feed readers, etc. to point to http://www.quietudeblog.blogspot.com/ See you over there!

Fashion in literature

"Now she fitted the white lace into Mary's collar and pinned it so that it fell gracefully over the collar's edge and made a full cascade between the collar's ends in front.

They all stood back to admire. The gored skirt of brown cashmere was smooth and rather tight in front, but gathered full around the sides and back, so that it would be ample for hoops. In front it touched the floor evenly, in back it swept into a graceful short train that swished when Mary turned. All around the bottom was a pleated flounce.

The overskirt was of the brown-and-blue plaid. It was shirred in front, it was draped up at the sides to show more of the skirt beneath, and at the back it fell in rich, full puffs, caught up above the flounced train.

Above all this, Mary's waist rose slim in the tight, smooth bodice. The neat little buttons ran up to the soft white lace cascading under Mary's chin. The brown cashmere was smooth as paint over her sloping shoulders and down to her elbows; then the sleeves widened. A shirring of the plaid curved around them, and the wide wrists fell open, showing a lining of white lace ruffles that set off Mary's slender hands."

--Little Town on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, first published 1941